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The international community initially celebrated an agreement negotiated  in Honduras, on October 28th, between coup regime leader Roberto Micheletti and deposed President Manuel Zelaya, which could have put an end to the crisis. But, less than a week later, the accord started crumbling apart.

On November 5th, 2009, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) sponsored a briefing of civil society leaders and activists on Capitol Hill to talk about the human rights violations that have been occurring in Honduras since the coup and give their vision for the future.  The leaders’ visits were coordinated by the Quixote Center and Just Associates, and LAWGEF pitched in to help. The following quotes were taken from that briefing.

On Friday, November 6th, the U.S. government finally released its estimate of how much coca was cultivated in Colombia in 2008. The result is the first reduction in coca-growing since 2002-2003, a significant drop from 167,000 hectares measured in 2007 to 119,000 hectares in 2008. (A hectare is equal to 2.47 acres.) This brings the U.S. government’s coca cultivation estimate to its lowest level since 2004. (The U.S. government has not yet released 2008 coca data for Peru and Bolivia.) This matches a downward 2007-2008 trend – though not the number of hectares – that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime announced (PDF) back in June.

A reduction in coca cultivation is good news. But what caused it?

The hearing has arrived.

Thursday, November 19th, the full House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing on the freedom to travel to Cuba.  Official announcement here.  Chairman Howard Berman titled the hearing, “Is it Time to Lift the Ban on Travel to Cuba?”

Once again, Central America is battered by natural disaster.  As our partner the Share Foundation describes it:

“While the National Hurricane Center in the United States has downgraded Hurricane Ida to a Tropical Storm, El Salvador has experienced the full brunt of hurricane force winds and rain.  Over the weekend, the storm destroyed more than 7,000 homes and damaged many more.  The most recent data… indicates that approximately 130 people have been killed by the storm, and thousands more injured.   This total is sure to rise as emergency relief workers continue to work their way through damaged buildings and areas that have experienced landslides.