Daily Headlines: October 27, 2016

* Cuba: Cuban state media hailed as “a triumph of the heroic resistance of the Cuban people” the United Nations General Assembly’s symbolic yet overwhelming condemnation of the United States trade embargo against the Caribbean state.

* Colombia: Envoys for the Colombian government and the ELN rebels are preparing to start formal negotiations in Ecuador, while talks are taking place in Havana over the renegotiation of the peace deal with the FARC that was recently defeated in a tightly contested referendum.

* Brazil: According to Survival International, isolated indigenous groups in northwestern Brazil face “annihilation” over what they view as one of the worst land grabs in decades.

* Venezuela: One police officer was killed and dozens reported injured amid mass demonstrations supporting and opposing the rule of President Nicolas Maduro.

YouTube Source – AFP (Barring abstentions by the United States and Israel, not a single member of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday voted in favor of the trade embargo against Cuba.)
 
Online Sources – Granma, Colombia Reports, Phys Org, CNN, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: September 29, 2016

* Argentina: Nearly one in three residents in Argentina live below the poverty line according to the first data on the subject published by the government since October 2013.

* Colombia: Days after a peace accord was signed with Colombia’s largest guerilla army, the ELN rebels claimed to be ready to officially start peace talks with the government.

* Chile: “I believe that women should have legally the possibility of making their own choices,” said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet over a proposal that would relax the country’s ban on abortion under all circumstances.

* United States: A PricewaterhouseCoopers study concluded that Hispanic television viewers prefer English-language programs over those in Spanish with stronger preference in each subsequent generation for shows in English.

YouTube Source – CCTV America (New data from the Argentinian government seems to confirm the findings of a 2014 World Bank report warning that a third of the population is vulnerable of falling into poverty.)

Online Sources – Voice of America, The Latin Americanist, Deadline, BBC News, ABC News

Daily Headlines: June 1, 2016

* Venezuela: Organization of American States chief Luis Almagro, who has been highly critical of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, has called on a meeting to potentially suspend the South American state from the regional group.

* Colombia: Colombia’s ELN may have recently freed three kidnapped journalists including Salud Hernández of Spain but the rebels have yet to liberate others held in captivity like Odin Sanchez.

* Puerto Rico: Despite Puerto Rico’s economic woes, drug maker Roche plans to invest at least $60 million to its expand its operations on the island.

* South America: Brazil’s political crisis and corruption scandals could provide a boost to the economy of neighboring Argentina.

YouTube Source – CCTV News (Last weekend, Venezuelan “government officials and opposition leaders held separate meetings in the Dominican Republic, to lay the groundwork for a potential dialogue.”)

Online Sources – Reuters, Latin American Herald Tribune, Colombia Reports, New Zealand Herald, BBC News

Daily Headlines: May 13, 2016

* Chile: A “red tide” outbreak of toxic algae off the Chilean coast has led to the deaths of thousands of marine animals and paralyzed the local fishing industry.

* Colombia: Representatives of the Colombian government and FARC rebels agreed to a plan to judicially shield an anticipated peace deal, while prosecutors charged ELN guerilla commanders with nearly 16,000 crimes.

* Brazil: Should the Rio Olympics scheduled for this August be suspended or moved in light of Brazil’s political crisis and worry over the Zika virus epidemic?

* Mexico: Mexico's deputy secretary for finance warned that possible plans of a new U.S. president to use remittances to pay for a border wall could hinder bilateral efforts to prevent money laundering by criminals and drug cartels.

YouTube Source – CCTV America

Online Sources – Voice of America, Colombia Reports, InSight Crime, CTV News, Los Angeles Times

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: February 16, 2016

* Cuba: The U.S. and Cuba will sign an aviation agreement today that would allow up to 110 commercial flights to fly to nine destinations on the Caribbean island.

* Colombia: While the Colombian government and FARC rebels seem to be close to reaching a peace deal, the country’s second-largest guerrilla army has gone on a violent offensive that has left at least three state security agents dead.

* Peru: Approximately 2000-3000 barrels of oil are estimated to have spilled in the northern Peruvian region of Amazonas and might have contaminated the Chiriaco River.

* Venezuela: Four oil-producing nations including Venezuela conditionally agreed to cap their output at January levels as part of an attempt to raise the price of crude.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – NBC News, Vice News, MercoPress, Latin American Herald Tribune, BBC News

Daily Headlines: October 27, 2015

* Brazil: The first-ever World Indigenous Games commenced in Brazil yet much like preparations for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the competition has not been free from controversy.

* Mexico: Residents in Mexico’s Golden Triangle region claimed that they have been unfairly displaced as part of the manhunt to find fugitive drug capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

* Colombia: Preliminary peace talks between the Colombian government and ELN are in jeopardy after at least eleven security agents were killed and two were kidnapped in a guerrilla ambush.

* Venezuela: Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz tried to downplay allegations by ex-prosecutor Franklin Reyes who claimed that false evidence was used to convict opposition activist Leopoldo López.

YouTube Source – AFP

Online Sources – Scotsman, Global Voices Online, Voice of America, BBC News

Daily Headlines: July 24, 2014

* Venezuela: Proceedings began yesterday in the trial against leading opposition member Leopoldo Lopez who has been accused of inciting violence during anti-government demonstrations earlier this year.

* U.S.: According to a new report from the American Heart Association, the risks of cardiovascular disease vary among the different subpopulations within the Latino community.

* Colombia: Colombian defense officials declared that thirteen guerillas belonging to the ELN were killed in a series of military operations on Tuesday.

* Mexico: According to “preliminary” data, the 22,732 recorded homicides in Mexico last year was less than the peak of 27,213 in 2011 though homicide rates in several states have “increased markedly”.

Video Source – euronews via YouTube (Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez handed himself over to police in February and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted).
 
Online Sources – Yahoo News; BBC News; The Latin Americanist; GlobalPost; Newsweek

Colombian Gov’t, ELN Rebels Agree to Peace Talks

In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, the Colombian government and the country’s number two rebel army announced that they would go undergo preliminary peace discussions.

The communiqué from the government and ELN guerillas mentioned six points including that both parties agreed to an “exploratory phase” of talks with the goal of “finding a viable end to the armed conflict and construct a stable and strong peace for Colombia.”  Among the topics agreed upon for discussion are the victims of the country’s decades-long civil conflict and “participation of civil society.”

“We express to Colombia and the international community the shared will to continue with the exploratory phase that will allows us to agree on an agenda and establish talks until reaching a final agreement,” read one of the points on the statement. 

The communiqué expressed gratitude to the governments of Brazil, Chile, Cuba Ecuador, Norway and Venezuela for their “good faith” in cooperating with the process.  

The statement neglected to mention exactly where or when the discussions would take place and also omitted providing the names of who would participate for both sides in the negotiations.  Yet President Juan Manuel Santos said this afternoon that the talks would be held under the same conditions as with the FARC, Colombia’s oldest and largest guerillas, and would include no laying down of arms or a ceasefire.  (This would also mean that the Colombian military’s offensive against both rebel factions would continue).

“An integral peace process that includes the FARC and the ELN is the best guarantee for the victims and for the country that this conflict will end forever and never be repeated,” Santos told reporters.

Negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC have been under way since November 2012.  Both sides have thus far reached partial agreements on how to deal with the drug trade, land reform, and political participation.

Daily Headlines: July 30, 2013

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala tried to calm the discontent of recent anti-government protests by claiming that the Peruvian economy will continue to be strong.

* Colombia: The latest round of peace talks between the Colombian government and FARC rebels resumed this week in Cuba while the ELN guerillas could soon release a kidnapped Canadian geologist. 

* Latin America: At least twenty-six people have died so far this year as a result of a dengue outbreak affecting several Latin American countries.

* Puerto Rico: Why are two of the most prominent Congressmen of Puerto Rican background opposed to a bill that could help grant statehood to the island?

Video Source – YouTube via user JewishNewsOne

Online Sources- Reuters; MercoPress; Prensa Latina; Huffington Post; Hispanically Speaking News

Daily Headlines: July 3, 2013

* Honduras: The Honduran Congress accepted the resignation of Attorney General Luis Ruby who quit after admitting that his office had trouble trying to stem rampant violence.

* Mexico: Forty-six women were rescued in a human trafficking bust at a Mexico City nightclub over the weekend.

* Cuba: Officials on Monday announced that the first non-farm cooperatives since the 1959 revolution were functioning and approval was granted for the establishment of an extra 71 cooperatives.
  
* Colombia: Negotiators for the FARC rebels have urged the Colombian government to include the ELN guerillas in peace talks being held in Cuba.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English (“Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world - and gangs are the main perpetrators of the violence. But now two of the largest and most dangerous street gangs have agreed to end all violence,” according to the description provided to this video that was uploaded roughly five weeks ago).

Online Sources- GlobalPost; CNN; Reuters; NBC News

Daily Headlines: February 5, 2013

* Venezuela: Vice President Nicolas Maduro read a letter purportedly from President Hugo Chavez who has not made a public appearance since undergoing surgery on December 11th.

* Colombia: Representatives for the FARC rebels denied allegations that peace talks with the Colombian government are floundering, while the ELN guerillas reportedly kidnapped two German citizens.

* U.S.: A new survey found that 18% of Latinos are gun owners, which is a smaller percentage compared to blacks (21%) and whites (33%).

* Argentina: Most Argentine supermarkets will freeze the prices of goods for two months in a move aimed at halting rising inflation rates.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- ABC News, LAHT, Terra.com, Huffington Post, Washington Post