Daily Headlines: September 12, 2016

* Honduras: Authorities last week arrested the final suspect in the murder last March of acclaimed Honduran environmentalist Berta Caceres though investigators are still looking into who masterminded her death.

* Colombia: Nairo Quintana became the first Colombian in nearly three decades to win the Vuelta a España, and has thus won two of the three cycling grand tours in his career.

* Ecuador: The legal tug-of-war between energy company Chevron and Ecuadoran plaintiffs over pollution in the Amazon rainforest heads to a Canadian court this week.

* Brazil: Brazil’s currency weakened this morning to its lowest point since July 28th following street protests nationwide against the government led by President Michel Temer.

YouTube Source – GreenpeaceVideo

Online Sources – NBC News, Bloomberg, The Independent, Fortune

Daily Headlines: September 3, 2014

* Guatemala: The ex-military commander convicted of the 1998 murder of human rights activist and Roman Catholic Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi could serve additional prison time for supposedly “building an illicit business empire behind bars.”

* Colombia: Colombian cyclist Nairo Quintana retired from the Tour of Spain due to injuries suffered from crashes yesterday and this morning.

* Venezuela: President Nicolás Maduro announced a government shake-up that includes replacing energy minister Rafael Ramirez with a cousin of the late leader Hugo Chávez.

* Peru: LulzSecPeru, described as a “hacktivist group comprised of two young men,” infiltrated e-mail messages that showed the government’s ties to lobbyists.

Video Source – YouTube user wwwprensalibrecomgt (Trailer to the 2010 film “Gerardi” examined the outspokenness of Juan Jose Gerardi against the brutality of Guatemala’s civil war).

Online Sources – ABC News; Sky Sports; Reuters; Latin Post

Daily Headlines: June 2, 2014

* Spain: King Juan Carlos I of Spain will abdicated his throne after nearly four decades that included numerous accomplishments like promoting better political, economic and cultural ties with the Latin America.

* Colombia: 2013 Tour de France runner-up Nairo Quintana of Colombia became the first Latin American cyclist to win the Giro d'Italia while his compatriot, Rigoberto Uran, finished in second.

* Mexico: President Enrique Peña Nieto announced that the government would spend some $4.5 billion to modernize ports throughout Mexico.

* Latin America: Mexico’s Luis Montes and Ecuador’s Segundo Castillo will miss the upcoming World Cup after they both collided with each another during a friendly match on Saturday.

Video Source – euronews via YouTube

Online Sources – CNN; The Latin Americanist; ESPM; SI.com; LAHT

Daily Headlines: May 30, 2014

* Honduras: More than one hundred U.S. legislators have called on the State Department to “evaluate Washington’s support and training for the Honduran police and military” due to widespread human rights abuses.

* Cuba: At a speech in Havana today, U.S. Chamber of Commerce chief Thomas J. Donohue urged the Cuban officials to do more to curb government controls over the economy.

* Colombia: Colombian cyclists Nairo Quintana and Rigoberto Uran are both close to an unprecedented 1-2 finish in the Giro d’Italia final standings.

* Ecuador: Ex-President Jamil Mahuad was sentenced in absentia to twelve years in prison for the embezzlement of public funds during a major financial crisis in 1999.

Video Source – YouTube user Las Noticias De Colon (Mourners paid their respects to Aníbal Duarte, the mayor of the Honduran municipality of Iriona who was murdered in front of his family last week).

Online Sources – ABC News; NBC News; The New York Times; Cycling Weekly

Colombia’s Quintana Obtains Second Place in Tour de France

Colombian cyclist Nairo Quintana finished his first-ever participation in the Tour de France with an extraordinary second place finish.

Yesterday Quintana became the first Latin American in a quarter century to reach the podium of the world’s top cycling completion. The 23-year-old’s dream debut also included winning the white jersey as the best young rider and the polka-dot jersey as the best mountain climber.

“He has plenty of talent and I think he could be one of the Tour’s greats,” said race winner Chris Froome of Britain about Quintana.  “I knew he would give it his all and he achieved something very important,” added Froome who finished over five minutes ahead of Quintana.

The Boyacá-born Quintana shined in the centenary edition though when the Tour began he wasn’t among the experts’ favorites to be among the top riders.  (For BBC Sport, Quintana’s teammate on the Movistar team, Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, was seen as a “potential rival” against Froome while Quintana was not mentioned.)  Yet Quintana proved his prowess in the always difficult mountain stages, which seemed natural for someone who as a child used to make a ten mile trip to a school located high in the Andes.

The pinnacle moment for Quintana in France occurred in the penultimate stage on Saturday; a date that coincidentally was the 202nd anniversary of Colombia’s independence.  Entering stage 20 in fifth place overall, Quintana took advantage of the pace set for most of the day by his Movistar teammates and he was able to pull away with eight kilometers left in a breakaway group that included Frrome and Spaniard Joaquim Rodríguez. The group stayed together until Quintana burst forth with some 900 meters to go until the finish and captured the stage victory while his elated family back home celebrated the win.   

London Calling: Ouro

The first gold medal won by a Latin American athlete at this year’s Olympics came from a tenacious Brazilian martial artist.

Sarah Menezes won the under-48kg women’s judo gold on Saturday after beating defending champion Alina Dumitru of Romania in the final.

Menezes, who upset world number one Tomoko Fukumi to reach the gold medal bout, fought a tough and defensive bout against Dumitru. The patience from the twenty-two-year-old paid off when she threw the Romanian twice in the final minute.

“I feel like I’m floating!” said Menezes to the Brazilian press after capturing the gold. Her victory was the pinnacle of a judo career that she admitted started “as a joke” thirteen years ago.

Menezes wasn’t the only Brazilian to obtain a medal on Saturday. Felipe Kitadei, who superstitiously touched the judo ring before each one of his bouts, won bronze in the under-60kg men’s category. Swimmer Thiago Pereira finished behind Ryan Lochte of the U.S. and won silver in the men’s 400-meter individual medley.

In other Olympics results from Saturday:

Today’s Video: Going green

From the pioneering bus rapid system in Curitiba, Brazil to the ciclovia bicycle-riding paths of Bogota, Colombia numerous environmentally-friendly projects have gone into effect in several Latin American urban centers. The megalopolis that is Mexico City has not been an exception as the government of mayor Marcelo Ebrard has promoted a novel bike-sharing program. The idea has not been without its detractors such as some cyclists who feel that bike safety has taken a back seat. But with a major environmental conference currently under way in Cancun, the "Green Plan" could be another successful program in Latin America.

Much like this entry on Peru, the video cannot be embedded but the link to the brief clip is included below:

"Green scheme for Mexican metropolis"

Online Sources - Reuters, The Latin Americanist, Wikipedia, Urban Habitat
Video Source - AFP via YouTube
Image - El Economista

Daily Headlines: July 27, 2009

* Spain: Congrats to Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador who won comfortably won the Tour de France over Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck and teammate Lance Armstrong.

* Mexico: Four men were arrested by Mexican police as suspects in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent last week.

* Colombia: Military officials said that at least 16 FARC guerillas were killed during weekend attacks on rebel camps.

* Cuba: The Florida-based relatives of a man executed in Cuba in 1960 are suing several U.S. telecom firms who have ties to Cuba’s state-run phone company.

Image- New York Times
Online Sources- BBC Sport, ABC News, Xinhua, UPI

Daily Headlines: July 20, 2009

* Spain: Cyclist Alberto Contador may’ve clinched the Tour de France after a win in Stage 15 earned him the yellow jersey and a 1:37 lead over teammate Lance Armstrong.

* U.S.: A second suspect was arrested in connection with the assault and bias attack of a Latino man in the New York borough of Staten Island.

* Brazil: According to the local press, an autopsy exam found that former boxing champion Arturo Gatti may've committed suicide but didn’t rule out murder.

* Latin America: The International Court of Justice will hold hearings in two months regarding a tense border dispute between Argentina and Uruguay.

Image- Guardian UK
Online Sources- AP, AFP, BBC Sport, New York Daily News

Olympics Spotlight: A golden leap for Panama

* Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda of Panama leapt into the history books on Monday after winning the gold medal in the men’s long jump. Saladino’s countrymen celebrated in the streets of Colon after his winning jump of 8.34 meters gave the country its first Olympics gold medal ever. (Honorable mention goes to Cuba's Ibrahim Camejo's who earned bronze with a leap of 8.20m).

* In other medal-winning prefaces on Monday:

• The Brazilian duo of Fernanda Oliveira and Isabel Swan took bronze in the 470 women's sailing competition.
• Yoanka Gonzalez of Cuba earned the country’s highest-placing medal in cycling after she obtained the silver medal in the women's points race.
• Another female Cuban athlete- Yarelys Barrios- earned a silver medal with a throw of 63.64 meters in women's discus.
  

* Lastly, our video of the day highlights Brazilian female soccer juggernaut Marta who tallied twice and had an assist in her country’s 4-1 victory over Germany in the semis. Despite being down 1-0 early the Brazilians played exquisite attacking soccer to overrun the Germans and set up a gold medal match on Thursday against the U.S.

Here are the highlights of the Brazil-Germany match as covered by Brazilian TV network Globo:

Sources- AFP, CBC, AHN, Xinhua, TVNZ, Fox Sports, YouTube, BBC Sport, kansascity.com Reuters