Daily Headlines: October 17, 2016

* United States: A poll of likely Latino voters conducted last week has respondents giving Hillary Clinton a fifty point cushion over Donald Trump in a four-way race for the United States presidency.

* Honduras: The White House gave the green light for $55 million in aid to Honduras despite reservations by the Obama administration over rampant corruption and narcotrafficking.

* Ecuador: “I cannot disclose any information,” said a contact at the Ecuadoran embassy in London when asked if internet access to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was purportedly cut off.

* Puerto Rico: A new federal oversight board monitoring Puerto Rico’s public finances granted themselves more powers, while outgoing governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla warned that the commonwealth could face a $59 billion public debt over the next ten years.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour 

Online Sources – Bloomberg, Fox News Latino, BBC News, Politico

Daily Headlines: February 4, 2016

* Ecuador: British authorities threatened with arresting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange if he decides to leave the Ecuador’s embassy in London where he has been given refuge since June 2012.

* Chile: A Chilean judge ordered the remains of the late Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda to be returned to his tomb nearly three years after they were uncovered.

* Cuba: Cuba’s foreign minister claimed that relations between his country and the U.S. would not be fully normalized until the trade embargo against the island is eliminated.

* Panama: Software giant SAP will pay a $3.9 million settlement in relation to a bribery scandal involving former Panamanian government officials including ex-president Ricardo Martinelli.

YouTube Source – Reuters (“The founder of whistleblower website, Wikileaks, returns to the spotlight ahead of a U.N. panel decision that could determine whether he has been ‘arbitrarily detained’ in London”.)

Online Sources – euronews, The Register, Reuters, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: June 12, 2014

Note: The biggest story from the Americas is the World Cup that is set to commence later today in Brazil.  Over the next month we will publish several articles on the tournament including matches involving teams from the region and events off the field.  Thus, our “Daily Headlines” entries over the next few weeks will focus primarily on non-World Cup news.


* Colombia: Juan Gabriel Vásquez’s novel on violence in his native Colombia led him to become the first South American author to win one of the world's richest literary prizes, the International Impac Dublin Literary Award.

* Chile: An estimate 80,000 people including university professors and students renewed demonstrations calling for major reforms of the Chilean education system.

* Haiti: Amidst clashes between police and anti-government protesters in Port-au-Prince, Haitian officials announced that the first round of legislative elections would be held this October.

* Mexico: A WikiLeaks-like website has uncovered some two dozen cases of “wildlife crimes” around the world including illegal logging in Mexico, elephant poaching in Africa and illicit fishing activities in Alaska.

Video Source – VOXXI via YouTube

Online Sources – The Guardian; BBC News; The Irish Times; Bernama

Ecuador Approves Assange Asylum Request (Updated)

The Ecuadorian government this morning backed the asylum request by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who has been residing over the past eight weeks in the South American country's embassy in London, England:


At a press conference in Quito, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino noted several reasons influencing the decision. One of them included fears of "retaliation" against Assange due to his role in the divulging of sensitive government documents via Wikileaks. Patino also argued that Assange would "not receive a fair trial" should he be extradited to the U.S. where he could face a military trial.

Patino reiterated his ire yesterday over allegations that British authorities would "assault our embassy" in order to detain Assange.

The British government has threatened with revoking the diplomatic status of the Ecuadorian embassy in London in order to permit Assange to be extradited to Sweden. (The Australian-born Assange faces questioning in Sweden for alleged sexual misconduct.)

According to several news reports London police have arrested three people outside of the embassy where supporters of the Wikileaks founder have gathered.

More on this story after the page break.

Daily Headlines: August 15, 2012

* Venezuela: According to the head of the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory prison violence has increased since “the policies the government has implemented and all the work that has been done has not focused on protecting the lives of inmates.”

* Ecuador: The Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry denied recent news reports alleging that the South American country will provide asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

* Argentina: The Argentine government is expected to approve this week the use of new genetically modified soybean seeds.

* Panama: The much-awaited Panama Canal expansion could be delayed by six months and add an extra $523 million to the $5.25 billion project.

Video Source – YouTube via brianandrewsntn24 (Video uploaded in January 2012).

Online Sources- TVNZ, Huffington Post, Reuters, Tico Times

Daily Headlines: July 31, 2012

* Latin America: According to Mexican newspaper Excelsior, Guatemala and Mexico have the lowest military spending based as the percentage of GDP in Latin America.

* El Salvador: President Mauricio Funes is enjoying a 72% approval rating despite foreign diplomatic worries of a developing “constitutional crisis.”

* U.S.: A new report found that few Latinos are likely to take out loans to pay for college, which reportedly have some experts worried that “rising college costs will eventually create a significant barrier against Hispanics seeking higher education”.

* Ecuador: At a press conference in Quito the mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed that her son has been “under a lot of stress”.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- InSight Crime, Prensa Latina, Reuters, VOXXI, News24.com

Daily Headlines: July 24, 2012

* Argentina: Former dictator Jorge Videla, who was convicted weeks ago for the kidnapping and illegal adoptions of over thirty kids, said that the Catholic hierarchy “advised” him on how to deal with the disappearing of “Dirty War” dissidents.

* El Salvador: A truce between the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha street gangs has led to a plummeting murder rate as well as renewed optimism in the Salvadoran economy.

* Colombia: Four suspected FARC rebels were convicted by an indigenous tribunal and will be punished via public flogging.

* Ecuador: President Rafael Correa claimed that he would make a decision regarding Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s asylum request “according to humanist principles.”

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English (In 2010 ex-dictator Jorge Videla was sentenced by an Argentine court to life in prison for human rights abuses during his rule between 1976 and 1983.)

Online Sources- Irish Times, The Latin Americanist, Businessweek, Fox News Latino, Bernama

Daily Headlines: June 29, 2012 (Updated)

* Paraguay: The Mercosur bloc will allegedly suspend Paraguay over the controversial impeachment of President Fernando Lugo but will not push for economic sanctions.

Update: Mercosur did indeed temporarily suspend Paraguay until new presidential elections take place in April 2013.

The suspension thus allowed Venezuela to become a member of Mercosur since the Paraguayan legislature was the only opposition preventing Venezuela's membership.

* Ecuador: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that he “almost certainly will not” leave the Ecuadorean embassy in London and surrender to local police.

* Venezuela: Rafael Ramirez, Venezuelan oil minister and president of state-run oil firm PDVSA, claimed that the company would start exploratory drilling off the Cuban coast.

* Colombia: Police commanders alleged that the FARC rebels use children as young as fourteen in order to detonate explosives.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources including Update- BBC News, Boston.com, euronews, LAHT, Reuters

Daily Headlines: June 27, 2012

* Ecuador: “Thousands of people asking the Ecuadorian government to accord asylum to Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, sent a steady stream of messages saying why they support him,” according to a public statement.

* Bolivia: The government announced that it reached a deal with striking police officers after a week of protests throughout Bolivia.

* Cuba: A U.S. judge issued a temporary injunction against a new Florida law that would ban companies from getting government contracts if they also do business in Cuba or Syria.

* Latin America: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao ended a tour of Latin America by proposing to set up a $10 billion credit line to the region for infrastructural projects.

Video Source – YouTube via Voice of America

Online Sources- The Australian, CBS News, Reuters

Daily Headlines: February 28, 2012 (Updated)

* Venezuela: According to documents published via Wikileaks, Cuban doctors believe that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has two years to live while Russian medics gave him one year. (Update: Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua said that Chavez was in "good health condition" after undergoing surgery yesterday in Cuba).

* Colombia: Amnesty International urged the FARC rebels not only to end kidnappings but also “other human rights abuses such as unlawful killings, the recruitment of children and the use of indiscriminate weapons such as land mines.”

* Peru: The Shining Path rebel leader known by the moniker of Comrade Artemio was charged with terrorism and drug trafficking in a Peruvian court yesterday.

* Brazil: The Brazilian Institute of Consumer Rights is rallying against a bill that they claim gives FIFA “too much power and few responsibilities” in organizing the 2014 soccer World Cup.

Image Source – Flickr via alexcovic (In 2010 “Wikileaks.org shared the more than 90.000 leaked documents with three publications before they put them online: The Guardian, The New York Times (International Herald Tribune is now the Global Edition of the NYT), Der Spiegel (weekly German magazine).”) (CC BY 2.0).

Online Sources (including Update) - SI.com, BBC News, Amnesty International, The Latin Americanist, Miami Herald, El Universal

Daily Headlines: July 22, 2011

* Venezuela: The OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin found that Venezuela has surpassed Saudi Arabia as the country with the highest proven oil reserves.

* Caribbean: According to a pair of cables released by WikiLeaks the U.S. and Haiti’s interim government were engaged in a diplomatic quarrel in 2006 while U.S. diplomats were aware of corruption allegations in the Dominican Republic’s top court.

* Nicaragua: President Daniel Ortega raised the possibility of a referendum to decide if Nicaragua should revive a multibillion-dollar claim against the U.S.

* Mexico: The World Trade Organization ruled in favor of Mexico over the U.S. as part of a two-decade long trade dispute over the safety of Mexican tuna.

Image – Reuters (“Oil facilities are seen on Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela's western state of Zulia March 1, 2008.”)
Online Sources- UPI, Dominican Today, CNN, Reuters, MarketWatch

Daily Headlines: June 20, 2011

* Brazil: Protests have been held over the lack of racial diversity at Sao Paulo fashion week after fashion labels reportedly ignored a racial quota put in place since 2009 for Afro-Brazilian models.

* Cuba: Most Cubans were unable to identify several prominent dissident figures according to a 2008 survey conducted by U.S. officials and recently uncovered by WikiLeaks.

* Guatemala: Authorities arrested a former army chief who served during the infamous military government of Efrain Rios Montt and accused him of human rights abuses.

* U.S.: German magazine Der Spiegel claimed that FIFA is investigating three high-scoring Gold Cup games due to "suspicious betting patterns" in Asia.

Image – Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian (“Models at the Huis Clos show at São Paulo fashion week in Brazil.”)
Online Sources- BBC News, MiamiHerald.com, ESPN, The Guardian, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: June 1, 2011

* Cuba: According to a 2006 document unearthed by WikiLeaks, the U.S. government made plans for a “mass exodus” of Cubans in the event of Fidel Castro’s death.

* Central America: A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that he was “extremely concerned” over an increase in violence against public prosecutors.

* Brazil: The Senate approved a bill that would allow for the distribution of food to countries hurt by natural disasters and social unrest such as Bolivia and Haiti.

* Guatemala: A Spanish court approved the extradition of ex-Guatemalan Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann where he awaits trial on charges of murder.

Image – AP via BBC News (Fidel Castro, seated on the left, ruled Cuba for several decades until ceding the presidency to his brother, Raul, in 2008).
Online Sources- Press TV, AHN, People’s Daily Online, CNN

Weekend Headlines: May 14-15, 2011

* Panama: According to documents uncovered by Wikileaks, president Ricardo Martinelli “ridiculed a member of his cabinet” and China refused an offer for diplomatic recognition from Panama.

* Cuba: The official Granma newspaper claimed that dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto Garcia died of natural causes rather than at the hands of the police.

* Mexico: President Felipe Calderon supported the “powerful (economic) argument” used by his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama in a push for federal immigration reform.

* El Salvador: A former Salvadoran army officer pled guilty in a U.S. federal court for trying to sell arms to Colombia’s FARC guerillas.

Image – Mercopress
Online Sources- Newsroom Panama, AFP, Miami Herald, LAHT, MSNBC

Wikileaks revelations target Gitmo and beyond

By now you've likely heard that Wikileaks uncovered hundreds of documents regarding the U.S. military prison on Guantanamo Bay. In case you need a reminder, Euronews provides a neat summary:

As to be expected, the Obama administration is none too pleased over the info from Wikileaks and disseminated through various international media sources. The repercussions of the document dump remain to be seen though it's probably safe to say that it won't be good for the White House.

Aside from info on Guantanamo, Wikileaks also revealed on Monday the belief by U.S. diplomats that a nephew of beleaguered Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is as assessor to Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega.

This month alone, diplomatic cables uncovered by Wikileaks made headlines in several Latin American countries:

• Venezuela - The head of the opposition Democratic Action party rejected rumors alleging that he sought funds from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas.
• Ecuador - U.S. diplomats claimed that the Venezuelan government was behind a campaign that helped "destabilize" Ecuadorian president Lucio Gutiérrez in 2005.
  
• Panama - A former U.S. Ambassador claimed that authorities were doing very little to prevent drug and human trafficking to flow through Panama City's Tocumen International Airport.
• Guatemala - In what may be the most odd cable uncovered by Wikileaks, ex-presidential candidate Otto Perez Molina said that there was a conspiracy organized by his political rivals to accuse him of murder.
  

Online Sources - Voice of America, CSMonitor.com, ABC.es, Tal Cual, TVN Noticias, Prensa Libre
Video Source - Euronews via YouTube

Ecuador to U.S. ambassador: Leave ASAP

Last month, Carlos Pascal resigned from being U.S. Ambassador to Mexico after Wikileaks unearthed several diplomatic cables where he blasted Mexican antidrug efforts. Today another U.S. ambassador in the Americas could meet a similar fate.

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino government claimed that U.S. envoy Heather Hodges is a “persona non grata” and requested that she leave the country. He accused her of not providing a satisfactory answer regarding how she obtained “restricted information” on the Ecuadorian police.

The main gripe against Hodges has to do with a cable uncovered by Wikileaks where she alleged that corruption was entrenched in Ecuador’s national police. She raised a number of accusations against ex-police chief Jaime Aquilino Hurtado including widespread bribery, protecting certain companies, and human trafficking. She also claimed that President Rafael Correa was aware of corruption allegations against several senior police officials.

Patino emphasized that Hodges’ expulsion was meant as a gesture against her and would not lead to a severing of U.S.-Ecuador relations. Nevertheless, State Department officials deemed the Ecuadorian government’s move as “unjustified” and defended her as one of the most “experienced and talented” members of the U.S. diplomatic corps.

Approximately six months ago Correa declared that he would purge “bad elements” in the Ecuadorian police for participating in an alleged coup attempt against him.

Today’s action comes a week after Mexico’s foreign relations office criticized Correa for remarking that drug gangs control all of Mexican territory.

Image- AP/Getty Images/File via CNN (“Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa talks with U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges in Quito in October 2008.”)
Online Sources- Reuters, The Guardian, Semana.com, El Universal (Venezuela), BBC News, El Universal (Mexico)

Daily Headlines: March 23, 2011

* Mexico: Mexican foreign minister Patricia Espinosa claimed that ties between Mexico and the U.S. have not been hurt by the resignation last week of U.S. ambassador Carlos Pascual.

* Nicaragua: President Daniel Ortega registered to run for another term despite accusations that his bid for reelection is unconstitutional.

* Puerto Rico: Pedro Pierluisi, the commonwealth’s non-voting Congressional representative, was found to be the top-spending legislator acceding to the non-partisan Sunlight Foundation.

* South America: Organizers of the 2012 Dakar Rally confirmed that the event will take place again in Argentina and Chile, and will be expanded for the first time to Peru.

Image – Reuters/Daniel Aguilar via Reuters (U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual resigned last Saturday after documents uncovered by WikiLeaks showed that he was highly critical of Mexican antidrug efforts).
Online Sources- El Nuevo Herald, CBS News, Sify, USA TODAY, France24

Daily Headlines: March 4, 2011

* Brazil: A court rejected another tribunal decision and gave permission for construction to start on a massive dam in the Brazilian rainforest.

* Uruguay: The government rejected allegations uncovered by Wikileaks claiming that officials are involved in a clandestine arms trafficking network between Uruguay, Venezuela and Iran.

* Chile: According to a congressional report the owners of the San Jose mine are mainly to blame for the mine’s collapse last year that trapped 33 workers for over two months.

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales said that he would not permit U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration back into Bolivia after they were expelled in 2008.

Image – Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images via The Guadian (“The region along the Xingu river which will be affected by the Belo Monte dam.”)
Online Sources- BBC News, AHN, The Globe and Mail, People’s Daily Online

Wikileaks targets LatAm

The media furor over Wikileaks may have mellowed out but the muckraking website continues to uncover hundreds of interesting diplomatic cables and documents. Latin America has not been an exception to this and Wikileaks targeted several countries in the past few days.

Colombia

Colombia daily El Espectador published dozens of documents uncovered by Wikileaks over the past week. According to El Espectador the cables revealed that “the U.S. embassy became a confessional booth” once the para-politics corruption scandal broke out in 2006. One cable from that year revealed that Mario Uribe, senator and cousin to then-President Alvaro Uribe, was eager to meet with U.S. Ambassador William Wood and dissuade him from revoking his visa. (Mario was sentenced yesterday to nearly eight years in prison for his strong ties to the rightist paramilitaries).

Speaking of the former leader, several diplomatic documents revealed that U.S. diplomats were for the most part were content with Uribe’s actions in the para-politics ordeal. He “strongly supported judicial investigations of paramilitary-political ties” according to one 2006 memo after Uribe met with Wood. Wood’s successor, William Brownfield, praised Uribe in 2009 for pledging to “fully investigate” another scandal involving illegal wiretapping by Colombia’s intelligence agency (DAS).

According to other cables there were occasions when the ties between Uribe and U.S. diplomats were not always rosy. Another 2009 cable showed that the U.S. government tried to push Uribe to dismantle the DAS, an action that has yet to be taken. In 2006 Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns personal warned Uribe that reintegration programs of paramilitaries have not materialized” and that some of them are “returning to crime”. (Several of these former fighters would go on to form the base of the so-called “bandas criminales”, emerging narcotrafficking groups that have allied with leftist guerillas).

Chile

The Chilean government’s worries over the Middle East were the focus of several diplomatic documents uncovered by Wikileaks. A 2008 cable showed that Chile and Israel were both very worried over Iran’s ties to Venezuela. According to the document, Israel’s military attaché in Chile worked “with Chile's Investigative Police and 'other agencies' (presumably Chile's Intelligence Agency)” in order to spy on Iranian activities. 


Other cables from the U.S. embassy in Santiago showed that they were concerned with the presence of Hezbollah and similar groups among Chile’s small Islamic fundamentalist community. One 2006 document alleged that a "radical fundamentalist presence" was found in the city of Iquique and that “Hezbollah groups in the northern part of Chile are believed to be financial cells.”

Peruvian daily “El Comercio” revealed another memo via Wikileaks on an international court case between Peru and Chile. An unnamed Chilean diplomat in the 2008 cable worried that The Hague would “grant concessions to Peru” in a maritime border case based on previous rulings including one that year between Nicaragua and Colombia.

Speaking of Peru…

Peru

A 2005 document revealed that the ex-minister former interior minister Fernando Rospigliosi met with U.S. embassy officials where he expressed his “concerns” against “ultranationalist” Ollanta Humala. Along ex-Director of National Defense Ruben Vargas, Rospigliosi suggested several ways to counter the former presidential candidate including that “the Embassy consider supporting an anti-Humala communications program.”

Rospigliosi responded in an editorial published today alleging that his meeting with embassy officials was necessary and not “antidemocratic”. “Due to this ‘intromission of international governments’ (like Venezuela and Cuba), he decided to ‘balance out’ the situation and talk with the U.S. diplomats,” according to a Living in Peru article on Rospigliosi.

Aside from Rospigliosi, Wikileaks also revealed another cable alleging that Inti Gas soccer club president Rofilio Neyra received funds from drug traffickers. The politician, allied with political sectors loyal to disgraced former president Alberto Fujimori, supposedly received the tainted money during a 2006 campaign for local office.

Brazil

Lastly, Brazil’s growing economic and political clout in the Americas was a source of concern for Paraguay. Ex foreign affairs minster Leila Rachid told U.S. diplomats in 2005 that she was worried over Brazilian efforts “to minimize US influence in South America”. She opposed this perceived assertion of “Brazilian dominance” that could’ve lead to “unfettered Brazilian control of Paraguay’s destiny”.

Image- The Globe and Mail
Online Sources- La Republica, Living in Peru, El Pais, UPI, La Tercera, AFP, MercoPress, BBC News, El Espectador, Colombia Reports

Daily Headlines: February 11, 2010

* Argentina: According to documents released by WikiLeaks U.S. diplomats believed that corruption in Argentina was widespread and implicated senior officials including the late President Nestor Kirchner.

* Mexico: President Felipe Calderon admitted earlier this week that the government needs to “improve much more in the treatment of migrants” that travel through Mexico.

* Central America: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield said that the Obama administration is contemplating a $200 million anti-drugs plan for Central America.

* Uruguay: The government announced plans to expand the use of wind farms, which can supply an estimated 25% of Uruguay’s electricity by 2015.

Image – Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian (“WikiLeaks has released several thousand of about 250,000 classified US embassy cables.”)
Online Sources- The Globe and Mail, People’s Daily Online, LAHT, MercoPress