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This article interviews a woman named Lidia Cacho who runs a crisis center and discusses the domestic violence issue in Mexico. Many women's rights activist say that domestic violence is one of the ugliest consequences of Mexico's machismo culture. Many domestic violence victims are silent, because of fear and the lack of support from the police. Victims are often followed by their husbands or sent death threats. Lidia Cacho tries to work with domestic violence victims by protecting them and offering them as much support as possible.

In 2005, Mexico declared that a sexual attack by a husband is still defined as rape. In 1994, the country ruled that it was simply "an undue exercise of conjugal rights". Under this ruling, women could not report rape by their husband. The article states that 47 percent of women report being the victims of violence, and 84 percent of domestic violence victims are silent.

This article addresses the impacts of domestic violence in Latin America. Is is estimated that between 30 and 45 percent of women in the region suffer from some form of physical, sexual of psychological abuse. Latin American women want domestic violence to become more visible to the public to show that everyone pays for it. Due to the efforts of women organizations, domestic abuse victims can now receive free psychological and legal assistance, along with have access to help-lines and shelters.

In Guatemala the rate of violent deaths of women is outrageously hight and is still growing rapidly. The murdering of women usually involves torture, rape, or mutilation. Norma Cruz,co-founder of the NGO Survivors Foundation, has helped to provide many victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse and the families of murdered women with emotional and social support. According to Cruz, the "increasing number of killings of women in Guatemala is tied to the poverty that is the aftermath of Guatemala's civil war..." Even though her position in the foundation has many risks and harms, it has given voice to many victims and inspired other foundations in Guatemala to help this on-going issue of violence.

In an effort to tie the three bookmarked articles together, this piece also discusses relevant material to Nelson's "Reckoning" alongside the movie, "When the Mountains Tremble". This article too discuses the idea and reality of Femicide or the genocide against women in Guatemala that still occurs to date. While the other readings set up an outline of what acts occur against women and the lack of influence police powers have, this article flashes numbers at the reader as a shock value to paint a picture of the immense number of women who have experienced brutality. While the other articles have mentioned the extent to which corruption influences the lack of punishment, this author seeks punishment in a different way. While doing research in Guatemala, he took victims who have been harmed themselves or have lost close ones to the war to the mountains to confront the militia men as a form of satisfaction or justice since the impunity rate is 97% in Guatemala. He explained that the gratitude of victims explaining their feelings to murderers would be far more reaching than formal punishment from the criminal justice system ever could be.

Dalia Acosta's article addresses the gender equality issues throughout Latin America. Her interview of Julio César Gonzaléz presents an engaging, and possibly controversial, argument that women are not the only victims of Latin America's dominant and rigid patriarchal system and hierarchy: men also face an oppression, although different, due to the socially constructed concept of masculinity.

This article explains the issues of gender roles in Latin America. Julio César González, the Cuban General coordinator of the Ibero-American Masculinity Networkstates, "Until we scrutinise men's social roles and the concept of masculinity, we'll just be drawing circles around the women victims of the system." After completing 20 years of research in gender studies he tried to implement his findings in the real world, but faced resistance from people who only wanted to continue with the traditional stereotypes. Although the Cuban authorities have allowed women to be integrated into once all-male domains, there is still a long way for women to go to reach full equality.

This article identifies the analytic and public opinion perspectives of corruption and victimization in Latin American countries. As these countries seek to reform themselves, corruption keeps a haunting eye on all peoples of authority.

Mexico has appointed a new attorney general, Felipe Calderon, with hope to protect the drug cartels. Unfortunately, Calderon's war on cartels has caused the death toll to reach 13,500. The population is very unhappy with the armed forces, who want more action against those who protect that cartels.

Mexico city is trying to toughen the drug business by making more arrest. The drug business has brought more problems to Mexico city itself and the surrounding areas where by innocent victims were killed. This is a bad picture of Mexico on the global map.

This is an article discussing the resent return of remains of a young woman who disappeared during Argentina's "Dirty War." Years after the end of the war this is an example of the ways in which the victims and the communities are dealing with the violence and terror that had become characteristic to their lifestyles. Thanks to a non-profit organization working to find and return loved ones to families affected by the violence people of this region and others around the war are beginning to be able to mourn the loss of their family members and acknowledge the violence that they were subjected to under their corrupt government.

U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon offered humanitarian aid Tuesday to hundreds of people affected by torrential rains that flooded homes and killed at least two people in a Mexico City suburb. Ban, w | Comcast.net.

In this article from The New York Times in January 1993, the rise of AIDS in women in Latin America is discussed. Similarly to in Gutmann's findings, the fidelity of husbands is questioned as the reason for the rise in women's infections. With men having sexual affairs, they are contributing to the rise of AIDS in females.

This website is an organization called PADCA, which stands for "Programa de Atención al Desminado en CentroAmerica." This union helps the people with clearing the mines that are placed because of the turbulence in the Central American area. It also provides rehabilitation for the people that are affected by the mines.

In December of 2005, a bus driving in Honduras was stopped by gunmen in the notorious street gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and had chosen their victims at random. The attack was meant as a protest generated towards the government's crackdown on gang activities. As the United States shifts its focus to the Middle East, it is ignoring a dangerous problem close to home, and the gangs have grown in power and numbers.

Gangs that started in the slums of the United States slowly shifted back to the homelands of these Central American members without warning local governments. An explosive growth in youth populations with social problems like that of poverty and unemployment are resulting in the the rapid spread of gangs north into Mexico and even back to the United States. Gangs are bringing in rampant crime, partaking in drug trade, and committing murders on innocent civilians. These gangs are threatening the strength of their weak government, who no longer know what to do to solve this ongoing issue that only seems to be getting worse.

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.

In 2003 when Goldman Sachs economists linked Brazil with Russia, India and China as the economies that would come to dominate the world, much contest aroused over the inclusion of Brazil. Many economists questioned how Brazil could participate amongst the ensemble since the country features a declining growth rate, victim to any outside financial crisis, and constant political instability does not make Brazil an appealing candidate as an arising force. China leads the world economy out of recession while Brazil was not far from behind. Brazil was unable to avoid the downturn, but was among the last to fall and among the first to recover with a growing economy again at an annual rate of 5%. With the development of new deep-sea oilfields over the next few years, Brazil's growth will rapidly escalate also a result of Asian countries heightened appetite for food and minerals from Brazil's ample land. Forecasts alternate but in the decades proceeding 2014 Brazil will emerge as the world's fifth largest-economy, excelling Britain and France, and in 2025 it is also speculated that Sao Paulo will be the fifth-wealthiest city. Brazil perhaps surpasses its competing members because unlike China, it is a democracy, unlike India; the country is not plagued with insurgents, or ethnic and religious conflicts, or hostile relationships with its neighbors like India has with Pakistan and Kashmir. In contrast to Russia, Brazil exports more than oil and arms, and has established more cordial relationships with foreign investors. Brazil's emergence has not been hasty but instead steady. Initiatives began in the 1990s when they established a coherent set of economic policies, and the Central Bank was granted autonomy, which stimulated development of new multinationals that may have previously been state-owned companies that are now prospering as a result of operating from a distance from the government. Weaknesses, however, still permeate throughout Brazil, so it is necessary to

This photomontage depicts El Salvador's remembrance of the 20th anniversary of the Jesuit Massacre of 1989, when six distinguished priests; their housekeeper and her daughter were murdered by the government's troops. Students have joined together to create traditional street carpets, honoring the lives of those innocently destroyed in one of the many brutal chapters of El Salvador's twelve-year civil war. In accordance with the Jesuit philosophy, El Salvadorians have decided to display the blood stained clothing of the victims in a memorial room, so the event does not dissipate in individual's memories but rather directly confronts the viewer so they are incapable of ignoring the stark realities of the massacre. Thousands gathered for a candlelight vigil amongst members of the victim's families, and Jesuit priests from around the world assembled to organize an evening mass in which their sermons assailed social injustice and inequalities held in front of the thousands gathered.

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.