Daily Headlines: July 31, 2014

* Guatemala: The remains of thirty-one indigenous people killed during Guatemala’s brutal civil war thirty-two years ago received a proper burial yesterday.

* Latin America: The Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed its “deep disappointment” at El Salvador, Peru and Chile for withdrawing their respective ambassadors due to the conflict in Gaza.

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos warned the FARC that he could end peace talks as a result of several recent attacks on infrastructure allegedly by the rebels.

* Venezuela: The U.S. State Department announced that it would revoke visas held by Venezuelan officials accused of human rights abuses relating to political violence this year.

Video Source – YouTube user WITNESS (Video made in 2000 and 2001).

Online Sources – Yahoo News; Reuters; LAHT; seattlepi.com

Today's Video - Slamming the Brakes

Argentina will likely fall into default after last-minute talks between government officials and creditors failed to reach in agreement.  But will a potential default doom the Argentine government and lead to a major economic crisis in the country? Or is the pessimism misplaced and an overreaction?  Perhaps the following video on Buenos Aires car dealerships can provide us with some clues:

Video Source - Bloomberg News via YouTube

Online Sources - Reuters; The Guardian; Quartz

Paraguayan Minnows Head to Libertadores Finals

Numerous Latin American sides such as Colombia, Chile and Costa Rica shined at the recently World Cup in Brazil and performed beyond expectations.  Yet the Cinderella stories have also taken place in South America’s premier soccer club tournament: the Copa Libertadores.

Paraguayan team Nacional continued their fairy tale run by winning 2-1 in the semifinal aggregate score against Uruguay’s Defensor Sporting. 

The Asuncion-based side entered Tuesday’s semifinal second leg in Montevideo having won 2-0 in the first leg last week.  From the beginning of the match Defensor Sporting constantly pressured their rivals with the hope of at least tying up the aggregate score.  Nacional goalkeeper Ignacio Don came up big on several occasions especially in the first half when he denied a one-on-one chance by opposing forward Giorgian De Arrascaeta. Despite several good Defensor chances in the opening half Don’s teammates also stood tough yet De Arrascaeta got a measure of revenge when he assisted on Adrian Luna’s goal in the 55th minute. 

Following Luna’s tap-in, the Uruguayan team came very close to scoring the key second goal that would’ve tied the series and sent the semifinal to a penalty shootout.  Numerous Defensor attacks rang off the goalposts including a Felipe Gedoz blast that would’ve beaten Don but missed by inches and a Robert Herrera point-blank shot that hit the crossbar.  In the end, Nacional would hold on by slimmest of margins and the 110-year-old club booked their ticket to the Libertadores finals for the first time in team history.

“This is unique, unbelievable. I hope Paraguayan people can be altogether in the name of the country,” said Don following the final whistle.

“I've always dreamed of playing in professional football and then the Copa Libertadores. Now, I'm playing the finals because we've been warriors on the field,” he added about the unfashionable team that normally plays at a stadium with maximum seating for 4000 spectators.

Daily Headlines: July 30, 2014

* Brazil: A Human Rights Watch report released this week documented some sixty-four cases of torture in Brazil since 2010 and noted, “impunity in cases of serious abuses by police and prison guards is the norm.”

* Venezuela: One of the numerous proposals by the U.S. Congress to sanction the Venezuelan government for human rights abuses could soon come to a vote in the Senate.

* Colombia: The Colombian government blamed the FARC guerillas for causing a blackout that left 500,000 people in the key port city of Buenaventura without power.

* U.S.: A new study found that “women and minorities who promote diversity from corporate leadership positions tend to get lower evaluations from their bosses and colleagues.”

Video Source – Sky News via YouTube (“An investigation was launched in Brazil (in 2013) after video emerged of a police helicopter machine gunning the car of a suspected drug dealer in a built up area of Rio de Janeiro”.)

Online Sources – The Huffington Post; Colombia Reports; Miami Herald; The Latin Americanist; ABC News

Argentina on the Edge of Massive Debt Default (Updated)

Argentina is very close to defaulting on its debt to foreign creditors unless a deal is reached some time today.
Representatives for the Argentine government and creditors are currently meeting in New York City in the hope of averting what would be the country’s second default in 13 years. The envoys are together with a mediator assigned by Thomas Griesa, a U.S. judge who ordered that the Argentine government pay holdouts some $1.5 billion in unpaid debts including interest.  The purchased Argentine bonds for a low price and rejected the government's restructuring offers after its record $100 billion default in 2001.

Up until today, negotiations between both sides have been sporadic and yielded very little progress. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez is at the Mercosur trading bloc summit in Venezuela trying to gain support against the creditors that she deemed as “vulture funds” for spending years litigating for payment in full.  Fernandez and at least one of the holdouts have separately pushed for a delay on the repayment but Griesa has so far refused.

Update (July 30, 2014): Despite hours of last-minute negotiations on Tuesday between creditors and the Argentine government, the country will likely fall into default.  

"There was a frank exchange of views and concerns," said appointed mediator Daniel A. Pollack though he admitted that it was unclear if both sides will meet again on Wednesday.

Daily Headlines: July 29, 2014

* Brazil: “I don't think it's genocide, but I think it's a massacre,” said Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff regarding the conflict in Gaza and days after an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman deemed the South American country as a “diplomatic dwarf.”

* Dominican Republic: Dominican authorities destroyed some 2000 confiscated firearms for use as part of a planned peace memorial.

* Venezuela: Representatives of the International Air Transport Association want to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in order to free up over $4 billion owed to several air carriers.

* Uruguay: A Uruguayan church reportedly dismissed Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, an Argentine priest who has been accused of sexually abusing young men in the U.S.

Video Source – Reuters via YouTube (Argentine-born “Pope Francis makes an impromptu emotional plea for peace, during his weekly Sunday Angelus prayer at the Vatican.”)

Online Sources – Miami Herald; The Washington Post; ABC News; Reuters; GlobalPost

Telethon Held for Deported Honduran Migrants

Organizers of a telethon held over the weekend for Honduran migrants deported from the U.S. deemed the event as a success.

The telethon, which was transmitted nationwide on TV and radio, was organized in Tegucigalpa under the theme “Open your arms to the returning children and families.” Monetary donations were not accepted; instead, individuals were asked to bring food, clothes and other items to be used in shelters in Honduras for deportees. 

The goal of one month’s worth of donations for hundreds of families was surpassed as people from around Honduras reportedly donated three months worth of supplies. Among the items donated were some 600 bags of clothing, 1200 bags of food, 900 mattresses and even wheelchairs for migrants disabled from riding the Mexican freight train network known as “La Bestia.”

The forty-eight hour event was pushed by first lady Ana García de Hernández along with different entities that received the donations including the Honduran Red Cross, UNICEF and local catholic charities.

“The deported migrants return only with the clothes they have on, many doubts with their communities and a great deal of sadness and pain in their hearts,” said Garcia.

“This is why it’s critical that we unify as a country that knows how to help those that need it” via events like the telethon, added Garcia who in recent weeks has helped welcome back deported children and mothers from the U.S.
   
“Nobody is too poor not to help their brother in their time of need,” said President Juan Orlando Hernández in solidarity with the telethon.

Daily Headlines: July 28, 2014

* Chile: A series of “violent attacks” this month in southern Chile have increased tensions between the government and the indigenous Mapuche community.

* Nicaragua: Did a bus driver plan recent deadly attacks against Nicaraguan political activists or is he being used as a “scapegoat”?

* Bolivia: Workers at a construction site in the Bolivian mountain city of Potosi uncovered a mass grave with the remains of some 400 people.

* Mexico: Thirty-two police officers including the former top public safety chief of a town in Michoacán were arrested over alleged ties to drug gangs.

Video Source – YouTube user canaltvu tvu (At least two Chilean police officers were injured during a confrontation with members of the Mapuche community.)

Online Sources – New Zealand Herald; VICE News; NDTV; BBC News

The Weekender – Voices of Sao Paulo

“The Weekender” is our new feature where every weekend we hope to highlight a short film, movie or documentary pertaining to the Americas. 

For over a century, the Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paulo has grown and become highly diverse due to its constantly growing immigrant population. South America’s largest city has received traditionally received foreign migrants from countries like Japan and Portugal as well as domestically from around the country.  In recent years Sao Paulo as seen an influx of Chinese, African and Latin American immigrants that have helped gradually revitalize the area’s crime-ridden and largely crime-ridden downtown area.

Produced by Kika Nicolela and Lucas Bambozzi, “Somos São Paulo” (“We Are Sao Paulo”) was featured as part a 2011 exhibition in the Sao Paulo Museum of Art. More than sixty Paulistas of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds were interviewed and provided their experiences living in the city.  Among those featured in the film was a Polish Holocaust survivor, an Argentine escaping the repression of the “Dirty War”, a Bolivian seeking better economic opportunities and a Korean woman in love with a Brazilian.

Below the page break is the entire “Somos São Paulo” where you can view how the metropolis has impacted the lives of the film’s interviewees:

Weekend Headlines: July 26-27, 2014 (Updated)

* Venezuela: Former Venezuelan military intelligence chief Gen. Hugo Carvajal was arrested in Aruba could soon be extradited to the U.S. where he’s charged with drug trafficking and collaborating with Colombian rebels.

Update: Much to the disappointment of the U.S. State Department, Cavajal was released Sunday and returned to a "hero's welcome" in Caracas.

* Mexico: Rosa del Carmen Verduzco, the owner of a Mexican shelter recently raided by the authorities, denied allegations of sexual abuse against hundreds of residents but admitted to hitting children as a means of “correcting” them.

* Peru: The executive board of state-owned oil company Petroperu was reshuffled after it was revealed that children were employed to clean an oil spill.

* Brazil: Brazil's National Indian Foundation claimed that they made contact with an isolated indigenous group near the border with Peru that has been hurt by disease and violent attacks.

Video Source – CNN en Español via YouTube (The Venezuelan government has accused the U.S. of orchestrating the “kidnapping” of Hugo Carvajal, the head of military intelligence from 2004-2008 during late president Hugo Chavez' rule).
 
Online Sources including Update – Fox News Latino; Los Angeles Times; The Latin Americanist; VOXXI; Reuters; ABC News

Daily Headlines: July 25, 2014

* Mexico: Thousands of peasants and indigenous Mexicans marched in a protest against energy reforms that critics claim would lead to greater economic inequality and environmental damage to farmland.

* Central America: “If we don’t talk about the underlying causes, crises will continue to occur,” said Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina who proposed a greater emphasis on combating the drug trade and boosting economic growth in order to stem the influx of Central American migrants to the U.S.

* Colombia: A U.S. appeals court dismissed all lawsuits against Chiquita that were related to the deaths of Colombian banana plantation workers and activists by right-wing paramilitaries hired by the company.

* Cuba: Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro and a prominent gay rights activist on the island, denied rumors that she died in a plane crash yesterday in Mali.

Video Source – CCTV America via YouTube

Online Sources – LAHT; Businessweek; Reuters; CBS News

Daily Headlines: July 24, 2014

* Venezuela: Proceedings began yesterday in the trial against leading opposition member Leopoldo Lopez who has been accused of inciting violence during anti-government demonstrations earlier this year.

* U.S.: According to a new report from the American Heart Association, the risks of cardiovascular disease vary among the different subpopulations within the Latino community.

* Colombia: Colombian defense officials declared that thirteen guerillas belonging to the ELN were killed in a series of military operations on Tuesday.

* Mexico: According to “preliminary” data, the 22,732 recorded homicides in Mexico last year was less than the peak of 27,213 in 2011 though homicide rates in several states have “increased markedly”.

Video Source – euronews via YouTube (Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez handed himself over to police in February and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted).
 
Online Sources – Yahoo News; BBC News; The Latin Americanist; GlobalPost; Newsweek

Targeting Smugglers Won’t Stop Immigration, Says “Coyote”

A number of different proposals have been announced by politicos in order to control the recent influx of undocumented minors into the U.S. but are any of these plans effective? Probably not according to one human trafficker. 

“It’s a lie to believe that capturing the ‘coyotes’ will stop immigration” into the U.S., claimed a Honduran migrant smuggler who was recently interviewed in that country’s El Heraldo newspaper.  According to the “coyote”, strengthening border operations in countries such as the U.S. or Mexico wouldn’t work since some migrants allegedly opt to make the trek northward alone or in groups without the help of traffickers like him.

Nevertheless, he admitted that migrants who rely on “coyotes” as part of their journeys benefit from having a guide that knows different routes to take and has contacts who could help them out along the trek from sympathetic motel owners to bribed police officers.  Migrants going alone, according to the interviewee, run the risk of being assaulted by criminals or drug gangs and using unreliable modes of transportation such as riding on the dangerous northbound Mexican freight train network known as “La Bestia.” (The “coyote” instead opts for travelling through Mexico with his clients on the ground via bus).

He also confessed that he and his cohorts sometimes have to abandon adult migrants when, for example, they emerge from hiding in safe houses or are unable to endure the four-day trek through desert conditions. Children are carried in shifts by the group and are not left behind, the “coyote” said, though some of them opt for capture by the Border Patrol and are interrogated.

Nearly 192 “coyotes” and their associates were captured as part of an ongoing U.S. government operation aimed at disrupting smuggling operations in Texas.  Yet the trafficker interviewed in El Heraldo mentioned that there is a better solution to stem the influx of undocumented immigrants from Central America:

Daily Headlines: July 23, 2014

* Haiti: A "grand, dreamlike" rebuilding of areas of Port-au-Prince still in ruins from a 2010 earthquake has run into stiff opposition from survivors forced to relocate to tent camps.

* Argentina: "Life goes on for Argentina", claimed Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich hours after a U.S. court ordered the Argentine government to negotiate with holdout hedge funds and prevent a massive debt default.

* U.S.: A recent poll of 500 Latino voters found that most respondents are worried about the economy and this could factor into the upcoming midterm elections.

* Brazil: Heavy rains in southeastern Brazil could diminish the quality and reduce the quantity of the country's vital sugar and coffee harvests.

Online Sources - Businessweek; Reuters; Buenos Aires Herald; Business Insider; Latin Post 

Video Source - The Guardian via YouTube (Video recorded days after a major earthquake hit Haiti and caused the deaths of at least 100,000 people).

Daily Headlines: July 22, 2014

* Venezuela: Authorities today started to peacefully evict thousands of squatters residing in the "Tower of David", a Caracas skyscraper abandoned in 1994, to instead live in a publicly-funded housing project.

* Colombia: James Rodriguez, the Colombian player who was the top scorer in the recently finished World Cup, will reportedly join Spanish giants Real Madrid for about $100 million.

* Honduras: Police found the body of Honduran TV reporter Herlyn Espinal who was apparently kidnapped and subsequently murdered.

* Argentina: “Terrorism only knows to kill, it does not know how to build. It destroys,” said Pope Francis in a message last week commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the AMIA center bombing.
 
Video Source – YouTube user Vocativ

Online Sources – Reuters; Buenos Aires Herald; CBSSports.com; ABC News

Daily Headlines: July 21, 2014

* Uruguay: Officials in Uruguay claimed that the country’s harsh anti-tobacco laws, which includes banning smoking in all public enclosed spaces and prohibiting all tobacco advertising, has led to a 22% drop in the number of heart attacks nationwide.
 
* Mexico: A Mexican judge freed Rosa del Carmen Verduzco, the founder of a shelter where residents were reportedly abused and kept in squalid conditions, after a preliminary probe cleared her of any wrongdoing.

* Latin America: Chinese President Xi Jinping signed several economic agreements with Venezuela and Argentina as he enters the tail end of his official visit to Latin America.

* Colombia: Spanish police captured Hernán Alonso Villa, the main “enforcer” of Colombia’s Office of Envigado drug gang, who will likely be extradited to face trial on some 400 counts of murder.

Video Source – YouTube user insidermedicine

Online Sources – InSerbia News; Reuters The Latin Americanist; The Guardian; DW.de