Daily Headlines: November 2, 2016

* Mexico: Mexico’s “sugar tax” on carbonated beverages enacted in 2013 could prevent as many as 500,000 cases of diabetes and save up to $2.5 billion in ten years, according to a new report.

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos indicated that a reworked peace deal with the FARC rebels would be ratified by Congress rather than risk defeat at a second referendum.

* Bolivia: Spanish energy giant Repsol extended its agreement for exploration and operation of Bolivia’s largest oil bloc to 2046.

* Chile: The race for 2018 World Cup qualification in South America became much tighter after a decision to dock points from Bolivia allowed Chile to leapfrog Argentina in the standings.

YouTube Source – Euromonitor International (Video uploaded on November 2013).

Online Sources – Vocaticv, Colombia Reports, Goal.com, Latin American Herald Tribune

Daily Headlines: October 31, 2016

* Venezuela: Venezuela’s weakened economy is to blame for lowered output at Cuba's joint oil refinery with PDVSA, while government officials and opposition figures from the south American country met in discussions aimed at quelling rising political tensions.

* El Salvador: Ex-President Tony Saca was arrested over the weekend over the alleged embezzlement of an estimated $5 million dollars in public funds and, thus, became the latest former Salvadoran leader to be accused of corruption while in office.

* Mexico: Compatriots Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez did not fare well during the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Mexico held for the second straight year in Mexico City.

* Brazil: Students at more than 1100 high schools and universities occupied their respective educational institutions last week to protest policies under President Michel Temer.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – Xinhua, Al Jazeera English, Newsweek, BBC Sport, Latin American Herald Tribune

Daily Headlines: October 5, 2016

* Venezuela: Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino claimed a deal worked out by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC states to slash oil production could add an extra $10 to $15 per barrel of the commodity.

* Latin America: Mexico’s soccer federation plans to appeal FIFA’s latest fine imposed over homophobic chants by fans as the world governing body also handed down penalties against nine other Latin American countries over unruly crowd behavior.

* Brazil: A poll released yesterday found that most Brazilians continue to disapprove of President Michel Temer, who took over for ousted predecessor Dilma Rousseff and will remain in power until 2018.

* Mexico: Mexican police rescued 122 migrants from the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras from three vehicles on a highway in the northern state of Tamaulipas.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour (Video uploaded in June 2016). 

Online Sources – Bloomberg, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, BBC Sport, Voice of America, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: September 19, 2016

* Peru: The San Sebastian Church in Cuzco, which was built in the 16th century, was almost completely destroyed by a fire purportedly caused by a short circuit.

* Latin America: A Mexican boy’s stand at an anti-gay rights demonstration wasn’t the only image at a protest in Latin America that went viral last week.

* Venezuela: President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela said OPEC member states and non-cartel oil producing countries are “close” to agreeing to a plan to stabilize oil prices.

* Argentina: Third time could be the charm for Argentina in the Davis Cup finals after their team knocked out defending champions Great Britain in the semifinals.

YouTube Source – No Comment TV (“The historic San Sebastian church, in Cuzco, Peru has been gutted by fire. Dozens of works of art, including those by celebrated local artist Quispe Tito were destroyed in the flames.”)

Online Sources – The Washington Post, CNN, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, ESPN

Daily Headlines: September 12, 2016

* Honduras: Authorities last week arrested the final suspect in the murder last March of acclaimed Honduran environmentalist Berta Caceres though investigators are still looking into who masterminded her death.

* Colombia: Nairo Quintana became the first Colombian in nearly three decades to win the Vuelta a España, and has thus won two of the three cycling grand tours in his career.

* Ecuador: The legal tug-of-war between energy company Chevron and Ecuadoran plaintiffs over pollution in the Amazon rainforest heads to a Canadian court this week.

* Brazil: Brazil’s currency weakened this morning to its lowest point since July 28th following street protests nationwide against the government led by President Michel Temer.

YouTube Source – GreenpeaceVideo

Online Sources – NBC News, Bloomberg, The Independent, Fortune

Daily Headlines: September 8, 2016

* Ecuador: Oil drilling began yesterday in an area near the Yasuni National Park despite opposition from indigenous communities in the Amazon and environmentalists.

* Venezuela: In one of the latest struggles between the government and opposition politicians, former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles claimed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro “sent armed groups” to harass him at an airport.

* Brazil: Acting president Michel Temer was drowned out by a cacophony of jeering and whistling as the Rio Paralympics was inaugurated last night during an otherwise festive opening ceremony.

* Bolivia: LGBT activists in Bolivia celebrated the arrival of government-issued identification cards to transgender citizens based on a law approved last May.

YouTube Source – Ruptly TV 

Online Sources – BBC News, UPI, Voice of America, ABC News

Daily Headlines: September 6, 2016

* Mexico: Several thousand people lined the streets outside of Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes yesterday to pay their last respects to famed singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel who died last week at the age of 66.

* Venezuela: Oilfield services company Schlumberger announced it would scale back operations in Venezuela including laying off workers and withdrawing from projects.

* Cuba: Dissidents believe the Cuban government has been censoring text messages by removing missives with phrases like “human rights” and the names of opposition activists.

* Colombia: Coca-Cola, Chiquita and Drummond are some of the major multinational firms that could face charges over financing Colombia’s former AUC paramilitary group.

YouTube Source – Associated Press  
 
Online Sources – Reuters, Seeking Alpha, Endgadget, Colombia Reports

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: August 18, 2016

* Haiti: The United Nations admitted to have “played a role” in a cholera outbreak that has killed at least 10,000 people in Haiti but stopped short of admitting peacekeepers caused the epidemic.

* El Salvador: The Salvadoran Supreme Court unanimously ruled to send former Colonel Guillermo Benavides to prison over civil war crimes and refused an extradition request from Spain relating to the 1989 massacre of a group of Jesuit priests.

* Venezuela: “Venezuela will represent a growing supply risk for oil markets in 2017,” concluded a recent report from Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

* Paraguay: Several hundred protesters participated in an anti-government march on the second anniversary of the inauguration of President Horacio Cartes.

YouTube Source – AFP (From January 2015: “Five years since the 2010 earthquake, the cholera epidemic in Haiti is still claiming lives, and there are recriminations over who was responsible for bringing it to the country.”)
 
Online Sources – Fox News Latino, Bloomberg, Reuters, The New York Times

Daily Headlines: August 11, 2016

* Guatemala: United States (US) immigration authorities deported Santos Lopez Alonzo, a former Guatemalan solider believed to have participated in the Dos Erres massacre of at least 160 villagers in 1982. 

* Argentina: Argentinian Foreign minister Susana Malcorra admitted that her government and British diplomats plan to hold talks over oil exploration off the shore of the disputed Falkland Islands.

* Peru: A 687-mile pipeline in the Peruvian Amazon leaked for the fourth time this year and has spilled an unpublished quantity of crude oil.

* Ecuador: Ecuador will allow Swedish investigators to question Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who has been exiled at the South American country’s embassy in London since 2012.

YouTube Source – AP Archive (“In Guatemala 162 bodies discovered in a mass grave were buried Sunday in the northern region of Peten. Among the bodies, are those of 91 women and children massacred in 1982 during the dictatorship of general Efrain Rios Montt.”)
 
Online Sources – UPI, Reuters, MercoPress, CBS News

Daily Headlines: August 9, 2016

* Nicaragua: President Daniel Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo are the odds-on favorites of winning in November’s elections according to a survey of 2000 likely voters.

* Ecuador: A United States court upheld a lower tribunal ruling barring the payment of an $8.6 billion environmental damages fine against Chevron to plaintiffs in Ecuador.

* Peru: Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio said prosecutors are looking into allegations of police officers running “death squads” from 2011 to 2015.

* United States: A poll of Millennials found that 89% of Latino respondents are concerned over “terrorism committed by U.S. residents inspired by group like ISIS,” while 55% are “very concerned about terrorism committed by White American citizens.”

YouTube Source – CCTV News (Earlier this month “Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega picked his wife, Rosario Murillo, as his running mate for November's election”.)
 
Online Sources – Yahoo News, The Washington Post, NBC News, Reuters

World Watch: Protest vs. Repression

* Ethiopia: According to Amnesty International at least ninety-seven people have died and hundreds were injured over the weekend after security agents fired against anti-government protesters in the Oromia and Amhara regions.

* Turkey: Turkish authorities detained at least ten foreign nationals as part of a crackdown after a failed July 15th coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

* Japan: Regulators in Japan raided the offices of online retail giant Amazon as part of an antitrust investigation.

* World: Oil futures closed at their highest point in two weeks as a result of speculation over an “informal” meeting next month of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries member states.

YouTube Source – France 24 English

Online Sources – UPI, CNBC, USA TODAY, The Independent

Daily Headlines: May 17, 2016

* Peru: Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori has come under fire roughly three weeks prior to a runoff over allegations that a close ally of hers is under investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

* Brazil: Beleaguered Brazilian state-run oil giant Petrobras, which last week reported a first quarter loss of $358 million, has dropped from having been a “major player” in the floating production systems market.

* Haiti: The African Union next month will admit Haiti as the bloc’s first non-African member in a move expected to boost the economy of the Caribbean nation.

* Mexico: A second Mexican judge approved the extradition request from U.S. prosecutors to possibly extradite imprisoned drug cartel chief Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

YouTube Source – CCTV America (Video uploaded last April).
 
Online Sources – teleSUR English, MercoPress, The Latin Americanist, GlobalPost, The Guardian

Petrobras Hit with $358 Million Quarterly Loss

As he begins his first day as Brazilian acting president, Michel Temer, will have to face numerous political and economic challenges in the 180 days when he replaces suspended leader President Dilma Rousseff. Recession, growing unemployment, rising inflation are some of the obstacles in front of him though one more can be added today.

The state-run oil giant posted a $358 million net loss in the first three months of 2016, which comes one year after it earned some $1.5 billion in quarterly profits. Analysts surveyed by Reuters anticipated over $1 billion in earnings during the first trimester this year but ultimately the company sunk to a third consecutive quarter in the red. 

Petrobras also reported in its securities filing that net revenue dropped by 5.4% to nearly $20.2 billion, while the EBITDA margin that helps measure operating profit, dipped 2% to around $6 billion.

Much like other oil firms around the world, Petrobras has been hurt by the low prices of crude in recent months. But the company has also been hit by decreased oil and natural gas production purportedly stemming from increased maintenance at promising offshore sites. The refinery division that had helped Petrobras gain profits over a year ago has stagnated amid declining demand.

On the political side of the equation, Petrobras is the key business entity in the middle of the “Lava Jato” corruption scandal where an estimated $5.3 billion in bribes and kickbacks exchanged hands. Though the impeachment charges against Rousseff are not linked to “Lava Jato”, many figures of Brazil’s political elite have been implicated including ally-turned-adversary Temer:

Daily Headlines: April 28, 2016

* Venezuela: A study released this week found that Venezuela, which is undergoing an energy crisis, is the country most vulnerable to the low price of crude oil.

* Cuba: The recent increase in the number of Cuban migrants entering the U.S. could lead to a reform of the Cuban Adjustment Act even though White House officials have denied the possibility of enacting changes.

* Mexico: “We want to stay alive” was the theme of a protests held days ago in the State of Mexico to repudiate femicides and violence against women.

* Latin America: The economy for Latin America and the Caribbean is expected to contract for a second straight year in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour (Video uploaded in March 2016).
 
Online Sources – GlobalPost, CNBC, Politico, The Guardian, Vox

Daily Headlines: April 27, 2016

* Mexico: A few thousand people including some family members of 43 missing Ayotzinapa university students marched in Mexico City yesterday to question the government’s shaky investigation into the case.

* Peru: Peruvian officials will expand a law allowing the military to shoot down civilian planes suspected of drug smuggling to include boats and backpackers.

* Argentina: State-run YPF will export crude oil next month for the first time since 2013 as part of a plan to boost production amid low oil prices.

* U.S.: A new study concluded that the number of Latino children was undercounted in the last Census and this has caused a lack of federal funds to be destined to some communities in need.

YouTube Source – El Universal

Online Sources – Reuters, NBC News, Bloomberg, Voice of America

Daily Headlines: April 20, 2016

* Ecuador: At least 400 aftershocks have hit Ecuador since a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake Saturday night including a 6.1-magnitude tremor in the predawn hours today.

* Peru: Polls have shown Keiko Fujimori, who easily won the first round of Peru’s presidential election, has a slight advantage over Pedro Pablo Kuczynski ahead of the June 5th runoff.

* Chile: Patricio Aylwin, the former Chilean president who was key in the transition following the infamous military regime led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, died at the age of 97.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino blamed the U.S. for failed oil talks in Doha last weekend and warned that negotiations must resume soon in order to avoid a collapse in crude prices.

YouTube Source – France 24 English

Online Sources – Bloomberg, Reuters, NBC News, The Latin Americanist, euronews

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 14, 2016

* Cuba: The Cuban Tourism Ministry said that some one million foreign visitors traveled to the country in the first three months of 2016, which represents a 14.6% increase compared to the same period last year.

* Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico’s “brain drain” of skilled workers leaving the island has hit the health care sector hard as an average of one doctor immigrates away from the commonwealth each day.

* Peru: A new poll showed greater support for Keiko Fujimori ahead of next month’s presidential election but not enough to avoid a runoff.

* Uruguay: “There could be an elephant out there,” claimed an optimistic executive at French company Total regarding exploration of what could be a very promising Uruguayan offshore oil field.

YouTube Source – AJ+

Online Sources – Xinhua, NPR, Reuters, MercoPress

Daily Headlines: March 9, 2016 (Updated)

* Mexico: An editorial in a Mexican Catholic Church publication questioned Pope Francis’ comments during his visit to Mexico last month admonishing some clergy for their opulence and not connecting with their parishioners.

* Brazil: Will convicted former construction tycoon Marcelo Odebrecht collaborate with Brazilian authorities as part of the “Lava Jato” corruption investigation?

Update: Prosecutors are expected to announce on Thursday that money laundering charges will be raised against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

* Latin America: The Ecuadoran government claimed that envoys from Latin American oil producing states will reportedly meet in Quito this Friday to discuss the low price of crude.

* Venezuela: Street protests, a constitutional amendment and a recall vote are part of the Venezuelan opposition’s strategy to oust President Nicolás Maduro before his term is scheduled to end.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources including Update – BBC News, Fortune, Reuters, The Latin Americanist, Catholic News Service