Daily Headlines: October 27, 2016

* Cuba: Cuban state media hailed as “a triumph of the heroic resistance of the Cuban people” the United Nations General Assembly’s symbolic yet overwhelming condemnation of the United States trade embargo against the Caribbean state.

* Colombia: Envoys for the Colombian government and the ELN rebels are preparing to start formal negotiations in Ecuador, while talks are taking place in Havana over the renegotiation of the peace deal with the FARC that was recently defeated in a tightly contested referendum.

* Brazil: According to Survival International, isolated indigenous groups in northwestern Brazil face “annihilation” over what they view as one of the worst land grabs in decades.

* Venezuela: One police officer was killed and dozens reported injured amid mass demonstrations supporting and opposing the rule of President Nicolas Maduro.

YouTube Source – AFP (Barring abstentions by the United States and Israel, not a single member of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday voted in favor of the trade embargo against Cuba.)
 
Online Sources – Granma, Colombia Reports, Phys Org, CNN, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: October 20, 2016

* Latin America: Latin America has become “one of the most urbanized regions of the world” over the past three decades, according to Development Bank of Latin America executive president Enrique Garcia.

* South America: Former Brazilian lower house chief Eduardo Cunha was arrested yesterday over his alleged role in the “Lava Jato” corruption scandal, while Venezuelan opposition figure Manuel Rosales was transferred from jail to house arrest.

* Mexico: The Mexican peso slipped by around 0.5% following the third United States presidential debate though is has strengthened by some 7% since the first debate on September 7th.

* Honduras: Human rights campaigners condemned the murders of two northern Honduras land rights activists representing farmers in their dispute against multinational firms.

YouTube Source – NYU Stern Urbanization Project (From 2014: “The expansion of built up urban land in São Paulo, 1881 - 2000.”)

Online Sources – Xinhua, Bloomberg, UPI, BBC News, Reuters

Daily Headlines: July 13, 2016

* Paraguay: A Paraguayan court sentenced eleven farmers to a maximum of thirty years in prison for the deaths of policemen during land rights protests that were the catalyst for the ouster of ex-President Fernando Lugo.

* Ecuador: Human rights groups criticized the Ecaudoran government’s decision last week to deport 75 Cuban migrants arrested for protesting outside the Mexican embassy in Quito.

* Puerto Rico: Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla of Puerto Rico warned that the commonwealth still faces major fiscal challenges despite the recent approval of a law providing relief to the $70 billion public debt.

* Latin America: Officials from Mexico and the United States agreed on a plan to improve access to asylum for Central American migrants seeking to escape rampant violence and economic hardship in their respective countries.

YouTube Source – Al Jazeera English (From March 2014: “Thousands of Paraguayan farmers have gathered outside the country's Congress in Asuncion to vent their frustration at (then) President Horacio Cartes, who they say has failed to deliver on land reform promises.”)
 
Online Sources – BBC News, ABC News, Reuters, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: April 7, 2016

* Haiti: Political obstacles continue to plague Haiti’s presidential election, which has been postponed multiple times since last December.

* Brazil: The wheels continue turning in the impeachment process against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff though her potential successor, Michel Temer, might also face impeachment.

* Guatemala: Fourteen suspects were arrested and accused of forcing farmers at gunpoint to sell their land at undervalued rates.

* Venezuela: The head of Spain’s emerging Podemos political party rejected allegations that the group received millions of dollars from the Venezuelan government.

YouTube Source – AFP (Video uploaded on January 23, 2016).

Online Sources – ABC News, Fox News Latino, Reuters, BBC News, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: November 11, 2015

* South America: Polls this week have given Argentine opposition candidate Mauricio Macri a minimum six-point lead ahead of the November 22nd runoff, while Organization of American States chief Luis Almagro blasted Venezuelan officials for failing to guarantee the December 6th legislative elections.

* El Salvador: A media probe found that authorities have not looked into the murders of fourteen people by death squads despite El Salvador’s high homicide rates.

* Honduras: Indigenous people living on the Caribbean coast of Honduras claimed that their land is being illegally seized by squatters and narcotraffickers.

* Latin America: Leaders at the Summit of South American-Arab Countries called for a political settlement in Syria and condemned Iranian interference in the Middle East.

YouTube Source – Financial Times
 
Online Sources – Reuters, Gulf News, NBC News, InSight Crime, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: August 31, 2015

* U.S.: In the decade since Hurricane Katrina ravaged through New Orleans, the booming Latino community has been instrumental in the city’s often-arduous reconstruction efforts.

* Caribbean: Could the tropical storm that recently ravaged the island if Hispaniola affect the hundreds of thousand of former Dominicans of Haitian background who are currently stateless?

* South America: More than 7000 Colombian nationals residing in Venezuela have fled across the border after President Nicolas Maduro on August 19th ordered the closure of several border posts in Táchira state.

* Brazil: The brother of an indigenous Guarani leader became the latest fatality in the bloody and violent land disputes involving small communities and large, wealthy landowners.

YouTube Source – WDSU News (“The Hispanic population in New Orleans took off after the storm and the boom has carried over to neighboring parishes, too.”)
 
Online Sources – BBC News, Fox News Latino, NBC News, USA TODAY, CBS News

Daily Headlines: March 19, 2014

* Venezuela: Federal legislators called for an investigation against opposition congresswoman Maria Corina Machado while anti-government demonstrators rallied on the one-month anniversary of the arrest of protest leader Leopoldo Lopez.

* Central America: A new study concluded that state recognition of indigenous land rights could serve as a vital deterrent for drug trafficking in Central America. 

* Mexico: Jorge Arvizu, the veteran Mexican voice actor who was the Spanish-speaking world’s Mel Blanc, died yesterday at the age of 81.

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos will likely finalize the dismissal and fifteen-year suspension of Bogotá mayor Gustavo Petro sometime this week.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube

Online Sources- The Guardian; Tico Times; LAHT; Al Jazeera English

Daily Headlines: February 17, 2014

* Argentina: Emiliano Lasalvia won a World Press Photo award in the Sports category for his image of a polo player falling underneath his horse.

* Latin America: Mexico City could become the latest Latin American area to decriminalize marijuana use while the Colombian government and FARC guerrilla might soon reach an agreement on drug trafficking.

* Haiti: Officials in Haiti will start an investigation into the deaths of human rights activist Daniel Dorsinvil and his wife who were gunned down on February 8th.

* Brazil: President Dilma Rousseff met with Brazilian land rights campaigners and pledged to make a new push for agrarian reform.

Video Source – Vimeo user elasalvia

Online Sources- LAHT; Reuters; Al Jazeera America; thesundaily; World Press Photo

Daily Headlines: February 13, 2014

* Mexico: Members of the media in the Mexican state of Veracruz decried the recent murder of journalist Gregorio Jiménez and expressed doubt that he was killed due to a personal vendetta.

* Haiti: The Haitian government has launched a new program aimed at providing documentation to expats including the tens of thousands whose citizenship was controversially stripped in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

* Honduras: A report from Human Rights Watch blasted Honduran authorities for failing to properly investigate the deaths of scores of people due to land disputes.

* Argentina: Reports of Buenos Aires officials ordering a cruise ship to lower down its British flag has become the latest point of tension in the diplomatic relations between the U.K. and Argentina.

Video Source – YouTube user CadenaTres

Online Sources- Global Voices Online; Washington Post; The Latin Americanist; Los Angeles Times; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: September 13, 2013

* Uruguay: Recent polls have shown growing public support for a proposal to legalize marijuana use though most Uruguayans are still opposed to it.

* Honduras: The government granted the rights to over 1.6 million acres of coastal land to some 21,800 members of indigenous Miskito communities.

* Cuba: Hundreds of people marched to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana yesterday and called for the release of four Cuban intelligence agents convicted of spying in 2001.

* Venezuela: Regional newspapers are reportedly in danger of shutting down due to the escalating costs of newsprint.

Video Source – YouTube via AFP (Video uploaded on Aug 1, 2013).

Online Sources- GlobalPost; Businessweek; Christian Science Monitor; UPI

Court Orders Retrial in Dorothy Stang Murder Case

Brazil’s top court ordered a retrial of a rancher convicted of masterminding the murder of U.S. nun and environmentalist Dorothy Stang.

"The right to a defense is a value that must prevail, because it is fundamental for the development of a fair trial," Supreme Court justice Ricardo Lewandowsky said regarding the annulment of a 30-year prison sentence against Vitalmiro Vastos de Moura.

The 73-year-old Stang was gunned down in February 2005 as she was returning home from a community meeting in the state of Pará.

In 2007 de Moura was convicted of planning the murder of Stang, a tireless campaigner for the preservation of the Amazon and for the rights of poor landowners. One year later, a jury overturned de Moura’s conviction much to the disappointment of then-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and human rights groups.  In April 2010, however, de Moura was again convicted and sentenced to thirty years behind bars after several of his co-conspirators testified against him.

De Moura will remain in prison awaiting a third murder trial, which could commence as soon as the end of May.  In the meantime, land rights activists in Brazil decried the Supreme Court’s ruling:

Daily Headlines: December 19, 2012

* Paraguay: Amnesty International called on authorities to look into the “potential responsibility of police” involved in June land clashes that led to the ouster of then-President Fernando Lugo.

* U.S.: Fans and loved ones of recently deceased musician Jenni Rivera are expected to attend a memorial service today in Los Angeles.

* Latin America: Five Latin American countries including Colombia and Ecuador surpassed eighteenth-placed Brazil in the latest FIFA soccer rankings.

* Mexico: At least seventeen people died in an attempted prison break yesterday in the northern Durango state.

Daily Headlines: December 17, 2012

* Venezuela: Defeated opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles was reelected as Merida state governor though the ruling Socialist Party won twenty of twenty-three states.

* Cuba: Will the Cuban government expand its radio and television ban on reggaeton to other genres of music?

* Brazil: Corinthians of Brazil beat England’s Chelsea 1-0 in World Club Cup final and, thus, became the first from South America team to win the competition since 2006.

* Argentina: The International Monetary Fund could expel Argentina from the organization after failing to meet an inflation deadline.

Daily Headlines: November 6, 2012

* Nicaragua: The U.S. State Department claimed, “disturbing practices have marred multiple recent Nicaraguan elections” that were dominated by candidates representing the ruling Sandinista party.

* Chile: Defense Minister Andres Allamand and Public Works Minister Laurence Golborne left their posts and will likely launch their campaigns for the next year’s presidential election.

* Argentina: Leandro Favio, one of Argentina’s most well known cultural figures, died on Monday at the age of 74.
 
* Honduras: At least three people died over a conflict regarding land rights in the town of Tocoa.

Video Source – YouTube via user canalNTN24 (At leas three people died in violence after Sunday’s municipal elections in Nicaragua.)

Online Sources- Businessweek, BBC News, Huffington Post, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: October 29, 2012

* Panama: The legislature repealed a law that would’ve allowed the sale of public land in in the Colon Free Zone and that was vehemently opposed by protesting locals.

* U.S.: The Guatemalan consul in McAllen, Texas called for a “serious and big investigation” into the deaths of two of her countrymen by police sharpshooters riding in a helicopter.

* Mexico: Legislators will allegedly refuse to fast track a controversial bill aimed at reforming the Mexican labor system.

* Dominican Republic: Will a series of new tax breaks and the almost-finished Pinewood Indomina Studios lead to a filmmaking boom in the Dominican Republic?

Video Source – YouTube via euronews

Online Sources- Houston Chronicle, BBC News, Fox News Latino, Variety