Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff
Daniel Ortega
Vietnam will begin prospecting for oil in Nicaragua within four week, according to an agreement signed here between both countries´ state-run companies.
The agreement was signed Monday night in Managua by a PetroVietnam delegation, headed by Dinh La Thang, and Francisco Lopez, president of the state-owned company Petronic.
Lopez announced oil technology transference between both countries will immediately begin, to complement works being done at the oil refinery under construction in Nicaragua with the support of Venezuela.
The refinery is part of the agreements signed by Nicaragua under the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), which is also backed by Cuba, Bolivia, Honduras and Dominica.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega attended the signing ceremony between Petro Vietnam and Petronic.
U.S. to fund actions in Mexico against drug traffic
The administration of US President Barack Obama will invest 700 million dollars to support the Mexican government in its war against drug traffi cking, said the White House in a communiqué Wednesday.
The text of the communiqué picks the concern of the US President because of the growing violence by thedrug cartels in the north of Mexico, which are already infl uencing US regions limiting with Mexico.
The 700 million dollars will be saved in the funds of the Merida Initiative, a program promoted by former US President George W. Bush to fight the drug illegal trade in Central America.
Barack Obama promised he would do his job in the war against drug traffi cking and reduce the drug demand in the national market, just like his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon requested many times.
US National Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a press release that the Executive would increase border control, by sending more agents and equipments to the zone.
The new agents will have the mission to avoid the smuggling of drugs and people from Mexico to the US, and neutralize the traffic of weapons arming the drug cartels.
Salvadorians honor Archbishop Romero Salvadorian priests and numerous parishioners attended on Tuesday, March 23, a mass to pay homage to Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero, on the 29th anniversary of his assassination by death squads.
The religious ceremony will take place at the Metropolitan Cathedral in this capital, presided over by San Salvador Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar.
On Saturday, they began the activities to honor Romero, who is an emblematic symbol of the struggle for peace, justice and national unity.
Honduran president proposes constitutional revamp
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is calling for a new constitution in his Central American nation, following the path of his leftist allies in the region.
Zelaya announced late Monday his government will hold a nationwide poll on June 24.
The poll will gauge whether Honduras should hold a binding vote in November on whether to draft a new charter.
If Hondurans agree, the government would convoke an assembly that would write a new constitution adapted to “substantial and significant changes” that Honduras has experienced since its current constitution was adopted in 1982 as the country was emerging from military rule.
Zelaya did not give details about what changes a new constitution might include, but similar recent reforms promoted by other Latin American leaders have expanded presidential powers and eased bans on re-election. Zelaya’s four year term ends in early 2010 and current law bans re-election.
Zelaya has forged increasingly close ties with Latin America’s leftist bloc, led by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez. He brought Honduras into the Chavez-founded Bolivarian Alternative trade bloc that also includes Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. (Prensa Latina and Associated Press contributed to this report).
