Daily Headlines: June 25, 2014

* U.S.: The U.S. government is carrying out a propaganda campaign in Central America in order to try to stem the recent influx of tens of thousands of undocumented immigrant children.

* Paraguay: Heavy rainfall and river flooding has led to the evacuation of some 200,000 people in Paraguay.
 
* Cuba: According to the Cuban opposition, the authorities have jailed at least 114 political prisoners including 80 “peaceful dissidents”.

* South America: The Qhapac Nan road network that spread through six South America countries and was used mainly by the Incan empire was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Video Source – PBS NewsHour via YouTube

Online Sources – Miami Herald; PRESS TV; LAHT; ABC News

Chikungunya Virus Spreads to South America (Updated)

The World Cup that starts on Thursday in Brazil will face its share of problems from violent protests to unfinished stadiums. To this list we might add the proliferation of a virus that has spread throughout the Caribbean and was recently detected in Venezuela.

Health officials in that South American country confirmed last week that the chikungunya virus was detected in a citizen who had returned from travel in the Dominican Republic. 

The government “was able to quickly detect the illness following tests since the patient” showed symptoms of being infected with the chikungunya virus, said Venezuelan senior health official Jesús Toro. 

“The patient is receiving the appropriate treatment,” added Toro one week after ruling out the chikungunya in another patient who had symptoms of the disease such as high fever and severe joint pain. 

(Update: As mentioned by one of our eagle-eyed readers and confirmed by the Brazilian media, six cases of chikungunya have reportedly been detected in Sao Paulo state.  Among the infected are two officers who returned from Haiti as part of Brazil's involvement in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in that Caribbean country).
    
Patients with chikungunya usually suffer from very bad headaches, joint pains, rashes and fever.  As a result, they become bedridden and racked with pain for weeks at a time while in extreme cases it can cause death.

Chikungunya can be spread through the same Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that can carry the much deadlier dengue virus and both illnesses cannot be prevented via vaccination. Brazilian health authorities are on the alarm for the spread of dengue during the World Cup but some researchers believe that the tournament could cause an outbreak of the chikungunya in the Americas:

Daily Headlines: February 1, 2012

* Peru: Authorities are trying to avoid the growing encroachment against natives like the Maschco-Piro tribe who reside in remote areas of the Amazon.

* Latin America: Drought conditions in have led to a reported drop in the planting of marijuana in Mexico and a decrease in the corn yields of several South American countries.

* Argentina: Canadian mining firm Osisko suspended a gold mining project in the La Rioja province after weeks of protests by locals and environmental groups.

* Dominican Republic: The World Trade Organization backed a claim by several Central American countries against import tariffs by the Dominican Republic.

Video Source – YouTube via ITN News

Online Sources- National Geographic, Fox News Latino, UPI, BBC News, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: October 10, 2011

* U.S.: Could smoking help explain the health phenomena known as the “Hispanic paradox”?

* Latin America: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas arrived in Colombia as he continued his Latin America tour seeking support for his government's bid to win a place at the U.N.

* Mexico: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder may soon receive a Congressional subpoena to testify over a failed gun surveillance program know as “Operation Fast and Furious”.

* Argentina: Despite taking an early lead and putting up a good fight Argentina was eliminated from the Rugby World Cup after losing to host team and heavy favorites New Zealand.

* Paraguay: Preliminary results indicated that most voters backed a constitutional amendment that would permit Paraguayans residing abroad the right to vote in general elections.

* South America: Qualifying matches for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil began last week and included an easy win for Uruguay over Bolivia and a surprising victory for Peru at home against Paraguay.

Video Source – Via YouTube user unnaturalcausesdoc (“Two researchers present findings related to the "Latino paradox," the fact that new Latino immigrants, despite having on average lower incomes and highly stressful lives, suffer lower rates of chronic and mental illness than the average native-born American.”)

Online Sources – The Latin Americanist, Colombia Reports, MSNBC, CNN, Soccer by Ives, The Guardian, Scientific American

Daily Headlines: August 14, 2008

* Latin America: Facebook has overcome MySpace to become the world's most popular social networking website, partly with the help of massive growth in Latin America.

(Miguel provides more information on the growth of Facebook and the Americas).

* Puerto Rico: The island’s pro-statehood political party has backed an initiative creating a bilingual ballot for November’s U.S. elections.

* South America: Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will visit two countries who are among the 23 that recognized Taiwan- Paraguay and the Dominican Republic.

* Bolivia: Coca production continues to grow in the landlocked South American country according to a “top U.S. anti-drug official”.

Image- AFP

Sources- miamiherald.com, Bloomberg, New York Daily News, The Economic Times

Will S. America get its own currency?

The European Union has the euro and conspiracy theorists believe that North America will one day get the “amero.” But could South America soon have its common currency?

Twelve South American countries created a regional body called UNASAUR last week designed to increase economic and political ties. Yesterday, Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva suggested that the body’s next step should be the establishing of a regional central bank and common currency:

'Many things still haven't been realized. We are now going to create a Bank of South America. We are going to move forward so in the future we'll have a single central bank, a common currency,' he said.

But, he added: 'This is a process. It won't be something that happens quickly.'

Lula also said that the bloc’s leaders will work to help “economically fragile” members such as Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia.

Aside from a common currency, future plans for UNASUR may include the absorption of regional trade blocs as well as the creation of a South American Defense Council.

Image- Dallas Morning News (UNASUR flag)

Sources- Associated Press, Forbes, BBC News, The Latin Americanist, Xinhua, Galveston County Daily News, Wikipedia

Mexican impresario “Can’t get enough of that wonderful Duff”

A Mexican entrepreneur that trademarked and sold Duff Beer in Mexico plans to expand into South America. Since 2006, Rodrigo Contreras Diaz has been producing the beer best known as the preferred booze of Homer Simpson on “The Simpsons.” According to Colombia’s El Tiempo website, Diaz will create a South American subsidiary of his beer enterprise and has made numerous offers for expansion:

(Diaz) is in conversations with Brazilian and Colombian breweries like ImBev and Bavaria to produce and even distribute the beer... “They have yet to respond but have shown interest,” said Diaz. Duff is a premium beer with 5% alcohol that would cost between 1400 and 1700 pesos [ed. between 60 and 80 cents], depending on ether domestic production or importation. – [ed. Personal translation]

Diaz is not afraid of possible legal troubles with the Duff Beer brand though he has not shied away from controversy in the past. In 2005, he published 5000 copies of a book entitled “Achievements of President Vicente Fox”; all the pages of the book were blank.

Sources (Spanish)- El Universal, El Tiempo, LaNacion.com.ar, terra.com

Image- ehui.com

Video of the Day: Snowing in Buenos Aires

The following YouTube video shows Monday’s historic snowfall in the Buenos Aires area (video link):

It was the first major snowfall in Buenos Aires since 1918, and was part of a cold wave affecting several South American countries.

Sources- YouTube, Guardian UK, BBC News

FIFA stands behind altitude ban

A spokesman for the world’s governing body on soccer affirmed a ban against international games played 8200 feet above sea level. The remarks came in response to an alleged fax sent by the FIFA medical board saying that the ban would be modified to help some Andean states.

Meanwhile, the medical panel representing South America’s soccer board has debated over the health concerns of playing at high altitudes. The split has erupted between countries representing high altitude and low altitude countries, and may lend credence to the claim that soccer giants Brazil and Argentina were behind the ban.

Nonetheless, the president of South America’s soccer board expressed his displeasure at the ban after meeting with Bolivian president Evo Morales this afternoon.

Source (Spanish)- El Tiempo

Sources (English)- Reuters India, International Herald Tribune, Foreign Policy Passport

Image- BBC News (According to the caption “Bolivian protesters take their argument to Conmebol”)

Boca draws first blood in Libertadores final

In a battle between Argentines and Brazilians in the Copa Libertadores final, Boca Juniors is at an advantage after beating Gremio 3-0 last night. Much like in the previous rounds midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme (image) was key in Boca’s victory during the first leg of South America’s top soccer club tourney played at “La Bombonera” in Buenos Aires. The deciding second leg will be played in Brazil next Wednesday.

The Porto Alegre club tied in aggregate goals 3-3 with Santos in the semifinals, but a goal by Diego Souza during the second leg in Sao Paulo served as the tiebreaker in Gremio’s favor. Meanwhile, Boca came back from a 3-1 first leg deficit and won the second leg at home 3-0 over Colombia’s Deportivo Cucuta.

Meanwhile, leaders of several Andean states continue to protest against FIFA’s high altitude ban; a ban that one blogger blamed on Brazil and Argentina. Bolivian president Evo Morales and some of his staff played a makeshift soccer game nearly 20,000 feet up in the Andes Mountains on Tuesday.

Sources- Latin Americanist, Foreign Policy Passport, International Herald Tribune, ESPN Soccernet

Image- Javno.hr