Daily Headlines: July 16, 2012

* Honduras: A radio reporter shot and killed while on vacation became the twenty-first journalist killed in Honduras since the ouster of president Manuel Zelaya in June 2009.

* Brazil: Why have the bodies of over five hundred penguins washed up on beaches of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul?

* Cuba: According to Cuban health officials a cholera outbreak that killed three people has been contained and weakening.

* Guatemala: A Guatemalan court reportedly granted the early release of a former colonel sentenced to twenty years in prison for the 1998 murder of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi.

Video Source– YouTube via The VJ Movement (Video posted to YouTube in March 2011).

Online Sources- The Sun Daily, The Telegraph, Fox News Latino, The Guardian

Today’s Video: Remembering Bishop Gerardi

Yesterday Guatemalans commemorated the thirteenth anniversary of the senseless murder of Bishop Juan José Gerardi. Masses were held in honor of a religious figure whose tireless work for social justice and against human rights abuses endeared him to Guatemala's poor.

Unfortunately powerful enemies did not agree with Gerardi's crusade for over a decade after the country's bloody civil war. He was savagely beaten to death outside of his residence two days after issuing a report critical of human rights violations by the armed forces.

Two former military officers and a priest were convicted in 2001 of masterminding Gerardi's murder though the Guatemalan archdiocese issued a call this week for authorities to actively investigate his death. "The Catholic Church awaits for justice to be served against all those involved in the vile assassination," said the director of the archdiocese's human rights division.

Much like the murder of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980, Geradi's death served as a reminder of the brutality of armed conflicts in Central America during the 1980s.

Journalist Maria Hinajosa recently interviewed author Fransisco Goldman whose book "The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop" examined Gerardi's death. In the video below, Goldman described how he became aware of the "theater of terror" that was the Guatemalan civil war:

Online Sources - Terra Peru, EFE
Video Source - YouTube

Daily Headlines: April 1, 2010

* Guatemala: An appeals court overturned the parole granted last week to the man who assassinated Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi in 1998.

* Haiti: A conference yesterday on Haitian reconstruction led to the pledge of over $10 billion in “long term aid” from donors worldwide.

* Venezuela: Russia and Venezuela will reportedly sign a series of agreements later this week designed to strengthen ties between both countries.

* U.S.: Could the possibility that an Arizona rancher was killed by illegal immigrant help push necessary immigration reform?

Image – BBC Mundo
Online Sources- LAHT, CNN, Xinhua, Christian Science Monitor

Weekend Headlines: March 20-21, 2010

* Haiti: The country’s physically disabled aren’t the only people with disabilities hurt by January’s tremor; according to the New York Times Haiti’s mental health system is at “the point of collapse.”

* Chile: The government may raise mining royalties as part of a plan to pay for post-earthquake reconstruction efforts.

* Guatemala: Local human rights groups are peeved at a judge’s decision to release the former army officer convicted of killing activist Bishop Juan Gerardi.

* Panama: An estimated 10,000 protesters marched in Panama City against the policies of President Ricardo Martinelli.

Image – Guardian UK (Some survivors of Haiti’s massive January earthquake live in makeshift tent camps).
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, New York Times, Reuters, Washington Post, LAHT