Daily Headlines: November 3, 2016

* United States: The latest Latino Decision tracking poll estimates that as many as 14.7 million Latinos will vote in elections this month, which would represent a 5% jump compared to the turnout rate for the prior presidential election in 2012.

* Argentina: Representatives at the recent Ibero-American summit backed Argentina’s claim to the Falklands Islands while also supporting a United Nations resolution for dialogue with Britain over the disputed archipelago.

* Nicaragua: The final national survey prior to this Sunday’s presidential election indicates that incumbent Daniel Ortega and his running mate, first lady Rosario Murillo, will easily triumph.

* Brazil: Volkswagen appointed a German university professor to look into claims of torture and human rights abuses against the automaker’s employees in Brazil during military rule from 1964 to 1985.

YouTube Source – CBS Sunday Morning (Video uploaded on October 2016). 

Online Sources – Huffington Post, MercoPress, Reuters, BBC News

Daily Headlines: November 2, 2015

* Brazil: According to Brazilian daily O Estado de Sao Paulo, Volkswagen is negotiating settling a lawsuit claiming that the automaker turned a blind eye to the detention and torture of factory workers during the military dictatorship from the 1960s to 1980s.

* U.S.: Salvador Perez became the second Venezuelan to win the World Series Most Valuable Player award after the Kansas City Royals clinched the crown in five games.

* Argentina: U.S. federal judge Thomas Griesa ordered the Argentine government to pay an additional $6.1 billion to credit holders before paying off holdouts owed for the country’s historic 2001 debt default.

* Mexico: The Mexican Navy on Sunday rescued four fishermen who went missing after leaving the Ecuadoran port of Esmeraldas on September 24th and drifted 1200 miles away.

YouTube Source – NewsBeat Social (“A lawsuit filed September 22nd accuses German Automaker Volkswagen of condoning the torture of employees by the then-military government of Brazil in 1972.”)
 
Online Sources – Deutsche Welle, ESPN, Latin American Herald Tribune, GlobalPost

Daily Headlines: September 23, 2015

* Brazil: Twelve former Volkswagen workers in Brazil claimed that they were detained and tortured at one of the automaker’s factories during military rule from 1964 to 1985.

* South America: Venezuela may have reached a preliminary deal to try to quell a migratory crisis with western neighbor Colombia, yet the president of fellow bordering country Guyana blasted the “persistence of aggressive behavior” from the Maduro regime.

* Guatemala: Authorities detained three judges and seized the property of former President Otto Perez Molina as part of an investigation into widespread corruption and bribery.

* Puerto Rico: The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority reached a tentative agreement that could ease repayment of the company’s $700 million debt.

YouTube Source – AFP (A Brazilian Truth Commission last December found that 434 either died or went missing during the twenty-one year military dictatorship).
 
Online Sources – ABC News, The Latin Americanist, BBC News, Time, Bloomberg

Major car recall in Brazil

While Toyota has undergone a global recall of over four million vehicles, another major auto firm is starting a recall in Brazil.

Approximately 200,000 Volkswagen Novo Gol and Novo Voyage models in Brazil are being pulled back. A statement from the company said that rear wheel bearings are possibly defective due to insufficient lubrication. This could cause the wheels to lock up and, in some circumstances, make the wheels fall off the axle.

Volkswagen- which is the second largest carmaker in Brazil- has undergone previous recalls in recent years:

In April 2008, it recalled 477,000 of its Brazilian-made Fox compact models to fix a fault with the rear seat.

Eight Fox owners had their fingers mutilated and 14 suffered lesser hand injuries as they tried to fold the seat down to enlarge trunk space.

In December of that same year, 120,000 late-model Fox, Novo Gol and Voyage cars were recalled because of a brake fault.

Image- The Globe and Mail
Online Sources- Reuters, BBC News, AFP

Daily Headlines: August 19, 2009

Before we give today’s headlines, I wish to apologize to all of you for the late time of this post. It’s inexcusable and hopefully won’t happen again anytime soon.

* Chile: A police officer was indicted by authorities for the shooting death of an indigenous Mapuche last week.

* Honduras: Police brutality in Honduras has been rampant in the seven weeks since President Manuel Zelaya was ousted according to a report released today by Amnesty International.

* Mexico: Workers at the Puebla Volkswagen plant have gone on strike and are seeking higher wages.

* Caribbean: Days after running a world record 9.58 seconds in the 100-meters at the World Championships, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt is aiming for another top performance in the 200-meter dash.

Image- El Ciudadano (The colors of the Mapcuhe flag fly in Chile)
Online Sources- LAHT, The Latin Americanist, CNN, Reuters, BBC Sport, YouTube