Daily Headlines: December 8, 2015

* Mexico: Coca-Cola has come under fire after airing a Christmas-themed ad depicting a “group of young, white Mexicans traveling to an indigenous town…to ‘help‘ wide-eyed locals by giving them bottles of Coke and a giant Christmas tree.”

* Venezuela: Nearly three out of four Venezuelans eligible to vote participated in Sunday’s legislative elections won by the opposition coalition with a potential “supermajority.”

* Colombia: Representatives of the FARC traveled to the Colombian town of Bojaya to ask for forgiveness for the massacre of some eighty residents in 2002.

* Cuba: The Cuban government is reportedly close to reaching a deal with the Paris Club of creditors to restructure a $16 billion debt.

YouTube Source – Diario de Mexico TV (Parody video poking fun at a Mexican Coca-Cola commercial criticized as racially insensitive and offensive against indigenous people).
 
Online Sources – Fusion, Xinhua, Colombia Reports, Voice of America

Daily Headlines: August 3, 2012

* Bolivia: The Bolivian government has downplayed remarks allegedly made by the Foreign Minister calling for a ban to Coca-Cola.

* Venezuela: Gen. Douglas Fraser, the head of the U.S. Southern Command, echoed recent comments made by President Barack Obama denying that Venezuela is a national security threat to the U.S.

* Colombia: A senior member of the FARC rebels believed to have been killed in 2010 reappeared in a video and claimed “we must end the war.”

* Mexico: Some activists such as poet Javier Sicilia are none too pleased that a federally funded memorial to victims of Mexican violence will be placed next to a military base.

Video Source – YouTube via user BuenosDiasPeruPTV

Online Sources- ninemsn, InSight Crime, Fox News Latino, ABC News, Washington Post

Daily Headlines: April 9, 2010

* Cuba: Rest in peace Graciela Perez-Gutierrez; the legendary Afro-Cuban jazz singer passed away on Wednesday at the age of 94.

* Latin America: A diplomatic row may be developing after Venezuelan authorities arrested eight Colombians and accused them of acting as spies.

* Guatemala: Coca-Cola is being sued in a U.S. court over allegedly “engaging in a campaign of violence” against Guatemalan labor activists.

* Argentina: The government is expected to appeal a U.S. court ruling that could permit creditors to the Argentine central bank to seize assets.

Image – New York Daily News ("Graciela Perez-Grillo became the first female singer to front a major tropical band when she moved to New York in 1942.")
Online Sources- Wall Street Journal, NACLA, MSNBC, CBC

Daily Headlines: March 5, 2010

* Mexico: Hundreds of gay couples lined up in Mexico City’s registry yesterday after a groundbreaking gay marriage law went into effect.

* Latin America: First it was Colombia. Now Coca-Cola may be sued for “negligence and complicity in violence aimed at union activists” in Guatemala.

* Brazil: In a bad sign for the Brazilian economy the country’s inflation rate rose to its highest point in nearly two years.

* Colombia: Shakira’s charitable efforts had recently caught the attention of the White House and now the International Labor Organization who honored her this week.

Image – CBC (“A lesbian couple kiss after beginning the legal process towards marriage in front of a city government building in Mexico City, Thursday.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Vancouver Sun, Guardian UK, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, LAHT, Bloomberg

NYU overturns Coca-Cola ban

New York University’s thirty-seven month ban on Coca-Cola products will soon to come to an end.

By a 28-22 vote the University Senate overturned the ban which had been put in place due to the soft drink giant’s suspected involvement in the deaths of Colombian labor representatives.

One of the main sticking points behind the ban was that Coca-Cola refusal to allow an independent review of worker conditions in Colombia. Yet opponents of the ban were aided when Coca-Cola agreed to an assessment of its Colombian business practices by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Supporters of the prohibition argued that the presence of ILO member and director of global labor relations Edward Potter would taint the investigation.

Since 2005 approximately forty other universities aside from NYU enacted bans on Coca-Cola products. Yet a recent Washington Square News (NYU student newspaper) poll of 132 students found a 50-50 split over whether or not to keep the ban.

Coca-Cola vehemently denies the allegations of worker abuse in countries like Colombia and India. Nevertheless, the “Killer Coke” campaign has alleged that Coke’s Colombian subsidiary has ties to rightist paramilitaries:

Isidro Segundo Gil, an employee at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Colombia, was killed at his workplace by paramilitary thugs. His children, now living in hiding with relatives, understand all too well why their homeland is known as "a country where union work is like carrying a tombstone on your back"...
(In a 2001) lawsuit, Gil's union, Sinaltrainal, the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) and the United Steelworkers of America assert that the Coke bottlers "contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders."

Image- BusinessWeek
Online Sources- Washington Square News, Killer Coke, Time, BusinessWeek

Daily Headlines: February 15, 2008

* Over 100 celebrities including David Beckham, Ricky Martin, and Penelope Cruz have publicly backed Alejandro Sanz [image] in his dispute with the Venezuelan government.

* Did illegal loggers kill as many as fifteen natives in the Ecuadorian rainforest?

* Coca-Cola’s fourth-quarter profit grew higher than expected partly due to increased sales in Latin America.

* Approximately 4000 people demanding easier access to yellow fever vaccinations blockaded a highway in Paraguay.

* Follow-up: Mounting delays in handling immigration applications in the U.S. have forced officials to try to streamline the process for seeking a green card.

Sources- MSNBC, BBC News, The Latin Americanist, International Herald Tribune, Bloomberg

Image- Typically Spanish

“Life tastes good” except when it tastes funny in Mexico

Consumer advocates in the U.S. have raised concerns over the use of a possibly carcinogenic sweetener added to the Mexican version of Coca-Cola Zero. Despite a Federal Drug Administration ban against sodium cyclamate, Mexico overturned its ban on the chemical shortly before Coca-Cola Zero was launched there.

Blog Mark in Mexico denounced the “anti-American lies, half truths, superstitions, myths and fables” against Coca-Cola Zero in Mexico. Yet several Mexican bloggers have been alarmed over the use of sodium cyclamate in the drink:

"One Web site calls Coca-Cola Zero 'poison,' while another accuses Coke of using sodium cyclamate in Mexico because it is cheaper than other sweeteners."

Coca-Cola has been involved in other controversies in the Americas; the “Killer Coke” campaign protesting antiunion violence in Colombia has led to the banning of Coke products in several U.S. and British universities.

p.s. Click here for the reference made in the post’s title.

Sources- Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mark in Mexico, Salud, Las cosas por las que vale la pena vivir!, Noches de Café y Luna, TIME, Gothamist, Monsters & Critics

Image- Sydney Morning Herald

Daily Headlines: May 29, 2007

* Brazil’s government will create a new program to subsidize birth control pills, while Mexico’s government is mounting a legal challenge to Mexico City’s abortion law.

* An interchange between imprisoned guerillas and kidnap victims “will always be the best option” said recently rescued Colombian police officer Jhon Frank Pinchao.

* Congrats to Argentine film “XXY” and Mexican actress Elisa Miller for receiving top awards during the Cannes Film Festival.

* In an article published over the weekend in Granma, Fidel Castro blasted U.S. President George W. Bush as "an apocalyptic person."

* Coca-Cola was levied with a $1 million fine for monopolistic practices in Mexico.

* Follow-up #1: Opposition in Venezuela and Haiti is mounting against the Chavez administration’s financing of two Danny Glover films.

* Follow-up #2: Miss Japan won last night’s Miss Universe pageant despite several Latin American contestants as favorites and some classless jeering from the crowd.

Sources (English)- CNN, International Herald Tribune, The Latin Americanist, The Hollywood Reporter, CNN, Granma, BBC News, MSNBC, Monterey Herald, ABC News

Sources (Spanish)- Milenio, El Tiempo

Image- CNN

News briefs on Colombia

Because there are too many to list separately, here are several links on different news stories regarding Colombia:

* President Alvaro Uribe said he would “release” several imprisoned guerrillas by June 7^th as a gesture “in the national interest”.

* FARC commander Raul Reyes has urged the government of France to push for the release of former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three American hostages.

* Despite his differences with Democrats, Uribe will be on hand at a star-studded award gala honoring Bill Clinton next month.

* In a survey carried out by Colombian media outlet RCN, most people were opposed to Uribe’s suggestion of not jailing politicians with ties to paramilitaries.

* Ex-U.S. ambassador to Colombia Anne Patterson was nominated by the White House as the next ambassador to Pakistan.

* The University of Chicago may be the next school to ban all Coca-Cola products from campus due to allegations of labor abuses in Colombia.

* Singer Juanes has been rumored to have separated from his wife, actress Karen Martinez.

Sources (English)- BBC News, Guardian UK, The Latin Americanist, International Herald Tribune, Chicago Maroon, Contactmusic.com

Sources (Spanish)- RCN, El Tiempo

Image- 33ff.com