IRC - Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez found a hero’s welcome when he visited Haiti on March 12. People from Port-au-Prince’s poor neighborhoods lined the streets of the capitol to cheer, chant, dance, and sing, with all the infectious enthusiasm of Haitian celebrations.
President Chávez returned the affection. He jumped from his motorcade and joined the party, marching, even running with the crowd. At the National Palace, Chávez climbed up on the perimeter fence to slap hands like he had (…)
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Latin America and the Caribbean
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HAITI - Haiti, MINUSTAH, and Latin America: Solidaridad?
Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon, Jr., IRC-Americas
8 May 2007, posted by Brian Concannon, Jr. -
MEXICO - Abortion No Longer a Crime in Mexico City
Diego Cevallos, IPS
25 April 2007, posted by Manuela Garza AscencioIPS - The Mexico City legislature voted Tuesday to legalise abortion, after several weeks of heated debate in which conservative groups and the Catholic Church traded insults with pro-choice activists and threatened them with excommunication.
Mexico City has now joined Cuba and Guyana as the only places in Latin America where abortion is legal.
The bill must now be signed into law by Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of the leftwing Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), who said he would do (…) -
MEXICO - Mexico Under Scrutiny by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission
Diego Cevallos, IPS
12 April 2007, posted by Manuela Garza AscencioIPS - The delegates of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) who began a visit to Mexico Monday will leave at the end of the week with their suitcases full of files and complaints by civil society groups, which say the human rights situation in the country remains serious and that the government is attempting to criminalise social protest.
Among the cases that the visitors will study is the alleged rape and subsequent death of an elderly indigenous woman at the hands of (…) -
III Continental Summit of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of Abya Yala - “From resistance to power”
LATIN AMERICA - Declaration of Iximche’ 5 April 2007, posted by DialWe the children of the Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of the continent, self convened and gathered at the III Continental Summit of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of Abya Yala realized in Iximche’, Guatemala the days of Oxlajuj Aq’abal, thirteen powers of the Spirit of the Dawn (26th of March) to Kají Kej, four powers of the Spirit of the Deer (30th of March, 2007):
We hereby affirm the Declaration of Teotihuacan (Mexico, 2000), the Declaration of Kito (Ecuador, 2004) and ratify our (…) -
COLOMBIA - Chiquita Admits to Paying Colombian Paramilitary Group on U.S. Terror List
Adam Isaacson, Ignacio Gomez, Juan Gonzalez & Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
5 April 2007, posted by DialFriday, March 23rd, 2007 - Democracy Now! News Program - The Cincinnati-based fruit company Chiquita has found itself at the center of another major controversy over its practices in Latin America. On Monday Chiquita admitted it had paid off the group AUC, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Chiquita has agreed to pay the U.S. government a fine of $25 million dollars on the condition that it doesn’t have to reveal (…)
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BRAZIL - Brazil Aims to Dominate World Ethanol Market
Mario Osava, IPS
2 April 2007, posted by Manuela Garza AscencioIPS - Brazil is working towards producing enough ethanol to substitute 10 percent of the gasoline consumed worldwide within 18 years. That would mean increasing its current production of 17.3 billion litres a year by a factor of 12, without sacrificing forests, protected areas or food cultivation.
The government called on a group of experts to study the possibilities and impacts of a sharp increase in fuel alcohol production from sugarcane.
The group led by the Interdisciplinary Group (…) -
MEXICO - Legal Abortion No Longer a Distant Goal for Activists
Diego Cevallos, IPS
26 March 2007, posted by Manuela Garza AscencioIPS - Mexico could join Cuba and Guyana as the only countries in Latin America where abortion is legal in cases other than those involving rape or a threat to a pregnant woman’s life.
Two draft laws apparently enjoy majority support, and the Church and conservative groups are up in arms.
For the first time "there is a serious, mature debate on this, and a strong possibility that abortion will be decriminalised, which would be a very positive step in terms of the rights of women," Martha (…) -
MEXICO - Not even Host Enthusiastic About ‘Lame Duck’ Bush
Diego Cevallos, IPS
15 March 2007, posted by Manuela Garza AscencioIPS - Mexican President Felipe Calderón met President George W. Bush Tuesday with complaints about U.S. migration and drug trafficking policies, after noting, through his press office, that the U.S. leader is in a period of declining popularity.
In his welcome ceremony, Calderón criticised a U.S. law for the construction of more than 1,000 kilometres of new fencing along the border between the two countries, and urged the United States to do more to reduce demand for drugs. For his part, (…) -
MEXICO - Discharge of HIV-Positive Troops Ruled Unconstitutional
Diego Cevallos, IPS
5 March 2007, posted by Manuela Garza AscencioIPS - Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the military to expel HIV-positive members, a practice that is habitually followed by the armed forces.
The verdict handed down on Tuesday represented a triumph for the 11 HIV-positive members of the military who filed an appeal before the Supreme Court, and for human rights organisations and government bodies that argue that discharging soldiers living with HIV is an act of discrimination based on prejudice and ignorance. (…) -
ARGENTINA - Hunting Down the Triple A Death Squad
Marcela Valente, IPS
26 February 2007, posted by Manuela Garza AscencioIPS - The renewed investigation into political crimes committed by the Triple A "para-police" group in Argentina in the 1970s is finding fresh evidence and information daily, and is shaping up into a major case of crimes against humanity.
"Every day new victims and relatives and members of leftwing parties or organisations are coming forward," federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano, who was responsible for reopening the investigation that lay buried for nearly two decades, told IPS. "Many of (…)