Mexico
Mexico: missing students reported dead
Foreign investors remain "very excited with what's happening in Mexico" despite two notorious massacres so far this year. Mexicans see it differently: they continue to protest.
Author: Weekly News Update on the Americas
Central America
Costa Rica: port strike ends, issues remain
Under pressure to end a job action that tied up Costa Rica's main port, management and the union made a deal to end the strike—without addressing the issues.
The Caribbean
Dominican Republic: government quits OAS court
The hemispheric human rights court has condemned Dominican policies on immigrants and their descendants; now the Dominican government wants to pull out of the court.
The Caribbean
Cuba: will US swap jailed agents for Gross?
An editorial in the "newspaper of record" and remarks by a top diplomat have raised hopes for a new US policy on Cuba—or is it another false alarm?
Southern Cone
Chile: local Mapuche leader murdered
Unknown assailants killed a spokesperson for a Mapuche community that has carried out several land occupations. He was the second activist from his family to die violently.
Southern Cone
Argentina: new energy law seeks foreign capital
Argentina's center-left government passed a law to attract foreign investment in oil production, especially for hydrofracking in the Vaca Muerta shale deposits.
Mexico
Mexico: Supreme Court rejects energy referendum
The plans for opening Mexico's oil industry to private investment are popular in the US media, but are they popular with Mexicans? The courts have nixed a vote on the subject.
The Caribbean
Haiti: protest leaders arrested after marches
Haiti's government continues to carry out questionable arrests that seem to focus on activists who oppose the policies of President Martelly's government.
Central America
Costa Rica: new strike closes major port
Helicopters were patrolling the skies over Limón after striking dockworkers and police clashed in the latest installment of an eight-year struggle over privatizing the Caribbean port.
Mexico
Mexico: Guerrero governor goes, crisis remains
Last month's assault on teachers' college students in Guerrero continues to kindle rage—and real fires—as Mexico's "narco-government" works on damage control.
Mexico
Mexico: privatization scandals multiply
The Guerrero crisis is diverting international attention from plans for "economic reform," but is Mexico's business class really less corrupt than its politicians?
The Caribbean
Haiti: UN troop mandate renewed for one year
The UN has extended its military operation another year, but it still has to deal with the lawsuits and costs brought on by the cholera epidemic it introduced to Haiti.