Central America

Panama: government withdraws anti-labor law

After 90 days of negotiations with unions and social organizations, the government of right-wing Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli approved an agreement to rescind a controversial labor law.

Central America

Guatemala: US apologizes for syphilis experiment

Barack Obama personally apologized by phone to Guatemalan president Álvaro Colom for a US program that purposely infected Guatemalans with syphilis and gonorrhea in a 1946-48 experiment.

Central America

Guatemala: US sentences ex-soldier for 1982 massacre

Miami federal district judge William Zloch sentenced former Guatemalan soldier Gilberto Jordán to 10 years in prison for concealing his role in a 1982 massacre when he applied for US citizenship.

Central America

Honduras: IMF ends boycott, resumes loans

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) made an agreement in principle in Tegucigalpa for a standby loan to the Honduran government. This gives the country immediate access to $196 million.

Central America

Honduras: army takes to the streets after massacre

Military units began carrying out street patrols in Honduran cities, mainly Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, in what the government said was an effort to help the police fight crime.

Central America

Devastating floods hit Central America —again

The Central American region is again being hit by devastating floods, in a rainy season that has wreaked destruction across the isthmus, leaving scores dead and thousands displaced.

Central America

Honduras: drug gang behind factory massacre?

Honduran police have blamed street gangs linked to Mexican drug cartels for the killing of at least 18 employees in a shoe factory in the northern industrial city of San Pedro Sula.

Central America

Honduras: resistance petitions, plans strike

Honduras’ National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) said it had collected 1,019,765 signatures on petitions calling for a constituent assembly to rewrite the country’s 1982 Constitution.