Daily Headlines: September 7, 2016

* Chile: A Chilean Senate panel approved a controversial proposal to relax a total ban on abortion and allow it under certain cases including when the pregnancy is caused by rape.

* Brazil: Much like his predecessor, interim President Michel Temer faces his own corruption scandal that could taint his rule less than a week after taking office.

* Latin America: While World Cup 2018 qualifiers were held through the Americas, the bigger news may be that FIFA president Gianni Infantino would be open to a possible joint United States-Mexico bid for the 2026 version of the tournament.

* El Salvador: the Nicaraguan government conceded asylum to former Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes who is under investigation in his home country for purportedly not declaring $700,000 of his personal income.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour (The 2013 rape and impregnation of an eleven-year-old girl in Chile helped reopen the debate on abortion, which is illegal under all circumstances in that country.)

Online Sources – Deutsche Welle, Reuters, teleSUR English, Vanguard, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: May 9, 2016

* U.S.: Immigration authorities in the U.S. might grant Temporary Protected Status to the members of the Ecuadoran expat community in the wake of a major earthquake last month in the South American country.

* Mexico: Does the transfer of Sinaloa drug cartel head Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán to a prison in Ciudad Juarez mean that he will soon be extradited to the U.S.?

* South America: The border dispute between Bolivia and Chile heated up after President Evo Morales claimed that the Chilean military established a base near the disputed Silala River.

* El Salvador: Mauricio Funes of El Salvador could soon be the next former Central American president to face a trial over potential corruption.

YouTube Source – AFP (At least 660 people died following a 7.8-magintude earthquake on April 16, 2016 that devastated areas of Ecuador near the Pacific coast).
 
Online Sources – Fox News Latin, The Atlantic, Deutsche Welle, JURIST

Daily Headlines: February 11, 2016 (Updated)

* Latin America: A pair of recent polls found that most Latin Americans are pessimistic over the region’s governments handling of the Zika virus outbreak, and 41% of people in the U.S. are less likely to take a trip to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Update: On a related note, Brazilian health officials claimed that it can take a year to develop a vaccine against Zika. Doing so, however, will be a major challenge.

* Mexico: At least fifty-two inmates died following a riot and a fire at the Topo Chico prison located near Monterrey in northern Mexico.

* Peru: Peru’s copper output is expected to grow by 19% this year, which will allow the country to leapfrog China and become the world’s second-largest copper producer.

* El Salvador: Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes will become the next ex-Central American leader to face a trial over alleged wrongdoing while in office.

YouTube Source – Bloomberg Business

Online Sources including Update – The Guardian, Reuters, CNN, Bloomberg, Vox

Salvadoran President: Pregnant Woman in Abortion Debate Has “Right to Choose”

El Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes said that an infirm and pregnant woman has the “right to choose” whether or not to abort her deformed fetus.

“The one who has the right to decide over her life and that of her son is ‘Beatriz’ and not the organizations trying to take advantage of her situation,” said Funes at the inauguration of a public works project yesterday.

He added that he’s well aware that the woman known as “Beatriz” has her life  “in danger” and said that he has created a medical commission that will “decide the best path to ensure (her) safety and well being.”

The 22-year-old “Beatriz” is approximately five months pregnant and doctors have informed her that her fetus is missing a large part of its brain and skull. The fetus may not survive past childbirth while “Beatriz” could also die since her body is severely weakened by lupus, kidney disease and hypertension.

The case of “Beatriz” has divided Salvadorans regarding the very sensitive issue of abortion with Catholic officials and conservatives on one side and women’s rights groups and pro-birth control activists on the other.  The case has even split some government authorities with the heath ministry arguing in favor of abortion while officials with forensic medicine opposed to it.

For her part, “Beatriz” would like to go ahead with the abortion:

Daily Headlines: July 31, 2012

* Latin America: According to Mexican newspaper Excelsior, Guatemala and Mexico have the lowest military spending based as the percentage of GDP in Latin America.

* El Salvador: President Mauricio Funes is enjoying a 72% approval rating despite foreign diplomatic worries of a developing “constitutional crisis.”

* U.S.: A new report found that few Latinos are likely to take out loans to pay for college, which reportedly have some experts worried that “rising college costs will eventually create a significant barrier against Hispanics seeking higher education”.

* Ecuador: At a press conference in Quito the mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed that her son has been “under a lot of stress”.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- InSight Crime, Prensa Latina, Reuters, VOXXI, News24.com

Daily Headlines: March 29, 2012

* Brazil: Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that he will return to politics after being told by doctors that his larynx cancer is in “complete remission.”

* Venezuela: The head of the Venezuelan telecom agency is taking legal action in order to force Globovision to pay a $2.1 million fine.

* El Salvador: President Mauricio Funes rejected allegations that the government was involved in an alleged truce between the Mara Salvatruchas and Mara 18 gangs.

* U.S.: Documents from the National Organization for Marriage showed how the group tried to campaign for Latino support against gay marriage.

Image Source – Flickr via Dilma Rousseff (Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with his successor, Dilma Rousseff, in this December 2011 photo). (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Online Sources- LAHT, El Universal, CNN, NPR

Daily Headlines: February 16, 2012

* Honduras: According to “an internal Honduran government report obtained by The Associated Press” most of the inmates in a Comayagua prison where a major fire took place on Tuesday hadn’t been convicted of any crime.

* Central America: Guatemala’s conservative president, Otto Perez, and El Salvador’s leftist president, Mauricio Funes said that they would consider some form of drug legalization.

* Mexico: Police captured a suspected methamphetamine producer who is also a fugitive in the U.S.

* Cuba: Cuba’s Foreign Minister said that his country would be willing to attend the upcoming Summit of the Americas but rejected the idea of rejoining the Organization of American States.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews (“Body after body has been brought out of the raised Comayagua jail in Honduras after what is now recognized as the world's worst prison fire.”)

Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, CBS News, USA TODAY, BBC News, CNN

Daily Headlines: July 29, 2011

* Bolivia: The government announced a unique plan to purchase excess coca leaves in order to keep them out of the reach of cocaine producers.

* Chile: Could a weeklong strike at one of Chile’s main copper mines soon come to an end?

* El Salvador: President Mauricio Funes’ centrist policies have apparently put him at odds with hardline members of the ruling FMLN.

* Peru: A former police officer accused of participating years ago in a “death squad” might be deported today from Canada to his native Peru.

Image – David Mercado/Reuters via CSMonitor.com (“A Bolivian woman gives her baby coca leaves in La Paz.”)
Online Sources- Insight Crime, Reuters, IPS, Toronto Sun

Daily Headlines: October 13, 2010

* Latin America: According to a report from the Global Wind Energy Council and Greenpeace Latin American countries are increasing their use of wind power as an energy source.

* El Salvador: President Mauricio Funes apologized to indigenous communities for the "persecution (and) the extermination of which they were victims” since encountering the first European explorers over five centuries ago.

* Colombia: Colombia will join Brazil as the two Latin American and Caribbean countries to hold temporary seats on the U.N. Security Council.

* U.S.: Lastly, the tale of a woman of Mexican background who became a U.S. citizen 101 years after she came to the U.S. as a newborn baby.

Image – The Guardian (“A prototype Hywind floating wind turbine” placed off the British coast).
Online Sources- LAHT, Voice of America, Reuters, Time

El Salvador: Gang violence kills fourteen

The murder of a northern Mexico mayor was the latest killing in a nation wracked by violence related to drug gangs. Several hundred miles south, however, the Central American country of El Salvador is reeling after brazen attacks against innocent civilians.

According to police street gang members were behind the deaths of sixteen people on Sunday. In the first attack, witnesses described armed men on motorcycle stopping a bus in San Salvador, dousing the vehicle with gasoline, and set it ablaze. Rescuers tried to save passengers by breaking windows after the assailants reportedly blocked the exit doors.

Ten minutes after that incident gunmen boarded another bus and opened fire, killing three people including two girls.

Eight suspects have thus far been arrested in the attacks that President Mauricio Funes labeled as “acts of terrorism.” Despite an increased crackdown on gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha, violence by criminal groups such as extorting bus companies continues to be common in El Salvador. It’s no wonder then that some Salvadorans opt to flee their country:

(Jose) Alfaro Peralta returned to San Salvador in 2005 after working for 40 years in Los Angeles and set up a small grocery store. But the unrelenting violence in his Salvadoran neighborhood has made life here impossible, he said. He plans to return to Los Angeles.



"I gave my statement today to the state prosecutor, and you know what he told me? He said I'd better go back because here there is no safety."

Image- CNN
Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, Reuters, AP, AHN, AFP, BBC News

Daily Headlines: June 9, 2010

* Chile: Chile's ambassador in Argentina reigned yesterday after a stunning verbal faux pas praising the dictatorship under the late strongman Augusto Pinochet.

* El Salvador: San Salvador’s archbishop praised President Mauricio Funes for “taking important steps” to promote democracy in El Salvador.

* Venezuela: The country’s new government-regulated foreign exchange market is set to begin operations today.

* Bolivia: Bolivia’s legislature approved a measure designed to give indigenous communities more judicial autonomy.

Image – The Guardian (2006 image of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet).
Online Sources – MSNBC, BBC News, Spero News, Wall Street Journal,

Daily Headlines: January 18, 2010

* Honduras: While six military commanders await trial for last June’s ouster of President Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran Congress granted an amnesty to Roberto Micheletti and other senior de facto officials.

* Venezuela: Authorities admitted that they plan to deport to the U.S. a suspected Colombian drug capo arrested several days ago.

* El Salvador: President Mauricio Funes publicly apologized for human rights abuses committed by the government during the 1980-1992 civil war.

* Brazil: Ronaldinho’s best days may be behind him but that didn’t stop the Brazilian from scoring a hat trick in Milan’s 4-0 romp over Siena.

Image – CNN
Online Sources- BBC News, Xinhua, CBC, The Latin Americanist, Washington Post,

El Salvador hits skids

Only days after Hurricane Ida ripped through El Salvador, costing nearly 200 lives and hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructural damage, Moody's Investors Service this week downgraded El Salvador's sovereign rating to "Ba1" from "Baa3." According to Reuters this elimates El Salvador's "investment grade rating" to "junk bond" and "places the country on a negative outlook."

I don't know all the calculations that factor into such decisions, nor the ultimate macroeconomic implications, but I know that they are not made lightly, and I know that the imaginable consequences for the political economy of El Salvador today are not promising. El Salvador had managed to stay afloat in the global financial crisis and a poltically unstable region (most of its neihbors have horrible debt as well) even as its first presidential transition to a new party in nearly 20 years begins to take root, these two major shocks do not augur well for the Funes government's ability to govern in an already cash-strapped and politically fractious envrionment.

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, El Diario de Hoy

Weekend Headlines: November 7-8, 2009

* Mexico: The country’s deep economic woes may start to be a thing of the past after the government proclaimed an end to the recession.

* Paraguay: President Fernando Lugo recent troubles go beyond being the possible target of a coup; on Thursday, the former priest was hit with his third paternity lawsuit.

* El Salvador: President Mauricio Funes announced that he will posthumously award El Salvador’s highest honor to six Jesuit priests infamously slain in 1989.

* Latin America: Toronto, Canada beat the capital cities of Peru and Colombia to become the site of the 2015 Pan American Games.

Image – SFGate.com (“Shopping for food in Mazatlán, in western Mexico”).
Online Sources- LAHT, Huffington Post, AP, Reuters, The Latin Americanist

Funes takes the helm

Updating the previous story, here is a full-text version of Funes' inaugural address, made available on the Salvadoran government's website. His address, interestingly, gives shout-outs to Obama and Lula -- no other heads of state are mentioned - not even outgoing President Saca is thanked. Hillary is, however. Lest anyone worry that the new leftist president is already going soft, he made sure to emphasize El Salvador's new policy of open diplomacy with Cuba, which renders the US the last country in the region to officially not recognize the Cuban state.

In fact, the speech, which was deemed "very reasonable" by even some skeptical private sector analysts, may well characterize Funes' gubernatorial debut as associated with the "new left" -- popular in sentiment and policy, but above all, pragmatic.

Interestingly, at the inauguration, dozens and dozens of world and regional leaders were present, with the notable (and unexplained) absences of Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez.

Also of note in the Salvadoran press is that Funes -- who recently testified against the accused murderer of his eldest son, Alejandro, in France -- came on stage this morning holding his smiling 19 month-old son, Gabriel, who has fast become a media darling in El Salvador. ("Gabo 2059 - Sí Se Puede"?)

Sources: Reuters, AP, La Prensa Gráfica, El Diario de Hoy

El Salvador's Funes is Sworn in as President

Mauricio Funes, a journalist from the FMLN party, was sworn in today as El Salvador's first leftist president. He replaces conservative president Tony Saca as head of the country.

Funes has promised to maintain El Salvador's good relations with the United States while also restoring ties with Cuba. As the Associated Press points out, Funes has his work cut out for him domestically and will inherit, "an economic recession, widespread gang violence, and a population bitterly polarized over his party's rise to power."

In an opinion piece in today's Miami Herald, United States Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, wrote, "The inauguration of a new president in El Salvador today is a testament to the strength and durability of democracy throughout the Americas." Clinton traveled to El Salvador to attend the ceremony.


Online sources: Associated Press, Miami Herald
Image: Associated Press

Daily Headlines: May 29, 2009

* Honduras: At least six people were killed and a tsunami alert was issued after a powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook Honduras on Thursday.

* Haiti: Armed smugglers where able to hold off the Coast Guard from intercepting their vessel filled with 60 Haitian migrants.

* Chile: A former army soldier was arrested on Wednesday for the 1973 torture and murder of Chilean singer and activist Victor Jara.

* El Salvador: "I am a man who is not seeking vengeance... only the truth," said President-elect Mauricio Funes who also wept at the trial for his son's murder in France.

Online Sources- BBC News, MSNBC, Guardian UK, Xinhua
Image- Guardian UK

Daily Headlines: March 23, 2009

* Venezuela: Venezuela bowed out of the World Baseball Classic after getting outplayed and overmatched by Korea in the semifinals.

* Cuba: Speaking of the World Baseball Classic, two Cuban ballplayers defected according to Fidel Castro.

* Brazil: The country was invited to join the OPEC oil cartel but is likely to reject it according to Brazil’s Veja magazine.

* El Salvador: President-elect Mauricio Funes promised that El Salvador will pay back $9 billion in foreign debt to various multilateral organizations.

Image- AFP (“KimTae-Kyun (C) of South Korea is congratulated by Park Kyung-Oan after sliding safe at home.” Venezuela lost 10-2 against the Koreans.)
Online Sources- The Peninsula On-line, AHN, LAHT, The Latin Americanist, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: March 18, 2009

* Cuba: Cuban human rights group Ladies in White held a prayer meeting in Havana to protest the detention of dozens of journalists and dissidents.

* El Salvador: President-elect Mauricio Funes said that it “would be a priority” for El Salvador to strengthen economic and political links with the U.S.

* Venezuela: The country’s crude oil reserves increased to 172 billion barrels; thus placing Venezuela in the world’s top three.

* Panama: The country has become a prime meeting area for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels according to Panama’s chief counternarcotics prosecutor.

Image- AP (“Relatives of jailed dissidents, members of the group called "Ladies in White," pray during a meeting in Havana, Tuesday, March 17, 2009.”)
Online Sources- LAHT, Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist, Al Jazeera English, MSNBC

Salvadoran leftist wins presidency

Voters in El Salvador elected journalist and TV commentator Mauricio Funes to the presidency; thus, overturning over two decades of conservative rule.

Right-wing candidate Rodrigo Avila conceded to Funes late last night after it appeared that Funes’ slim 2%-lead would not be overcome. Afterwards, Funes pledged to unite El Salvador after the divisive campaigns run be Avila and himself:

"This is the happiest night of my life, and I want it to be the night of El Salvador's greatest hope," Funes said. "I want to thank all the people who voted for me and chose that path of hope and change"…

Funes promised to crack down on big businesses which he says exploit government complacency to evade taxes.

"The time has come for the excluded, the opportunity has arrived for genuine democrats, for men and women who believe in social justice and solidarity," he told a rally of roaring supporters early Monday.

Funes would become El Salvador’s first leftist president since the country’s bitter civil war ended over two decades ago. El Salvador thus becomes the latest Latin American state with a leftist leader.

(Despite talk of a "pink" tide, the region’s leftist leaders are not all cut from the same cloth. President in the region are populist (Hugo Chavez, Rafael Correa), moderate (Michelle Bachelet, Tab Vasquez), and centrist (Alan Garcia, Oscar Arias).)

Much like the 2008 presidential victory of Alvaro Colom in Guatemala, Funes’ electoral platform of social change appealed to Salvadorans more than Avila’s law-and-order rhetoric. Funes symbolized a “fresh face” for the guerillas-turned-political-party FMLN according to one analyst who also noted that he never fought with the rebels during the civil war.

Image- MSNBC (“Mauricio Funes of the Farbundo Marti National Liberation Front party delivers his victory speech in San Salvador Sunday night after winning the presidential election.”)
Online Sources- washingtonpost.com, BBC News, Al Jazeera English, Reuters, NPR, counterpunch.org