Daily Headlines: August 21, 2015 (Updated)

* El Salvador: A U.S. federal court delayed Spain’s extradition request for Col. Inocente Orlando Montano, a retired army officer allegedly involved in the 1989 massacre of five Jesuit priests in El Salvador.

* Guatemala: Former Vice President Roxana Baldetti was arrested today on charges relating to one of the corruption scandals affecting President Otto Pérez Molina’s administration.

Update: Guatemalan prosecutors and investigators on a U.N.-backed panel recommended impeachment proceedings to begin against Pérez Molina over his alleged role in the "La Linea" customs fraud scandal.

* Brazil: Brazilian prosecutors filed charges against ex-President Fernando Collor de Mello and the current Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies related to the Petrobras bribery affair.

* Puerto Rico: The head of Puerto Rico’s Chamber of Commerce claimed that a coalition of twenty private sector firms urged the U.S. Congress to allow the commonwealth to declare bankruptcy.

YouTube Source – AP Archive (“Salvadorans are commemorating the sixth anniversary (in 1995) of a massacre of Jesuit priests by members of the military”.)
 
Online Sources including Update – Inside Costa Rica, BBC News, The Huffington Post, The Latin Americanist, NBC News, INternational Business Times

Daily Headlines: August 20, 2015

* Argentina: Attorneys representing the family of Alberto Nisman, a top Argentine prosecutor killed under mysterious circumstances last January, claimed that “someone” erased data from his cell phone shortly before he died.

* Venezuela: PDVSA chief Eulogio Del Pino was named as Venezuela’s new oil and mining minister amid a domestic economic crisis caused in part by the low prices of crude.

* Colombia: Colombia recently became the sixteenth Latin American country to define femicides as a specific crime but will the new law help decrease levels of violence against women?

* Brazil: Brazil’s unemployment rate rose for the seventh straight month in July and jumped from 6.9 percent in June to 7.5%.

YouTube Source – BBC News

Online Sources – Reuters, Financial Times, The Latin Americanist, Buenos Aires Herald

Daily Headlines: August 19, 2015 (Updated)

* El Salvador: At least 28 people died during a violent 24-hour span in El Salvador according to data from the Attorney General’s office.

* Colombia: Representatives of Colombia’s FARC rebels once again expressed their willingness to meet with Pope Francis during his trip to Cuba in September.

Update: Vatican spokesman Ciro Benedettini on Wednesday said that the pope doesn't have any plans to meet with FARC envoys next month.

* Latin America: The capitals of Argentina and Chile – Buenos Aires and Santiago – were named by the Economist Intelligence Unit as the best Latin American cities to live in.

* Brazil: Former Petrobras executive Nestor Cervero was sentenced to twelve years in prison in relation to one of the corruption scandals that has hurt President Dilma Rousseff’s administration.

YouTube Source – Al Jazeera English

Online Sources including Update – Catholic News Service, CNN, Latin American Herald Tribune, The Guardian, Colombia Reports

Guatemalan Women Go on Anti-Government Hunger Strike

The hunger strike is sometimes used as a form of protest in Latin America oftentimes to denounce government policies and actions. This year alone, former Chilean dissidents imprisoned during the Pinochet military regime went on a forty-one day hunger strike while Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez ended a 30-day fast last June. Guatemala has been no exception to this trend as two women commenced their own opposition hunger strike on August 14th.

Human rights activists Bárbara Hernández and Gabriela Flores have gone at least four days fasting to call for the resignation of scandal-plagued President Otto Pérez Molina as well as the postponement of the general election scheduled for September 6th.

“We act in solidarity with the grandfathers who have had to go with their kin to the morgue and identify their grandchildren who died in the midst of this violence caused by systemic corruption,” declared Hernández to the press last Friday as they began their protest from a tent in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Guatemala City.

“We overflowed with anger...and we are seeking the immediate resignation of the president who symbolizes impunity,” admitted Hernández who is a member of the local Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala. (Flores, meanwhile, is a representative of the Asociación de Jóvenes para el Desarrollo y Rescate Social).

Both protesters also claimed to have “strong evidence” linking the former army commander turned president to “crimes of corruption and crimes against humanity.”
They suggested that any followers or sympathizers at home and abroad should campaign human rights groups and NGOs in their respective countries to ensure the safety of the strikers.

In an interview Hernández admitted that she and her colleague decided to go on a hunger strike after the Guatemalan Congress last week refused to strip Pérez of his presidential immunity. As we mentioned last June, Pérez is facing plenty of pressure over the corruption controversies against him and his cohorts:

Daily Headlines: August 18, 2015

* Peru: Peru may have registered a 30% drop in coca cultivation over the past two years yet hundreds of coca growers accuse authorities of providing them insufficient compensation to grow other crops.

* Caribbean: Cuba’s civil defense system was placed on alert due to the effects of a year-long drought, while Puerto Rico sought U.S. Defense Department aid to combat one of the worst droughts in the island’s history.

* Ecuador: Senior disaster official Maria del Pilar Cornejo claimed that about 325,000 people living near the active Cotopaxi volcano are at risk of being hit by possible mudslides and rock flows.

* Mexico: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights accused the Mexican government of preventing them from fully investigating the disappearances of 43 missing (and possibly murdered) students from Ayotzinapa.

YouTube Source – VICE News (“Despite the United Nations confirming in 2013 that Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world's top coca and cocaine producer, the country’s place atop the drug supply chain has — at least so far — not included the levels of violence seen in Colombia, Mexico, and other international narcotics hubs.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, ABC News, Business Insider, Fox News Latino, BBC News

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: August 14, 2015

* Cuba: The U.S. Embassy reopened in Cuba for the first time since 1961 as part of the latest action by the governments of both countries to improve diplomatic and economic ties.

* Paraguay: An 11-year-old Paraguayan girl raped by her stepfather and whose case sparked a debate over abortion gave birth to her child this week.

* Mexico: Scientists warned that the main pyramid at the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza is in danger of collapsing due to a recently discovered underground river below it.

* Venezuela: Police in Aragua have been accused of the extrajudicial murder of a suspected gang member whose death was captured by an eyewitness video.

YouTube Source – CNN 

Online Sources – NBC News, The Miami Herald, BBC News, The Latin Americanist, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: August 13, 2015

* Venezuela: Raul Baduel, the former Defense Minister turned critic of the late President Hugo Chávez, became the second notable opposition leader to be freed from prison in a 24-hour period.

* Mexico: Mexican photojournalists at last week’s Copa Libertadores deciding match in Argentina protested the torture and murders of one of their colleagues, a human rights activist and three others on July 31st.

* Argentina: At least three fatalities have resulted from torrential rain and flooding in Buenos Aires province that have also forced 11,000 people to be evacuated.

* Cuba: Should Cuban dissidents get invited to the historic reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Havana tomorrow?

YouTube Source – euronews (Venezuelan opposition politician Daniel Ceballos was placed under house arrest hours before ex-minister Raul Baduel was also freed from prison).
 
Online Sources – NDTV, Fox News Latino, Voice of America, The Latin Americanist, Vice News

Daily Headlines: August 12, 2015

* Cuba: According to the Pew Research Center 77% of people in five Latin American states approve improving ties between the U.S. and Cuba.

* Argentina: The Argentine government won a key court appeal in its legal battle against bondholders seeking compensation for the country’s 2001 debt default.

* Panama: Drought conditions caused by the El Niño weather phenomena will affect the Panama Canal, and “could have consequences for manufacturing and trigger far-reaching delays.”

* El Salvador: Authorities ordered the arrests of some 300 suspected gang members amid a spike in violent activity and forcing bus drivers to go on strike.

YouTube Source – CCTV Americas

Online Sources – MercoPress, BBC News, Pew Research Center, The Latin Americanist, Time

The Weekender: The Body Electric

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

Back in 2013 we highlighted Neighboring Sounds, which we described as a film set in Brazil that “gradually exposes the contradictions, tensions and complex relationships among residents of varying social and economic levels.” The movie marked the feature length directorial debut of Kleber Mendonça Filho who previously examined socioeconomic relations in a 2005 short film called Eletrodomestica. In Eletrodomestica, Filho focused on “mechanics and electricity and consumerism” and was inspired by a peculiar aspect of Brazil’s burgeoning consumer culture in the 1990s:

It came from . . . I think the spark right in the beginning was my family came to the U.S. on holiday in 1991 and on our way back at Miami International Airport, I saw a pyramid of stuff: microwave ovens, and VCRs, and fax machines. This is the stuff the Brazilian tourists were taking back with them, back to Brazil. I thought that it was really kind of absurd, that so much electronic stuff was being taken back to the country.

Please check out Eletrodomestica (with English subtitles) below the page break:

Daily Headlines: August 7, 2015

Note: The below video is Not Safe for Work.


* Guatemala: Five Guatemalan soldiers were detained and accused of abusing their authority and mistreatment of minors after a viral video showed them brutally assaulting two teens.

* U.S.: According to the Labor Department the Latino unemployment rate last month is 6.8%, which represents a 0.2% increase from June but is a 1.1% drop compared to July 2014.

* Puerto Rico: Two major investors in Puerto Rico, OppenheimerFunds and Franklin Advisors, called on the commonwealth to make all of a $58 million debt-service payment that was due on August 3rd.

* El Salvador: Authorities believe that gang members were behind the deaths of four people riding a bus near San Salvador.

YouTube Source – user Criptograma MX

Online Sources – SunHerald.com, Reuters, Labor Department, Bloomberg

River Plate Wins Copa Libertadores Soccer Tournament

In a summer of sporting firsts, Chile men’s national team captured their maiden Copa America crown while Victor Espinoza became the first Latin American jockey to ride a Triple Crown-winning horse. Mexican soccer teams have never captured the Copa Libertadores but UANL Tigres hoped to change that on Thursday night. Alas, it was not to be as storied Argentine side River Plate won South America’s top soccer club tournament with an emphatic 3-0 home victory.

After a scoreless first leg in Monterrey, the first half of the return leg in Buenos Aires was largely dull with scant scoring chances and plenty of fouls for both sides. Yet on the verge of halftime Los Millonarios finally broke through when recently acquired Lucas Alario headed home the first goal of the match. The fouls piled up in the second half and it seemed inevitable that a player for either team would be sent off or cause a foul in the penalty box. The latter would occur in favor of River Plate and Carlos Sanchez coolly converted the penalty kick to double his side’s lead. Most of the 60,000 plus ay the packed Estadio Monumental could sense that River was on the cusp of ending their nineteen-year Copa Libertadores title drought, and this was assured by a Ramiro Funes Mori goal eleven minutes from full time.

Neither the pouring rain nor the impending departure of Funes Mori dampened the spirits of River fans including thousands who celebrated near the Monumental and iconic Obelisco de Buenos Aires into the wee hours of the morning.

Daily Headlines: August 6, 2015

* Mexico: Mexican police arrested a suspect in the recent massacre of five people including a photojournalist and a #YoSoy132 activist but that may not be enough to allay fears among members of the press and human rights campaigners.

* Puerto Rico: Could statehood help Puerto Rico overcome their public debt woes or is it an unrealistic solution?

* Uruguay: More than 400,000 workers could protest tools today and participate in the first general strike in Uruguay since 2007.

* El Salvador: Four people were killed in the latest bloody incident involving bus drivers caught amid rampant gang violence.

YouTube Source – Al Jazeera English
 
Online Sources – Newsweek, The San Luis Obispo Tribune, BBC News, Bloomberg, Yahoo News

Daily Headlines: August 5, 2015

* Chile: Chile is one step closer to modifying its complete ban on abortions as legislators move forward with a bill that would partially legalize the procedure.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blasted the U.S. government hours after the State Department called on barred opposition figures to be allowed to run in upcoming local elections.

* Ecuador: A U.S. appeals court ordered Ecuador’s government to pay “a $96 million international arbitration award” to Chevron in a case unrelated to an environmental damages lawsuit between both parties.

* Guatemala: A Guatemalan judge ordered ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt to undergo medical exams in order to see if he’s healthy enough to stand trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English 

Online Sources – Yahoo News, Reuters, The Hill, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: August 4, 2015

* Ecuador: Leaked intelligence documents reportedly showed that Ecuadoran spies obtained private information of legislators, human rights activists and other political opponents.

* Colombia: The Colombian government proposed purchasing some 2.5 million acres of unused farmland to redistribute among victims of the decades-long armed conflict.

* U.S.: Donald Trump may have boasted that Latino voters “love” him but a new poll indicated that 75% of Latinos view the Republican presidential candidate negatively.

* Brazil: An Amnesty International report released one year prior to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics accused the city’s police of killing 5123 people from 2005 to 2014.

YouTube Source – AFP (“Some 800 indigenous activists accompanied by workers unions marched in protest of the government of President Rafael Correa (last March), demanding that the land of their ancestors be returned.”)

Online Sources – Time, The Independent, NBC News, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: August 3, 2015 (Updated)

* Brazil: Jose Dirceu, the former chief of staff to then-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has become the latest political figure arrested over the Petrobras bribery and corruption scandal.

* Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico will most likely fall into default on its $72 billion pubic debt by the end of today if officials cannot make a $58 million payment to creditors.

Update: It's official - Puerto Rico has fallen into default for the first time in the commonwealth's history.

* Cuba: Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton publicly proposed eliminating the decades-long U.S. trade embargo against Cuba though it remains to be seen if Congress will be amenable to her suggestion.

* Colombia: Representatives of Colombia’s FARC rebels proposed meeting with Pope Francis during the pontiff’s visit to Cuba next month.

YouTube Source – CCTV America (Video uploaded in April 2015).

Online Sources including Update – Bloomberg, Financial Times, NDTV, Reuters, Voice of America