Daily Headlines: March 18, 2016

* Chile: Chile’s Chamber of Deputies approved a proposal backed by President Michelle Bachelet to partially legalize the total ban on abortion put in place during the Pinochet military rule in 1990.

* Nicaragua: Nicaragua officials welcomed the International Court of Justice ruling in favor of taking on the Central American country’s decades-long maritime border dispute with Colombia.

* Cuba: The Cuba government dropped a 10% tax on the U.S. dollar ahead of President Barack Obama’s historic state visit to the island starting on Sunday.

* Mexico: A new report conclude that attacks against members of the press suffered an increase of 21.8% between 2014 and 2015 with incidents occurring on average nearly every twenty-three hours.

YouTube Source – Channel 4 News (Video uploaded on August 2015).
 
Online Sources – Vice News, Yahoo News, Reuters, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: March 17, 2016

* Honduras: A member of Honduran indigenous rights group Copinh was killed nearly two weeks after acclaimed environmentalist Berta Cáceres was murdered.

* Guatemala: For the fourth time former Guatemalan strongman Efrain Rios Montt faces a trial on charges of genocide while a judge tossed out separate attempts by defense attorneys and lawyers for civil war victims to delay proceedings.

* Mexico: Restrictions go into place barring the use of thousands of autos in Mexico City on Thursday days after the megalopolis issued its first air pollution alert since 2005.

* Colombia: Colombia’s main labor unions as well as student activist and social organizations will mobilize today to protest against the government.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English
 
Online Sources – The Guardian, ABC News, NBC Latino, Colombia Reports

Daily Headlines: March 16, 2016

* Argentina: The lower chamber of the Argentine federal legislature approved a package to repay creditors in a legal tug-of-war with the government over some $100 billion in debt related to the country’s 2001 default.

* U.S.: Will recently retired presidential hopeful Marco Rubio provide a boost to fellow Cuban-American Senator Ted Cruz in his aspirations for the White House?

* Puerto Rico: Acclaimed Broadway composer Lin-Manuel Miranda urged Congress to take urgent action to help debt-ridden Puerto Rico though legislators have largely waffled on the issue.

* Mexico: The governor of the Mexican state of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo, suggested enacting a “pilot scheme” to allow the cultivation of opium poppies as a measure to combat drug violence.

YouTube Source – euronews (Last month “Argentina has agreed in principle to a deal with US hedge funds ending a 15-year-old dispute over its failure to repay billions of dollars worth of bonds.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, BBC News, Vox, The Huffington Post

Daily Headlines: March 15, 2016

* Venezuela: Authorities in southeastern Venezuela have recovered the bodies of seventeen men missing for over a week and possibly massacred in a case of illegal mining.

* Cuba: Ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip next week to Cuba, the Treasury Department announced new relaxing of travel and trade restrictions.

* Canada: A new report concluded that deporting convicts from Canada to Jamaica and Honduras could have a “boomerang effect” on crime in the North American country.

* U.S.: As a new slate of presidential primaries take place today, it’s worth noting that Latinos don't represent a monolithic voting bloc.

YouTube Source – Al Jazeera English (June 2014 report on the Venezuelan mining industry.)
 
Online Sources – CBC, Fox News Latino, Quartz, MarketWatch

Daily Headlines: March 14, 2016

* Cuba: The Cuban Tourism Ministry said that some one million foreign visitors traveled to the country in the first three months of 2016, which represents a 14.6% increase compared to the same period last year.

* Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico’s “brain drain” of skilled workers leaving the island has hit the health care sector hard as an average of one doctor immigrates away from the commonwealth each day.

* Peru: A new poll showed greater support for Keiko Fujimori ahead of next month’s presidential election but not enough to avoid a runoff.

* Uruguay: “There could be an elephant out there,” claimed an optimistic executive at French company Total regarding exploration of what could be a very promising Uruguayan offshore oil field.

YouTube Source – AJ+

Online Sources – Xinhua, NPR, Reuters, MercoPress