Honduran teachers started an open-ended strike on Feb. 9, when students were to begin registering for a new semester. The strike continued a campaign that unions representing the nation's 48,000 teachers started in January before schools reopened; the earlier actions included "informational assemblies" and sit-ins to protest the government's delays in paying salaries for some 2,600 teachers and its failure to pay full year-end bonuses. On the morning of Feb. 12, after a meeting with Education Minister Marlon Breve Reyes and aides to President Manuel Zelaya, union leaders agreed to suspend the strike while the government sought a solution. The unions also dropped their demand for Breve's resignation.

On Jan. 26, US federal magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth in Columbus, Ga., sentenced five activists to two-month prison terms for trespassing on the US Army's Fort Benning base on Nov. 23 as part of an annual protest against the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly the US Army School of the Americas (SOA). Faircloth sentenced an additional protester, Louis Wolf, to six months of house arrest and imposed a $1,000 fine; Wolf, a co-founder of the magazine CovertAction Quarterly, requires special medical care, according to his lawyer, Bill Quigley. The other activists sentenced were Rev. Luis Barrios, an Episcopal priest in New York City; public interest advocate Theresa Cusimano; seminary student Kristin Holm; Sr. Diane Pinchot, a Catholic nun and art professor; and retired teacher Al Simmons.

On Jan. 18, Salvadorans went to the polls to elect 262 mayors, one for every municipality in the country, as well as 84 deputies in the national assembly. After a tense day of voting and claims of violence and intimidation, both the leftist FMLN and the right-wing ARENA celebrated victories—the FMLN winning the most seats in the legislative assembly and ARENA taking the government of the capital San Salvador. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal has yet to verify the results.

On Jan. 13 Honduran teachers began a series of protests against the government's delays in paying salaries for some 2,600 teachers and its failure to pay full year-end bonuses. For the first phase of the mobilization, the unions representing the nation's 48,000 teachers called for "informational assemblies" throughout the country. The assembly held in the Hibueras de Comayaguela Institute in Tegucigalpa quickly turned into a demonstration. At 11 AM the participants marched to the Education Secretariat. Entering the building, they chanted: "Out with [Education Minister Marlon] Breve!" and "We want to be paid, we're hungry!" Ministry employees left their offices, and the teachers shut the doors to the building. Breve accused the teachers of sedition and sent for the police. About 30 agents of the National Police with shields and nightsticks blocked the doors to keep more teachers from entering. After an all-night standoff, the agents removed the protesters at about 4 AM on Jan. 14.

On Dec. 14 the Salvadoran government's National Security Council (CNS) held a press conference to present evidence that at least 40 armed groups were active in the country, with a total of 400 members. The evidence included photographs of residents of the community of Dimas Rodriguez, near El Paisnal in San Salvador department, allegedly receiving "military training." Many of the residents are former rebels who demobilized in 1992 as part of a peace deal between the government and the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN), now an established political party. Residents said the photographs were from a "cultural event" they have held annually for the past 15 years to commemorate the community's rebel origins; the event includes a march of people dressed as rebels and carrying plastic rifles bought from a street vendor in downtown San Salvador.

UN rights officials praised the Nicaraguan government's decision to give the indigenous Awas Tingni community official title to its traditional lands, marking the culmination of a decades-long struggle by the group to gain recognition and protection of its ancestral territory. "This affirmative step by the government of Nicaragua represents an important advancement in the rights of indigenous peoples worldwide," said Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people James Anaya.

A Canadian mining company intends to sue El Salvador's government for several hundred million dollars if it is not granted permission to open a widely unpopular gold and silver mine that scientists warn would pollute local water supplies. Pacific Rim Mining Corp., through its Nevada-based subsidiary Pac Rim Cayman LLC, filed a Notice of Intent Dec. 9 under provisions of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that allow corporations to sue governments over laws and decisions that put public interests ahead of corporate profits.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hosted Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega at the Kremlin Dec. 18, as a group of Communists in St. Petersburg called for naming one of the city's new subway stations "Nicaragua" or "Sandinista" as "a sign of Russia's recognition and serious intentions to return to Latin America." That same day, The Netherlands announced the suspension of 12 million euros of aid for Nicaragua, charging Ortega with frustrating free and fair local elections. (RIA Novosti, Radio Netherlands, Dec. 18)