Daily Headlines: October 13, 2016

* El Salvador: Lawmakers of El Salvador’s ruling political party backs a proposal to ease the total ban on abortion while an opposition legislator countered with a bill to punish anyone involved with abortions with fifty years in prison.

* United States: A poll of Latino registered voters taken show 58% respondents prefer Hillary Clinton in the race for the presidency, while the support for third party candidates Jill Stein (6%) and Gary Johnson (10%) both nearly equal the percentage who back Donald Trump (19%).

* Colombia: Tens of thousands of protestors advocating for peace took to the streets of Colombia’s major cities for the third time since voters narrowly rejected an accord between the government and FARC rebels.

* Haiti: In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, the United States government suspended deporting Haitian migrants back to their home country.

YouTube Source – France 24 English (Video uploaded in March 2016).

Online Sources – UPI, CNN, ABC News, The Los Angeles Times

Daily Headlines: September 29, 2016

* Argentina: Nearly one in three residents in Argentina live below the poverty line according to the first data on the subject published by the government since October 2013.

* Colombia: Days after a peace accord was signed with Colombia’s largest guerilla army, the ELN rebels claimed to be ready to officially start peace talks with the government.

* Chile: “I believe that women should have legally the possibility of making their own choices,” said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet over a proposal that would relax the country’s ban on abortion under all circumstances.

* United States: A PricewaterhouseCoopers study concluded that Hispanic television viewers prefer English-language programs over those in Spanish with stronger preference in each subsequent generation for shows in English.

YouTube Source – CCTV America (New data from the Argentinian government seems to confirm the findings of a 2014 World Bank report warning that a third of the population is vulnerable of falling into poverty.)

Online Sources – Voice of America, The Latin Americanist, Deadline, BBC News, ABC News

Daily Headlines: September 7, 2016

* Chile: A Chilean Senate panel approved a controversial proposal to relax a total ban on abortion and allow it under certain cases including when the pregnancy is caused by rape.

* Brazil: Much like his predecessor, interim President Michel Temer faces his own corruption scandal that could taint his rule less than a week after taking office.

* Latin America: While World Cup 2018 qualifiers were held through the Americas, the bigger news may be that FIFA president Gianni Infantino would be open to a possible joint United States-Mexico bid for the 2026 version of the tournament.

* El Salvador: the Nicaraguan government conceded asylum to former Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes who is under investigation in his home country for purportedly not declaring $700,000 of his personal income.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour (The 2013 rape and impregnation of an eleven-year-old girl in Chile helped reopen the debate on abortion, which is illegal under all circumstances in that country.)

Online Sources – Deutsche Welle, Reuters, teleSUR English, Vanguard, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: April 1, 2016

* Peru: The archbishop of Arequipa has come under fire after he claimed that presidential candidates Alfredo Barnechea and Veronika Mendoza should be barred from running due to their support of abortion and same-sex marriage.

* Brazil: George Hilton resigned as Brazil’s sports minister roughly four months prior to the Rio Olympics, while Cuban defector Orlando Ortega will be unable to compete at Rio due to residency issues.

* Latin America: According to the Food and Agriculture Organization an average of 348,000 tons of food are wasted each day in Latin America, which could feed some 300 million people.

* U.S.: A recent study found that Latinos in the U.S. including those who are native-born have opted to reside away from states that have enacted harsh anti-immigration measures over the past decade.

YouTube Source – Ruptly TV (Mass protests for and against the right to choose have been held in Peru over the last few months).

Online Sources – phys.org, teleSUR English, PRI, Fox News Latino, SBS

Daily Headlines: March 18, 2016

* Chile: Chile’s Chamber of Deputies approved a proposal backed by President Michelle Bachelet to partially legalize the total ban on abortion put in place during the Pinochet military rule in 1990.

* Nicaragua: Nicaragua officials welcomed the International Court of Justice ruling in favor of taking on the Central American country’s decades-long maritime border dispute with Colombia.

* Cuba: The Cuba government dropped a 10% tax on the U.S. dollar ahead of President Barack Obama’s historic state visit to the island starting on Sunday.

* Mexico: A new report conclude that attacks against members of the press suffered an increase of 21.8% between 2014 and 2015 with incidents occurring on average nearly every twenty-three hours.

YouTube Source – Channel 4 News (Video uploaded on August 2015).
 
Online Sources – Vice News, Yahoo News, Reuters, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: March 1, 2016

* Venezuela: Defeated presidential candidate Henrique Capriles claimed that an investigation into alleged improprieties when he was Miranda state governor are part of a government plot against a possible referendum seeking the dismissal of President Nicolás Maduro.

* U.S.: A new poll found that 78% of Latino voters believe women should have the right to an abortion if respondents disagree with such an action.

* Argentina: Former Argentine intelligence chief Antonio Stiuso testified as part of the probe into the apparent murder of crusading prosecutor Alberto Nisman in January 2014.

* Colombia: Santiago Uribe, the younger brother of ex-President Alvaro Uribe, was arrested over supposedly creating a paramilitary force known as the “Twelve Apostles.”

YouTube Source – AFP (Henrique Capriles lost in a tight presidential election to current President Nicolás Maduro in 2013).

Online Sources – GlobalPost, NBC News, Yahoo News, Colombia Reports

Daily Headlines: February 24, 2016

* Latin America: The Zika virus outbreak has shined a light on the debate over abortion and birth control to the forefront across the Americas including in Puerto Rico where officials have capped the prices of condoms.

* Cuba: The two Republican presidential candidates of Cuban background – Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz – are vehemently opposed to White House plans to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales conceded defeat following a referendum where a majority of voters opted against a constitutional amendment that would have allowed him to run for a fourth straight term.

* Costa Rica: Costa Rica’s nickname of being the “Switzerland of Central America” may come into question after police reported a record 558 murders in 2015.

YouTube Source – AFP (“The United Nations (earlier this month) urges countries hit by the dangerous Zika virus to let women have access to contraception and abortion.”)
 
Online Sources – NPR, Scientific American, Reuters, The Tico Times, CBS News

Daily Headlines: January 26, 2016

* Cuba: The U.S. government announced today new measures to relax regulations against Cuba that include facilitating exports and expanding opportunities to travel to the island.

* Puerto Rico: More Puerto Ricans are reportedly opting to migrate to the Dominican Republic than vice versa in order to flee from the commonwealth’s dire economic state.

* Colombia: In a rare unanimous vote, the U.N. Security Council approved creating a mission of observers to monitor a peace deal between the Colombian government and FARC that may be reached by March 23rd.

* El Salvador: Should El Salvador relax its complete ban on abortion in light of the spreading Zika virus affecting pregnant women and newborn babies?

YouTube Source – Boom Bust

Online Sources – Salon, Bloomberg, CBS News, GlobalPost, CNN

Daily Headlines: December 3, 2015

* Brazil: Lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha gave the go-ahead for impeachment proceedings to begin against President Dilma Rousseff for allegedly breaking fiscal laws.

* Central America: Some 4000 Cuban migrants are still in limbo in Central America amid heated diplomatic tensions between neighbors Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

* El Salvador: Human rights group Amnesty International blasted El Salvador’s total ban on abortion for “treat(ing) women as little more than human vessels.”

* Mexico: Archaeologists discovered a passageway at Mexico City's Templo Mayor ruin complex that could lead to the cremated remains of ancient Aztec rulers.

YouTube Source – AFP (“Pro-impeachment demonstrators (last October) set up a giant balloon caricature representing Dilma Rousseff outside the Congress, where a new petition to remove her was submitted.”)

Online Sources – Bloomberg, teleSUR English, JURIST, Business Insider

Daily Headlines: December 2, 2015

* Colombia: Colombia’s traditional vallenato music was selected by UNESCO as a “Cultural Patrimony for Mankind” but the agency warned that the genre is in danger of disappearing.

* Cuba: Cuban authorities have reinstated restrictions against medical professionals seeking to work in foreign countries in order to halt a “brain drain” of doctors leaving the island.

* Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico paid $354 million on its debt to prevent defaulting but officials warned that they might not be able to pay $1 billion due on New Year’s Day.

* Argentina: A former Argentine political prisoner was reunited with his son that was the 119th offspring identified by the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo as having been illegally adopted during military rule from 1973 to 1990.

YouTube Source – Discos Fuentes Edimusica

Online Sources – USA TODAY, BBC News, Fusion, teleSUR English 

Daily Headlines: November 17, 2015

* Venezuela: Recent polls show that the opposition would more than likely retake the Venezuelan legislature following Congressional elections on December 6th.

* Latin America: Several hundred protesters in Rio de Janeiro marched last week against a proposal to restrict abortions in Brazil, while a conservative backlash is sounding off against a plan to legalize first trimester abortions in Colombia.

* Argentina: A $15 billion agreement was reached on Sunday that would allow China to build two nuclear power plants in Argentina.

* U.S.: The number of students from Latin American and the Caribbean enrolled in U.S. universities jumped by 19% last year to 86,378 according to a new survey.

YouTube Source – euronews (Video uploaded on July 2015).
 
Online Sources – Folha.com, U.S. News & World Report, Christian Science Monitor, MercoPress, Vice News

Daily Headlines: August 5, 2015

* Chile: Chile is one step closer to modifying its complete ban on abortions as legislators move forward with a bill that would partially legalize the procedure.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blasted the U.S. government hours after the State Department called on barred opposition figures to be allowed to run in upcoming local elections.

* Ecuador: A U.S. appeals court ordered Ecuador’s government to pay “a $96 million international arbitration award” to Chevron in a case unrelated to an environmental damages lawsuit between both parties.

* Guatemala: A Guatemalan judge ordered ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt to undergo medical exams in order to see if he’s healthy enough to stand trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English 

Online Sources – Yahoo News, Reuters, The Hill, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: June 25, 2015

* Argentina: Numerous commemorative events were held in Buenos Aires yesterday on the eightieth anniversary of the death of tango legend Carlos Gardel.

* Paraguay: Doctors in Paraguay allegedly plan to induce into labor a pregnant eleven-year-old girl raped by her stepfather and whose appeal for an abortion was denied by health officials.

* Chile: A late strike from Mauricio Isla was enough for host country Chile to eliminate defending titleholders Uruguay in the quarterfinals of the Copa America.

* Panama: Reactions among Panamanians were reportedly mixed following former strongman Manuel Noriega publicly asking forgiveness to those “offended, affected, injured or humiliated” during his rule.

YouTube Source – user fandegardel
 
Online Sources – The Guardian, Fox News Latino, BBC Sport, The Telegraph, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: June 11, 2015

* Brazil: Family of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian national shot and killed in 2005 by London police officers searching for suspected suicide bombers, have taken their legal challenge to the European Court of Human Rights.

* Paraguay: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recommended the Paraguayan government take the necessary steps to protect the life of a ten-year-old pregnant and sexually abused girl barred from undergoing an abortion.

* Nicaragua: Scientists reviewing early drafts of the environmental assessment report to Nicaragua’s planned interoceanic canal deemed the study as “insufficient given the magnitude of the proposed projects associated with...construction.”

* Latin America: The five member states of Latin America’s Mercosur alliance are divided over whether the bloc should push for a trade pact with the European Union.

YouTube Source – Andy Smart

Online Sources – The Globe and Mail, The Latin Americanist, International Business Times, MercoPress, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: May 21, 2015

* Paraguay: A judge refused to conditionally release the mother of her pregnant and sexually abused 10-year-old daughter who is the subject of an intense abortion debate in Paraguay.

* Puerto Rico: Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla pushed for tax increases and cuts to programs as part of his proposed $9.8 billion budget for the cash-strapped commonwealth.

* Colombia: An eleven-month-old child was found yesterday buried under the rubble caused by a massive landslide on Monday that killed at least eighty-three people.

* Cuba: U.S. and Cuban government representatives are meeting today in the latest round of discussions that could soon lead to the reestablishing of full diplomatic relations.

YouTube Source – ODN 

Online Sources – ABC News, The Latin Americanist, Bloomberg, BBC News, The New York Times

Abortion Debate Intensifies in Southern Cone

The abortion issue is a very sensitive and divisive topic in many areas around the world. This has certainly been the case recently in several countries of Latin America’s Southern Cone region.

• Paraguay

On Monday police in Paraguay transferred to a prison the alleged rapist stepfather of a ten-year-old girl who sought an abortion.

“I never touched her,” said 42-year-old Benitez Gilberto Zarate after he was arrested last Saturday. He denied sexually abusing his stepdaughter and has requested a DNA test in an attempt to clear his name. Yet he was on the run for nearly a month after prosecutors accused him of impregnating the girl who was first seen by doctors in Asuncion on April 21st.

The child’s mother was detained on April 27th and charged with breaching duty of care of her daughter. In January 2014 she denounced her husband for sexually abusing the girl but the authorities allegedly took no action. Earlier this month she requested permission to seek an abortion for her daughter where the procedure is allowed if the mom’s life is in danger. Yet Paraguayan courts rejected the solicitation much to the satisfaction of the federal government.

Health Minister Antonio Barrios on May 4th insisted that the doctors are closely monitoring the girl’s health and declared his opposition to abortion. He further argued that performing such a procedure might be too late.

“It is impossible because the girl arrived in our hands in the 21st week of pregnancy. The abortion should have been done prior to the twentieth week. We are now in the 23rd week,” said Barrios.

Paraguayan feminists and reproductive rights groups believe that the child’s life is certainly at risk and that her mother has been unfairly punished for seeking the abortion.

“When you consider the threat to life and the anatomical and psychological risks, the first step that should be taken in pregnancies of girls under the age of 13 should be an abortion. This is what the authorities fail to understand,” asserted Lilian Soto, an activist at the Centro de Documentación y Estudios.

The abortion case has also caught the attention of international rights groups and entities. The European Union is “closely following the evolution” of the girl’s health and called for the “global protection…of the rights of children.” A panel of U.N. human rights experts blamed the Paraguayan government for refusing to provide the proper treatment for the pregnant girl.

“Every day in Paraguay and average of two girls between the ages of ten and fourteen give birth to a child,” said UNICEF official Andrea Cid. “These cases are a consequence of sexual abuse and, in most situations, from constant abuse where victims have not received opportune assistance,” she added.

[Read about the abortion debate in Uruguay and Chile below the page break].

Daily Headlines: February 2, 2015

* Brazil: Brazil's worst drought in decades has led to special alerts in four Brazilian states including Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, decreased agriculture production in Espirito Santo and water rationing in more than ninety cities.

* South America: The Argentine government wants to create a new intelligence agency in the wake of the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman while scandal-plagued former Colombian intel chief Maria del Pilar Hurtado turned herself in to police.

* Venezuela: Is U.S. Vice President Joe Biden planning a coup against Venezuela’s government or is Nicolás Maduro searching for scapegoats amid a domestic economic crisis?

* Chile: President Michelle Bachelet proposed reforming Chile’s complete ban on abortion by legalizing the procedure in cases of rape or when the mother’s life is at risk.

Video Source – YouTube user Reuters (“Agricultural producers in Rio de Janeiro state battle with the worst drought Brazil has seen in 80 years which is killing large numbers of livestock and crops.”)
 
Online Sources – Latin American Herald Tribune; Buenos Aires Herald; BBC News; Bernama; UPI

Daily Headlines: May 7, 2014

* U.S.: A Pew Research Center report released today found that number of Catholic Latinos in the U.S. has decreased in contrast to the increase in Latinos identifying themselves as evangelical or nonreligious.

* Latin America: Haitian health officials confirmed the spread of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus to that country while cases of malaria in Venezuela have skyrocketed this year.

* Cuba: Cuban officials claimed that four Cuban exiles from Florida were arrested last month and suspected with “planning attacks on military installations” on the island.

* Chile: Chile could become the next Latin American country to allow the partial decriminalization of abortion according to remarks made by the head of the National Service for Women.

Video Source – Catholic News Service via YouTube (Most U.S. Latinos are Catholic though the percentage has gone down from 67% in 2010 to 55% this year according to the Pew Research Center).
 
Online Sources – The Guardian; LAHT; ABC News; Reuters; El Universal

Uruguay: 5400 Legal Abortions in the Past Year Says Catholic Church

An estimated 5400 legal abortions have taken place in Uruguay over the past year according to information from the local Catholic Church.

As mentioned in the Uruguayan press, the data was based on pamphlets that were distributed in churches nationwide over the weekend.  The statistics were reportedly based on a study that analyzed the number of abortions done since first trimester abortions were legalized in 2012.

The pamphlets allegedly mentioned that parishioners should use the information to “reflect” on the issue of abortion.  In addition, the text in the booklets also advised readers to keep them until October’s presidential election.

The information in the pamphlets contradicts Uruguayan officials that mentioned last February that 6676 abortions took place between December 2012 and November 2013.

The issue of abortion has become an important topic ahead of the presidential election in approximately five months time.  Adding fuel to the fire was the decision by doctors in the city of Salto who refused to oversee the abortion requested in the name of mentally disabled woman who became pregnant when she was raped.  (Uruguayan law permits abortions in the first fourteen weeks when the mother's health is at risk, a fetus has malformations or the pregnancy was due to rape).  As a result, the woman was taken to a hospital in the capital city of Montevideo though it hasn’t been mentioned in the press if she underwent an abortion or not.

Daily Headlines: December 5, 2013

* Latin America: According to the U.N., the percentage of people in Latin America and the Caribbean living in poverty this year has gone unchanged compared to 2012.

* El Salvador: A lawsuit was filed against the Salvadoran government on behalf of a woman who sought a therapeutic abortion but was barred from doing so by the country’s Supreme Court last May.

* South America: Brazil’s Ponte Preta and Lanus of Argentina shared the spoils and tied 1-1 in the first match of the two-legged Copa Sudamericana soccer tournament final.

* Mexico: Police in Mexico located a stolen truck carrying radioactive cargo and believe that the missing robbers require “immediate” medical attention.

Video Source – YouTube user Erin Sidmore

Online Sources- Salon.com; The Latin Americanist; ABC News; Socerway; CNN