One year after the worst natural disaster of the century, Hurricane Mitch continues to take its toll in Nicaragua. Nearly a million people remain homeless. Many of the country's roads and bridges lie in ruins. Water sources are still contaminated and cholera and other illnesses associated with the storm continue to claim lives. SAPs have obliterated access to health care and nearly all government services.
Starvation is kept at bay by the bountiful rivers and rainforests.
In the wake of the hurricane, the government has again neglected the development needs of the country's poor majority, instead rebuilding infrastructure for the powerful multi-nationals that dominate the region's economy. This year, Wangky Luhpia won legislation to guarantee local health services from the regional autonomous government. Since the escalation of violence that began in late September 2000, human rights violations by the Israeli military have increased drastically. The army has used live ammunition, tanks, helicopter gunships, missiles, curfews, economic blockade, internationally outlawed high-velocity bullets, nightly shelling of Palestinian villages and refugee camps and an openly declared policy of assassination of Palestinian leaders to suppress this latest phase of the Palestinian struggle for independence. The US bears particular responsibility for the violence because of its nearly unconditional support for Israel, even in the face of gross human rights abuses.