Daily Headlines: March 23, 2016

* Argentina: Following his historic three-day visit to Cuba, U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Argentina to meet with his counterpart, Mauricio Macri, though one excluded issue from the official agenda will be the sovereignty battle over the Falkland Islands.

* Panama: The $5.3 billion Panama Canal expansion will be completed in late June to early July after two years of delays, while construction on an interoceanic waterway in Nicaragua will reportedly begin this August despite being originally planned for December 2014.

* Guatemala: President Jimmy Morales admitted that his country is facing a “serious insecurity problem” and accused organized crime groups of trying to “destabilize” the government. 

* Puerto Rico: The U.S. Supreme Court began hearing arguments yesterday over whether Puerto Rico should be allowed to restructure its debt in a manner similar to Chapter 9 bankruptcy laws on the mainland.

YouTube Source – C5N

Online Sources – MercoPress, Bloomberg, Global Construction Review, InSight Crime, Business Insider

Daily Headlines: January 18, 2016

* Guatemala: Political newcomer turned president Jimmy Morales repeated his campaign pledge to combat Guatemala’s deeply-rooted corruption during his inauguration address last Thursday.

* Latin America: Brazilian scientists will receive public funds to develop a vaccine for the Zika virus though one researcher claimed that it could take from three to five years.

* Bolivia: Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada of Bolivia, currently living in the U.S. on asylum, could become the next former Latin American president to go on trial.

* Mexico: “Emerging markets need to be ready for a potentially severe shock,” warned Mexican central bank Agustín Carstens amid investor worry over the weakening Chinese economy.

YouTube Source – efeinternational

Online Sources – Bloomberg, CNBC, Christian Science Monitor, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: October 22, 2015

* Latin America: Polls indicate that frontrunner Daniel Scioli has a borderline chance to become Argentina’s next president-elect, while surveys suggest that Guatemalan political outsider Jimmy Morales will win in this Sunday’s runoff election.

* Venezuela: President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela said that the global price of oil must nearly double to $88 per barrel in order to guarantee international investments.

* Cuba: Cuban officials announced a project devised with the help of a U.S. environmental group to protect the nearly 100 species of shark living off the island’s shores.

* Mexico: Authorities arrested six people suspected of “planning, organizing and carrying out” the July prison escape of Sinaloa drug cartel head Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

YouTube Source – AFP (“Argentine President Cristina Kirchner will step down from power after a nearly eight year reign, leaving a deeply divided country behind.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, BBC News, Nature.com, ABC News

Daily Headlines: September 8, 2015

* South America: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro expanded the partial border shutdown with Colombia that he claims is needed to combat smuggling and crime but has led to the return of at least 10,000 Colombians.

* Mexico: Two Mexican intelligence agents and two prison guards have been charged regarding their alleged roles in the jailbreak last July of Sinaloa drug capo Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

* Guatemala: TV comic turned candidate Jimmy Morales won last Sunday’s Guatemalan presidential election but was unable to prevent a runoff next month.

* Chile: A Chilean court upheld the conviction of two men involved in the killings of filmmaker Charles Horman and journalist Frank Teruggi shortly after the 1973 military coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. 

YouTube Source – CCTV News

Online Sources – Bloomberg, Reuters, USA TODAY, JURIST