Daily Headlines: September 20, 2016

* Mexico: A drill of Mexico City’s earthquake alert system, which was installed following a deadly 8.1-magnitude tremor in 1985, was conducted yesterday on the 31st-annoversary of the quake.

* Argentina: Argentine President Mauricio Macri affirmed his state’s sovereignty claim regarding the Falklands as “standing and non-negotiable” despite improved relations between Argentina and Britain over the disputed islands.

* Haiti: Some 130 Organization of American States observers began arriving in Haiti this week in anticipation of the controversial presidential election rerun scheduled on October 9th.

* Cuba: Iranian and Cuban officials signed several pacts in areas of health, education and science after the heads of government for both countries met in Havana.

YouTube Source – ITN Source (“Mexico City was struck by an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale followed by an aftershock of 7.5 the next day. Thousands of people were killed with many more made homeless in the three minute quake which caused major damage.”)
 
Online Sources – MercoPress, Xinhua, The Guardian, Reuters, The Miami Herald

Daily Headlines: September 5, 2016

* Argentina: The indigenous Mapuche community in Argentina is campaigning against fracking at one of the world’s top shale gas producing sites that has caused environmental damage including groundwater pollution.

* South America: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was reportedly chased by demonstrators during a visit to Margarita Island, while tens of thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets of several major Brazilian cities yesterday.

* Ecuador: A 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook the Ecuadoran capital city of Quito nearly five months after a stronger tremor killed at least 700 people and caused some $2 billion in damages.

* Puerto Rico: Now that Congress returned today from its summer recess, will federal legislators soon back a plan to combat the spread of the Zika virus in Puerto Rico?

YouTube Source – AJ+ (“From September 2014: “The Mapuche (people indigenous to Argentina's Patagonia region) have long fought for their land and rights. Now they're witnessing the side effects of fracking, and taking action to keep oil companies off the land.”)

Online Sources – UPI, Fox News Latino, BBC News, Reuters, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: August 8, 2016

* Mexico: At least forty people died following several landslides in Puebla and Veracruz states following Tropical Storm Earl though heavy rain is expected to continue and potentially cause “life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.”

* Cuba: Cuban officials blamed the United States for a surge of nationals fleeing from the country including several hundred migrants awaiting deportation from Colombia.

* Ecuador: Maria Duarte, Ecuador's Minister of Urban Development and Housing, claimed to be “optimistic” over the rebuilding of homes destroyed in a major earthquake nearly four months ago.

* Brazil: Several upsets in tennis at the Olympics on Sunday including Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina beating Novak Djokovic, and the Colombian pair of Juan-Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah surprising the top seed in men’s doubles.

* Bolivia: Bolivian authorities last week seized nearly eight tons of cocaine valued at around $350 million from a cargo truck.

YouTube Source – Associated Press 
 
Online Sources – Reuters, CNN, Business Insider, Houston Chronicle, Al Jazeera English, The Tico Times

Daily Headlines: June 20, 2016 (Updated)

* Brazil: Acting President Michel Temer will reportedly urge federal legislators to approve an $850 million emergency payment to help fund the cash-strapped Rio de Janeiro state prior to the Olympics this August.

* U.S.: The semifinals of the Copa America Centenario are set with the hosts U.S. facing pre-tournament favorites Argentina and Chile looking to capitalize off their quarterfinal mauling of Mexico by beating Colombia.

* Latin America: A new study from Global Witness concluded that Latin America remains the most dangerous region for environmental activists with four countries from the region accounting for 100 recorded deaths of environmentalists last year.

Update: On a related note, a former Honduran soldier claimed that slain environmental activist Berta Cáceres was named on a purported hit list of social activists targeted by the military.
 
* Ecuador: Family members of some of the 688 fatalities from a 7.8-magnitude earthquake marched in Portoviejo on the two-month anniversary of the tremor.

YouTube Source – euronews
 
Online Sources including Update – teleSUR English, NPR, Sports Illustrated, BuzzFeed News, Bloomberg, The Guardian

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: April 20, 2016

* Ecuador: At least 400 aftershocks have hit Ecuador since a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake Saturday night including a 6.1-magnitude tremor in the predawn hours today.

* Peru: Polls have shown Keiko Fujimori, who easily won the first round of Peru’s presidential election, has a slight advantage over Pedro Pablo Kuczynski ahead of the June 5th runoff.

* Chile: Patricio Aylwin, the former Chilean president who was key in the transition following the infamous military regime led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, died at the age of 97.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino blamed the U.S. for failed oil talks in Doha last weekend and warned that negotiations must resume soon in order to avoid a collapse in crude prices.

YouTube Source – France 24 English

Online Sources – Bloomberg, Reuters, NBC News, The Latin Americanist, euronews

Daily Headlines: April 18, 2016

* Latin America: Ecuadoran officials claimed the death toll from a 7.8-magniude earthquake on Saturday night that was the country’s worst tremor since 1979 rose to 350 fatalities.

* Brazil: Financial markets in Brazil opened today with gains after the House of Deputies easily approved sending the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff to the Senate.

* Chile: Some 4 million people Santiago is without drinking water and parts of in central Chile are flooded following periods of “unusually” heavy rainfall.

* Venezuela: Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro announced that clocks would be turned ahead by 30 minutes to help ease the country's energy crisis.

YouTube Source – euronews
 
Online Sources – CNBC, Reuters, NBC News, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: September 18, 2015

* Chile: Areas of the Chilean port city of Coquimbo were declared disaster zones after an 8.3-magnitude earthquake Wednesday night left at least eleven people dead and one million evacuated.

* Mexico: Mexican authorities announced the capture of Gildardo Lopez Astudillo, the suspected head of the Guerreros Unidos gang behind the disappearances of 43 Ayotzinapa college students one year ago this month.

* Cuba: Jose Cabanas, the head of the Cuban interests section in Washington, has been named as Cuba’s first ambassador to the U.S. since 1961.

* U.S.: The Copa America Centenario tournament is still scheduled to be played next year in the U.S. despite numerous indictments against current and former regional soccer body officials.

YouTube Source – Times of Oman (“New aerial video shows the devastation in the coastal town of Coquimbo after Chile's 8.3 earthquake.”)
 
Online Sources – teleSUR English, BBC News, Tico Times, The Latin Americanist, CBS News

Sobredosis de TV: Home and Away

“Sobredosis de TV” is our occasional feature where we look at television shows regarding the Americas.
VICE was founded in 1994 as a culture and arts magazine in Canada, which would eventually turn into a media conglomerate that includes a film production company and a record label. But perhaps VICE is best known for producing hard-hitting and revealing documentaries on a myriad of subjects from secret North Korean labor camps to civil conflict in numerous countries. The newest episode of the “VICE on HBO” series that airs tonight at 11:00pm EST is no exception to this perception.

“Sweet Home Alabama” focuses on the aftermath of staunch anti-immigration laws passed in 2011 in the Cotton State. Under House Bill-56, undocumented immigrants are barred from receiving local government benefits, obligates public schools to provide yearly tallies of the number of undocumented migrant children and permits police with “reasonable suspicion” to inquire about a person’s legal status.

Unsurprisingly, HB-56 became a lightning rod in the fractious debate over immigration in the U.S. Critics of the measure included Alabama’s Latino populace, small town police chiefs without sufficient resources to enforce the must-arrest provisions and groups that successfully convinced the federal court to invalidate some provisions. Some initial supporters of the law such as legislators who voted for its approval even backtracked with one admitting, “If you make a mistake, you should be man enough to admit it.”

In the following brief clip from “Sweet Home Alabama,” two backers of HB-56 give their rationale for the controversial measure. One of them is the sheriff of Albertville, a community that apparently became a ghost town after Latino residents fled in the wake of HB-56. Check it out below the page break:

Daily Headlines: January 12, 2015

* Haiti: Deep political divisions, economic uncertainty and outbreaks of disease are some of the challenges still faced in Haiti more than five years after a major earthquake hit the country.

* Cuba: U.S. officials confirmed the liberation of fifty-three Cuban political prisoners “whose release was sought as part of the U.S. agreement last month with the Cuban government”.

* U.S.: Actor, comedian and artist Taylor Negron died on Saturday at the age of 57 following an extended battle with cancer.

* El Salvador: The path to sainthood for assassinated Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero became clearer last week after a Vatican committee reportedly recognized him as a martyr.

Video Source – YouTube user AFP news agency
 
Online Sources – CBC News; The A.V. Club; The Latin Americanist; NPR; ABC News

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

Daily Headlines: August 13, 2014

* Ecuador: At least two people are dead and several more are trapped by a landslide caused by a 5.1-magnitude earthquake near Quito, Ecuador yesterday.
 
* Chile: A group of armed gunmen stole over $10 million from an armored vehicle in what has been reported as the largest robbery in the Chile's history.

* Brazil: Officials at the Sao Paulo state Education Department have come under fire after posting a job opening that requires female applicants to undergo genealogical exams.

* Colombia: According to the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights more than 400,000 Colombian refugees affected by armed conflict have fled to other countries.

Video Source – NTDTV via YouTube

Online Sources – The Guardian; BBC News; The Huffington Post; Colombia Reports

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: July 8, 2014

* Nicaragua: The Nicaraguan government and officials with Hong Kong-based HKND Group revealed details of a $40 billion, 173 mile interoceanic canal project that might rival the expanded Panama Canal.

* Venezuela: Delta Airlines became the latest air carrier to significantly reduce flights to and from Venezuela as part of a dispute over the grossly overvalued Venezuelan currency.

* Brazil: Some ticket packages for the World Cup semifinal and final matches have been blocked amid an investigation into the possible illegal reselling of tickets on the black market.

* Latin America: At least five people died after a 6.9 magnitude quake struck on Monday in the Mexican southern border area near Guatemala.

Video Source – El Nuevo Diario via YouTube

Online Sources – Fox News Latino; USA TODAY; Bloomberg; El Universal; euronews

Daily Headlines: May 13, 2014

* Venezuela: Dr. Jacinto Convit, a Venezuelan researcher who helped develop vaccines against leprosy and leishmaniasis, passed away at the age of 100 in Caracas.

* Panama: No major damage or casualties have been reported from a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit off the Pacific coast of Panama on Tuesday morning.

* Mexico: Mexican officials claimed on Monday that the co-founder of the Zetas drug gang was killed in a shootout along with five other people.

* Latin America: Job security, the economy and crime are the "top three concerns" for Latin Americans according to a new Nielson survey.

Video Source – Noticiero Venevision via YouTube 

Online Sources – Reuters; NBC News; ABC News; Nielson

Daily Headlines: May 9, 2014

* Costa Rica: Luis Guillermo Solis pledged to “resolve the deficit within the next two years, maximum, as it is perhaps the biggest challenge we face” during his presidential inauguration speech on Thursday.

* Brazil: In the latest troubles affecting preparations for the World Cup, Rio de Janeiro public bus employees went on strike while a worker at the construction site of a soccer stadium died in an accident. 

* Mexico: No reports of major damage or serious injuries were reported following a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in southern Mexico yesterday.

* Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico’s government revealed details of an economic recovery plan aimed at improving the massive public debt of the commonwealth.

Video Source – teleSUR via YouTube

Online Sources – The Huffington Post; CNN; The Guardian; Miami Herald; Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: April 18, 2014

* Mexico: A magnitude-7.5 earthquake struck near the resort city of Acapulco this morning and was felt throughout fourteen states in central and southern Mexico.
 
* Brazil: A two-day police strike ended in Brazil’s third-largest city, Salvador, but not before thirty-nine homicides were committed during that period.

* Chile: Officials with Chile’s national forestry agency claimed that firemen have “contained” a massive fire in Valparaiso that killed at least fifteen people and destroyed nearly three thousand homes.

* Cuba: Is Cuba on the verge of an “imminent health crisis” due to a reported shortage of condoms?
 
Video Source– YouTube user elsiglocomve (Residents in Mexico City exited their homes and places of residence Friday morning as a result of a powerful earthquake near Acapulco).

Online Sources – CNN; Reuters; The Guardian; Bernama

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: April 9, 2014

* Argentina: An Argentine court sentenced ten people to up to twenty-two years in prison regarding the 2002 kidnapping and “sexual exploitation” of a missing young woman named Marita Veron.

* Mexico: Death row inmate Ramiro Hernandez is running out of legal options and today he will likely become the second Mexican national to be executed in Texas this year.
 
* Cuba: Sen. Patrick Leahy, the head of the Senate subcommittee that oversees USAID, blasted the administrator of that agency for a “cockamamie” failed social network project launched in Cuba.

* Haiti: A new report found that the percentage of Haitian earthquake survivors living in refugee camps has plummeted by 91% though the study notes the “phenomenon of new families moving into camps and families splitting and occupying more tents constitutes a worrying trend.”

Video Source– The Daily Beast via YouTube (Susana Trimarco, the mother of missing Argentine woman Marita Veron, has become an activist against human trafficking as she continues the search for her “disappeared” daughter.) 

Online Sources – BBC News; The Latin Americanist; ABC News; CBS News; Miami Herald

Daily Headlines: April 3, 2014

* Chile: No major damages or casualties have been reported as a result of several strong aftershocks following a magnitude-8.2 earthquake on Tuesday off the northern Chilean coast that caused six deaths. 

* Argentina: Argentine President Cristina Kirchner introduced a new currency note featuring a map of the Falkland Islands and accused Britain of trying to turn the disputed archipelago into a “North Atlantic Treaty Organization military base.”

* Cuba: A new report alleged that the U.S. government helped create a now-defunct “Cuban Twitter” social network with the goal of causing unrest against the ruling Castro regime.

* U.S.: The U.S. and Mexico shared the spoils in a 2-2 tie in the latest chapter of the bitter soccer rivalry between the neighboring countries.

Video Source – euronews via YouTube

Online Sources- Bernama; TIME; The Huffington Post; ABC News