Daily Headlines: October 30, 2014

* U.S.: According to a new Pew Research Center poll, Latino voter support of the Democratic Party has diminished slightly while more respondents believe that there is no difference between the Democrats and the rival Republican Party.

* Brazil: The Brazilian central bank rose interest rates as a possible sign that President Dilma Rousseff is seeking too woo investors spooked by her recent reelection.

* Dominican Republic: At least one person was killed during protests where demonstrators called for improvements to social services.

* Chile: 850 marijuana seeds were planted as part of a pilot program in a Santiago municipality to grow medical marijuana for cancer patients.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube 

Online Sources – Pew Hispanic Center; ABC News; BBC News; GlobalPost; The Latin Amercanist

Daily Headlines: May 15, 2014

* Honduras: Military police clashed with supporters of ex-president Manuel Zelaya outside of the Honduran legislative chambers as political tensions related to the controversial 2009 ouster of Zelaya remain high.
    
* Caribbean: Researchers have reportedly located the “looted” remains of the Santa Maria, one of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage to the Americas, off the coast of Haiti.

* Brazil: Cruzeiro’s elimination from the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores meant that for the first time since 1991 no Brazilian teams would be among the final four of South America’s top soccer club tournament.

* U.S.: Is the Eva Longoria-led Latino Victory Project a front for the Democrats or is the Republican National Committee guilty of sour grapes?

Video Source– YouTube user latribunatvhn

Online Sources – ABC News; The Latin Americanist; The Wire; The Huffington Post; Soccrway

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.”

Daily Headlines: February 7, 2013 (UPDATED)

* Chile: The Chilean Navy was ordered to investigate a group of sailors caught on video chanting, “I will kill Argentines, I will shoot Bolivians, I will behead Peruvians.”

Update: A report from the Chilean Navy said that the chant by a group of sailors in Viña del Mar was an "improvised" form of a "typical" song used by the military in training.

The report, which was ordered by the federal government in response to the controversial video, labeled the chant as "offensive" but called for the leader of the chant to be punished rather than the entire group of 27 sailors.

* South America: Police in Peru nabbed the suspected head of Los Urabeños, a Colombian neo-paramilitary criminal gang involve in drug trafficking.

* Cuba: Lack of demand is reportedly to blame for a decline in the number of charter flights between the U.S. and Cuba.

* U.S.: Can Governors Brian Sandoval and Susana Martinez help attract Latino voters to the Republican Party?

Video Source – YouTube via user Guillermo Rossini

Online Sources including Update- La Nacion, ABC News, UPI, Miami Herald, New York Times

Daily Headlines: August 28, 2012

* Nicaragua: Investigators believe that eighteen people arrested and posing as fake Mexican journalists may be part of a ‘vast network of drug criminals”.

* U.S.: Will the Republican National Convention help the GOP make serious inroads into a Latino electorate that seem to mostly support President Barack Obama?

* Argentina: Mexico filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization against Argentina’s economic “protectionist measures.”

* Caribbean: According to Bahamian officials sixteen Haitian migrants who disappeared when their boat capsized are presumed to be dead.

Video Source – YouTube via Milenio

Online Sources- The Guardian, Fox News Latino, Politico.com, Reuters, MSNBC

Daily Headlines: March 19, 2012 (Updated)

* Cuba: Police detained dozens of dissident activists over the weekend, including Ladies in White leader Berta Soler, ahead of next week’s visit from Pope Benedict XVI. (Update: Police reportedly released seventy members of the Ladies in White detained on Sunday. Meanwhile, a White House statement urged the Cuban government to "abandon their tactics of intimidation and harassment to stifle peaceful dissent.")

* Puerto Rico: Mitt Romney easily won over his GOP rivals in the Puerto Rico primary that included the participation of less than six percent of the commonwealth’s electorate.

* Venezuela: Twelve police officials were detained over the killing of Karen Berendique, the daughter of Chilean Honorary Consul Fernando Berendique, in Maracaibo.

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales warned that he would close the U.S. embassy in La Paz if diplomatic officials “continued bothering Bolivia.”

Video Source – YouTube via euronews

Online Sources (including Updates) - Comision Estatal de Elecciones de Puerto Rico, Reuters, CNN, AFP, The Guardian, Voice of America

Daily Headlines: July 19, 2011

* South America: The long arm of the law recently caught up with former military members in Argentina, Peru and Colombia who are accused of human rights abuses.

* U.S.: In an attempt to capitalize on a number of GOP Latino wins in last year’s midterm elections Republican Party leaders started a new program aimed at recruiting new Latino candidates.

* Honduras: Security has been strengthened around President Porfirio Lobo who claimed that he received death threats from disgruntled business interests.

* Brazil: “Maritime routes” are allegedly being increasingly used for arms trafficking out of Brazil.

Image – AFP via BBC News (“Thousands were killed or tortured during Argentina's Dirty War.” Last week a Buenos Aires court sentenced two ex-army officers to life imprisonment for running “one of Argentina's most notorious prisons” during the Dirty War.)
Online Sources- The Telegraph, BBC News, Politico.com, MSNBC, CSMonitor.com

Today’s Video: The I-word

Negative TV campaign ads are a staple of U.S. politics ever since “Peace Little Girl” was used to devastating effect in the 1964 presidential race. This year’s U.S. midterm elections were no exception with attack ads making up at least half of all campaign ads.

Republicans and Democrats may’ve targeted Latinos as a key voting bloc but they were also the subject of numerous negative ads vis-à-vis immigration. But did these ugly ads work? Let’s take a look at three examples.

An influx of Latino immigrants came to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and they have helped in the gradual rebuilding of New Orleans. But with a weakened national economy that has barely rebounded immigrants became convenient scapegoats during the midterm campaign. Hence, dollars and cents were the emphasis of this attack ad by Sen. David Vitter that included the odd visual of a border fence despite Louisiana not sharing a border with Mexico:

Several local Latino groups like the Louisiana Hispanic Chamber of Commerce justifiably blasted the misleading ad. Furthermore, anti-immigration group NumbersUSA ranked Vitter and his rival, Rep. Charlie Melancon, as earning “the exact same B grade for their immigration work in this Congress.”

According to exit polls by the AP five in 10 voters were “very worried” over the economy and among them three out of four voted for Vitter. Thus, despite its distorted claims and ludicrous visuals, the ad may have helped Vitter win by a massive 19-point margin over Melancon.

Immigration was also a vital issue in the Senate race between Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican opponent Sharron Angle. Angle, one of several Tea Party candidates running for Congress, tried to portray Reid as soft on immigration and her campaign produced the following attack ad:

Angle’s ad did succeed to mobilize the electorate but not in the way she had planned. According to the Las Vegas Sun, Latino voters were decisive in Reid’s narrow reelection win:

Despite earlier polling data that indicated Hispanics would skip this election, exit polls showed they accounted for a record 16 percent of total voters…

Xavier Caballos, a Mexican immigrant and Las Vegas Democrat who voted for Reid, said Angle had tried to make people like him look dangerous.

“That was the final straw,” said Gilberto Ramirez, a Reno concrete worker who recently obtained his citizenship and voted for the first time. “She was depicting me as a gang member. I served seven years in the Marine Corps.”

Eight of the ten ads chosen by Richard Adams in The Guardian as the worst of the midterms (including the above one by Vitter and another entry from Angle) came from Republican candidates. Yet some Democratic hopefuls also tried to pray on the irrational anxiety over immigration. Efforts such as the following from Rep. Zack Space in Ohio made the silly argument that a guest worker program would be unfairly “rewarding” undocumented immigrants:

Much like Vitter, Space tried to tie immigration to the economy in his ads. Yet much like Angle, the conservative-leaning “Blue Dog” Democrat lost to his rival.

As we showed not every negative ad is successful and some have backfired. It remains to be seen if Latinos will once again be the aim of ugly ads in the 2012 presidential election. Hopefully that will not be the case though ultimately the effectiveness of negative ads is decided by the entire electorate.

(Hat tip: Wonkette and Vivirlatino).

Online Sources- Wonkette, the-daily-record.com, NOLA.com, Vivirlatino, The Guardian, PBS, The Living Room Candidate, The Latin Americanist, wwltv.com, CBS News

LatAm media report on midterm elections

How have some Latin American media sources reported on Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections? Here is a small sample:

* Cuba: Cubadebate highlights the seven Cuban-Americans that will be part of the upcoming Congress including Marco Rubio (Republican), Albio Sires (Democrat) and “fierce wolf” Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

* Chile: Writing in La Tercera, Alvaro Vargas Llosa believes that President Obama may gamble and push for immigration reform despite the Republican legislative shift.

* Brazil: Luciana Coelho of Folha.com faults President Obama for the Democrat’s electoral losses partly due to “prioritizing bizarre” issues.

* Mexico: On a similar front, Carlos Loret de Mola compares the rise and (so far) fall of Obama to ex-Mexican president Vicente Fox.

* Colombia: An article in eltiempo.com examines the difficulties pro-business Republicans will face against Tea Party-allied politicos who don’t support free trade pacts with Colombia and Panama.

* Argentina: Speaking of the Tea Party, Paula Lugones in clarin.com wonders how much of the GOP’s “loyalties” lie with a group that “hates intellectuals” yet “has been the force that shook up the campaign season.”

* Spain: We know that Spain’s El Pais is not in the Americas yet it’s worth noting their analysis of the Republican’s “edge” in social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Image – Reuters
Online Sources- Cubadebate, La Tercera, Folha.com, El Universal, eltiempo.com, clarin.com, El Pais

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

Poll: Latinos unhappy with Dems, GOP on immigration

President Barack Obama earlier today vowed to continue pushing for a "comprehensive approach" to immigration reform. But the results of a recent poll showed that Latinos are peeved with the president as well as the Republicans over their approaches towards the immigration debate.

According to an NBC/Telemundo poll released yesterday Latinos harbor mistrust against both of the major parties; a slim majority favor the Democrats while roughly one in five have a positive impression of the GOP. Furthermore, most Latinos (55%) polled disapproved of Obama’s job on immigration. In addition, the push by some Republicans for stronger immigration measures has helped them gain support with two groups who generally lean Democratic: women over fifty years of age and suburban women.

Despite what could be short-term electoral gains the poll revealed that the GOP risks alienating Latino voters. Latinos under forty- who could help boost voter registration numbers- mostly tend to support Obama (73%) and have a greater opposition to Arizona’s controversial immigration law (75%) compared to older Latinos. Also, most of those polled back Democrats over Republicans in handling issues such as dealing with immigration and protecting the interests of minorities. The GOP faces a double-edged sword in some states according to one pollster interviewed by the Wall Street Journal:

While a majority of voters tell pollsters they support the law, and tough stances on illegal immigration are likely to resonate this fall in such states as Nevada and Florida, Republican candidates in California might face a potential backlash from the state's more liberal electorate

In California, "they risk alienating…independent voters who don't support deportations," said Mark Baldassare, chief executive of the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

An AP/Univision poll published earlier this month found that most Latinos view illegal immigration favorably and see immigration as a whole as being beneficial to society.

Image- ABC News
Online Sources- CBS News, MSNBC, Newser, Wall Street Journal, Dallas Morning News

News Briefs: The Caribbean

* Jamaica: At least 49 people are dead and 500 are under arrest after police raided several Kingston neighborhoods in search of wanted drug gang leader Christopher "Dudus" Coke. The Jamaican government permitted the extradition of Coke to the U.S. and this led to a violent reaction from some of his armed followers since Sunday.

* Suriname: He may be a convicted drug trafficker and a former dictator yet Desi Bouterse’s Mega Combination party was the big winner in Suriname’s elections. (Many thanks to our tipster!)

* Trinidad and Tobago: Kamla Persad-Bissessar became the latest female head of government in the Americas after she was sworn-in earlier today.

* Dominican Republic: Several current ballplayers including David Ortiz and Jose Reyes are expected to attend Thursday’s funeral of ex-Major Leaguer Jose Lima who died over the weekend.

* Puerto Rico: Remember Vaughn Ward, the Idaho Republican Congressional candidate who mistakenly thought Puerto Rico was a country? Ward lost in yesterday’s GOP primary to Boricua Raul Labrador.

Video Source –YouTube
Online Sources – Xinhua, The Guardian, Gawker, Miami Herald, AP, The Latin Americanist, ESPN

McCain, Kyl: Send troops to border

While Arizona is at the cusp of passing one of the country’s strongest anti-immigration bills the state’s federal senators have introduced their own tough proposal on immigration.

Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain proposed deploying 3000 National Guard soldiers along the U.S.-Mexico border. "The situation has spiraled out of control," McCain said at a press conference today as he claimed that illegal immigrants crossing the border has supposedly led to a spike in crime in Arizona.

The proposal made part of a ten-point immigration plan that focused primarily on security and included suggestions such as erecting “double- and triple- layer fencing” along the border and increasing funds for the Border Patrol.

McCain has long been a proponent of comprehensive immigration reform and had championed a failed 2006 reform proposal that was supported by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. Yet McCain has faced strong conservative opposition in his bid for reelection that has been critical of his immigration stance. "It is unconscionable that nearly a decade after 9/11 the backdoor of the United States remains open," declared McCain’s main opponent- former Congressman J.D. Hayworth- at a recent Arizona Tea Party rally.

The push for stronger legislation against immigrants in Arizona could lead to one of the staunchest opponents of immigration to run for governor:

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been raising fistfuls of money for months now, but the question is: for what?

If Arpaio knows what office he will run for next, he isn't saying yet. But he promises to let voters know by May 1 whether he will hang onto his sheriff's badge or toss his hat into the ring for governor.

Arpaio has raised $2 million to date, money he cannot touch until he starts campaigning for sheriff or shifts gears to run for governor. He has been soliciting contributions for nearly a year, and the response has been striking even for someone with his name recognition.

(Hat tip on the final link: Gawker).

Image- CBS News
Online Sources- CNN, Washington Independent, The Hill, Fox News, azcentral.com, Gawker

Immigration rallies held over weekend

It may not have been the tens of thousands who rallied at the National Mall last month yet advocates for immigration reform still made their voices heard over the weekend.

On Saturday crowds gathered in several U.S. cities in order to voice their demands for changes to federal immigration policy. In Seattle a teen explained how despite spending most of his life in the U.S. he’s worried that “immigration could come one day to pick me up.” Several Democratic congressmen appeared at a Chicago rally though other speakers blasted President Obama for delaying immigration reform. “There are no excuses. This is something America needs,” proclaimed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in support of reform at a Las Vegas event.

The drive for reform is a difficult one a both Democrats and Republicans waffle on the issue. for instance, some Democrats concede that reform may need to be delayed even more. Yet as the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein noted now may be the most politically expedient time for some politicos to push for reform:

The fear in 2010, however, is that Hispanics won't show up to vote. If Democrats actually pursue immigration reform, their participation becomes likelier. And if Republicans -- or tea partyers, or conservative talk radio -- overreact to the prospect of immigration reform, their participation becomes virtually assured…

But grass-roots conservatives tend to be very, very opposed to immigration reform. Remember that it was conservatives -- led by talk radio -- who killed the immigration reform effort. So what do Republican politicians do when their base goes into anti-immigration overdrive but their consultants beg them to tread carefully? It looks like Harry Reid, for one, would like to find out.

One immigrant’s rights coalition has called for Congress to have a reform bill passed by the end of the summer. Whether politicians take up the cause or continue with their heads in the sand remains to be seen.

Image- Las Vegas Sun (“Activists gather outside the Lloyd George Federal Building in a protest for immigration reform Saturday, April 10, 2010.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, MWCN, Chicago Tribune, Las Vegas Sun, New York Daily News, Washington Post, Seattle Times

Daily Headlines: March 15, 2010

* Chile: Parts of Chile continue to be without electricity after a massive blackout on Sunday night plunged most of the country into darkness. (Update: Electricity is expected to be restored to all of Chile by today. Yet as the video above shows, Chileans had their nerves tested by the blackout that occurred weeks after a deadly major tremor).

* U.S.: If the Republican Party wants to appeal to Latino voters then they should lay off the staunch anti-immigration rhetoric such as “(reviving) the thrust of Proposition 187” in California.

* Venezuela: Officials claimed that police seized over two tons of cocaine originally bound for Europe.

* Argentina: Did the Vatican help the late Nazi Adolf Eichmann flee Germany for Argentina?

Image – Reuters (“A man rides his bike along a street during a blackout in Santiago, March 14, 2010.”)
Online Sources- UPI, MSNBC, The Latin Americanist, San Francisco Gate, The Telegraph

One step forward, three steps back

A recent Miami Herald article noted that Latino disappointment at the Obama administration could be taken advantage of by Republicans eager to make inroads in the Latino vote. "’There's a great sense of frustration, there's a great sense of anger and there's a big letdown’ that will drive more Latinos to the Republican Party” California State Senate Republican Caucus consultant Hector Barajas was quoted as saying.

There is plenty of justifiable disillusionment by Latinos against the White House on a range of issues. Yet the GOP must also be careful not to give the impression of offering “just a bunch of empty promises” (to use Barajas’ words against the Democrats). Proposals like the one outlined below will not earn the Republicans many Brownie points in the Latino community:

Republican lawmakers in Congress are sponsoring a bill that seeks to abolish birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to illegal immigrant parents…

"You have many people coming to this country illegally," said Rep. Gary Miller…"They come to this country and have babies. The children are citizens. The children are eligible to go to school. They receive food stamps and social programs. The American taxpayers are paying for it"…

Adrian Pantoja, associate professor of political studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, said the legislation is "largely symbolic" and unlikely to pass.

The other symbolism of the bill is that it demonstrates that the GOP will have their work cut out for them to make significant inroads in the Latino vote. Even though the Democrats are not doing themselves too many favors (i.e. lack of comprehensive immigration reform), a massive swing in Latino support to the GOP is far from guaranteed.

Online Sources- Miami Herald, Whittier Daily News
Image- TIME (Picture of the teleprompter at a 2007 Republican presidential debate “on Univision, the party's first on a Spanish-language network.”)

Did the GOP snub La Raza conference?

Yesterday marked the final day for this year’s conference of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), one of the main Latino civil rights organizations in the U.S. The four-day event centered on issues such as the economy and education, and several business and political leaders spoke at the event. Unfortunately there was one vital group that skipped the event: the Republican Party.

The GOP is in dire need of regaining credibility with the Latino electorate, especially regarding the party’s strong anti-immigration stance. Several moderate Republicans have beseeched party elders to make a stronger effort to reach out to the Latino community. Sadly, there are those within the party whose rhetoric has been (shall we say) out-of-bounds. In perhaps the ugliest critique, ex-congressman Tom Tancredo maligned the NCLR by calling it a "Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses."

In the sake of fairness, most major GOP members do respect the NCLR and “praise the organization as a mainstream civil-rights group.” Yet the lack of a national Republican figure at the NCLR’s conference was a conspicuous omission:

Republicans’ dilemma in connecting with the growing Hispanic electorate will be on vivid display Tuesday: GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote overwhelmingly against confirming Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latino nominee to the Supreme Court. And the Democratic Party chairman will address the nation’s largest Latino political group — partly in Spanish. No national GOP official is speaking…

The Republican National Committee says no national party official will be speaking at the convention. The RNC’s four-day summer meeting starts Wednesday in San Diego.

Image- Houston Chronicle (Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John McCain spoke at the 2008 National Council of La Raza Convention).
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Politico, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, abc7chicago.com

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

Sonia Sotomayor gains GOP support

The Senate Judiciary Committee decided to delay their vote on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor by one week. Yet while some of the more conservative GOP senators appear to have reservations over her record, some moderate members have made up their minds.

Olympia Snowe (Maine) became the fourth Republican Senator to announce that she will back Sotomayor if (and most likely when) her bid for the top court is up for a full Senate vote. Collins praised Sotomayor’s judicial acumen and her legal experience in a statement released on Tuesday:

Collins said she knows that she will not agree with every decision Sotomayor will make as a member of the nation's highest court, but adds that she has "concluded that Judge Sotomayor understands the proper rule of a judge and is committed to applying the law impartially without bias or favoritism."

In a nod to the controversy surrounding Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comment, Collins said Tuesday that her "expectation is that Justice Sotomayor will adhere to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's admonition that "a wise old woman and a wise old man would eventually reach the same conclusion in a case.'"

Collins joins fellow Olympia Snowe, Richard Lugar, and Cuban-American Sen. Mel Martinez in backing Sotomayor’s bid to be the first Latina justice on the Supreme Court.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) and Sen. Roger Wicker (Mississippi) have already said that they would vote against Sotomayor. Nonetheless, she is expected to be confirmed easily by the Judiciary Committee and the whole Senate.

Image- CBS News
Online Sources- MSNBC, Boston.com, CNN

Daily Headlines: July 16, 2009

* Puerto Rico: Gov. Luis Fortuño- who’s allied to the Republican Party- has urged the GOP to stop “going in the wrong direction” especially on immigration.

* Colombia: Amnesty International has called on Colombia’s government to do more to help the country’s roughly 380,000 displaced people.

* Brazil: Auto giant General Motors may be going through a hard time but that hasn’t stopped the firm from investing $1 billion to develop two car models in Brazil.

* Chile: The country’s government workers' union is continuing its two-day strike seeking better job security and work conditions.

Image- Politico.com
Online Sources- WSJ.com, Reuters, BBC News, The Hill