Daily Headlines: July 29, 2016 (Updated)

* El Salvador: Amid the mass arrest of 120 suspected Mara Salvatrucha gang members, ombudsman David Morales warned of the emergence of death squads and extrajudicial killings “for purposes of social cleansing.”

* Brazil: The federal judge overseeing the “Lava Jato” investigation should be removed from the case, according to a petition from a lawyer on behalf ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to the United Nations.

Update: Lula will be forced to stand trial on obstruction charges related to his alleged role in the "Lava Jato" corruption probe.

* Costa Rica: Nearly 2300 metric tons of cocaine was seized by Costa Rican authorities from a fishing ship off the Pacific coast.

* Venezuela: Several firms from the United States operating in Venezuela are reportedly using an accounting maneuver known as deconsolidation in order to protect themselves from the severely weakened economy in the South American country.

YouTube Source – AFP

Online Sources including Update – Xinhua, Fox News Latino, Voice of America, Bloomberg, Reuters, BBC News

Daily Headlines: July 28, 2016

* Bolivia: Disability rights protesters calling for greater benefits recently entered their fourth month of protest camping out in the streets of La Paz after initially marching roughly 250 miles from Cochabamba.

* Guatemala: Former President Otto Perez Molina, who resigned in 2015 being implicated in the “La Linea” corruption probe, faces new corruption charges over purportedly heading a “criminal network” and accepting some $39 million in bribes.

* United States: A recent survey found nearly one in five Latinos use app-based ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft though they’re used by 53% of residents in “majority-minority” neighborhoods.

* Brazil: Vale SA, the mining firm involved in a deadly dam collapse that killed seventeen people last November, reported a 34% nosedive in its second quarter profits.

YouTube Source – euronews (Special needs demonstrators in La Paz, Bolivia have occasionally clashed with police).

Online Sources – The Huffington Post, Pew Research Center, ABC News, Reuters

Daily Headlines: July 27, 2016

* Latin America: Analysts with the International Monetary Fund and the U.N.  Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean believe the economy of the Latin American region will contract this year by 0.4% and 0.8%, respectively.

* Central America: The White House announced a series of measures aimed at helping refugees from Central America but also attempting to discourage the migrant flow from that area.

* Panama: Operators of the newly expanded Panama Canal claimed bad weather was to blame for a “damaging scrape” caused by a Chinese container ship on the waterway.

* Venezuela: Opposition politicians called on their supporters to march in Caracas today and demand that electoral officials validate efforts to hold a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro.

YouTube Source – Al Jazeera English (This video examines the Argentine economy, which both the International Monetary Fund and the U.N.  Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean believe will weaken this year along with those from Brazil and Venezuela).
 
Online Sources – teleSUR English, Fox News Latino, NPR, The New York Times, Reuters

Daily Headlines: July 26, 2016

* Brazil: Amid the plethora of negative news on the upcoming Rio Olympics there’s a small glimmer of hope –Brazil’s economy could emerge from a deep recession by the end of this year.

* Mexico: In light of free trade becoming a hot topic in the U.S. presidential race, Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu suggested “modernizing and updating” the North American Free Trade Agreement.

* Latin America: LATAM Airlines, Latin America’s largest air carrier, was fined some $22 million over “violating accounting laws connected to a scheme to bribe Argentine union officials.”

* Argentina: Ex-Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner claimed to be unafraid of going to jail over allegations of corruption and compared her situation to that of suspended Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff.

* Ecuador: As part of the latest legal tug-of-war between Ecuador and Chevron, the South American country’s central bank paid $112 million as part of an arbitration ruling favoring the U.S. oil firm.

* Chile: The Chilean Supreme Court last week unanimously lengthened the prison sentences against two former military officers convicted in the 1973 deaths of documentary filmmaker Charles Horman and university student Frank Teruggi.

YouTube Source – CCTV News (Brazil’s economy entered its fifth straight quarter at a loss at the beginning of 2016, but could emerge from its crippling recession by the end of this year).

Online Sources – Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, MarketWatch, Reuters, USA TODAY, Al Jazeera English