News feeds
BOLIVIA: Domestics to Gain Healthcare Coverage
LA PAZ, Jun 12 (IPS) - Domestic workers in Bolivia, most of whom are young
indigenous women from the highlands region, are about to gain
access to healthcare coverage.
Categories: Latin America News
US/MEXICO: Neighbours Try to Reclaim Polluted Valley
SAN DIEGO, California, Jun 12 (IPS) - A sinuous coil of murky water winds through the
Tijuana River Valley. On each side of the U.S.-Mexican border,
residents eye each other warily, caught in the cross-currents of
political intrigue and economic polices that make the floodplain
seem almost orderly by comparison.
Categories: Latin America News
RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Raising Children Behind Bars
LA PLATA, Argentina, Jun 12 (IPS) - Soledad Acevedo was an 18-year-old mother of two
eking out a living by means of menial casual work in 2002 when
she was sent to prison in the Argentina province of Buenos Aires,
accused of armed robbery and attempted homicide. Now she is 24,
and is excited as she meets with IPS in her cell.
Categories: Latin America News
MEXICO: Murder of Indigenous Reporters Fuels Hatred, Division
MEXICO CITY, Jun 11 (IPS) - No one has been brought to justice for the murders
of two young indigenous reporters in the southern Mexican state
of Oaxaca in April, a case that has mobilised social activists
and drawn condemnation from UNESCO.
Categories: Latin America News
DEVELOPMENT: Norway Launches Microfinance Project
OSLO, Jun 11 (IPS) - A new microfinance initiative has been launched in
Norway.
Categories: Latin America News
RIGHTS-CHILE: Growing Outcry Over Filmmaker’s Arrest
SANTIAGO, Jun 11 (IPS) - There is growing international alarm over the
arrest of Chilean filmmaker Elena Varela, who was taken into
custody by police a month ago while working on an investigative
documentary on the conflicts between lumber companies and the
Mapuche indigenous people in southern Chile.
Categories: Latin America News
ARGENTINA: The Brazilian Investment Invasion
BUENOS AIRES, Jun 11 (IPS) - Heavily invested in the oil and cement industries,
as well as mining and steel, textiles, cosmetics, banks, food and
beverages, Brazilian capital is edging Europe out of pole
position in foreign direct investment (FDI) within Argentina.
Categories: Latin America News
VENEZUELA: Smart Repeal of Intelligence Law
CARACAS, Jun 10 (IPS) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez repealed on
Tuesday a controversial decree-law on intelligence and
counterintelligence that he issued a few days ago, which ordered
citizens to collaborate with military and police intelligence
agencies.
Categories: Latin America News
EL SALVADOR: President’s ‘Path to Peace’ Award Draws Outcry
SAN SALVADOR, Jun 10 (IPS) - The decision by a Catholic foundation with links to
the Vatican to award its highest distinction to Salvadoran
President Antonio Saca drew a wave of protests from local
analysts and representatives of civil society in this Central
American country.
Categories: Latin America News
CUBA: A City Drinks in Change
HOLGUÍN, Cuba, Jun 10 (IPS) - Afflicted for far too long by severe drought, which
concentrated all minds on how to get water to entire communities
of people, this eastern Cuban city seems at long last to be
drinking its fill, and its appearance is completely different
from what it looked like two or three years ago.
Categories: Latin America News
PERU: Acquittals for Lawmakers Accused of Taking Bribes
LIMA, Jun 9 (IPS) - A court in Peru acquitted nine former lawmakers
accused of taking bribes to switch party allegiance and vote with
the government of former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000),
so as to assure him majority support for his initiatives.
Categories: Latin America News
RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Defending Women’s Defenders
BOGOTA, Jun 9 (IPS) - After nearly six years of the "democratic
security" policy of the government of rightwing President
Álvaro Uribe, women activists in Colombia are as vulnerable to
human rights abuses as ever, said female rights defenders who met
recently in the Colombian capital.
Categories: Latin America News
EL SALVADOR: More than Charity-Based Strategies Needed to Uproot Violence
SAN SALVADOR, Jun 9 (IPS) - The strategies followed by the Salvadoran
government to prevent violence and crime have serious
shortcomings, say experts and youngsters considered "high
risk," who are the main beneficiaries of these initiatives.
Categories: Latin America News
BOLIVIA-PERU: Titicaca Truths Revealed
BAHÍA DE COHANA, Bolivia, Jun 7 (Tierramérica) - Nobody doubts that Lake Titicaca, a watershed and
resource shared by Bolivia and Peru, is polluted. But a
half-century after the two governments realised there was a
problem there are still no detailed studies of the state of its
waters.
Categories: Latin America News
RIGHTS-US: Mixed Appeals Verdict for "Cuban Five"
ATLANTA, Georgia, Jun 6 (IPS) - Activists plan to protest a federal appeals court
ruling Wednesday to uphold the convictions of five Cuban
intelligence agents accused of spying in the United States.
Categories: Latin America News
HEALTH-CUBA: Free Sex Change Operations Approved
HAVANA, Jun 6 (IPS) - New horizons opened up for transsexuals in Cuba
with the approval of a Public Health Ministry resolution that
establishes guidelines for their health care, including free
gender reassignment operations.
Categories: Latin America News
LABOUR-PERU: Business Fights Restrictions on Outsourcing
LIMA, Jun 5 (IPS) - The business community in Peru is pressuring the
government not to sign into law new legislation that would
establish full labour rights for some 400,000 subcontracted
workers.
Categories: Latin America News
CUBA: Local Farmers Producing Food Solutions
SAN JOSÉ DE LAS LAJAS, Cuba, Jun 5 (IPS) - Cuba’s food production is insufficient to meet the
country’s needs, but the solution may lie in successful local
experiences that show that farming is possible without the costly
inputs used by the agriculture industry up to the late 1980s.
Categories: Latin America News
RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Paramilitary Militias Contaminate Politics
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 4 (IPS) - The results of the October municipal elections
"will not be legitimate" in this Brazilian city, because
1.7 million local residents live in communities where the
conditions are not in place for them to vote freely, city
councillor Andrea Gouvea Vieira told IPS.
Categories: Latin America News
MEXICO-US: Bold Anti-Drug Plan on the Rocks
MEXICO CITY, Jun 4 (IPS) - The Merida Initiative, a U.S. anti-drug aid plan
for Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Central America, is
floundering. Originally trumpeted as an unprecedented instrument
for cooperation, it is now the object of accusations that it
would undermine national sovereignty.
Categories: Latin America News
