Ernesto Cardenal criticizes Nicaragua's proposed interoceanic canal

From the Tico Times

Nicaraguan writer and Catholic priest Ernesto Cardenal this weekend blasted plans for the construction of a massive interoceanic canal, calling it a “monstrosity” that would split the country in two and irreversibly damage Lake Cocibolca, the biggest freshwater lake in Central America.

Cardenal penned an op-ed column in the local newspaper La Prensa titled “La monstruosidad del canal” – “The monstrosity of the canal” – in which he criticized the favorable conditions that the government of Daniel Ortega granted to Chinese businessman Wang Jing in the canal concession.

“We should denounce to the world what is happening in Nicaragua,” Cardenal wrote, accusing Ortega of imposing the project on the country with “power absolute.”

I can't say that I was totally shocked but at last week's talk at Marquette, I spoke to someone who has been involved in Central America solidarity work for quite some time. I listened to him rail against the Guatemalan government for its repression of indigenous groups in the name of hydroelectric and mining profits. He then criticized the Honduran government and business sector for displacing peasants in the Aguan region in order to plant palm oil. He was proud of solidarity's work in defeating Milwaukee's Commerce Group in El Salvador.

But then he went on and on defending the Nicaraguan government's handling of the proposed canal. It was painful. I'm not an engineer, but I don't know how anyone can deny the likely environmental and societal damage that the proposed canal will have on the people of Nicaragua.

Engineer, when they kill me, you find all of my body and deliver it to my mother

The AP has a story on Israel Ticas, one of the country's few "forensic scientists" it would appear.

Some would argue that digging up graves is a fool's errand in El Salvador, a country with the world's second highest per capita homicide rate after neighboring Honduras. But this is a vocation for Ticas, who calls himself the "lawyer for the dead." In fact, he is a systems engineer turned police detective who taught himself forensic science. Most address him by his academic title, "Engineer."

Short and solidly built, he looks younger than his 51 years. Ticas speaks in the street slang of the gangsters who occupy his neighborhood, but looks the part of a plainclothes cop. When not in biohazard gear, he wears a leather jacket and dark glasses, or a double-breasted suit with a tie held in place by a gold clip.

He was a young police intelligence agent during the US-backed government's war against Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front guerrillas in the 1980s. Today, those former guerrillas hold the presidency, and Ticas works for an independently named attorney general as the department's only criminologist.

If anything, El Salvador needs more men like Mr. Ticas.

Not just baking, but now farming, tailoring, carpentry, and construction work.

The official campaign season opened on October 30.

Mark Anner was kidnapped by the Treasury Police in 1988 and then seriously injured in October 1989's bombing of the National Federation of Salvadoran Workers in El Salvador. He is now an associate professor of Labor and Employment Relations, and Political Science at Penn State.

El Salvador's Ambassador to the United States during much of the 1980s, Ernesto Rivas Gallont, apologized for following orders and not telling the truth about the massacre at El Mozote and other heinous crimes.

Day of the Dead and Mexico's missing student-teachers

The Christian Science Monitor's Whitney Eulich writes As Day of the Dead looms, families of missing Mexican students hold out hope. One month after the disappearance of 43 college students in Mexico, family members and government authorities are still investigating to find out what happened to them. Instead, all the find are more mass graves without any signs of the missing students.

Orange and yellow marigolds and sugary breads are making an appearance across Mexico City this week as families prepare to celebrate the Nov. 2 Day of the Dead.

To commemorate deceased loved ones on this Catholic-inspired holiday, Mexicans build altars, visit graves, and leave offerings, such as a favorite food or drink.

But for weeks already, some of the parents of the 43 college students who disappeared a month ago in Guerrero state after an encounter with police have gathered around an “altar of hope” on their children's campus. It underscores their demand for answers in what has become a grim national scandal. 

Over 1,200 bodies have been found in mass graves in Mexico since 2006.

I hate to think about this but mass graves / clandestine cemeteries have been found in Mexico and El Salvador. There was a story about a mass grave along the US - Mexico border a few months ago as well. Will they ever uncover similar graves in Guatemala or Honduras?