Daily Headlines: June 3, 2016

* Haiti: The results of Haiti's first-round presidential election held last year should be thrown out and a new vote ought to be held, according to the recommendations issued this week by a special verification panel.

* Brazil: The Brazilian economy is still in recession though the decline in the first quarter of this year was only 0.3% less than the final trimester of 2015.

* Paraguay: More than one hundred people participated in the reconstructing the massacre of seventeen people in 2012, which was an incident cited in the impeachment and ouster of then-President Fernando Lugo.

* El Salvador: The Salvadoran legislature could approve a probe against the country's ambassador to Germany for purportedly selling weapons illegally on the black market.

YouTube Source – AFP (Haiti’s presidential runoff has been postponed multiple times amid accusations of fraud in the first round and heightened political tensions).
 
Online Sources – Latin American Herald Tribune, Reuters, Quartz, CBS News

Daily Headlines: June 2, 2016

* Mexico: Many Mexican states are reportedly hurrying to implement judicial reforms including “increasing transparency and better guaranteeing access to fair and timely trials” before a June 18 deadline.

* Honduras: Members of the Honduran indigenous rights group that included assassinated activist Berta Caceres warned of the return of alleged "death squads" that roamed the country during the 1980s.

* Cuba: Jose Daniel Ferrer, a Cuban dissident allowed to travel to the U.S., called on his fellow political opponents on the island to unite and create a shared strategy in light of the rapprochement between the Obama and Castro regimes.

* Colombia: The U.N. agency representing refugees urged Canada to renew an expiring agreement to help resettle Colombians displaced by armed conflict.

YouTube Source – CCTV Americas Now (Judicial reforms in Mexico were started in 2008 but most states have yet to fully implement new measures).
 
Online Sources –The Christian Science Monitor, The Hamilton Spectator, Latin American Herald Tribune, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: June 1, 2016

* Venezuela: Organization of American States chief Luis Almagro, who has been highly critical of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, has called on a meeting to potentially suspend the South American state from the regional group.

* Colombia: Colombia’s ELN may have recently freed three kidnapped journalists including Salud Hernández of Spain but the rebels have yet to liberate others held in captivity like Odin Sanchez.

* Puerto Rico: Despite Puerto Rico’s economic woes, drug maker Roche plans to invest at least $60 million to its expand its operations on the island.

* South America: Brazil’s political crisis and corruption scandals could provide a boost to the economy of neighboring Argentina.

YouTube Source – CCTV News (Last weekend, Venezuelan “government officials and opposition leaders held separate meetings in the Dominican Republic, to lay the groundwork for a potential dialogue.”)

Online Sources – Reuters, Latin American Herald Tribune, Colombia Reports, New Zealand Herald, BBC News

Daily Headlines: March 31, 2016

* Brazil: Police believe that a 16-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro has been the victim of a gang rape but worry that rape kit tests may have been done days too late.

* Guatemala: Anabela Morfin has been named as Guatemala’s new attorney general after her predecessor resigned and will leave the country in response to death threats.

* Venezuela: LATAM Airlines and Lufthansa have become the latest air carriers to suspend service in Venezuela due to nonpayment of debts and amid great economic uncertainty.

* Chile: A “red tide” outbreak of algae that has paralyzed the Chilean fishing industry is blamed for a dive in manufacturing production last April.

YouTube Source – France 24 English
 
Online Sources – CBS News, ABC News, euronews, Reuters

Daily Headlines: May 30, 2016 (Multiple Updates)

* Argentina: An Argentine court last week sentenced ex-dictator Reynaldo Bignone to twenty years in prison for his role in the infamous Operation Condor secret program to monitor and murder dissidents across South America.

* Mexico: Kidnapped Mexican soccer striker Alan Pulido is said to be in good health following his rescue by federal and state security forces in the early morning hours today.

Update: Questions have been raised over the nature of Pulido's liberation with conflicting accounts claiming that he allegedly fought off his captors and may not have been rescued by security agents. 
 
* Puerto Rico: Several thousand protesters marched in San Juan yesterday to call for the release of independence activist Oscar Lopez Rivera on the 35th anniversary of his imprisonment.

* Brazil: The administration of acting President Michel Temer has once more come under fire after a recording leaked of anti-corruption chief Fabiano Silveira giving legal advice to embattled Senate leader Renan Calheiros.

Update: Silveira resigned from his post on Monday and, thus, becomes the second member of Temer's cabinet to quit in the span of a week.

YouTube Source – CCTV America

Online Sources including Update – Fox News Latino, Reuters, ABC News, The Atlantic, BBC News, Vice News