Former Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet (image) was questioned yesterday in a lawsuit bought up by a family member of a victim during Pinochet’s dictatorship. Meanwhile, a Spanish magistrate has issued international warrants against two ex-Guatemalan dictators accused of genocide and torture. 
-Latin American stocks rose modestly over the past week with taking the lead amidst hope by investors of a presidential victory by Felipe Calderon.
-The bankruptcy of Brazilian national airline Varig will cost Brazil $1.3 billion in lost revenue as 1 million less tourists are expected to visit the country.
-Speaking of tourism,
-Chilean president Michelle Bachelet promised to help workers by introducing legislation designed to lower management fees on retirement accounts and allow more workers to receive pensions.
-Disagreements on how to control the
-Yesterday,
Several coaches of Latin American squads have thought about quitting now that they’ve been eliminated from this year’s World Cup tournament. One of these is Argentine-born Ricardo Lavolpe (left image) who is rumored to leave 
homecoming from fans angry at the team’s winless performance. Gumaraes and possibly Lavolpe join former In semifinal action held on Tuesday and Wednesday,
President-elect of Speaking of a “strategic alliance,” the government of
Central American leaders inaugurated a $320 million power project that would provide electrical energy across that region by 2008. The project is the centerpiece of a summit held in 
The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation has reported an increase in harassments against dissidents of the Castro regime. The same group says that Cuban jails are holding over 300 political prisoners, which is a minor decrease from the end of 2005. 
A joint poll by the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg shows that approximately two out of three Americans would support a comprehensive plan to reward citizenship to immigrants that follow strict guidelines including learning English and not having a criminal record. However, only 46% of those polled support a guest worker program (down by 8% in two months), while 44% agree with much stricter immigration controls similar to those passed in a bill last year by the House of Representatives. 
Herty Lewites, (image) a moderate leftist candidate for 
Mexican presidential candidate Felipe Calderon (image) spoke triumphantly to sympathizers very early this morning and declared himself the winner. Calderon only has a 0.05% lead over Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) with over 98% of ballots counted in a simple recount that lasted gone for about 24 hours. Election officials have yet to declare an official winner in spite of Calderon's exuberance.
With U.S.' Independence Day having just passed by, it's time to visit the ideal called the “American Dream” in which bravery, hard work, determination, and sacrifice can lead to a better life. Do these people represent the “American Dream?” -Dan El-Padilla Peralta- this year’s commencement speaker at Princeton University who kept a 3.9 grade point average and hopes to study at Oxford University in spite of his illegal immigrant status.
-Paola Castro- a recent high school graduate with a 4.01 GPA and will start school at UCLA this fall after having immigrated from Nicaragua four years ago.-Guillermo Paniagua- a U.S. Army specialist who received his citizenship this week while stationed in
For some, the “American Dream” is impossible to reach and just an ephemeral, silly, and abstract notion. Yet if you read the tales of the people mentioned above, then it would definitely seem that this “Dream” is attainable and a true inspiration for those yearning for a better life.
(Image depicts mural by Xavier Cortada called “Stepping into the American Dream.”)
latin america, immigration, united states, American dream
On Tuesday, In the meantime, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is in St. Kitts for a summit of Caricom where, amongst other topics, he will make the case for
Amnesty International released a report urging 
Controversy has surrounded 3.5 million uncounted ballots that were deemed with “inconsistencies” and may perhaps overturn conservative Felipe Calderon’s hair-thin 1% lead over leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). The Mexican media has cited an election official that declared that tallying most of the uncounted ballots would reduce Calderon’s lead to 0.6%. This has fueled the fire of an electoral challenge by AMLO as (Image depicts a protestor holding a marked ballot she claimed was left on a street).
Update: Blogger Mark in Mexico sheds some light on the millions of uncounted ballots.
The Bush administration may very well come out on top after this weekend’s elections for constitutional assembly in Bolivia and the presidency in Mexico. Though supporters of Evo Morales won about 53% of seats for the constitutional assembly, pro-Morales factions may have trouble getting the minimum 2/3 vote to change the constitution. The U.S. government would be very pleased with a status quo regime in Mexico, assuming Felipe Calderon becomes their next president of Mexico. (So far Calderon is holding an unofficial, razor-thin 1% lead over Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador). 
Leftist guerillas from the FARC killed six police officers during confrontations in southwestern 
The following are what some of the news outlets have been saying on the Mexican elections: -Felipe Calderon says “I won the election” and it seems like the English-language media outside of
-CNN en Español reports that Felipe Calderon has a 1% lead over AMLO. More specifically, they report that it’s 36.3% for Calderon and 35.3% for AMLO with approximately 98% of ballots counted. (These figures are supported by an article posted by the Associated Press). People interviewed in
r candidate”- Roberto Madrazo of the PRI/Partido Verde alliance. Madrazo ended a distant third and, according to the Associated Press showed that the PRI’s “historic defeat six years ago was not a fluke.” Is it any wonder that the president of the PRI rejected data from exit polls as the polls were closing?
-Large gains were made by Mexican stocks, bonds, and currency today in the hope that Calderon will be declared the victor. These hopes are also shared by Wall Street movers and shakers.
And what have bloggers been saying about the Mexican election?
-Bloggings by Boz hits on 5 key points to take from the presidential election.
at
It’s a sound that originated in the favelas of 
Peruvians divided over supporting free trade pact:
...nobody yet. And it will be days until an official winner of the Mexican presidential election is announced. (All times in EST, unless otherwise stated). [Key to initials: AMLO = Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. RM = Ricardo Madrazo. FC = Felipe Calderon. IFE = Mexican electoral board]
1:45am- The final thought after a busy evening of unfulfilled expectations and high anticipation, courtesy of Mexico Today.
Good night and thank you.
1:20am- Here's what some news outlets have said over the past hour:
-Reuters: "A fiery leftist promising a war on poverty was in a dead heat with a Harvard-educated conservative...rising fears a a contested result could split the country."
-Associated Press: "An official count would begin on Wednesday and a winner will be delared once it's complete."
-BBC: "With a leftist and a conservative running neck and neck, officials decided to count all the votes before declaring a winner."
12:55am- A whirlwind of action over the past twenty minutes:
-Azteca America returns to its diatribe against "television networks from the United States" that "lied and bluffed you" by giving preliminary results.
-The president of the PRI spoke again with RM by his side and called for patience for the time being.
-At the same time, AMLO spoke in front of thousands of supporters at the Zocalo and enthusiastically told them to "smile because we have won."
-Lastly, FC spoke to a small group of supporters outside his campaign headquarters and urged them to support him in his "government of national action."
A few hours ago, the Washington Post's special blog on the elections posted the following: "Shades of Bush-Gore 2000?" Unfortunately that could be the case.
12:30am- Now FC just spoke publicly from his campaign headquarters and he cited individual exit polls that show him as the winner "from the time the first poll was redacted until now". Like AMLO, he has declared himself as the winner.
Here's hoping this doesn't get as ugly as the mudslinging during the campaign
12:25am- AMLO just finished speaking at a news conference and declared himself the winner based on the results from exit polls.
12:15am- So what happens now? According to Univision, the election will not be decided "for days." The "fast count" is really just an estimation done by a set of scientists based on the ballots reported to the IFE. The ballots will not be counted by hand until Wednesday and a more accurate count based by district may start on Friday.
Confused? Well, you're not the only one.
12:00am- Here are the results thus far according to the president of the IFE and based on a "fast count" of over 95% of the ballots:
TOO CLOSE TO CALL!!!
The IFE cannot calculate a winner since the IFE's calculations "fall within the margin of error."
11:57pm- T-minus three minutes until the IFE's prelim report and the Mexican networks are hyping the anticipation.
11:40pm- CNN en Español reports on the results of the election before the
Hypocrisy? Now Azteca America’s Armando Guzman acknowledges that so far the ballots counted “may” favor FC, but warns that “this is a horse race” which is far from over.
mexico, election