Daily Headlines: March 25, 2016

* Brazil: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff once again claimed she would not resign despite an impeachment process against her and a deepening political crisis stemming from the “Lava Jato” corruption probe.

* Vatican: Pope Francis is the world’s most popular leader according to a new survey, while the Argentine-born pontiff washed the feet of twelve refugees as par of a traditional Holy Thursday gesture.

* U.S.: Why is the spike in HIV and AIDS cases in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas “a warning sign for the U.S. healthcare community as well as Latino neighborhoods across” the nation?

* Latin America: Researchers believe the Zika virus that has spread across the Americas arrived in South America sometime in 2013 and not during sporting events held in Brazil two years ago such as the World Cup.

YouTube Source – Ruptly TV (“Anti-government protesters demonstrated through Sao Paulo, (on March 20th), as Brazil’s lower house continues to discuss Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's potential impeachment”.)
 
Online Sources – Xinhua, Catholic Herald, The Huffington Post, BBC News, Latina

Daily Headlines: August 27, 2015

* Latin America: Economic experts and environmental analysts warned that Latin American and Caribbean states must lower water consumption for agricultural needs in order to ensure water security throughout the region.

* U.S.: A Texas court issued a reprieve against the execution of a convicted Nicaraguan national, while the mother of an Argentine on death row in Texas for 19 years is hoping that Pope Francis will intervene during his U.S. visit next month.

* Ecuador: For the second straight year an InterNations survey named Ecuador as the best country for expats including the highest scores in areas like “feeling welcome,” “personal finance” and “cost of living”.

* Colombia: A coalition of Colombian women’s rights groups called for the government to take a more active role in investigating sexual violence by “state security forces, paramilitaries and other private actors.”

YouTube Source – CCTV Americas Now

Online Sources – Economic Times, Fox News Latino, The Guardian, U.S. News & World Report, NBC News

Daily Headlines: April 23, 2015

* Chile: Authorities evacuated more than 5000 people living near the Calbuco volcano that erupted twice after having been dormant since 1972.

* Puerto Rico: “The island's financial state is extremely uncertain,” was the grim warning issued by Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank over a potential local government shutdown.

* U.S.: A defunct movie theater in Texas has sued the AMC megachain over alleged “conduct (that) was anticompetitive, unlawful, and harmful to Houston’s substantial Hispanic and Spanish-speaking community.”

* Argentina: Spanish coach Josep “Pep” Guardiola could be fined for wearing a shirt supporting a campaign for Jorge “El Topo” López, an Argentine journalist killed at last year’s World Cup in Brazil.

YouTube Source – Associated Press

Online Sources – ABC News, The A.V. Club, Al Jazeera, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: August 12, 2014 (Updated)

* Haiti: Officials vowed to capture more than 300 inmates who recently broke out of a Haitian prison including convicted kidnapping ring leader Clifford Brandt.

Update: Police recaptured Brandt near the Haiti-Dominican Republic border but most of the escaped inmates are still fugitives.
 
* Honduras: At least eight people died in a shootout on Saturday night reportedly caused by gang violence between the Mara 18 and the Mara Salvatrucha groups.

* U.S.: A three-judge federal panel started hearing legal arguments yesterday over the possible gerrymandering of Congressional districts that hurt Latino voters in Texas.

* Ecuador: The Ecuadorian capital city of Quito was named as “South America's Leading Destination” at an event deemed as the “Academy Awards of the tourism industry.”

Video Source – euronews via YouTube
 
Online Sources including Update – ABC News; Miami Herald; Latina; LAHT; Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: April 9, 2014

* Argentina: An Argentine court sentenced ten people to up to twenty-two years in prison regarding the 2002 kidnapping and “sexual exploitation” of a missing young woman named Marita Veron.

* Mexico: Death row inmate Ramiro Hernandez is running out of legal options and today he will likely become the second Mexican national to be executed in Texas this year.
 
* Cuba: Sen. Patrick Leahy, the head of the Senate subcommittee that oversees USAID, blasted the administrator of that agency for a “cockamamie” failed social network project launched in Cuba.

* Haiti: A new report found that the percentage of Haitian earthquake survivors living in refugee camps has plummeted by 91% though the study notes the “phenomenon of new families moving into camps and families splitting and occupying more tents constitutes a worrying trend.”

Video Source– The Daily Beast via YouTube (Susana Trimarco, the mother of missing Argentine woman Marita Veron, has become an activist against human trafficking as she continues the search for her “disappeared” daughter.) 

Online Sources – BBC News; The Latin Americanist; ABC News; CBS News; Miami Herald

Daily Headlines: March 20, 2014

* U.S.: Officials in Texas found 109 migrants mostly from Central America and Mexico crammed into a dilapidated house and who may have been victims of a human smuggling operation.

* South America: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos gave final approval to the dismissal of Bogotá mayor Gustavo Petro while Venezuelan authorities arrested San Cristobal Mayor Daniel Ceballos and charged him with inciting “civil rebellion.”

* Argentina: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez blasted last week’s referendum in Crimea as “worthless” and compared it to a March 2013 vote where most residents of the disputed Falklands Islands opted to remain under British rule.

* Brazil: Lawmakers dropped a controversial provision from a major Internet bill that would’ve permitted online data to be locally collected in order to bypass U.S. intelligence surveillance.

Video Source – Associated Press via YouTube

Online Sources- The Guardian; Reuters; ZDNet; Bloomberg

Mexican on Death Row Executed in Texas (Update)

Update (11:55 PM): Edgar Tamayo was executed via lethal injection on Wednesday night.

According to a report from the Associated Press:

Asked by a warden if he had a final statement, he mumbled "no" and shook his head. As the lethal dose of pentobarbital began taking effect, he took a few breaths and then made one slightly audible snore before all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead 17 minutes after the drug was administered, at 9:32 p.m. CST.

Tamayo never looked toward (murdered policeman Guy) Gaddis' mother, two brothers and two other relatives who watched through a window. He selected no witnesses of his own.

There were several dozen police officers and supporters of the slain patrolman were revving their motorcycles outside of the prison before witnesses were let inside the death chamber.

Afterwords, Gaddis' mother admitted that "my broken heart is feeling better" while one of the slain officer's brothers deemed Tamayo as a "coward who shot my brother in his back."

Meanwhile, Tamayo's  father claimed that he was innocent and that members of his family had been praying for him. 

Update (10:20 PM): The U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution for Mexican national and death row inmate Edgar Tamayo.  As a result, it's expected that Tamayo will be executed via lethal injection sometime tonight.

"Twenty years have been long enough.  I'm ready," said part of a statement issued by Tamayo on Wednesday.  Prison officials claimed that he has been calm in anticipation of his execution.
 Update (9:00 PM): Authorities in Texas have temporarily delayed the execution of convicted murderer Edgar Tamayo while the U.S. Supreme Court hears a legal appeal.

The high tribunal has until midnight to make a decision on the fate of Tamayo though if no ruling is made a new date for execution may need to be set.

As mentioned in our original text below, the Mexican government called for Tamayo's execution to be suspended since it violates international law while the U.S. State Department expressed its concern that the punishment could impact the way U.S. citizens are treated in other countries.  Yet Texas state officials had been vehemently opposed to either postponing the execution or commuting Tamayo's sentence.

Original Post: A Mexican national sitting on death row in Texas is only a few hours away from being executed. 

Barring a last-second reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court or Gov. Rick Perry, Edgar Tamayo is scheduled to die via lethal injection at approximately 6:00 pm local time.  The odds that he will avoid being executed at the appointed hour are very slim as he faces decreasing legal options.  The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency request this morning while a U.S. federal court denied an appeal contending that Tamayo is mentally impaired.

Tamayo, who was convicted of murdering Houston police officer Guy Gaddis in 1994, would be the first execution this year in Texas.  (Texas was the most active capital punishment state last year with sixteen people were put to death in 2013).

Tamayo’s planned execution comes amidst protests from Mexican officials such as the country’s Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to the U.S.

“If Edgar Tamayo's execution were to go ahead without his trial being reviewed and his sentence reconsidered ... it would be a clear violation of the United States' international obligations,” read a recent statement issued by the Mexican foreign ministry.  The ministry also argued that Tamayo was never advised under an international treaty that he could get legal help from his home nation after his arrest.

Yesterday the U.S. State Department reiterated the stance of Secretary of State John Kerry alleged that the possible death of Tamayo “could impact the way American citizens are treated in other countries”.  In an article written last week, ex-Texas Gov. and self-professed capital punishment backer Mark White said, “This case is not about whether we support or oppose the death penalty. It’s about fairness and having the courts hear all the key facts”.

Despite these objections and others including an appeal from Tamayo’s father, it appears as if Gov. Perry will not delay the 46-year-old’s execution.

"Vota por Kennedy" Revisted

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.  Thus, we're posting once again the following video from 1960 of Jackie Kennedy urging Latino voters to support her husband in his bid for the White House.   

This ad along with the work of Viva Kennedy clubs may have pushed the then-senator to victory in a very close presidential election.

On November 21, 1963 President Kennedy and the First Lady attended a League of United Latin American Citizens dinner in Houston reportedly "to show their appreciation for the Mexican-American votes that had helped the young president carry Texas in the 1960 election."  Much like in the above video, Jackie spoke briefly in Spanish to express her joy at attending the dinner.

Less than twenty-four hours later, the thirty-fifth U.S. president was killed by his wife's side in Dallas.

"Golden Voiced" Boy Mariachi Belts Out National Anthem

We'll be back on Thursday with (hopefully) several posts on recent news stories from around the Americas.

In the meantime, we ask that all those who can please rise for the singing of the U.S. National Anthem:

The above rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was by ten-year-old Mexican-American singer Sebastien De La Cruz before the third game of the NBA Finals.  The San Antonio native has been hailed as “The Boy With the Golden Voice” after his recent appearance on a nationally televised singing competition.

In the aftermath of De La Cruz' performance, several twits on Twitter aired their disapproval of him using racist and vulgar language.  De La Cruz replied by noting, "My father was a U.S. Marine for a long time and they think I'm Mexican.  I'm not from Mexico.  I was born and raised in San Antonio and I'm a Spurs fan".

Video Source - YouTube via use Xsounders

Online Sources - El Diario/La Prensa; Salon.com

Today's Video: Border Beats

Documentary filmmaker Les Blank passed away last Sunday at the age of 77.

He was best known for directing "Warner Eats His Shoe" but for nearly fifty years he was behind dozens of documentaries on a variety of subjects.  One of his films, "Chulas Fronteras," examined the impact of norteño music along the U.S.-Mexico border region.  This 1976 film features musicians including Flaco Jiménez, Lydia Mendoza and Los Alegres de Teran and provides a glimpse of life among migrant workers in the U.S.

The following is a brief excerpt of "Chulas Fronteras," which was selected in 1993 for preservation as part of the U.S. National Film Registry:

Unfortunately there will be no new posts on Tuesday.  We will return on Wednesday, and apologize for any inconvenience. 
Video Source - YouTube via user Fliefer

Online Sources - NPR; imdb.com

Daily Headlines: February 26, 2013

* Peru: Over 1000 police officers were reassigned to street duty in Lima after photojournalist Luis Choy was killed on Saturday.

* Mexico: President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law a major educational reform that has run into opposition from Mexico’s main teachers union.

* South America: A fan of Brazilian team Corinthians turned himself in to authorities and admitted that he set off a flare that killed a Bolivian teen at a Copa Libertadores match last week.

* U.S.: Several Latino legislators and legal rights groups in Texas have urged politicians to back the implementing of the Voting Rights Act for their state.

Video Source – YouTube via user PERUNOTICIASNOW
 
Online Sources- NBC Latino, GlobalPost, BBC News, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: October 29, 2012

* Panama: The legislature repealed a law that would’ve allowed the sale of public land in in the Colon Free Zone and that was vehemently opposed by protesting locals.

* U.S.: The Guatemalan consul in McAllen, Texas called for a “serious and big investigation” into the deaths of two of her countrymen by police sharpshooters riding in a helicopter.

* Mexico: Legislators will allegedly refuse to fast track a controversial bill aimed at reforming the Mexican labor system.

* Dominican Republic: Will a series of new tax breaks and the almost-finished Pinewood Indomina Studios lead to a filmmaking boom in the Dominican Republic?

Video Source – YouTube via euronews

Online Sources- Houston Chronicle, BBC News, Fox News Latino, Variety

Daily Headlines: August 29, 2012

* Brazil: Work is expected to resume at the site of what will be the world's third largest hydroelectric dam despite opposition from environmentalists and local indigenous groups.

* Venezuela: Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said that firefighters extinguished a massive blaze at a major oil refinery that killed at least forty-one people.

* Mexico: President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto said that he will step into the case of a Mexican woman sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison for murder in Texas.

* Cuba: According to the Cuban Tourism Ministry the number of foreign visitors to the island in 2011 surpassed the two million-person mark for the ninth consecutive year.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English (In June about 150 indigenous protesters opposed to the Belo Monte dam occupied the project’s construction site).

Online Sources- BBC News, Bernama, The Latin Americanist, ABC News, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: July 26, 2012

* Dominican Republic: The debate over abortion has heated up after a ban on the practice has prevented a pregnant eighteen-year-old girl dying of acute leukemia from receiving chemotherapy.

* Mexico: Mexican regulators levied a $27.5 million fine against the local subsidiary of HSBC after the bank failed to prevent money laundering.

* Colombia: Venezuelan authorities extradited to Colombia Diego Perez Henao, the suspected leader of a neo-paramilitary group known as “Los Rastrojos.”

* U.S.: Mourners in Texas prayed in memory of fifteen immigrants, including nationals from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, who died in a car crash on Sunday.

Video Source – CNN

Online Sources- CNN, Businessweek, GlobalPost, Houston Chronicle

Daily Headlines: April 12, 2012

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales said that he would “annul” the contract of the Brazilian firm that was building a highly controversial road through indigenous territory.

* Brazil: A judge blocked an injunction seeking to halt Chevron and Transocean from operating in Brazil after two oil spills.

* U.S.: Nine suspected undocumented immigrants were killed in Texas after the crowded van they were riding in crashed during a chase with the Border Patrol.

* Mexico: No major damage has been reported from a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck in Michoacán state and forced the evacuation of several buildings in Mexico City.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English (August 2011 report on protests against the controversial TIPNIS project in Bolivia).

Online Sources- BBC News, Reuters, Houston Chronicle, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: March 13, 2012

* U.S.: The Justice Department on Monday blocked enforcement of a Texas voter identification law due to the potential disenfranchisement of Latino voters.

* Latin America: Colombian police nabbed the suspected mastermind behind the murder of Argentine singer and composer Facundo Cabral in Guatemala last year.

* Bolivia: At a United Nations anti-drugs meeting in Vienna, President Evo Morales defended coca chewing as an “ancestral right” for Bolivians.

* Brazil: Corruption allegations may’ve finally got the better of Ricardo Teixeira who resigned as the head of Brazil's soccer federation and the 2014 World Cup organizing committee.

Image Source – Flickr via Vox Efx (CC BY 2.0)

Online Sources- Fort Worth Star-Telegram, CNN, Reuters, BBC News

Daily Headlines: March 9, 2012

* Cuba: Scientists in Cuba outlined their plans to create a vaccine against dengue fever that has so far showed promising results in animal trials.

* Mexico: While Texan authorities issued a warning against traveling to Mexico during the upcoming college spring break season, Mexican tourism officials believe that the number of visitors from Canada will continue to significantly grow.

* Ecuador: Several hundred indigenous protesters began yesterday a two-week march to protest against government-backed “large-scale mining projects.”

* Latin America: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden rejected the notion that Iran’s influence in Latin America poses a “hemispheric threat” to the U.S.

Video Source – YouTube via teleSUR (Paraguayan health officials have been on high alert since February after at least two people died this year due to a dengue fever outbreak).

Online Sources- Fox News Latino, BBC News, Reuters, CBC News, CNN

Daily Headlines: February 8, 2012

* Brazil: Carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro could be threatened by police officers that may reportedly join their comrades in Bahia state and go on an illegal strike.

* Mexico: A judge dropped some of the charges against two people accused of trying to smuggle members of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's family into Mexico.

* U.S.: A preliminary deal over state and federal redistricting in Texas might not reflect the state’s growing Latino population according to some local legislators.

* Latin America: Drought conditions in several Latin American countries could lead to a global spike in the prices of corn.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews

Online Sources- NASDAQ, CBS News, Bloomberg, CBC News

Daily Headlines: January 23, 2012

* U.S.: The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a lower court decision that would’ve allowed for the redrawing of Texas Congressional districts based on the state’s growing Latino population.

* Cuba: Berta Soler, the head of the Ladies in White dissident group, accused the government of “murdering” prisoner Wilman Villar Mendoza who died last week after going on a hunger strike.

* Brazil: Authorities allowed families in Sao Paulo’s Pinheiros favela to return and pick up their belongings after police raided the “sprawling settlement of landless workers” yesterday.

* Chile: In a unanimous decision the Chilean Supreme Court convicted a pair of retired military generals of illegally selling weapons to Croatia in 1992.

Image Source – Flickr via jasleen_kaur (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Online Sources – Reuters, Al Jazeera English, ABC News, Chicago Tribune

World Watch: Barely breathing

* Greece: Prime Minister George Papandreou barely won a confidence vote though he may have to soon step down due to the county’s economic crisis.

* Afghanistan: U.S Army Major General Peter Fuller was fired from his role in a military training program after he allegedly made “inappropriate” comments against the Afghani government.

* U.S.: Federal authorities are investigating a Texas family law judge who was secretly videotaped abusing his then-teenage daughter in 2004.

* Liberia: Opposition candidate Winston Tubman said that he would not participate in next week’s presidential runoff.

Image Source – Via Flickr user Πρωθυπουργός της Ελλάδας (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Online Sources- USA TODAY, Bloomberg, MSNBC, BBC News