Ngöbe-BuglĂ© leaders reached an agreement with the Panamanian government that would ban mining in the group’s territory and limit hydroelectric projects–but there is strong opposition.
Women in the Honduran branch of the international campesino movement VĂa Campesina launched a new campaign on March 8 under the slogan “for women’s dignity, we demand our right to the land.”
The Ngöbe-Buglé indigenous group suspended talks with Panamanian officials and resumed a blockade of the Pan American highway after four young protesters were wounded by rubber bullets.
US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the US-backed war on the drug cartels, despite growing violence in Mexico and Central America—while Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla called for a regional debate on legalization.
The Honduran government signed an accord with two campesino organizations to finance the purchase of land for campesino cooperatives in an area where land disputes have left more than 50 dead in two years.
A federal immigration judge in Florida decided that former Salvadoran defense minister Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova can be deported for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during El Salvador’s civil war.
Hundreds of relatives of inmates who burned or suffocated to death at the Comayagua prison fire in Honduras pushed past security guards to force their way into a morgue to demand the remains of loved ones. Police cleared the morgue with tear gas.
Human Rights Watch called for the reduction of overcrowding to improve poor prison conditions in Latin America following a prison fire in Honduras. The fire killed more than 300 inmates while injuring dozens more.
Honduras is in shock after a fire at a triple-capacity Comayagua prison left at least 360 dead, many burned or suffocated to death in their cells. Reports said guards hurled keys away before fleeing, abandoning the prisoners.
A pact between indigenous leaders and the government of right-wing president Ricardo Martinelli ended more than a week of massive protests over mineral and territorial rights that led to at least two deaths and dozens of arrests.
President Mauricio Funes named retired general Francisco Ramón Salinas as director of El Salvador’s National Civil Police, replacing former director Carlos Ascencio—removing the last high-ranking FMLN member of the public security cabinet.
Honduran police detained 13 campesinos leaders in the conflicted Lower Aguán Valley as talks about financing a proposed settlement for long-term land disputes broke down. Venezuela has proposed funding to purchase lands for campesino communities.
