Central American presidents
insist on single candidacy for
OAS chief
Four
Central American presidents
reiterated their decision Monday
to present a single regional
candidate for secretary general
of the Organization of American
States (OAS).
Presidents of El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras and
Nicaragua made the decision
during their meeting in an area
between El Salvador and
Guatemala. The post has been
vacant since Miguel Angel
Rodriguez resigned as OAS
secretary general on Oct. 8 on
charges of corruption.
Guatemalan President Oscar
Berger said at a press
conference that the Central
American leaders will attend an
Ibero-American summit to be held
in Costa Rica on Friday and
Saturday and put forward the
candidate for the post.
"The final decision on who will
be the single regional candidate
has not been made," Berger said,
adding that maybe next weekend a
decision will be made.
Salvadoran President Elias Saca
said as pro tempore president of
the Central American Integration
System (SICA) that he has
discussed the issue with his
counterparts in the region and
their goal is to elect a Central
American as OAS secretary
general.
Chileans to hold
anti-globalization rally during
APEC meeting
A Chilean civil group announced
Monday that it will organize a
10,000-people rally against the
upcoming Economic Leaders'
Meeting of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC)
scheduled for the weekend,
Chile's Interior Ministry has
authorized the rally called by
the Chilean Social Forum (CSF),
which groups nearly 200
anti-globalization
organizations.
"This is a good news. It
tranquilizes us and we have
already got an official
authorization with respect to
the route of the march," said
the CSF spokesman Martin Pascual.
Protesters will march from the
Almagro Square in downtown
Santiago to the avenues of
Parque Bustamente and Bilbao at
11:00 local time (1400 GMT) on
Friday.
The anti-APEC rally is designed
to protest against US
PresidentGeorge W. Bush, who is
blamed for making the world more
insecure with his so-called "war
on terror," said the spokesman.
"We don't have any precedents of
the international terrorism
risks to date. The most visible
preoccupation is maintaining the
public order," said Deputy
Interior Minister Jorge Correa.
The government, which has
decreed Friday as a special
holiday in Santiago, will seal
off main avenues in the capital
for the APEC meeting. The
meeting will be guarded by about
5,000 police.
APEC was set up in 1989 in
response to the growing
interdependence among
Asia-Pacific economies.
It now groups Australia, Brunei,
Canada, Chile, China, Chinese
Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan,
South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico,
New Zealand, Papua New Guinea,
Peru, Russia, Singapore, Chinese
Taipei,Thailand, the
Philippines, the United States
and Vietnam.
|
|
|
In the
market for a change? Click
here! |
|
Strong quake in Colombia injures
11 people
At least 11 people were injured,
four of them seriously, in a
strong earthquake in western
Colombia, the authorities said.
The quake, measuring 6.7 on the
Richter scale, struck at around4
a.m. (0900 GMT) on Monday. Some
50 houses were damaged as well.
Social Protection Minister Diego
Palacio said the damage was
minor despite the high magnitude
of the quake because the
epicenter was 30 km deep in the
Pacific Ocean off the coastal
municipality of Bajo Baudo.
However, officials of the Mining
and Geology Institute warned
that there might be aftershocks.
Most of the property damage
occurred in downtown Bajo Baudo
andin the scarcely-populated
southwestern Choco jungle.
In 1999, a massive earthquake
with a magnitude of 6.2 hit the
coffee-growing region of central
Colombia, killing more than
1,000and injuring 10,000 others.
A total of 200,000 houses and
buildings were destroyed.
|
|
