Daily Headlines: June 4, 2014

* Chile: Scientists have discovered the fossils and rare soft tissue of forty-six “dolphin-like” ichthyosaurs in southern Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park.

* El Salvador: Salvador Sanchez Ceren was sworn in as Salvadoran president and vowed to tackle major problems hurting the country such as corruption and gang violence.

* Uruguay: Uruguay’s foreign minster claimed that his country is ready to possibly receive six Guantanamo detainees and some 120 Syrian child refugees.

* Colombia: Peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC rebels resumed amidst a tense and ugly presidential race between incumbent leader Juan Manuel Santos and rightwing opponent Oscar Ivan Zuluaga.

Video Source – ITN via YouTube

Online Sources – Vatican Radio; Bloomberg; MercoPress; CBC News; Christian Science Monitor

Daily Headlines: March 10, 2014

* El Salvador: Electoral authorities could take days to declare a victor in the second round of El Salvador’s presidential race where leftist Salvador Sanchez holds a razor-thin 0.16% lead over conservative rival Norman Quijano.

* Mexico: Mexican officials say Knights Templar drug cartel chief Nazario Moreno Gonzalez was killed in a shootout yesterday even though the government in 2010 claimed he was dead.

* Colombia: After yesterday’s local elections, President Juan Manuel Santos’ coalition in the Colombian Congress shrank slightly but will still retain a legislative majority.

* Brazil: Paulo Nogueira Batista, Brazil’s representative at the International Monetary Fund, warned that the institution “will suffer a loss of credibility” if it were to ease its rules in order to provide a large loan to the Ukraine.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube

Online Sources- Bloomberg; GlobalPost; Reuters; CNN

Runoffs to Decide Next Salvadoran, Costa Rican Presidents

A second round of presidential elections will likely be held in El Salvador and Costa Rica after none of the candidates received sufficient support from the electorate on Sunday.

Salvador Sanchez of the ruling FMLN gained a plurality of 48.93% of the vote in El Salvador and fell short of the majority required to win yesterday’s election.  With 99.3% of the vote counted, the former leftist guerilla turned vice president earned nearly 10% more support than San Salvador’s conservative mayor and second round opponent Norman Quijano.

“If we got the win in the first round, we will triumph in the second,” declared a confident Sanchez in front of a multitude of supporters yesterday.  Quijano, meanwhile, declared that his campaign fought a “historic battle” where  “a monster wanted to crush us but could not.”

Even though Sanchez and Quijano easily beat out a trio of other candidates, the key to victory in the March 9th runoff could come in the form of Antonio Saca who received 11.4% of the vote in the first round.  The former president broke away from Quijano’s ARENA party in 2009 yet it’s unclear which of the two remaining candidates pro-Saca backers will opt for.  (Saca in his concession speech didn't provide any hints regarding whom he might support).

In Costa Rica, meanwhile, Luis Guillermo Solís of the center-left Citizen Action Party earned first place with 30.95% of the vote though he was unable to obtain the minimum 40% needed to prevent a runoff on May 8th. Nevertheless, his victory was reportedly a surprise after ruling party candidate Johnny Araya was seen as the favorite and had actually led in early exit polls.

“We will govern for Costa Rica. Not one step backward, only forward,” declared the historian who polls prior to the election indicated that he would end in third or fourth place.  “We’re going to win, because we are a people who decided to change,” added the 55-year-old who left the ruling National Liberation Party in 2005.