Daily Headlines: March 29, 2016

* Chile: President Michelle Bachelet of Chile said her government could countersue Bolivia at the International Court of Justice regarding a dispute over water rights from the Silala River located in a border region.

* Latin America: Argentina and Uruguay’s joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup received a boost from the president of FIFA, while the ex-chief of the Honduran soccer federation pled guilty to his role in the “FIFA-gate” corruption scandal.

* Brazil: A group of Brazilian legislators called for relaxing the country’s harsh gun laws even though 60,000 homicides took place in the country in 2014.

* Puerto Rico: A U.S. federal judge sided with Wal-Mart and quashed a law that raised taxes wealthy companies paid  “on goods they buy from ‘related parties’” in debt-ridden Puerto Rico.

YouTube Source – CCTV News (“Bolivia argues it owns the Silala River and is not being compensated for Chile's use of the water. Chile argues that the water flows across their shared border and therefore it constitutes as an international river.”)

Online Sources – NPR, Fortune, Sky Sports, euronews, ABC News

Daily Headlines: March 18, 2016

* Chile: Chile’s Chamber of Deputies approved a proposal backed by President Michelle Bachelet to partially legalize the total ban on abortion put in place during the Pinochet military rule in 1990.

* Nicaragua: Nicaragua officials welcomed the International Court of Justice ruling in favor of taking on the Central American country’s decades-long maritime border dispute with Colombia.

* Cuba: The Cuba government dropped a 10% tax on the U.S. dollar ahead of President Barack Obama’s historic state visit to the island starting on Sunday.

* Mexico: A new report conclude that attacks against members of the press suffered an increase of 21.8% between 2014 and 2015 with incidents occurring on average nearly every twenty-three hours.

YouTube Source – Channel 4 News (Video uploaded on August 2015).
 
Online Sources – Vice News, Yahoo News, Reuters, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: December 22, 2015

* Central America: The Nicaraguan and Costa Rican governments welcomed Pope Francis’ appeal for both states to improve their relations following an International Court of Justice ruling last week.

* Puerto Rico: Legislation has been introduced to the U.S. Senate that would provide short-term help for debt-ridden Puerto Rico.

* Venezuela: According to U.S. investigators, five unnamed PDVSA employees received more than $1 billion in bribes from two Venezuelan businessmen.

* Paraguay: Several thousand Paraguayan workers protested as part of the second general strike to occur in the country since 2013.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English

Online Sources – International Court of Justice, teleSUR English, Yahoo News, Reuters, SBS

Daily Headlines: May 5, 2015

* South America: Chilean representatives requested the International Court of Justice to dismiss landlocked Bolivia’s long-standing claims of access to the Pacific Ocean.

* Mexico: The U.S. and Canadian embassies in Mexico issued travel warnings for tourists visiting a Jalisco state that has been the setting for a recent uptick in violent drug-related crime.

* Cuba: Alan Gross, the former contractor who spent over three years in a Cuban jail, will lobby for a new political action committee seeking stronger ties between the U.S. and the Caribbean nation.

* Brazil: Brazil will likely fall into a deeper recession and also raise interest rates according to financial analysts reporting to the Central Bank.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English
 
Online Sources – Bloomberg, CBC News, MercoPress, Voice of America

Daily Headlines: July 11, 2014

* Cuba: Cuban lawyer Ernesto Vera claimed that he worked for the state security agency and pretended to be an opposition activist in order to “discredit the dissidents.”

* Uruguay: Luis Suárez may be serving a harsh suspension for biting an Italian player at a World Cup match but that hasn’t stopped the Uruguayan from reportedly being transferred from to F.C. Barcelona as part of a $129 million deal.
  
* Latin America: A new U.N. report found that Mexico City and Sao Paulo, Brazil are in the top five of the world’s most populated cities though their ranking is expected to fall by 2030.

* Chile: President Michelle Bachelet of Chile criticized landlocked Bolivia’s appeal to the International Court of Justice seeking access to the sea.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube (Ernesto Vera alleged that he infiltrated the Ladies in White protest movement, seen here during a 2010 march, as part of his work as a Cuban state security agent).
 
Online Sources – Fox News Latino; Bernama; The Latin Americanist; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: April 16, 2014

Note: The following video contains graphic images and is Not Safe for Work (NSFW).

* Caribbean: Cuba and the Dominican Republic joined three other nations including Honduras in their World Trade Organization dispute against Australia’s strong anti-tobacco laws.

* Bolivia: Bolivian President Evo Morales personally handed over documents to the International Court of Justice as part of the landlocked country’s case seeking to regain a coastline from Chile.
  
* Argentina: The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear a case next Monday regarding unpaid debts from the Argentine government’s massive $82 billion default in 2001.

* Haiti: According to Amnesty International, “leading human rights activist” Pierre Esperance received a threat implying that he “won’t escape” the next assassination attempt against him.
    
Video Source– AFP via YouTube

Online Sources – GlobalPost; Reuters; The Latin Americanist; USA TODAY; The Washington Post

Bolivian President Renews Push for Coastline

Bolivian President Evo Morales yesterday urged the international community to support his landlocked country’s push for a coastline that it lost to Chile 135 years ago.

“Today, in our America, different winds are blowing. Today, we are a continent of peace. We seek to find peaceful solutions to historical injustices without wars nor confrontations,” said Morales at a public speech to commemorate the local Day of the Sea holiday. 

The remarks by Morales occurred at an event in a La Paz plaza named after Eduardo Abaroa, a Bolivian national hero who lost his life in the War of the Pacific in 1879.  It was during this brutal conflict where Chile annexed tens of thousand of square miles of Bolivian and Peruvian land including some 260 miles of Bolivian coastline.

“Bolivia wants access to the sea before all of the area’s natural resources are exhausted and exploited by the international companies,” he added in apparent reference to billions of dollars Chile earns yearly by exports from copper, silver and minerals extracted from land formerly controlled by Bolivia.

“If a dictator like (former Chilean strongman Augusto) Pinochet proposed access to the ocean for bolivar in the 1970s, then the current socialist and democratic government can make this a reality in the 21st century,” Morales mentioned in a message to recently inaugurated Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

Since Bachelet retook the presidency on nearly two weeks ago, she has indicated that it will differ from that of her conservative predecessor, Sebastián Piñera, on issues like the treatment of the indigenous Mapuche and the planned HidroAysen hydropower complex.  Moreover, both Bachelet and Morales held bilateral negotiations during her first term in the presidency yet it appears like Bachelet in her second period in office would not sway from Piñera’s stance against the need to redraw boundaries.

Daily Headlines: February 25, 2014

* U.S.: According to a recently released U.S. government study, health habits within the Latino population reflect the diversity of cultural backgrounds among Latinos.

* Brazil: European and Brazilian officials announced the creation of a new interoceanic telecommunications cable that could prevent U.S. intelligence surveillance.

* Central America: Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla said that her country will file a complaint with the International Court of Justice in order to resolve a border dispute with Nicaragua.

* Honduras: At least thirty-nine people died over the weekend in Honduras including eight fatalities in San Pedro Sula, which is one of the most violent cities in the world.

Video Source – YouTube user VoiceofOCvideo

Online Sources- National Insitutes of Health; LAHT; Reuters; Deutsche Welle; The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: February 6, 2014

* Panama: Informal talks are reportedly being held between operators of the Panama Canal and a Spanish-led consortium in order to continue the troubled expansion of the famed waterway.

* Venezuela: Venezuela's main opposition party called on authorities to release seven people arrested over the weekend for protesting in the city hosting the Caribbean Series.

* Central America: The Costa Rican government will file a new complaint against Nicaragua with the International Court of Justice as part of the latest chapter in the diplomatic tug-of-war between the neighboring Central American states.

* Haiti: According to human rights group Amnesty International, Haitian police clashed with survivors of a 2010 earthquake in an apparent attempt to evict residents of a makeshift camp.

Online Sources - Washington Post; Tico Times; Reuters

Video Source - euronews via YouTube ("There are renewed tensions over building work to expand the Panama Canal which has been the subject of a dispute over who should pay up for cost overruns.")

Daily Headlines: February 3, 2014

* Brazil: Respected Brazilin filmmaker Eduardo Coutinho was stabbed to death yesterday in an incident allegedly perpetrated by his son who has mental health issues.

* South America: Days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in a border dispute between Chile and Peru, Bolivian President Evo Morales said that his country will not drop its ICJ lawsuit against Chile.

* Latin America: Support for Puerto Rican independence and a promise to resolve regional differences via dialogue were some of the details mentioned in a declaration at the end of last week’s summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

* Venezuela: The Caribbean Series of baseball started on Sunday in Venezuela with the return of Cuba for the first time since 1960.

Video Source – YouTube user Gabriel Silva Mendeleh (The career of Eduardo Coutinho spanned four decades and included directing documentaries such as 1999’s “The Mighty Spirit,” which focused on the residents of a Rio de Janeiro slum prior to a visit of Pope John Paul II to Brazil.)

Online Sources- Folha.com; UPI; Reuters; The Latin Americanist; Xinhua

International Court Verdict in Peru-Chile Border Dispute

Neither Peru nor Chile got entirely what they wanted in a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding a bilateral border dispute.

The ICJ agreed on Monday to expand Peru’s maritime boundary to cover some 10,800 square miles of ocean currently in international waters.  Thus, the tribunal partially agreed to Peru’s original claim of nearly 15,000 square miles of ocean.

Even though Chile may have to cede some of its territory in the Pacific Ocean, disagreed with Peru’s argument on how to redraw the maritime boundary.  By ruling that the maritime border should start from the same point on the coastline as it does now, the ICJ may have preserved valuable coastal fishing areas currently controlled by Chile.

Although the ICJ’s ruling is nonbinding the presidents of Chile and Peru have agreed to abide by the decision.

“Peru is pleased with the outcome,” said the Andean country’s president Ollanta Humala. “With this controversy resolved, the court affirmed our rights,” added Humala.

Humala’s Chilean counterpart, Sebastián Piñera, said, “he strongly disagreed” with the part of the verdict that expands Peru’s maritime claims.  Yet he noted that both he and President-elect Michelle Bachelet will ensure that the court’s ruling would be applied “gradually and based on future agreements between both countries.”

The ICJ’s ruling was reminiscent of the court’s compromise decision made in a 2012 ruling between Nicaragua and Colombia over disputed oceanic claims.  Unlike the diplomatic tensions in the aftermath of that verdict, the strong economic ties between Chile and Peru mean that neither country would benefit from their leaders harshly criticizing the ruling.

Daily Headlines: October 16, 2013

* Ecuador: Proceedings began yesterday in a trial where Chevron is attempting to prevent having to pay an $18 billion restitution to Ecuadorian villagers in an environmental damages case.

* Chile: Three years after the rescue of 33 miners trapped hundreds of feet below the surface, most of the men reportedly continue to suffer from “psychological trauma.”

* Brazil: A Brazilian Senate investigative panel and the country’s the federal police's intelligence chief expressed their willingness to interview Edward Snowden.

* Central America: Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla claimed that her country enjoyed a “moral victory” at an International Court of Justice hearing regarding the construction of two interoceanic canals through Nicaragua.

Video Source – YouTube via Pulitzer Center (Video uploaded in 2008).
 
Online Sources- Tico Times; IOL; CSMonitor.com; The Latin Americanist; Businessweek

World Watch: Syrian Strike

* Syria: Three senior military members and close allies to President Bashar al-Assad were killed in a rebel bombing attack.

* Bulgaria: Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, blamed Iran for an explosion of a bus in Bulgaria with Israeli tourists.

* Netherlands: The International Court of Justice in The Hague could soon prosecute the exiled former rulers of Chad and Tunisia.

* World: A new scientific study concluded that a sedentary lifestyle that includes a lack of exercise kills as many people worldwide as smoking does.

Video Source– YouTube via Associated Press

Online Sources – Reuters, CBS News, MSNBC, BBC News

Daily Headlines: January 12, 2011

* Central America: Costa Rica took its border dispute with Nicaragua to the International Court of Justice and accused Nicaragua of “tainting Costa Rica's long institutional and democratic tradition."

* Brazil: Heavy rain and flooding killed at least thirteen people in and around Sao Paulo.

* Colombia: An environmental damage lawsuit was filed in the name of 73 Colombian farmers against oil giant BP.

* Mexico: A long-running trade disagreement could soon end after the Mexican government announced changes in certain tariffs on U.S. products.

Image – Momento24 English (Both Costa Rica and Nicaragua have claimed sovereignty of a disputed area near the San Juan River border).
Online Sources- The Guardian, Xinhua, Reuters, MSNBC

Daily Headlines: July 20, 2009

* Spain: Cyclist Alberto Contador may’ve clinched the Tour de France after a win in Stage 15 earned him the yellow jersey and a 1:37 lead over teammate Lance Armstrong.

* U.S.: A second suspect was arrested in connection with the assault and bias attack of a Latino man in the New York borough of Staten Island.

* Brazil: According to the local press, an autopsy exam found that former boxing champion Arturo Gatti may've committed suicide but didn’t rule out murder.

* Latin America: The International Court of Justice will hold hearings in two months regarding a tense border dispute between Argentina and Uruguay.

Image- Guardian UK
Online Sources- AP, AFP, BBC Sport, New York Daily News

ICJ: Jose Medellin’s execution “breached” order

The execution of a Mexican national by the U.S. defied an International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision according to an ICJ ruling emitted today.

In 2004, the ICJ decided that the U.S. should review the sentences of 51 Mexicans facing the death penalty. Despite pressure from the U.N., the Bush administration, and legal maneuvers by the Mexican government Jose Medellin (image) was executed in August 2008 in Texas. Texan authorities got the green light to execute Medellin last July after the U.S. Supreme Court decision claimed that President George W. Bush lacked the power to delay the pending executions.

Medellin was convicted along with five other teen gang members for the rape and murder of two teenage girls in 1993. The others involved with Medellin were convicted and are serving sentences ranging from forty years in jail to being on death row.

In anticipation of today’s ICJ decision, the State Department said that they can do nothing to help other foreigners on death row:

The U.S. State Department's chief advocate said Sunday the ruling will not help other inmates on death row because Washington cannot force individual states to comply…

State Department legal adviser John Bellinger III said Bush had done all he could, and it was up to Congress to enact legislation giving precedence to international law over U.S. state law…

"The court has no enforcement powers," he told a small group of reporters. "It is not the role of the court" to issue a reprimand.

Image- BBC News
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, AP, Guardian UK, The Australian, AFP,

Pessimism reigns over Argentine economy

A U.S. federal court yesterday put a monkey wrench into the government’s plans to nationalize ten private pension plans. District Judge Thomas P. Griesa ordered the freezing of Argentine pension fund investments in the U.S. based on a petition filed by bondholders. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the argentine government owes bondholders $554 million from the country’s 2005 debt restructuring plan.

Earlier today, Standard & Poor's ratings agency cut Argentina's sovereign credit rating for the second time in less than three months. The move by S&P means that Argentina will become less attractive to investors as stocks and the country’s peso have been hit hard recently.

Could Argentina undergo a massive political and economic crisis like in 2001? The S&P managing director for Latin America told Reuters that she did not expect Argentina to default "in the short term". The long-term prospects for default may be a different story, however:

Argentina's dependence on the global economy will make economic adjustment inevitable. Given the worsening global panorama, the government's attempts to improve access to fresh funds have proved fruitless. The nationalization of pension funds reflects the government's unwillingness to implement fiscal tightening and raises doubts about sustainability and the possibility of a new default.

Image- seattlepi.com (“A woman speaks on her cell phone in front of a sign showing the exchange rates for the U.S. Dollar and Euro against Argentina's Peso in the financial district of Buenos Aires.”)
Sources- The Latin Americanist, newsday.com, Guardian UK, Bloomberg, seattlepi.com, BBC News, IHT, Reuters

ICJ orders U.S. to halt executions of Mexicans

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a temporary injunction against the executions of five Mexican nationals on death row in Texas. The ruling by the United Nations' highest court said that the U.S. should "take all measures necessary" to ensure that the Mexicans do not get executed.

Despite the decision Texan authorities claimed that the executions will go on as scheduled such as that of Jose Medellin on August 5^th:

"This court ruling does not change anything," said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman in Gov. Rick Perry's office. "Those who come to Texas and commit crimes will have to pay the consequences"…

"(Mexico) hopes for proper enforcement of the injunction because of its legally binding nature," the country's Foreign Affairs Minister Patricia Espinosa Cantellano said in a statement written in Spanish.

The ICJ’s decision was the latest in a five-year dispute between the U.S. and its southern neighbor with Mexico arguing that nationals on death row have been denied their right to consular access.

The international court’s ruling contradicts the U.S. Supreme Court who ruled in March that states did not have to abide by a previous ICJ ruling in favor of Mexicans waiting execution.

Image- Javno

Sources- Voice of America, TheMonitor.com, El Paso Times, The Latin Americanist, CBC.ca

Daily Headlines: June 19, 2008

* Mexico: The government has placed price caps on 150 food items in an attempt to control rising prices.

* Venezuela: So does this piece in The New Yorker truly make Hugo Chavez a celebrity?

* Brazil: A look at a century of Japanese immigrants living in Brazil.

* Uruguay: Uruguayan prosecutors are putting “the final touches” to its legal case at the International Court of Justice over the controversial Botnia paper mill.

Image- industrybroadcasting.com

Sources- Bloomberg, The New Yorker, Xinhua, BBC News, The Latin Americanist