Daily Headlines: October 21, 2013 (Updated)

* Latin America: Antonia Brenner, a U.S. nun who counseled inmates in a Tijuana prison for over three decades, died last Thursday while acclaimed Cuban-American author Oscar Hijuelos passed away earlier this month.
   
* Brazil: The Brazilian government will move forward with the auctioning of several offshore oil deposits despite opposition from Petrobras workers and local labor unions.

Update: Police clashed with protesters in Rio de Janeiro while the first auctions for the Libra offshore oil field were being held today.  

* Panama: The 23rd Ibero-American summit in Panama City ended on Saturday with the absence of fourteen heads of state and agreement to hold the conference less often.

* Peru: Peruvian officials announced that they would investigate the “out-of-control slaughter” of thousands of dolphins each year.

Video Source – YouTube via user KPBSSanDiego

Online Sources including Update- Huffington Post; CNN; Business Recorder; Los Angeles Times; ninemsn; Time

Daily Headlines: November 16, 2012

* Venezuela: Miguel Cabrera thanked the “support from God, my family, and my teammates" for helping him become the first Venezuelan to win the American League MVP.

* Latin America: Trade and investment opportunities are some of the main economic issues to be discussed at the Ibero-American summit that starts today in the Spanish city of Cadiz.

* Ecuador: The Ecuadorian government along with a coalition of conservation groups is behind a project to poison millions of rats on the Galapagos Islands.

* Mexico: Jose Cuitlahuac Salinas, the head of the Mexican organized crime unit, resigned due to “personal reasons” yesterday.

Video Source – YouTube via Ultimas Noticias (Miguel Cabrera’s family in Venezuela celebrated his American League MVP victory.)
 
Online Sources- Fox News Latino, The Guardian, MSNBC, Reuters

World Watch: Taking a chance

* Spain: Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced that he would skip attending the Ibero-American Summit and suggested that the government could privatize the “El Gordo” Christmas lottery.

* Egypt: The main opposition parties will boycott the runoff of legislative elections after they accused the ruling NDP of widespread electoral fraud.

* Iran: The eight-year human rights campaign to save the life of Shahla Jahed took a turn for the worse after she was executed for adultery.

* U.S.: Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is pushing Congress to back the START nuclear treaty with Russia as soon as possible.

Image – Dani Pozo/AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian (“José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said today that up to 30% of El Gordo would be sold off.”)
Online Sources- Reuters, MSNBC, The Telegraph, The Guardian

Ibero-American Summit: That's a Wrap

Over the weekend, the presidential envoys packed up and left El Salvador after the 18th Iberoamerican Summit there. As promised, I'm updating last week's mid-summit post. Sadly, there is little else to show for it.

Very little newsworthy items come out of this summit, and very little agreement was voiced in the individual speeches. Examples include:

• Ending the US embargo against Cuba


• Condemning capitalism as a failed economic model


• Ensuring cost-free access to primary and secondary education in all countries of the region

None of these ambitious ideas, however, are clearly reflected in the final "Declaration of El Salvador" (which, as it happens, I have been unable to find in full text online -- kudos to anyone who can post it...). This Univision news link summarizes the main items of the declaration.

Much of the news coverage of the event focused on negative aspects; empty speeches, protests and counter-youth summit held across the city, where youth leaders bemoaned the bluster of politicians that fail to take necessary actions.

It's hard to blame them; El Salvador is considered one of the most unsafe countries in the region to be a young person. Meanwhile, Dominican president Leonel Fernandez made a statement in his speech that "any country that dedicates less than 4% of it's GDP to education has a failed education system" - that same day in his home country, the minister of education told the press that he hoped that the budget for the coming year would dedicate 2.5%.

Minor ironies and gaffes aside, perhaps most newsworthy were the notable absences and late arrivals. While 22 heads of state were invited, three (those of Uruguay, Cuba, and Venezuela) were absent, while those of (Honduras, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil) arrived late and/or left early. Also making headlines in El Salvador were the numerous women's groups protesting the summit because of Daniel Ortega's presence (after a nearly decade-long case, charges of sexual abuse of his stepdaugther were recently dropped in Nicaragua)

Sources: Listin Diario, Hoy, Prensa Grafica, Xinhua, AFP, IPSNews, Univision

XVII Ibero-American Summit

Today marks the second day of the three day Ibero-American summit in El Salvador, and despite the nominal theme of "Youth and Development," all signs indicate that the themes of the summit continue to be dominated by the financial crisis.

All in all, the summit seems to be yet another opportunity for bloviating, with little hope for serious advances or accord:

Mexican President Felipe Calderón: "(We) need enormous flows of external investment, without which it would be impossible to finance our development."

Argentine President Christina Fernandez: "It is the failure of a model established at the end of the 80s,which dominated the international stage during the 90s, known as neo-liberalism or Washington Consensus."

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colóm: "Guatemala should not have to pay for the failure of a model that we never wanted... I hope they don't ask us for more poverty because we can't give more."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez did not attend, citing among several reasons El Salvador's alleged complicity with anti-Cuban forces (alas, there were no "porque no te callas" moments.)

I'll update next week to see what accords come out of the summit.

Sources: Reuters, Xinhua, Forbes, Youtube

Spanish leaders, Hugo Chavez exchange insults during summit

King Juan Carlos I of Spain told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to “shut up” during Saturday’s closing session of the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile. The king’s remarks came as Chavez tried to interrupt current Spanish P.M. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who insisted that Chavez show more diplomacy and respect for other leaders despite ideological differences.

(Video link):

Yesterday Chavez expressed his displeasure at the King’s outburst though he hoped that it would not hurt relations between Venezuela and Spain. Meanwhile, Spanish opposition head Mariano Rajoy blamed the spat on Rodriguez Zapatero’s foreign policy.

Other developments occurred during the three-day heads of state summit included:

• Improved diplomatic relations between Peru and Chile.
• Colombian President Alvaro Uribe criticizing Hillary Clinton for her opposition to a U.S.-Colombia free trade pact.Senator
• The continuation of disagreements between Uruguay and Argentina over the controversial Botnia paper mill.
• Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva remarks that the European Union could serve as "a source of inspiration" for Latin American unity.
• Spain pledging $1.4 billion in aid to Latin America.

Sources (English)- Bloomberg, Reuters UK, YouTube, BBC News, International Herald Tribune, Xinhua, Prensa Latina

Sources (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa