The Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC), carried out a 79 mile march last week to commemorate the organization's 30th anniversary and to exert pressure on the Guatemalan government as it begins its National System of Permanent Dialogue, a nation-wide discussion that will focus mainly on agrarian reform. The starting-point for the march, Los Encuentros, carries a special significance for campesinos as the site where three years earlier a campesino was assassinated for his opposition to gold mining in his community. By the time the demonstrators arrived in Guatemala City, the Colom administration was still trying to reach a consensus on when to begin the dialogue. Many activists left the march questioning whether or not the dialogue would bring about change, or whether the government would continue down the path of militarizing the sites of environmental conflict, a key issue raised by CUC.

In a flashback to the 2000 elections, the upcoming municipal elections in Nicaragua's North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) have been marred by controversy and confrontation, this time turning to violence. In this case, the outrage has to do with the Supreme Court's recent decision to suspend elections in three out of the region's seven municipalities until next year. The Supreme Court's ruling, which was never debated in Congress, is fully supported by President Daniel Ortega, a fact that many of his opponents see as evidence that the current administration wants to consolidate its power at the expense of building democracy. Supporters of the decision, on the other hand, claim the measure is necessary to give the government time to repair the damage caused by Hurricane Felix in 2007. On April 4th the two sides met to discuss the issue through firearms and beatings.

By Asier Andrés Fernández

Translated by Dan Gordon

The Fourth International Anti-Gang Summit took place in San Salvador last fortnight, focusing on a hard-line approach to curbing gang-related activity throughout Central America. The summit drew strong criticism from many NGO's working with youth crime prevention, which argue that the security measures discussed do little to protect the population at large. According to critics, the summit had more to do with political interests and the criminalization of youth subcultures than actually solving the region's gang problem.

Audubon, the country's largest environmental organization, presented its 5 yearly environmental analysis of Belize this week. According to the report, coastal erosion could seriously threaten the tourism and capture fishing industries. It makes for a sobering read and much of the fault is put at the feet of weak and corrupt governance. Audubon calls for harsher penalties for non-compliance with environmental regulations, citing fines of US$1000 as inadequate deterrents to large multinationals. A major obstacle to environmental considerations is Belize's need for foreign exchange, which makes its politicians less likely to rebuff large development projects with scant regard for environmental protection. After its debt was restructured in 2007, the economy stabilized but it is far from robust. The environment has consistently been overlooked for the “greater good” of social and economic development, but this short-termism has brought the country to its present ecologically fragile state.

The postponing of three municipal elections in Nicaragua's North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and the subsequent violence following the decision (see page 3) have turned the public's attention towards an often-neglected area of the country. The RAAN makes up 25% of the country's territory, yet holds only 250,000 inhabitants-among them indigenous groups like the Miskitos and Mayagnas, as well as Afro-Nicaraguans and mestizos. While the region has no paved roads and some of the country's highest poverty levels, it also contains a vast amount of natural resources, much of which have not yet been exploited. It is the rights to these resources that is rumored to be the real cause behind the delayed elections, and local leaders point fingers at the Sandinista/Yatama party alliance that governs much of the region.