Daily Headlines: April 27, 2009

* Nicaragua: A California judge on Thursday dismissed two pesticide lawsuits against Dole that were brought up by Nicaraguan plantation workers.

* Latin America: Films from Chile, Uruguay and Peru are in the running for top honors at next month’s Cannes Critics' Week.

* Cuba: Three out of every five people in the U.S. support reestablishing diplomatic ties with Cuba according to a recent Gallup poll.

* Dominican Republic: Amnesty International warned that certain “constitutional and legal reforms” being considered by the government could hurt the rights of women.

Image- ABC News
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Bloomberg, Amnesty International, AFP, UPI

Dole fights back in sterilization case

A case against fruit giant Dole took a sharp turn this week as the accused became the accuser.

Lawyers for Dole claimed that attorneys working for the plaintiffs illegally recruited clients to make fake claims against the company regarding a pesticide known as DBCP. The lawyers contended that a California-based lawyer and his Nicaraguan partner also accused them of falsifying documents and hiding evidence.

(There has been no reported response from the accused attorneys: Juan Dominguez and Antonio Hernandez Ordenana.)

Former laborers for Dole in several Central American countries said that exposure to DBCP while working on banana plantations led them to become sterile. Though DBCP is banned worldwide, the lawsuit claimed that the company continues to illicitly sell it in poor countries.

In 2007 a jury awarded $2.5 million in punitive damages to five workers. Yet a judge later dismissed those damages after claiming that Dole couldn’t be monetarily punished for injuries in a foreign country.

Image- CBS News (“A former banana worker walks outside of the shack in front of Nicaragua's National Assembly in Managua, Wednesday, July 11, 2007.”)
Online Sources- Reuters, AP, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: March 12, 2008

* A U.S. judge tossed out $2.5 million in putative damages awarded by a jury last year from Dole Fruit to five former Nicaraguan plantation workers.

* Could the Venezuelan government land on a list of countries blamed with sponsoring terrorism?

* Apparently crime in Mexico has deterred some U.S. university students from spending spring break south of the border.

* Cuba’s population has decreased for the second straight year based on government figures.

Sources- The Latin Americanist, International Herald Tribune, Associated Press, miamiherald.com

Image- ABC News

Courts rule on Dow pesticide and De Menezes cases

Courts in the U.S. and Britain arrived at their respective verdicts in two cases we’ve covered this year.

First, a Los Angeles court ruled that Dow Chemicals and Dole Fruit were both liable in a claim brought up by former Nicaraguan plantation workers. The plaintiffs said that they became sterile after having worked with a now-banned pesticide in the 1970s. In addition to the guilty verdict, the jury awarded six who were “substantially harmed” $3.3 million.

Meanwhile, a London court found the city’s Metropolitan Police guilty of breaking health and safety laws in the 2005 murder of Jean Charles de Menezes. De Menezes was a Brazilian electrician slain by officers who mistook him for a suspected terrorist. The verdict was met by an increased public outcry for Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair to resign and indignation from some of de Menezes’ family:

"I think true justice would be for them to go to prison, at least for some time so that they could think about what they did," Maria Beatriz Figueiredo told The Associated Press on Friday at her home in the remote village of Gonzaga in southeastern Brazil…

"They can't just go out into the middle of the street shooting someone in the middle of all those people," she said. "It cannot be right. And the real terrorist is still alive, it is revolting."

Image- Wired – Listening Post

Sources- BBC News, AFP, The Latin Americanist, CNN, Guardian UK, Canadian Press

Daily Headlines: October 12, 2007

* Is Venezuela involved in mining “blood diamonds”?

* Urbanization in Latin America has skyrocketed over the past thirty years, according to a recently released U.N. report.

* Popular video site YouTube launched its own portal for Mexico yesterday which would highlight videos uploaded by Mexicans.

* Follow-up: Closing arguments were heard in the case of thirty Nicaraguan laborers who claimed became severely sick after working with a banned pesticide.

Sources (English)- Xinhua, AFP, San Jose Mercury News, SignOnSanDiego.com, The Latin Americanist

Sources (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa

Image- MSNBC

Daily Headlines: August 14, 2007

* Anti-immigrant sentiment has grown after the execution-style killings of three Newark, New Jersey youths allegedly by a group of illegal immigrants from South America.

* Yesterday was Fidel Castro’s birthday. Have you seen him lately?

* Political violence in Guatemala has not slowed down as a local mayor was gunned down as he left his home.

* “Financial problems” torpedoed a much anticipated exhibition soccer game next month between bitter rivals U.S. and Mexico.

* Follow-up: The president of Dow Chemical testified that his company’s products did not cause health problems despite the claims of severe illness by former Nicaraguan laborers.

Sources- International Herald Tribune, Monsters & Critics, BBC News, USA TODAY, The Latin Americanist

Image- The Age

Daily Headlines: July 17, 2007

* Follow-up #1: Felisa Miceli (image) quit from her post as Argentine Economy Minister in the aftermath of her hiding over $64,000 in her office’s bathroom.

* Follow-up #2: Problems have emerged with the legal team representing Central American plaintiffs in a landmark pesticide case.

* The director of acclaimed documentary Bus 174- Brazil’s Jose Padilha- is behind the lens of an upcoming film on police corruption and gang violence in Rio de Janeiro.

* Bolivia’s government plans to nationalize the country’s railroads.

* Honduran President Manuel Zelaya called for a moratorium on the “massive and selective” deportations of his countrymen from the U.S.

Sources- Guardian UK, The Latin Americanist, San Jose Mercury News, Reuters, Bloomberg, MSNBC

Image- BBC News

C. American pesticide victims seeks justice

For several decades, U.S. pesticide companies sold chemicals that had been banned in the U.S. to undeveloped countries. Such was the case in Central America where plantation workers suffered the ill effects of using dangerous substances.

Today jury selection in Los Angeles commenced on a landmark case brought up by thirty Nicaraguan laborers who claim that they became severely sick after having worked with a pesticide known as DBCP. A spokesman for one of the defendants- Dow Chemical- said that no scientific studies have found that DBCP causes sterility. Yet according to the Environmental protection Agency’s website:

“(DBCP) was used as a fumigant on more than 40 different crops in the U.S. until it was largely phased out by 1979.

Long-term exposure to the pesticide causes male reproductive problems, including decreased sperm count, according to the site, which lists DBCP as a ‘probable human carcinogen.’”

A favorable verdict for the plaintiffs would open the door for more claims in the U.S. were penalties are stiffer than in Central America. Yet there exists a strong possibility of a settlement before a verdict is found, much like a case last April regarding DCBP’s effects.

Sources- Yahoo! News, The Latin Americanist

Image- Angry Toxicologist

Pesticide company agrees to settlement with Nicaraguans

A Southern California pesticide firm agreed to a $300,000 settlement with 13 Nicaraguan workers who claimed that they were sterilized while working on banana plantations in the 1970s. The settlement absolves Amvac Chemical Company from any wrongdoing though the plaintiffs were pleased after “fighting this fight for so long.” Court records showed that the pesticide- DBCP- had been banned for most uses in the U.S. by 1977 although it was made and sold in Nicaragua for only two years.

Earlier this month, a Los Angeles Times investigation showed that chemical companies like Amvac purchase the rights to older, more harmful pesticides in order to keep them in the global market.

Links- Los Angeles Times, Xinhua, SignOnSanDiego.com

Image- Newsday (2004 photo of a barrel of DBCP found in Nicaragua)