Daily Headlines: October 28, 2016

* Brazil: Brazilian authorities warned that a recent outbreak of prison violence between the PCC and Comando Vermelho criminal groups could spill on to the streets.

* Panama: The Panamanian government took a big step in its push to remove the stigma from the Panama Papers leak by signing a multilateral treaty to combat tax evasion.

* Cuba: The United Sates Food and Drug Administration has purportedly given the green light for the clinical trial of a Cuban lung cancer medicine known as CIMAvax.

* Haiti: Spain’s soccer federation has been ordered to return around $240,000 in public funds that were misappropriated instead of being spent on a project in Haiti.

YouTube Source – AFP 

Online Sources – InSight Crime, ESPN FC, Reuters, The Latin Americanist, CBC

Daily Headlines: July 29, 2016 (Updated)

* El Salvador: Amid the mass arrest of 120 suspected Mara Salvatrucha gang members, ombudsman David Morales warned of the emergence of death squads and extrajudicial killings “for purposes of social cleansing.”

* Brazil: The federal judge overseeing the “Lava Jato” investigation should be removed from the case, according to a petition from a lawyer on behalf ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to the United Nations.

Update: Lula will be forced to stand trial on obstruction charges related to his alleged role in the "Lava Jato" corruption probe.

* Costa Rica: Nearly 2300 metric tons of cocaine was seized by Costa Rican authorities from a fishing ship off the Pacific coast.

* Venezuela: Several firms from the United States operating in Venezuela are reportedly using an accounting maneuver known as deconsolidation in order to protect themselves from the severely weakened economy in the South American country.

YouTube Source – AFP

Online Sources including Update – Xinhua, Fox News Latino, Voice of America, Bloomberg, Reuters, BBC News

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: May 27, 2016

* Mexico: While questions continue in the official investigation of the 43 Ayotzinapa college students missing since September 2014, one of the survivors of the attack against his classmates has sought political asylum in the U.S.

* El Salvador: The Salvadoran legislature approved issuing $152 million in bonds in order to finance proposals to combat rampant gang violence.

* Brazil: Police are searching for at least thirty suspects behind the gang rape of a sixteen-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro that was recorded and uploaded on Twitter.

* Panama: The Panamanian Supreme Court urged the federal government to seek the extradition of ex-President Ricardo Martinelli from the U.S.

YouTube Source – AJ+ (Video uploaded in September 2015.  Yesterday marked twenty months since the 43 Ayotzinapa students have disappeared and may have been murdered).
 
Online Sources – The Atlantic, Vice News, euronews, CBC, Reuters

Daily Headlines: May 6, 2016

* El Salvador: Salvadoran authorities claimed that homicides declined last April by 15.8% but some analysts worry the government’s “zero tolerance approach” could lead to increased gang violence.

* Venezuela: At an Organization of American States meeting, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez accused the U.S. of orchestrating a campaign of “ongoing and relentless aggression” against her country.

* Colombia: Colombian police arrested Nidal Waked, a man named by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency as “one of the world's most significant drug money launderers and criminal facilitators.”

* Haiti: Several thousand protesters took to the streets of Port-au-Prince to demonstrate over the political crisis stemming from delayed presidential elections.

YouTube Source – CCTV America (“In El Salvador, it's estimated someone is murdered every hour.  It could become the world's most violent country if not already.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, The Miami Herald, BBC News, SBS

Daily Headlines: April 26, 2016

* Costa Rica: Some 600 migrants from Africa will be deported back to their respective countries of origin even though Costa Rican immigration officials admitted that such an action would be expensive.

* Colombia: A new report from a Colombian NGO found that paramilitaries continues to exist and are behind criminal actions including “drug-trafficking, smuggling, (and) illegal mining.”

* El Salvador: The Salvadoran Legislative Assembly approved a series of measures to combat gang violence such as labeling the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 as "terrorist groups.”

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan Supreme Court halted opposition-led efforts to cut President Nicolás Maduro’s term short by two years.

YouTube Source – africanews (“Costa Rican authorities (earlier this month) deported some 250 African migrants of different nationalities to Panama”.)

Online Sources – BBC News, InSightCrime, The Tico Times, Colombia Reports

Daily Headlines: April 21, 2016 (Updated)

* Latin America: The presidents of Mexico and Colombia each called out for reforming global antidrug efforts at the U.N. Drug Policy Summit though they face opposition from other leaders more satisfied with the status quo.

Update: Bolivian President Evo Morales also criticized the contemporary "war on drugs" efforts and urged states to take an approach that "respects human rights and national sovereignty."
 

respects human rights and national sovereignty

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address: 
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respects human rights and national sovereignty

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address: 
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* El Salvador: Salvadoran authorities unveiled a new special unit containing “600 army commandos and 400 specially trained elite police officers” aimed at combating rampant gang violence.

* Puerto Rico: Time is not on Puerto Rico’s side as the U.S. Congress continues to delay discussion on a plan to help restructure a $70 billion debt.

* Mexico: At least thirteen people died and 130 are injured following an explosion at a Pemex facility located in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

YouTube Source – The National

Online Sources including Update – Reuters, The Guardian, NBC News, Voice of America, Fox News Latino, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: April 6, 2016

* Ecuador: Ecuador’s state-owned Petroamazonas signed $1 billion in deals with Chinese firms amid controversy over the beginning of oil drilling near the Yasuni national park.

* Central America: According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, gang violence is to blame for the exodus of tens of thousands of migrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to other Central America states and the U.S.

* Peru: An estimated 30,000 people marched in Lima to protest against presidential frontrunner Keiko Fujimori on the 23rd anniversary of the infamous “self-coup” by her father, then-leader Alberto Fujimori.

* Mexico: Some 40% of cars in Mexico City were left off the road while the public transit system was oversaturated after the first “Hoy No Circula” vehicle restriction day on Wednesday.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour (Video uploaded in August 2013).
 
Online Sources – Xinhua, The Guardian, euronews, ABC News, CBC

Daily Headlines: March 30, 2016

* Costa Rica: A Costa Rican court convicted and sentenced four men to prison sentences of between 74 and 90 years for the 2013 murder of sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora Sandoval.

* Argentina: British Prime Minister David Cameron tried to downplay a U.N. commission decision finding that waters around the disputed Falkland Islands belong to Argentina.

* Venezuela: In the latest clash between Venezuela’s government and opposition, President Nicolás Maduro threatened with vetoing a law granting amnesty to political prisoners.

* El Salvador: Salvadoran authorities declared a state of emergency for the prison system and cracked down against inmates allied to street gangs.

YouTube Source – Vice News (Video uploaded in June 2015).

Online Sources – The Telegraph, The Guardian, Tico Times, euronews

Daily Headlines: March 28, 2016 (Updated)

* El Salvador: “We have ordered all of our people . . . to halt all types of homicides nationwide,” said a masked figure purportedly representing the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs in a video claiming that both groups will renew an anti-murder truce.

Update: El Salvador's police chief and a spokesman for President Salvador Sánchez Cerén each rejected the possibility of negotiating with the gangs.
 
* U.S.: Santiago Erevia, a former U.S. Army sergeant who in 2014 received the Medal of Honor after decades of racial discrimination, passed away last week at the age of 69.

* Cuba: Ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro blasted U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to the island last week even though Obama held multiple talks with current Fidel’s brother and current Cuban President Raul Castro.

* Mexico: Authorities have reportedly arrested a man nicknamed “King Midas” who allegedly laundered up to $400 million yearly for Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel.

YouTube Source – Vice News (Video uploaded on December 2015).
 
Online Sources including Update – The Toronto Star, Fox News Latino, BBC News, CNN, ABC News

Daily Headlines: November 18, 2015

* Haiti: The anticipated runoff in the race for Haiti’s next president could be in danger after electoral officials refused to appoint an independent board to verify the first round of elections held last month.

* Central America: Costa Rica proposed a “humanitarian corridor” for Cuban migrants in their journey to the U.S. though it’s unknown if such a proposal will calm a diplomatic row with Nicaragua.

* El Salvador: Despite an uptick in gang violence Salvadoran police concluded that roughly two out of every three murders were unconnected to groups like MS-13 and Barrio 18.

* Mexico: TransCanada, the firm whose planned expansion of the Keystone pipeline network was rejected in the U.S., is looking at Mexico for increased investment opportunities.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – Miami Herald, CBS News, InSight Crime, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: August 26, 2015

* Guatemala: The Guatemalan Supreme Court gave the green light for impeachment proceedings against President Otto Perez Molina, while another tribunal ordered former dictator Efrain Rios Montt to face a retrial on genocide charges.

* Argentina: Police clashed with protesters in the Argentine province of Tucuman over allegations of ballot burning following last Sunday’s gubernatorial election.

* El Salvador: El Salvador’s Attorney General claimed to have uncovered a plot by street gangs to detonate explosives against his office and other government agencies.

* Puerto Rico: The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which is in more than $8 billion in debt, cut its ties to Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras as part of a move to save costs.

YouTube Source – Al Jazeera English (Efrain Rios Montt was found guilty of ordering the massacre of over 1700 indigenous Guatemalans in 1982 but the conviction was overturned in 2013).
 
Online Sources – CNN, Business Insider, Voice of America, ABC News, Yahoo News

Daily Headlines: August 24, 2015

* Guatemala: During a televised speech on Sunday night, a defiant President Otto Pérez Molina refused to step down from his post despite being implicated by investigators in a growing customs fraud scandal.

* Peru: President Ollanta Humala is expected to sign into law a proposal allowing the Peruvian military to shoot down suspected aircraft attempting to smuggle drugs.

* El Salvador: “An internal dispute involving the feared Barrio 18 gang” is believed to have been the cause of a prison riot that left at least fourteen people dead.

* U.S.: A recent survey found that the environment is a topic that has gained importance among potential Latino voters.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (“Thousands of demonstrators demanded the ouster of Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina on Saturday following the arrest of Vice President Roxana Baldetti in a graft scandal that has rocked the country.”)

Online Sources – Bloomberg, The Indpendent, RTE, NPR

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 6, 2015

* Mexico: Mexican police arrested a suspect in the recent massacre of five people including a photojournalist and a #YoSoy132 activist but that may not be enough to allay fears among members of the press and human rights campaigners.

* Puerto Rico: Could statehood help Puerto Rico overcome their public debt woes or is it an unrealistic solution?

* Uruguay: More than 400,000 workers could protest tools today and participate in the first general strike in Uruguay since 2007.

* El Salvador: Four people were killed in the latest bloody incident involving bus drivers caught amid rampant gang violence.

YouTube Source – Al Jazeera English
 
Online Sources – Newsweek, The San Luis Obispo Tribune, BBC News, Bloomberg, Yahoo News

Daily Headlines: July 31, 2015

* El Salvador: Salvadoran authorities are doing too little to protect thousands of children under threat from gang violence according to “U.S.-based advocacy group” Refugees International.

* Mexico: A Mexican judge approved a request to extradite fugitive drug capo Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to the U.S., while 80% of Mexicans in a recent poll doubted the official version of his July 11th escape from prison.

* Venezuela: Soldiers took over the warehouse complex of Venezuela’s largest food distributor, Empresas Polar, amid shortages of basic goods in grocery stores.

* Brazil: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced nearly $600 million in extra education spending cuts amid government attempts to turn around a lagging economy.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (“The transportation strike enforced by street gangs in San Salvador and surrounding areas continues and has become more violent, with a 7th bus driver killed (on July 29th).”)

Online Sources – Houston Chronicle, Reuters, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: July 21, 2015

* El Salvador: Salvadoran deputy police chief Howard Cotto ruled out negotiating with street gangs despite a call for dialogue in order to reduce high rates of violence.

* Brazil: Three executives of Brazil's Camargo Correa construction became the first figures to receive prison sentences in relation to a major bribery and corruption scandal that has rocked the South American country.

* Puerto Rico: Could statehood serve as a viable solution to alleviate Puerto Rico’s $73 billion debt?

* Uruguay: Alcides Ghigga, the Uruguayan game-winning goal scorer in the World Cup upset over Brazil known as the Maracanazo, died on the 65th anniversary of that game.

YouTube Source – wochit Latin America (“The month of June saw 677 murders in El Salvador. That's more than in any other single month since the end of the country's civil war.”)
 
Online Sources – Rappler, Deutsche Welle, The New York Times, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: May 11, 2015

* El Salvador: At least ten suspected MS-13 members were killed on Saturday amid a surge of gang-related violence that has led to 481 murders in March 2015 alone.

* Cuba: Cuban President Raul Castro met with Pope Francis yesterday, thanked the pontiff for brokering the diplomatic thaw between his country and the U.S., and “promised” to attend all the Pope’s masses during his September visit to the Caribbean island.

* Peru: The Peruvian military has been deployed to the southern Arequipa region where police have clashed with residents opposed to the $1.4 billion Tia Maria copper project.

* Mexico: Mexican boxer Saul "Canelo" Alvarez beat James Kirkland in an electrifying bout that was the polar opposite of the dull and overhyped Mayweather-Pacquaio match one week prior.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English

Online Sources – Reuters, Christian Science Monitor, The Latin Americanist, ESPN, UPI

Daily Headlines: April 24, 2015

* El Salvador: Congress is considering declaring a “state of siege” for the first time since the civil war era while Salvadoran police proposed the return of “death squads” as an extreme measure to combat increased violence from street gangs.

* South America: Argentine team San Lorenzo was eliminated from the Copa Libertadores; thus, South America’s top soccer club tournament will not have a repeat champion for the thirteenth straight year.

* Bolivia: Lawmakers and farmers in Bolivia were unable to reach a compromise over the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

* Uruguay: Turbine manufacture Gamesa of Spain plans to supply fifty megawatts of equipment for a Uruguayan wind energy farm expected to start functioning in 2016.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (Video published in January 2015.)
 
Online Sources – ESPN FC, The Latin Americanist, IPS, Bloomberg, teleSUR

Daily Headlines: October 31, 2014

* South America: Venezuela’s PDVSA will import light crude allegedly as a “cost-saving” measure while Argentine legislators approved an energy reform bill that reportedly could help boost the country’s shale oil production.

* Colombia: The FARC rebels admitted to “assuming their role” in Colombia’s armed conflict but claimed to have never purposefully targeted the civilian population.

* Nicaragua: How has Nicaragua avoided the rampant gang violence that has led to high crime rates in other Central American countries?

* Panama: Regulators in Panama fined a U.S. firm seeking to sell the world’s first genetically modified salmon for human consumption.

Video Source – CCTV America via YouTube
 
Online Sources – Reuters; Bloomberg; NPR; Latin American Herald Tribune; Inter Press Service