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Land Mines In Central America
Land mines in Central America are a by-product of the Cold War-era conflicts of the 1980s. Contrary to the requirements of generally accepted international law, the minefields of Central America were usually unmarked and unrecorded on maps. Once placed, mines remain active for years, waiting the pressure of an unwary foot to detonate. Background With an estimated 100,000 land mines buried across Central America, mainly in Nicaragua, there was grave concern over their location and removal or deactivation as the Cold War began to wind down. In August 1991 Nicaragua asked the Organization of American States (OAS) for assistance, and the Secretary General forwarded the request to the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), which sent a group of staff officers to Nicaragua to assess the situation. A Demining Plan was developed under which the IADB, working with U.S. technical experts, would supervise the training of teams of Nicaraguan demining personnel. The Nicaraguan program operated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Land Mine
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automatically by way of pressure when a target steps on it or drives over it, although other detonation mechanisms are also sometimes used. A land mine may cause damage by direct blast effect, by fragments that are thrown by the blast, or by both. Landmines are typically laid throughout an area, creating a ''minefield'' which is dangerous to cross. The use of land mines is controversial because of their potential as indiscriminate weapons. They can remain dangerous many years after a conflict has ended, harming civilians and the economy. Seventy-eight countries are contaminated with land mines and 15,000–20,000 people are killed every year while many more are injured. Approximately 80% of land mine casualties are civilians, with children as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guatemalan Army
The Guatemalan Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de Guatemala) consists of the National Army of Guatemala (''Ejercito Nacional de Guatemala'', ENG), the Guatemalan National Defense Navy (''Marina de la Defensa Nacional'', includes Marines), the Guatemalan Air Force (''Fuerza Aerea Guatemalteca'', FAG), and the Presidential Honor Guard (''Guardia de Honor Presidencial''). The Ministry of National Defence is the agency of the Guatemalan government responsible for the budget, training and policy of the armed forces. Based in Guatemala City, the Defence Ministry is heavily guarded, and the President of Guatemala frequently visits. the Minister of National Defence is Major General Luis Miguel Ralda Moreno. The Minister of Defense is responsible for policy. Day-to-day operations are the responsibility of the military chief of staff and the national defense staff. History Guatemala is a signatory to the Rio Pact and was a member of the Central American Defense Council (CONDECA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaime Perales Contreras
Jaime Perales Contreras was born in Mexico City. Mexican cultural critic, public commentator and scholar. He wrote the first full-fledged biography on Nobel Award Winner for Literature Octavio Paz. (Octavio Paz y su círculo intellectual (2013), finalist XX Comillas Award for Biography and History, Barcelona, Spain. Novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Award Laureate, praised about Perales's book: "a mandatory reading for understanding the politics and culture of the last twenty years in the Americas of the twentieth century" Biography He earned his PhD in literature and cultural studies from Georgetown University, and a master's degree in International Relations from the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He did his undergraduate studies in social sciences at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, ITAM . His previous work on Paz influenced quite a few studies on the poet's work. He worked for 12 years at the Organization of American States in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ottawa Treaty
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of 1997, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or often simply the Mine Ban Treaty, aims at eliminating anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel landmines (AP-mines) around the world. To date, there are 164 state parties to the treaty. One state (the Marshall Islands) has signed but not ratified the treaty, while List of parties to the Ottawa Treaty#Non-signatory states, 32 UN states, including China, Russia, and the United States have not; making a total of 33 United Nations states not party. Chronology Early action and draft Conventions 1994 self-imposed moratorium on sales of mines dated 15th March 1994 1995 legislation passed on the 3rd of March 1995 to ban the production and export of all landmines this decision was to be reviewed after 5 years ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anti-personnel Mine
Anti-personnel mines are a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles. Anti-personnel mines may be classified into blast mines or fragmentation mines; the latter may or may not be a bounding mine. The mines are often designed to injure, not kill, their victims to increase the logistical (mostly medical) support required by enemy forces that encounter them. Some types of anti-personnel mines can also damage the tracks on armoured vehicles or the tires of wheeled vehicles. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines has sought to ban mines culminating in the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, although this treaty has not yet been accepted by over 30 countries. Use Anti-personnel mines are used in a similar manner to anti-tank mines, in static "mine fields" along national borders or in defense of strategic positions as described in greater detail in the land mine article. What makes them different from most anti-ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicaraguan Revolution
The Nicaraguan Revolution ( es, Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista, link=no) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) to oust the dictatorship in 1978–79, the subsequent efforts of the FSLN to govern Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, and the Contra War, which was waged between the FSLN-led government of Nicaragua and the United States–backed Contras from 1981 to 1990. The revolution marked a significant period in the history of Nicaragua and revealed the country as one of the major proxy war battlegrounds of the Cold War, attracting much international attention. The initial overthrow of the Somoza regime in 1978–79 was a dirty affair, and the Contra War of the 1980s took the lives of tens of thousands of Nicaraguans and was the subject of fierce international debate. Because of the political turmoil failing economy, and decreasing government i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union
The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (in Spanish: ''Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca'', URNG-MAIZ or most commonly URNG) is a Guatemalan political party that started as a guerrilla movement but laid down its arms in 1996 and became a legal political party in 1998 after the peace process which ended the Guatemalan Civil War. Formation Since the CIA-backed coup in 1954, opposition groups were continuously forming in an attempt to fight against the repression that the military and wealthy landowners in Guatemala had created. The UNRG formed as a leftist umbrella organization consisting of four groups: the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), the Revolutionary Organization of People in Arms (ORPA), the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR) and the National Directing Nucleus of PGT (PGT-NDN). They became the public face of the long-running insurgency against the Guatemalan government throughout the Civil War. The URNG led the leftist opposition in peace negotiations with the cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honduran Army
The Armed Forces of Honduras ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de Honduras), consists of the Honduran Army, Honduran Navy and Honduran Air Force. History Pre-1979 The Armed Forces of Honduras were created through article 44, subsection 4 of the First Constitution of the Legislative Chamber in 1825, with the First Supreme Head of State being the Attorney Dionisio de Herrera, for which, they ordered the effective birth of the Honduran army in dated December 11, 1825 and for its greater mobility, it was divided into battalions with the name of each of the seven departments Comayagua the capital, Tegucigalpa, Choluteca, Olancho, Yoro, Gracias and Santa Bárbara that were in charge of strategically and tactically covering order and defense of the state, under French military doctrine. In 1831 the Military School was created with a seat at the San Francisco Barracks, and Colonel Narciso Benítez of Colombian origin was appointed director; From this school graduated: Francisco Morazán, José María ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Central America consists of eight countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama. Within Central America is the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from northern Guatemala to central Panama. Due to the presence of several active geologic faults and the Central America Volcanic Arc, there is a high amount of seismic activity in the region, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes which has resulted in death, injury, and property damage. In the pre-Columbian era, Central America was inhabited by the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica to the north and west and the Isthmo-Colombian peoples to the south and east. Following the Spanish expedition of Christopher Columbus' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Honduras; to the southeast by El Salvador and to the south by the Pacific Ocean. With an estimated population of around million, Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America and the 11th most populous country in the Americas. It is a representative democracy with its capital and largest city being Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City, the most populous city in Central America. The territory of modern Guatemala hosted the core of the Maya civilization, which extended across Mesoamerica. In the 16th century, most of this area was conquered by the Spanish and claimed as part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence in 1821 from Spain and Mexico. In 1823, it became part of the Fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea. Its capital and largest city is Tegucigalpa. Honduras was home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, before the Spanish Colonization in the sixteenth century. The Spanish introduced Catholicism and the now predominant Spanish language, along with numerous customs that have blended with the indigenous culture. Honduras became independent in 1821 and has since been a republic, although it has consistently endured much social strife and political instability, and remains one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. In 1960, the northern part of what was the Mosquito Coast was transferred from Nicara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
