Daily Headlines: September 14, 2012

* Mexico: The Mexican Navy paraded Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, the alleged head of the Gulf Cartel drug gang who was one of the country’s most wanted criminals.

* Cuba: The Cuban representative was the only member of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency to vote against condemning Iran for its nuclear program.

* Honduras: Police arrested a suspect in the murder of journalist and gay rights activist Erick Martinez last May in eastern Honduras.

* Guatemala: Over 33,000 people were evacuated from the area around the Volcan del Fuego that has been spewing smoke and ash into the sky.

Video Source – YouTube via grupo reforma

Online Sources- Fox News Latino, Sky News, The Guardian, BBC News

De Musica Ligera: “Algiers” via Arizona

Last Friday we looked at the latest domestic album release from Colombia’s Bomba Estereo. Another album release occurred on Tuesday from an indie group who we’ve featured before.

“Algiers” is the seventh studio album from Arizona-based group Calexico and their first since 2008. Though The A.V. Club describes the songs on “Algiers” as having “the same parched and airy desert quality that all of the group’s records do”, the album reflects the variety of musical styles including Tejano and mariachi.

Perhaps no other tune from Calexico’s attest album reflects their appreciation of folkloric Mexican music as “Puerto”. The soft strum of acoustic guitars and occasional horns are some of the instruments that are used to construct a lush and melodic song. Listen for yourself:

Calexico is touring London, Paris, Stockholm and other Europe cities this month before returning to tour the U.S. in October.

Video Source – YouTube via Anti Records

Online Sources – Casa de Calexico, The A.V. Club, The Latin Americanist

World Watch: Tensions in Libya

* Middle East: According to the Libyan media “multiple arrests” were made in relation to the recent deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

* World: According to UNICEF child mortality rates have sharply declined over the past decade reportedly “amid gains in health care, education, development programs and economic progress”.

* Russia: Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev suggested the early release of three members of the Pussy Riot collective controversially sentenced to two years in prison for ''hooliganism motivated by religious hatred''.

* Afghanistan: Residents in Karachi paid their respects to over 260 employees of a garment factory who died as a result of a massive fire on Tuesday.

Video Source– YouTube via Associated Press (“The U.S. Is deploying two warships to the Libyan Coast, following the attack on a U.S. consulate that killed the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three others.”)

Online Sources – Voice of America, CNN, Sydney Morning Herald, BBC News

Daily Headlines: September 13, 2012

* Peru: On the twentieth anniversary of the capture of Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman, President Ollanta Humala said that he will not negotiate with the guerillas.

* Cuba: Cuban officials said that they would be willing to talk with the U.S. government over possibly releasing imprisoned contractor Alan Gross.

* Latin America: Latin American governments condemned the violent attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that left four people including Ambassador Christopher Stevens dead.

* El Salvador: Ex-senior Salvadoran military officer Inocente Orlando Montano pled guilty in the U.S. to immigration fraud and could be extradited to Spain over his alleged role in the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- NPR, RTT, Reuters, infosurhoy.com, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: September 11, 2012

* Venezuela: Human rights group Survival International retraced claims initially made last month over the alleged massacre of dozens of members of Venezuela’s indigenous Yanomami community.
* Cuba: Thirteen dissidents including “prominent” activist Marta Beatriz Roque started a hunger strike yesterday in order to protest the Cuban “government's persecution of its opponents.”

* Brazil: The Brazilian population between 2010 and 2012 grew by roughly 3.2 million people, which is nearly the same total population as Uruguay.

* U.S.: The U.S. Border Patrol halted the Migration Interior Repatriation Program, a plan started in 2004 where undocumented migrants were deported to Mexico via plane flights.

Video Source – YouTube via AFP

Online Sources- The Guardian, Reuters, Mercopress, Arizona Star

Daily Headlines: September 10, 2012

* Mexico: Twice defeated presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that he will form his own political party to oppose incoming president Enrique Peña Nieto.

* Nicaragua: Approximately 3000 people were evacuated from several towns around the ash-spewing San Cristobal volcano.

* Venezuela: The U.S. State Department confirmed that Venezuelan officials would drop arms trafficking charges against the crew of a detained U.S.-flagged cargo ship.

* Chile: Police used tear gas and a water cannon to disperse some one hundred protesters who acted violently at the end of a peaceful rally commemorating the victims of the 1973-1990 military regime.

Video Source – YouTube via Milenio

Online Sources- AFP, Miami Herald, CNN, BBC News