Daily Headlines: March 16, 2016

* Argentina: The lower chamber of the Argentine federal legislature approved a package to repay creditors in a legal tug-of-war with the government over some $100 billion in debt related to the country’s 2001 default.

* U.S.: Will recently retired presidential hopeful Marco Rubio provide a boost to fellow Cuban-American Senator Ted Cruz in his aspirations for the White House?

* Puerto Rico: Acclaimed Broadway composer Lin-Manuel Miranda urged Congress to take urgent action to help debt-ridden Puerto Rico though legislators have largely waffled on the issue.

* Mexico: The governor of the Mexican state of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo, suggested enacting a “pilot scheme” to allow the cultivation of opium poppies as a measure to combat drug violence.

YouTube Source – euronews (Last month “Argentina has agreed in principle to a deal with US hedge funds ending a 15-year-old dispute over its failure to repay billions of dollars worth of bonds.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, BBC News, Vox, The Huffington Post

Daily Headlines: February 24, 2016

* Latin America: The Zika virus outbreak has shined a light on the debate over abortion and birth control to the forefront across the Americas including in Puerto Rico where officials have capped the prices of condoms.

* Cuba: The two Republican presidential candidates of Cuban background – Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz – are vehemently opposed to White House plans to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales conceded defeat following a referendum where a majority of voters opted against a constitutional amendment that would have allowed him to run for a fourth straight term.

* Costa Rica: Costa Rica’s nickname of being the “Switzerland of Central America” may come into question after police reported a record 558 murders in 2015.

YouTube Source – AFP (“The United Nations (earlier this month) urges countries hit by the dangerous Zika virus to let women have access to contraception and abortion.”)
 
Online Sources – NPR, Scientific American, Reuters, The Tico Times, CBS News

Daily Headlines: January 13, 2016 (Updated)

* U.S.: President Barack Obama’s call to eliminate the trade embargo against Cuba in his State of the Union speech might not sit well with Cuban-American legislators but perhaps they could agree to reform policy for migrants coming from the island.

* Puerto Rico: The Puerto Rican government will allegedly begin discussions today with creditors over the restructuring of approximately $70 million in public debt.

Update: On a related note, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday on a case that could have serious consequences for the island's future sovereignty. 

* Nicaragua: Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean community leaders claimed that officials are obligating them to allow for the building of a controversial interoceanic canal through their lands.

* Guatemala: In one of the latest chapters in the “FIFA-gate” corruption scandal, former Guatemala soccer federation president Brayan Jimenez was detained and accused of bribery.

YouTube Source – AFP

Online Sources including Update – The Hill, The Guardian, Al Jazeera America, Bloomberg, Reuters, ABC News

Daily Headlines: March 31, 2015

* Argentina: Small British energy firms are reportedly still interested in offshore oil exploration near the Falklands despite the plummeting price of crude and heightened diplomatic tensions with Argentina.

* Venezuela: Ex-Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and ex-Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González are the latest former Ibero-American leaders to support imprisoned Venezuelan opposition activists.

* U.S.: Could Marco Rubio soon become the second Latino senator to launch a bid for the U.S. presidency?

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales blamed corruption scandals for his political party suffering losses in this month’s local elections.

YouTube Source – Financial Times (Video uploaded in 2012).
 
Online Sources – MercoPress, The Guardian, Politico, ABC News

Daily Headlines: February 20, 2013

* Cuba: Dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez praised freedom of expression in Brazil even though she was jeered by a small group of protesters in Recife.

* U.S.: President Obama talked with three Republican senators including Marco Rubio in order to discuss “bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform.”

* Latin America: Has Latin America become increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks?

* Peru: Officials returned to their families the bodies of twenty-six people killed two decades ago during combat between the Peruvian army and Shining Path rebels.

Video Source – YouTube via user libertadigitaltv

Online Sources- ABC News, CBS News, Huffington Post, infosurhoy.com

Tea Party Politico Pushes for “Embracing” of Immigrants

Republican Senator Rand Paul called for the GOP to “embrace” immigrants during a speech given on Tuesday after the State of the Union (SOTU).

“We must be the party who sees immigrants as assets, not liabilities,” said Paul, giving a response for the Tea Party Express political group.  “We must be the party that says, ‘If you want to work, if you want to be an American, we welcome you.’”

Paul also claimed, “We are the party that embraces hard work and ingenuity, therefore we must be the party that embraces the immigrant who wants to come to America for a better future”.

The freshman senator from Kentucky blasted President Barack Obama on several issues including federal spending and foreign policy.  Yet Rand, who is reportedly contemplating a run for the presidency, did not touch on the push for bipartisan immigration reform that has been backed by Obama and some moderate GOP lawmakers.  Nor did Paul discuss border enforcement, a factor regarding immigration that was touched by Obama in the SOTU and Sen. Marco Rubio in the official Republican response.
 
Paul’s position on immigration puts at him at loggerheads with some Tea Party activists who have emphatically rejected any compromise favoring undocumented immigrants.  Judson Phillips, of Tea Party Nation, proclaimed last month that a bipartisan plan created by a group of eight senators including Rubio is “political suicide” for the GOP.  Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas expressed “deep concerns with the proposed path to citizenship” with the proposal from the “Gang of Eight.”

Obama, Senators Present Aims for Immigration Reform

U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled his goals for comprehensive immigration reform on Tuesday afternoon.

Obama emphasized that “now is the time” for reform and presented plan in order to accomplish this based on better border enforcement, cracking down on businesses that knowingly hire undocumented workers, improving the legal immigration system and a pathway for citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.

Regarding the final point, Obama said that a potential road for citizenship should include “passing a background check, paying taxes, paying a penalty, learning English, and then going to the back of the line behind all the folks who are trying to come here legally”. 

"The question now is simple.  Do we have the resolve as a people, as a country, as a government to finally put this issue behind us? I believe that we do," said Obama during a speech in Nevada.

The president also praised a reform plan presented by a bipartisan group of senators yesterday as “very much in line with the principles I've proposed and campaigned on for the last few years.”
Much like Obama’s immigration goals, the plan from the “Gang of Eight” coincides on the same basic principles.  Yet the Senate proposal differs in a few ways such as making a road to citizenship for undocumented immigrants conditional on stronger border enforcement.

The proposals have been met with cautious optimism among some Latino pro-immigration campaigners:

Daily Headlines: March 30, 2012

* Honduras: At least 13 people are dead after a prison fire and riot in San Pedro Sula, which occurred weeks after over 350 inmates died as a result of a massive blaze in a Comayagua prison.

* Brazil: Is a new law in Bahia state banning public funding of concerts with “offensive music” insulting women and gays necessary or censorship?

* Guatemala: An estimated 10,000 indigenous demonstrators marched into Guatemala City and urged the government to help settle a series of land disputes.

* U.S.: Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio denied that he endorsed presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in order to be the former governor’s pick for vice president.

Video Source – YouTube via JoAnaProducciones

Online Sources- Huffington Post, Fox News Latino, BusinessWeek, CNN, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: October 5, 2011

* Haiti: Over 700,000 children will reportedly attend school for free as part of a new national education fund partially subsidized by fees on phone calls and remittances to Haiti.

* Nicaragua: Dole settled a multibillion-dollar lawsuit from Nicaraguan farm laborers who claimed that they were injured from working with poisoned chemicals.

* U.S.: A statement from Univision denied allegations of blackmail against Rep. Marco Rubio though it remains to be seen if three Republican presidential hopefuls will rescind plans to boycott an upcoming televised debate.

* Argentina: The country’s top court rejected a French extradition request for an ex-navy captain convicted in absentia for two “Dirty War” era murders.

Image – Al Jazeera English via YouTube

Online Sources- AP, Reuters, CBS News

Major midterm wins for Latino Republican hopefuls

One of the major media narratives regarding Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections was the gain made by the Republican Party. The GOP regained control of the House of Representatives, won several gubernatorial posts and narrowed the Democrats lead in the Senate in part due to the victories of several Latino candidates.

Marco Rubio won in a three-way race for the Florida Senate post vacated by fellow Cuban-American Mel Martinez. He easily defeated Democrat Kendrick Meek and former governor Charlie Crist who ran as an independent after losing the Republican primary to Rubio.

The former Florida state House Speaker strongly allied with the Tea Party movement during the early part of his campaign. Yet tagging him, as a “Tea Party candidate” is a misnomer since after he won the GOP primary Rubio ran on a more moderate platform. He shied away from taking a hard line on immigration and refused to back privatizing Social Security and this probably helped him gain the support from a majority of independent voters according to one exit poll.

Out west, meanwhile, Susana Martinez made history in that she will become New Mexico’s first Latina governor. A former Democrat, Martinez emphasized the needs for local legislators on both sides of the aisle to come and work together in order “to set a new course in New Mexico.” As the AP reported, however, the future successor to Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson will face a major challenge in reconciling “potentially unrealistic campaign promises not to raise taxes while protecting public schools and Medicaid from spending cuts.”

Harry Reid may’ve been one of the few high points for Democrats after holding onto his Senate seat in Nevada (more on that later). But his son, Rory, did not enjoy the same good fortune after losing to Republican Brian Sandoval in the governor’s race. The former federal judge and assemblyman won by double-digits and will thus become Nevada’s first Latino governor.

Much like Martinez, Sandoval’s campaign pledges to veto any tax increase while cutting as little as possible from social services may have to be broken by the time the next state budget is debated.

Several Latino Democrat representatives retained their seats in the House including Silvestre Reyes, Loretta Sanchez, and Raul Grijalva. Their wins were tempered by victories from the likes of Republican Jamie Herrera who will became the first Latino congressman from Washington state and Francisco Canseco who beat 11-year veteran Ciro Rodriguez.

One political pundit on Univision’s electoral coverage last night claimed that Rubio could become a strong national contender and perhaps even “occupy the White House.” While the victories from the likes of Rubio, Sandoval, and Martinez shouldn’t be understated it certainly remains to be seen if yesterday’s electoral shakeup will lead to major political changes for Latinos.

Image- CBS News (Marco Rubio looked pretty darn confident after leaving the polls on Election Day yesterday).
Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, AP, Las Vegas Sun, MSNBC, Chron.com, UPI, Bloomberg, Miami Herald

Why is Florida’s governor against Sonia Sotomayor?

Yesterday we mentioned how numerous moderate Republican senators have given their support to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. (To that list we can add the leading GOP member of the Judiciary Committee: Sen. Lindsay Graham). The issue of Sotomayor and her record has become a hot topic in the election to replace Sen. Mel Martinez.

After weeks of silence, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced that he opposes Sotomayor’s bid for the high court. "I have strong concerns that Judge Sotomayor would not strictly and objectively construe the Constitution and lacks respect for the fundamental right to keep and bear arms," said the candidate who is well ahead in polls and funding for the GOP primary.

Crist’s decision has upset some local Latino leaders such as a “very disappointed" Luis De Rose of the South Florida Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce. Yet why would Crist risk such a move in a state with such a prominent Latino electorate and with his main rival being a Latino (former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio)? The answer is simple politics: Crist is trying to show primary voters that he’s more on the right than Rubio.

Gov. Charlie Crist, whose embrace of President Barack Obama's stimulus plan cost him support among some conservative Republicans, echoed their objections to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in a statement Tuesday…

Crist is far ahead in polls and fundraising, but Republican rival Marco Rubio has found scattered support among party activists who lean conservative.

``I'm happy Crist took that position on Sotomayor, and I think the campaign could be influencing him in that direction,'' said Republican consultant Dennis Baxley, the former head of the Christian Coalition of Florida.

Despite the in risk alienating the Latino vote Rubio has alluded that he would be against Sotomayor.

Ironically, Martinez has backed Sotomayor’s bid and deemed her as “well qualified” to serve on the Supreme Court.

Image- CNN
Online Sources- Miami Herald, Weekly Standard, Miami New Times, Wonkette, Reuters, CBS4.com, The Latin Americanist