Daily Headlines: December 18, 2015

* Cuba: A new poll found that most Cuban-Americans back the push to normalize ties between the U.S. and Cuba, and believe the decades-long embargo against the island should be eliminated.

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan government blasted U.S. prosecutors for charging National Guard leader Nestor Reverol with drug trafficking and criticized French Prime Minister Manuel Valls for congratulating the opposition’s victory in legislative elections. 

* Brazil: The impeachment process against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will have to restart from square one after a Supreme Court ruling yesterday.

* Latin America: The U.N.'s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean believes that the region will suffer an economic contraction of 0.4% in 2016 despite differing growth rates among subregions.

YouTube Source – CCTV News

Online Sources – Reuters, Voice of America, Fox News Latino, BBC News, Tampa Bay Times

Daily Headlines: December 17, 2015

* Colombia: Retired Colombian army coronel Alfonso Plazas Vega might sue the state after the Supreme Court overturned his thirty-year prison sentence related to the 1985 Palace of Justice siege.

* U.S.: New data showed that the Latino high school graduation rate improved by 5.3% over three years to 76.3% for the 2013-2014 period.

* Cuba: Cuba and the U.S. agreed to an air travel deal that will allow commercial airlines to legally run some thirty flights to and from the island.

* Brazil: A Brazilian judge lifted a temporary ban that suspended the use of the WhatsApp social messaging program for twelve hours.

YouTube Source – AFP (Last October, “the remains of three Colombian women who vanished in fighting when leftist rebels briefly captured the Justice Palace in 1985 are identified”).
 
Online Sources – Yahoo News, Latina, ABC News, Quartz

Daily Headlines: December 16, 2015

* Mexico: At least seventeen corpses were found abandoned in a ravine days after Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto proposed two new legal initiatives in the battle against disappearances and kidnappings.

* South America: The former head of South America’s soccer federation, Juan Angel Napout, pled not guilty to charges related to the “FIFA-gate” corruption scandal while Paraguayan officials allowed the extradition one of Napout's predecessors, Nicolas Leoz, to the U.S. for questioning.

* Venezuela: U.S. investigators will reportedly charge Venezuela’s National Guard chief Néstor Reverol with cocaine trafficking as part of a widening probe aimed at Venezuelan military officials.

* Latin America: According to the Inter-American Development Bank exports from Latin American and Caribbean will drop by 14% this year and the outlook for 2016 may not be much better.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (“Data just released by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office indicates that 185 mass graves containing over 500 corpses have been found in the country in the last five years.”)

Online Sources – NDTV, InSight Crime, New York Daily News, Fox News Latino, MercoPress

Daily Headlines: December 15, 2015

* Guatemala: Compensation might be provided to families of three of the 1300 victims exposed to venereal diseases as part of a U.S.-led scientific experiment in Guatemala from 1946 to 1948.

* Brazil: Police raided the homes of Eduardo Cunha, the speaker of Brazil's Congress who is leading the impeachment push against President Dilma Rousseff.

* Haiti: Haitian electoral authorities confirmed that the December 27th presidential runoff would be held as scheduled despite strong allegations of fraud in November’s first round.

* Mexico: A Mass along the Mexican-U.S. border and a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe are some of the events planned for Pope Francis during his trip to Mexico next February.

YouTube Source – Jouneyman Pictures

Online Sources – ABC News, Catholic Herald, Business Insider, GlobalPost

Daily Headlines: December 14, 2015

* Brazil: Tens of thousands of protesters in scores of Brazilian cities participated yesterday in anti-government marches and called on embattled President Dilma Rousseff to resign.

* Venezuela: Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes rejected the possibility of the U.S. providing oil to Petrocaribe states should Venezuela opt to end the subsidized oil program.

* Ecuador: Ecuadoran officials will allow Swedish investigators to enter the South American country’s embassy in London and question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

* Chile: Police arrested a Chilean army veteran who admitted in a call-in radio show that he took part in the murder of eighteen political detainees during military rule in the 1970s.

YouTube Source – NTN24

Online Sources – Deutsche Welle, Inside Costa Rica, Reuters, ABC News