NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs articles from September 2005

NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs archives from September 2005

U.S. THREATENS GUATEMALA WITH DECERTIFICATION AGAIN AS GOVERNMENT STRUGGLES TO INNOVATE SECURITY MEASURES.
September 1, 2005... With key anti-crime legislation stalled in the Guatemalan legislature, it looks like the country may once again face the consequences of decertification by the US. The wrath of the superpower could be tempered somewhat by Guatemala's...

CUBAN DOCTORS SERVING POOR TO BE EXPELLED FROM HONDURAS.
September 1, 2005... The Honduran government, pressed by the country's medical establishment, has taken steps to expel Cuban doctors working in areas where local doctors have declined to serve. In May, a tripartite commission composed of officials of the Colegio...

HAITI'S LARGEST PARTY NOMINATES JAILED ARISTIDE ALLY FOR PRESIDENT.
September 8, 2005... The party of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has named a candidate for this fall's presidential elections. He is Gerard Jean-Juste, a Catholic priest, as was Aristide. The selection appears to have resolved a growing split...

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC RATIFIES CAFTA, BUT CANNOT IMPLEMENT IT WITHOUT FURTHER LEGISLATION.
September 8, 2005... Despite overwhelming popular disapproval, the Dominican Republic has ratified the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). It is the fifth country do so, leaving Costa Rica and Nicaragua as the lone holdouts. On Aug. 26, the Senate...

REGION TALLIES TOLL OF KATRINA; HONDURAS HARDEST HIT.
September 15, 2005... Central America and its neighbors in the hemisphere began to tally the toll of Hurricane Katrina almost from the moment the skies cleared over the US southern coast. The monstrous meteorological intrusion flashed its category-five credentials...

GUATEMALA CUTS PIGGYBACK DEAL WITH BRAZIL.
September 15, 2005... Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived in Guatemala for a two-day visit to discuss business with his Guatemalan counterpart President Oscar Berger and other regional presidents. He was there to present his Programa de Incentivos...

GUATEMALA: BARELY MEASURABLE DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT, NO NATIONAL IDENTITY.
September 22, 2005... Guatemala has earned the lowest marks for democratic development of any of the 18 nations in the hemisphere included in the study. A report, the Informe de Desarrollo Democratico by the Argentine nongovernmental organization (NGO) Polilat,...

HAITIAN ELECTORAL COUNCIL MULLS LIST OF CANDIDATES, REVEALS BIAS.
September 22, 2005... With about two months to go before Haitians go to the polls to replace the internationally imposed, widely unrecognized regime that has ruled them since the ouster of their elected president, the field of presidential hopefuls now numbers about...

COSTA RICA DEFIES U.S. ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AND PAYS A PRICE.
September 22, 2005... Costa Rica has refused to accord the US immunity from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The US has rewarded Costa Rica's act of sovereignty and efforts to protect itself by imposing sanctions, barring the...

CAFTA HOLDOUTS NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICA: VASTLY DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO RATIFICATION QUESTION.
September 29, 2005... Nicaragua remained one of the last two holdouts to ratify the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), after an attempt to push the text through the legislature failed on Sept. 21. In a surprise action, parliamentary president Rene Nunez...

THOMAS SHANNON TO BE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR WESTERN HEMISPHERE AFFAIRS.
September 29, 2005... The US Senate has conducted hearings on the appointment of Thomas A. Shannon to the post of assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, the State Department's envoy to Latin America. There is little doubt Shannon will be...