From Spanish Wire Archives

MEXICO: Cross-Border Child Custody, a Legal Tangle

Mexican or foreign-born children being held by one of their parents in this or another country are caught up in a legal tangle marred by red tape and the arbitrary powers of judges, according to experts.

GUATEMALA: For the Maya, the World Isn’t Ending – the Environment Is

By Danilo Valladares

The end of the Maya long-count calendar does not predict a global catastrophe, let alone the end of the world, say native activists and elders who spoke to IPS in Guatemala. But what are coming to an end are the world's natural resources, as a result of human activity, they warn.

LATIN AMERICA: Iran Flaunts Its Allies

By Humberto Márquez

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sought to freshen up his international image on a tour of Latin America and demonstrate that his country does have friends in the world, while almost every day events place him at the epicentre of fraught geopolitical tensions.

Haitian Diaspora Tests Brazil’s International Solidarity

By Fabiana Frayssinet

Brazil, for decades a source of migrants to the United States and Europe, is now facing its own humanitarian challenge: applying the international solidarity it trumpets to the Haitians who are arriving in the thousands, in search of a better life.

EL SALVADOR: Pesticides Fill Graveyards in Rural Villages

By Edgardo Ayala

Sitting in the shade under a tree at a careful distance, Francisco Sosa watches his son prepare the land for planting by spraying the weeds with an herbicide from a tank carried on his back.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Another Blow to a Fragile Democracy

By Mario Queiroz

The death of the president of Guinea-Bissau, Malam Bacai Sanhá, could usher in a replay of the military uprisings that have set an unmistakable seal of instability on the political life of this small West African country.

BRAZIL: Growing Pains in a Country Under Construction

By Mario Osava

Major infrastructure works are sprouting like mushrooms in Brazil, generating millions of jobs and drawing more than 60 billion dollars in foreign investment in 2011. But this thrust has failed to sustain economic growth, which according to the latest projections is below three percent.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Clean, Efficient Wood Stoves Good for People and the Planet

By Edgardo Ayala

In his quest to make the most efficient possible use of energy generated through wood combustion, Salvadoran René Núñez developed a simple but highly efficient wood stove that produces no smoke and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 95 percent.

Salvadoran Poet Roque Dalton’s Murder – Case Closed

By Edgardo Ayala

It was the first time that a Salvadoran judge was holding a hearing to decide whether the case of Roque Dalton, a poet murdered 36 years ago, should go to trial. But the hopes of his family were dashed.

SOUTH AMERICA: Responsible Tourism at the “End of the World”

By Marcela Valente

An innovative responsible tourism initiative in the Beagle Channel - a narrow strait linking the Atlantic and Pacific near the southernmost tip of South America - ensures the compatibility of the observation and conservation of unique bird and mammal species.

No One Wants Mexico City’s Garbage

By Emilio Godoy

The closure of Mexico's biggest garbage dump has highlighted the absence of a comprehensive policy for urban waste collection, disposal and processing, a failure that has serious consequences for health and the environment.

BOLIVIA: Artificial ‘Islands’ to Protect Cattle from Annual Floods

By Franz Chávez

Small-scale dairy farmers in this remote area of Bolivia's northeastern Amazon region of Beni have a new hope for protecting their livestock from the fierce annual floods that start in December.

BRAZIL: Miracle Mileage from a Hobbled Economy

By Mario Osava

In 2011, Brazil's economy grew by less than half the 7.5 percent it attained in 2010. However, this result would be miraculous in any other country with the barriers to productivity and competitiveness that prevail in Brazil.

Shale Gas Turns the Tables on Petroleum Powers

By Humberto Márquez

Countries that have always depended on imported oil and gas, like Chile, Paraguay, Poland or Ukraine, and especially heavy consumers such as the United States and China, could become self-sufficient in natural gas in the near future and even start exporting it.

CUBA: Pope to Visit a Country in Flux

By - - and Patricia Grogg

On his upcoming visit to Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI will find a country immersed in dramatic changes, as it "modernises" its socialist system and continues to open up to religion, marking a difference from the society found by John Paul II when he visited almost 14 years ago.

GUATEMALA: Native People Suffer Racism in Employment

By Danilo Valladares

"There's a big difference in the way indigenous people and mestizos (people of mixed ancestry) are treated. We are not paid the same wages for the same work," Higinio Pu, an activist with the native group Waxaquib Noj, which means "wisdom" in the Maya Quiché language, told IPS.

CUBA: Men for Non-Violence

By - - and Dalia Acosta

Promoting the first Men for Non-Violence platform is one of the challenges undertaken by a group of social actors who devoted November and December 2011 to the most intensive Cuban campaign ever against gender-based violence.

HONDURAS: The Society of Fear

By - - and Thelma Mejía

As the new year rolls in, Honduras is feeling more than ever the challenges posed by soaring rates of violent crime, police corruption, the penetration of the police by organised crime, and a wave of selective killings of journalists and experts in the fight against drugs.