At least 20 Haitians fleeing their impoverished homeland were killed when their boat went down off the Bahamas April 20, leaving only three known survivors—including an alleged migrant smuggler from Honduras, according to the US Coast Guard (AP, April 22)… Read moreHaiti food crisis sparking new wave of “boat people”?
After a week of disturbances in Haiti over the high cost of living, on April 11 the Organization of American States (OAS) announced that in about two weeks it would supply $1 million for the purchase of food. France offered… Read moreHaiti: world reacts to protests
Some 5,000 protesters shut down the southern Haitian city of Les Cayes on April 3 in a dramatic demonstration against President Rene Preval’s government for failing to slow the rising cost of food and other staple products; they also protested… Read moreHaiti: protesters demand food
At a massive assembly in the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan on March 5, some 10,000 members of the Teachers’ Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR) almost unanimously backed the union leadership’s recommendation to suspend a strike that started on… Read morePuerto Rico: “truce” in teachers strike
As of Feb. 29 the 41,000-member Teachers’ Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR) was maintaining an open-ended strike at public schools that started on Feb. 21 over wages, classroom size and health issues. Meanwhile, controversy continued over the role of Change… Read moreNew York labor boss denies designs on Puerto Rico teachers union
After 27 months of negotiations and despite official efforts to decertify their union, tens of thousands of Puerto Rican public school teachers went on strike on Feb. 21. Public employees are barred from striking under Puerto Rican law, and the… Read morePuerto Rico: teachers start walk-out
On Feb. 7 the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Puerto Rican independence activist Avelino Gonzalez Claudio, a suspected leader of the rebel Popular Boricua Army (EPB)-Macheteros. According to Luis Fraticelli, who heads the FBI in Puerto Rico, the… Read moreFBI arrests Machetero suspect
Tens of thousands of public school teachers in the Teachers’ Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR), the country’s largest union, are set to go on strike sometime after Feb. 1 in defiance of the Puerto Rican government and parts of the… Read morePuerto Rico: teachers set to strike —in defiance of government
Several Haitian nongovernmental organizations–including the Haitian Platform for Alternative Development (PAPDA), Haitian Women’s Solidarity (SOFA), Tet Kole Ti Peyizan (“Union of Small Farmers”) and the National Coordinating Committee for Women’s Rights (CONAP)—have written the Haitian government demanding an investigation of… Read moreHaiti: UN troops in sex abuse scandal
At least 10 people were injured and 55 arrested during an 24-hour general strike Oct. 2 in the Dominican Republic called by the Alternative Social Forum (FSA), a coalition of grassroots organizations. The groups were demanding higher wages for civil… Read moreAnother general strike in Dominican Republic
On June 14, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization approved by consensus a resolution calling on the US government "to assume its responsibility to expedite a process that will allow the Puerto Rican people fully to exercise their inalienable… Read morePuerto Rico: UN vote on decolonization
In a surprise decision, US District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso, TX, threw out all charges against right-wing Cuban militant and former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles May 8, allowing him to go free days before he was set… Read morePosada Carriles walks free; Cuba protests impunity for “monster of terror”
