Daily Headlines: June 22, 2016

* Colombia: The Colombian government and FARC rebels will reportedly agree to a bilateral ceasefire, which could serve as a precursor to a final peace deal that might be reached in about one month from now.

* U.S.: Lionel Messi broke the record of most goals for a player on the Argentine men’s national team as the albiceleste had little trouble beating the U.S. by a score of 4-0 in a Copa America Centenario semifinal.

* Mexico: Tensions continue in the Mexican state of Oaxaca following clashes between striking teachers and police that left at least eight people dead.

* Puerto Rico: Debt negotiations between Puerto Rican officials and bondholders ended without a resolution despite a July 1st deadline to avoid falling into a major default.

YouTube Source – euronews (Last month “the Colombian government agreed on a plan to reintegrate child soldiers from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, into society”.)
 
Online Sources – BBC News, UPI, Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters

Daily Headlines: June 21, 2016

* Venezuela: Moody’s credit agency warned that Venezuela could fall into a debt default this year starting with state-owned oil giant PDVSA.

* Brazil: More concerns over the upcoming Rio Olympics center on security following the muggings of two Paralympics hopefuls from Australia and an attack on Rio’s largest public hospital.

* Cuba: Russian media reported that the government of that country plans to develop several “production faculties” in Cuba as the island could serve as a “window” for Russia to Latin America.

* Argentina: Argentina’s most wanted criminal could help reveal possible endemic corruption under the rule of ex-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

YouTube Source – CNN

Online Sources – CBC, CNN, TASS, Bloomberg, InSight Crime

Daily Headlines: April 25, 2016

* Puerto Rico: A bipartisan bill to help restructure Puerto Rico’s $70 billion debt continues to be stuck in the U.S. Congress even though a lack of legislative action prior to a May 1st payment deadline would compound the commonwealth’s already dire economic crisis.

* Argentina: On a related note, the Argentine government last Friday paid $9.3 billion to bondholders who were owed over the country’s $100 billion debt default in 2002.

* U.S.: Puerto Rican pugilist McWilliams Arroyo was able to last the distance with Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez but the Nicaraguan boxer easily retained his flyweight title and a perfect 44-0 record.

* Honduras: The daughter of murdered environmentalist Berta Cáceres called on European financial interests to halt funding several Honduran hydroelectric projects.

YouTube Source – Last Week Tonight

Online Sources – Bloomberg, Financial Express, ESPN, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: March 16, 2016

* Argentina: The lower chamber of the Argentine federal legislature approved a package to repay creditors in a legal tug-of-war with the government over some $100 billion in debt related to the country’s 2001 default.

* U.S.: Will recently retired presidential hopeful Marco Rubio provide a boost to fellow Cuban-American Senator Ted Cruz in his aspirations for the White House?

* Puerto Rico: Acclaimed Broadway composer Lin-Manuel Miranda urged Congress to take urgent action to help debt-ridden Puerto Rico though legislators have largely waffled on the issue.

* Mexico: The governor of the Mexican state of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo, suggested enacting a “pilot scheme” to allow the cultivation of opium poppies as a measure to combat drug violence.

YouTube Source – euronews (Last month “Argentina has agreed in principle to a deal with US hedge funds ending a 15-year-old dispute over its failure to repay billions of dollars worth of bonds.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, BBC News, Vox, The Huffington Post

Daily Headlines: February 17, 2016

* Brazil: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff affirmed that the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be held as scheduled later this year despite concerns over the impact of the Zika virus outbreak.

* Venezuela: The opposition-led legislature approved a measure that could pardon some seventy-five imprisoned political dissidents such as Leopoldo Lopez.

* Argentina: The Argentine government allegedly reached a deal with holdout creditors to repay debt from the country’s $100 billion default in 2002.

* Colombia: Police chief Rodolfo Palomino resigned over rumors of young cadets were forced to serve as male prostitutes for senior officials and politicians.

YouTube Source – CNN
 
Online Sources – MercoPress, ESPN, Colombia Reportd, Reuters, Yahoo News

Daily Headlines: February 3, 2016

* Haiti: In an unusual twist in Haiti’s electoral crisis, musician turned president Michel Martelly released a song criticizing his political rivals that includes “sexually suggestive lyrics” against “an award-winning female journalist.”

* Argentina: The Argentine Congress is expected to approve a deal to pay $1.35 billion to Italian creditors holding unpaid debt related to a record $100 billion default in 2002.

* U.S.: Approximately 10,500 Latinos are believed to have voted in the Iowa presidential caucuses last Monday, which far outnumbers the 1000 from four years ago and triple the participation in 2008.

* El Salvador: Is San Salvador truly the world’s most violent city instead of Caracas, Venezuela?

YouTube Source – TRT World 

Online Sources – InSight Crime, Voice of America, Buzzfeed, Reuters

Daily Headlines: December 31, 2015

* Chile: Education reform activists including those participating in protests since 2011 won a key victory when Congress approved a law last week dropping tuition for most state universities.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan opposition leaders blasted a high court ruling blocking the election of four legislators to the National Assembly and, thus, preventing a critical two-thirds supermajority for anti-government forces.

* Puerto Rico: 2016 will not start of well for Puerto Rico’s finances after Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla admitted that the commonwealth will default on $37 million of its $72 billion in public debt.

* Mexico: According to the Los Angeles Times, the relaxing of marijuana laws in several U.S. states has led to reduced earnings for Mexican drug gangs.

YouTube Source – AFP (Video uploaded in June 2015).
 
Online Sources – ABC News, Latin American Herald Tribune, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times

Daily Headlines: December 29, 2015 (Updated)

* Colombia: Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said that the removal of landmines in Colombia “will take a generation, tens of thousands of specialists and lots of international aid.”

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan Violence Observatory claimed that Venezuela’s murder rate increased to 27,985 killings in 2015 or approximately ninety per 100,000 residents.

Update: On a related note, El Salvador's homicide rate jumped by a whopping 70% in 2015 with nearly 104 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

* Puerto Rico: Time is running out for Puerto Rico to make a $1 billion payment and prevent default by next Monday.

* Mexico: The bullet-ridden bodies of four people including that of Carlos Rosales Mendoza, co-founder of Mexico’s La Familia Michoacana drug gang, were abandoned near a highway in Morelia.

YouTube Source – CCTV America

Online Sources including Update– BBC News, ABC News, CNNMoney.com, Fox News Latino, Voice of America

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 2, 2015

* Brazil: According to Brazilian daily O Estado de Sao Paulo, Volkswagen is negotiating settling a lawsuit claiming that the automaker turned a blind eye to the detention and torture of factory workers during the military dictatorship from the 1960s to 1980s.

* U.S.: Salvador Perez became the second Venezuelan to win the World Series Most Valuable Player award after the Kansas City Royals clinched the crown in five games.

* Argentina: U.S. federal judge Thomas Griesa ordered the Argentine government to pay an additional $6.1 billion to credit holders before paying off holdouts owed for the country’s historic 2001 debt default.

* Mexico: The Mexican Navy on Sunday rescued four fishermen who went missing after leaving the Ecuadoran port of Esmeraldas on September 24th and drifted 1200 miles away.

YouTube Source – NewsBeat Social (“A lawsuit filed September 22nd accuses German Automaker Volkswagen of condoning the torture of employees by the then-military government of Brazil in 1972.”)
 
Online Sources – Deutsche Welle, ESPN, Latin American Herald Tribune, GlobalPost

Daily Headlines: October 30, 2015

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala lifted a state of emergency order for regions in southern Peru affected last month by violent clashes between police and protesters opposed to a planned copper mine.

* Venezuela: The U.S. could push for more sanctions against Venezuelan officials despite President Nicolas Maduro’s threats of suing the Obama administration.

* Puerto Rico: Will Puerto Rico run out of money as early as this November and fall into default?

* Costa Rica: The Costa Rica government and children’s rights advocates are planning to expand an online marketing campaign aimed at discouraging child sex tourism.

YouTube Source – AFP (“Demonstrators gather in Lima (weeks ago) to protest against a big Chinese copper mining project in the provinces of Cotabambas and Grau.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, GlobalPost, La Prensa, Seeking Alpha, Tico Times

Daily Headlines: August 7, 2015

Note: The below video is Not Safe for Work.


* Guatemala: Five Guatemalan soldiers were detained and accused of abusing their authority and mistreatment of minors after a viral video showed them brutally assaulting two teens.

* U.S.: According to the Labor Department the Latino unemployment rate last month is 6.8%, which represents a 0.2% increase from June but is a 1.1% drop compared to July 2014.

* Puerto Rico: Two major investors in Puerto Rico, OppenheimerFunds and Franklin Advisors, called on the commonwealth to make all of a $58 million debt-service payment that was due on August 3rd.

* El Salvador: Authorities believe that gang members were behind the deaths of four people riding a bus near San Salvador.

YouTube Source – user Criptograma MX

Online Sources – SunHerald.com, Reuters, Labor Department, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: August 3, 2015 (Updated)

* Brazil: Jose Dirceu, the former chief of staff to then-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has become the latest political figure arrested over the Petrobras bribery and corruption scandal.

* Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico will most likely fall into default on its $72 billion pubic debt by the end of today if officials cannot make a $58 million payment to creditors.

Update: It's official - Puerto Rico has fallen into default for the first time in the commonwealth's history.

* Cuba: Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton publicly proposed eliminating the decades-long U.S. trade embargo against Cuba though it remains to be seen if Congress will be amenable to her suggestion.

* Colombia: Representatives of Colombia’s FARC rebels proposed meeting with Pope Francis during the pontiff’s visit to Cuba next month.

YouTube Source – CCTV America (Video uploaded in April 2015).

Online Sources including Update – Bloomberg, Financial Times, NDTV, Reuters, Voice of America

Daily Headlines: July 2, 2015

* Cuba: U.S. President Barack Obama called on Congress to drop the trade embargo against Cuba as both countries fully reestablished diplomatic ties for the first time since 1961.

* Mexico: Mexican Supreme Court judge Olga Sanchez urged legislature in 29 of the 31 states banning gay marriage to overturn their restrictions.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan and U.S. representatives have reportedly undergone “quiet” negotiations since March in order to improve years of bitter relations.

* Argentina: Are comparisons between the current financial quagmire in Greece and Argentina's default in 2001 constructive or inappropriate? 

YouTube Source – Associated Press

Online Sources – Bloomberg, The Guardian, BBC News, Reuters

Puerto Rico's Governor Gets Key Support for Strategy Against Debt

Puerto Rican political and business leaders gave their support to austerity measures proposed by the debt-ridden commonwealth’s governor in order to prevent default.

“There must be a better environment in Puerto Rico if we want to promote job creation and have more laborers and salaried employees,” said local Chamber of Commerce president José Izquierdo Encarnación following a meeting with Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla on Tuesday.

He and other business group representatives proposed creating a special fiscal control board and labor reforms as part of Garcia Padilla’s five-year plan to attempt to reign in Puerto Rico's $73 million debt. Izquierdo Encarnación and company gave their backing to the governor’s idea for reinvesting savings in bond payments into “strategic” projects for economic development.

“(Garcia Padilla) is seeking support from the private sector to those suggestions made in the report by (ex-World Bank Chief Economist) Anne Krueger that are vital such as economic growth,” he emphasized.

In a separate set of discussions, the heads of Puerto Rico’s main political parties gave their conditional support to Garcia Padilla yet with numerous conditions. Partido Nuevo Progresista head Pedro Pierluisi called for the participation of the opposition in the government’s decision-making process. Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño chief Rubén Berríos Martínez, meanwhile, blasted the “neoliberal package” outlined by Krueger.

In a televised speech Monday evening, Garcia Padilla warned that the island’s massive debt is unpayable and proposed seeking a multi-year moratorium on debt repayment while austerity measures can go into effect.  He also urged Congress to change existing laws and allow Puerto Rico to declare Chapter 9 bankruptcy after the White House rejected a potential bailout.

Daily Headlines: October 7, 2014

* Ecuador: As many as 2500 “micro-traffickers” of drugs could be freed from prisons in Ecuador as part of a new crime law that took effect in August.

* Argentina: U.S. federal judge Thomas Griesa continues to put pressure on the Argentine government in its legal battle against paying millions of dollars to bondholders.

* Colombia: At least eleven residents of a Colombian indigenous village died due to a lighting strike yesterday.

* Haiti: Researchers examining a shipwreck near Cap-Haitien, Haiti concluded that it did not belong to the Santa Maria, one of the three vessels used by Christopher Columbus in his 1492 voyage to the Americas.

Video Source – The Washington Office on Latin America via YouTube

Online Sources – NBC News; CNN; MercoPress; The Latin Americanist; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: September 19, 2014

* Brazil: A new poll published this morning found that President Dilma Rousseff and main opposition rival Marina Silva are statistical tied in a likely runoff to decide Brazil’s next president in October.

* Argentina: An attorney for Citibank called for the suspension of a U.S. court decision that pushed Argentina into default and claimed that the Argentine government has placed a metaphorical “gun to our head.”

* Ecuador: Environmentalists, indigenous activists and others joined Ecuador’s largest labor union in anti-government protests in Quito yesterday.

* Latin America: Argentina (2nd) and Colombia (3rd) are the top South American countries in the latest FIFA soccer rankings while Costa Rica (15th) was the highest-placed entry from CONCACAF.

Video Source – CCTV America via YouTube
 
Online Sources – Blooomberg; LAHT; Businessweek; The Latin Americanist; Goal.com

Daily Headlines: August 14, 2014

* Argentina: In the latest chapter of Argentina’s legal battle with holdout creditors, cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich defied a contempt of court threat and claimed, “The proper conditions do not exist to negotiate.”

* Latin America: A International Labor Organization report found that approximately 35 million young Latin Americans are affected by the region’s unemployment crisis including some 27 million who “work in the underground economy with no rights or benefits.”

* Venezuela: Colombia’s foreign minister contradicted claims made by the neighboring Venezuelan government regarding the nightly closing of their 1400-mile border in order to prevent smuggling of gasoline and food.

* Chile: Will a major earthquake more powerful than an 8.2-magnitude tremor that occurred in April soon strike in Chile?

Video Source – Bloomberg News via YouTube
 
Online Sources – The Latin Americanist; Reuters; Xinhua; Smithsonian; Xinhua

Region grapples with Ecuador's default decision

President Rafael Correa's surprise decision last week to default on Ecuador's foreign debt for the second time in a decade is still being puzzled at by economists and analysts.

I have found it difficult (as a non-economist) to hash through the finance-speak and to understand the economic implications, but have been impressed with a few stories that have been able to relate sharp analyses of the issues at stake in a digestible way; if you're at all like me, you'll appreciate these:

The Latin Business Chronicle gives an overview of the decision's likely affects on the region's economy (summary: not good, thanks in part to the "Financial Times effect.") Seeking Alpha blog offers an objective summary of the ideology behind the decision. Bloggings by Boz offers meaty analysis with embedded updates in the post, including a compelling potential scenarios breakdown.

In sum, many have (rightly) cast the default as a politically motivated, ideological decision. There are already clear winners (the Ecuadoran government) and losers (investors) to see, but it seems like we will only understand the foresight - or lack thereof - of this decision after a number of other scenarios play out.

Sources: Latin Business Chronicle, AlphaNet, Investors Daily, Bloggings by Boz