Daily Headlines: September 14, 2016

* Brazil: Eduardo Cunha, the former Brazilian lower house speaker who helped lead the impeachment process against recently ousted President Dilma Rousseff, was himself expelled from the Chamber of Deputies over corruption allegations.

* Latin America: According to the State Department, seventeen Latin American and Caribbean states are still deemed as “major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries.”

* United States: A new poll taken in four key battleground states in the upcoming presidential election showed Latino voters overwhelmingly support former senator Hillary Clinton.

* Mexico: Investigators looking into the disappearance and possible massacre of forty-three trainee teachers nearly two years ago have widened their probe to focus on more police officers.

YouTube Source – Transparency International

Online Sources – The Atlantic, InSight Crime, Politico, Reuters

Daily Headlines: September 13, 2016

* Nicaragua: A new poll published weeks before the November 6th presidential election showed that incumbent Daniel Ortega continues with a massive lead ahead of his rivals.

* Venezuela: Human rights activists claimed extrajudicial killings in Venezuela have been on the rise since a government-backed crackdown on crime began fourteen months ago.

* Brazil: A spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee claimed that more than 1.9 million tickets have been sold for the Rio Paralympics, and the 170,000 plus attendees last Sunday surpassed any single day of the recently held Olympics.

* Argentina: Former Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner received a subpoena to testify as part of a corruption probe focused on her time in office.

YouTube Source – CCTV News (From August 3, 2016: “Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega has picked his wife, Rosario Murillo, as his running mate for November's election.”)
 
Online Sources – teleSUR English, Voice of America, CBC News, InSight Crime

Daily Headlines: August 30, 2016

* Brazil: A defiant suspended President Dilma Rousseff defended herself during a marathon session of Brazil’s Senate but it may not be enough to prevent her from being ousted as soon as later today.

* Puerto Rico: Monica Puig made made history this month by earning Puerto Rico’s first ever gold medal but the tennis star was shockingly eliminated in the first round of the U.S. Open.

* United States: A federal appeals court upheld an order denying asylum to twenty-eight immigrant mothers and their children who claimed they would face danger if deported to their Latin American countries of origin.

* Mexico: Federal police chief Enrique Galindo was fired from his post over denunciations against officers accused of the extrajudicial killings of twenty-two suspected drug gang members last year.

YouTube Source – euronews (“Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff has accused her critics of using trumped charges against her to trample on the country's democracy.”)

Online Sources – Daily Telegraph, ABC News, Reuters, USA TODAY

Daily Headlines: August 25, 2016

* Ecuador: President Rafael Correa of Ecuador and visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed methods both countries can attempt to boost lagging oil prices.

* Venezuela: Organization of American States chief Luis Almagro claimed Venezuelans are a "victim of bullying" from the government the same week President Nicolas Maduro threatened with firing public workers who signed a petition backing a recall referendum.

* Peru: Peruvian investigators officially launched a probe against eighteen police officers accused of participating in the extrajudicial killings of at least twenty people since 2012.

* United States: A group of mothers originally from Latin America and detained in an immigration center ended their two-week long hunger strike purportedly due to “threats from immigration officials.”

YouTube Source – Ruptly TV

Online Sources – Yahoo News, BBC News, UPI, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: April 4, 2016

* Peru: Poll frontrunner Keiko Fujimori flip-flopped and pledged to not pardon her father, imprisoned former Peruvian leader Alberto Fujimori, if she wins the presidency in elections scheduled for next week.

* Venezuela: A Human Rights Watch report assailed Venezuelan law enforcement for extrajudicial killings of suspected gang members as part of a crackdown against crime.

* Haiti: Several hundred protesters including disabled rights activists and human rights advocates marched in Port-au-Prince last Friday to condemn the murders of three deaf Haitian women.

* U.S.: The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the current “one person, one vote” rule to decide voting districts in a decision that prevented shifting “political power away from fast-growing communities of immigrants”.

YouTube Source – NTDTV (Ex-president Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison in 2009 for human rights abuses during his decade as Peru’s president).
 
Online Sources – Reuters, InSight Crime, CBS News, The Los Angeles Times

Daily Headlines: March 15, 2016

* Venezuela: Authorities in southeastern Venezuela have recovered the bodies of seventeen men missing for over a week and possibly massacred in a case of illegal mining.

* Cuba: Ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip next week to Cuba, the Treasury Department announced new relaxing of travel and trade restrictions.

* Canada: A new report concluded that deporting convicts from Canada to Jamaica and Honduras could have a “boomerang effect” on crime in the North American country.

* U.S.: As a new slate of presidential primaries take place today, it’s worth noting that Latinos don't represent a monolithic voting bloc.

YouTube Source – Al Jazeera English (June 2014 report on the Venezuelan mining industry.)
 
Online Sources – CBC, Fox News Latino, Quartz, MarketWatch

Daily Headlines: September 10, 2015

* Latin America: According to the Pan American Health Organization, “ultra-processed food products and fast food are occupying a larger and larger share of what people eat and drink in Latin America, with very negative results.”

* U.S.: The Washington State Attorney General plans to review the decision made by a local prosecutor to not charge police officers who killed an unarmed Mexican national last February.

* Haiti: A record fifty-four Haitians registered as presidential candidates amid a poor economy, controversy over corruption and a humanitarian crisis involving stateless residents of Haitian background.

* Mexico: Did fugitive Mexican drug capo Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman flee to Costa Rica or is his son trying to throw authorities off his father’s trail?

YouTube Source – Duetsche Welle
 
Online Sources – GlobalPost, Jamaica Observer, King 5, Tico Times

The Weekender: Militias of Michoacán

“The Weekender” is our new feature where every weekend we hope to highlight a short film, movie or documentary pertaining to the Americas.

In the early morning hours of February 27th Mexican authorities captured the country’s most wanted criminals: Knights Templar drug gang chief Servando “La Tuta” Gomez. The former teacher turned drug capo led a cartel that served as the de facto rulers of Michoacán state by bribing politicians, intimidating business leaders and ruthlessly eradicating any perceived enemies. The turning point started in early 2013 with the emergence of armed “self defense” groups of local residents allied with rival criminals. The vigilantes helped break up the power held by the Knights Templar though it remains to be seen what role they will take following Gomez’s arrest. Will they incorporate themselves to the government’s rural police force, continue their armed fight against the remnants of the Knights or succumb due to infighting amongst their leaders?

Below the page break is a VICE News video made about one year ago that looked at the rise of “La Tuta” and the Knights Templar, the group’s effects on Michoacán communities and the challenges faced by the “self defense” groups. (Perhaps it’s worth noting that even though the government legalized the vigilantes after the video was published, tensions continue between the federal law enforcement authorities and the local militias).

Breaking: Mexican Drug Capo Caught? (Updated: Yes)

Mexican officials claimed one of the country's most wanted drug lords, Hector Beltran Leyva, was apprehended on Wednesday.

The chief of Mexico's criminal investigations bureau, Tomás Zerón de Lucio, said at a news conference that the suspected head of the Beltran Levya drug gang was nabbed while eating at a seafood restaurant in Guanajuato state.  Hector was allegedly nabbed in a rapid operation where not even a single shot was fired and at the end of an eleven-month law enforcement investigation.
 

Zerón noted that the man nicknamed "El H" maintained a low profile by pretending to be a local businessmen involved in real estate and the buying and selling of art.
Hector was believed to have lead the Beltran Levya drug cartel since the death of his brother Arturo in a 2009 shootout with Mexican troops. (Two other Beltran Levya brothers are currently in prison over their respective roles with the drug gang). 

Two U.S. federal courts have indicted Hector while U.S. officials placed a $5 million bounty on top of the $3.7 million reward offered by Mexican authorities for his capture.

The Beltran Leyva cartel, which was originally part of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa drug gang, has been blamed for trafficking cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine.
  
According to the Associated Press, Hector presided over a cartel that had been weakened but supposedly trying to regain strength:

Daily Headlines: August 26, 2014

* Caribbean: At least five people died in the Caribbean due to storm conditions caused by Hurricane Cristobal while an estimated 10,000 families in Mexico were affected by Hurricane Marie.

* Cuba: Guatemalan authorities will determine the fate of thirty-six Cuban migrants who traveled on a single raft by sea to Honduras’ Swan Islands.

* Puerto Rico: According to the U.S. the Justice Department sixteen former Puerto Rican police officers pled guilty to “commit robbery and extortion, to manipulate court records in exchange for bribes, and to sell illegal narcotics.”

* Mexico: Mexican officials announced that satellite imagery would be use to monitor freight train lines used by undocumented migrants heading north such as "La Bestia".

Video Source – YouTube user ExcélsiorTV Noticias (“Hurricane Marie has weakened but rain continues” to fall in southern Mexico.)

Online Sources – LAHT; NBC News; Miami Herald; CBS News

Daily Headlines: July 28, 2014

* Chile: A series of “violent attacks” this month in southern Chile have increased tensions between the government and the indigenous Mapuche community.

* Nicaragua: Did a bus driver plan recent deadly attacks against Nicaraguan political activists or is he being used as a “scapegoat”?

* Bolivia: Workers at a construction site in the Bolivian mountain city of Potosi uncovered a mass grave with the remains of some 400 people.

* Mexico: Thirty-two police officers including the former top public safety chief of a town in Michoacán were arrested over alleged ties to drug gangs.

Video Source – YouTube user canaltvu tvu (At least two Chilean police officers were injured during a confrontation with members of the Mapuche community.)

Online Sources – New Zealand Herald; VICE News; NDTV; BBC News

Daily Headlines: June 9, 2014

* Brazil: A recent report found that the Brazilian prison system houses nearly 568,000 inmates despite only having a capacity of 357,219 prisoners.

* Venezuela: A photo of a bearded and jailed Leopoldo Lopez was published while anti-government protesters in Caracas called for his liberation and the resignation of President Nicolás Maduro.

* Argentina: The Argentine men’s national soccer team backed their country’s claim of the Falklands by posing with a banner reading “The Malvinas are Argentine” prior to a friendly match on Saturday.

* Guatemala: A Swiss court sentenced Guatemala's former police chief Erwin Sperisen to life in prison for the extrajudicial killings of seven inmates in 2007.

Video Source – euronews via YouTube
 
Online Sources – LAHT; ABC News; BBC News; The Washington Post

Brazilian Bishops Issue “Red Card” Against World Cup Plans

An organization of Brazilian catholic bishops gave a “red card” to the preparations for the World Cup that will begin on June 12th.

According to a pamphlet issued by the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (known by the Portuguese acronym of CNBB), the group criticized the “inversion of priorities” in the spending of public funds to soccer’s main tournament instead of areas like “health care, education, basic sanitation, transportation and security”.  The CNBB also critiqued the Brazilian government for allowing the “misappropriation of sport” by large corporations and private entities that will likely benefit financially from the World Cup.    

“(The removal of) families and communities for the construction of stadiums is a violation of the right of property in popular neighborhoods and communities,” said part of the pamphlet that is printed in three languages and is expected to be widely distributed during the World Cup.

For the CNBB, several initiatives can be taken that represent a “winning goal” such as ensuring that the residents of poor neighborhoods and homeless have the right to stay in their localities.  In addition, the group urges the authorities not to criminalize “social movements” and respect the rights of people to participate in street demonstrations.

“As a Church, we commit ourselves to stand by players and fans…and be a prayerful presence throughout the World Cup,” according to the CNBB.

It was approximately one year ago this month that over a million people took to the streets to protest against the billions of dollars in public money being spent on the World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.  Though the protests have largely died down since then, a resurgence of mass demonstrations has developed in recent weeks and is expected to last during the tournament.

Daily Headlines: May 8, 2014

* Venezuela: 243 anti-government protesters were arrested on Thursday morning as part of a crackdown on tent camps in Caracas while the U.S. Congress is considering several proposals to raise sanctions against President Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

* Brazil: Federal police have threatened with going on a 24-hour strike in the middle of the World Cup unless the government raises their pay and improves their working conditions.

* Latin America: A new World Health Organization report found that areas of Brazil, Paraguay and Costa Rica have some of the world’s cleanest air.

* Mexico: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will reportedly go ahead with a planned visit to Mexico later this month despite being subpoenaed by Congress over the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Video Source – CNN en Español via YouTube

Online Sources – Latin Times; ABC News; Al Jazeera; Xinhua; NBC News

Anger Grows in Rio’s Favelas Over Recent Violence

Residents of a pair of Rio de Janeiro’s impoverished neighborhoods vented their anger after two people were killed amid law enforcement activities.

On Monday, a seventeen-year-old was shot and killed in the Morro do Chapadao favela during a police operation to recover stolen automobiles.  According to the Brazilian military police, the victim was in a stolen car and had a firearm next to him when he was caught in a shootout between officers and criminals.

In response to the shootout, Morro do Chapadao residents took to the street to protests and nine buses were set on fire by a “20-strong group of youths” near Morro do Chapadao.  They also disputed police allegations that the dead teen belonged to street gangs that deal with drug trafficking in the area.

Meanwhile, several schools were closed in and around the Alemao favela today and three cars were reportedly torched yesterday following the death of an elderly woman under mysterious circumstances.

According to MercoPress:

Dalva Arlinda Beserra de Assis, who had been on her way home Sunday with her 10-year-old grandson, was hit by a single bullet - although it is uncertain who fired the shot - and died as she was being transported to a nearby hospital, officials said.
 

The shootout began at nightfall in the Complexo do Alemao housing project when police officers patrolling the zone were attacked by members of a drug trafficking gang shortly after one of the members of their group, identified as Ramires Roberto da Silva, was arrested.
 

When the shootout was over, about 50 residents blocked traffic on an avenue bordering the shantytown, or “favela,” to protest the “police violence.” The demonstrators set up barricades and set fire to wastepaper in trash cans, but the protest concluded without any further incidents or arrests.

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 2, 2014

* Chile: At least five people died and more than 900,000 residents of Chile’s coastal area were evacuated due to a magnitude-8.2 earthquake that occurred Tuesday night near the northern part of the country.

* U.S.: The White House claimed that over seven million people signed on for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act though it has yet to be revealed how many of them were Latinos.

* Puerto Rico: The acting head of Puerto Rico’s beleaguered police department resigned reportedly so that he can attend to personal issues.

* Mexico: Remittances to Mexico, which serve as the country’s second-largest source of foreign exchange, increased by 7.15% in January and February of this year compared to the same period in 2013.

Video Source – euronews via YouTube (Chilean President Michelle Bachelet declared a state of emergency for the Tarapaca, Arica and Parinacota regions following last night's tremor that was also felt in Peru and Bolivia.)

Online Sources- GlobalPost; The Guardian; Voice of America; LAHT; NBC News

Daily Headlines: February 27, 2014

* Latin America: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that his country plans to install military bases in several nations including Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

* Mexico: Hundreds of supporters of recently apprehended drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman marched in Culiacan yesterday, and insisted that he was innocent and a benefactor for the poor in Sinaloa.
 
* Cuba: Fernando Gonzalez, one of the “Cuban Five” men convicted in 2001 of spying in the U.S., is expected to be released from prison today after having completed his fifteen year sentence.

* Brazil: Military police in Rio de Janeiro simulated a riot in anticipation of possible street protests during the upcoming soccer World Cup. 

Video Source – Prensa Latina via YouTube (Video uploaded in May 2013).

Online Sources- CNN; ABC News; MercoPress; The Latin Americanist; BBC News

U.S. to Seek Extradition of Drug Capo “El Chapo”

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán is behind bars in a Mexican prison days after he was apprehended in a predawn raid.  How long he will remain in his native homeland is unknown as U.S. prosecutors and politicians have expressed their desire to see the Sinaloa drug cartel leader extradited north of the border.

“We plan to seek his extradition,” said Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the US attorney's office in Brooklyn.

“This guy, he ran a global enterprise, so he’s big. He’s as big as Pablo Escobar,” Nardoza said to TIME magazine. “He may wind up being charged in Mexico first. We don’t know what the time line is and how exactly this is going to proceed … He’s facing a lot of time in prison based on the charges we’ve brought against him.”

Prosecutors in New York may have to compete with their counterparts in Chicago where investigators in 2013 named Guzmán as “Public Enemy No. 1.”

“I think we have the strongest case,” Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration n Chicago, said on Saturday. “I fully intend for us to have him tried here.”

In addition, Rep. Mike McCaul also advocated for the extradition of Guzmán, which he claims as necessary due to corruption in Mexico and Guzmán’s successful prison escape in 2001.

“This is the largest, biggest drug lord we’ve ever seen in the world,” the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said yesterday.  “I would ask that the Mexicans consider extraditing him to the United States, where he would be put into a super-max prison under tight security, where he cannot escape”.

An obstacle to a possible extradition of Guzmán is that he faces indictments from at least seven U.S. federal district courts on charges related to his leadership of the violent Sinaloa cartel. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder highlighted how “(we) were able to work effectively with Mexico through the cooperative relationship that U.S. law-enforcement agencies have with their Mexican counterparts.”  Yet it’s unknown if Holder would press for extradition to San Diego, Texas, Brooklyn or other areas where “El Chapo” could stand trial.

In addition, Mexican law enforcement officials might be reluctant to extradite Guzmán since he faces charges in Mexico.  Thus far, the Mexican government has yet to respond to any request for extradition though Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Eduardo Medina Mora mentioned, “it is important that (Guzmán) first face the charges against him in Mexico’s courts.”

Daily Headlines: January 22, 2014

* Brazil: FIFA officials warned that the Brazilian city of Curitiba could be excluded from hosting World Cup matches in June while International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach noted that work must be sped up ahead of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

* U.S.: A study published this month in the journal “Crime & Delinquency” concluded that about 44% of Latino men and 16% of Latinas are arrested at least once on non-traffic-related crimes by the time they turn 23-years-old.

* Panama: Representatives of the Panama Canal Authority and the consortium contracted to expand the famed waterway negotiated possible ways to make sure work continues on the troubled project.

* Ecuador: Ecuador is reportedly topping Brazil as Latin America’s top cocoa producer and in 2015 could become the number-four producer of cocoa in the world.

Video Source – sntv via YouTube (“World Cup workers in the southern city of Curitiba went on strike (in December) because of late pay at one of the stadiums that will host matches during the 2014 tournament”.)

Online Sources- Bloomberg; CNN; Fox News Latino; Reuters; Washington Post