NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from September 2004

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from September 2004

GUATEMALA JOURNALISTS BLAST THEIR MEDIA--BY EMAIL.
September 2, 2004... Journalists in Guatemala have begun a hesitant drive to open the media to news coverage inconsistent with the economic and social interests of the people who own them. Lacking sufficient outlets for their assertions, and protections for their...

REGIONAL AGROEXPORT: A FLY IN THE ISTHMUS.
September 2, 2004... In the interest of globalizing the war against the Mediterranean fruit fly, or Ceratitis capitata, or med fly (MF), Central American agriculture ministers met in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, to discuss means to control the tiny bug. Small as it...

GUATEMALA REGRESSES TO VIOLENT CAMPESINO EVICTIONS.
September 9, 2004... Reopening the book on land tenancy and police violence, a heavily armed government eviction attempt left nine dead and at least 45 wounded in southwest Guatemala. A group of campesinos, from 22 communities, have been occupying the property...

COSTA RICA AND NICARAGUA DISPUTE OPEN PIT GOLD MINING.
September 9, 2004... [The following article by Fabiola Pomareda is reprinted with the permission of Noticias Aliadas in Lima, Peru. It appeared in the Sept. 8, 2004, edition of Latinamerica Press.] The development of gold veins in Costa Rica only 4 km from the...

CUBA BREAKS WITH PANAMA BECAUSE OF PARDON OF TERRORISTS.
September 16, 2004... On Aug. 26, outgoing Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso pardoned four known terrorists jailed in 2000 on charges related to an alleged assassination plot against Cuban President Fidel Castro. Cuba immediately broke diplomatic relations with...

COSTA RICA CABINET BAILS, PACHECO PICKS WEAK SECOND TEAM.
September 16, 2004... Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco is denying publicly and acknowledging privately that his government is in crisis in the aftermath of a settlement agreement he reached to end massive protests as September dawned. He now struggles for breath...

NEW PANAMANIAN PRESIDENT INHERITS A DIPLOMATIC MESS.
September 23, 2004... Martin Torrijos has taken over as Panama's president with much to be done to repair diplomatic damage by his predecessor. Torrijos has so far succeeded in normalizing relations with Venezuela, largely because that country is well-disposed...

U.S. COURT DECISION SPARKS CALLS TO REOPEN ARCHBISHOP OSCAR ROMERO CASE IN EL SALVADOR.
September 23, 2004... A recent US court decision has given El Salvador's Catholic Church and other concerned parties new hope that the 24-year-old murder of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero may someday be fully adjudicated. Romero's death served to bring into full...

BIPARTISANISM IMPOSED IN NICARAGUA.
September 23, 2004... The following article is reprinted with the permission of Noticias Aliadas in Lima, Peru. It appeared in the Sept. 22, 2004, edition of Latinamerica Press. Just weeks before the Nov. 7 municipal elections, polls anticipate the vote will...

HAITI PAYS DEARLY FOR WORLD CONCERN.
September 30, 2004... Hurricane Jeanne may have provided a disappointing answer to the question, "What is it going to take to get Haiti the sustained support it needs to build a country out of chaos?" In the aftermath of the storm that proved devastation could...

THE HIDDEN POWERS OF GUATEMALA REVEALED.
September 30, 2004... The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) has produced a document shedding new light on the mechanisms by which powerful groups have controlled Guatemala through the years, behind the facade of democracy. Adriana Beltran, co-author of the...