On May 21 Assistant US Trade Representative Everett Eissenstat told a Senate Finance Committee hearing that the administration of US president Barack Obama won't seek the approval of Congress for a free trade agreement (FTA) with Panama until the president has established a new "framework" for trade. "It's clear that trade agreements in the last few years have been much too divisive," Eissenstat said. "We want to make sure that Panama doesn't contribute to that divisiveness." This was a reversal from the administration's plan in March to push for early approval of the pact; the change followed a statement by John Sweeney, president of the main US labor federation, the AFL-CIO, opposing the Panama FTA.

On May 20 some 17,500 banana workers in Colombia's northwestern Urabá region ended a strike they began on May 8 over pay and benefits. The workers won an 8% wage hike for the first year of the two-year contract and a cost-of-living adjustment for the next year; this is based on the Consumer Price Index (IPC in Spanish), which is expected to rise by 5% or less this year. The strikers also won benefits including funds for housing, recreation and culture, a bonus, and pay for the days lost to the strike.

On May 20 the Mexican government's National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) announced that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 8.2% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period the year before. The next day Salomon Presburger, president of the Concamin business organization, told a Mexico City press conference that the country had already lost 300,000 jobs in 2009 and would probably lose a total of 600,000 during the year, half of them from the industrial sector, in which he expected a 12-13% contraction. He predicted that the numbers would be even worse when statistics come in on the effect of the H1N1 influenza ("swine flu"), which has caused at least 74 deaths to date, has reduced tourism and led many companies to shut down for a week in late April and early May.

Venezuela's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 0.3% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period the year before, the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) reported on May 19. Miguel Carpio, an economist at Banco Federal CA in Caracas, projected a zero growth rate for the year. Finance Minister Ali Rodríguez attributed the situation to the global economic downturn, which has cut the price of Venezuelan oil from an average of $87 per barrel last year to an average $42 per barrel so far in 2009; oil accounts for more than 90% of the country's exports.

Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained May 25 by the AP. "There are reports that Venezuela supplies Iran with uranium for its nuclear program," the Foreign Ministry document states, referring to previous Israeli intelligence conclusions. It added, "Bolivia also supplies uranium to Iran."

Thousands of Sikh protesters brandishing swords flooded the streets of several of major towns in India's Punjab region, burning trains, blocking roads and attacking public buildings following the slaying of dissident Sikh guru Sant Ramanand, who was attacked by six men with knifes and a pistol at a gurdwara (Sikh temple) in Vienna May 24. Ramanand, from the Dera Sach Khand sect—made up largely of dalits ("Untouchables")—was targeted by Jat Sikhs—a higher caste, landowning sect—who accused him of disrespecting the religion. At least two have been killed in the Punjab violence.

A total of nine people have been kidnapped in Colombia by victims of pyramid schemes, authorities said May 23. According to Harlan Henao Serna—director of Fund for the Defense of Personal Liberty (Fondelibertad), the government agency in charge of keeping track on kidnappings—the "collapse" of some of the pyramids led to "unexpected reactions" by those who had invested money in the fraudulent schemes. He said kidnappers are trying to recover close to 13 million pesos (US$6,000), with the nine people currently held captive. Police have arrested 18 pyramid victims on kidnapping charges.

Colombia's second largest guerrilla army, the National Liberation Army (ELN), asked the rival Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to end hostilities between the two groups. ELN supreme commander Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista AKA "Gabino" wrote an open letter to his FARC counterpart, "Alfonso Cano" asking him to "stop to fratricidal war between our two forces," the ELN website shows. In the letter, the ELN chief says he is still waiting for reply to earlier missives urging the FARC commander for a bilateral meeting and resolve the conflict between the two guerilla armies. (Colombia Reports, May 24)