On May 28th 2006, Colombians will go to the polls to decide who their country’s next president will be. The current favourite in the opinion polls is Colombia’s president, Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Uribe’s runner up, Carlos Gaviria of the Left, constitutes a major surprise, as he is positioned ahead of the candidates of groups with a longstanding political tradition, like the Liberal Party, represented by Horacio Sarpa.
Colombia’s more than 50 years of conflict and the different ways in which it has been dealt with have been decisive issues in past electoral campaigns.
The presence of the Muslim community in Europe has introduced new ingredients, which force us to reconsider Europe’s own identity, and that of its different components. The lack of knowledge of the other, on both sides, and their coexistence with their backs turned to their respective realities, has too often led to consideration of the relationship in terms of conflict, of "us" and "them", which has done little more than to increase fears and misinterpretations regarding the "other".
Haiti has a long history of distabilization and social and political violence. The elections held last February 7, 2006, with the victory of René Préval, represent a new opportunity for stabilization and peace in the Caribbean country. Issue 10 of the InfoCIP newsletter gathers several analyses highlighting the main problems.
Elena Couceiro, researcher at CIP-FUHEM, reviews the key issues for Haiti in her interview with CKUT Radio, from Montreal.
