Daily Headlines: September 26, 2014

* Latin America: The outbreak of the mosquito-borrne chikungunya disease continues to spread through the Americas and the Caribbean.

* Venezuela: Approximately one-third of Venezuelan states were affected by a blackout yesterday allegedly caused by "problems at generating plants."

* Argentina: Is Argentina's recession truly over or is the government's data inaccurate?

* Mexico: Seven Mexican soldiers and their commander were charged with military disobedience and breach of duty over reportedly killing twenty-two suspected gang members "in cold blood."

Online Sources - Businessweek; Reuters; Buenos Aires Herald; Business Insider; Latin Post 

Video Source - Newsy Science via YouTube
* Latin America: The outbreak of the mosquito-carried chikungunya disease continues to spread through the Americas and the Caribbean.

* Venezuela: Approximately one-third of Venezuelan states were affected by a blackout yesterday allegedly caused by "problems at generating plants."

* Argentina: Is Argentina's recession truly over or is the government's data inaccurate?

* Mexico: Seven Mexican soldiers and their commander were charged with military disobedience and breach of duty over reportedly killing twenty-two suspected gang members "in cold blood."

Online Sources - BBC News; Fox News Latino; Voice of America; Reuters

Daily Headlines: September 25, 2014

* Brazil: Researchers in Brazil released yesterday mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacteria in order to curb the spread of the deadly dengue disease.

* Chile: One man was killed reportedly while handling an explosive artifact in an incident that occurred over two weeks after a bomb detonated at a Santiago subway station.

* Guatemala: Five people were arrested over their suspected role in the killings of eleven people including six from a single family in the Guatemalan indigenous village of San Juan Sacatepequez.

* El Salvador: Human rights group Amnesty International criticized El Salvador’s ban on all abortion as causing “discrimination against and criminalization of women.”

Video Source – Reuters via YouTube

Online Sources – Fox News Latino; Zee News; The Latin Americanist; SBS; NBC News

Obama to Venezuelan Gov’t: Free Leopoldo López

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Venezuelan authorities to liberate imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo López as soon as possible.

“From Russia to China to Venezuela, you are seeing relentless crackdowns vilifying legitimate dissent as subversive…we stand in solidarity with those detained at this very moment.  In Venezuela, Leopoldo López,” said Obama during a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative on Tuesday night. 

Aside from López, Obama mentioned other jailed activists from countries like Vietnam, Burundi and Russia who “deserve to be freed.  They should be freed.”

López has been detained for the past seven months, and charged with inciting vandalism and violence during anti-government demonstrations in February. Shortly after López turned himself in to authorities, Obama denounced the “unacceptable violence” in Venezuela and criticized officials for not “focusing on the legitimate demands of the Venezuelan people.”

Detractors of the Popular Will Party leader claimed that he must be punished for instigating politically charged violence that eventually cost the lives of more than forty people.  Last month, President Nicolás Maduro referred to López as a “pawn of the gringos” who “has to pay and he will pay,” for his alleged crimes.

Yet supporters of López believe the charges against the ex-mayor of the Chacao district of Caracas were politically motivated by a government seeking to quash dissent.

“Leopoldo is a prisoner of conscience and is in jail because Maduro is scared,” said López’ wife, Lillian Tintori, last week during a visit to the U.N.

Daily Headlines: September 24, 2014

* U.S.: Puerto Rican duo Calle 13 led the list of Latin Grammy nominations with ten while artists Carlos Vives, Jorge Drexler and Enrique Iglesias also received multiple nominations.

* Brazil: Three polls released this week showed that Brazil’s presidential race is still up for grabs though support has increased for incumbent Dilma Rousseff.

* Dominican Republic: Vatican officials placed under house arrest the former papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic over allegations of sexually abusing children.

* Mexico: How has Mexico’s crackdown on drug cartels damaged the country’s iron industry?

Video Source – YouTube user elvecindariocalle13 (Short film created by Calle 13 and released last week).

Online Sources – Billboard; Bloomberg; The Huffington Post; CNBC

Daily Headlines: September 23, 2014

* Brazil: The Brazilian government will reportedly not endorse an international deforestation plan to be presented at the U.N. climate summit today.

* Venezuela: Judges once again postponed the trial of Leopoldo Lopez, the imprisoned opposition leader facing numerous charges related to politically charged violence last February.

* Bolivia: “I want you to know that my greatest wish is that October 12 will be a winning day,” declared President Evo Morales who will likely win reelection next month.

* Panama: Activision Blizzard, the company behind the popular "Call of Duty" video game series, filed a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit from ex-Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega.

Video Source – NTDTV via YouTube (Video uploaded in November 2013).
 
Online Sources – Xinhua; ABC News; LAHT; The Latin Americanist; CNN

Daily Headlines: September 22, 2014

* Cuba: Officials in Cuba announced that approximately 9000 state-run restaurants have permission to be privatized though the government will still own the land under these establishments.

* Mexico: At least 42 children were freed from a pair of Mexican drug treatment facilities where abuses may have taken place in a scandal that occurred over two months after some 600 people were rescued from suffering mistreatment in another shelter. 

* Venezuela: Ivan Simonovis, an ex-Venezuelan police commander the opposition claims is a political prisoner, was granted a “humanitarian” house arrest “so he can be cured of his illnesses and can receive medical treatment.”

* Argentina: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez alleged that she receive threats from the Islamic State extremist militants due to her friendship with compatriot Pope Francis.

Video Source – NTN24 News via YouTube (Video uploaded in 2011).

Online Sources – CNN; The Latin Americanist; LAHT; Fox News Latino; Reuters