Daily Headlines: October 26, 2016

* Brazil: Tributes from the soccer world have poured in for Carlos Alberto, the captain of Brazil's World Cup-winning men’s national team in 1970, who died on Tuesday at the age of 72.

* South America: The Vatican announced it will soon released records linked to the infamous “Dirty War” era, while political tensions remain high in Venezuela days prior to Church-led negotiations between the government and opposition.

* Honduras: Some member of the United States Congress are not seeing eye-to-eye with the State Department over around $55 million in aid to Honduras despite the country’s dismal human rights record.

* Nicaragua: The Nicaraguan government accepted observers from the Organization of American States to monitor elections on November 6th where polls indicate President Daniel Ortega will easily win another term in office.

YouTube Source – Classic Football 

Online Sources – Los Angeles Times, Yahoo Sports, Reuters, CBC, The Washington Post

Daily Headlines: October 21, 2016

* Brazil: Twenty-one mining executives were charged with homicide in relation to the November 2015 collapse of a Brazilian dam that killed nineteen people and polluted miles of waterways.

* Latin America: A Mexican judge rejected an appeal to prevent the extradition of imprisoned Sinaloa drug cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, while Argentine officials requested the extradition of an ex-Iranian foreign minister potentially involved in the deadly 1994 AMIA bombing.

* Nicaragua: A recent poll gave President Daniel Ortega a commanding lead in a presidential race marred by controversy over the removal of opposition politicos from the legislature.

* United States: The Organization of American States for the first time will send observers to monitor the United States presidential election in fifteen states including Georgia and Ohio.

YouTube Source – CCTV News 

Online Sources – Fox News Latino, teleSUR English, Business Insider, Yahoo News, UPI

Daily Headlines: August 3, 2016

* Haiti: Observers from the Organization of American States will monitor Haiti’s upcoming elections but warned that more than a dozen reforms are needed for the much maligned and delayed electoral process.

* Latin America: At least six people are dead and four others are missing in the Dominican Republic following Tropical Storm Earl, which is advancing towards the Gulf coast of Mexico and Honduras.

* Guatemala: The daughter of the fifth Guatemalan journalist murdered this year was herself shot and killed though it’s unknown if the motives behind both deaths are linked.

* Venezuela: Jamaica will pay back some of its oil debt under the Petrocaribe alliance with food and medicine to a Venezuelan state mired in an economic crisis.

YouTube Source – AFP (Haiti’s presidential election was initially held nearly ten months ago but the election will be rerun this October amid deep political tension and accusations of voter fraud).

Online Sources – The Miami Herald, The Weather Channel, Bloomberg, Yahoo7 News, The Independent

Daily Headlines: June 1, 2016

* Venezuela: Organization of American States chief Luis Almagro, who has been highly critical of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, has called on a meeting to potentially suspend the South American state from the regional group.

* Colombia: Colombia’s ELN may have recently freed three kidnapped journalists including Salud Hernández of Spain but the rebels have yet to liberate others held in captivity like Odin Sanchez.

* Puerto Rico: Despite Puerto Rico’s economic woes, drug maker Roche plans to invest at least $60 million to its expand its operations on the island.

* South America: Brazil’s political crisis and corruption scandals could provide a boost to the economy of neighboring Argentina.

YouTube Source – CCTV News (Last weekend, Venezuelan “government officials and opposition leaders held separate meetings in the Dominican Republic, to lay the groundwork for a potential dialogue.”)

Online Sources – Reuters, Latin American Herald Tribune, Colombia Reports, New Zealand Herald, BBC News

Daily Headlines: May 6, 2016

* El Salvador: Salvadoran authorities claimed that homicides declined last April by 15.8% but some analysts worry the government’s “zero tolerance approach” could lead to increased gang violence.

* Venezuela: At an Organization of American States meeting, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez accused the U.S. of orchestrating a campaign of “ongoing and relentless aggression” against her country.

* Colombia: Colombian police arrested Nidal Waked, a man named by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency as “one of the world's most significant drug money launderers and criminal facilitators.”

* Haiti: Several thousand protesters took to the streets of Port-au-Prince to demonstrate over the political crisis stemming from delayed presidential elections.

YouTube Source – CCTV America (“In El Salvador, it's estimated someone is murdered every hour.  It could become the world's most violent country if not already.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, The Miami Herald, BBC News, SBS

Daily Headlines: January 20, 2016

* Honduras: The Honduran government and the Organization of American States agreed to create an international body aimed at combating political and judicial corruption.

* Latin America: The International Monetary Fund believes that the economy of the Latin America and Caribbean region will contract for the second straight year and shrink by 0.3% in 2016.

* U.S.: A new Pew Research Center study found that the Latino electorate has grown mainly thanks to more millennials and naturalized citizens.

* Colombia: Colombian officials and the FARC rebels requested U.N. monitoring of their bilateral ceasefire roughly two months prior to a self-imposed deadline to reach a final peace deal.

YouTube Source – AJ+ (Video uploaded on July 2015).
 
Online Sources – The Guardian, Financial Times, Pew Hispanic Center, BBC News

Daily Headlines: September 1, 2015

* Mexico: Mexican human rights groups claimed that forced disappearances are on the rise including an estimated 26,000 cases over the past eight years.

* Nicaragua: An extra $700 million could be added to the $50 billion price tag for the construction of Nicaragua’s interoceanic canal.

* South America: The Organization of American States (OAS) rejected a Colombian proposal to hold an urgent meeting over a growing migratory crisis with Venezuela.

* Brazil: A feature article in Brazilian newsmagazine Epoca accused ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of acting as a lobbyist in Cuba for a construction firm involved in a major bribery scandal.

YouTube Source – La Jornada (Several thousand protesters marched in Mexico City last week to mark the 11-month anniversary of the disappearance and possible massacre of 43 Ayotzinapa college students.)  

Online Sources – JOC.com, Reuters, NBC News, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: March 19, 2015

* Argentina: On the two month anniversary of the mysterious death of Alberto Nisman, Cabinet chief Anibal Fernandez called the late prosecutor a “scoundrel” and accused him of embezzling funds.

* Uruguay: Former Uruguayan foreign minister Luis Almagro was elected as the next chief of the Organization of American States.

* Latin America: PetroCaribe members Haiti and Nicaragua would be the most hurt if the Venezuelan-led oil initiative were to fail according to the International Monetary Fund.

* Mexico: The producer of the next movie in the James Bond spy film series denied receiving $20 million from Mexican officials in exchange for modifying the script.

Video Source – YouTube user BBC News (“Hundreds of thousands of people in Argentina marched (last month) through Buenos Aires to demand answers over the death of a state prosecutor.”)
 
Online Sources – The Hollywood Reporter; Deutsche Welle; The Latin Americanist; Fox News Latino; ABC News

Daily Headlines: July 2, 2014

* Brazil: President Dilma Rousseff’s approval rating may be 27% less last month than in June 2013 but she may have the last laugh since she’s favored to win reelection this October.

* Latin America: Health officials warned that the mosquito-born chikungunya virus continues to sweep through the Caribbean, is spreading further into the Americas and could soon extend into Europe.

* Argentina: Latin American representatives at the Organization of American States gave their support to Argentina in its dispute with creditors who are owed billions of dollars.

* Panama: “Corruption will not be tolerated in our government,” declared new Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela in his inauguration speech on Tuesday.

Video Source – YouTube via user Newsloop Top News

Online Sources – Bloomberg; The Latin Americanist; BBC News; Bernama; GlobalPost

Venezuela: Opposition Legislator Machado Arrives in Caracas

A Venezuelan opposition activist arrived in Caracas today amidst weeks of unrest and days after she was stripped of her legislative status.

“I have landed in my country.  Emotional for the care and confidence from the citizens who are an honor to represent in the National Assembly,” María Corina Machado mentioned via her Twitter account this afternoon.  

Later she urged her followers including those who greeted her upon her arrival to Caracas to meet her at the Brion Plaza where she would “bring support from the democrats across the continent.”

The forty-six-year-old flew in from Lima, Peru following several days of travel abroad where she did not cease from her harsh criticism of the Venezuelan government.

“This government is weaker than ever… The violence only helps the government and it’s the fault of (Venezuelan president Nicolás) Maduro, not the (opposition) protests,” said Machado in an interview published yesterday. 

“Maduro has crossed a red line,” she added.

The most controversial part of her foreign trip occurred last Friday when she was invited by Panama’s delegation to the Organization of American States (OAS) to speak at a meeting focusing on the chaos in Venezuela.  OAS representatives made the event that would normally be open to the press and accessed online into a closed session following a 22-11 vote. Some of the countries that voted for a closed session like Nicaragua and Bolivia are staunch allies of the Maduro regime while others like Brazil decried that her presence change the “objective” of the meeting “into a circus for an outside audience.”

Her participation at the meeting led the head of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, on Monday to declare that Machado was stripped of her parliamentary immunity.  He also warned that she could be prosecuted for “inciting violence” relating to the past six weeks of turmoil that have claimed the lives of at least thirty-one people.

Panama’s representative to the OAS criticized the actions against Machado as “proof of arbitrary decisions” carried out by Cabello on behalf of the Maduro regime.  (Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations with Panama earlier this month after the Central American country’s president called for dialogue through the OAS.)

Venezuela: Two Dead in Violent Clashes on Thursday

The unrest that has hit Venezuela over the past month has intensified with the deaths of two more people this morning.

"We have learned that a motorcycle driver was killed by a sniper and a member of the National Guard was also killed in the same place by a sniper," said Diosdado Cabello, the head of the federal legislature, in a press conference on Thursday.

According to Venezuelan daily El Universal, the incident began when protesting residents of the Los Ruices neighborhood in eastern Caracas were confronted by armed motorcycle gangs trying to break down improvised barricades.  Both groups engaged in a standoff until firemen came into the area to put out a small fire caused by a Molotov cocktail thrown by one of the motorcyclists.  The bikers fought with the firemen and then members of the National Guard and police officers brought in to bring order to Los Ruices. The authorities shot tear gas and water cannons while the gangs threw rocks and bottles at the officers.

The armed gangs are part of the colectivos and they emerged during the era of the late President Hugo Chávez.  Over the years they have functioned in order to garner support for the government and have reputedly helped run community services. Yet the colectivos have been accused of acting as paramilitaries that have harassed opposition activists and blamed for exacerbating much of the violence that has claimed the lives of at least twenty-one people over three weeks.

Last month a statement from Human Rights Watch noted that current President Nicolás Maduro claimed that he doesn’t “accept violent groups within Chavismo and the Bolivarian Revolution,” but the regime has turned a blind eye by “not taking effective steps to disarm them.”

Latin American Anger Over Bolivian Plane Diversion (Updated)

A diplomatic crisis is apparently developing between several Latin American and European states after a plane carrying Bolivian president Evo Morales made an unexpected layover in Austria.

Morales was returning to his homeland yesterday after attending a conference in Russia but according to Bolivian officials Spain, Italy, Portugal and France prohibited the presidential plane from flying through their respective airspaces. 

"We are told that there were some unfounded suspicions that (U.S. intelligence whistleblower Edward) Snowden was on the plane," Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said.

The aircraft was then forced to make an emergency landing in Vienna where it was refueled but also inspected by Austrian authorities.  After approximately thirteen hours the plane was permitted to depart and it’s currently en route back to Bolivia. 

“I feel that this was an excuse to frighten and intimidate me,” said Morales to the press before leaving Austria.

Bolivian Defense Minister Ruben Saavedra Soto claimed that the U.S. State Department spread the rumor that the former contractor was smuggled onto the Bolivian aircraft.  “It’s a rumor completely based on a lie,” said Saavedra before he and the rest of the Bolivian contingent left Austria. 

Sacha Llorenti, Bolivia’s Ambassador to the U.N., said that his country while a file a complaint with the organization’s human rights body regarding what he deemed as a “diplomatic kidnapping”.

“We have no doubt that it was an order from the White House... For no reason whatsoever should a diplomatic plane with a president [inside] be diverted from its route and forced to land in another country,” he said earlier today.

Daily Headlines: June 3, 2013

* Chile: A judge issued an order for police to make a portrait of and look for the possible killer of famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda who died days after a 1973 military coup.

* Venezuela: Timothy Tracy, a U.S. filmmaker detained last April and accused of spying against the Venezuelan government, was allegedly transferred to the El Rodeo prison.

* Brazil: The iconic Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was reopened yesterday with a 2-2 tie between Brazil and England.

* Mexico: Mexican author turner peace activist Javier Sicilia praised a recent Organization of American States report on drugs as a tool that could “lead to the formulation and implementation of new drug policies”.

Video Source – YouTube via AFP (The body of famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was exhumed last April in order to examine if he was murdered via poison in September 1973).
 
Online Sources- Huffington Post; Fox News Latino; The Latin Americanist; BBC Sport; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: May 20, 2013

* Latin America: A new report from the Organization of American States called for major changes to the “war on drugs” including the possibility of decriminalizing the use of marijuana.

* Mexico: Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam met with a group of mothers on hunger strike for over ten days and announced the creation of a government unit aimed at investigating the cases of thousands of missing people.

* Venezuela: Dozens of protesters participated in a march on Saturday in Caracas and urged the end of discrimination against gays and lesbians in Venezuela.

* U.S.: Will U.S. President Barack Obama mention later this week any major changes to the policy regarding detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison?

Video Source – YouTube via ContactoFESCOL (Former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria is one of several ex-Latin American leaders allied to the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which is a campaign seeking for changes in drug laws).

Online Sources- The Guardian; GlobalPost; AFP; The Latin Americanist; NBC News

White House Urges Venezuelan Presidential Election Recount (Updated)

The U.S. government has called on Venezuelan authorities to recount the country’s presidential election that was apparently won by interim leader Nicolás Maduro.
"Given the tightness of the result - around 1 percent of the votes cast separate the candidates - the opposition candidate and at least one member of the electoral council have called for a 100 percent audit of the results," said White House spokesman Jay Carney on Monday.

"This appears an important, prudent and necessary step to ensure that all Venezuelans have confidence in these results," mentioned Carney. "In our view rushing to a decision in these circumstances would be inconsistent with the expectations of Venezuelans for a clear and democratic outcome."

(Update: Venezuelan electoral board chief Tibisay Lucena rejected calls by the Venezuelan opposition and international diplomats to recall all the votes from Sunday's presidential election.

She warned that a manual recall would be "vulnerable" and cited the results of the contested U.S. presidential election of 2000 to reject the suggestion of an electoral audit). 

The CNE on Sunday night declared Maduro as the victor with 50.66% of the votes compared to the 49.07% obtained by main opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.  The razor-thin margin of victory represented approximately 250,000 of the roughly 15 million total votes according to CNE president Tibisay Lucena.

Capriles replied yesterday that he would not accept the results until all the votes are recounted “one-by-one.”  Moments ago he reiterated his call for a recount and he urged electoral authorities to halt the planned confirmation of Maduro as President-elect later this afternoon.

“If you (Maduro) accept the presidency then you are illegitimate,” declared Capriles at a press conference from his campaign headquarters.  He who also called on his backers to protest in the streets tonight and mass demonstrations in front of local CNE offices on Tuesday if a recall is not done.

Other international diplomats echoed Carney’s remarks and supported the notion of an electoral recount in Venezuela.

U.S., Colombian Diplomats Discuss Possible “Change” in Venezuela

The top diplomats for the U.S. and Colombia urged Venezuela’s government to “respect” that country’s constitution should President Hugo Chavez not recover from cancer surgery.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Colombian counterpart, María Ángela Holguín, reportedly discussed the “potential for change” in Venezuela during a meeting between both of them in Washington earlier today. 

Clinton and Holguin coincided that “a political transition of any kind needs to happen in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution, needs to be transparent, needs to be democratic,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

Nuland added that the U.S. “admires” the efforts of the Colombian government to have peace talks with the FARC rebels.

Nuland’s remarks were similar to those made yesterday by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta S. Jacobson regarding Venezuela’s political tensions.

"All of us want the situation…to clarify," she said according to Venezuela’s El Universal daily.  She added that if the Venezuelan constitution provides for a "new election" then she expects it to be "open to everyone."

The U.S. hasn’t been the only country in the Americas to call for a peaceful transition in power in Venezuela in case Chavez’ health impedes him from continuing in the presidency.  According to Reuters, Brazilian officials are looking at the possibility of a post-Chavez Venezuela:

Daily Headlines: July 11, 2012

* Paraguay: Organization of American States chief Jose Miguel Insulza said that Paraguay should not be suspended as a member due to the recent ouster of Fernando Lugo.

* Ecuador: Gustavo Cortez, editor of Ecuador’s El Universo newspaper, alleged that recent criticism from President Rafael Correa was “a (verbal) attack in violation of his rights”.

* U.S.: Dominican outfielder Melky Cabrera was named All-Star Game MVP after hitting a home run that helped the National League win 8-0 over the American League.

* Argentina: The Argentine government filed a compliant with the World Trade Organization over U.S. and Japanese restrictions on some food imports.

Video Source – YouTube via teleSUR

Online Sources- Bernama, SI.com, Huffington Post, Mercopress

Daily Headlines: June 7, 2012

* Latin America: The Organization of American States General Assembly may’ve concluded with deep divisions over the group’s human rights system but members did back Argentina's claim to the Falklands Islands.

* Cuba: Malaysian-based Petronas became the next foreign oil firm to drill off the Cuban coast though it remains to be seen if they will have the same misfortune as Spain’s Repsol.

* Chile: Representatives from Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico met in Antofagasta and signed a pact creating the Pacific Alliance bloc.

* Brazil: With two years left to go until the Brazil hosts the World Cup, President Dilma Rousseff signed into a law a resolution removing a ban on alcohol sales during soccer matches.

Video Source – YouTube via TVPublicaArgentina

Online Sources- BusinessWeek, Miami Herald, AFP, BBC News

Daily Headlines: June 5, 2012

* Guatemala: Roman Catholic Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruno, a key figure in the negotiations that led to the end of Guatemala's civil war, died Monday at the age of 80.

* Latin America: Should the Organization of American States’ human rights system be reformed or kept as is?

* Argentina: A groundbreaking gender identity law that allows people to change their names and genders without prior legal or medical approval went into effect yesterday.

* Venezuela: The government banned the sales of guns and ammunition in a measure aimed at curbing rampant violent crime.

Video Source – YouTube via Rome Reports

Online Sources- AS/COA Online, Voice of America, Houston Chronicle, Fox News

Daily Headlines: August 8, 2011

* Venezuela: Leaders of Venezuela’s main political opposition group are reportedly against a U.S. Congressional bill backed by several legislators critical of President Hugo Chavez to cut off funding to the Organization of American States.

* Haiti: Rest in peace Jean-Claude Bajeux; the Haitian human rights activist and scholar passed away Friday at the age of 79.

* U.S.: Los Angeles businessman Alex Meruelo will reportedly become the new owner of the Atlanta Hawks and, thus, the first Latino to own a major stake of an NBA team.

* Mexico: An accused “top Mexican drug trafficker” from the Sinaloa gang claimed that he has legal immunity based on his supposed work as an informant.

Image – Getty Images via The Telegraph (According to The Washington Post, a letter was sent by Venezuela’s United Democratic Coalition to U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen voicing their concern over a proposal to eliminate U.S. funding of the OAS).
Online Sources- Washington Post, CBS News, AHN, Reuters