Daily Headlines: September 29, 2016

* Argentina: Nearly one in three residents in Argentina live below the poverty line according to the first data on the subject published by the government since October 2013.

* Colombia: Days after a peace accord was signed with Colombia’s largest guerilla army, the ELN rebels claimed to be ready to officially start peace talks with the government.

* Chile: “I believe that women should have legally the possibility of making their own choices,” said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet over a proposal that would relax the country’s ban on abortion under all circumstances.

* United States: A PricewaterhouseCoopers study concluded that Hispanic television viewers prefer English-language programs over those in Spanish with stronger preference in each subsequent generation for shows in English.

YouTube Source – CCTV America (New data from the Argentinian government seems to confirm the findings of a 2014 World Bank report warning that a third of the population is vulnerable of falling into poverty.)

Online Sources – Voice of America, The Latin Americanist, Deadline, BBC News, ABC News

Daily Headlines: April 15, 2016

* Panama: Panamanian authorities reportedly agreed to follow international tax reporting standards outlined by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development chief Angel Gurria even though they had blasted him for comments made following the Panama Papers leak.

* Brazil: The lower chamber of the Brazilian Congress began three days of debating today over whether President Dilma Rousseff should be impeached over money laundering allegations.

* U.S.: The crisis hitting newspapers in the U.S. might lead to the end of El Diario/La Prensa, the longest-running Spanish-language daily and in circulation for 102 years.

* Puerto Rico: The Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the surviving Puerto Rican soldiers of a U.S. Army regiment known as the “Borinqueneers” who fought both World Wars and the Korean War.

YouTube Source – BBC News (Video uploaded on April 3, 2016).

Online Sources – Deutsche Welle, the Latin Americanist, USA TODAY, Fox News Latino, CNN

Daily Headlines: March 18, 2015

* Peru: Protesters and police clashed this week during demonstrations in southern Peru against a sharp hike in local electricity fees.

* U.S.: News magazine The Economist has come under fire for using “chili peppers to depict the stripes in the American flag” in its cover image highlighting an article on the Latino community.

* Dominican Republic: At least twenty minors were among the twenty-nine women rescued in a sex trafficking sting in the Dominican town of Sosua.

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan government in an open letter published in The New York Times denied that the country is a national security threat to the U.S.

Video Source – YouTube via EFE

Online Sources – Latin American Herald Tribune; Fusion; Fox News Latino; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: March 17, 2015

* Colombia: A new U.N. report named the “bandas criminales” groups of demobilized right-wing paramilitary members and criminal gangs as the primary security threat in Colombia.  

* Argentina: Citigroup will pull out of the custodial business in Argentina after a U.S. judge opted not to remove an injunction that prevented the bank from processing $2.3 billion in Argentine bond payments.

* Mexico: Was the recent firing of acclaimed investigative journalist Carmen Aristegui from Mexico’s MVS radio network justifiable or censorship?   

* Brazil: A new femicide law was enacted last week in Brazil that includes increased prison time for those convicted of the gender-based killing of women.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources –Reuters; euronews; CNN; Voice of America

Daily Headlines: October 14, 2014

* South America: An Italian judge ruled that twenty-one officials from former military dictatorships in four South American countries should be put on trial for their alleged role in Operation Condor.

* Bolivia: Newly reelected President Evo Morales promised to not enact anymore major nationalizations and claimed that he will pursue “realistic, practical” economic policies.

* Venezuela: The U.N. Human Rights Council called on Venezuelan authorities to “immediately release” imprisoned opposition politician Leopoldo López.

* Mexico: Two gunmen murdered a Sonoran activist and radio show host while he was presenting his program live on the air.

Video Source – YouTube user JourneymanVOD
 
Online Sources – spyghana.com; Reuters; MercoPress; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: June 16, 2014

Note: We will be posting several articles during the next month on the World Cup in Brazil.  As a result, our “Daily Headlines” entries over the next few weeks will focus primarily on non-World Cup news.


* Colombia: Conservative president Juan Manuel Santos turned around a first round loss and won reelection as most Colombian voters opted to continue the current direction of peace talks with leftist rebels.

* South America: Diplomatic tensions between Argentina and Uruguay have flared up again over a Finnish-owned pulp mill built in 2007 near the border of both countries.

* Mexico: Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission condemned the attacks on five journalists covering a recent march remembering the victims of the 1971 El Halconazo massacre.

* U.S.: Escaping from gang violence and poor economic conditions are some of the reasons behind the influx of thousands of unaccompanied minors mostly from Central American countries crossing into the U.S. 

Video Source – euronews via YouTube

Online Sources – MercoPress; LAHT; The Latin Americanist; CNN; Reuters

Daily Headlines: May 21, 2014

* Central America: The U.S. Agency for International Development will work with university researchers as part of a $5 million partnership in order to combat a crippling Central American coffee fungus.

* Venezuela: The U.S. Senate could soon vote on a bill that would raise sanctions against Venezuelan officials accused of human rights violations stemming from protests and political unrest since February.  

* Cuba: Cuban dissident blogger and activist Yoani Sanchez launched a new website today that will reportedly “provide daily news about the communist-run country, but insisted it would not be a platform against the government”.

* Uruguay: The plan to legalize the sale and distribution of marijuana in Uruguay will allegedly be exempted from taxation with the goal of “undercutting the black market.”

Video Source – YouTube user CBS Evening News

Online Sources – Reuters; Tico Times; LAHT; BBC News

Daily Headlines: February 21, 2014

* Nicaragua: A planned interoceanic canal cutting through Nicaragua could be disastrous to the environment according to some scientists who have studied the project.

* Argentina: Argentine regulators approved a plan that would break up the Clarin media conglomerate over the next six months.

* Brazil: A new study found that despite some economic troubles private equity and venture capital investments in Brazil grew in 2013 to $6.04 billion.

* Mexico: The Mexican government criticized the “unacceptable” use of lethal force in the recent shooting death of national by a U.S. Border Patrol officer who claimed he was being attacked.

Video Source – teleSUR via YouTube (Video uploaded on August 2013).

Online Sources- NPR; CNN; New York Times; BBC News

Venezuela: Student Protesters Rally Against Violence

Several hundred university students in Venezuela took to the streets on Thursday after three people were killed after demonstrations yesterday.

In the capital city of Caracas, traffic on the Francisco Fajardo highway was halted for several hours as scores of protesters called for an investigation into the death of university student Bassil Da Costa on Wednesday.  Amateur videos uploaded to social networks showed Da Costa shot dead in downtown Caracas amid the chaos following an anti-government protest that was attended by an estimated ten thousand people.  

“We urge the government to guarantee us our freedom as students, said Marcos Mata, a Humboldt University student present with 300 other demonstrators at Altamira Plaza earlier today.  “We repudiate the violence that occurred yesterday.  Our march was peaceful,” added Mata.

Mata also called on the authorities to free two students reportedly detained by the police after Wednesday’s march and whose whereabouts are unknown.

In the meantime, scores of Da Costa’s classmates gathered in the outskirts of Caracas to protest in memory of the slain student.

Students in other parts of Venezuela were also protesting in repudiation of the violence yesterday that left among the dead Da Costa and pro-government activist Juan Montoya. Such was the case in Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, where several downtown streets were blocked off and classes were canceled at Zulia University.  Additionally, student demonstrators in Anzoátegui state held signs blasting the government and blamed Venezuela’s main intelligence agency for trying to stifle democracy.

Meanwhile, a few dozen supporters of President Nicolás Maduro and several government ministers congregated in front of the Attorney General’s office in an event deemed as “Venezuelans against fascism.”

Daily Headlines: February 10, 2014

* Colombia: Will the recent revelations of the Colombian military wiretapping of peace talks between the government and the FARC rebels seriously hurt the latest round of discussions?

* Mexico: The leaders of several Michoacán vigilante groups called on authorities to arrest the head of the La Ruana “self-defense” collective after he led the capture of a Knights Templar drug gang stronghold.

* Venezuela: President Nicolás Maduro claimed that he would propose a bill aimed at ending “sensationalism and the campaign and propaganda that feeds on the blood and death (the media) promotes.”

* Cuba: Charlie Crist, the former Florida governor who is running again for that office, criticized the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba as a failed policy that needs to be “taken away.”

Video Source – euronews via YouTube (“Allegations of spying on government officials have Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (on February 4th) to dismiss his army's head of intelligence and the director of the army's technical intelligence center.”)
 
Online Sources- LAHT; Fox News Latino; Politico; SBS

Daily Headlines: October 29, 2013

* Argentina: The Argentinian Supreme Court upheld a government-backed media law that could obligate the Clarin media conglomerate to sell off some of its licenses in radio, TV and the Internet.

* Brazil: Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo claimed that he doesn't anticipate any protests at next year’s soccer World Cup like the mass demonstrations several months ago during the Confederations Cup.

* Uruguay: President Jose Mujica announced that the 850-member Uruguayan peacekeepers in Haiti would be withdrawn partly due to a “political impasse in Haitian society.”

* Mexico: An uptick of violence has been reported in the state of Michoacán resulting from clashes between self-defense groups and the Knights Templar drug gang.

Video Source – YouTube via user teleSURenglish tv

Online Sources- BBC News; The Guardian; GlobalPost; MercoPress; The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: October 24, 2013

* Argentina: A spokesman for Monsanto denied allegations made in an Associated Press published Monday claiming that the firm’s Roundup line of pesticides is harming the health of Argentinians.

* Latin America: The Inter-American Press Association denounced numerous dangers against media freedoms in Latin America including the killing of journalists, a new censorship law in Ecuador and restrictions on advertising in Argentina.

* Haiti: Protests took place in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince in order to support recently arrested lawyer and government critic André Michel.

* Mexico: 26-year-old Mexican boxer Francisco "Frankie" Leal died of brain trauma three days after he was knocked out by countryman Raul Hirales in a televised bout.

Video Source – YouTube via user Latinoamerica Teamo (In September 2012, protesters gathered in the Argentine city of Cordoba to march against Monsanto).

Online Sources- ESPN; Huffington Post; Miami Herald; MercoPress

Radio and TV Marti On the Air Despite Gov’t Shutdown

Broadcasts to Cuba via Radio and TV Martí (RTVM) have continued despite a U.S. government shutdown that started on Tuesday.

According to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), U.S.-funded news that the organization oversees such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and RTVM are “necessary for conducting foreign relations essential to the national security.”  Hence, BBG operations are exempt from being suspended during the government shutdown period.

BBG activities have been slimmed down to encourage the use of “pre-recorded material” and bars starting any “new programs or projects.”  Nevertheless, breaking news and high-priority live news programs will continue and RTVM’s website has been kept updated with news stories.  (Ironically, one of the website’s most recently headlines was the “failure” of negotiations yesterday between U.S. President Barack and Congressional leaders to end the shutdown.)

The fact that the Office of Management and Budget signed off on this indicates how high a priority our broadcasting activities are,” said BBG spokeswoman Lynne Weil to Foreign Policy’s The Cable website.  “The mission of the agency is to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy”.

Broadcasts from Radio Martí (founded in 1983) and TV Martí (started in 1990) are based out of Miami and is rand are beamed into Cuba with the aim of overcoming the tight media controls under the Castro regime.

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

Daily Headlines: July 26, 2013

Note: Posting will be very light today but we hope to return on Monday and examine several recent news events from the Americas. 

* Cuba: Members of a U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee were divided in their views over whether the military prison at Guantanamo, Cuba should be shutdown or continue to be kept open.

* Latin America: During his visit this week in Brazil, Pope Francis criticized the “liberalization of drug use” proposed in parts of Latin America, while a poll found that roughly two in three Mexicans are opposed to marijuana legalization.

* Mexico: Authorities reportedly rescued ninety-four migrants crammed into the back of tractor trailer that was examined at a security checkpoint in the southern Chiapas state.

* U.S.: A Pew Hispanic Center survey found that a growing number of Latino adults are getting their news from English-language sources.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English
 
Online Sources- Fox News Latino; The Guardian; ABC News; Rolling Stone; CNN

Daily Headlines: July 24, 2013

* Argentina: Gerardo "Tata" Martino will officially be named as the new coach of the famed Barcelona soccer team weeks after guiding Argentine side Newell's Old Boys to the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores.

* U.S.: The Univision TV network will surpass its English-language counterparts to top the Nielson ratings in two key age groups for the month of July.

* South America: Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro met with Colombian leader Juan Manuel Santos and pledged to continue supporting peace talks between the Colombian government and FARC guerillas.
 
* Mexico: A U.S. federal judge threw out a lawsuit against ex-Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo that accused him of crimes against humanity related to the 1997 Acteal massacre.

Video Source – YouTube via user sntv

Online Sources- The Guardian; USA TODAY; Huffington Post; Reuters

Daily Headlines: June 17, 2013

* Venezuela: President Nicolás Maduro signed into law a gun control bill aimed at lowering high crime rates including some 3400 murders in the first three months of this year.

* Honduras: The political party headed by ousted former President Manuel Zelaya nominated his wife, Xiomara Castro, as a presidential candidate in elections scheduled for next November.

* Ecuador: The federal legislature passed a controversial bill supporters believe will break up private media “monopolies” but that opponents feel is a danger against press freedoms.

* Guatemala: Authorities blamed drug traffickers for the massacre of eight police officers in the western province of Quetzaltenango.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English (This video was uploaded on March 2, 2012).

Online Sources- Al Jazeera English; The Guardian; Raw Story; GlobalPost

Daily Headlines: May 22, 2013

* U.S.: The bipartisan "Gang of Eight" immigration reform bill will move to the U.S. Senate for debate after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the proposal in a 13-5 vote.

* Venezuela: Pro-government TV host Mario Silva said that he would go on sick leave after opposition politicos revealed an alleged recording of him talking to a Cuban intelligence official and criticizing the Maduro regime.

* Brazil: Truth Commission investigator Heloisa Starling believes that former officials protected by a 1979 amnesty law could be tried at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

* Bolivia: The government enacted a law that would permit President Evo Morales to seek a third term in the December 2014 elections.

Video Source – YouTube via user NewsyPolitics (Video uploaded on April 16, 2013.)
 
Online Sources- CNN; ABC News; SFGate.com; LAHT

Latin American Press Under Fire

Today is World Press Freedom Day and, as we mentioned briefly yesterday, Freedom House report found that there is a decline in media freedom throughout Latin America.  Several recent incidents in the region appear to prove Freedom House’s assertion.

• Mexico

Radio and TV announcer Jose Gerardo Padilla Blanquet has gone missing since Tuesday in Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila state.  Padilla Blanquet works for Radio Grande de Coahuila, a radio station whose director was assaulted months ago after receiving numerous threats.

The disappearances come days after photographer Daniel Martinez Bazaldua was murdered and dismembered in Saltillo.  An editorial in Vanguardia, the newspaper Martinez Bazaldua worked for, subsequently blasted local authorities for implying that the victims worked for one of Mexico’s drug gangs.

• Colombia

Semana reporter Ricardo Calderón was attacked by gunfire while driving on a Colombian highway yesterday.  The veteran investigative journalist, who helped uncover an illegal and massive wiretapping operation in 2007, may have been targeted in a possible assassination attempt.

The Colombian International Press Association condemned the attack on Calderón and expressed their worry over “the security of all journalists nationwide, especially those in high conflict zones.”

• Argentina

The Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA, in Spanish) denounced the firing of tear gas and rubber bullets by police on media members covering a protest one week ago.  FOPEA alleged that at least seven journalists were injured while covering the demonstration and authorities prevented some of them from receiving medical attention.

Meanwhile, an editorial in Diario Los Andes yesterday blasted the suggestion of Chaco province governor Jorge Capitanich to enact a “press ethics law” on the same day several newspapers reported money-laundering allegations against him.

• Guatemala

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) yesterday highlighted a series of cyberattacks against the website of major news outlet elPeriódico.  According to the CPJ, the hacking had been occurring for the past several months but had intensified after elPeriódico published an April 8th article that “alleged corruption, embezzlement, and abuse of authority by President Otto Pérez Molina and Vice President Roxana Baldetti”.

• Latin America

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) issued today its list of thirty-nine “predators of freedom of information” and it includes four figures from Latin America and the Caribbean.  The heads of Colombia’s rightwing paramilitaries, Mexico’s Zetas drug gang and Cuban President Raul Castro are among those criticized by RWB.

RWB said the following on Honduran businessman and political figure M. Facussé Barcum as if he were the one mentioning it:

Daily Headlines: May 2, 2013

* Latin America: A Freedom House report concluded that there a rise in media controls is partly to blame for a decrease in press freedom throughout Latin America.

* Puerto Rico: Health problems, high unemployment and undetonated explosives are some of the obstacles hurting residents of Vieques ten years since the U.S. military left the island.

* Cuba: Senior U.N. officials urged the U.S. to halt the forced feeding of approximately twenty-one inmates who are on a hunger trike at the Guantanamo detention center.

* Mexico: Legislators passed a government-backed telecommunications reform bill aimed at increasing foreign investment and curbing media monopolies.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- Washington Post; ABC News; BBC News; The Guardian