Tortilla making in Honduras. Anna Vogt
Can Canada’s new PM stop mining abuses in Latin America?
As for Guatemala and Escobal, Solano told the Guardian he hopes that Canada, mining companies and interested members of the public understand what is happening around the mine, and they don’t just listen “to the mining company or the economic groups working for it doing lobbying and communications work.” “They portray it as a development project, when the communities say the opposite,” Solano says. “They should recognise that there have been community consultations in which the majority have said that they don’t want the mine. That local communities have a position should be acknowledged, and their decision respected.”
Latin America needs to improve inequality among workers according to UN report
The United Nations Program for Development (UNDP) highlighted in their annual Human Development Index, that Latin America and the Caribbean should adopt “a more focused work approach” and a space to reduce inequality. The annual report, presented in Uruguay on Monday, was entitled “Work for Human Development”. The report stressed the differences in the workplace in terms of gender or exclusion due to race or sexual orientation and proposes a threefold plan of action to maximize benefits and reduce the risks of increasing gaps.
Texas keeps National Guard at Mexico border amid surge in minors crossing
Republican Texas governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday extended the deployment of National Guard troops at the Mexico border due to a spike in the number of unaccompanied minors entering the country. The order comes in the wake of US Border Patrol figures that show more than 10,000 unaccompanied children crossed into the US in October and November. That is double the number of crossings in the same two months last year. The uptick has already prompted Border Patrol to open two shelters in Texas and one in California. “Texas will not sit idle in the face of this challenge,” Abbott said. “We will not be victimized as a state by a federal government’s apathetic response to border security.”
Raising fears of new crisis, unaccompanied children crossing US border in greater numbers again
Unaccompanied minors are crossing the U.S. Southwest border in growing numbers again, sparking concerns that the new influx of children could eventually approach the levels that last year prompted the Obama administration to declare a humanitarian crisis. In October and November, more than 10,500 children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border by themselves, the vast majority from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, according to U.S. government data analyzed by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. That’s a 106 percent increase over the same period last year, reflecting a steady increase that began in March.
Forced to Flee Dominican Republic for Haiti, Migrants Land in Limbo
The plight along the border is reminiscent, on a smaller scale, of the devastating 2010 earthquake, which claimed the lives of 100,000 to 316,000 Haitians and summoned a wave of billions of dollars in aid. Even today, more than 60,000 displaced people still reside in tent cities around the country. Only this time, the upheaval is man-made, the result of the policies of the Dominican Republic and the seeming indifference of the Haitian government. The authorities in Haiti do not even formally recognize that the camps exist.
Haiti’s Dec. 27 presidential runoff still on schedule
With less than two weeks before the vote, Haiti remains embroiled in a post-electoral crisis with no acceptable solution in sight. Allegations of ballot tampering, fraudulent tabulations and widespread procedural breakdowns have fanned a widening chorus of doubt about the credibility of the Oct. 25 first round. Calling the results a “ridiculous farce,” Célestin is demanding an independent verification of the vote in order to go on. His request for transparency has been joined by other opposition presidential candidates, local election observers, human rights organizations, powerful religious leaders and the one lone CEP member who didn’t sign off on the initial results.
Banana workers in Guatemala face new threats as Del Monte menaces to move the production
Worrying reports, however, are coming from the Pacific South of the country, a sort of ‘black hole’ for trade unionism. The whole area appears to be controlled by paramilitary groups who have been violently repressing any attempt to organise workers. “There are 40,000 banana workers in the South who don’t have unions and continue to receive pays way under the minimum wage,” said Ramirez. Because of what SITRABI has achieved in the North, fruit companies are now threatening to close the farms and move the production to the South, where workers are not unionised and bananas are cheaper. “A box of bananas costs $7 in the North and $5 in the South,” continued Ramirez. “Cheap bananas are convenient for the companies but terrible for the workers as they undermine the Izabal industry, where almost all production comes from unionised labour”.
El Salvador: where women are thrown into jail for losing a baby
Muñoz says that of the 17 cases of women imprisoned for miscarriages, only two have been released. Most of the rest are serving sentences of up to 40 years. Another six women are awaiting sentences. One woman – who had wished to be known by her first name, Manuela – died in prison. She was the mother of two children when she was rushed to hospital after a stillbirth. The authorities presumed she was guilty of killing her baby because the child had been conceived out of wedlock. They sentenced her to 30 years in prison. After being convicted in 2008, Manuela was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer – which can cause miscarriages – and died two years later. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights later ruled that she suffered an injustice, but the state has yet to respond or provide compensation to her two teenage children.
Honduras: The Need to Differentiate among the Gangs
Honduras street gangs – often inaccurately lumped into a single category – are a complex, deep-rooted social and criminal phenomenon that is driving violence and migration in record numbers. InSight Crime, after investigating them for most of 2015, found that the catch-all term “maras” is at once ominous and ill-defined. The two largest gangs – the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and Barrio 18 – have similar criminal revenue streams, but different approaches to obtaining those proceeds. Recognizing these differences is an important part of undermining their power and influence.
Nicaragua, the world’s unlikely champion of gender equality
Nicaragua, one of the world’s poorest countries, has made the most progress in narrowing its gender gap over the past 10 years, according to a World Economic Forum report released Nov. 19. The group’s “gender gap index” for the country rose to 78% in 2015 from 66% in 2006, as women there scored big gains in health, education and political representation. The measure for total equality is 100%. But that doesn’t mean Nicaraguan women are doing great. In fact, when compared with their counterparts around the world, they are doing pretty poorly.
A Day of Miracle and Wonder in the Colombian Peace Talks
The 45th cycle of peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP that began last Thursday (Dec. 10) ended on Tuesday, December 15th with a press conference in the Salón de Protocolo of El Laguito, the private high-security residence in Havana where the talks are being held. The mood was simultaneously festive and somber, as the government and FARC-EP delegations made public their long-awaited joint agreement on victims. This was the fourth comprehensive accord to be reached on the six-point agenda that the Colombian government and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC-EP) laid out in the framework agreement in August 2012. Two final points on the agenda will be picked up in January after the holiday season. These include the terms for a bilateral ceasefire, the setting aside of weapons, and ending the conflict. The final item on the mechanisms and procedures for endorsement, verification and monitoring of the agreements reached has yet to be discussed at the peace tables.
Colombia’s Peace Process Just Took a New Big Step Forward
The deal is believed by both parties to represent a point of no return in the talks. However, any final peace deal must be approved by the public in a plebiscite which, given widespread animosity towards the guerrillas, is by no means a foregone conclusion. The day’s announcement received blanket coverage in the Colombian media, with a number of outlets calling it a “historic day for victims.” The mood on social media was largely positive following the announcement though a minority criticized the government’s perceived leniency towards the FARC. President Santos, who has staked his political career on these peace talks, took to Twitter to praise the accord. “We have never before been this close to a definitive agreement,” he posted.
Bolivia seizes 20 tons of cocaine and destroyed 11,025 hectares of coca in 2015
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Bolivia (UNODC) recognized the Government for its efforts to eradicate coca cultivation in recent years.Their representative in the country, Antonino De Leo, said that a major factor that enabled this rationalization is dialogue and consensus with social organizations and local authorities in the tasks of reducing surplus coca crops. In Bolivia, the coca leaf is protected by the Constitution promulgated by president Morales in 2009 for its cultural, religious and medicinal uses. In his speech, the president said that his country shows with real data that it can confront drug trafficking with results.