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Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor <br /> <br />2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices <br /> <br />February 25, 2009 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Barbados is a parliamentary democracy with a population of approximately 278,000. In January 15 general elections, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), which had been in opposition since 1994, defeated the Barbados Labour Party, and DLP leader David Thompson became prime minister.

during a protest in the town of Caihuasi in Oruro Department. A violent confrontation involving progovernment campesinos (peasant farmers) and backers of the opposition-aligned Prefect (governor) Leopoldo Fernandez resulted in the deaths of 13 persons in Pando Department on September 11 and September 12, according to the prosecutor's office. On December 15, in breaking up a protest by several thousand people in the city of Patacamaya regarding government restrictions on importing used cars in a free-trade zone, police shot and killed one person.

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor <br /> <br />2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices <br /> <br />February 25, 2009 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Colombia is a constitutional, multiparty democracy with a population of approximately 45 million. In May 2006 independent presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe was reelected in elections that were considered generally free and fair.

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor <br /> <br />2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices <br /> <br />February 25, 2009 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Cuba, with a population of approximately 11.2 million, is a totalitarian state formally led by President Raul Castro. In 2006 General Castro was granted provisional control of the government by his brother, Fidel Castro, who officially resigned as president on February 19.