Rights activists in Guatemala are denouncing the Dec. 17 decision by the country’s Constitutional Court finding that the government of Spain has no standing to bring charges against five Guatemalan generals and two civilians accused of genocide. The court also… Read moreGuatemalan court: no extradition for war criminals
Felipe Alvarez, a member of a local Community Development Council (COCODES), was shot dead on his way to work in the early morning of Dec. 8 near his home in Microparcelamiento El Naranjo in the southern Guatemalan department of Escuintla…. Read moreGuatemala: community leader murdered
Eight people were killed in a four-hour gun battle between police and thieves in the Villa Hermosa suburb of Guatemala City. An armed gang had robbed a jeweller in a shopping center, killing a security guard. Hundreds of Special Forces… Read moreCrime wars rock Guatemala
Ruling in a case brought by Nicaragua, the International Court of Justice found Dec. 13 that three Caribbean islands in the disputed San Andrés Archipelago belong to Colombia under a 1928 treaty. But the ICJ said the treaty did not… Read moreWorld Court rules for Colombia in round one of Nicaraguan maritime dispute
The US-owned Star, SA factory in El Progreso, Honduras, has fired 70 pro-union workers illegally since Nov. 7, when workers notified the Honduran Ministry of Labor of their intention to form a legal union. Star is located in El Porvenir… Read moreHonduras: US firm fires unionists
From the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Nov 27: Brutal Government Attacks on Community of Cutumay Camones Continue On November 22, the community of Cutumay Camones was again brutally attacked by the Salvadoran riot police… Read moreEl Salvador: attacks continue on water protesters
Testimony has begun in the trial of seven Mam Maya villagers who sought dialogue with Goldcorp/Montana Exploradora mining company in Guatemala. The seven villagers were among a group of 28 who approached Goldcrop’s local facility in Sipacapa municipality on Jan…. Read more“Goldcorp 7” trial underway in Guatemala
As has become traditional, thousands of indigenous people held meetings and staged protests in Latin America to mark the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ first landing in the Western Hemisphere in 1492. Oct. 12 is officially known in much of the… Read moreGuatemala: indigenous protests on Oct. 12
Heavy rains have caused floods and landslides throughout Central America, leaving at least 18 dead, thousands displaced and many roads impassable and communities cut off. Fourteen were killed in Costa Rica Oct. 11 when a mudslide brought down a hillside… Read moreDeadly floods leave thousands displaced in Central America
The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, Netherlands, Oct. 8 awarded Honduras sovereignty over four cays in the Caribbean Sea and delineated its maritime boundary with Nicaragua as part of a ruling on a longstanding border dispute…. Read moreWorld Court rules on Nicaragua-Honduras border dispute; oil conflict in background
After a divisive and well-financed campaign, Costa Rican supporters of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)—which reduces trade barriers between Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the US—appeared 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
