Daily Headlines: July 19, 2013

* Brazil: The Brazilian government blasted FIFA President Sepp Blatter for suggesting that due to mass protests last month the country may have been the wrong choice to host the 2014 World Cup.

* Puerto Rico: The U.S. Justice Department and Puerto Rico officials signed a $10 million agreement aimed at reforming the commonwealth’s beleaguered police agency.

* Peru: Eight men were reportedly killed by members of the native Ashaninka community in the Amazon rainforest region of Peru.

* Chile: Michelle Bachelet’s possible return to the Chilean presidency may have just gotten easier after her main campaign rival unexpectedly dropped out of the race.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews

Online Sources- Businessweek; The Lain Americanist; Fox News Latino; Times of India; The Guardian

Fail to the chief: Blatter reelected to FIFA presidency

Joseph Blatter was reelected today to a fourth term as president of FIFA, the world’s governing soccer body. He thanked the 186 of the 203 representatives who backed him and he vowed to “put FIFA's ship back on the right course in clear, transparent waters” in light of numerous controversies that have plagued his presidency.

Blatter ran unopposed after the president of the Asian Football Federation, Mohamed Bin Hammam, dropped his bid due to bribery allegations. An ethics committee found that Bin Hammam “set up bribes for 25 presidential voters in the Caribbean” as part of his failed campaign. He and FIFA Vice President Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago where subsequently fined and suspended based on the committee’s recommendations.

The whistleblower against the two men was made by FIFA executive board member Chuck Blazer of the U.S. who was described as “a longtime ally of Warner’s”. Despite claiming that he gave Bin Hammam and Warner cash bribes, Blazer was rehired as general secretary of the North and Central American and Caribbean soccer region hours after he was fired.

Blatter’s reelection bid was nearly railroaded due to the possibility that there was wrongdoing behind awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively. The head of England’s soccer association, whose country was the favorite to be awarded the 2018 tournament, attempted to postpone today’s vote. Most FIFA members soundly rejected that suggestion and preferred to kowtow to Blatter.

One of the most odd remarks regarding FIFA wrongdoing came from Julio Grondona, president of the Argentinian FA and head of FIFA's finance committee. It was, for lack of a better term, stupid:

In an interview with a German press agency on Tuesday, Grondona called England "pirates" and added: "Yes, I voted for Qatar, because a vote for the US would be like a vote for England, and that is not possible.

"But with the English bid I said: Let us be brief. If you give back the Falkland Islands, which belong to us, you will get my vote. They then became sad and left."

Image- Christian Hartmann/Reuters via The Guardian (Sepp Blatter continues as FIFA president after easily winning another reelection).
Online Sources- FIFA, NPR, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, CSMonitor.com, ESPN Soccernet

Soccer high altitude ban suspended

FIFA- the governing body of soccer- suspended its controversial ban on high altitude matches; a move highly criticized by several South American nations. The edict had barred playing international matches above 8200 feet, and this would have prevented games from being played in cities like La Paz, Bolivia and Quito, Ecuador.

FIFA rescinded after pressure from South America's soccer body and Bolivian president Evo Morales who was one of the most vocal opponents of the ban:

Furious Bolivian president Evo Morales had condemned Blatter as a 'dictator' and was planning on taking his battle to the United Nations…

Blatter revealed that he had received a "harsh" letter last month from Morales but had then received a more cordial appeal from him for the sport's governing body to "advocate for the good of the game."

Though the suspension of the altitude ban may be a relief for Andean countries, there could be a problem with how Caribbean countries would be affected after Blatter proposed a set of rules regarding playing under “extreme conditions” like heat, cold, and pollution.

Sources- AFP, Reuters UK, Canadian Press, BBC News, SignOnSanDiego.com

Image- Foreign Policy Passport (Bolivian poster opposed to FIFA’s high altitude ban)

Follow-ups on Hugo Chavez, beauty queens, and more

The following are a list of follow-up articles on recently reported stories here on The Latin Americanist:

• Not content with nationalizing Venezuela’s oil and telecom sectors, President Hugo Chavez (first image) said that the government may take over the country’s banks.
• The FBI will launch a civil rights investigation into the violent conclusion of a May 1^st immigrants rights rally in Los Angeles.
• Record numbers of Haitian migrants keep trying to make it to the U.S.; earlier today the U.S. Coast Guard found a capsized boat in the Caribbean with 20 Haitians dead and over 60 missing.
• Miss Mexico isn’t the only controversial beauty queen from the Americas- Miss Peru was chosen behind closed doors and is the daughter of the president of the main sponsor of the Miss Peru contest.
• Peru’s mining strike enters a fifth day with more unions joining protesting laborers.
• After being released from a Buenos Aires hospital in early April, soccer legend Diego Maradona entered a mental health clinic yesterday to be treated for alcoholism.
• “DC Madam” Deborah Jeanne Palfrey apologized for the resignation of the former head of USAID; Randall Tobias quit last week after he revealed that he procured an escort service featuring Central American women.
• FIFA president Sepp Blatter (second image) took back comments made on Monday over the possibility of moving soccer’s 2010 World Cup to Mexico or the U.S.
• Despite his recent faux pas over the significance of the Spanish language, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich would be a favorite for the Republican presidential nomination should he choose to run.

Links- The Latin Americanist, International Herald Tribune, Living in Peru, Xinhua, Ireland On-line, news.com.au, WHBF, CNN, BBC News

Images- BBC News, Al Jazeera