Daily Headlines: September 9, 2015 (Updated)

* Brazil: Financial analysts surveyed by Brazil’s central bank believe the country this year will face its worst economic performance since 1990 and predicted that the economy will keep shrinking in 2016.

Update: More bad news for the economy as Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday downgraded the Brazilian government’s sovereign debt rating to junk status.

* Ecuador: Canada’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of proceeding with an environmental damages lawsuit against Chevron though the tribunal did not “endorse the underlying Ecuadorian legal case.”

* Latin America: A new study found that digital use in Latin America grew between April 2014 and April 2015 including increases of 147% and 351% in activity for Facebook and Twitter, respectively.

* Cuba: Some 140 Cuban dissidents including twenty members of the Ladies in White were reportedly arrested yesterday while on their way to a Catholic mass.

YouTube Source – CNNMoney (“Brazil is struggling with high unemployment, rising inflation and a currency trading at 12-year lows.”)
 
Online Sources including Update – MercoPress, The Latin Americanist, Financial Post, Billboard, Latin American Herald Tribune, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: January 15, 2015

* Guatemala: The genocide retrial of ex-Guatemalan strongman Efrain Rios Montt was once again suspended after he skipped attending a court hearing this week.

* Venezuela: Former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles called on the Venezuelan opposition to unite and protest against the government amid a worsening economic crisis.

* Mexico: At least twenty Mexican state officials including prosecutors, forensic investigators and state police are being investigated for allegedly helping cover up the extrajudicial killings of suspected gang members in June 2014.

* Colombia: Colombia will become the first Latin American country to use a new cell phone app aimed at providing free internet nationwide and championed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Video Source – YouTube user WochitGeneralNews (The genocide retrial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt was initially suspended last week following the intervention of his lawyers).

Online Sources – BBC News; Bloomberg; ABC News; Voice of America

Daily Headlines: September 16, 2014

* Mexico: A Mexican politician has come under fire after posting a Facebook message referring to Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho as an “ape.”

* Brazil: The warden of a Brazilian prison where an inmate was recently beheaded was arrested and charged with helping prisoners escape.

* U.S.: A coalition of fifty groups commenced a campaign yesterday aimed at boosting the number of Latino voters participating in the November midterm elections.

* Puerto Rico: Approximately $900 million in tax and revenue anticipation notes is expected to be sold in order to raise revenues on the cash-strapped commonwealth.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube
 
Online Sources – The Guardian; The Latin Americanist; Fox News Latino; The Huffington Post; Reuters

Daily Headlines: December 6, 2013

* Paraguay: A version of Facebook with settings in the Paraguayan indigenous language of Guarani was launched this week and will run for at least three months.

* U.S.: The unemployment rate among Latinos dropped to 8.7% last month, which represents a decrease of 0.4% compared to October and 1.2% less than November 2012.

* Ecuador: “We consider it an act of violence,” said the head of the Pachamama Foundation, an Ecuadorian environmental group that is critical of the country’s present and was abruptly shut down on Wednesday.

* Peru: A forensic team is investing a recently uncovered mass grave with forty-eight bodies of women and children likely killed during Peru’s armed conflict.

Video Source – YouTube user LDS Mission Stories (Prepare to Serve!)

Online Sources- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sacramento Bee, BBC News, ABC News

#TwitterFail

Politicians have increasingly turned to social networking sites in order to advice their agendas or to reach out to prospective voters during the election season. At times, however, sites like Twitter and Facebook have hurt politicos such as the cases of the following four Latin American figures:

• Andrés Chadwick

The Chilean government spokesman adamantly denied that one of his daughters used her Facebook account to insult student protest leaders. He claimed that none of his daughters has the name of Ignacia Carolina Chadwick after a recent post under that account referred to protesters as “filthy shits.”

Giorgio Jackson, the head of the student protest movement, Tweeted in response to the Facebook message that “it seems like the majority in Chile are #MugrientosDeMierda due to our concern over education or not?” Meanwhile, the ex-senator was very upset in a TV interview this morning when he was asked about the allegedly false Facebook account.

• Gustavo Petro

Police have offered to provide additional protection to the recently inaugurated mayor of Bogota after he received numerous threats via Twitter. “We completely guarantee the security” of Petro, declared Bogota police chief Luis Eduardo Martinez.

“You will not live past this year guerilla” and “your actions reflect the passion…of a guerilla” were just two of the Tweets sent to Petro’s Twitter account. “Your words reflect the quality of your mind and heart,” replied Petro who used to be a member of the M-19 rebel army before laying down his arms and entering politics.

• Fidel Castro
  

The former Cuban leader published a lengthy column on nuclear war and climate change days after rumors of his death spread across the web. The 3,121-word piece entitled “The march toward the abyss,” was published in Cuban media outlets last Thursday and reportedly took almost thirty minutes by a TV news anchor.

Cuban state media blamed Twitter users for spreading the hoax of Castro’s death including “necrophilia counter-revolutionaries, aided by some media, (who) immediately started to party”. Yet the Spanish Twitter user who was accused of starting the death rumor rejected that claim and said that the Cuban press “should double-check their 'information' before blaming someone for no reason.”

• Carlos Talavera Leal

The ex-official at Mexico’s social development agency was let go from his post after making a series of offensive comments last month on his Facebook page. “Wow they stink,” said Talavera in reference to a meeting he previously had with a group of indigenous women. After several commenters disagreed with him Talavera added, “The poor things smell shockingly bad. Theirs is not a case of hygiene.”

Talavera took to Twitter and gave his “deepest apologies” though that will not prevent Mexico’s National Council Against Discrimination from opening an investigation against him.

Image Source – Flickr via michperu

Online Sources – Milenio, Univision, CNN, Sydney Morning Herald, Miami Herald, RCN Radio, El Espectador, CBS News, Terra Chile, La Nacion

World Watch: Tensions on the seas

* Middle East: Harsh condemnation worldwide has focused against Israel after nine people died in a military raid on ships carrying humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

* Pakistan: A court removed the government ban on Facebook yet it’s reported that authorities monitor content via a “central exchange”.

* Ireland: Pope Benedict XVI appointed a panel to investigate child abuse in the Irish archdiocese.

* Africa: Economic growth and political stability are expected to be two of the main topics at the 25th Africa-France summit that opened on Monday.

Image – Newsweek (“An image from video of Israeli forces storming an aid ship bound for Gaza.”)
Online Sources- Voice of America, BBC News, AP, MSNBC

World Watch: Remembrance

Our blog covers issues affecting Latin America and Latinos in the U.S., yet it’s about time that we focus on some of the news stories making headlines beyond the Americas. Our newest daily feature- World Watch- will examine some international articles of interest.

* Japan: Nearly 50,000 people gathered in Hiroshima to mark the 64th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack and remembered the 260,000 killed from the blast.

* World: According to CNET News, a “pro-Georgian blogger” with several social network accounts was targeted in a denial of service attack that lead to massive delays in Twitter and Facebook.

* Palestine: Human Rights Watch criticized Palestinian militant groups including factions allied to Hamas for rocket attacks targeting Israel.

* U.S.: Rest in peace film director John Hughes; please say “hi” to Principal Vernon for us.

Image- AFP (“Smoke billows 20,000 feet above Hiroshima after the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city” in 1945.)
Online Sources- CNET News, Voice of America, CNN IMDB.com, Time

Daily Headlines: August 14, 2008

* Latin America: Facebook has overcome MySpace to become the world's most popular social networking website, partly with the help of massive growth in Latin America.

(Miguel provides more information on the growth of Facebook and the Americas).

* Puerto Rico: The island’s pro-statehood political party has backed an initiative creating a bilingual ballot for November’s U.S. elections.

* South America: Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will visit two countries who are among the 23 that recognized Taiwan- Paraguay and the Dominican Republic.

* Bolivia: Coca production continues to grow in the landlocked South American country according to a “top U.S. anti-drug official”.

Image- AFP

Sources- miamiherald.com, Bloomberg, New York Daily News, The Economic Times

Latin America joins Facebook in droves

The web-tracking company ComScore has released a report that confirms Facebook has overtaken MySpace in global users, and that users from Latin America are the major driving force behind the social networking site's surge.

According to the ComScore data, Facebook's visitors (defined as unique hits) grew by a whopping 1055% in Latin America since June 2007. This percentage jump in Facebook use compares with a reported 33% uptick in overall social network use from witin Latin America, and is more than double the percentage change in any other world market since last year.

Other SN sites such as Friendster, Orkut, Sonico and Hi5 appear to remain popular in the region, as well; though the referenced data doesn't appear comparable, VentureBeat's Eric Eldon writes that "Sonico has claimed to be the fastest growing social networking site in Latin America," that Hi5 still has the most registered users in the region, and that Orkut (in Portuguese) continues to dominate Brazil, the largest LAC market.

As for Facebook's rise: according the National Business Review, "the incredible worldwide growth is largely attributed to Facebook’s recent decision to translate the site into other languages, with Latin America only having 1 million users per month a year previous, and all of Asia Pacific [the second fast-growing region, according to the report] only 4 million."

Sources: ComScore, VentureBeat, AFP, Washington Post, National Business Review

Opposition to Ortega grows

A Miami Herald article last week profiled the “cyber savvy” youth movement growing in energy both offline and on. The facebook group “Daniel Oretga no me representa!!!” has attracted over 1600 members and been the organizing site for other online campaigns.

The rejuvenated youth movement was in part catalyzed by the 12 day hunger strike by Dora Maria Tellez, who protested the government disqualification of 2 opposition political parties (the ALN and MRS) and their candidates from the November local elections – a move that parallels the similar actions the Chavez government in Venezuela.

Sofia Montenegro, former Sandinista and coordinator of the Nicaraguan Autonomous Women’s Movement, has recently declared the united front of women’s groups in opposition to the government, citing government sponsored abuses of women activists, and the recent criminalization of therapeutic abortion.

As the opposition grows in number and variety, it remains unclear how united the opposition can become or what tangible goals they will set. Last week’s Bloggings by Boz suggests that despite the growing opposition, Ortega’s continued cabal with Aleman and his institutional control will remain undeterred for the time being.



Sources: IPS, Miami Herald Reuters, Facebook, Bloggings by Boz

Daily Headlines: June 23, 2008

* Latin America: From Colombia to Nicaragua – a look at how protest movements have appeared due to Facebook.

* Cuba: Fidel Castro called last week’s decision by the European Union to drop diplomatic sanctions against Cuba an “enormous hypocrisy.”

* Haiti: A UNICEF report found that kidnapped children in Haiti have been “raped, tortured and murdered.”

* U.S.: Has the immigration crackdown in the U.S. led to “a modest positive impact” for job seekers?

Image- economist.com (February 2008 protest in Colombia which arose from a Facebook entry)

Sources- washingtonpost.com, The Latin Americanist, AHN, Christian Science Monitor, CNN

Daily Headlines: February 26, 2008

* Mexico City mayor Marcelo Ebrard wants all public workers to be multilingual by learning the Aztec language of Nahuatl.

* The Venezuelan government has blamed “anarchists” for the fatal bombing at the offices of the country’s leading business group.

* “The second step to ending poverty,” in Brazil was introduced via a social initiative yesterday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

* Both Facebook and AOL unveiled Spanish-language versions of their websites this month.

Sources- Guardian UK, SignOnSanDiego.com, International Herald Tribune, Reuters, chicagotribune.com

Image- MSNBC (“A part of an uncovered altar shows a frieze of an agricultural deity at the Aztec empire's main Templo Mayor temple, near the central Zocalo square in Mexico City”)