Daily Headlines: March 4, 2016 (Updated)

* Haiti: Haiti’s prison system is stretched to its limits by overcrowding as inmates reside in squalid conditions, according to “independent U.N. expert on human rights” Gustavo Gallon.

* Brazil: A court ordered House Speaker Eduardo Cunha to face trial as part of the “Lava Jato” corruption scandal that has implicated figures of Brazil’s political and economic elite.

Update: Speaking of figures implicated in the "Lava Jato" probe, Lula has some explaining to do.
 
* Venezuela: U.S. President Barack Obama issued a one-year extension to an executive order presented in March 2015 deeming the deep political unrest in Venezuela as a national security threat.

* Guatemala: Two ex-military men recently convicted of torturing and raping eleven indigenous women during the civil war three decades ago have been ordered to pay a $1 million restitution to their victims.

YouTube Source – The New York Times (Video uploaded in May 2010).

Online Sources including Update – Yahoo News, ABC News, Fox News Latino, Reuters, BBC News

Daily Headlines: February 11, 2016 (Updated)

* Latin America: A pair of recent polls found that most Latin Americans are pessimistic over the region’s governments handling of the Zika virus outbreak, and 41% of people in the U.S. are less likely to take a trip to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Update: On a related note, Brazilian health officials claimed that it can take a year to develop a vaccine against Zika. Doing so, however, will be a major challenge.

* Mexico: At least fifty-two inmates died following a riot and a fire at the Topo Chico prison located near Monterrey in northern Mexico.

* Peru: Peru’s copper output is expected to grow by 19% this year, which will allow the country to leapfrog China and become the world’s second-largest copper producer.

* El Salvador: Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes will become the next ex-Central American leader to face a trial over alleged wrongdoing while in office.

YouTube Source – Bloomberg Business

Online Sources including Update – The Guardian, Reuters, CNN, Bloomberg, Vox

Daily Headlines: December 1, 2015

* Guatemala: Gang violence was blamed for the deaths of at least sixteen inmates at a Guatemalan prison that is at approximately 500% overcapacity.

* Brazil: Brazil’s recession worsened in the third trimester of 2015 and posted a 1.7% quarterly drop along with a worrying 4.5% annual decline.

* El Salvador: San Salvador Archbishop Bishop Jesus Delgado apologized to victims of sexual abuse by clergy amid a crackdown by the archdiocese against suspected pedophiles.

* Venezuela: Authorities arrested three suspects in the murder of Venezuelan opposition politician Luis Diaz during a recent campaign event to rally support prior to Sunday’s legislative elections.

YouTube Source – Associated Press

Online Sources – iTV News, Reuters, UPI, Yahoo News

Daily Headlines: November 5, 2015

* Colombia: The Mexican Supreme Court’s ruling on marijuana wasn’t the only key judicial decision made in Latin America yesterday as Colombian magistrates legalized adoptions by same-sex couples.

* U.S.: President Barack Obama will reportedly unveil as soon as this week a new plan to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and transfer inmates to mainland maximum security facilities.

* Latin America: Panamanian authorities claimed to have found a drug trafficking connection between Colombia’s FARC rebels and fugitive Mexican drug capo Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

* Puerto Rico: Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla introduced a plan to restructure the $8 billion debt held by Puerto Rico’s main electricity company.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English
 
Online Sources – NBC News, Reuters, The Los Angeles Times, UPI, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: October 16, 2015

* Chile: Thousands of students took to the streets of Santiago in a protest against President Michelle Bachelet’s planned educational reforms.

* Venezuela: Opposition politician Manuel Rosales was arrested after returning from exile, while a bipartisan group of U.S. Congressmen from Florida have proposed granting immigration relief to Venezuelan expats.

* Latin America: An investigation in the GlobalPost news website followed three U.S. priests accused of sexual abuse who fled to Latin America and continued practicing their faith.

* Mexico: Mexican TV network Televisa revealed unauthorized footage of the escape of fugitive drug capo Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman that casts doubts on the official government version of events.

YouTube Source – Reuters

Online Sources – teleSUR English, Deutsche Welle, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fox News Latino, InSight Crime

Daily Headlines: October 14, 2015

* Mexico: A recently released report from the Mexican Attorney General ‘s office on the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students has shown numerous contradictions with the results of the official probe.

* Latin America: Three people died and fourteen inmates escaped from a Brazilian prison during a riot, while four suspected gang members died during an uprising in a Salvadoran correctional facility.

* Colombia: U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Kevin Whitaker said that his country will not push for the extradition of FARC rebel commanders though Washington will seek alleged criminals.

* U.S: A new Nielsen study found that Latinos over the age of fifty are growing in numbers, represent a burgeoning consumer base and are healthier than initially believed.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (Thousands of marchers took to the streets of Mexico city last month on the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa students.)
 
Online Sources – Tico Times, oneindia, Fox News Latino, BBC News, Latina Lista

Daily Headlines: August 17, 2015 (Update)

* Brazil: Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched throughout in Brazil to call for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff though the odds of her actually quitting are slim to none.

Update: A Brazilian central bank survey of economists published the day after the protests found that the country's economy is expected to contract in 2016.

* Cuba: The Defense Department is allegedly considering moving some inmates from the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba to correctional facilities in the U.S.

* U.S.: A recent study found that TV ads for junk foods like sugary drinks and candy are disproportionately targeted at African-American and Latino youth.

* Venezuela: Representatives with the Pan American Health Organization are worried over shortages of medicines to treat cancer in Venezuela.

YouTube Source – euronews (“Brazil's third "major demonstration"…of the year drew tens of thousands to Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach to call for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.”)

Online Sources including Update – Reuters, Los Angeles Times, Voice of America, The Huffington Post

Daily Headlines: September 16, 2014

* Mexico: A Mexican politician has come under fire after posting a Facebook message referring to Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho as an “ape.”

* Brazil: The warden of a Brazilian prison where an inmate was recently beheaded was arrested and charged with helping prisoners escape.

* U.S.: A coalition of fifty groups commenced a campaign yesterday aimed at boosting the number of Latino voters participating in the November midterm elections.

* Puerto Rico: Approximately $900 million in tax and revenue anticipation notes is expected to be sold in order to raise revenues on the cash-strapped commonwealth.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube
 
Online Sources – The Guardian; The Latin Americanist; Fox News Latino; The Huffington Post; Reuters

Daily Headlines: August 12, 2014 (Updated)

* Haiti: Officials vowed to capture more than 300 inmates who recently broke out of a Haitian prison including convicted kidnapping ring leader Clifford Brandt.

Update: Police recaptured Brandt near the Haiti-Dominican Republic border but most of the escaped inmates are still fugitives.
 
* Honduras: At least eight people died in a shootout on Saturday night reportedly caused by gang violence between the Mara 18 and the Mara Salvatrucha groups.

* U.S.: A three-judge federal panel started hearing legal arguments yesterday over the possible gerrymandering of Congressional districts that hurt Latino voters in Texas.

* Ecuador: The Ecuadorian capital city of Quito was named as “South America's Leading Destination” at an event deemed as the “Academy Awards of the tourism industry.”

Video Source – euronews via YouTube
 
Online Sources including Update – ABC News; Miami Herald; Latina; LAHT; Bloomberg

Venezuelan “Political Prisoner” on Hunger Strike

A Venezuelan ex-police chief whose imprisonment has been denounced by the country's opposition commenced a hunger strike this week.

“Every day in this military prison has turned into an anxious roller coaster ride because I don't know if tonight, or early in the morning, as happened before, I'll end up in the emergency room,” said Iván Simonovis in a letter released on Tuesday via his attorneys. 

The 53-year-old claimed that he has “become tired” of the slow pace of his appeal within the Venezuelan justice system and, hence, decided to take up a hunger strike in order to obtain a conditional release.

“All the legal and political efforts to receive a response to the demands (for an appeal) I made ten months ago have been exhausted… I'm tired of acting in accordance to the law, yet no one listens to me,” said Simonovis in his message.

The former commander of the Caracas Metropolitan Police was sentenced in 2009 to thirty year in prison for aggravated murder related to the deaths of four demonstrators in an unsuccessful 2002 coup against then-President Hugo Chávez. Lawyers for Simonovis claimed that he has suffered from nineteen different ailments like osteoporosis and severe dehydration; thus, he should be released on humanitarian grounds.

“What options does Simonovis have?” exclaimed attorney José Luis Tamayo who added that his client is well aware that he could end up like Franklin Brito, a farmer who died in 2010 following a five-month hunger strike against the Chávez regime.

Simonovis is seen by the Venezuelan opposition as a “political prisoner” unfairly targeted by an authoritarian government and is being kept under unfair conditions despite suffering from scores of ailments.  His imprisonment was one of the main topics in failed negotiations between the opposition and government aimed at ending three months of deep political unrest.

Daily Headlines: January 28, 2014

* Brazil: Few strong safety measures have reportedly been taken in Brazil in order to prevent fires like a deadly nightclub blaze that occurred on January 27, 2013. 

* Venezuela: Thousands of Venezuelans in favor and opposed to the government participated in different protests calling for an end to rampant violence.

* Latin America: The weather phenomena known as El Niño is expected to occur later this year and bring heavy rains to Latin America’s Pacific coast.

* Colombia: A fight among inmates is believed to have been the cause of a Barranquilla prison fire last night that killed at least ten people.

Video Source – Associated Press via YouTube

Online Sources- Christian Science Monitor; The Latin Americanist; AFP; Bloomberg; GlobalPost

Daily Headlines: September 27, 2013

* Latin America: The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime found that Peru surpassed Colombia as the world’s top producer of coca, while Guatemalan Otto Perez Molina called for reforming global drug policy during his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.

* Chile: Chilean President Sebastian Piñera ordered the shutdown of a “luxury prison” where ten ex-senior officials who served under the late dictator Augusto Pinochet are serving sentences for human rights violations.

* U.S.: The National Association of Hispanic Journalists denounced a recent Fox News headline referring to U.S. citizens with undocumented parents as “children of the corn.”

* El Salvador: Two members of the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority who were released from the Guantanamo prison in April 2012 to El Salvador have reportedly left the Central American country.

Video Source – YouTube via user JewishNewsOne

Online Sources- Miami Herald; Huffington Post; Reuters; CSMonitor.com; Al Jazeera America

Daily Headlines: September 18, 2013

* Latin America: Dozens of people have died in Mexico after several tropical storms hit the country while about six hundred people in Uruguay were evacuated from their homes due to heavy rains and flooding.
  
* Central America: A new market study found that despite low levels of inflation in some Central America countries most individuals in the region believe that prices of basic goods are constantly rising.

* Venezuela: Clashes between rival gangs may be to blame for a riot in a Maracaibo prison that ended with at least sixteen inmates dead. 

* Nicaragua: Nicaragua filed a new lawsuit against Colombia with the International Court of Justice in order to settle a long-standing maritime border dispute.

Video Source – YouTube via AFP

Online Sources- LAHT; Reuters; France24.com; CNN; GlobalPost

Daily Headlines: August 26, 2013

* Mexico: Local officials claimed that missing railroad nails and ties led to the deadly derailment yesterday of “La Bestia”, a Mexican freight train that tens of thousands of mostly Central American migrants ride on each year as part of a perilous journey northward.

* Venezuela: According to the Iranian press, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro strongly “condemned” any possible foreign intervention in Syria despite alleged chemical attacks perpretrated by the Syrian military.

* Argentina: A U.S. court rejected an appeal from the Argentine government and ordered them to pay approximately $1.3 billion in debts that have gone unpaid since the country's massive 2001 default.

* Bolivia: At least thirty-one inmates died and roughly thirty-seven are injured after a prison riot took place at a Santa Cruz facility on Friday.

Video Source – YouTube via Reuters 

Online Sources- FARS; New York Times; Fox News Latino; BBC News

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: June 25, 2013

* Bolivia: Inmates at Bolivia’s largest prison, the San Pedro in La Paz, are protesting after rumors emerged that a twelve-year-old girl was raped by prisoners and became pregnant.

* U.S.: Is a new TV drama about five Latina housekeepers who work for wealthy Beverly Hills employers reinforcing negative stereotypes against Latinas or much ado about nothing?

* England: Mónica Puig of Puerto Rico shocked fifth seed Sara Errani of Italy in straight sets at the first round of Wimbledon tennis tournament.

* Chile: Ex-leader and current presidential candidate Michelle Bachelet and HidroAysen manager Daniel Fernandez have butted heads regarding the viability of the major hydroelectric project.

Video Source – YouTube via user ejumeridian (Bolivia’s San Pedro prison, which has been the site of several riots like this one in 2009, is scheduled to be shutdown next month).

Online Sources- Reuters; BBC News; New York Daily News; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: June 10, 2013

* Peru: What do former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori and Shining Path guerilla leader “Comrade Artemio” have in common?  Both men will likely spend their rest of their lives in prison.

* Argentina: China approved the importation of four new strains of genetically modified soybeans and corn from Argentina days after worldwide protests were held over the use of genetically modified food.

* Mexico: Authorities believe the Knights Templar drug gang is behind the attack on a Guerrero prison where nine inmates escaped and two prison guards were killed.

* Brazil: According to a new poll, President Dilma Rousseff popularity has fallen though a majority of Brazilians would vote for her if she chooses to run for reelection next year.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews (Shining Path guerilla leader “Comrade Artemio”, who was captured in a february 2012 military raid, was sentenced to life in prison and fined $183 million). 

Online Sources- Al Jazeera English; Xinhua; Reuters; Los Angeles Times; Businessweek

Daily Headlines: June 7, 2013

* Mexico: Approximately 165 kidnap victims – mostly migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras - were freed by Mexican troops in northern Tamaulipas state.

* Guatemala: Ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt will be retried on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in April 2014, which is nearly a year after his original conviction was overturned.

* Cuba: 125 U.S. soldiers will be sent to serve as guards at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay where over half of the detainees have been on a hunger strike since February.

* Brazil: According to new government data green house gas emissions have decreased by 39% between 2005 and 2010 partly due to a nosedive in deforestation.

Video Source – YouTube via Univision Noticias (Tamaulipas was the same Mexican state where in 2010 the corpses of 72 migrants were found abandoned at a ranch).

Online Sources- Reuters; Hispanically Speaking News; The Latin Americanist; Nature; Military Times

Daily Headlines: June 3, 2013

* Chile: A judge issued an order for police to make a portrait of and look for the possible killer of famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda who died days after a 1973 military coup.

* Venezuela: Timothy Tracy, a U.S. filmmaker detained last April and accused of spying against the Venezuelan government, was allegedly transferred to the El Rodeo prison.

* Brazil: The iconic Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was reopened yesterday with a 2-2 tie between Brazil and England.

* Mexico: Mexican author turner peace activist Javier Sicilia praised a recent Organization of American States report on drugs as a tool that could “lead to the formulation and implementation of new drug policies”.

Video Source – YouTube via AFP (The body of famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was exhumed last April in order to examine if he was murdered via poison in September 1973).
 
Online Sources- Huffington Post; Fox News Latino; The Latin Americanist; BBC Sport; The Guardian

Court Convicts Carandirú Cops

Note: The below video contains very graphic images and is Not Safe for Work.

A Brazilian judge convicted and sentenced a group of police officers for their involvement in Brazil’s worst instance of prison violence.

The twenty-three police officers, most of them now retired, each received prisons sentences of 156 years as punishment for killing fifteen inmates of Sao Paulo's Carandirú prison in October 1992.

No officers were among the 111 fatalities of the incident referred to as the “Carandirú massacre” that began when officers attempting to quell rioting among rival gangs.

Prosecutors argued that dozens of Brazil’s Military Police officers indiscriminately fired on prisoners who surrendered or were hiding in their cells. They purportedly used shotguns and machine guns to murder 102 prisoners including some at point-blank range.

"We never thought they would come in and kill people randomly, as not everyone had joined the rebellion," said ex-Carandirú prisoner Jacy de Oliveira to the BBC News.

“The sentence does not reflect the thinking of Brazilian society,” said one of the defense attorneys who alleged that their clients were performing theirs duties and protecting themselves from violent inmates. 

At least seventy-nine current and former Military Police officers are expected to face charges in four separate trials.  For the Amnesty International human rights group, authorities could do more to prevent impunity twenty-one years after the massacre: