Daily Headlines: July 23, 2014

* Haiti: A "grand, dreamlike" rebuilding of areas of Port-au-Prince still in ruins from a 2010 earthquake has run into stiff opposition from survivors forced to relocate to tent camps.

* Argentina: "Life goes on for Argentina", claimed Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich hours after a U.S. court ordered the Argentine government to negotiate with holdout hedge funds and prevent a massive debt default.

* U.S.: A recent poll of 500 Latino voters found that most respondents are worried about the economy and this could factor into the upcoming midterm elections.

* Brazil: Heavy rains in southeastern Brazil could diminish the quality and reduce the quantity of the country's vital sugar and coffee harvests.

Online Sources - Businessweek; Reuters; Buenos Aires Herald; Business Insider; Latin Post 

Video Source - The Guardian via YouTube (Video recorded days after a major earthquake hit Haiti and caused the deaths of at least 100,000 people).

Daily Headlines: May 21, 2014

* Central America: The U.S. Agency for International Development will work with university researchers as part of a $5 million partnership in order to combat a crippling Central American coffee fungus.

* Venezuela: The U.S. Senate could soon vote on a bill that would raise sanctions against Venezuelan officials accused of human rights violations stemming from protests and political unrest since February.  

* Cuba: Cuban dissident blogger and activist Yoani Sanchez launched a new website today that will reportedly “provide daily news about the communist-run country, but insisted it would not be a platform against the government”.

* Uruguay: The plan to legalize the sale and distribution of marijuana in Uruguay will allegedly be exempted from taxation with the goal of “undercutting the black market.”

Video Source – YouTube user CBS Evening News

Online Sources – Reuters; Tico Times; LAHT; BBC News

Daily Headlines: April 11, 2014

* Central America: A new U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime report concluded that Central America is the world’s most violent region with Honduras leading the pack with a whopping 90.4 homicides per 100,000 people.

* Brazil: Drought conditions in Brazil have been blamed for an increase in the price of coffee to its highest point since February 2012.

* Nicaragua: An earthquake measuring at least 6.1 on the Richter scale struck off the western coast of Nicaragua that reportedly did not cause any major damage.

* Colombia: Colombian police uncovered over seven tons of cocaine with a street value of about $250 million hidden in packages bound for Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube (Video uploaded in November 2013).

Online Sources – swissinfo.ch; The Guardian; Reuters; The Washington Post

Daily Headlines: August 10, 2012

* Cuba: Despite U.S. travel restrictions Cuban officials claimed that tourism revenue increased by 12.8% in 2011.

* Mexico: At least two people died after Tropical Storm Ernesto drenched parts of southern Mexico on Thursday.

* Chile: Santiago police clashed with dozens of protesters opposed to government-backed education reforms.

* Ecuador: In what may be a boost to the Ecuadorian economy coffee exports shot up by 23% last month.

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

Online Sources- boston.com, CBS News, Al Jazeera English, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: November 22, 2011

* Latin America: Brazil’s government fined Chevron $27 million for causing a leak off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, while a pair of U.S. senators introduced a bill targeting foreign oil drilling in Cuban waters.

* Colombia: The price of a cup of coffee could increase after output from Colombia decreased due to inclement weather.

* El Salvador: Mari Carmen Aponte’s confirmation to become permanent U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador could be held up due to concerns over her alleged “pro-gay agenda.”

* Paraguay: Some lawmakers in Paraguay are upset over supposed “military intimidation” by neighboring Brazil near their border.

Image Source – Via Flickr user Josh Smith (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Online Sources – Miami Herald, Al Jazeera English, Bloomberg, MercoPress, Advocate.com

Daily Headlines: October 25, 2011

* Latin America: The price of coffee could rise due to bad weather hindering Colombian coffee output, while Hurricane Rina strengthened to a Category 2 storm near the Yucatan Peninsula.

* Peru: According to a senior Peruvian official his country and the U.S. are negotiating “a bilateral defense agreement” that would also include greater counternarcotics aid.

* Guatemala: Starting next year Guatemala will take over Brazil’s two-year temporary seat on the U.N. Security Council.

* Mexico: Soccer star Javier “El Chicharito” Hernandez signed a new five-year contract with one of the world’s premier teams: English side Manchester United.

Image – Via Flicker user CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture

Online Sources- Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, Xinhua, BBC Sport, USA TODAY

Daily Headlines: May 31, 2011

* Colombia: China has made major inroads seeking raw materials in Latin America but that hasn’t stopped Colombian coffee growers looking to make their mark in the Chinese market.

* Costa Rica: The British government issued a travel warning cautioning tourists who plan to visit Costa Rica.

* Venezuela: Government supporters took to the streets of Caracas to protest U.S. sanctions against state-run oil firm PDVSA due to deals made with Iran.

* Mexico: According to a Hearst Newspapers analysis California’s gun control laws have helped prevent the mass smuggling of arms from that state across the border to Mexico.

Image – Reuters/Eduardo Munoz via Reuters (“A worker writes down the production of coffee at a coffee farm knows as Don Jimenez Estate in San Jose de las Matas May 21, 2011.)
Online Sources- SFGate.com, BusinessWeek, UPI, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: August 25, 2010

* Brazil: With five weeks to go in the race for Brazil’s presidency, ruling party candidate Dilma Rousseff widened her lead in the polls over Jose Serra.

* Cuba: Local Catholic Church officials said that the government would release six more jailed dissidents on top of the 26 already freed in recent weeks.

* Mexico: Troops found 72 bodies in a northern Mexico ranch suspected of being a dumping ground for drug gangs.

* Latin America: The price of coffee futures has plummeted partly due to investor anxiety over upcoming exports from Brazil and Colombia.

Image – LAHT
Online Sources- MarketWatch, LAHT, CNN, Reuters

Today’s Video: "Dwight Eisenhower colors Easter eggs"

Similar to Mystery Science Theater 3000, Josh Way pokes fun at short movies on subjects like grooming, classroom discipline, and safety against nuclear attacks. In the video below as part of his "Fun with Shorts" series Way pours over (ha!) a dull 1960s film from the Coffee Brewing Institute:

(Hat tip: Metafilter).

Online Sources - Metafilter, The Latin Americanist, YouTube

Daily Headlines: March 2, 2010

* Colombia: President Alvaro Uribe’s delusions of a third straight term may be dead yet one of his chief supporters is the favorite to succeed him.

* U.S.: Will the White House’s promise of an extra $900 million in school improvement funds stem the “dropout crisis” among Latino students?

* Guatemala: At an annual coffee producers’ conference in Guatemala City exporting countries claimed that climate change has seriously hurt coffee growers.

* Mexico: Police arrested a third suspect allegedly linked to the February murders of fifteen teens in Ciudad Juarez.

Image – CNN (A recent poll found that nearly one in four respondents back former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos as the successor to President Alvaro Uribe.)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, CNN, Economic Times, Bloomberg, Christian Science Monitor,

Central American Coffee Dries Up

Nothing starts the morning like a delicious cup of Honduran Marcala Princesa.

That pleasure may soon cost a few cents more, however, as a persistent dry spell in Central America has meant a drop in production this year.

To make matters worse, production is also down in Indonesia, the world's third largest coffee producing nation.

According to Bloomberg, "coffee has gained 17 percent in 12 months on concern that supplies of the bean will lag rising demand. Futures for May delivery declined 2.3 percent to $1.298 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York today."

No word from commodities traders on whether they expect demand to shift towards 5-hour energy or Red Bull Cola.

Online Sources: Bloomberg, Mayorga Coffee
Image Source: Cafe Marcala

Daily Headlines: November 13, 2009

* Honduras: Senior U.S. diplomat Craig Kelly returned to Washington empty-handed and without helping find a resolution to the political mess in Honduras.

* El Salvador: Foreign aid has started to trickle into storm-ravaged El Salvador while the death toll has increased to 157.

* Venezuela: Authorities took over the operations of two coffee companies and will reportedly buy a majority stake in a third firm.

* Haiti: New Prime Minister Max Bellerive took office on Wednesday and pledged to create economic growth for Haiti.

Image – Mercopress
Online Sources- Xinhua, LAHT, Reuters, El Universal, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: November 10, 2009

* Cuba: Cuban bloggers have been unfairly harassed and repressed by the island’s government and in the latest incident one of the country’s best-known bloggers claimed to have been briefly detained and attacked by “three state security agents.”

* Mexico: Mexican authorities found a secret 133-yard tunnel under construction below the U.S.-Mexico border.

* Colombia: Colombian coffee growers will harvest 30% less this year according to the head of the committee overseeing Colombia’s national coffee exporters association.

* Brazil: Officials at Brazil’s Bandeirante University reversed its idiotic decision to expel a female student who wore a “mid-thigh length red dress.”

Image – MSNBC (Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez said that she was threatened and assaulted by local police last week.)
Online Sources- CNN, MSNBC, Reuters, The Latin Americanist, Bloomberg, LAHT

Daily Headlines: September 18, 2009

* Latin America: Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Calle 13 received a leading five Latin Grammy nominations while Caetano Veloso, Ricardo Arjona, and Babasonicos were among those with multiple nominations.

* Chile: The Chilean judge who indicted the late strongman Augusto Pinochet will run for a Senate seat against the son of an ex-president and a former presidential candidate.

* Guatemala: Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil pledged to send aid to combat the severe food shortage in Guatemala.

* Venezuela: Could coffee become the next industry to be formally nationalized by the Chavez administration in Venezuela?

Image- The Telegraph
Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, LAHR, CBC, Bloomberg

Weekend Headlines: May 23, 2009

* Mexico: A moderate 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit central Mexico yesterday though there have been no reports of fatalities or major damage.

* U.S.: Was the deportation of three high school students from California to Mexico an “immigration raid” or where Border Patrol agents following proper procedure?

* Peru: Some academics claim that the government’s date on the economy is inaccurate and that Peru may actually be in a recession.

* Colombia: Coffee production in Colombia has plummeted by 33% this year according to recently released figures.

Image- AP (“An emergency official directs people evacuating a downtown office building after an earthquake in Mexico City, Friday, May 22, 2009.”)
Online Sources- AFP, SignOnSanDiego.com, Reuters

Daily Headlines: January 15, 2009

* Venezuela: Venezuela’s government severed diplomatic ties to Israel hours after Bolivian officials did the same thing.

* Cuba: A U.S. judge ordered the release of a detainee held at the Guantanamo Bay prison and who was accused of being a member of al-Qaeda.

* Brazil: The price of coffee could jump as much as 26% in the upcoming weeks according to the head of Brazil’s coffee association.

* Dominican Republic: Police may have engaged in brutality after officers allegedly killed four suspects by being shot in the back.

Image- BBC News (The Bolivian and Venezuelan governments broke diplomatic relations with Israel on Wednesday due to the military offensive on Gaza.)
Online Sources- BBC News, Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, LAHT

Colombians to take over Starbucks?

Starbucks has gotten some competition from the Juan Valdez Cafe chain overseen by the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers. Yet it appears as if success has clouded the judgment of cafetero execs:

Coffee-growing nations should buy Starbucks and create their own distribution chain as the U.S. company grapples with slowing sales, Colombia's coffee federation chief said in an interview published on Sunday…

"I am going to propose to my colleagues that we chip in to buy Starbucks. This will reinforce our fight to defend coffee origins," (Gabriel Silva) said. "What I am proposing is not so difficult. With $200 million to $300 million, the coffee world could control Starbucks."

Personally I could care less if a takeover happens so as long as Silva and his cohorts stay far away from the cheapo coffee carts.

Image- BBC News
Sources- The Latin Americanist, Reuters, IHT

Daily Headlines: September 18, 2007

* Rest in peace Generoso Jimenez; the legendary Cuban jazz trombonist died on Saturday at the age of 90.

* The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that key U.S. anti-drug operations will be moved outside of Ecuador should that country’s government end its lease to the Manta air base.

* Speculation over dry weather in Brazil has led to the largest rise in the price of coffee since January 2006.

* Follow-up #1: Peruvian president Alan Garcia has enjoyed a spike in popularity since last month’s deadly earthquakes.

* Follow-up #2: The Dominican Republic's drug czar rejected a Department of State report deeming the Caribbean nation as one of the world’s worst drug trafficking countries.

Sources- Reuters Canada, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist, Dominican Today

Image- Montreal Gazette (2005 image of Generoso Jimenez at the Latin Grammy Awards)

World Bank and Juan Valdez join together

Juan Valdez: an icon of Colombian coffee known around the world and whose name even appears in cafes that sell coffee and items emblazoned with his image. Now comes word from the Colombian press that the World Bank will invest $20 million in Juan Valdez Cafes as part of an international expansion of the brand. The World Bank “places a guarantee…that confirms the seriousness of Colombian coffee growers” said the president of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation earlier today.

Mmmm, tastes like globalization!

Image- Latino Hoosier (Juan Valdez and his mule Conchita hobnobbing with Presidents George W. Bush and Alvaro Uribe)

Links- Wikipedia, Juan Valdez Cafe, El Tiempo