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: June 15, 2016

* Latin America: The U. N. Development Programme warned that 25 million Latin Americas that escaped poverty could soon fall back into serious financial hardship due to a “lengthy economic crisis and social exclusion in the region.”

* U.S.: The Latino community in Orlando, Florida tries to recover from the massacre of forty-nine people at a local nightclub including twenty-three Puerto Ricans as well as victims from Mexico as well as Venezuela.

* Argentina: Argentina’s foreign minister reiterated her county’s sovereignty claims over the Falklands but called on an “open dialogue” and better relations with the U.K.

* Puerto Rico: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the upper house will debate a debt relief bill for Puerto Rico later this month yet very close to a July 1st deadline for the island to pay $1.9 billion.

YouTube Source – DW (English) (From September 2015: “Agriculture is helping Paraguay's economy expand fast. Growth came in at about 5 percent last year. But many people still live in extreme poverty.”)
 
Online Sources – NBC News, ABC News, El Pais, Reuters, MercoPress

Daily Headlines: March 22, 2016

* Latin America: The U.N. concluded that the poverty rate in Latin America and the Caribbean grew by seven million people in roughly one year, while a report found that the region is very vulnerable to cyber attacks.

* Ecuador: The Ecuadoran government announced the creation of a new marine sanctuary that will protect some 18,000 square miles around the Galapagos Islands.

* Mexico: Some 200,000 residents in Mexico have been displaced as a result of dam construction nationwide according to a new study.

* U.S.: The Latino electorate in Arizona could be key in deciding who will win today's Democratic presidential primary in that state.

YouTube Source – DW

Online Sources – Andina, Nearshore Americas, National Geographic, teleSUR English, The Hill

Daily Headlines: March 13, 2015

* Haiti: Haiti's electoral council announced the dates for legislative and municipal elections that have been delayed since 2011 due to political bickering between President Michel Martelly and the opposition.

* Brazil: The probe into a major bribery scheme at state-run oil firm Petrobras has expanded to include investigations of three former governors.

* Latin America: According to a World Bank report published this week 130 million residents in Latin America and the Caribbean live in “chronic poverty” though there are variations between countries.

* Venezuela: The European Parliament passed a resolution calling on the Venezuelan government to free opposition figures and student protesters “arbitrarily detained” in anti-government marches last year.

Video Source – YouTube use Reuters (From New Year’s Day 2015: “Thousands of Haitians protest in Port-au-Prince, marking their independence day and calling for their leader to resign.”)

Online Sources – Yahoo News; Fox News Latino; Reuters; ABC News

Daily Headlines: September 18, 2014

* Argentina: Three medical staff and two former commanders of a secret military hospital have gone on trial over their alleged roles in the illegal adoption of babies from political dissidents during the Dirty War era.

* U.S.: New Census Bureau data found that the poverty rate for Latinos dropped by 2.1% in 2013 while median income grew last year for the first time since 2000.

* Panama: Is the Central American nation of Panama really the world’s happiest country?

* Brazil: The U.N. removed Brazil from the World Hunger Map after concluding that the number of undernourished residents decreased by more than 80% in ten years.

Video Source – CCTV America via YouTube (Estela de Carlotto, leader of Argentina’s Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, reconnected last month with her long-lost grandson).

Online Sources – BBC News; Los Angeles Times; The Guardian; ABC News

Daily Headlines: August 27, 2014

* Argentina: Angel Di Maria of Argentina broke the British transfer record when he officially signed for Manchester United on Tuesday as part of a $95 million deal.

* Venezuela: The governments of U.S. and Venezuela usually don’t see eye-to-eye but nearly two out of three Venezuelans view the U.S. favorably according to a Pew Research Center survey.

* Dominican Republic: Ex-Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski could be extradited to the Dominican Republic where he’s accused of child sexual abuse.

* Latin America: A United Nations study found that roughly 200 million residents of Latin America and the Caribbean are “vulnerable” to falling into poverty even though poverty rates in the region decreased between 2000 and 2012.

Video Source – YouTube user ScoutNationHD

Online Sources – BBC Sport; The Latin Americanist; UPI; BBC News; Pew Research Center

Daily Headlines: May 2, 2014 (Updated)

* Cuba: Juan Formell, the singer and founder of renowned Cuban music group Los Van Van, died on Thursday at the age of 71.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan officials will reportedly present today evidence allegedly showing opposition street protests that have taken place over the past two months are part of a plot to oust the government.

Update: Venezuelan Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres detailed at a press conference on Friday afternoon a supposed international "insurrectionist conspiracy" plotting to overthrow the government.  Among those involved in this alleged plot are Venezuelan opposition politicians like the imprisoned Leopoldo Lopez, local university student protest leaders, human rights activists, foreign figures including ex-Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the U.S. State Department.
    
* Colombia: Rescuers are searching in the Cauca province for up to fifteen people possibly trapped in an illegal mine that collapsed and claimed the lives of at least three workers.

* Mexico: According to a new report more than half of Mexico’s 40 million children live in poverty while one in three indigenous youth reside in “extreme poverty.”

Video Source – YouTube user Planet Records Official

Online Sources including Update – ABC News; euronews; Billboard; GlobalPost; Prensa Latina; El Nacional

Colombia: “Funeral” Honors Life and Legacy of Mandela (Updated)

A countless number of tributes in honor of ex-South African president Nelson Mandela have come from around the world since he passed away last Thursday.  Latin American leaders and Nobel Laureates such as Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Oscar Arias praised the iconic anti-apartheid campaigner who died at the age of 95.   Meanwhile, one of the most unique celebrations of Mandela’s life and legacy took place in a Colombian neighborhood named after him.

Last weekend, dozens of residents of the Nelson Mandela neighborhood of Cartagena held a vigil and “symbolic funeral” in his name. 

Religious leaders, community activists and admirers of the late leader took part in the activities that included an honorary mass and a funeral march with a coffin representing Mandela.  They chanted “Freedom, freedom, Nelson Mandela you are freedom” as they walked to a local soccer field.

“We wanted to do this symbolic funeral in order to remember with each step the achievements of our South Africa leader,” said Abad Berrio, one of the attendees.

“We’re getting together to remember him and teach the children what he represented as well as the peace we hope to achieve,” Berrio added.

The neighborhood was founded on the day Mandela was elected as president of South Africa in December 1994.  Most of the 40,000 residents are Afro-Colombians and had been displaced from other parts of the country mired in a decades-long armed conflict.  Yet the Barrio Nelson Mandela is one of the most impoverished and crime-ridden neighborhoods in Cartagena with residents suffer from poor social services and in absence of urgent medical care.

The problems of the Mandela neighborhood have not gone unnoticed by local civic leaders like Wailer Herrón who hope to draw encouragement from the legacy of the late activist:

Daily Headlines: December 5, 2013

* Latin America: According to the U.N., the percentage of people in Latin America and the Caribbean living in poverty this year has gone unchanged compared to 2012.

* El Salvador: A lawsuit was filed against the Salvadoran government on behalf of a woman who sought a therapeutic abortion but was barred from doing so by the country’s Supreme Court last May.

* South America: Brazil’s Ponte Preta and Lanus of Argentina shared the spoils and tied 1-1 in the first match of the two-legged Copa Sudamericana soccer tournament final.

* Mexico: Police in Mexico located a stolen truck carrying radioactive cargo and believe that the missing robbers require “immediate” medical attention.

Video Source – YouTube user Erin Sidmore

Online Sources- Salon.com; The Latin Americanist; ABC News; Socerway; CNN

Daily Headlines: November 29, 2012

* Colombia: A recent International Court of Justice on Colombian territory and public doubts over peace talks with the FARC have caused the approval rating of President Juan Manuel Santos to plummet by fifteen points in two months.

* Latin America: A U.N. report concluded that poverty levels in Latin America and the Caribbean decreased to its lowest levels in three decades due to an increase in wages and more jobs.

* Brazil: According to new government data deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has hit a record low yet the deforested area is still three times the size of Sao Paulo.

* Argentina: A U.S. appeals court froze a ruling made last week that would’ve obligated Argentina to pay about $1.3 billion in debt to foreign creditors.

Video Source – YouTube via teleSUR English (“The Minister of Foreign Relations of Colombia, Maria Angela Holguín, was summoned by the Senate of her country to explain the scope of the judgment of the International Court of The Hague that subtracts maritime possessions from this country in favor of Nicaragua”).

Online Sources- Bernama, Colombia Reports, CNN, Huffington Post

Daily Headlines: November 15, 2012

* Mexico: No deaths or major damages have been reported as a result of a magnitude-6.0 earthquake that struck in the state of Guerrero early this morning.

* Latin America: In international soccer friendlies yesterday World Cup champions Spain overwhelmed Panama while Brazil and Argentina tied against Colombia and Saudi Arabia, respectively. 

* U.S.: The poverty rate among Latinos is 28% according to a new analysis of figures from the Census Bureau.

* Argentina: The Argentina government requested that the U.N.-affiliated International Sea Tribunal help in the release of an Argentine frigate held in Ghana.

Video Source – YouTube via user EstadoDeMexicoComMx
 
Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, ESPN, Reuters, Fox News Latino, BBC News

Daily Headlines: July 9, 2012

Note: Unfortunately blogging will be very light today. Therefore, we’re posting an extended edition of our daily headlines from around the Americas.

* Peru: Tensions remain high in the Cajamarca region where five people died during protests against the multi-billion dollar Conga gold mining project.

* Mexico: Despite accusations of vote-buying and electoral fraud Enrique Peña Nieto is expected to soon be officially declared the winner of Mexico’s recent presidential election.

* Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez and opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles have accused each other’s campaigns of provoking violence.

* Latin America: According to a newly released United Nations report approximately one-third of young people in Latin America and the Caribbean live in poverty.

Daily Headlines: November 7, 2011

* Mexico: The editor of a newspaper in Veracruz claimed that a group of armed men attacked his newspaper’s offices and set them on fire.

* Colombia: A message purportedly from the FARC claimed that the rebels will not lay down their arms despite the killing of their commander, Alfonso Cano, on Friday.

* U.S.: New census data expected to be released this week will reportedly show that more Latinos have fallen below the poverty line.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan-born “professional revolutionary” Carlos the Jackal faces a new trial over a series of bombings in France during the 1980s.

Image Source – Via Flickr user Cyrus Farivar (Mexico City newspaper vendor) (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Online Sources - TVNZ, The Guardian, CNN, Fox News Latino, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: August 1, 2011

* Argentina: In a reverse for President Cristina Fernandez, Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri easily won reelection on Sunday.

* Mexico: The number of Mexicans living in poverty grew in 2010 according to a recently released report while the country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in June reached its highest point in nearly two years.

* Cuba: Rest in peace Eliseo Alberto; the Cuban-born writer died yesterday while living in exile in Mexico.

* Guatemala: By a 12-1 vote the Supreme Court rejected recently divorced former first lady Sandra Torres’ bid for the presidency.

Image – Telam via Diario Los Andes (“The Macri-Vidal ticket swept the ballots.”)
Online Sources- CBS News, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, CNN, MSNBC

Daily Headlines: June 6, 2011

* Chile: Thousands of Chileans have been evacuated due to the erupting Puyehue volcano that has also spread ash into parts of neighboring Argentina.

* Brazil: President Dilma Rousseff launched the Brazil Without Poverty program that includes more funds to the country's poorest regions, and expanding public health and education plans.

* U.S.: The Obama administration might add provisions for unemployment aid to legislation for free trade pacts with three countries including Panama and Colombia.

* Mexico: El Tri's defense of its Gold Cup title began last night with a convincing 5-0 group stage win over El Salvador.

Image - Martin Iniguez/AP via The Guardian ("A column of smoke and ash rises from Chile's Puyehue volcano after it started erupting for the first time in decades.")
Online Sources - BBC News, Sky News, USA TODAY, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: May 19, 2011

* Haiti: The Department of Homeland Security announced that not only will it extend the Temporary Protected Status deadline for Haitians who left the country after the January 2010 earthquake but also make it easier to apply for that program.

* Peru: Energy and Mining Minister Pedro Sanchez admitted that Peru would continue its “business-friendly” policies regardless of whether Ollanta Humala or Keiko Fujimori wins the presidency.

* Latin America: Nearly half of children in Latin America live in poverty according to a joint report from two U.N. agencies.

* Cuba: The U.S. Supreme Court could take up a case against a Florida law that severely restricts academic travel to Cuba.

Image – AFP (“Haitians stand in front of the main US Immigration office building as they watch others protest in Miami.”)
Online Sources- New York Daily News, Reuters, People’s Daily Online, Miami Herald

Report: Most Puerto Rican kids in poverty

A majority of Puerto Rican children are in poverty and face dwindling prospects for the future according to a report by the National Council of La Raza (NCLR).

The NCLR study found that 56% of children on the island live below the poverty line, triple the figure or the U.S. as a whole. The “2010 KIDS COUNT - Puerto Rico Data Book” also noted that the commonwealth has one of the highest teen birth rates in the U.S. and leads all U.S. states and territories in the proportion of youth who neither work or go to school (14.6%).

What factors contribute to this problematic data on Puerto Rico’s youth? According to the report’s main author, Nayde Rivera-Hernández, one of the main factors is the prevalence of single-parent households. (Children live in 49% of them said Rivera-Hernández). In a press conference yesterday she detailed that the average household income in Puerto Rico in 2006-2008 was $20,795, over $1000 less than the poverty level for a family of four ($21,834).

While protests continue against government plans to impose a university fee, Rivera-Hernández called for officials to do more in order to combat “low educational levels” hurting the island’s youth.

Earlier today a White House task force on Puerto Rico advocated that a two-stage plebiscite take place to help determine the island’s political status. Gov. Luis Fortuño, a Republican who has called for Puerto Rican statehood, praised the White House report as one that “breaks the myths” of backing commonwealth status. Yet the NCLR could provide ammunition to anti-statehood activists who claim that Puerto Rico is too poor to become the 51st state.

Image- Prensa Latina
Online Sources- Terra.com, primerahora.com, The Latin Americanist, FOX News Latino, America Quarterly Blog, MSNBC, Huffington Post, National Council of La Raza

Today’s Video: Haiti's S.O.S.

It's difficult to believe that the health situation in Haiti could get worse but sadly that has been the case. The country's cholera outbreak, which has already claimed over 900 deaths since it began nearly one month ago, has reportedly spread into Port-au-Prince earthquake survivor camps.

According to the U.N.'s Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, the number of cholera cases is expected to rise with better data collection. Yet Nigel Fisher also noted that the outbreak has hit all of Haiti's provinces and residents of overcrowded urban slums are especially at risk.

Therefore, it shouldn't come as a surprise that some Haitians vented their frustration on Monday:

In the country's second city of Cap-Haitien on the north coast, the demonstrators torched a police station after confronting U.N. troops, while in Hinche in the central region, they pelted Nepalese U.N. peacekeepers with stones...

A cholera epidemic, which broke out last month, has killed more than 900 people in the poor earthquake-hit Caribbean country, and the U.N. mission has repeatedly denied widespread rumors that Nepalese U.N. troops quartered in the central region brought the deadly disease to Haiti.

The latest episode of "60 Minutes" looked at the precarious situation in Haiti including a perceived lack of progress despite billions of dollars in pledged foreign aid. The outlook for one of the poorest countries in the Americas is, in short, not good:

Online Sources - Voice of America, Reuters
Video Source - CBS

Want to make get land in Colombia? Get your tubes tied

In what I deem a controversial program, a Colombian man and heir to a dairy business in Bogota- Erwin Goggel- is giving peasants free land in Colombia in exchange for one thing: getting sterilized. I use the word 'free' loosely because the peasants first have to undergo surgery- the men have a vasectomy and the women have to get their tubes tied, albeit all at Goggel's expense.

Goggel's goal is to alleviate poverty amongst the peasants, citing the well known notion that poverty is generational and hard to escape within a family. He sees excessive birth rates as part of the problem and states that poverty is directly proportional to the size of the peasant family. His solution: give them 9 acres of land to have invasive surgery performed. By doing so, he wants to create a stable home environment for the existing children and allow the families to have land to sustain themselves from without the worry of having another member to feed with already stretched budgets.

The controversy? (Besides the invasive surgery?) Goggel doesn't actually give the peasants land deeds but instead gives them permission to squat on the $50,000 worth of land he purchased. He's afraid that if the peasants had the land deeds, they would be tempted to sell them and return to their "roofless" and unstable lives.

Whether or not we agree with Goggel's tactics (my verdict is still out), there are cold, hard facts that support at least the spirit of his program. Colombia's birthrate is higher that the rest of Latin America's already high average and about 50% more than the United States' and almost half of the population is living below the poverty line.

But aren't there better ways to address the problem? What are your thoughts?
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Online Source: LA Times

Census Bureau: More Latinos in poverty

More Latinos in the U.S. find themselves impoverished according to a report released today by the Census Bureau.

Using information collected in 2008, the agency found that median income for Latinos dropped by a whopping 5.6% to $37,913. This is more than any other racial group and only the second-lowest real median income just ahead of blacks.

Furthermore, nearly one in four Latinos (23.2%) were below the poverty line in 2008; a number that was slightly less than blacks but far more than other racial groups. Nevertheless, median income fell for all racial groups and poverty levels increased across the board.

The current numbers ma be worse since the Census figures did not take into account most of the recession which officially began in December 2008. Furthermore, family incomes below the poverty line did not account for income from food stamps or that was unreported. Along with the growth in the medically uninsured (31% of Latinos), some activists are calling for more to be done like health care reform:

At the Yorkville Common Pantry, an emergency meal program in East Harlem, Joel Berg, the executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, said the troubling numbers underscore the need for health reform.

"Today's new numbers make it clearer than ever that lack of health insurance and inability to pay medical bills is one of the greatest contributing factors to poverty and hunger in America," Berg said. "People in poor health rarely earn significant wealth."

Image- CNN (“Migrant laborers help in the post-Hurricane Katrina cleanup in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2006.”)
Online Sources- New York Times, Miami Herald, Census Bureau, Univision.com