Central America

The Heinrich Böll Foundation works in Mexico and the Caribbean on resource policy, energy and socio-ecological transformation as well as democracy, security and digital rights.

The migration stream going through Mexico is the largest in the world. Violence is on the migration routes of the day. At least since the discovery of 72 dead migrants in the northern state of Tamaulipas in August last year, brings the issue of serious human rights violations against migrants in Mexico increasingly into the public interest. An inventory

Much of the public is deaf to the claims of President Obama that poverty and unemployment levels would be worse without the injection of stimulus money by his administration which provided tax relief and income support for millions of Americans.

Many Americans have long seen campaign finance laws as the best hope for restoring democracy in the US and were glad to hear President Obama's pledge to work with the Congress to overturn the Supreme Court decision. But the political tides are not moving in favor of democracy.  Money can't buy love or democracy.

Roberto Martínez Castañeda,  Ambassador of Honduras to Germany and the EU, describes the situation in Honduras from a constitutional perspective. "Brutal and illegitimate from the origin" he calls the de facto government and tells us why.

The Merida Initiative, a programme against the illicit trade in drugs headed by the USA and Mexico, is too focused on law enforcement. What is needed is structural reform of the police and judicial systems and more economic development.