Daily Headlines: February 8, 2016 (Updated)

* Haiti: Monday marks the first full day a transitional government rules Haiti after Michel Martelly stepped down as president amid political chaos and instability.

* Mexico: A ninth inning home run by Jorge Vazquez in the final game helped power Mexico to the Caribbean Series title for the third time in four years.

Update: On a related note, Cuba's Gourriel brothers including "star infielder" Yulieski reportedly left the team hotel and plan to defect as part of an attempt to play in the major leagues. 

* Venezuela: Shopping malls in Caracas will cut their hours of service to four hours per day as a result of weather-related energy rationing.

* El Salvador: Human rights advocates and friends of six Jesuit priests massacred in 1989 are pleased with the recent arrest of four ex-military members accused of committing the murders.

YouTube Source – AFP
 
Online Sources including Update – Vice News, The Latin Americanist, BBC News, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, ESPN

Daily Headlines: February 6, 2015

* Haiti: Carnival celebrations in Port-au-Prince later this month could be disrupted by protests critical of the government’s handling of gasoline prices.

* Cuba: At least two Cuban baseball players including the rookie of the year in the island’s league last year defected during the Caribbean Series hosted in Puerto Rico.

* Peru: Researchers discovered a new yellow frog species in the coastal valleys of central Peru that is under threat from a deadly type of fungus.

* Uruguay: According to Israel’s Haaretz daily, Uruguay expelled an Iranian diplomat suspected of placing a bomb near the Israeli embassy in Montevideo last month.

Video Source – YouTube user No Comment TV (“Protests continued in Haiti (on January 11th) with demonstrators making urgent calls for President Michel Martelly to resign as they clashed with police in the capital.”)
 
Online Sources – UPI; Reuters; ABC News; Haaretz

Daily Headlines: February 6, 2014

* Panama: Informal talks are reportedly being held between operators of the Panama Canal and a Spanish-led consortium in order to continue the troubled expansion of the famed waterway.

* Venezuela: Venezuela's main opposition party called on authorities to release seven people arrested over the weekend for protesting in the city hosting the Caribbean Series.

* Central America: The Costa Rican government will file a new complaint against Nicaragua with the International Court of Justice as part of the latest chapter in the diplomatic tug-of-war between the neighboring Central American states.

* Haiti: According to human rights group Amnesty International, Haitian police clashed with survivors of a 2010 earthquake in an apparent attempt to evict residents of a makeshift camp.

Online Sources - Washington Post; Tico Times; Reuters

Video Source - euronews via YouTube ("There are renewed tensions over building work to expand the Panama Canal which has been the subject of a dispute over who should pay up for cost overruns.")

Daily Headlines: February 3, 2014

* Brazil: Respected Brazilin filmmaker Eduardo Coutinho was stabbed to death yesterday in an incident allegedly perpetrated by his son who has mental health issues.

* South America: Days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in a border dispute between Chile and Peru, Bolivian President Evo Morales said that his country will not drop its ICJ lawsuit against Chile.

* Latin America: Support for Puerto Rican independence and a promise to resolve regional differences via dialogue were some of the details mentioned in a declaration at the end of last week’s summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

* Venezuela: The Caribbean Series of baseball started on Sunday in Venezuela with the return of Cuba for the first time since 1960.

Video Source – YouTube user Gabriel Silva Mendeleh (The career of Eduardo Coutinho spanned four decades and included directing documentaries such as 1999’s “The Mighty Spirit,” which focused on the residents of a Rio de Janeiro slum prior to a visit of Pope John Paul II to Brazil.)

Online Sources- Folha.com; UPI; Reuters; The Latin Americanist; Xinhua

Daily Headlines: February 8, 2013

* Mexico: Mexico’s Yaquis de Obregon won the Caribbean Series over the Dominican Republic's Leones del Escogido in a nail-biting eighteen inning marathon game that took nearly 7.5 hours to play. 

* Venezuela: Ailing President Hugo Chavez might soon be able to rule by decree after an opposition lawmaker changed party affiliation.

* Haiti: A judge ruled that ex-President Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier must appear in court later this month to face charges of human rights abuse.

* El Salvador: The Salvadoran military will reportedly be withdrawn from several “peace zone” municipalities where the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs agreed to a non-violence truce.

Video Source – YouTube via user iPhoneActualidad

Online Sources- ESPN, Christian Science Monitor, NBC News, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: February 3, 2011

* Cuba: The Castro administration may have promised to free four political prisoners yet a pair of dissident activists started a hunger strike against the government’s pressure to exile them.

* Brazil: Recently inaugurated President Dilma Rousseff may not be too keen on arms purchases as her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

* Argentina: Activity slowly resumed in the major port of Rosario after workers lifted an eight-day-long strike.

* Caribbean: Baseball’s Caribbean Series began last night with Mexico’s Yaquis de Obregon beating the Dominican Republic's Toros del Este in a sixteen-inning marathon.

Image – AFP via France24 (“Alejandrina Garcia (2nd R), the wife of political prisoner Diosdado Gonzalez, speaks on her mobile phone next to other relatives of Cuban political prisoners in Havana, in 2010. Two of the 11 high-profile Cuban political dissidents who rejected a deal for foreign exile have begun a hunger strike, an opposition group said.”).
Online Sources- UPI, Reuters, France24, Univision.com