Central America

Central America Report - Summer 2010

Posted August 17th, 2010 by paddaniels
in

You can download the latest issue of the Central America Report here [PDF].

Damage from storm Agatha to worsen Guatemala hunger

Posted June 6th, 2010 by Megan Rowling
in

Humanitarian news website Reuters AlertNet reports that the number of Guatemalans going hungry is set to rise as the Central American nation faces more food shortages after devastating floods washed away crops.

Agatha, the first named storm of this year's Pacific hurricane season, lashed Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador last weekend, killing at least 180 people - most of them Guatemalan - and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

Strong winds and torrential rains in Guatemala, which recorded the highest rainfall in over 60 years, triggered landslides and severe flooding, washing away fields of maize, banana, sugar cane and coffee.

"We are facing a very difficult situation. Without doubt the food crisis is going to get worse and we can expect to see more cases of malnutrition," Rubelci Alvarado, programme manager with Save the Children, told AlertNet by phone from Guatemala City.

Solidarity and campaign news

Posted November 22nd, 2009 by paddaniels
in
NICARAGUA Twin Towns

Santa Rosa Fund (Tavistock) This summer, two Santa Rosa Fund volunteers, Sue and Ken Martin, successfully trained staff at the Colegio Santa Rosa in Managua in the use of five computers donated by the Fund and the British Embassy in Costa Rica. The Martins also visited other projects supported by the Fund. 

http://www.santarosafund.org

Growing coffee in a warmer world

Posted November 22nd, 2009 by paddaniels
in
Megan Rowling reports on a project helping farmers protect their livelihoods.
AS PROSPECTS FADE for a new deal on climate change at UN talks in Copenhagen in December 2009, communities in countries already feeling the effects of global warming are working out how to adapt. While they have yet to secure the billions of dollars in international support needed to protect their lives, homes and crops, many farmers, coast-dwellers and other vulnerable groups are doing what they can to cope with the impacts. 

Cafédirect, the UK ethical hot drinks company, and German technical cooperation agency GTZ are helping tea and coffee producers in four regions to manage climate change through a three-year project called AdapCC. 

EDITORIAL: Change we can’t believe in?

Posted November 22nd, 2009 by paddaniels
in
IN THIS ISSUE we focus on the coup in Honduras, the role of the US, and the extraordinary courage and resilience of illegally ousted Present Manuel Zelaya and the movement that sprang up against the coup. We also explore the reverberations of the political crisis across the region.

At April’s Summit of the Americas, US President Barack Obama promised a new vision for the continent – a democratic Western hemisphere of equal partners, mutual interests and shared values. But three months later, in an event eerily reminiscent of the dark period of brutal military coups and repression of the 1970s and 80s, Zelaya was seized from his bed at gunpoint and bundled onto a military plane to Costa Rica.

Find out about the killing of women in Central America

Posted November 22nd, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in

ON 25th NOVEMBER, WE SPEAK OUT AGAINST WOMAN-KILLING IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA

25th November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and the beginning of the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence. To mark it, the Central America Women’s Network (CAWN) and the Honduran Women’s Studies Centre (CEMH) are holding three events condemning the rising violence against women and girls in the region and worldwide and calling for an end to this violence:

25 Nov, 4–6pm: Parliamentary meeting. House of Commons, London

26 Nov, 7.30pm: Film screening, followed by Q&A “Killer’s Paradise: Women Victims of Violence in Guatemala ”. Bolivar Hall, London , W1T.

27 Nov, 3-6pm: Seminar “Extreme forms of Violence against Women: Femicide in Mexico and Central America ”. Woburn House Conference Centre, London , WC1.

Summer issue of Central America Report available online

Posted September 28th, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in

 

Download an electronic version of the summer issue of Central America Report.

Contents

TAKE ACTION: Solidarity and campaigns news

Posted January 25th, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in

Environmental Network for Central America

Over the past three years ENCA has supported an impressive variety of projects in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica. They include environmental educational campaigns involving local radio broadcasts in Honduras and World Environment Day celebrations in El Viejo, Nicaragua; donations to banana workers in Managua; solar equipment for a clinic diagnosing pesticide poisoning among sugar and banana workers in support of legal actions: help for a eco-tourism centre; seed funding for organic production in Nicaragua and Costa Rica; and support for the Environmental Movement of Olancho (MAO) in Honduras which is at the forefront of environmental protests that have been met with serious threats and assassinations. Our donations are usually modest but we are always amazed by how much can be achieved.

Nicaragua

Book Review: Tourism and Responsibility

Posted January 25th, 2009 by Megan Rowling
in
Gay Lee

Tourism and Responsibility: Perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean

By Martin Mowforth, Clive Charlton and Ian Munt, Routledge 2008

This is a timely book on an important topic but holiday reading it isn’t. Its basic tenet is that tourism in all its forms is deeply rooted in the power of the global free-market economy. In this context, “responsible” tourism as a tool for development and poverty eradication struggles to make headway.

While this will come as no surprise to most CAR readers, the book’s conclusion still feels unsatisfactory. After posing the question “how can power be exercised responsibly?” it suggests there “is no clearly defined way to practice tourism responsibly” and we should focus on learning “about the place and people that we are visiting”.

123next ›last »
Syndicate content