Haiti: elections set, disputes continue

Haitian president René Préval rejected changes US senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) proposed for presidential and legislative elections that are now scheduled for Nov. 28.

Puerto Rico: cops attack students at Capitol

Dozens of demonstrators were injured at Puerto Rico’s Capitol building when riot police used batons and tear gas to keep hundreds of students from entering a session of the Legislature.

Puerto Rico: LGBT activists criticize police

Hundreds of Puerto Ricans marched in the island’s 20th Pride event, held in San Juan’s beachfront El Condado neighborhood, especially to denounce recent hate crimes against LGBT people.

Puerto Rico: student strike wins most demands

Students and the Board of Trustees at the University of Puerto Rico reached an agreement to end a two-month strike that had closed 10 of the public university’s 11 campuses.

Puerto Rico: university cutbacks pay for Wall Street bonds

In meetings with striking students, officials announced that the University of Puerto Rico was $200 million in debt and that they intended to cover it with tuition surcharges.

Haiti: thousands of farmers reject Monsanto seeds

Thousands of peasant farmers gathered in the main plaza in Hinche, a city in Haiti’s Central Plateau, to protest a donation of about 476 metric tons of hybrid seeds from Monsanto.

Haiti: UN troops invade campus, protests continue

Edmond Mulet, acting head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), issued an apology for an incursion by a group of Brazilian soldiers into the State University of Haiti (UEH).

Haiti: Obama signs HELP sweatshop law

Barack Obama signed into law a measure intended to promote renewed development of the low-wage apparel assembly industry in Haiti—protested by activists as a “humanitarian alibi.”

Death toll rising in Jamaica

Gun battles raging in the Jamaican capital have left more than 60 people dead as troops fan out across the city hunting for accused drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke.

Haiti: Madrid meeting rejects “humanitarian alibi”

European and Latin American social movements meeting in Madrid denounced the US and European response to the Haiti earthquake as using a “humanitarian alibi” for “geopolitical interests.”

Puerto Rico: cops beat student strikers at Sheraton

Union leaders in Puerto Rico claimed success for a 24-hour general strike held to support students striking against a proposed $100 million budget cut, who have met police repression.

Urban warfare breaks out in Jamaica

Running battles between police and gunmen of the Shower Posse gang turned part of Jamaica’s capital Kingston into a warzone, with reports of explosions and civilian casualties.