President Martín Torrijos Espino issued a decree on July 29, 2008 to repeal a 1949 law that criminalised sodomy with imprisonment.

According to the Official Gazette published online, the decree which was co-signed by Health Minister Rosario E. Turner said the law conflicted with the Panamanian Constitution and international human-rights treaties Panama has signed.

The document, which was issued in Spanish, cited the country's sexual health and HIV/AIDS policy to respect and not discriminate against the "sexual preferences of each person."

The former British colony's population of 3.3 million people is predominantly Roman Catholic. [Correction, Aug 16: Panama is as readers pointed out a former Spanish colony, not British. We apologise for the error.]

According to The International Lesbian and Gay Association, same-sex sexual relations is banned in the Caribbean region including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago - all of which are former British colonies. Nicaragua approved a new penal code that decriminalised consensual gay sex in November last year.

In Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico City and the Mexican state of Coahuila, and Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, same-sex couples can have their relationships recognised by civil unions laws.

For more info on what's happening in Latin American: click on to The gay map of Latin America.