Before getting to today’s headlines, I would like to take a moment to apologize for the unjustifiable lack of posts on Wednesday. Posting will be very light today as it has been for the past few weeks. Yet hopefully I’ll catch up over the weekend on several stories from this week including Julian Assange’s request for asylum in Ecuador, the upcoming Mexican presidential election and the latest from the Copa Libertadores.
Here now the news:
* Uruguay: The Minister of Defense announced a crime-fighting proposal that would legalize the selling of marijuana to users registered with the government.
* Mexico: A House committee voted along party lines to recommend that Attorney General Eric Holder should be held in contempt regarding the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.
* Brazil: A state prosecutor wants the government to award $83 million in “moral and material damages” to the indigenous Guyraroka community.
* Haiti: Researchers linked a second strain of cholera to 2010-2011 epidemics that killed an estimated 7500 people in Haiti.
Video Source – YouTube via TV Publica Argentina
Online Sources- Washington Post, New York Times, BBC News, Los Angeles Times
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Daily Headlines: June 19, 2012
* Argentina: Tennis star David Nalbandian was fined $12,000 and could face a criminal investigation after (accidentally?) kicking a line judge at a tournament in London, England.
* Brazil: Has the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development failed before it begins on Friday or will the summit lead to meaningful results?
* Peru: “Social conflicts and the population's sensation of misrule” might explain why President Ollanta Humala’s approval rating fell to 45%.
* Colombia: A U.S. grand jury indicted former Colombian police general Mauricio Santoyo Velasco over allegations that he collaborated with paramilitaries and drug traffickers.
Video Source – YouTube via TVPublicaArgentina
Online Sources- The Telegraph, Reuters, ABC News, Christian Science Monitor
Monday, June 18, 2012
Daily Headlines: June 18, 2012
* Mexico: Global economic inequality and debt problems in several European countries will likely be two of the topics to be discussed at the G20 summit in Los Cabos today and Tuesday.
* Brazil: Brazil is pushing a “balanced” plan for sustainable development before global leaders arrive for the Rio+20 conference this week.
* Puerto Rico: Nationalist activist Norberto González Claudio pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal for his role in an armed car robbery in 1983.
* Guatemala: A judge tossed out a lawsuit against several U.S. officials by Guatemalan victims secretly infected with sexually transmitted diseases in the 1940s.
Video Source – YouTube via sabcdigitalnews
Online Sources- Voice of America, ninemsn.com, CBS News, Miami Herald
Friday, June 15, 2012
Daily Headlines: June 15, 2012
* Latin America: The U.S. military is reportedly looking into using unmanned aerial vehicles or “drones” in Latin America, while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez confirmed that his country is constructing drones.
* Mexico: Crime reporter Victor Baez became the ninth journalist killed in Veracruz over the past eighteen months after he was kidnapped and murdered this week.
* Cuba: The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation alleged that over four hundred arbitrary political arrests were committed last month.
* U.S.: A coalition of evangelical groups that includes several Latino religious leaders announced a campaign advocating for widespread immigration reform.
Video Source – YouTube via bornfree138 (The U.S. Border Patrol have used unmanned aerial vehicles or “drones” in recent months along the U.S.-Mexico border).
Online Sources- Reuters, Wired.com, BBC News, LAHT, Huffington Post
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Nicaraguan Child Workers Face Harsh Reality
June 12th was the World Day Against Child Labor and according to the International Labor Organization (ILO) 215 million children worldwide are involved in child labor.
Research by the ILO has found a decrease in the number of child workers in Latin America and the Caribbean. Nevertheless, approximately 5.7 million children (and estimated one in ten minors) throughout the region work. Most of these children work in agriculture yet a few of them work in risky occupations such as fireworks manufacturing and garbage dumps.
The following video via Journeyman Pictures examines the difficulties of several Nicaraguan children working in mining quarries and as vendors in markets. The film highlights the push by some authorities to convince child laborers to give up their work and instead go to school. Yet these kids tend to continue working in order to provide for the basic needs of their impoverished family or uncooperative school officials prevent them:
In the next few days we will look at child labor in other parts of the Americas including minors who are exploited sexually or become child soldiers.
Video Source – YouTube via Journeyman Pictures
Online Sources - International Labor Organization, United Nations
Research by the ILO has found a decrease in the number of child workers in Latin America and the Caribbean. Nevertheless, approximately 5.7 million children (and estimated one in ten minors) throughout the region work. Most of these children work in agriculture yet a few of them work in risky occupations such as fireworks manufacturing and garbage dumps.
The following video via Journeyman Pictures examines the difficulties of several Nicaraguan children working in mining quarries and as vendors in markets. The film highlights the push by some authorities to convince child laborers to give up their work and instead go to school. Yet these kids tend to continue working in order to provide for the basic needs of their impoverished family or uncooperative school officials prevent them:
In the next few days we will look at child labor in other parts of the Americas including minors who are exploited sexually or become child soldiers.
Video Source – YouTube via Journeyman Pictures
Online Sources - International Labor Organization, United Nations
Daily Headlines: June 14, 2012
* Peru: Authorities released the mayor of Espinar, Oscar Mollohuanca, who was jailed after being accused of inciting anti-mining riots two weeks ago.
* South America: Bolivian President Evo Morales said that a 108-year old territorial treaty with neighboring Chile is “dead because Chile has failed.”
* Mexico: The U.S. State Department issued a warning regarding traveling to Mexico due to the recent arrests of several people linked to the Zetas drug gang.
* Cuba: A lawyer for U.S. contractor Alan Gross claimed that his client’s health has greatly deteriorated in the two years he has been imprisoned in Cuba.
Video Source – YouTube via telesurenglish (The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency in Espinar last month after two people were killed during anti-mining protests.)
Online Sources- CBS News, ABC News, Bernama, BBC News
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Daily Headlines: June 13, 2012 (Updated)
* Cuba: The U.S. State Department and several Cuban-American legislators are concerned over the supposed detainment and “physical assault” of Cuban authorities against dissident activist Jorge Luis García "Antúnez".
(Update: Cuban police freed García after he spent four days in a local jail. He remarked to the EFE news agency that police "violently" arrested him on charges of "spreading false news, resistance, disobedience and assault." García accused police of beating and insulting him during part of his detention).
* Central America: According to the Salvadoran press two of the country’s largest street gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18, might be increasing their presence in nearby Belize.
* Haiti: At least eleven Haitian migrants died on Sunday after the boat they were traveling in capsized off the Bahamian coast.
* Mexico: President Felipe Calderon said that European plans to help out beleaguered Spanish banks should be “firmed up quickly.”
Video Source – YouTube via RadioRepublicaCuba (At least thirteen Cuban dissidents reportedly held a peaceful march in Havana this week calling for the release of activist Jorge Luis García "Antúnez").
Online Sources (including Update) - AFP, Reuters, Insight Crime, Miami Herald, Fox News Latino
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Daily Headlines: June 12, 2012
* Dominican Republic: Employers in the Dominican Republic and migrants from neighboring Haiti are reportedly disappointed with new Dominican requirements for work permits.
* Nicaragua: Will Nicaragua commit to constructing a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans or will it be yet another failed promise?
* Latin America: The U.S. Labor Department signed agreements with several countries including Peru, Ecuador and Honduras aimed at protecting immigrants from those nations who work in the U.S.
* Cuba: The U.S. Supreme Court refused to publicly comment as to why the high court rejected appeals by seven Guantanamo prison detainees.
Video Source – YouTube via UNESOC (“Haitian migrants toil under the hot sun on sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic. But the majority of them are stateless; even those who are born here, have neither a Haitian nor Dominican passport.”)
Online Sources- Kansas City Star, The Latin Americanist, Inside Costa Rica, Fox News Latino, Reuters
Monday, June 11, 2012
Daily Headlines: June 11, 2012
* U.S.: A Latino Decisions poll published last week found that 82% of Hispanics and 61% of non-Hispanics prefer the DREAM Act over a stricter immigration proposal by Sen. Marco Rubio.
* Honduras: The mythical Ciudad Blanca ruins may have been located by archeologists using laser image mapping rather than the traditional hacking through forests with machetes.
* Latin America: Latin America and the Caribbean should spend $110 billion a year through 2050 in order to cut greenhouse-gas emissions according to the Inter-American Development Bank.
* Argentina: Press rights group Reporters Without Borders “strongly condemned” the recent attacks against at least ten journalists in the Buenos Aires area.
Video Source – YouTube via bkkaykay (This infographic for a pro-DREAM Act campaign explains the bill’s guidelines including who would benefit from the proposal).
Online Sources- The Hill, LiveScience, Bloomberg, Reporters Without Borders
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Daily Headlines: June 7, 2012
* Latin America: The Organization of American States General Assembly may’ve concluded with deep divisions over the group’s human rights system but members did back Argentina's claim to the Falklands Islands.
* Cuba: Malaysian-based Petronas became the next foreign oil firm to drill off the Cuban coast though it remains to be seen if they will have the same misfortune as Spain’s Repsol.
* Chile: Representatives from Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico met in Antofagasta and signed a pact creating the Pacific Alliance bloc.
* Brazil: With two years left to go until the Brazil hosts the World Cup, President Dilma Rousseff signed into a law a resolution removing a ban on alcohol sales during soccer matches.
Video Source – YouTube via TVPublicaArgentina
Online Sources- BusinessWeek, Miami Herald, AFP, BBC News
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
World Watch: Remembering Ray Bradbury
Prolific science fiction author Ray Bradbury died on Tuesday night at the age of 91.
He is best known for his novels "Fahrenheit 451" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and his many literary works have been adapted for movies and television shows. (Famed French auteur Francois Truffaut directed the 1966 film version of "Fahrenheit 451", for example).
Bradbury received widespread criticial acclaim for his texts and received numerous honors including the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award, a National Book Foundation medal, and even an Emmy.
In an essay published days ago in "The New Yorker", Bradbury described how he became inspired to write fiction. "I memorized all of John Carter and Tarzan, and sat on my grandparents' front lawn repeating the stories to anyone who would sit and listen. I would go out to that lawn on summer nights and reach up to the red light of Mars and say, 'Take me home!'"
He is best known for his novels "Fahrenheit 451" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and his many literary works have been adapted for movies and television shows. (Famed French auteur Francois Truffaut directed the 1966 film version of "Fahrenheit 451", for example).
Bradbury received widespread criticial acclaim for his texts and received numerous honors including the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award, a National Book Foundation medal, and even an Emmy.
In an essay published days ago in "The New Yorker", Bradbury described how he became inspired to write fiction. "I memorized all of John Carter and Tarzan, and sat on my grandparents' front lawn repeating the stories to anyone who would sit and listen. I would go out to that lawn on summer nights and reach up to the red light of Mars and say, 'Take me home!'"
Daily Headlines: June 6, 2012
* Paraguay: President Fernando Lugo, who has been named in four paternity lawsuits, admitted that he fathered a child years ago when he was still a Roman Catholic bishop.
* Latin America: According to a MIT study “95 percent of major cities in Latin America are planning for climate change, compared to only 59 percent of such cities in the United States”.
* Central America: More than 1000 banana plantation workers from Costa Rica and Panama are suing a group of companies including Dole and Dow Chemical over alleged pesticide poisoning.
* El Salvador: A World Bank arbitration panel ruled that Canadian mining firm Pacific Rim can go ahead with their case against the Salvadoran government.
Video Source – YouTube via canalNTN24
Online Sources- Reuters, MIT News Office, Bloomberg, BBC News
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Tourism Continues Upward Climb in Mexico
According to new data the numbers of foreign tourists to Mexico continues to increase despite rampant violence in several parts of the country.
Mexico's Tourism Department reported on Monday that there was a 5.3% increase in foreign visitors to the country between January and April of this year compared to the same period in 2011. Nearly five million tourists representing 147 nationalities visited Mexico in the first four months this year according to the government data.
Despite State Department travel warnings against visiting areas of Mexico hurt by drug related violence the U.S. is the country with the highest amount of tourists visiting Mexico during the first four months this year. One of the reasons for this could be the 7.2% increase in spring breakers traveling to Mexico this year compared to 2011. (Perhaps this explains why some of the main destinations for foreign travelers were Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and Cozumel).
The data also revealed significant increases in visitors coming from overseas countries like Russia (71.0% increase), Sweden (40.8% increase) and China (34.8% increase). Mexican tourism also received major increases in visitors from Latin American countries such as Brazil (69.5% increase), Argentina (27.4% increase) and Guatemala (83.4% increase).
Mexico's Tourism Department reported on Monday that there was a 5.3% increase in foreign visitors to the country between January and April of this year compared to the same period in 2011. Nearly five million tourists representing 147 nationalities visited Mexico in the first four months this year according to the government data.
Despite State Department travel warnings against visiting areas of Mexico hurt by drug related violence the U.S. is the country with the highest amount of tourists visiting Mexico during the first four months this year. One of the reasons for this could be the 7.2% increase in spring breakers traveling to Mexico this year compared to 2011. (Perhaps this explains why some of the main destinations for foreign travelers were Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and Cozumel).
The data also revealed significant increases in visitors coming from overseas countries like Russia (71.0% increase), Sweden (40.8% increase) and China (34.8% increase). Mexican tourism also received major increases in visitors from Latin American countries such as Brazil (69.5% increase), Argentina (27.4% increase) and Guatemala (83.4% increase).
Daily Headlines: June 5, 2012
* Guatemala: Roman Catholic Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruno, a key figure in the negotiations that led to the end of Guatemala's civil war, died Monday at the age of 80.
* Latin America: Should the Organization of American States’ human rights system be reformed or kept as is?
* Argentina: A groundbreaking gender identity law that allows people to change their names and genders without prior legal or medical approval went into effect yesterday.
* Venezuela: The government banned the sales of guns and ammunition in a measure aimed at curbing rampant violent crime.
Video Source – YouTube via Rome Reports
Online Sources- AS/COA Online, Voice of America, Houston Chronicle, Fox News
Monday, June 4, 2012
Today’s Video: Art from Trash
After thirty-four years of operation the Jardim Gramacho landfill in Rio de Janeiro will be shut down.
The closing of the massive open-air dump comes just over two weeks before the start of the Rio+20 environmental summit.
The move is expected to leave more than 1,700 people out of work including hundreds of "catadores," garbage pickers who would sift through mountains of trash seeking recyclable materials.
Local authorities claimed former workers will get compensation of about $7,000 and will be retrained. Yet one local community leader was reportedly skeptical:
The closing of the massive open-air dump comes just over two weeks before the start of the Rio+20 environmental summit.
The move is expected to leave more than 1,700 people out of work including hundreds of "catadores," garbage pickers who would sift through mountains of trash seeking recyclable materials.
Local authorities claimed former workers will get compensation of about $7,000 and will be retrained. Yet one local community leader was reportedly skeptical:
Daily Headlines: June 4, 2012
* Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez and campaign rival Henrique Capriles both sent messages to Johan Santana congratulating him for throwing a no-hitter on Friday night. (Note: link is in Spanish).
* Latin America: Argentina tops the South American World Cup qualifying standings after routing Ecuador 4-0 while FIFA is looking into a match-fixing scandal involving games played by the Guatemalan national team.
* U.S.: The ACLU and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service over alleged discrimination against Latinos.
* South America: Authorities in Venezuela captured Diego Perez Henao, a high-ranking member of Colombia's Los Rastrojos neo-paramilitary drug gang.
Video Source – YouTube via ESPN (Johan Santana became the fourth Venezuelan and first member of the New York Mets to pitch a no-hitter).
Online Sources- El Universal, Canada.com, SI.com, Fox News Latino, Reuters
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