Friday, October 3, 2014

Daily Headlines: October 3, 2014


* Latin America: 63 doctors and 102 nurses from Cuba reportedly left for Sierra Leone to help combat the African country’s Ebola outbreak while Salvadoran authorities placed under quarantine two nuns suspected of being infected with Ebola.

* Brazil: The head of the International Olympic Committee’s inspection team claimed that plans for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro are “on track” though “the schedule was tight.”

* Venezuela: Was ruling party legislator Robert Serra and his partner killed days ago as part of a planned assassination?

* Argentina: A Spanish judge ruled that Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi must stand trial for allegedly evading more than four million euros in taxes.

Video Source – Voice of America via YouTube

Online Sources – Fox News Latino; Tico Times; BBC News; The Independent; Businessweek

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Daily Headlines: October 2, 2014


* Haiti: Police in Port-au-Prince fired tear gas and water cannons at some of the thousands of demonstrators commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the military coup against then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

* Venezuela: Authorities vowed to thoroughly investigate the murder of Robert Serra, a ruling party legislator who was one of Venezuela’s youngest congressmen, and his partner on Wednesday night.

* Peru: A Spanish researcher was hospitalized after he was rescued from a cave in Peru where he was trapped more than 1200 feet underground for twelve days.
  
* Latin America: Organization of American States Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza urged Latin American countries to take in detainees from the U.S.-run Guantanamo military prison.

Video Source – YouTube user No Comment TV

Online Sources – Al Jazeera; Reuters; Mercopress; euronews

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Breaking: Mexican Drug Capo Caught? (Updated: Yes)


Mexican officials claimed one of the country's most wanted drug lords, Hector Beltran Leyva, was apprehended on Wednesday.

The chief of Mexico's criminal investigations bureau, Tomás Zerón de Lucio, said at a news conference that the suspected head of the Beltran Levya drug gang was nabbed while eating at a seafood restaurant in Guanajuato state.  Hector was allegedly nabbed in a rapid operation where not even a single shot was fired and at the end of an eleven-month law enforcement investigation.
 
Zerón noted that the man nicknamed "El H" maintained a low profile by pretending to be a local businessmen involved in real estate and the buying and selling of art.
Hector was believed to have lead the Beltran Levya drug cartel since the death of his brother Arturo in a 2009 shootout with Mexican troops. (Two other Beltran Levya brothers are currently in prison over their respective roles with the drug gang). 

Two U.S. federal courts have indicted Hector while U.S. officials placed a $5 million bounty on top of the $3.7 million reward offered by Mexican authorities for his capture.

The Beltran Leyva cartel, which was originally part of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa drug gang, has been blamed for trafficking cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine.
  
According to the Associated Press, Hector presided over a cartel that had been weakened but supposedly trying to regain strength:

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Daily Headlines: September 30, 2014

Guatemala: Former Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz claimed that a "smear campaign" forced her to leave her post after she prosecuted ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt for genocide and crimes against humanity.


* Puerto Rico: Economic activity in Puerto Rico reportedly slumped to its lowest point in twenty years while the average household income on the commonwealth declined at a greater rate than any of the fifty U.S. states.

* Brazil: Brazil's main Ibovespa stock index tumbled by 4.5% on Monday and the national currency hit a thirteen-month low as investors were apparently jittery over increased support in election polls for President Dilma Rousseff.

* Dominican Republic: The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization honored the government of the Dominican Republic for significantly reducing the number of people suffering from inadequate nutrition this year.

Online Sources - Fox News Latino; Bloomberg; Reuters; Latin Post

Monday, September 29, 2014

Daily Headlines: September 29, 2014

* Mexico: Some 25 students protesting poor school conditions in Mexico's Guerrero state are missing after local police reportedly fired at the demonstrators.

* Brazil: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has tried to downplay allegations of corruption in Petrobras that have emerged in the weeks leading to the October 5th presidential election.

* Colombia: In what Colombian one activist called a "black September," more than 150 human rights defenders, journalists and politicians have been the targets of threats in this month alone.

* Peru: At least eight people died after an earthquake shook the southern Peruvian region of Cuzco on Saturday night.
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