Daily Headlines: January 20, 2016

* Honduras: The Honduran government and the Organization of American States agreed to create an international body aimed at combating political and judicial corruption.

* Latin America: The International Monetary Fund believes that the economy of the Latin America and Caribbean region will contract for the second straight year and shrink by 0.3% in 2016.

* U.S.: A new Pew Research Center study found that the Latino electorate has grown mainly thanks to more millennials and naturalized citizens.

* Colombia: Colombian officials and the FARC rebels requested U.N. monitoring of their bilateral ceasefire roughly two months prior to a self-imposed deadline to reach a final peace deal.

YouTube Source – AJ+ (Video uploaded on July 2015).
 
Online Sources – The Guardian, Financial Times, Pew Hispanic Center, BBC News

Haiti’s Célestin Blasts Presidential Election "Masquerade" (Updated)

Opposition candidate Jude Célestin assailed Haiti’s oft-delayed presidential election scheduled for this Sunday and threatened with officially withdrawing.

“I refuse to participate in this masquerade that has only one goal, swallow snakes to the entire Haitian population, stop taking us for idiots,” declared the candidate of the Alternative League for Haitian Progress and Empowerment (LAPEH). 

Without mentioning him by name, Célestin claimed that ruling party pick Jovenel Moise would be a “traitor” if he were to participate in the January 24th runoff. He also warned voters they would be committing a “serious mistake” if they head to the polls, and blamed current President Michel Martelly for interfering in the electoral process.

Célestin and Moise emerged from a first round in October packed with fifty-four candidates but the LAPEH alliance and some runners-up accused Martelly forces of widespread electoral fraud. An independent panel on January 3rd noted “irregularities” by poll workers including problems at a majority of polling stations. Nevertheless, they concluded that the runoff could go ahead for later in the month.

Update (January 20, Noon): Violent protests continued for a second straight day in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday with some opposition demonstrators chanting "The revolution has started, get your gun ready." 

President Martelly said that the runoff will take place on Sunday though legislators are debating postponing the vote yet again and establishing a "verification commission."

Update (January 20, 9:30 PM): Haiti's Senate passed a resolution calling for the runoff to be suspended and rescheduled. The declaration is non-binding, however, and the election will surely be held as planned for this Sunday.

Daily Headlines: January 19, 2016

* Latin America: Colombia enacted a law imposing harsher punishments against those convicted of attacking women with acid, while the Dominican opposition accused the government of doing little to combat femicides.

* U.S.: The Supreme Court accepted listening to arguments later this year over the legality of the DACA and DAPA immigration relief programs.

* Chile: Chilean prosecutors will reportedly reopen an investigation into the origins of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet's multimillion dollar fortune.

* Brazil: Another negative sign for Brazil’s economy as economists believe that inflation will rise by 7% this year.

YouTube Source – Thomson Reuters Foundation (Video uploaded on April 2015).
 
Online Sources – BBC News, Dominican Today, Fox News Latino, Bloomberg, NBC News

Daily Headlines: January 18, 2016

* Guatemala: Political newcomer turned president Jimmy Morales repeated his campaign pledge to combat Guatemala’s deeply-rooted corruption during his inauguration address last Thursday.

* Latin America: Brazilian scientists will receive public funds to develop a vaccine for the Zika virus though one researcher claimed that it could take from three to five years.

* Bolivia: Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada of Bolivia, currently living in the U.S. on asylum, could become the next former Latin American president to go on trial.

* Mexico: “Emerging markets need to be ready for a potentially severe shock,” warned Mexican central bank Agustín Carstens amid investor worry over the weakening Chinese economy.

YouTube Source – efeinternational

Online Sources – Bloomberg, CNBC, Christian Science Monitor, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: January 15, 2016

* Brazil: Police charged officials with companies including Vale SA and BHP Billiton over a November 2015 dam collapse that caused major environmental damage in southeast Brazil.

* Mexico: Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez and U.S. Justice Department officials supposedly met on Tuesday in order to advance the possible extradition of reprehended drug capo Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

* Cuba: Cuba allegedly received over 3.5 million tourists last year including a 76% increase in visitors from the U.S.

* Colombia: World Bank President Jim Yong Kim called on the international community to guarantee greater financial assistance to Colombia as it tries to reach a peace deal and end decades of armed conflict.

YouTube Source – ODN

Online Sources – Yahoo News, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Latin Americanist, Jamaica Observer

Latin American Films Receive Oscar Nominees

A pair of cinematic tales of discovery created by Latin American auteurs received nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards set to take place on February 28th.


“Embrace of the Serpent” (“El Abrazo de la Serpiente”) became the first-ever Colombian movie selected as a finalist for Best Foreign Film. The lone Latin American entry in that category is loosely based on the diaries of scientists Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes during their search in the early 20th-century for a sacred plant in the Amazon rainforest. The film follows the perspectives of these botanists along with indigenous and a shaman as they interact with each other and explore the jungle world surrounding them. “Embrace” also examines the clash of cultures and affects to the environment that develop between natives and visitors.

Two unique features of this movie directed by Ciro Guerra is that it jumps back and forth in time, and was filmed entirely in black and white. He justified these actions by claiming that he “wanted the film to feel like it’s a place that exists but is in another world, another time.” 

“Embrace” was a modest success in Colombia where the local film industry has grown over the past decade but has become critically acclaimed worldwide since its domestic release last May. The film won the Art Cinema Award as part of the Directors' Fortnight section at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and has garnered a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Embrace producer Cristina Gallo may have had her strong doubts over the film’s nomination but the odds are pretty good that it could become the third Latin American and first non-Argentine movie to win Best Foreign Film.

“Inside Out” is the clear favorite to capture Best Animated Feature yet history was made when a Brazilian production became the first Latin American film to be chosen in that category.

Daily Headlines: January 14, 2016

* Chile: Alejandro Aravena of Chile became the fourth Latin American to win the Pritzker Prize, which is the most prestigious honor in the architectural world.

* Central America: Mexico will grant transit visas to the first group of some 8000 Cuban migrants stranded in Costa Rica for several weeks, while the U.S. State Department announced an expansion of a program helping refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

* Latin America: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control could issue a travel warning for pregnant women against visiting parts of Latin American and the Caribbean due to the spread of the Zika virus.

* Colombia: The final stage of peace talks between the Colombian government and FARC commenced amid doubts by rebel negotiator Joaquin Gomez over reaching a final agreement by the March 23rd deadline.

YouTube Source – Arch Daily
 
Online Sources – Quartz, Reuters, National Geographic, MSNBC, Voice of America

Daily Headlines: January 13, 2016 (Updated)

* U.S.: President Barack Obama’s call to eliminate the trade embargo against Cuba in his State of the Union speech might not sit well with Cuban-American legislators but perhaps they could agree to reform policy for migrants coming from the island.

* Puerto Rico: The Puerto Rican government will allegedly begin discussions today with creditors over the restructuring of approximately $70 million in public debt.

Update: On a related note, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday on a case that could have serious consequences for the island's future sovereignty. 

* Nicaragua: Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean community leaders claimed that officials are obligating them to allow for the building of a controversial interoceanic canal through their lands.

* Guatemala: In one of the latest chapters in the “FIFA-gate” corruption scandal, former Guatemala soccer federation president Brayan Jimenez was detained and accused of bribery.

YouTube Source – AFP

Online Sources including Update – The Hill, The Guardian, Al Jazeera America, Bloomberg, Reuters, ABC News

Daily Headlines: January 12, 2016

* Venezuela: Venezuela’s new opposition-led congress has been thrown into disarray after the Supreme Court voided new legislative actions over the swearing in of three barred lawmakers.

* Mexico: Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, alleged co-leader of the Sinaloa drug gang along with Joaquin Guzmán, is reportedly Mexico’s most wanted criminal days after the recapture of “El Chapo”.

* Guatemala: A Guatemalan tribunal once again suspended the trial of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

* Europe: Lionel Messi of Argentina captured the Ballon d’or as the world’s top male soccer player for a fifth time while Brazil’s Wendell Lira won the goal of the year award.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – Reuters, The Tico Times, The Latin Americanist, BBC Sport

Daily Headlines: January 11, 2016

* U.S.: Mexicans Gael Garcia Bernal and Alejandro González Iñárritu received individual Golden Globes last night while the Pablo Larraín-directed Chilean movie “The Club” lost in the top foreign film category.

* South America: The Dakar Rally reached its halfway point on a tragic note after a spectator was run over and killed during the seventh stage between Bolivia and Argentina.

* Cuba: White House chief-of-staff Denis McDonough confirmed the Obama administration’s plans to close the U.S. military base at Guantanamo, Cuba.

* El Salvador: Gen. José Guillermo Garcia-Merino, El Salvador’s former defense minister, was deported back to his homeland over his likely role in human rights violations during the civil war era.

YouTube Source – TIFF Trailers

Online Sources – Reuters Africa, Business Standard, NBC News, Latin America Herald Tribune, Christian Science Monitor

Mexican Fugitive Drug Boss "El Chapo" Recaptured (Updated including Video)

Mexican drug cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán was reportedly recaptured nearly six months following his second prison escape according to President Enrique Peña Nieto:

Misión cumplida: lo tenemos. Quiero informar a los mexicanos que Joaquín Guzmán Loera ha sido detenido.

— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) January 8, 2016

Few details are known about the Friday morning operation though the Mexican media reported that Guzmán was nabbed in Los Mochis, Sinaloa state. At least five members of the fugitive's security convoy were killed amid a gunfight with approximately seventy Mexican soldiers.

The Sinaloa cartel boss had been on the run since July 11, 2015 when he fled the maximum security Altiplano prison via an underground tunnel from his jail cell. This incident thoroughly embarrassed the Peña Nieto administration and shone an uncomfortable light on corruption within the Mexican security structure.

Despite rumors alleging that Guzmán escaped Mexico for another country in Latin America, his pursuers focused primarily on the "Triangulo Dorado" ("Golden Triangle") area of Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Durango states. It was in this region where Guzmán was caught today and nearly nabbed last November in an operation that left him injured in his face and a leg.

If the rumors of his capture are true, then Guzmán will more than likely be extradited to the U.S. as soon as today, He is charged in several federal courts with drug trafficking and related crimes.

Updates can be read below the page break.

Daily Headlines: January 8, 2016

* Puerto Rico: Two firms that are insuring Puerto Rico’s bonds filed a lawsuit days after the island’s government missed a $36 million payment on a $70 billion municipal debt.

* U.S.: The Latino unemployment rate dipped last month to 6.3% according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data published today.

* Brazil: In the latest black eye for the Brazilian economy, the 2015 inflation rate of 10.67% was the highest in thirteen years.

* El Salvador: The Salvadoran government will seek the arrest of seventeen retired soldiers suspected of murdering eight people including six Jesuit priests in 1989.

YouTube Source – Al Jazeera America News
 
Online Sources – Reuters, GlobalPost, Fox News Latino, The Tico Times

Daily Headlines: January 7, 2016

* Mexico: Mexican government officials expect some 2.3 million visitors to be present at a motorcade and rally on February 14th as part of during Pope Francis’ trip to the that country.

* Costa Rica: Several hundred migrants stranded in Costa Rica over the past few weeks will reportedly be allowed to leave for El Salvador starting on January 12th.

* Colombia: Irish advocacy group Front Line Defenders deemed Colombia at the most dangerous state for human rights activists in Latin America.

* Guatemala: Fourteen ex-military officials were detained over alleged involvement in the disappearances of at least 588 indigenous Guatemalans during the civil war some three decades ago.

YouTube Source – Reuters (Bolivia was one of four countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that Pope Francis traveled to in 2015).

Online Sources – BBC News, ABC News, Reuters, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: January 6, 2016

* Venezuela: President Nicolas Maduro will likely reshuffle his cabinet and announce new economic measures following the tense takeover of congress by the opposition.

* Latin America: The Zika virus, a deadly mosquito-borne disease that particularly affects newborn children, has spread throughout Latin America and reached Puerto Rico this week.

* Mexico: Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias “La Barbie,” is expected to plead guilty in a U.S. court today on charges related to drug trafficking for Mexican cartels.

* Brazil: The number of HPV and pneumonia vaccines administered by the Brazilian public health care system will be cut reportedly due to the government’s austerity plans.

YouTube Source – Reuters

Online Sources – ABC News, Reuters, Quartz, CNN

Daily Headlines: January 5, 2016

* Cuba: The Cuban Commission on Human Rights claimed that five dissidents pardoned as part of the closer diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba were detained again and “confined in high-security prisons in the second half of 2015.”

* U.S.: Immigrants rights activists blasted recent raids mostly targeting Central American asylum seekers, while Guatemalan foreign minister Carlos Raul Morales warned that mass deportations will not halt migrants seeking to enter the U.S.

* Uruguay: The Uruguayan legislature approved a $620 million bailout to state oil company Ancap in an effort to lower the firm’s debt.

* Brazil: Brazil’s economic woes are expected to worsen according to analysts in a central bank survey who forecast a deeper recession in the upcoming months.

YouTube Source – euronews (Video uploaded on December 11, 2015).
 
Online Sources – Business Standard, The Guardian, Fox News Latino, Reuters, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: January 4, 2016 (Updated)

* Colombia: Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas criticized the recruitment of Colombian mercenaries for combat in several Middle Eastern states including Saudi Arabia and, as we mentioned in 2011, the United Arab Emirates.

* Panama: Panama President Juan Carlos Varela assured that problematic expansion of the country’s famed canal will be delayed and completed in May.

* Mexico: Researchers in Mexico are set to commence clinical trials of a “cocktail” of vaccines that could prevent the recurrence of several types of cancers.

* Venezuela: “Outspoken” opposition veteran Henry Ramos Allup was selected over Julio Borges of the “newer, moderate” Justice First party as the new chief of the next Venezuelan legislature taking office tomorrow.

Update: Ramos Allup on Monday said that the new congress would not "declare war" on the government but strongly suggested that President Nicolás Maduro should resign. (Link in Spanish).

YouTube Source – CCTV America

Online Sources including Update – El Universo, Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist, ABC News, Fox News Latino, International Business Times