Daily Headlines: July 26, 2016

* Brazil: Amid the plethora of negative news on the upcoming Rio Olympics there’s a small glimmer of hope –Brazil’s economy could emerge from a deep recession by the end of this year.

* Mexico: In light of free trade becoming a hot topic in the U.S. presidential race, Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu suggested “modernizing and updating” the North American Free Trade Agreement.

* Latin America: LATAM Airlines, Latin America’s largest air carrier, was fined some $22 million over “violating accounting laws connected to a scheme to bribe Argentine union officials.”

* Argentina: Ex-Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner claimed to be unafraid of going to jail over allegations of corruption and compared her situation to that of suspended Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff.

* Ecuador: As part of the latest legal tug-of-war between Ecuador and Chevron, the South American country’s central bank paid $112 million as part of an arbitration ruling favoring the U.S. oil firm.

* Chile: The Chilean Supreme Court last week unanimously lengthened the prison sentences against two former military officers convicted in the 1973 deaths of documentary filmmaker Charles Horman and university student Frank Teruggi.

YouTube Source – CCTV News (Brazil’s economy entered its fifth straight quarter at a loss at the beginning of 2016, but could emerge from its crippling recession by the end of this year).

Online Sources – Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, MarketWatch, Reuters, USA TODAY, Al Jazeera English
 

Daily Headlines: July 11, 2016

* Haiti: The State Department pledged support by the United States to Haiti despite suspending financial help to the Caribbean country’s troublesome election process.

* Latin America: The quality of higher education in Latin America has been unable to meet the growing demand for a university education, according to new research.

* El Salvador: Ten people including five police officers were arrested over allegedly participating in a death squad linked to the deaths of forty suspected gang members in El Salvador.

* Mexico: Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto called the North American Free Trade Agreement a “win-win mechanism” for job creation and economic growth for his country, the United States and Canada.

YouTube Source – AJ+ (From January 20, 2016: “Protesters calling for fresh elections clashed with riot police in Haiti as the presidential run-off vote looms.”)
 
Online Sources – The Washington Post, Fox News Latino, The Hill, Times Higher Education

Daily Headlines: October 6, 2015

* Latin America: Representatives of the Peruvian, Chilean and Mexican governments expressed their satisfaction over the signing yesterday of the twelve-nation Trans Pacific Partnership free trade pact.

* El Salvador: The number of massacres in El Salvador has spiked so far this year though its unknown if it’s related to rampant gang violence.

* Bolivia: Bolivian authorities reached an agreement with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to ease the granting of special visas to Syrian refugees.

* Chile: Officials in Chile announced the creation of the largest marine reserve in the Americas that covers 115,000 square miles around the Desventuradas Islands.

YouTube Source – CNN

Online Sources – InSight Crime, The Financial Times, National Geographic, Xinhua

Daily Headlines: October 10, 2014

* Mexico: Federal authorities captured suspected Juarez drug cartel chief Vicente Carrillo Fuentes days after the detention of Hector Beltran Leyva, boss of the Beltran Leyva Cartel. 

* Bolivia: Polls indicated that Bolivian president Evo Morales is expected to easily triumph in Sunday’s general election and will be reelected to a third straight term in office.

* Venezuela: A World Bank arbitration board ruled that the Venezuelan government must pay ExxonMobil around $1.6 billion in compensation for a 2007 nationalization.

* Ecuador: Did the European Union “bully” Ecuador in order to sign on to a free trade agreement?

Video Source  – Noticieros Televisa via YouTube (Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, seen here after he was arrested on Thursday, was one of Mexico's most wanted criminals and he faced a number of charges in the U.S. including drug trafficking and money laundering).

Online Sources – CNN; The Latin Americanist; LAHT; Voice of America; teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: April 22, 2014

* Mexico: Could Mexico’s new food labeling rules aimed at reversing an obesity epidemic backfire and lead to an increased consumption of items with sugar?

* Uruguay: Uruguayan President Jose Mujica may have given the green light to a U.S. deal that would allow the repatriation of five Guantanamo detainees but he rejected the possibility of a free trade pact with the U.S.
  
* Argentina: U.S. Supreme Court justices listened to arguments yesterday regarding a lawsuit from creditors seeking payment of Argentina's $82 billion default in 2001.
  
* Peru: A new poll found that two in three Peruvians oppose a proposal that would permit civil unions though most people back specific components of the bill.

Video Source– AFP via YouTube
 
Online Sources – NBC News; Businessweek; Xinhua; GlobalPost; Gayopolis

Daily Headlines: February 18, 2014

* Honduras: A United Nations-affiliated report released yesterday found that Honduras continues to have the world’s highest homicide rate even though the rate in murders dropped 6.5% last year.

* U.S.: Is the "fear of deportation" be one of the main reasons behind sagging Latino enrollment in health care programs covered under the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare?

* Mexico: The proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, expanding free trade and easing travel restrictions are topics likely to be discussed by the heads of the U.S., Canadian and Mexican governments at the  “Three Amigos” summit that starts today.

* Brazil: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff clamed that her country will become the world’s top producer of soybeans by the end of this year.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube (“In Honduras, the military police is a highly visible presence in the most violent region of Tegucigalpa and the San Pedro Sula, where residents have been plagued by violent gang crime”).

Online Sources- CBC News; Herald Sun; New York Times; Time

Daily Headlines: February 11, 2014

* Latin America: The presidents representing the four member countries of Latin America's Pacific Alliance signed a deal aimed at promoting free trade between Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Chile.

* Brazil: A Brazilian TV cameraman seriously injured while covering a protest in Rio de Janeiro last Thursday was declared brain dead by doctors treating him.
 
* Cuba: E.U. foreign ministers agreed to negotiations with the Cuban government as part of a push to improve ties between Europe and the Caribbean island.

* Bolivia: Rescuers in Bolivia suspended the search for potential survivors of a mudslide caused by heavy rains that have killed at least forty-two people during the current rainy season.

Video Source – teleSUR via YouTube (Costa Rica and Panama could join the Pacific Alliance trade bloc that was formed by Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Chile in 2012).
 
Online Sources- Miami Herald; Reuters; ABC News; The Latin Americanist; Voice of America

Daily Headlines: October 1, 2012

* U.S.: According to a new study the multiracial population has grown faster than single race individuals, which includes six percent of Hispanic 2010 Census responders who identified themselves as belonging to more than one race.
 
* Haiti: A ban on the importing, manufacturing, and marketing of non-biodegradable plastic bags and Styrofoam containers will start today.

* Honduras: Soldiers are being deployed on buses with the hope of preventing violence in a country reportedly the world's highest murder rate.
 
* Panama: U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said that a free trade pact between the U.S. and Panama “will be implemented very soon.”

Video Source – YouTube via user destinationcb

Online Sources- Huffington Post, BBC News, Christian Science Monitor, Reuters

Today’s Video: May Day in Cartagena

From Ascunción to Tegucigalpa, May Day rallies were held on Tuesday throughout the Americas.

The below video shows the march held in the Colombian port of city Cartagena where an estimated ten thousand people called for “greater social assistance, the right to work” and attention to other economic problems affecting residents:

Last month U.S. President Barack Obama and his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, said that a bilateral trade pact would go into effect on May 15th.

The agreement has received support from business interests in Colombia and the U.S. but has faced strong opposition by labor unions in both countries.

Video Source – YouTube via eluniversalmedia

Online Sources – Portafolio.com BusinessWeek, ABC Color, LaTribuna.hn

Daily Headlines: October 24, 2011

* Cuba: A Freedom House report concluded that economic reforms announced by the government last year represented the “most significant positive change to have taken place in Cuba since communism was introduced half a century ago.”

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales gave in to demands from indigenous protesters and dropped the plans for the construction of a highway through a national park.

* Latin America: U.S. President Barack Obama signed a trio of free trade agreements including deals with Panama and Colombia.

* Uruguay: Tobacco giant Philip Morris blamed strong anti-smoking laws in its decision to close its plant in Uruguay.

Image – Flickr via user darkroomillusions

Online Sources- Christian Science Monitor, CNN, Xinhua, Reuters

Weekend Headlines: October 15-16, 2011

* Cuba: Rest in peace Laura Pollan. The founder of Cuba’s Ladies in White dissident group died on Friday at the age of 63.

* Mexico: The Pan American Games in Guadalajara commenced with the opening ceremonies last night but the first day of competition was marred by two athletes expelled due to doping.

* South America: Will Ecuador be the biggest beneficiary of a U.S.-Colombia free trade pact that was passed by Congress days ago?

* El Salvador: At least 36 people have died as a result of flooding and mudslides caused by heavy rainfall.

Video Source – Via YouTube user euronews (Footage from an August Ladies in White protest including alleged harassment from pro-government supporters).

Online Sources- UPI, Xinhua, Reuters, CSMonitor.com, CBS News

Daily Headlines: October 13, 2011

* Latin America: The U.S. Congress yesterday passed several free trade agreements including pacts with Colombia and Panama.

* Chile: On the one-year anniversary of the rescue of thirty-three trapped Chilean miners Edison Peña is still in rehab and some of his cohorts haven’t fared much better.

* Haiti: President Michel Martelly met separately with former leaders Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier in order to reportedly seek a reconciliation.

* U.S.: The House of Representatives Oversight Committee ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to hand over documents related to the failed “Operation Fast and Furious.”

Image – Via Flickr user roger4336 (Shops and businesses located in the Colon, Panama free trade zone).
Online Sources- Reuters, Deutsche Welle, MSNBC, The Latin Americanist, USA TODAY

Daily Headlines: October 4, 2011

* Peru: Nearly three hundred women including at least five minors were rescued after having been forced into prostitution in the Amazon state of Madre de Dios.

* Puerto Rico: The commonwealth joined a lawsuit with seven states and the Department of Justice seeking to prevent the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile.

* Latin America: U.S. President Barack Obama formally submitted free trade pacts with Colombia and Panama to Congress for approval.

* Cuba: Officials claimed that U.S.-government-run Radio/TV Marti is breaking Cuban law by sending SMS messages to the island’s cell phone users.

Video Source – NTN24 via YouTube (Five people were arrested and charged with human trafficking due to there suspected role behind a Peruvian prostitution ring).

Online Sources - MSNBC, MiamiHerald.com, Reuters, PC Magazine

Daily Headlines: October 3, 2011

* Cuba: According to the Miami Herald’s website the first member of a group of convicted spies known as the “Cuban Five” will be released from prison on Friday.

* Latin America: U.S. President Barack Obama could send stalled free trade pacts with Colombia and Panama to Congress today, while Human Rights Watch warned that Colombia has made "virtually no progress" in getting convictions against killers of labor activists.

* Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez claimed that he prayed to “God to protect the life of our brother Muammar Gaddafi” and also expressed solidarity with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

* Argentina: Los Pumas qualified to the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup but they will face the daunting task of trying to beat host country and heavy favorites New Zealand.

Online Sources - NPR, MiamiHerald.com, Reuters, CBC News

Image –BBC News (Supporters of the “Cuban Five” claim that they were wrongly convicted of spying on the U.S. government and have been mistreated while imprisoned).

Daily Headlines: September 21, 2011

* Ecuador: By a 3-to-1 vote an appeals court upheld the libel convictions and sentences against three former newspaper executives and ex-El Universo editorialist Emilio Palacio.

* Haiti: A medical records review of Wildrick Guerrier, a Haitian man who died in January after being deported from the U.S., reportedly showed that he was healthy during his time in detention.

* U.S.: A trio of stalled free trade pacts including agreements with Panama and Colombia could finally be moving forward in Congress.

* Mexico: Police nabbed a former police chief turned suspected “key figure” of the Knights Templar drug gang.

Image – La Republica

Online Sources- Boston Globe, forbes.com, The Latin Americanist, NPR, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: September 9, 2011

* Mexico: Local energy officials claimed that power has been resorted to almost all of the 1.1 million customers whose electricity was temporarily cut off in a blackout that also affected the southwestern U.S.

* U.S.: A report presented yesterday found that basic legal rights might've been broken in the deportations of tens of thousands of Latino illegal immigrants.

* Brazil: A judge upheld the thirty-year prison sentence against a rancher convicted of the 2005 murder of nun and environmental activist Dorothy Stang.

* Latin America: U.S. President Barack Obama called on Congress to “clear the way” for free trade pacts with Colombia and Panama.

Image – Reuters via CBC News (“A couple walk their dogs past a malfunctioning traffic intersection in Cardiff, Calif., following a sweeping power outage that knocked out power in parts of the U.S. southwest and Mexico.”)

Online Sources- Huffington Post, Fox News Latino, CNN, Colombia Reports

Daily Headlines: August 17, 2011

* U.S.: A few hundred demonstrators including Latino activists protested in several cities throughout the country against the Obama administration’s immigration policy.

* Brazil: President Dilma Rousseff may not be as keen as her predecessor was on arms purchases but that hasn’t stopped international firms like Boeing and Saab from attempting to land a multibillion-dollar fighter jet contract.

* Puerto Rico: Could Puerto Rican residents soon be allowed the right to vote in federal elections?

* Honduras: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper capped his official visit to Latin America by announcing that his country and Honduras reached a free trade agreement.

Image – New York Times (“In Chicago on Tuesday, a protest against policies leading to deportations.” Demonstrators criticized the current immigration policy including the increased number of deportations as well as problems with the Secure Communities program).
Online Sources- Reuters, AHN, UPI, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: July 20, 2011

* Chile: Medical examiners concluded that ex-President Salvador Allende committed suicide and was not murdered during a military coup in September 1973.

* Ecuador: Court proceedings began in an $80 million libel lawsuit pitting President Rafael Correa against editors at the El Universo newspaper.

* U.S.: Congressional ratification of free trade pacts with Colombia and Panama could be further delayed until September according to the White House.

* Uruguay: Two goals from Luis Suarez lifted Uruguay over Peru and into the Copa America finals.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English (The 37-year mystery into the death of Salvador Allende appears to have been finally solved after his corpse was exhumed and an autopsy was performed).
Online Sources- BBC News, CNN, Reuters, USA TODAY

Daily Headlines: July 12, 2011

* U.S.: While Congress continues to play politics with the Panama and Colombia free trade deals, “scores of protesters” gathered across from the White House to rally against the agreement with Colombia.

* Haiti: Did the Haitian government really reject cholera vaccinations, as was clamed by the head of a Dutch pharmaceutical firm?

* Panama: The Central American country improved on international tax standards and isn’t the tax haven it used to be according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

* Chile: Approximately 45,000 workers at state-owned mining giant Codelco went on strike to voice their opposition to a government-backed "modernization plan."

Image – semana.com
Online Sources- Reuters, Defend Haiti, The Telegraph, LAHT

Daily Headlines: July 1, 2011

* Mexico: Heavy rains and strong winds from Tropical Storm Arlene pelted most of Mexico yesterday while twenty foot waves forced the port of Veracruz to close.

* U.S.: A breakthrough in the debate over U.S free trade pacts with Colombia and Panama lasted less than a day.

* South America: Members of the Mercosur trade bloc are pushing for progress on free trade discussions with the E.U.

* Guatemala: The country's electoral tribunal rejected the presidential candidacy of Sandra Torres who divorced her husband, current President Alvaro Colom, in order to run for office.

Image – AFP
Online Sources- Politico, UPI, CNN, Voice of America, The Latin Americanist