Daily Headlines: February 13, 2015

* Uruguay: Uruguayan President-elect Tabare Vazquez said that he was unsure if he will accept a second group of Syrian refugees after his inauguration on March 1st.  

* Cuba: A bipartisan group of six senators introduced a bill aimed at ending the decades-long U.S. trade embargo against Cuba despite opposition from Cuban-American legislators.

* Colombia: The Colombian government welcomed the FARC’s vow to halt the recruitment of minors but called on the rebels to free all of their child soldiers.

* Mexico: Mexican authorities will review the tax filings of nationals who allegedly dodged paying taxes by opening bank accounts in the Swiss division of HSBC.

Video Source – YouTube user AFP (“Thirteen Syrian refugees attended school for the first time (last October) in Montevideo, after arriving in Uruguay with their families less than two weeks ago”).
 
Online Sources – GlobalPost; USA TODAY; The West Australian; Reuters

Daily Headlines: February 12, 2015

* Latin America: A new study concluded that the strong emphasis on immigration controls in Mexico and the U.S. have hurt thousands of Central American child migrants.

* U.S.: The Latino population may be growing but the rate of Latino doctors have fallen according to a recent report.

* Panama: Construction was halted on a nearly completed hydroelectric power plant that was strongly opposed by local indigenous communities.

* Colombia: The ELN guerillas freed an unnamed Dutch hostage who was kidnapped last month.

Video Source – YouTube user teleSUR English (“Specialists believe that the flow of tens of thousands of minors migrating to the United States will not decrease in 2015. An estimated 60,000 Central American children illegally entered the United States in 2014.”)
 
Online Sources – Fox News Latino; NBC News; Latin American Herald Tribune; Reuters

Daily Headlines: February 11, 2015 (Updated)

* Haiti: Carnival celebrations are still expected to take place next week in Port-au-Prince despite heightened political and economic tensions.

* Brazil: In one of the latest problems to hit scandal-plagued Petrobras, technical issues have hurt development of the offshore Libra oil field.

Update: More bad news for Petrbras.
 
* Venezuela: Venezuelan bonds fell in early trading today after the government introduced a new foreign exchange system.

* Chile: Possibly coming soon to a theater near you – a new movie from acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Video Source – YouTube user Associated Press (“Burning barricades of tires and debris in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on Monday signaled the start of a two-day strike to protest against the high price of fuel.”)
 
Online Sources including Update– Bloomberg; Haitian Times; The A.V. Club; Reuters; BBC News

Daily Headlines: February 10, 2015

* Latin America: A former bodyguard to the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, an Ecuadoran business magnate and Uruguayan soccer player Diego Forlan are among the thousands of people accused of evading taxes by hiding money in Swiss bank accounts.

* Mexico: Mexico’s Attorney General’s office lashed out at Argentine forensics investigators for expressing doubts at the investigation into the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students.

* Cuba: Fourteen artists including four recipients of the prestigious Turner Prize signed a letter criticizing the repeated detention and harassment of Cuban performance artist Tania Bruguera.

* Puerto Rico: The government of Puerto Rico is expected to appeal a recent federal court ruling voiding a debt restructuring law.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews (“HSBC helped rich clients dodge tax, according to a report released by a group of investigative journalists”.)

Online Sources – Reuters; Buenos Aires Herald; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: February 9, 2015

* Brazil: The severe drought affecting Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and other areas of southeastern Brazil has been blamed for causing a 57% spike in reported dengue cases last month.

* U.S.: Puerto Rican urban music duo Calle 13 and Carlos Vives of Colombia were among the winners at the Grammy Awards held yesterday.

* Puerto Rico: The Pinar del Rio team from Cuba won the country’s first Caribbean Series title since 1960 and despite the defection of two of their players early in the tournament.

* Venezuela: “They’re $20 glasses from Amazon made in China, not a NASA instrument!” exclaimed the father of jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez after officials discovered a diplomat trying to secretly record a recent legal hearing.

Video Source – YouTube user Reuters (“Researchers in Rio de Janeiro (last September) begin releasing thousands of mosquitoes infected with a bacteria they say can eliminate the spread of the dengue fever virus”).

Online Sources – USA TODAY; MercoPress; The Globe and Mail; VOXXI