Daily Headlines: November 16, 2011

* Mexico: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will run again for the Mexican presidency after losing in a very close election in 2006.

* Colombia: A “hardliner” known as Timochenko was selected as the new head of the FARC guerillas nearly two weeks after alias Alfonso Cano was killed in a military operation.

* U.S.: Latino New York City councilman Ydanis Rodriguez will reportedly be released from police custody today after being arrested and possibly assaulted by officers during Monday’s actions against Occupy Wall Street protesters.

* Guatemala: President Alvaro Colom gave permission for the extradition of former leader Alfonso Portillo to the U.S. where he awaits trial on supposed money laundering.

Image Source – Flickr via user Eneas (CC BY 2.0)

Online Sources- CBS News, Reuters, Huffington Post, CNN, The Latin Americanist,

Daily Headlines: March 22, 2011

* Guatemala: First Lady Sandra Torres de Colom will allegedly divorce from her husband, President Alvaro Colom, in order to legally run in this September’s presidential election.

* Venezuela: The Chavez administration inked several economic deals with China including “a $4 billion line of credit for Caracas' housing investments.”

* Argentina: President Cristina Fernandez may have her back against he wall over a money laundering investigation that led to calls of a general strike.

* Colombia: Author Juan Gabriel Vasquez won the prestigious Alfaguara Spanish literary prize for his novel on the "dark balance of an age of terror and violence" in Bogota.

Image – AP via BBC News
Online Sources- ABC News, Sify, AFP, The Telegraph

Daily Headlines: February 22, 2011

* Venezuela: Embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared on state TV last night and claimed that contrary to rumors he did not flee to Venezuela.

* Guatemala: President Alvaro Colom removed a two-month "state of siege" on a northern province that was reportedly controlled by Mexican drug gangs.

* Brazil: According to the Brazilian press President Dilma Rousseff will hold off on the purchase of 36 military jets as part of major budget cuts.

* Dominican Republic: Health authorities said that all meat and seafood from neighboring Haiti will be burned and discarded unless it includes guarantee that it's not tainted with cholera.

Online Sources - CNN, Canadian Press, UPI, Sify
Image Source - Reuters TV still image via The Guardian ("A still from footage of Muammar Gaddafi during a rally in Nalut. Regime survival has marked the Libyan leader's moves in recent years.")

Daily Headlines: January 18, 2011

* U.S.: The family of a Mexican boy killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent last June has filed a multimillion-dollar wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government.

* Peru: An executive order issued by President Alan Garcia bans all smoking in public buildings and the workplace.

* Latin America: Execs at CONCACAF, the ruling soccer body for North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, will advocate that the region receive another automatic berth for the 2014 World Cup.

* Guatemala: According to a 2008 diplomat cable released by Wikileaks, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom was highly critical against Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu.

Image – AP via MSNBC (“Friends and relatives of Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, 15, carry his coffin before his burial in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on June 10, 2010.”)
Online Sources- AP, Reuters, LAHT, Houston Chronicle

Daily Headlines: November 9, 2010

* Mexico: A crackdown on money laundering may hurt the interests of drug gangs but it has also been inconvenient to the growing number of foreign tourists visiting Mexico.

* Latin America: According to the U.N. inequality throughout Latin America and the Caribbean continues to grow despite the region being “the most unequal in the world”.

* Guatemala: President Alvaro Colom vetoed a proposal that would’ve ended a ten-year moratorium on the death penalty.

* Paraguay: Could a British-led expedition into Paraguay lead to the “genocide” of certain isolated indigenous tribes?

Image – SFGate.com
Online Sources- Bloomberg, MercoPress, The Guardian, The Latin Americanist, LAHT

Daily Headlines: July 7 2010

* Latin America: Health officials are on high alert after dengue outbreaks killed sixteen and three people in Honduras and Puerto Rico, respectively.

* Venezuela: OPEC’s oil reserves grew by four percent in 2009 partly due to an increased contribution from Venezuela.

* Mexico: Approximately 18,000 residents of the northern Mexican town of Ciudad Anahuac were evacuated due to fears that a nearby dam will overflow.

* Central America: First it was Honduran President Porfirio Lobo; now it’s Guatemala’s Alvaro Colom who claims that there is a conspiracy to oust him from office.

Image – MSNBC (“Although killer diseases such as dengue fever are long-forgotten by Americans, they still plague millions worldwide — and these infections could start becoming more widespread in the U.S. Some, such as dengue fever, are spread by infected mosquitoes.”)
Online Sources- AP, LAHT, Bloomberg, BBC News, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: June 29, 2010

* Guatemala: Two brothers were arrested in the unusual murder case of Rodrigo Rosenberg- a Guatemalan lawyer who staged his own death that he tried to falsely implicate on president Alvaro Colom.

* Panama: Former leader Manuel Noriega appeared in a French court yesterday where he stands trial for money laundering.

* Venezuela: At least six people died in a riot on Sunday at the Los Toques prison near the capital city of Caracas.

* Colombia: Did Colombia’s beleaguered intelligence agency illegally wiretap the phones of Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa?

Image – Sydney Morning Herald (Image of Guatemalan lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg from a video publicized after his 2009 murder where he claimed that Alvaro Colom tried to kill him.)
Online Sources- MSNBC, The Latin Americanist, Bloomberg, UPI, BBC News

Daily Headlines: March 31, 2010

* U.S.: Rest in peace Jaime Escalante; the Bolivian-born former Los Angeles teacher who strove to educate inner-city students died of bladder cancer yesterday. (The above video comes via UPI).

* Guatemala: A man was convicted for the 2009 murder of a lawyer who previously taped a video accusing President Alvaro Colom of killing him.

* Latin America: The World Meteorological Organization claimed that the El Nino weather phenomena that affects the Americas and the world is expected to die out after the middle of this year.

* Mexico: According to KPMG Mexico beat out nine other nations including Japan, the U.S. and Britain as the most efficient country to do business.

Online Sources- UPI, Los Angeles Times, YouTube, Vancouver Sun, Reuters, AP, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: January 13, 2010

* Guatemala: A UN investigator cleared president Alvaro Colom in the unusual murder case of lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg and claimed that Rosenberg himself ordered his own assassination.

* Ecuador: Was the disagreement with president Rafael Correa over an Amazon rain forest protection project the reason behind Foreign Minister Fander Falconi’s abrupt resignation?

* Cuba: Spanish officials claimed that they worked out a deal in order to receive a pair of Guantanamo detainees.

* Peru: Yale University wants to dismiss a lawsuit accusing them of stealing thousands of artifacts from Machu Picchu.

Image – CNN (“Rodrigo Rosenberg left a video blaming Guatemala's president after his death last year.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, BBC News, Voice of America, Xinhua, Science Magazine

Daily Headlines: September 14, 2009

* Latin America: A London-based think tank credited Mexico and Argentina as the world's top nations that are making the “global economy more climate friendly", based on an index of "carbon competitiveness”.

* Guatemala: Nine people were reportedly arrested for the May murder of a lawyer who claimed before he died that President Alvaro Colom was plotting his death.

* Peru: “A flood of high-quality counterfeit U.S. money from Peru is perplexing federal authorities,” according to this Los Angeles Times article published over the weekend.

* Brazil: Thousands are homeless and at least two are dead in southern Brazil as a result of heavy rains and flooding.

Image- Guardian UK (“A combination photograph shows an image from 1928 (top) of the Upsala glacier in Patagonia, Argentina, contrasted with a 2004 photograph (bottom) of the same view. The pictures illustrate the extent to which climate change has caused the ice to melt away this century.”)
Online Sources- AP, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, CNN

Daily Headlines: September 10, 2009

* Guatemala: President Alvaro Colom declared Guatemala in a “state of calamity” as the country faces a serious food shortage that has killed 25 children this year.

* Mexico: Several mothers in Ciudad Juarez protested attorney general-designee Arturo Chavez and claimed that he did little to investigate the unsolved murders of dozens of women.

* Cuba: Western Union reached a deal with the Treasury Department that will reflect the changes in remittance rules to Cuba.

* U.S.: Sonia Sotomayor listened to a case involving campaign finance during her first day on the Supreme Court bench yesterday.

Image- BBC News (“Almost half of Guatemala's children suffer chronic malnutrition.”)
Online Sources- AHN, The Latin Americanist, bizjournals.com, New York Daily News, New York Times

Daily Headlines: August 11, 2009

* Bolivia: Research conducted on an indigenous Bolivian tribe concluded that strokes and heart attacks may’ve been very rare throughout most of human history.

* Uruguay: While several Latin American left-of-center governments are in danger of being defeated by conservatives, a recent poll showed that most Uruguayans back their moderate/left ruling party.

* U.S: Police and federal agents raided a pair of Long Island restaurants in order to halt an alleged prostitution ring that exploited undocumented women from Central America.

* Guatemala: President Alvaro Colom said that he would continue to crackdown on corruption in the country’s police which he claims is due to drug traffickers.

Image- examiner.com
Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, Angus Reid Global Monitor, LAHT, The Latin Americanist, newsday.com

Leading U.S. diplomat backs Guatemala’s Colom

Guatemala is facing “a serious test of its fortitude” over the allegations that President Alvaro Colom and his close allies masterminded the murder of a prominent attorney. The accusations surrounding Colom has lead his opponents to protest and present a petition of more than 30,000 signatures of citizens calling for his prompt resignation. Not to be outdone, Colom’s supporters have come out to back him up; the latest example being a rally of an estimated 40,000 people on Sunday.

So far, Colom has received the backing of the Organization of American States and several Latin American leaders. The embattled president has even got the support of a key U.S. diplomat:

A senior U.S. official visited Guatemala on Monday to show support for President Alvaro Colom, who has been facing public protest due to alleged involvement in a lawyer's murder, news reports said.

Colom restated his innocence of all charges at a meeting with U.S. Undersecretary of State for Latin America David Robinson, a Guatemala government spokesman told reporters Monday.

Whether he is innocent or guilty, the “two Guatemalas” that have emerged from the Colom scandal may break the country beyond repair.

Image- BBC News
Online Sources- Xinhua, LAHT, AP, The Latin Americanist, csmonitor.com

Guatemala on the brink

Days after the murder of Guatemala lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg and his client, former government official Khalil Musa, Guatemala finds itself in a serious test of its fortitude.

As noted here recently, Guatemala's president stands accused of a Shakespearean murder plot, which he vehemently (yet coldly) denies. His political opposition demands his resignation despite only accusations from a dead man to substantiate the claim. Guatemalans on both sides are staging protests and rallies. Some fear that the country's civil rights and democracy, a tender 13 years of age, may be at stake. All the while, rampant criminality in Guatemala roils on, causing some analysts to question whether the government or the criminals have the upper hand.

The coming weeks will be crucial in determining whether Guatemala can get a grip on its current problems or whether dire measures will be needed. The UN and FBI have offered their assistance in investigating the murder. Still, as his political coalition now sees daily defections, some suspect that President Colom's ability to govern in the wake of this scandal will be terminally weakened. Once the investigation's dust settles, the hope must be that Colom -- whether guilty or innocent or somewhere in between -- will be able to gauge whether or not stepping down or staying on ultimately makes sense for the good of the country.

Sources: The Economist, El Periodico, Siglo XXI, The Guardian

Guatemala’s Colom denies masterminding murder plot

At least 1000 people rallied outside of Guatemala’s National Palace against President Alvaro Colom who has been accused of masterminding the murder of a lawyer. Among those protesting were opposition politicos who have called for the prompt resignation of the center-left leader.

Not to be outdone, several hundred supporters of Colom also rallied in the Guatemalan capital. Thankfully, both demonstrations were reportedly peaceful and without major incident.

In a video released earlier this week, attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg claimed that officials including Colom were after him due to an influential client he represented. The video was publicized on Monday by his representatives, less than 24 hours after he was slain.

Colom has vehemently denied the allegations and has called on the FBI and UN to come to Nicaragua and investigate the Rosenberg case. "This government is not alone, this government stands by its people and we are going to defend the rule of law and democracy until the end," said Colom in a nationally televised address.

Colom has received support from the Organization of American States which passed a resolution approving the Guatemalan government "in its obligation to preserve the institutions of democracy and the rule of law". Meanwhile, U.S. ambassador Stephen McFarland said that an FBI agent had been dispatched to help out.

Image- Al Jazeera English (“Rodrigo Rosenberg's video was posted on the YouTube website after he was killed.”)
Online Sources- Al Jazeera English, AP, AFP, Reuters

Daily Headlines: May 12, 2009

* Guatemala: In an unusual case, a video of a dead Guatemalan lawyer emerged where he claimed that President Alvaro Colom plotted to kill him.

* U.S.: According to a new study conducted by the University of Washington, roughly four out of every five Latinos back President Barack Obama.

* Chile: Chile’s government said they would be willing to analyze a Bolivian proposal allowing the landlocked country access to the sea via a tunnel.

* Colombia: The International Monetary Fund approved granting a $10.5 billion short-term line of credit to Colombia via a new lending program.

Image- CNN
Online Sources- BBC News, Latina.com, LAHT, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: March 3, 2009

* Guatemala: President Alvaro Colom claimed that there have been “credible” death threats against him from Mexican hit men employed by drug gangs.

* Puerto Rico: Governor Luis Fortuño is expected to announce later today that hundreds, possibly thousands, of government workers will be laid off in the next few weeks.

* Dominican Republic: President Leonel Fernandez fired over 700 police officers days after he vowed to “cleanse the government of corruption.”

* Latin America: Fourth quarter profits for telecom giant Telefonica jumped by 89% partly due to higher growth in Latin America.

Image- The Telegraph
Online Sources- Caribbean Net News, CNN, Bloomberg, LAHT

Daily Headlines: February 27, 2009

* Mexico: Days after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced a major crackdown of Mexican drug gangs Sen. Joseph Lieberman said that the Senate will hold hearings over rising violence in Mexico.

* Colombia: Will U.S. military operations become headquartered in Colombia after they leave the base at Manta, Ecuador this August?

* Guatemala: One week after apologizing to Cuba for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom apologized to victims of his country’s cruel 36-year civil war.

* Haiti: Kristian Dyer of ESPN.com takes a great look at the legacy of Joe Gaetjens- the Haitian immigrant who scored the game-winning goal for the U.S. in one of the World Cup’s greatest upsets.

Image- Al Jazeera English
Online Sources- BBC News, Reuters, The Latin Americanist, AFP, ABC Online, ESPN

Daily Headlines: February 18, 2009

* U.S.: Time magazine’s top blogs of 2009 list praised Cuban-based Generación Y and deemed PerezHilton.com as overrated.

* Cuba: Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom apologized to Cuba for his country permitting the CIA to train exiles who participated in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.

* Mexico: Nearly 500,000 bus and truck operators went on a 24-hour strike in protest of rising fuel costs.

* Antarctica: Almost three months after 122 people were rescued from a sinking ship near Antarctica another cruise ship ran aground with 65 passengers.

Image- Global Voices Online
Online Sources- Time, MSNBC, LAHT, The Latin Americanist, USA TODAY

Daily Headlines: February 17, 2009

* U.S.: Rest in peace Joe Cuba; the salsa pioneer and "Father of Latin Boogaloo" died Sunday at the age of 78.

* Cuba: On the heels of last week’s visit to Cuba by Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, Guatemala’s Alvaro Colom started his state visit to the island yesterday.

* Argentina: Farmers nationwide are suffering from hard times as Argentina faces its worse drought since 1961.

* Ecuador: The global economic slowdown has hit Ecuador as remittances sent to the country plummeted by 22% in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Image- daylife.com (“Salsa pioneer and bandleader Joe Cuba and his wife, Maria Cuba, perform onstage for about 200 junior high school students Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006 in New York. The 75-year-old singer and conga drum player was onstage again after having been sick and confined to his bed for years after contracting a staff infection. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)”)
Online Sources- New York Daily News, Prensa Latina, Voice of America, Bloomberg, LAHT