After a divisive and well-financed campaign, Costa Rican supporters of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)âwhich reduces trade barriers between Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the USâappeared to have won a narrow… Read moreCAFTA winning in Costa Rica?
Masked assailants gunned down Marco Tulio Ramirez Portela, a leader of the Izabal Banana Workers Union (SITRABI), on Sept. 23 as he leaving his home for work on a banana plantation in the northeastern Guatemalan department of Izabal. Human rights… Read moreGuatemala: another union leader assassinated
Hundreds of Nicaraguan women marched in Managua on Sept. 28 to demand that the government of President Daniel Ortega Saavedra veto a new law establishing a prison sentence of one to three years for anyone who performs any type of… Read moreNicaraguans march against abortion law
More than 100,000 Costa Ricans marched against the pending Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in the capital, San JosĂ©, Sept. 30, chanting “Costa Rica is not for sale!” Some were dressed as skeletons, or wore masks of President Bush… Read moreCosta Ricans march against CAFTA
From Rights Action via Upside Down World, Sept. 20: Communities affected by Canadian-US transnational mining corporation Goldcorpâs (formerly Glamis Gold) San Martin open pit gold mine in the Siria Valley [of Honduras] are denouncing the companyâs plans to release water… Read moreHonduras: Canadian mining company threatens campesino lands
A striking schoolteacher named Wilfredo Lara was killed Aug. 27 while participating in a road blockade at Macuelizo, in Santa BĂĄrbara department of western Honduras. An angered motorist, who apparently opened fire on the blockade with a handgun and hit… Read moreHonduras: teacher killed in protest
The Sept. 9 election to replace Guatemalan President Oscar Berger featured more body bags than tangible ideas to improve the country. Now facing a Nov. 4 runoff election, voters are left with the tired choice between a military strongman and… Read moreGuatemalan elections: back to the future?
From the Guatemala Human Rights Commission-USA (GHRC-USA), Sept. 11: JosĂ© Emanuel “Pepe” MĂ©ndez DardĂłn, son of longtime human rights defender AmĂlcar MĂ©ndez, was shot to death in Guatemala City on the afternoon of August 17 by assailants with high caliber… Read moreGuatemala: son of human rights defender murdered
From CISPES via Upside Down World, Sept. 11: Eight members of the Salvadoran General Hospitals Union (SIGEESAL) were illegally arrested on September 4 for participating in a demonstration against the privatization of the national health system back on July 6…. Read moreEl Salvador: anti-privatization protesters jailed
On Sept. 13 Costa Rican vice president and planning minister Kevin Casas took a leave of absence pending an investigation by the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) into charges that he used public resources improperly to support a campaign in favor… Read moreCosta Rica: CAFTA scandal hits veep
From the University of Arizona Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program via the Rainforest Foundation, Sept. 7: On September 4, 2007, Hurricane Felix hit land on the Northeast Coast of Nicaragua as a level 5 hurricane. Initial reports have told… Read moreEmergency fund appeal for devastated Nicaraguan indigenous community
Two residents, including an 11-year-old boy, are dead following riots at the village of Cubulco in Guatemala’s Baja Verapaz department. Protesters torched the home of the mayor, Rolando Rivera, and the village remains occupied by a large detachment of the… Read moreTwo dead in Guatemala riots
