From the editor.

PositionEditorial

As Haitians struggle to rebuild their lives after the devastating January 12 earthquake, representatives of the Inter-American System are forging strategies to aid in the reconstruction of the hemisphere's poorest country.

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Américas joins in solidarity with the people of Haiti by asking our readers to give generously to the Pan-American Development Foundation (PADF), the OAS response mechanism for emergencies and natural disasters. In upcoming issues, we continue to bring you stories of Haiti's challenges and the progress being made there.

This issue initiates two significant anniversaries in the hemisphere. One is the centennial of the House of the Americas, the Washington headquarters of the OAS and a symbol of inter-American unity. The other commemoration is just beginning. Two centuries ago, sixteen Latin American nations from Mexico to Argentina began their struggles for independence from Spain. This issue contains the first installment of history from that fourteen-year period.

And while the passage of time is sometimes met with ritual and celebration, at other times it is noted only with subtle signs, or objects found under layers of sand in remote deserts. Images of cemeteries in the Norte Grande of Chile are a testament to a vivid past now long forgotten.

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Not so long ago, children from a Colombian village went to school everyday by crossing a deep abyss on a cable device. The precarious cable is still used to transport farmers and their products to the town center of Guayabetal. They persevere, and so do the Ngöbe-Buglé indigenous people of Panama, who continue the...

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