US: SOA protest marks 20th year

About 5,000 activists marched in front of the US Army’s Fort Benning base in Columbus, Georgia, in the 20th annual protest against the US Army School of the Americas (SOA).

Honduras: army seeks “arms cache” in Aguán Valley

Some 500 Honduran soldiers and police agents reportedly occupied the regional office of the National Agrarian Institute (INA) in Colón department, apparently in a search for arms.

Costa Rica: Congress bans open-pit mines

Following a wave of ecologist protests, Costa Rica’s congress unanimously approved revisions to the Mining Code that would ban open-pit mining of heavy metals in future projects.

Google Maps at issue in Central American border conflict

Nicaragua has refused to withdraw troops from a disputed island along the river border with Costa Rica, and is asking Google not to change its maps with respect to the contested area.

Costa Rica: gold mine protesters end fast

A group of Costa Rican environmental activists held a “Cultural Festival for Life” to conclude a hunger strike they began on Oct. 8 against the projected Las Crucitas open-pit gold mine.

Guatemala: is the Goldcorp mine still polluting?

Guatemala’s Environment Ministry has filed a criminal complaint against the local subsidiary of the Goldcorp mining giant for possible pollution of the Quivichil River.

Honduras: labor struggles heat up

Representatives of Honduran unions and grassroots movements agreed to schedule a series of actions over the next two weeks around the national minimum wage and other labor issues.

Guatemala: atrocity archive leads to conviction of two officers

A Guatemalan judge sentenced two ex-officers to 40 years in prison over the 1984 disappearance of 27-year-old union leader—the first case to use evidence discovered in abandoned police archives.

Costa Rica: activists fast to protest gold mine

Three Costa Rican environmental activists marked two weeks on hunger strike against the projected Las Crucitas open-pit gold mine in San Carlos in the north of the country.

Nicaragua denies armed incursion into Costa Rica at strategic San Juan River

Costa Rica dispatched a group of heavily armed police to the northern border following claims of a Nicaraguan military incursion in the San Juan river basin, a prospective inter-oceanic canal route.

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.

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.