Today's Stories: Central American summit to be held in Guatemala Incoming OAS chief to propose changes on administrative structure Venezuela OKs Internet Dollar Purchases Poverty Affects Women More than Men in Latin America

Venezuela's government announced it would spend US$1.5 million dollars to stop the spread of an aquatic plant that is threatening the nation's largest waterway. A state of emergency has been declared in Maracaibo Lake, one of South America's largest bodies of water, due to the spread of a green plant known as "duckweed" or "Lemna," Environment Minister Ana Elisa Osorio said.

Reports from Guatemala City said presidents from the Central American countries and from Belize and the Dominican Republic will attend the summit.

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Jorge Briz said Monday that "the fundamental issue of the summit will be the Central American integration."

Local press quoted Briz as saying that the foreign ministers ofthose countries will meet a day before the summit in Guatemala City to discuss some proposals.

He said technical missions of the Central American Integration System are working on specific subjects for regional integration that will be presented at the summit.

Briz regarded the progress made in the establishment of a customs union and the free movement of people and goods as one of the "most important" progress in regional integration.

The Central American countries hope Costa Rica will join the customs union and Panama has voiced its desire to participate in the project, he said.
 

Incoming OAS chief to propose changes on administrative structure
The incoming Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Miguel Angel Rodriguez, said Monday that he will work out and proposed a series of changes on the administrative structure of the organization in the coming months.

Rodriguez was elected unanimously on June 7 as the next secretary general of the OAS at the 34th general assembly of the organization. He will succeed outgoing Secretary General Cesar Gaviria, former Colombian president, on Sept. 15. Gaviria has led the OAS for a decade.

Speaking at a press conference here, Rodriguez, the former Costa Rican president, said that the administrative changes are indispensable to move forward the organization in democracy, security, fight against poverty and strengthening of the Inter-American system of human rights.

Rodriguez said he will visit Washington on June 21-22 to meet the OAS Permanent Council and the outgoing Secretary General CesarGaviria for different ideas on the internal changes.

He said the OAS must have a leading role in the hemisphere's development.

Rodriguez served as Costa Rican president from 1998 and 2002.

 

Venezuela OKs Internet Dollar Purchases
Venezuelans will be able to use dollars for Internet shopping starting June 21, an easing of strict exchange controls that have been in place for more than a year, a government official said Friday.

The Economic Cabinet approved Internet dollar purchases through credit cards for up to $1,500 a year, said Edgar Hernandez, president of Cadivi, the government agency in charge of approving dollar sales.

Venezuela imposed controls on foreign exchange in February 2003, trying to stem massive capital flight amid a failed general strike to oust President Hugo Chavez.

Individuals and businesses must obtain approval from Cadivi before purchasing dollars at the official exchange rate of 1,920 bolivars to the dollar. To avoid the red tape, Venezuelans widely resort to buying dollars on the black market at about double the official rate.

Critics complain the controls are hurting private businesses in a country that relies on imports for 60 percent of raw materials. Since the controls took effect, the government has sold $5 billion for imports, compared to $500 million a month before.

The government notes the controls have helped raise Venezuela's foreign reserves, which stand at about $23.5 billion.

 

Poverty Affects Women More than Men in Latin America
Almost half the women of Latin American older than 15 years have no income of their own, while just one of every five men is in this situation. Moreover, women heads of households have less monetary income than men, in both impoverished and higher income households.

To understand the phenomenon of poverty and its persistence in the region it is necessary to analyze its links to equity in employment, particularly women's economic autonomy and empowerment.

This was the the focus of the Ninth Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held in Mexico City from 10 to 12 June 2004.

During this event, delegates reviewed the implementation of the international commitments made in the Regional Programme of Action adopted in 1994 by the Sixth Regional Conference.

The conference's work will go ahead within the framework of international commitments regarding women's progress adopted at world summits held in the 1990s, the Millennium Development Objectives passed by the UN General Assembly in New York in 2000, and the Platform of Action approved by the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China, in 1995. On this occasion, activities to commemorate the upcoming tenth anniversary of that meeting will also be approved ("Beijing+10").

Likewise, in the past three decades, there has been a massive and sudden rise in women's participation in the labour force in the region, according to the ECLAC report, Social Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2002-2003.

Nonetheless, the labour force continues to be extremely segmented in terms of placing women in the most precarious, lowest paid jobs, as well as perpetuating gender stereotypes, for example in domestic labour. In 2002, just 36.7% of the region's employed were women, a figure that has risen only slightly from the 31.5% posted in 1990.

Similarly, ECLAC has found that in the past decade the rise in poor and non-poor households headed by women has continued. In urban areas, in 2002 nine of the 18 countries analysed posted a higher percentage of indigent households headed by women and the largest gaps compared to households headed by men were apparent in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.