Daily Headlines: August 12, 2016

* South America: The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela agreed to a gradual and partial reopening of their shared border one year after Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro ordered the shutdown of several crossings.

* United States: A new poll of Latino voters found two-thirds of respondents prefer Hillary Clinton as the next president while 82% view Republican rival Donald Trump unfavorably.

* Haiti: A nationwide doctor’s strike that has entered its fourth month has exacerbated a public health crisis that has included a cholera epidemic and the spread of the Zika virus.

* Brazil: Brazilian energy giant Petrobras recorded its first quarterly profit in nearly a year though it was nearly one-third less than earnings in the second trimester of 2015.

YouTube Source – BBC News (From July 2016: “Colombian officials say 35,000 Venezuelans have crossed the border into their country over 12 hours to shop for basic supplies. Venezuela is suffering a severe economic crisis which has caused mass food shortages.”)
 
Online Sources – Bloomberg, Reuters, Fox News Latino, Humanosphere

Daily Headlines: May 9, 2016

* U.S.: Immigration authorities in the U.S. might grant Temporary Protected Status to the members of the Ecuadoran expat community in the wake of a major earthquake last month in the South American country.

* Mexico: Does the transfer of Sinaloa drug cartel head Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán to a prison in Ciudad Juarez mean that he will soon be extradited to the U.S.?

* South America: The border dispute between Bolivia and Chile heated up after President Evo Morales claimed that the Chilean military established a base near the disputed Silala River.

* El Salvador: Mauricio Funes of El Salvador could soon be the next former Central American president to face a trial over potential corruption.

YouTube Source – AFP (At least 660 people died following a 7.8-magintude earthquake on April 16, 2016 that devastated areas of Ecuador near the Pacific coast).
 
Online Sources – Fox News Latin, The Atlantic, Deutsche Welle, JURIST

Daily Headlines: December 14, 2012

* Latin America: Attorneys representing Chile and Peru are expected to end their arguments today in a border dispute case being heard at the International Court of Justice.

* Guatemala: Wanted software guru John McAfee admitted that he faked two heart attacks in order to “buy some time” in Guatemala before he was deported to the U.S. on Wednesday.

* Cuba: Bruno Eduardo Rodriguez Parrilla, the foreign minister of Cuba, said that his country’s government supports Iran’s nuclear plans.

* Brazil: Ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was aware of bribes paid out to legislators as part of the “mensalao” corruption scandal according to new allegations.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews

Online Sources- Businessweek, Christian Science Monitor, Huffington Post, PRESS TV

Bolivia, Paraguay reaches border agreement

Bolivia and Paraguay have settled a long-running dispute over the Chaco region of South America.

With Argentine President Cristina Kirchner serving as a guarantor, Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo and Bolivia’ Evo Morales signed the deal on Monday in Buenos Aires. Lugo and Morales agreed to resolve their differences over the Chaco area which was the basis for the bloody Chaco War in the 1930s.

Both presidents called for a new era of diplomacy between Bolivia and Paraguay yet also blamed the Chaco War on “foreign interests”:

Mr. Morales blamed multi-national oil firms - in their quest for natural resources - for fuelling the Chaco war, which claimed 100,000 lives.

The key energy companies operating in the region at the time were US Standard Oil, backed by Bolivia, and the Anglo-Dutch Shell Oil Company, supported by Paraguay.

President Lugo expressed the hope that natural resources could now "be developed and used by both countries without any foreign intervention."

The Chaco region is over 400,000 square miles in size and has been dubbed as "the last South American frontier".

Image- daylife.com (The Chaco region was hit hard by a drought last year which affected livestock and the sparsely populated indigenous peoples living there).
Online Sources- momento24.com, Wikipedia, BBC News, PRESS TV

Belize - Guatemala border dispute goes to the Hague

Guatemala and Belize signed an agreement overseen by the OAS yesterday (and negotiated earlier this year) that serves as the first step in the reconciliation of an age-old border dispute between the neighboring Central American countries.

Belize, formerly British Honduras until 1974, shares a large border with Guatemala to the west and a much smaller with the Mexico to the north. Because of lingering border questions, Guatemala became the last nation in the world to officially recognize Belize in 1991, though the border issues remain unsolved to date.

For those curious about the otherwise benign dispute, a website devoted to Belize-Guatemala relations -- by the Belize government -- offers an interesting timeline of a dispute that has played a (small) role in nearly 150 years the region's turbulent past (as well as a link titled "international support" and "the Belize position.")

The agreement signed on Monday will cede jurisdiction the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, Netherlands, which will determine the final border lines between the two countries. While it appears that Guatemala has been loathe to cede jurisdiction of the border decision, most analysis suggests that Belize has the most to lose in territory.

Sean McCormack, of the Dept. of State, also issued a statement congratulating the negotiators from both countries.

Sources: Amandala, Mercopress, Dept. of State