January 7: Dominica

Dominica’s Dominica Labor Party nominates Roosevelt Skerrit, the current education minister, to be prime minister after the sudden death of Prime Minister Pierre Charles. Skerrit, 31, would be the youngest leader since Dominica gained independence in 1978.

January 12: Latin America/Organization of American States (OAS)

Leaders from 34 member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) gather for a two-day Special Summit in the Mexican city of Monterrey to talk about some controversial issues, such as immigration, trade, terrorism, and corruption. The U.S. suggests expelling corrupt countries from the OAS. Unlike Brazil and Venezuela, the U.S. also wants the summit to reaffirm a 2005 deadline for completing talks on a Free Trade Area of the Americas.

January 12: Haiti

The mandate of most parliament members in Haiti runs out, which means that the country has no functioning legislature. This allows President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to rule by decree. Parliamentary elections were scheduled for last year, but did not take place. The opposition organizes more protests, demanding the president to step down.

January 20: Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appoints a new defense minister, General Jorge Garcia Carneiro, who vows to fight any coup that would threaten the president. Chavez dismissed about 100 officers who supported a failed coup in April 2002.

January 22: Nicaragua

The World Bank agrees to eliminate 80 percent of Nicaragua’s $6.5 billion debt under its highly indebted poor countries plan. It also offers Nicaragua an additional $75 million loan to finance poverty reduction projects. Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos says this is the best news for Nicaragua in the last 25 years.

January 24: Venezuela

Tens of thousands of people form two rival demonstrations including both opponents and supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the country’s capital, Caracas. The opposition protests the lack of decision on a referendum on the president’s rule. The government supporters say the opposition’s campaign is false.

January 30: Dominican Republic

At least five people die in clashes with police in the Dominican Republic during a 48-hour strike, which closes 97 percent of businesses, schools, and public transportation. People protest the government’s policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a $600 million loan. The country’s economy crashed last year after the collapse of a main bank, Baniter.

February 16: Peru

Peru’s president, Alejandro Toledo, who has approval ratings of 8 percent, changes 12 cabinet members in an attempt to improve the government’s performance. Prime Minister Carlos Ferrero appoints new ministers of finance, justice, education, health, work, production, and transport. This is the fifth cabinet change in President Toledo’s 32 months in office.

February 16: Chile

The South Korean parliament ratifies its first bilateral free-trade agreement with Chile after months of heated debates and a series of violent protests by Korean farmers. Under the agreement, Chile will lift tariffs on South Korean cars, mobile phones, and electronic goods while South Korea will allow Chilean copper and agricultural goods into its markets. South Korean agriculture is inefficient, and farmers feel exposed to the dangers of an open market.

February 19: Peru

Peruvian coca growers gather in the country’s capital, Lima, to discuss their demands to the government about their ability to maintain production of their controversial crops. They say they have no feasible alternative way to earn a living. Peru is the second-largest producer of cocaine in the world.

February 25: Haiti

Haiti’s opposition rejects a U.S.-backed power-sharing plan which was accepted by Haiti’s President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide has called for international help to end the uprising. The rebels control much of the north of the country and threaten to advance on the capital, Port-au-Prince, within days.

February 26: Colombia

Twelve Colombian soldiers are killed and 15 wounded after members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attack the southern province of Huila, ending a series of victories by security forces. Following the attack, President Alvaro Uribe sacks the general in command of the region and the head of the secret police.

March 5: Brazil

Rio Grande do Sul becomes the first Brazilian state to authorize same-sex marriages. The new law gives gay couples rights in areas such as inheritance, child custody, insurance benefits, and pensions.

March 6: Venezuela

Tens of thousands of protesters march through Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, demanding a referendum on President Hugo Chavez’s rule. The new protests erupt after the electoral college refuses to validate hundreds of thousands of signatures collected by the opposition. At least eight protesters have been killed in recent rallies.

March 8: Haiti

Haiti’s supreme court formally appoints its chief, Boniface Alexandre, as interim president. He replaces deposed president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who fled with his family to the Central African Republic. Aristide says he is a victim of a coup d’etat and accuses the United States and France of forcing him into exile.

March 10: Argentina

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approves the latest disbursement of $13.3 billion to Argentina after the country meets a deadline for repayment of its outstanding debt to the IMF, equal to $3.15 billion. In order to obtain the new funds, Argentina had to sign a new program of action, which includes negotiations with private foreign creditors who have received no payment from Argentina in over two years.

March 22: El Salvador

El Salvador’s rightwing party wins national elections for the fourth time in a row after a bitter campaign, which reopened old divisions over the country’s civil war. Tony Saca becomes El Salvador’s new leader.

March 22: Colombia

Colombia’s president, Alvaro Uribe, visits the United States for talks on a bilateral free-trade agreement and to lobby for more military aid. In the past five years, Colombia received over $3 billion in U.S. aid, which makes it the third-largest recipient of U.S. aid, after Israel and Egypt.

March 23: Antigua and Barbuda

The opposition United Progressive Party wins the general election in the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, defeating Prime Minister Lester Bird and his Antigua Labor Party, which has been in power since the 1950s. New Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer vows to fight corruption, which has plagued the country.

April 12: Brazil

Human-rights groups, including Amnesty International and Global Justice, condemn Brazil’s plans to build a 10-foot-high wall surrounding Rio de Janeiro’s two biggest slums, Rocinha and Vigidal. They say the wall will create social apartheid. But the city’s authorities say the wall will help security forces to control drug trafficking and arms trade in the slums. It would also stop the spreading of the shantytown, which already has 150,000 inhabitants.

April 16: Colombia

Colombian police raid and seize over 100 properties belonging to the alleged chief of the Norte del Valle drug cartel, Diego Montoya. If the assets, estimated at $150 million, are proved to have come from drug profits, they will be confiscated by the government and applied toward continuing the war on drugs.

April 27: Peru

Thousands of protesters in Peru’s impoverished southeastern Andean town of Ilave lynch the town’s mayor, Cirilo Fernando Robles Cayomamani, who was accused of embezzling state funds. Three other town officials are reported abducted.

April 30: Venezuela

Venezuela’s parliament approves a controversial reform of the country’s Supreme Court, which increases the number of judges from 20 to 32. The opposition claims that the reform will allow President Hugo Chavez to appoint more sympathetic judges and ultimately control the judiciary.

May 3: Panama

A former dictator’s son, Martin Torrijos, wins Panama’s presidential election, replacing President Mireya Moscoso, who is concluding her one five-year term, the maximum allowed under the country’s constitution. The election is seen as free and fair, with the participation of 80 percent of eligible voters.

May 14: Cuba

Cuban President Fidel Castro leads a tens-of-thousands-strong rally through the streets of Cuba’s capital, Havana, protesting against U.S. President George W. Bush’s tougher sanctions recently imposed on Cuba. Castro makes a speech, vowing to prevent Cuba from becoming a “U.S. neocolony.”

May 16: Dominican Republic

Former President of the Dominican Republic Leonel Fernandez defeats incumbent President Hipolito Mejia, winning 51 percent of the votes in the presidential election. The poor state of the country’s economy, including rampant inflation and high unemployment, is the main factor behind the voters’ decision.

May 27: Haiti/Dominican Republic

Two weeks of torrential rain that created devastating mudslides and landslides in Haiti and the Dominican Republic cause the deaths of at least 860 people. Emergency workers and rescue teams are trying to find the missing, bury the dead to prevent an outbreak of disease, and supply the survivors with food and first-aid kits.

May 29: Latin America

A summit of the European Union and Latin American leaders, held in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, ends with violent clashes between rioters who rallied for fair trade and against poverty. The summit reaches only a limited agreement on trade reform, with the EU cautiously agreeing to the G20 group proposal for agricultural tariff cuts. In foreign policy, however, the 58 leaders unanimously agree to urge the U.S. to seek greater UN involvement in Iraq.

June 1: Haiti

The United Nations is sending 8,000 peacekeepers to Haiti to replace the U.S.-led multinational force. The troops will be responsible for ensuring security and maintaining peace, training the local police force, and working on development projects. They will also provide assistance to the survivors of a flood that afflicted the country last week. The UN force includes soldiers from 14 countries and is led by Brazilian troops.

June 8: Mexico

The U.S. Supreme Court abolishes the 22-year-old rule that restricted Mexican trucks from entering the United States and thus undermined the NAFTA free-trade agreement. According to the rule, Mexican trucks could enter the U.S. only after a study into their environmental impact. Mexico protested the restrictions, which caused losses of billions of dollars a year.

June 11: Colombia

The Colombian government changes its tactics in its fight against rebel groups by offering the country’s second-largest faction, the National Liberation Army (ELN), negotiations if the ELN calls a cease-fire. The government wants to strike a separate peace agreement with the ELN, thus separating it from the more powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

June 27: Colombia

U.S. and Colombian authorities break a drug-smuggling network in an operation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The drug traffickers moved Colombian cocaine from the country’s northern coast across Caribbean islands to Florida.

June 27: Mexico

Hundreds of thousands of people march silently through the streets of Mexico City to protest against kidnappings and violent crimes as well as to pay tribute to crime victims. Mexico City has the second-highest number of kidnappings in the world, with about 3,000 cases reported annually.

July 2: Brazil

Brazil’s new gun-control law comes into force, tightening the rules on gun permits and creating a national firearms register. The law bans carrying guns in public and enforces strict penalties for owning an unregistered gun. Brazil plans a referendum on whether to ban sales of guns completely in 2005.

July 9: Cuba/Colombia

Colombian officials report that Cuba has arrested one of Colombia’s biggest drug traffickers and head of the Cali-based Norte del Valle gang, Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante. The gang is suspected of smuggling to the United States 500,000 kilograms of cocaine since 1990 valued at $10 billion.

July 14: Peru

Thousands of workers go on strike in Peru, demanding better wages and protesting President Alejandro Toledo’s free-market economic policies. More than 150 unions signed up for the protest. Corruption scandals have made President Toledo unpopular.

July 15: Venezuela/Colombia

Venezuela and Colombia sign an agreement to build the Guajira-Maracaibo natural-gas pipeline as part of a regional energy network. The $200 million project will transfer natural gas from Colombia’s Guajira province to western Venezuela, where the country faces a deficit of natural gas. Both countries hope that the new agreement will repair recently strained relations.

July 16: Cuba

The Cuban government offers to train nurses and doctors and provide anti-retroviral drugs below the market price throughout the Caribbean as part of the region’s fight against AIDS. The Caribbean has the highest rates of HIV infection after sub-Saharan Africa. However, Cuba has one of the world’s lowest infection rates, and it is willing to share its expertise with the rest of the region.

July 21: Mexico

The Mexican government creates a compensation aid fund of $2.2 million for the families of more than 300 women murdered in the city of Ciudad Juarez since 1993. Many of these murders, which are blamed on serial killers, drug cartels, and domestic violence, remain unsolved.

August 5: Peru

Peru’s president, Alejandro Toledo, opens the $1.6 billion Camisea pipeline, linking the vast gas fields in the Amazon with the capital, Lima. The government says the project will boost Peru’s economic growth and hopes Peru will become a net exporter of energy. The critics, however, charge that the pipeline will ruin the rainforest of the Amazon.

August 11: Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico

About 50 illegal migrants from the Dominican Republic die at sea from dehydration, hunger, and exposure while trying to reach the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico on a small wooden boat called the yola. Every year thousands of Dominicans embark on this dangerous trip to Puerto Rico, looking for a better life.

August 15: Venezuela

Venezuelan officials announce that President Hugo Chavez wins the referendum on his rule, obtaining 58 percent of the vote. Venezuelan citizens were asked whether the president should finish the remaining two-and-a-half years of this term. The opposition rejects the result, claiming the vote was fraudulent, and demands a manual recount.

August 25: Brazil

The World Bank loans Brazil $1.2 billion for environmental protection, the largest single loan given to a country for this purpose. Brazil is home to the world’s greatest biodiversity and the World Bank wants the country’s government to consider the environment in its policies.

August 26: Chile

Chile’s Supreme Court revokes former military leader General Augusto Pinochet’s immunity from prosecution, opening the door for his trial for the repressions in the 1970s and 1980s. Previous attempts to bring him to justice failed when judges were persuaded that Pinochet suffered from dementia.

September 1: Panama

Panama swears in Martin Torrijos as its new president. In his speech after the ceremony, Torrijos promises to call a referendum on projects to modernize the Panama Canal and to investigate alleged human-rights abuses under the rule of his father, Omar Torrijos. He also promises to improve Panama’s relations with Cuba.

September 9: Grenada

Powerful Hurricane Ivan sweeps through Grenada, destroying 90 percent of the island’s buildings and killing at least nine people. The hurricane causes property damage estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars and destroys the country’s key export crop, nutmeg. Prime Minister Keith Mitchell declares a national disaster.

September 20: Peru

Peru’s self-exiled former President Alberto Fujimori reveals his plan to run for the presidency in 2006, despite being banned from running for public office. He is wanted in Peru for various charges, including corruption, murder, and kidnapping.

September 22: Haiti

More than 1,514 people die and about 900 are missing after Hurricane Jeanne goes through Haiti, causing devastating flooding and mudslides. Also, about 175,000 people are left without food, water, and electricity. Haiti is unusually vulnerable to flooding and mudslides because of widespread deforestation. Distribution of humanitarian aid is hindered by the lack of security.

October 13: Colombia

About 700,000 Colombians protest nationwide against President Alvaro Uribe’s economic policies. Protesters come from trade unions, civic groups, and opposition parties who rally against unemployment, plans to raise taxes, and plans to change the constitution to allow his re-election.

October 19: Brazil

Brazil reaches an agreement with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will inspect its nuclear facilities near the town of Resende, to reexamine the country’s plans to enrich uranium, and to make sure that no nuclear material is diverted to producing weapons.

October 24: Brazil

Brazil successfully launches into space its first rocket, VSV-30, or Brazilian Exploration Vehicle. The rocket is supposed to carry out experiments just outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Brazil hopes that the launch will boost its space program.

November 8: Colombia

A Colombian rebel group, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), issues orders to all guerrilla groups to assassinate Colombia’s president, Alvaro Uribe, in response to his attempt to change the constitution, which would allow him to run for reelection. Uribe has survived at least 10 assassination attempts and is the most highly protected Latin American leader.

November 20: Chile

Twenty-one members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meet in Chile for a summit to boost trade and to improve counterterrorism measures. Chile is the first South American country to host the APEC forum.

November 23: Cuba

Accompanied by a large number of Chinese businessmen, Chinese President Hu Jintao pays an official visit to Cuba, where he meets with Cuban President Fidel Castro. Both sides discuss cooperation in tourism and telecommunications. China also agrees to invest $500 million in Cuba’s nickel industry. The two communist countries are also expected to strengthen their military cooperation.

November 27: Haiti

Thousands of Haitians form a peaceful rally in the capital, Port-au-Prince, in support of deposed former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The demonstrators express their frustration with the continuing violence in Haiti and inaction of the interim government. They call for including Aristide in helping to bring peace to the island.

November 27: Colombia

According to Colombian Defense Minister Jorge Alberto Uribe, the largest guerrilla group in Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), attempted to assassinate U.S. President George W. Bush during his recent visit to the city of Cartagena. U.S. military aid and intelligence supplies for the Colombian government, as well as the issue of extradition, are the main reasons the FARC wants to assassinate the American president.

December 1: Colombia

The Colombian Congress passes a controversial bill, which allows President Alvaro Uribe to run for a second term as president. Until now, presidents in Colombia were restricted to a single four-year term. Uribe says he needs more time to implement his policies against Colombian guerrillas.

December 9: South American Community of Nations

Representatives from 12 South American countries launch a new South American Community of Nations organization during a summit in the Peruvian city of Cuzco, which aims for closer political and economic integration between its members. Modeled on the European Union, the new bloc has a potential market of 361 million people with a GDP of $973 billion. Skeptics of the South American integration point to enduring political and economic disputes between the states.

December 9: Ecuador

Ecuador’s Congress dismisses the entire 31-member Supreme Court with a narrow majority during a session called by President Lucio Gutierrez, who claims the court has become too politicized. The opposition, however, describes the move as dictatorial and unconstitutional.

December 13: Cuba

Cuba begins its largest military exercises in 20 years, involving hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians. The Cuban government says the exercises are in response to continued aggression and threats from the United States.

December 24: Puerto Rico

Puerto Ricans elect Anibal Acevedo Vila governor, narrowly defeating Pedro Rosselo. Vila is a member of the ruling Popular Democratic Party and opposes turning the self-governing U.S. commonwealth into a U.S. federal state.

December 24: Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offers China access to Venezuela’s oil fields as part of a trade deal between the two countries. The agreement will allow China to operate Venezuela’s oil fields and invest in new refineries. Venezuela has already offered to supply 120,000 barrels of fuel oil a month to China. The move is Chavez’s attempt to diversify Venezuela’s markets and reduce its dependence on the U.S.