Daily Headlines: October 9, 2015

* South America: World Cup qualifiers in South America began yesterday with noteworthy matches including Ecuador shocking Argentina in Buenos Aires and Copa America titleholders Chile beating Brazil.

* Brazil: Nine police officers allegedly avenging the shooting of an off-duty cop were arrested and charged with killing nineteen people on August 13th near Sao Paulo.

* Mexico: Mayor Enrique Serrano of Ciudad Júarez has called on a boycott of the hit film Sicario since it “speaks badly of the city.”

* Venezuela: Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez accused the Guyanese government of “misleading the international community” over a heated territorial dispute between the neighboring countries.

YouTube Source – Futbolpasionmundial3 (Patricio Javier Diaz of La Red Ecuador radio provided emotional play-by-play of Ecuador’s two goals in their upset over Argentina on Thursday).
 
Online Sources – ESPN FC, The Guardian, BBC News, Xinhua

Daily Headlines: September 25, 2015

* Venezuela: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said that he would meet with his Guyanese counterpart, David Granger, at the U.N. in order to discuss a bilateral border dispute related to offshore oil fields.

* Colombian: Human rights group Amnesty International expressed guarded optimism over a transitional justice deal signed on Wednesday by the Colombian government and FARC rebels.

* Costa Rica: Costa Rica is typically referred to as the “Switzerland of Central America” but the country is facing a spike in crime that could include over 500 homicides by the end of 2015.

* Latin America: Gallup's Law and Order Index for the sixth straight year showed, “residents of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2014 were the least likely in the world to feel secure in their communities.”

YouTube Source – AFP (“Venezuelan Army officials (last July) held a military parade 90 kilometers away from the border with Guyana, amid an escalating border dispute between the two nations after a significant offshore oil find.”)
 
Online Sources – NBC News, Amnesty International, The Latin Americanist, Gallup, InSight Crime

Daily Headlines: September 23, 2015

* Brazil: Twelve former Volkswagen workers in Brazil claimed that they were detained and tortured at one of the automaker’s factories during military rule from 1964 to 1985.

* South America: Venezuela may have reached a preliminary deal to try to quell a migratory crisis with western neighbor Colombia, yet the president of fellow bordering country Guyana blasted the “persistence of aggressive behavior” from the Maduro regime.

* Guatemala: Authorities detained three judges and seized the property of former President Otto Perez Molina as part of an investigation into widespread corruption and bribery.

* Puerto Rico: The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority reached a tentative agreement that could ease repayment of the company’s $700 million debt.

YouTube Source – AFP (A Brazilian Truth Commission last December found that 434 either died or went missing during the twenty-one year military dictatorship).
 
Online Sources – ABC News, The Latin Americanist, BBC News, Time, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: July 30, 2015

* Mexico: At least 129 corpses in 60 graves have been found in Mexico since September 2014 though none belong to 43 missing Ayotzinapa students according to data from the attorney general’s office released on Monday.

* Latin America: The U.N.’s 2015 economic growth forecast for Latin America and the Caribbean was halved to 0.5%, which would be the lowest level in six years.

* Venezuela: President Nicolas Maduro called on the U.N. to mediate a border dispute with Guyana that the opposition claims is a distraction from Venezuela’s domestic problems.

* Chile: Twelve former Chilean soldiers were arrested and charged with burning to death two protesters marching against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in 1986.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (“The 2011-2015 class of the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers Training College graduated (on July 18th), with 43 fewer students than would have been the case had they not been forcibly disappeared 9 months ago, sparking a huge nationwide and international protest.”)

Online Sources – The Guardian, Reuters, Vice News

Daily Headlines: October 15, 2013

* Cuba: Ladies in White leader Berta Soler claimed that a “mob paid by the (Cuban) government” disrupted a commemoration of the death of the group’s founder while three dissident journalists were arrested within a 24-hour span in Havana last week.

* Honduras: A new militarized police force that is expected to reach as many as 5000 officers started their first patrols on Monday.

* Mexico: Agustin Carstens, Mexico’s central bank governor, claimed that his country is “prepared to confront” a possible U.S. debt default but observed that the “problem is so serious because the obstacle is political in nature, not financial nor economic.”

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan military released a “U.S.-chartered oil exploration ship” and its 36-member crew five days after it was seized in disputed waters claimed by both Venezuela and Guyana.

Video Source – YouTube via egberto angel escobedomorales (Members of Cuban dissident group the Ladies in White on Sunday commemorated the death of their founder, Laura Pollan).

Online Sources- Miami Herald; Reuters; Al Jazeera English; GlobalPost

Daily Headlines: October 14, 2013

* Brazil: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said that her government is creating a secure email system “to prevent possible espionage” such as actions allegedly committed by the U.S. and Canada. 

* Peru: At least fifty-one people died in the southeastern Cusco region of Peru when a bus plunged off a cliff.

* Venezuela: The seizure of a “U.S.-chartered oil exploration ship” has lead to increased tensions between the neighboring countries of Venezuela and Guyana.

* Colombia: As the latest round of peace talks between the Colombian government and FARC guerillas came to a close, the rebels launched a female-oriented website.

Video Source – YouTube via user CBCTheNational (“Allegations Canada has been spying on Brazil's mining and energy industry have many wondering what Canada would be after.”)

Online Sources- CNN; france24.com; The Latin Americanist; boston.com; BBC News

Daily Headlines: November 28, 2011

* Venezuela: Officials on Friday commenced the repatriating of gold reserves from European banks to Venezuela.

* Brazil: Amnesty International blasted Brazilian authorities for “failing to resolve outstanding land claims” that endanger indigenous communities.

* Guyana: Parliamentary elections are being held today with the possibility that the Alliance for Change group could break Guyana’s traditional two-party hegemony.

* Latin America: International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde warned that Latin America should prepare for “possible turbulence” as a result of the European debt crisis.

Image Source – Via Flickr user digitalmoneyworld (CC BY 2.0)

Online Sources- Voice of America, NASDAQ, Mercopress, BBC News

Daily Headlines: August 30, 2010

* Cuba: The government introduced several “free-market decrees” designed to improve the country’s sagging economy including changing property laws for potential foreign owners.

* Chile: Workers are expected to start drilling a shaft today in order to rescue 33 miners trapped several hundred yards underneath the surface.

* Mexico: Mexicana airlines suspended all of its flights on Saturday while the company is mired in financial difficulties.

* Venezuela: Guyana, the Caribbean’s largest rice producer, will sell 70,000 tons of rice to Venezuela in order to pay off part of its PetroCaribe oil debt.

Image – The Telegraph (“2.5 million Cubans over the age of 54 no longer will get four packs of cigarettes as part of the country's ration program.”)
Online Sources- AP, MSNBC, The Latin Americanist, BusinessWeek, Al Jazeera English

CARICOM talks immigration in Guyana

Leaders from the CARICOM countries began their 30th summit this weekend in Georgetown, Guyana, with a varied agenda centered primarily on illegal immigration to and from CARICOM member nations. Many immigrants, including undocumented ones from Jamaica and Guyana, tend to move to Barbados and Antigua & Barbuda, where they are both exploited as cheap labor and discriminated against. The representatives of those two countries, for their part, railed against illegal immigration to their islands and the need to curb the flow.

The summit comes days after a total 53 Guyanese migrants were deported from Barbados since the government's recent crackdown.

At the weekend inaugural session, heads of state had the chance to given prepared remarks, and the annual Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) was bestowed upon Percival Patterson, former prime minister of Jamaica, for his contributions to regional development.



Sources: Jamaica Gleaner, Latin American Tribune, Caricom.org

Canada aid readjustment affects LatAm

In a move that affects some Latin American countries, Canada’s government is planning to limit the number of nations that receive most of its foreign aid.

Currently Canadian foreign assistance is spread across 69 countries around the world. The plan presented yesterday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government would shift 80% of aid to twenty countries. (As of now, Canada splits its $1.5 billion in aid roughly in half between individual countries and international organizations).

The move appears to be most detrimental to Africa who would have the number of countries on the list of twenty reduced from fourteen to eight. According to the globeandmail.com, Latin America and the Caribbean seem to be the biggest beneficiaries of Harper’s new plan:

The new pared-down list signals that Mr. Harper will put aid money behind his pledge to make the Americas a foreign-policy priority - an area where his government wants to develop trade ties and a strategic alliance with the United States.

It bumps up five recipients from the hemisphere - Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Honduras, plus the Caribbean islands - which were not among the top 20 countries that received Canadian aid last year…

Bumping up the place of the Americas in aid will bring criticism, however. Aside from
Haiti, the second-largest recipient of Canadian bilateral aid after Afghanistan, most countries in the Americas are considered middle-income nations on the UN Human Development Index, while many African nations are far poorer.

Not every country in the Western Hemisphere will enjoy increased Canadian aid, however. Nicaragua and Guyana were on the previous list created by Harper’s predecessor but removed from the new one.

Image- CBC (Canadian P.M. Stephen Harper along with ex-presidents George W. Bush and Vicente Fox toured the ancient Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza during a 2006 summit).
Online Sources- CBC, globeandmail.com, TheStar.com

Daily Headlines: February 3, 2008

Note: Apologies for the lack of posts on Saturday; we had problems with the internet connection here at Latin Americanist HQ.

* The massacre of eleven people in Guyana last weekend highlights the problem of crime in the Caribbean according to the Economist.com.

* A defense witness in the case against ex-Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori claimed that the country engaged in a “dirty war” years before Fujimori came to power in 1990.

* A former torture center during Argentina’s brutal military dictatorship has been transformed into a cultural center by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

* Follow-up: Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said he will sign an anti-immigrant pledge promoted by an Alabama senator. This comes over two weeks since he endorsed a similar oath.

Sources- Economist.com, CBS News, the Latin Americanist, AFP, BBC News

Image- BBC News (“Residents (in Guyana) demanded greater protection from security forces.”)

Daily Headlines: June 18, 2007

* Congrats to British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton (image); the 22-year-old rookie of Guyanese background won his second straight race yesterday in Indianapolis.

* U.S. television network NBC confirmed plans to produce Spanish- and English- language versions of successful Colombian telenovela "Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso" ("Without Breasts There Is No Paradise").

* First it was Evo Morales. Then it was Hugo Chavez. Now it’s Daniel Ortega who becomes the third Latin American president in less than two weeks to visit Fidel Castro.

* “(Venezuela) is a country where economic problems are mounting and we are seeing (that) on the political and press side it's not moving in a healthy direction,” said nominee for the World Bank presidency Robert Zoellick.

* Vigilantism led to the death of three people in Guatemala who were accused of the kidnapping and murder of a nine-year-old girl.

Sources- ABC News, Miami Herald, CNN, The Latin Americanist, AHN

Image- Sydney Morning Herald

Daily Headlines: May 01, 2007

* “Our current immigration system is in need of reform” declared U.S. president George W. Bush as he gave the commencement speech to graduates of Miami Dade College on Saturday (image).

* The U.S. Supreme Court denied hearing a case brought up by two detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

* Apparently taking a cue from Hugo Chavez, Peruvian president Alan Garcia was given Congressional permission to partially rule via decree.

* Executives at Brazilian oil firm Petrobras said they were pleased with negotiations with Bolivia’s government over the ownership of gas refineries.

* A Guyanese woman suspected of being a “vampire” was lynched by a mob.

Links- The Latin Americanist, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Guardian UK, Reuters UK, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, BBC News

Image- Gulf Times

NYC students face massive fine for going to Cuba; Kerik decides not to advise Carib countries

A group of New York City public high school students and their teacher were detained by U.S. customs officials after taking a trip to Cuba during spring break. Though the Beacon School had planned a trip to Cuba since last year, the U.S government forbids granting high schools educational licenses for travel abroad. Each student risks being fined $65,000 (!) for going to Cuba if U.S. government officials deemed their trip as “illegal.”

In the meantime, troubled ex-New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik withdrew his contracts to advise the governments of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Mounting opposition against Kerik in those countries over Kerik’s scandal-plagued past may have been a key factor in his decision.

Links- Newsday, Strabroek News, Gothamist

Image- Georgia State University (Georgia State University students visiting Havana, Cuba in 2002)