by the El Reportero’s news services
Laura Chinchilla
Costa Ricans have elected their first woman president as the ruling party candidate won in a landslide after campaigning to continue free market policies in Central America’s most stable nation.
But most Costa Ricans were reluctant to shake up the status quo in a country with relatively high salaries, the longest life expectancy in Latin America, a thriving ecotourism industry and near-universal literacy.
Chinchilla, the mother of a teenage son, is a social conservative who opposes abortion and gay marriage. She appealed both to Costa Ricans seeking a fresh face and those reluctant to risk the unknown.
Pro-Uribe camp cements control after Colombia’s congressional contest Just over two weeks after Colombia’s constitutional court barred President Alvaro Uribe from standing for re-election in May, parties loyal to him won a decisive victory in congressional elections on 14 March, fulfilling his main priority – that “policies not people” should be re-elected.
The big winner was Juan Manuel Santos, whose Partido de la U led the field in the senate, with 25 of the vote, strengthening his claim to be the true heir to Uribe’s legacy. The Partido Conservador (PC) also fared well in the senate, but the party is embroiled in an acrimonious internal dispute after a fiercely contested primary election failed to produce a clear victor.
This threatens to undermine the unity of the pro-Uribe coalition in congress.
Bolivia Recalls Centenarian Demand in Sea Day
Bolivian President Evo Morales headed on Tuesday the Sea Day’s celebration, in which the army will launch the slogan “Motherland or Death: We Shall Overcome” and it will be recalled the maritime demand to Chile.
This day is the 131th anniversary of the clash with Chile for the city of Calama, in which Bolivia lost the access to the Pacific Ocean.
Ecuador appeals U.S. court decision arbitration
Lawyers for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs suing Chevron for dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into Ecuador’s Amazon filed a notice of appeal today in U.S. federal court seeking to prevent the oil giant from taking its claims to an international arbitration where the rainforest communities cannot appear.
“After more than 17 years of litigation fraught with delay caused largely by Chevron itself, these individuals deserve to have their claims resolved in the forum that Chevron chose after relying for years on those promises.”
The appeal is of a March 11th decision by U.S. Judge Leonard B. Sand that allowed Chevron to take claims in the environmental case (Aguinda v. ChevronTexaco) to a private arbitration in violation of its earlier promises to the U.S. federal court that it would abide by any judgment in Ecuador subject only to an enforcement action under New York state law, according to the plaintiffs.
Presidential visit patches relationship between Argentina and Peru
Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández began a two-day state visit to Peru on March 22, the first such trip in 16 years. The objective of Fernández’s trip was to reinvigorate bilateral relations with Peru. That goal was met and the two presidents signed a series of cooperation agreements that appear to launch a new era of intense collaboration between the two countries.
