Daily Headlines: July 17, 2013

* Cuba: The Cuban government admitted that military equipment found on a North Korean-flagged ship seized by Panamanian authorities belonged to them but the weapons were “obsolete” and were being sent for repair.

* Latin America: Brazil’s foreign minister claimed that the Mercosur trading bloc would rely less on foreign technology in light of recent allegations of U.S. government surveillance in Latin America.

* Argentina: U.S.-based Chevron signed a $1.24 billion deal to develop the world’s second-largest shale gas deposit and fourth-largest shale oil reservoir.

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos deemed as “a great step towards peace” his meeting yesterday with thirty members of an ELN guerilla unit who gave up their arms.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews

Online Sources- LAHT; Bloomberg; USA TODAY; Xinhua; The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: July 16, 2013

* Chile: A Chilean appeals court ruled that construction work on the Pascua-Lama gold mine must be halted and the site’s owners, Canadian firm Barrick Gold, has to repair environmental damage to two rivers.

* Bolivia: The Spanish government formally apologized for an incident weeks ago where the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales was forced to land in Austria.

* Panama: President Ricardo Martinelli claimed that Panamanian authorities seized a North Korean-flagged ship traveling from Cuba with a shipment of arms and other “undeclared military cargo.”

* U.S.: Cuban-born baseball player Yoenis Cespedes captured the All-Star Home Run Derby crown with thirty-two homers including nine in the final round.

Video Source – YouTube via user telesurenglish

Online Sources- CBC; Reuters; the Latin Americanist; ABC News; NPR

Daily Headlines: July 15, 2013

Note: Posting will be very light on Monday and Tuesday.  As a result, we hope to provide additional posts starting on Wednesday and including this weekend.  We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
 
* Chile: Chile has become the latest epicenter for the abortion debate in Latin America due to the case of an eleven-year-old girl who became pregnant after her stepfather raped her.

* U.S.: Three former Target employees filed a lawsuit against the company alleging racial discrimination such as the writing of memos with stereotypes on “Cubans (political refugees, legal status, higher educational levels) … Mexicans (lower educational level, some may be undocumented.)”

* Guatemala: Authorities arrested four men suspected of raiding a police station last month and killing eight officers.

* Peru: A team of archeologists discovered the mummified remains of a woman believed to have been sacrificed some twelve to thirteen centuries ago.

Video Source – YouTube via user NewsyWorld

Online Sources- BusinessWeek; CNN; SBS; BBC News

Latin American Governments Irate Over U.S. Spying Allegations

Senior officials of several Latin American countries, including some of the region’s strongest allies to the U.S., have spoken out this week over alleged surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) throughout the Americas.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota admitted today that he might contact Snowden even though the former contractor is believed to be in hiding somewhere in Moscow, Russia’s main international airport.

“Mr. Snowden's participation in an investigation is absolutely relevant and pertinent," Patriota said during a Senate hearing. He added that U.S. Ambassador Thomas Shannon told Brazilian officials that the U.S. does not access the content of emails but does collect metadata on email traffic. 

Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported this week that it obtained documents leaked by intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden regarding “data mining programs” by the NSA.  At least fifteen Latin American countries were supposedly under surveillance for a variety of security-related issues such as oil in Venezuela, energy in Mexico and information on Colombia’s FARC rebels. 
Furthermore, the paper claimed that the U.S. ran a “data-collection base” in Brazil and that Brazilian telecoms firms cooperated with U.S. intelligence agencies to facilitate surveillance.

“We need to see where data was stored,” President Dilma Rousseff told reporters on Monday as Brazilian authorities launched an investigation into the data storage policies of technology companies such as Google.

Colombia's Foreign Ministry requested days ago that U.S. government give an account of the “unauthorized data collection program” via its ambassador in Bogota.

“In rejecting the acts of espionage that violate people's rights and intimacy as well as the international conventions on telecommunication, Colombia requests the corresponding explanations from the United States government through its ambassador to Colombia,” the Foreign Ministry proclaimed in a statement.

Daily Headlines: July 12, 2013

* Chile: Thousands of Chileans called for better working conditions and tax reform as part of a nationwide strike organized by the country’s largest labor union.

* Vatican: Argentine-born Pope Francis introduced legislation aimed at cracking down sexual abuse and child pornography at the Vatican.

* Brazil: A lawsuit was filed with the Brazilian Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the country’s “World Cup law.”

* U.S.: A former Cuban prison chief accused of human rights abuses is allegedly hiding out somewhere in the U.S.

Video Source – YouTube via user Emisoras Unidas

Online Sources- ABC News; USA TODAY; Bloomberg; Fox News Latino

Report: 4000+ Yearly Hate Crime Cases in Spain

Thousands of hate crime cases based on factors such as religion, immigration status and racial background occur in Spain each year according to a report released today.

The study from the Movement Against Intolerance (MCI, in Spanish initials) nongovernment organization concluded that at least 4000 hate crimes occur yearly in Spain.  Nevertheless, the group believes that the number of hate crimes could be much more since only 4% of all cases are conveyed to authorities.

The report has identified at least eighty hate-related homicides since 1991 and that racist groups exist in all of the country’s autonomous communities.  Furthermore, the MCI identified the existence of over 1500 “xenophobic” Spanish websites and more than 10,000 neo-Nazis and skinheads in the country.  Additionally, there has been an apparent growth in “protests of intolerance” in Spain such as four events occurring last April celebrating Adolf Hitler’s birthday.

In one case by the MCI highlighted last month that educational officials are investigating the death of a fifteen-year-old girl of Ecuadorian background living near Madrid who committed suicide allegedly after enduring heavy bullying from her classmates. 

“The other students would make her stand on the school bus even if there was an empty seat, and some of them would block her path if she wanted to use the restroom at the school ” claimed the girl’s father.

Among the recommendations made by the MCI are the prohibition of concerts and other public events promoting hatred and intolerance, greater monitoring of websites used to promote xenophobia and stronger punishments against racist sports fans.

Another suggestion made in the report is that the State should provide greater assistance to purported hate crime victims who don’t have the same protections as victims of acts of terrorism or gender-based violence:

Daily Headlines: July 11, 2013 (Updated)

* Brazil: President Dilma Rousseff announced that an additional $1.3 billion would be spent on health care and education in light of recent anti-government protests held in June.

Update: Mass protests resumed today in several major cities by striking workers calling for better labor conditions and improved social services.  The demonstrations have reportedly blocked ports and major roadways and also "paralyzed" the Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre public transit systems.

* Mexico: Mexico’s main opposition party, the National Action Party, is proposing changing the constitution in order to break up the PEMEX state-run oil monopoly.

* Latin America: According to Transparency International, Argentina and Mexico are the most corrupt countries in Latin America.

* Dominican Republic: At least one person was killed in the Dominican Republic as Tropical Storm Chantal makes its way through the Caribbean.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- Xinhua; The Latin Americanist; International Business Times; Bloomberg; USA TODAY

Daily Headlines: July 10, 2013

* Honduras: Police believe they have found the dismembered and beheaded body of Anibal Barrow, a popular television journalist missing since last month.

* Mexico: Archaeologists have uncovered thousands of stone carvings in Coahuila that are believed to be up to 6000-years-old.

* Cuba: “Reform czar” Marino Murillo allegedly said that the government plans to deregulate several large state-run companies including nickel producer Cubaniquel and oil company Cubapetroleo.

* Ecuador: According to Finance Minister Fausto Herrera, Ecuador is seeking as much as $1.4 billion in financing from China to fund this year’s budget.

Video Source – YouTube via NTN24
 
Online Sources- Bloomberg; Voice of America; Huffington Post; Reuters

Daily Headlines: July 9, 2013

* Mexico: Mexico has become the world’s fattest industrialized nation according to several estimates including a report released last month from the World Health Organization.

* Costa Rica: A reform to Costa Rica 's Young Persons Law could mean that gay marriage is legal though it remains to be seen if the courts will overturn it.

* Argentina: Several U.S. legislators are upset that the Argentine government will not allow a special prosecutor investigating the 1994 AMIA bombing to testify in front of a Congressional committee.

* Colombia: Suspected drug lord Daniel "El Loco" Barrera was extradited this morning from Colombia to the U.S. where he faces trial in New York and Florida.

Video Source – YouTube via Deutsche Welle 

Online Sources- New York Daily News; MercoPress; ABC News; Tico Times

The Paulista Who Won at Wimbledon

Juan Martín del Potro of Argentina will attempt to become the first Latin American tennis player to win the men's singles at Wimbledon.  The 2009 U.S. Open champion will likely face a very tough challenge in the semifinals from top ranked Novak Djokovic as he vies to capture his second Grand Slam title.

Two of Del Potro’s fellow Argentines – David Nalbandian and Gabriela Sabatini – made it to the Wimbledon finals though both stumbled at the final hurdle.  In fact, only one Latin American tennis player has won a singles title at the All England Club: Brazil’s Maria Bueno.

In 1959, the nineteen-year-old Bueno captured the Wimbledon crown when she bested Darlene Hard in straight sets:
 
Her accomplishments in 1959 included a U.S. Open title, the World No. 1 ranking and recipient of the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award.  In Brazil, meanwhile, Bueno was treated as a national heroine, received a ticker tape parade in Rio de Janeiro and was honored a special Mass at the cathedral of her native Sao Paulo.

Daily Headlines: July 5, 2013

* Brazil: A Brazilian judge placed under house arrest Rayfran das Neves Sales, the convicted murderer of U.S. nun and environmental activist Dorothy Stang, after serving only eight years in prison.

* Bolivia: “This was an open provocation toward a continent, not just a president,” declared Bolivian President Evo Morales regarding the forced diversion of his presidential plane in Europe this week.
    
* Ecuador: A British security firm denied allegations that they bugged the Ecuadorian embassy in London where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been residing in.

* Argentina: Buenos Aires, Argentina beat out Medellin, Colombia and Glasgow, Scotland to win the chance to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

Video Source – YouTube via user sisterdorothy (Trailer for a documentary on murdered U.S. nun and environmental activist Dorothy Stang).
 
Online Sources- France24; The Latin Americanist; Reuters; Al Jazeera English; SI.com

América the Beautiful

July 4th is Independence Day in the U.S. and in recognition of this is the video below of renowned Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso performing “Soy Loco Por Ti America.” 

Composed by a trio of Brazilians including Gilberto Gil, the song can be interpreted as a tune that praises America the country as well as the Americas themselves.

Video Source– YouTube via user heinrichmanch

Daily Headlines: July 4, 2013

* Central America: Four Central American countries - Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador – have issued health alerts over an outbreak of dengue fever that has killed at least seventeen people in the region this year.

* Peru: Two private building companies have been blamed for the leveling of the 5000-year-old El Paraiso pyramid near the capital city of Lima.

* Argentina: Did the Argentine government provide up to 100 tons of “yellowcake” uranium to Israel for its nuclear arms program in the 1960s?

* Venezuela: Changes were made to Venezuela’s currency exchange system in order to increase the flow of U.S. dollars into the country.

Video Source – YouTube via Prensa Latina
 
Online Sources- AFP; io9; Reuters; Jerusalem Post

Latin American Anger Over Bolivian Plane Diversion (Updated)

A diplomatic crisis is apparently developing between several Latin American and European states after a plane carrying Bolivian president Evo Morales made an unexpected layover in Austria.

Morales was returning to his homeland yesterday after attending a conference in Russia but according to Bolivian officials Spain, Italy, Portugal and France prohibited the presidential plane from flying through their respective airspaces. 

"We are told that there were some unfounded suspicions that (U.S. intelligence whistleblower Edward) Snowden was on the plane," Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said.

The aircraft was then forced to make an emergency landing in Vienna where it was refueled but also inspected by Austrian authorities.  After approximately thirteen hours the plane was permitted to depart and it’s currently en route back to Bolivia. 

“I feel that this was an excuse to frighten and intimidate me,” said Morales to the press before leaving Austria.

Bolivian Defense Minister Ruben Saavedra Soto claimed that the U.S. State Department spread the rumor that the former contractor was smuggled onto the Bolivian aircraft.  “It’s a rumor completely based on a lie,” said Saavedra before he and the rest of the Bolivian contingent left Austria. 

Sacha Llorenti, Bolivia’s Ambassador to the U.N., said that his country while a file a complaint with the organization’s human rights body regarding what he deemed as a “diplomatic kidnapping”.

“We have no doubt that it was an order from the White House... For no reason whatsoever should a diplomatic plane with a president [inside] be diverted from its route and forced to land in another country,” he said earlier today.

Daily Headlines: July 3, 2013

* Honduras: The Honduran Congress accepted the resignation of Attorney General Luis Ruby who quit after admitting that his office had trouble trying to stem rampant violence.

* Mexico: Forty-six women were rescued in a human trafficking bust at a Mexico City nightclub over the weekend.

* Cuba: Officials on Monday announced that the first non-farm cooperatives since the 1959 revolution were functioning and approval was granted for the establishment of an extra 71 cooperatives.
  
* Colombia: Negotiators for the FARC rebels have urged the Colombian government to include the ELN guerillas in peace talks being held in Cuba.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English (“Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world - and gangs are the main perpetrators of the violence. But now two of the largest and most dangerous street gangs have agreed to end all violence,” according to the description provided to this video that was uploaded roughly five weeks ago).

Online Sources- GlobalPost; CNN; Reuters; NBC News

Daily Headlines: July 1, 2013 (Updated)

* Ecuador: President Rafael Correa of Ecuador said yesterday that the fate of U.S. intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden is up to Russia to decide even though Snowden has requested asylum in the South American country.

Update: In an interview with The Guardian on Monday, Correa claimed that Ecuador is not considering Snowden's asylum request unless he were to travel directly to that country.  Correa also admitted that "it was a mistake on our part" to grant the former intel contractor a temporary travel pass that he used to move from Hong Kong to Russia.  

* Chile: Ex-leader Michelle Bachelet easily won Chile’s presidential primary among center-left candidates and is the favorite to win the general election in November.

* Argentina: Prosecutors will open an investigation against former Interior Minister Carlos Vladimir Corach regarding the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

* Latin America: The summit of the Petrocaribe trade bloc ended last week with representatives of the 19 member states agreeing to create a special economic zone.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews (Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa mentioned on Saturday that he had a “cordial” telephone conversation with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden regarding the Edward Snowden affair).

Online Sources including Update - The Guardian; Reuters; Washington Post; The Guardian; Jerusalem Post