Daily Headlines: May 21, 2013

* Guatemala: In a 3-2 decision the Guatemalan Constitutional Court annulled the recent historic conviction of former strongman Efrain Rios Montt on charges of genocide.

* U.S.: At least 23 student groups at Harvard University called for an investigation of the doctoral thesis of Jason Richwine, an ex-Heritage Foundation policy analyst who claimed in 2009 that Latino immigrants have lower IQs than white natives.

* Latin America: Alicia Barcena, the head of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, expressed her concerns over weaker exports possibly hurting the region's economic growth.

* Mexico: Venture capitalists are reportedly being attracted to purchasing and refurbishing thousands of homes that were foreclosed and abandoned.

Video Source – YouTube via PBS NewsHour (“Efrain Rios Montt, former dictator of Guatemala, was found guilty (on May 10th) in the massacre of more than 1,700 Mayan Indians in the early 1980s”.)

Online Sources- Fox News Latino; Bloomberg; Reuters; The Latin Americanist; USA TODAY

Daily Headlines: January 23, 2013 (We’re Back!)

* Guatemala: Pre-trial hearings began in a case against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt who has been accused of genocide related to his brief rule in the midst of Guatemala’s bloody civil war.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan officials and Bolivian President Evo Morales have provided optimistic assessments of President Hugo Chavez who has not been seen publicly since undergoing cancer surgery about six weeks ago.

Update: Is the photo in this article a recent picture of a recuperating Hugo Chavez walking with his brother in Cuba or is it an image originally taken in 2011?   

* Mexico: The dean of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government defended the appointment of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon to a teaching fellowship despite opposition from several anti-violence activists.

* Colombia: Pop music star Shakira gave birth to her first child, Milan Piqué Mebarak, at a hospital in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
 
Video Source – YouTube via user povborders (Excerpt from “Granito”, a 2011 documentary that focused on the efforts to gather evidence against former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt.)

Online Sources including Update- Semana.com, Huffington Post, NPR, Fox News Latino, USA TODAY