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Wedndesday, January 25, 2005
FMLN Leader Dies of Heart Attack
FMLN standard bearer and former presidential candidate Shafik Handal died yesterday at the age of 75 after suffering a heart attack at the airport upon arriving home from attending the inauguration ceremony of Bolivia’s newly elected president, Evo Morales.
Handal was a senior leader of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, the rebel group that fought a series of U.S.-backed right-wing governments throughout the 1980s. Handal led the FMLN delegation in peace talks that finally ended the 12-year civil war in 1992. While he was a feisty negotiator and ardently committed to the ideals of the guerrilla movement, it was his sense of humor that is credited for keeping the peace process alive. After the Peace Accords, the FMLN became a political party and Shafik was elected to the National Assembly where he served as a representative until his death.
In his unsuccessful 2004 campaign against the right-wing candidate and current president Tony Saca, the veteran leftist had promised to withdraw El Salvador's small troop contingent from Iraq as well as minimize dependency on US relations. Instead, he focused his platform on political and economic reforms favoring the country’s largely poor population.
World Social Forum begins in Caracas, Venezuela
Thousands of anti-globalization protesters have marched through the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, at the start of the World Social Forum. The protesters shouted anti-war slogans and many of them carried banners criticising US President George W Bush. The annual meeting is seen as an ideological alternative to the World Economic Forum, attended by business leaders in the Swiss resort of Davos. Delegates will discuss fair trade, debt forgiveness and indigenous rights.
The forum was first held in the southern Brazilian resort of Porto Alegre in 2001. It strongly opposes globalization and wants both the corporations and the governments of the West to do more for the people and nations of the developing world.
CRISPAZ staff members from the Rural Community Accompaniment and South-North Solidarity programs are attending the forum.
Read entire BBC article
Red tape puts CAFTA on hold
The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which was supposed to go into effect on January 1, is on hold because the six other member nations still have not written, reformed or repealed laws to comply with the deal's strict terms on government procurement, customs rules, telecommunications services, public health policy, treatment of foreign companies and other matters. US trade officials are calling the delay a temporary setback, and say the agreement will begin with countries individually when they are ready.
House lawmakers in July narrowly approved CAFTA 217-215 in one of the toughest votes of the year. The administration portrayed the trade pact as a matter of national security and economic urgency while opponents criticized the legislation for its lack of protections for human rights, worker rights and the environment.
Read Washington Times article
