Day: February 25, 2009
Guadeloupe: talks resume after strike violence
French president Nicholas Sarkozy met in Paris with elected officials from Guadeloupe after the general strike in the French overseas department turned violent, with one union leader shot dead at a roadblock.
Haiti: Aristide exile used to justify barring of Lavalas candidates
Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council barred Lavalas candidates from the upcoming senate race, insisting it needs official confirmation from the party’s leader, exiled ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Homeland Security announces deportation of 30,300 Haitians
A US federal judge placed 30,299 Haitians under final deportation orders, lifting a suspension of deportations instated in September, after four tropical storms ravaged Haiti in one month.
Panama: Colombian refugee killed in the Darién
A Colombian refugee living in Panama was killed in Darién province, a jungle region bordering Colombia that has experienced incursions in the past by Colombian armed groups.
Colombia: FARC admits killing indigenous people
In a communiqué, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) took responsibility for the killing of eight people at Río Bravo in the southwestern department of Nariño.
Mexico: Cerezo brother political prisoners released
Some 150 greeted the brothers Antonio and Héctor Cerezo Contreras as they left a prison in Mexico’s Morelos state, after eight years detainment on suspicion of ties to the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR).
Mexico: transport strike in 17 states
Some 500,000 Mexican bus and truck drivers and owners held a one-day strike Feb. 16, slowing freight deliveries and forcing many passengers to find alternative transportation in 17 of the country’s states.