Daily Headlines: December 16, 2015

* Mexico: At least seventeen corpses were found abandoned in a ravine days after Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto proposed two new legal initiatives in the battle against disappearances and kidnappings.

* South America: The former head of South America’s soccer federation, Juan Angel Napout, pled not guilty to charges related to the “FIFA-gate” corruption scandal while Paraguayan officials allowed the extradition one of Napout's predecessors, Nicolas Leoz, to the U.S. for questioning.

* Venezuela: U.S. investigators will reportedly charge Venezuela’s National Guard chief Néstor Reverol with cocaine trafficking as part of a widening probe aimed at Venezuelan military officials.

* Latin America: According to the Inter-American Development Bank exports from Latin American and Caribbean will drop by 14% this year and the outlook for 2016 may not be much better.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (“Data just released by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office indicates that 185 mass graves containing over 500 corpses have been found in the country in the last five years.”)

Online Sources – NDTV, InSight Crime, New York Daily News, Fox News Latino, MercoPress

Today’s Video: Sale of the century

Did three high-profile Western Hemispheric soccer officials seek bribes and other favors in return for supporting England's failed campaign for the 2018 World Cup? Or was it sour grapes by former English Football Association chairman Lord Triesman?

Judge for yourself the allegations made by Triesman against FIFA Vice President Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, CONMEBOL president Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay and Brazilian soccer chief Ricardo Teixeira:

Online Sources - Deadspin, The Guardian
Video Source - Al Jazeera via YouTube

Hemispheric soccer federation proposed

Could Mexico play Argentina or the U.S. versus Brazil for a spot in the 2018 World Cup? This could soon be a reality in a major soccer shake-up proposed for the Western Hemisphere.

The chiefs of the continent’s dual soccer federations, Jack Warner (CONCACAF) and Nicolas Leoz (CONMEBOL), supposedly are behind the idea of creation a single soccer body covering the entire continent. The Federation of American and Latin Soccer Entities (a.k.a. FALSE) would commence after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil according to the notion raised by Warner and Leoz.

Under FALSE international competitions between clubs and countries in the Americas would be unified. The Copa Libertadores, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary last year, would fuse with the CONCACAF Champions League to form the Americas Cup starting in 2015. Mexican teams have participated as invitees to South American club competitions for over a decade including Pachuca winning the 2006 Copa Sudamericana.

The FALSE proposal would still require approval by global soccer governing body FIFA in a conference scheduled for December 28th. The plan has been met with widespread support by South American countries who believe that FALSE could give them increased revenues and an easier road to qualify for the World Cup. On the other hand, the idea has split CONCACAF and has raised the possibility that the Trinidadian Warner would be ousted from the organization. Caribbean representatives are particularly opposed to FALSE as CONCACAF executive board member Lisle Austin of Barbados briefly said:

“Jack is a bloody idiot and we hope to give his silly idea the red card.”

Image- Xinhua (“Jose Sand (9) of Argentina's Lanus and Hector Reynoso of Mexico's Chivas de Guadalajara battle for the ball during their Copa Libertadores soccer match in Buenos Aires Feb.11, 2009.”)
Online Sources- AFP, Wikipedia, SI.com, Los Angeles Times