Daily Headlines: September 12, 2016

* Honduras: Authorities last week arrested the final suspect in the murder last March of acclaimed Honduran environmentalist Berta Caceres though investigators are still looking into who masterminded her death.

* Colombia: Nairo Quintana became the first Colombian in nearly three decades to win the Vuelta a España, and has thus won two of the three cycling grand tours in his career.

* Ecuador: The legal tug-of-war between energy company Chevron and Ecuadoran plaintiffs over pollution in the Amazon rainforest heads to a Canadian court this week.

* Brazil: Brazil’s currency weakened this morning to its lowest point since July 28th following street protests nationwide against the government led by President Michel Temer.

YouTube Source – GreenpeaceVideo

Online Sources – NBC News, Bloomberg, The Independent, Fortune

Daily Headlines: June 16, 2016

* Honduras: Approximately 500 people rallied in Tegucigalpa and urged for an international investigation into the murder approximately three months ago of indigenous rights activist Berta Caceres.

* Venezuela: At least four people including a sixteen-year-old teen have died in recent days amid growing protests over food and medicine shortages.

* U.S.: A poll released this week found that a whopping 89% of Latinos view presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump unfavorably.

* Mexico: The new special prosecutor appointed to the case of 43 Ayotzinapa students missing since September 2014 has come under fire for purportedly attending the wedding of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán in 2007.

YouTube Source – ODN (From March 2016: “Thousands of mourners turned out for the funeral of slain Honduran indigenous leader Berta Caceres.”)

Online Sources – Rappler, Al Jazeera English, ABC News, Business Insider

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: May 4, 2016

* Argentina: Ex-Argentine Air Force chief Omar Graffigna is the latest former authority from the “Dirty War” period to go on trial for human rights abuses including the kidnapping and “disappearing” of dissidents.

* Venezuela: The probability that PDVSA could fall into default by the end of the year grew after the Venezuelan state-oil firm allegedly issued $310 million in debt to its suppliers.

* Honduras: Four people including two men purportedly linked to a controversial dam project were arrested for the murder of Honduran environmentalist and indigenous leader Berta Caceres.

* Colombia: The Colombian government once again refused to commence formal peace talks with the ELN unless the guerillas free all their hostages.

YouTube Source – AFP (Former “Dirty War” era political leaders and military officers accused of human rights abuses have gone on trial in recent years but one Argentine newspaper last November controversially called for an end to such proceedings).
 
Online Sources – Business Insider, Colombia Reports, NPR, BBC News

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 11, 2016

* Honduras: Representatives of more than 200 conservation and human rights groups signed a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry calling on the U.S. to back an investigation into the recent death of renown Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres.

* Chile: A Chilean judge halted the sixteen-year probe looking into a U.S. professor missing and possible abducted by state agents, while former “Caravan of Death” Gen. Sergio Arellano Stark died at the age of 94.

* Latin America: The gender pay gap in Latin America has narrowed by 12% from 1990 to 2014 but women still earned 26% less than men according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

* Brazil: Some twenty Syrian refugees claimed that they are being hurt by the bureaucratic process in order to obtain local work permits.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (Honduran human rights activist Berta Cáceres was shot on killed at her home on March 2nd).

Online Sources – The Hill, The New York Times, BBC News, Reuters, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: March 8, 2016

* Honduras: The recent murder of Honduran indigenous leader Berta Caceres has shined a light on the threats made against environmental activists throughout Latin America.

* Chile: The Chilean economy grew last January at its slowest pace in ten years due to decreased production in the manufacturing and mining sectors.

* Venezuela: At least twenty-eight Venezuelan miners have gone missing and may have been massacred as part of a struggle to control a “disputed gold claim.”

* Brazil: The “Lava Jato” corruption probe could sink Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s possible candidacy to return to the Brazilian presidency.

YouTube Source – ODN

Online Sources – Christian Science Monitor, Reuters, ABC News, BBC News