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Eco Del Sur was founded nine years ago with the idea to preserve the traditional music and culture from different countries in Latin America. In this way, the indigenous groups that have been integrated with the rest of society can still keep their past alive. The audience is taught about the origins of the music, so that they can know where it all came from.

The region including Latin America and the Caribbean is the area with the most homophobic crimes committed in recent years. Countries including Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia have had an unfortunate recent history of homophobic crimes. This article, from ipsnews.net., describes how IDAHO (the International Day Against Homophobia Committee) is asking for an international day against homophobia. They chose May 17th as the day of recognition, because on May 17, 1990, homosexuality was removed from the World Health Organization's list of mental disorders. In the past few years, many Latin American countries have developed slogans and media campaigns against homophobia and the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Many activist groups in Latin America (and worldwide) are vying for political action and equal rights laws.

This website talks about the different people living in Buenas Aires in terms of their sexual orientation (and their freedom to be open about it). It gives information about the history of building of what they call a "gay-friendly" enviornment in the city, and the movements that have been in place the past couple of years. There are also links to different websites for youth, women, and the industry of entertainment.

In the past decades, HIV infections are on the rise in Latin America and the Caribbean, however, Haiti, one of the countries hardest hit by the epidemic is witnessing falling infection rates. 2.2% about 190,000 Haitians are suffering from HIV/AIDS, according to UNAIDS. Infection rates are more slowly to decline in rural areas than in urban areas, but progress for battling the disease has been significant for a country with such high poverty levels. The percentage of pregnant women who have tested HIV positive has declined by half over the last ten years. The majority of the population, however, lacks proper sexual education. In countries where the prevalence rates are lower, the epidemic is concentrated among socially marginalized populations, such as gay males. Currently, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia and Mexico have the largest epidemic due partly to the fact that they have larger populations. Since Latin American and Caribbean nations are not a singular culture, attention to the HIV epidemic has not been homogeneous.

President Lula of Brazil hopes to "pass a 'homophobia law' that would make it a crime to criticize homosexual behavior." Most homophobic criticism stems from religious conservative groups. This is a primary goal of Lula's as an increasing number of murders have begun to result from hatred and prejudice against homosexuals over the past years.

In the past, the United States has granted political asylum to gays and lesbians from Latin America who could prove that they faced discrimination and persecution in their own countries because of their sexual orientation. Many of the asylum seekers were Mexican men who were HIV positive and were able to get the medical treatment they needed in the US. However, now that Mexico has taken some steps towards being more accepting of homosexuality, political asylum for Mexicans is harder to get.

Although the other bookmarks for this session have exemplified the positive transition that the gay rights movement has had over time within reference to liberating legislation and basic human rights, this article shows a negative impact that has also occurred. In Brazil, a gay pride parade was held with over three million participants and was going well until a bomb was thrown from a building and injured 21 people in the process. Such an act exemplifies that no matter how far the rights movement has come over the past twenty or so years, there will still be right wing conservative opposition in the near future.

In Venezuela's capital, Caracas, there has been a dramatic increase in violent crime over the past decade. There have been examples of crimes on the street where a teenager was shot dead in his wheelchair and men being hung to death by the attackers for his motorbike. Many people of Caracas have resorted to self defense classes due to the poor security and increasing crime rate in the city. These forms of self defense range from Indian wrestling, kick-boxing, karate, and martial arts. Although the rate of self defense is increasing, there doesn't seem to be any noticeable improvement in the security as of now.

The number of escapes at the Zacatecas prison in Mexico has increased over the past few years to an astronomical number thanks to the escape plans of Zetas, a paramilitary group. By paying off the prison guards, the inmates have been able to smuggle everything from cell phones and designer clothes to prostitutes in and bribe their way to larger cell blocks. The close knit relationship the drug cartel have formed with prison guards and federal officers begs the question: who in Mexico is actually fulfilling their duty to serve the public and protect?

This article discusses the steps that the government is taking currently to try to heal the population that was affected by the war, nearly everyone. The president is awarding compensation, in the form of money (check), to individuals who have lost family members and/or their homes because of the state military's past actions. Some say the most important thing that the president is doing is apologizing via letter that he signs or in person because it means that they recognize that they wronged many individuals and no amount of money can replace family members.

Guatemalan authorities work towards moving Guatemala away from its dark past. They want to ensure that people who are found guilty of having anything to do with the persecution of many indigenous people during the civil war are punished in some way.

Recently in Guatemala, many Catholics and Christians were involved in a Peace Walk protesting the excessive amount of violence, murders, abductions, rapes, drug addiction, and violence stemming from drugs. The walk was aimed to represent the extreme necessity of security that needs to be brought into Guatemala. During the protest, people used religion to preach for peace by holding signs that read "through Jesus and Mary we can have peace." Gangs such as maras are causing an overall insecurity throughout Guatemala (a recent study stated that 78 percent of Guatemalans are afraid to go out in the street and 90 percent are afraid of kidnapping). Everyday the people of Guatemala are threatened not knowing if either themselves or a loved one will be harmed in some way. Until changes are made and there is more security, the people of Guatemala call upon God and protest.

over 10,000 Catholic and Christian Guatemalans protested their frustration over violence and drug abuse. Crime has increased drastically over the past year in Guatemala, with 6292 murders. Cardinal Quezada Toruno spoke to the protesters in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Guatemala and turned to god and social activism to help decrease violence and crime in Guatemala.

This article discusses how the U.S. gets involved with international domestic abuse. Around 4,000 women in Guatemala have lost their lives in the past decade due to domestic abuse and violence. Luckily, Ms. Alvarado was spared this unfortunate fate. She had tried to get away from her husband numerous times but because he was involved with the military he easily tracked her down. So, the Bush and Obama administration got involved and allowed her to come to an asylum in the U.S. to get away from her violent husband. This is because violence is not tolerated no matter what nation. However, the U.S. cannot do this to every women in the world, they must provide credible and specific testimony of persistent abuse along with other criterion in order to be rescued. This seems to be a very good structure for battered women to get away from the abuse; but I believe that something needs to happen within the country to change the high numbers of domestic abuse instead of just sending women to the U.S.

This article describes the distinct differences between the main square of Guatemala City of 1986 and 2006. In 1986 Guatemala was "just emerging from a ghastly civil war which claimed as many as 200,000 victims, the vast majority of them killed or forcibly abducted by the state security forces". In 2006, when the reporter traveled to Guatemala, he discovered a much more peaceful environment. As Guatemalans comes to terms with the violence that it has endured for the past three generations, they do not forget about their suffering. In the main square are 12 pillars that are engraved with the names of all those known to have died during the years civil conflict.

This article describes a non-profit organization named CARE, which focuses on "fighting world poverty by improving the lives of women and girls around the globe" (and in this article's case, in Guatemala). In the past 3 years, the program started in a village in Guatemala has resulted in vast improvements in women's empowerment there.

This article discusses the notion of poverty and violence within the Guatemalan society. Currently, there are at least 900,000 residents, all above the age of 60 who are living on the dirty, impoverished streets of Guatemalan cities. Although the government has proposed solutions to the overwhelming amount of poverty and economic turmoil, there has been little progress in recent years.

This site reports a recent study of the living standards for Guatemalans. In the past few years, the rates of poverty, crime, and malnutrition have skyrocketed alarmingly. The hardest hit are the elderly and the children. In order to combat this, Guatemala is instituting benefit programs to give welfare to the elderly.

Throughout the developing world, the post-Cold War era has seen the emergence of increasingly powerful and violent criminal organizations, often referred to as "third-generation gangs." These groups have exploited the major international trends of the past 20 years -- including economic and financial integration, innovations in communication technology, the prevalence of weak and failed states, and a thriving global arms trade -- to seize control over a myriad of illicit commercial networks. They now use violence and corruption to undermine the governments that oppose them.

In March 1999, President Clinton apologized for the US's support and training of Guatemalan military officers, which contributed to the bloody civil war. He said the the US must "remember the past, but never repeat it" and vowed to support Guatemala in the peace-building and reconciliation process.