Daily Headlines: September 17, 2014

* Venezuela: Standard & Poor's lowered Venezuela’s credit rating “based on continued economic deterioration, including rising inflation and falling external liquidity.”

* Puerto Rico: Reggaeton star Don Omar was arrested this morning in Puerto Rico and charged with domestic violence against his partner.

* Mexico: Thousands in Mexico’s Baja California Sur are without electricity, water or phone service due to Hurricane Odile though no fatalities have been reported.

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos blamed an alliance of the FARC rebels and neo-paramilitary fighters for being behind the killing of seven policemen on Tuesday.

Video Source – CCTV America via YouTube

Online Sources – Bloomberg; CBS News; La Prensa; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: January 25, 2012

* Ecuador: A court suspended yesterday’s appeals hearing into the controversial libel case pitting President Rafael Correa against the former opinion editor of Ecuador’s El Universo newspaper.

* U.S.: Four New Haven, Connecticut police officers including the president of the police union were arrested and charged with harassment and excessive force against members of the Latino community.

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos issued an apology for the massacre of approximately fifty villagers by paramilitaries in 1999.

* Guatemala: Thousands of people climbed to the top of the dormant Volcan de Agua as part of an anti-domestic violence protest.

Video Source – YouTube via teleSUR (The directors and former opinion editor of El Universo are seeking that an appeals court overturn a July 2011 decision that sentenced them to prison and awarded President Rafael Correa $40 million).

Online Sources- CNN, ABC News, BBC News, MSNBC

Daily Headlines: May 9, 2011

* Ecuador: Preliminary results showed that referendum voters approved ten measures backed by President Rafael Correa including a path to reforming the judiciary, limits on media ownership, and a ban on bullfighting.

* Mexico: Tens of thousands of people gathered at Mexico City's Zocalo Square yesterday in the culmination of a four-day march against drug-related violence.

* Cuba: Dissidents blamed police for the death of Juan Wilfredo Soto, a political activist who died several days after being arrested and allegedly beaten.

* Venezuela: A U.S. immigration judge suspended the deportation order against a Venezuelan national in a legally-recognized same-sex marriage weeks after another justice came to a similar decision in favor of an Argentine woman.

* Guatemala: A voter registration drive will be run ahead of September’s federal elections and will include radio ads and electoral materials in four Mayan languages.

* U.S.: Animal Kingdom, sired by Brazilian horse Leroidesanimaux and ridden by Puerto Rican Jockey John Velazquez, won the prestigious Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

Image – Raul Arboleda/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images via The New York Times (“An Ecuadorean woman, with her child, cast her vote Saturday at a school in Otavalo, Ecuador, on the referendum proposed by President Rafael Correa. It included sweeping measures aimed at strengthening his power.”)
Online Sources- The Irish Times, MSNBC, The Latin Americanist, insidecostarica.com, Reuters, CNN, Boston Globe

World Watch: This land is whose land?

* Israel: The government of Israel defied calls by the White House to not expand the construction of new settlements in the West Bank.

* Europe: A series of German AIDS awareness ads featuring depictions of Hitler and Stalin have raised the ire of European AIDS groups.

* Africa: Several African countries have called for the removal of international sanctions against Zimbabwe and its controversial President Robert Mugabe.

* U.S.: How bad is the budget crisis in California? Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated state funding for a program that paid for six domestic violence shelters.

Image- MSNBC
Online Sources- Al Jazeera English, MSNBC, BBC News, Guardian UK

Daily Headlines: August 30, 2008

* Argentina: A pair of former generals was sentenced to life in jail for the roles in the disappearance of a provincial senator during the “Dirty War.”

* Brazil: Actress Reese Witherspoon helped promote a campaign to combat domestic violence during a trip she made to Sao Paulo.

* Chile: According to a car rental company Chilean roads are among the worlds most dangerous.

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales set December 7^th as the date for the country’s constitutional referendum.

Image- Los Angeles Times (“Relatives of people who disappeared during Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship hold placards with images of their missing kin in court in San Miguel de Tucuman, in the northern province of Tucuman.”)

Sources- IHT, AFP, The Telegraph, BBC News

Brazil: Lula introduces multi-billion dollar anti-crime plan

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva unveiled a major anti-crime program last night. The “National Program for Public Security” will cost over $3 billion in the next five years and will be invested in measures like building more jails, better equipment for police, and education.

As BBC News pointed out, the leader of one community group was cautiously optimistic with Lula’s initiative:

“Viva Rio, an organization which works to combat violence in Rio de Janeiro, has given a cautious welcome to the government's proposals.

"This is the right path, for sure," said Viva Rio's director Rubem Cesar Fernandes.

But he added a note of caution: "The question is whether they can actually implement it."

Brazil has one of the world’s highest murder rates with high levels of crime in major cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Crime was one of the country’s most pressing issues during the last presidential election, and earlier this year human rights group Amnesty International called for the government to step up.

Sources- Bloomberg, Monsters & Critics, BBC News, Overseas Security Advisory Council, The Latin Americanist

Image- Guardian UK

Salvadoran family dead under mysterious circumstances

An absolutely disheartening tale out of a suburban town near Washington, DC where a Salvadoran father may have killed his four children before hanging himself. The kids- ages 9, 4, 3, and 1 year old- where found in their beds dead of unknown causes.

The press is painting the portrait of an immigrant family trying to live the “American dream” with Pedro Rodriguez and Deysi Benitez working odd jobs for nearly 7 years in order to provide a future for their children. Neighbors of the family praised them and considered them as very “nice”.

Yet behind closed doors, Rodriguez slapped and attacked Benitez on several occasions according to her sister. Benitez herself has been missing since police found the dead bodies; her whereabouts are unknown though the Salvadoran consul in Washington taped a video begging for her to contact him.

It’s premature to blame domestic violence for what occurred, but it is important to emphasize that victims should need not be afraid to denounce if it happens. If you are a victim in the U.S. please do not hesitate to call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

Si usted eres una victima de violencia domestica en los Estados Unidos puedes llamar al National Domestic Violence Hotline donde un consejero te pueda ayudar. El numero de telefono es 1-800-799-7233.

Links- Houston Chronicle, Guardian UK, International Herald Tribune, WBAL, National Domestic Violence Hotline, National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Domestic Violence, Waynesboro Record Herald

Image- Waynesboro Record Herald (Police at the home of Pedro Rodriguez and Deysi Benitez on Monday)