Honduras officially joined Petrocaribe on Dec. 21 during the group's Fourth Summit, held in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The 16-member Petrocaribe is a mechanism for providing Venezuelan oil to other Caribbean countries at full price but on easy terms which include payment in goods and services rather than hard currency. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who initiated Petrocaribe in June 2005, told the meeting that he hoped to broaden the group to become a "new Caribbean economic space, respecting those that already exist," a reference to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Most Petrocaribe nations are also part of CARICOM, which is seeking to become a common market for the region. The summit concluded with the opening of a refinery at Cienfuegos. (EFE, Dec. 21; La Jornada, Mexico, Dec. 23)

Leftist Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa declared a state of exception (which suspends some legal norms) in the southeastern village of Dayuma on Nov. 29 following protests there. Dayuma's 2,800 residents live in poverty despite petroleum extraction operations in the area by a number of companies, including Chinese Andes Petroleum; on various occasions residents have confronted the military in demonstrations to demand better roads and jobs at the oil companies. In the latest incident, residents say soldiers burst into their homes, beating women and children and arresting the men. Some 25 people were taken prisoner, including Orellana province prefect Guadalupe Llori.

On Dec. 18 Argentine judge Ariel Lijo gave seven former military officers and one former police agent prison sentences of 20-25 years in connection with the disappearance of some 20 members of the rebel Montonero organization in 1980. This was the first time since 2003 that former officers received prison sentences for crimes committed during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship; the Due Obedience and Final Point laws had shielded officers from prosecution until they were annulled in 2003. In 1980 a group of Montoneros, who had originally been allied to the left wing of the Justicialist Party (PJ, Peronist), tried to return to Argentina to fight the dictatorship but were captured by the military. Most remain disappeared, although the shot-up bodies of some have been found.

The 82-year-old Gregorio Alvarez, former Uruguayan army commander and president (1981-1985) of the military junta that ruled the country after a 1973 coup, was imprisoned on Dec. 17 in Montevideo after Judge Luis Charles ordered his arrest for participation in the disappearance of at least 21 people in 1977 and 1978. The judge is in charge of an investigation into the disappearances of Uruguayan dissidents who had taken refuge in Argentina but were brought back to Uruguay secretly and illegally, with the cooperation of the Argentine military government under Operation Condor, a clandestine program of coordination between Latin American military regimes in the 1970s and 1980s. The judge also ordered the arrest of retired army officer Juan Carlos Larcebeau and retired navy officer Jorge Troccoli. (La Jornada, Mexico, Dec. 18 from wire services)

On Dec. 14 US president George W. Bush signed legislation approving the Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA, or TLC for its initials in Spanish), which will eventually eliminate tariffs between the two countries. The signing took place at a ceremony in the White House in Washington, DC, which Peruvian president Alan Garcia attended along with diplomats and members of the US Congress. According to an opinion poll by the Apoyo firm published in the daily Comercio on Dec. 16, 66% of Peruvians favor the accord and only 25% oppose it. Apoyo says the poll was carried out among 1,017 Peruvians between Dec. 12 and 14 and has a 3.1% margin of error. (El Diario-La Prensa, Dec. 17 from AP)

Colombia's main opposition party, the Polo Democratico, has issued a strong statement against Plan Colombia. The communique is also a grim assessment of Alvaro Uribe's Democratic Security policy, heavily influenced by Washington. The Polo cites the increase of human rights violations and forced displacement among communities targeted for crop eradication. Furthermore, the Polo asserts that under Plan Colombia, paramilitary groups have strengthened, achieving greater political, economic and social control throughout several regions.

On Dec. 13, an observer who works for an international body set up to monitor Colombia's demobilization process received a death threat while visiting a poor neighborhood in Medellín. Since 2004, the Mission to Support the Peace Process (MAPP), under the auspices of the Organization of American States, has had teams of observers in different parts of Colombia and produces periodic reports. The member who was threatened in Colombia was in a meeting when a man on a motorcycle drove up to her car and told her driver that his boss would be killed if she failed to abandon her work.

Workers march in Baghdad
Striking teachers rally
Iraq's teachers and healthcare workers are uniting with other public-sector employees to demand the government take action on improving working conditions, and pledge to begin a campaign of public sit-ins in Baghdad Dec. 26. The teachers union representing education workers in 15 provinces marched in Baghdad Dec. 16 in a one-day strike, pledging to escalate actions if the government doesn't deal next month. The teachers are demanding the same pay as colleagues in the safer Kurdistan region, and for greater investment in deteriorating schools. Security is also a key demand, following the slaying of a Baghdad school director last month. Speaking to the Baghdad newspaper al-Mada, the deputy head of the Teachers' Syndicate, Burhan Nema, said "Iraqi teachers will stage a sit-in as part of a protest campaign that calls for improving the living standards of 500,000 families living in poverty."