Daily Headlines: November 24, 2015

* Cuba: Internet access is difficult for the average Cuban resident but social networking has been a vital resource for migrants attempting to make their way through Mexico and Central America.

* Latin America: Peruvian President Ollanta Humala issued decrees with the goal of halting violence against women, while a recent report revealed mixed results for Nicaragua in terms of gender equality.

* Venezuela: U.S. prosecutors accused the Venezuelan military of being involved in a shipment of cocaine seized in Haiti this month and leading to the arrest of the nephews of first lady Cilia Flores.

* Dominican Republic: Dominican officials issued arrest warrants against three French nationals accused of helping two of their compatriots escape drug smuggling convictions.

YouTube Source – AFP

Online Sources – Christian Science Monitor, NDTV, Quartz, MercoPress, RFI

Mexico: Social Media Outrage Over Offensive Missing Student Tweets

Social media has been beneficial for businesses looking to promote their brand, increase sales and gain an advantage above their competitors.  But it can also be a double-edged sword for companies that either inadvertently or purposefully post controversial messages in the aftermath of tragedies. This is a lesson that at least two Mexican companies faced after publishing a tweet alluding to the possible massacre forty-three students.

Marca de chocolates Crunch publica tuit de burla sobre los normalistas http://t.co/AKNIJDC79g
— Proceso (@revistaproceso) November 9, 2014

As seen above, the original message posted Sunday just after midnight on the twitter account for Mexico’s Nestlé Crunch roughly translates to “We Crunched the ones from Ayotzinapa.” The offending tweet was removed approximately two-and-a-half hours later and Nestlé apologized in four subsequent tweets.

“We regret for the recently published content and offer our deepest apologies. We are united with the families (of the disappeared)…and extend our apology to all of the brands affected by this bad joke,” read some of the content tweeted by Nestlé. Yet another message alleged that the Twitter account was hacked and that Nestlé was going to take all measures to prevent future infiltration.  This excuse did not sit well with some netizens who voiced their anger at the candy company.

“Hahahaha ‘we were hacked’ hahaha,” “You finally got what you wanted … to make some noise” and “I will never again buy your product…and I hope you fire the idiot (behind the tweet)” were just some of the messages left behind by indignant social media users to the Mexican Nestlé Crunch twitter account.

Mario Vera, vice president for communications of Nestlé in Mexico, later told the press that the company would investigate if the “offensive message” came from someone within Nestlé or via a hacker.

Meanwhile, a Mexico City pizzeria belonging to the 50 friends chain of eateries also came under fire following an insulting tweet regarding the missing and reportedly murdered students.

Colombia: Twitter Twit Nearly Lynched

In 2007, the term “¿Por qué no te callas?” (“Why don’t you shut up?”) entered the Spanish-language lexicon when King Juan Carlos of Spain ordered then-Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to be quiet during a summit.  The saying could be applied to a Colombian man who could be imprisoned for his Twitter comments on a recent tragedy that claimed the lives of thirty-two children returning from a church event.

In light of Saturday’s deadly bus fire in the town of Fundación, Jorge Alejandro Pérez made remarks via his Twitter account that at best can be described as a failed attempt at dark humor and at worse the heartless ramblings of a sociopath.

“With the high price of gasoline and for it to be wasted on 32 costeñitos? That’s stupid,” said the law school student. (Costeñitos refers to residents in Colombia’s coastal communities).

Pérez mentioned, “Lets gather funds and buy a gallon of gasoline to get rid of the costeños” along with the hashtag #MePrendoComoNiñoEnBus (roughly translated as #ICatchOnFireLikeAChildOnABus).

He also referred to the death of a homeless Bogota man nicknamed “Calidoso” who was attacked and set ablaze by unknown assailants earlier this month.

“The 32 kids went to feed Calidoso…and they ended up burning in hell,” Pérez said.

The reaction from social media included criticizing his remarks along with the hashtag #RepudioContraJorgeAlejandroPerez (#RepudiationAgainstJorgeAlejandroPerez). Pérez was quickly identified since his Twitter account didn’t mention his name but did include his photo.  As a result, several hundred people Wednesday night gathered at the campus where he goes to school with the reported intent of lynching him.  A police SWAT team prevented that from happening and he was escorted to a local precinct for the rest of the evening. A police spokesman claimed that he had left his home city of Ibague but did not specify exactly where.

“I recognize that I made a mistake and I offended all Colombians with my thoughtless comments,” said Pérez in a letter purportedly written by him.  In an interview with local TV, he also asked “the Colombian people and the residents of Fundación to forgive him.”

It’s unknown if he’ll return to Ibague to his family’s residence that has been under police protection due to online threats to burn it down.  What is certain, however, is that he won't be returning to the university where he studied since administrators on Wednesday announced that he will be expelled.

Kerry, Jaua in Spat Over Venezuelan Internet Access

Internet access in Venezuela has become the latest dispute in the diplomatic tug-of-war between the U.S. and the South American state.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry labeled Russia and Venezuela as countries with “an absolutely unmistakable pattern” of cracking down on the Internet. 

“The places where we face some of the greatest security challenges today are also the places where governments set up firewalls against some of the basic freedoms online,” he said during a speech given as part of the annual Freedom Online Coalition conference.

“In Venezuela, the government has used security forces to disrupt peaceful protests and limit freedoms of expression and assembly. And this has included blocking access to selected websites and limiting access to internet service in certain parts of the country,” added Kerry who spoke via a Google Plus video chat at the conference in Estonia.

Venezuela’s foreign minister, Elias Jaua, said yesterday to the press that he “rejected” the “false” accusations made by Kerry.

“We are all under threat from a (U.S.) government that believes they have the right to intervene and sanction against countries based on the reality they construct from diplomats at their respective embassies,” Jaua mentioned.

Jaua also referred to the recent political unrest in Venezuela and blamed “hackers” for targeting official websites as part of a “fascist intent to oust” Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

Internet access and social media campaigns have become important tools for the Venezuelan opposition to espouse their views against the government and to publish alleged cases of brutality by the authorities. Last February that the government was accused of being behind a brief blackout of images on Twitter while street protests against the Maduro regime grew in major cities across the country.

Daily Headlines: April 23, 2014

* El Salvador: Salvadoran church leaders have called on the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 street gangs to agree to a second truce in order to combat an uptick in violence following the end of a previous peace pact.
 
* Colombia: A Colombian court ordered that Gustavo Petro should be restored as mayor of the capital city of Bogota over a month after he was ousted over alleged mismanagement.
 
* Puerto Rico: Unemployment in Puerto Rico continues to fall though at 14.7% it’s more than double the latest U.S. unemployment rate.

* Cuba: According to the Costa Rican press, U.S. diplomatic officials in the Central American country ran a now-defunct “Cuban Twitter” social network aimed at creating unrest against the island's government.
 
Video Source– Voice of America via YouTube
 
Online Sources – Reuters; GlobalPost; LAHT; Tico Times

Daily Headlines: April 9, 2014

* Argentina: An Argentine court sentenced ten people to up to twenty-two years in prison regarding the 2002 kidnapping and “sexual exploitation” of a missing young woman named Marita Veron.

* Mexico: Death row inmate Ramiro Hernandez is running out of legal options and today he will likely become the second Mexican national to be executed in Texas this year.
 
* Cuba: Sen. Patrick Leahy, the head of the Senate subcommittee that oversees USAID, blasted the administrator of that agency for a “cockamamie” failed social network project launched in Cuba.

* Haiti: A new report found that the percentage of Haitian earthquake survivors living in refugee camps has plummeted by 91% though the study notes the “phenomenon of new families moving into camps and families splitting and occupying more tents constitutes a worrying trend.”

Video Source– The Daily Beast via YouTube (Susana Trimarco, the mother of missing Argentine woman Marita Veron, has become an activist against human trafficking as she continues the search for her “disappeared” daughter.) 

Online Sources – BBC News; The Latin Americanist; ABC News; CBS News; Miami Herald

Nude Twitter Protest Against Venezuelan Gang Assault (Updated)

Venezuelan government officials met on Tuesday night with members of the opposition in order to negotiate a potential end to nearly two months of unrest.  (Update: Both sides reportedly agreed to hold "formal talks" that could start as soon as this Thursday).

While plans are being made for the upcoming of the discussions, anti-government activists continue to voice their complaints against the regime led by President Nicolas Maduro.  One of the most unique protests took part recently in response to allegations of human rights abuses.

Using the hashtag #MejorDesnudosQue (roughly translated #BetterToBeNudeThan), the campaign began on April 4th when a team of Venezuelan ad executives uploaded semi-nude photos of themselves. The previous day, images emerged of a young man at the University of Central Venezuela (UCV) who was forced to disrobe and sit naked on the grass while masked gang members assaulted him. (Video of this incident can be seen at the top of this post).
 
“When I saw the video (of the nude young man) it hit me very hard and that’s when I came up with this idea,” said ad agency executive Ricardo Cie.

“My friends and family where receptive and they generally commented that the photos where a distinct way to peacefully and intelligently protest,” said one of Cie’s workmates, Eliana Mora Golding.

“Generally nobody was offended though we did receive negative comments,” she added.
 
Between the start of the #MejorDesnudosQue campaign and Monday the hashtag became a trending topic on Twitter and mentioned over 201,000 times on that social media network.
 
Cie noted he and sixteen of his colleagues opted to do the campaign via Twitter since “there is an absence of Venezuelan TV channels that are showing the reality on the streets.”

Among those who have spoken out in favor of the #MejorDesnudosQue campaign and it’s related hashtag #DesnudosConLaUCV (#NudeWithTheUCV) is Cuban blogger and opposition activists Yoani Sanchez.  She claimed that authoritarian regimes believe that “undressing their opponents constitutes one of the repressive practices they most enjoy” but the #MejorDesnudosQue idea may have changed this perspective:

Daily Headlines: April 3, 2014

* Chile: No major damages or casualties have been reported as a result of several strong aftershocks following a magnitude-8.2 earthquake on Tuesday off the northern Chilean coast that caused six deaths. 

* Argentina: Argentine President Cristina Kirchner introduced a new currency note featuring a map of the Falkland Islands and accused Britain of trying to turn the disputed archipelago into a “North Atlantic Treaty Organization military base.”

* Cuba: A new report alleged that the U.S. government helped create a now-defunct “Cuban Twitter” social network with the goal of causing unrest against the ruling Castro regime.

* U.S.: The U.S. and Mexico shared the spoils in a 2-2 tie in the latest chapter of the bitter soccer rivalry between the neighboring countries.

Video Source – euronews via YouTube

Online Sources- Bernama; TIME; The Huffington Post; ABC News