Daily Headlines: March 4, 2016 (Updated)

* Haiti: Haiti’s prison system is stretched to its limits by overcrowding as inmates reside in squalid conditions, according to “independent U.N. expert on human rights” Gustavo Gallon.

* Brazil: A court ordered House Speaker Eduardo Cunha to face trial as part of the “Lava Jato” corruption scandal that has implicated figures of Brazil’s political and economic elite.

Update: Speaking of figures implicated in the "Lava Jato" probe, Lula has some explaining to do.
 
* Venezuela: U.S. President Barack Obama issued a one-year extension to an executive order presented in March 2015 deeming the deep political unrest in Venezuela as a national security threat.

* Guatemala: Two ex-military men recently convicted of torturing and raping eleven indigenous women during the civil war three decades ago have been ordered to pay a $1 million restitution to their victims.

YouTube Source – The New York Times (Video uploaded in May 2010).

Online Sources including Update – Yahoo News, ABC News, Fox News Latino, Reuters, BBC News

Daily Headlines: March 3, 2016

* El Salvador: New police data released yesterday showed a whopping 117% jump in the homicide rate for January and February 2016 compared to the same period in 2015.
 
* Brazil: Vale and BHP Billiton, the co-owners of a Brazilian dam that collapsed last year and killed nineteen people, agreed to pay approximately $1.5 billion in damages.

* Venezuela: Venezuela’s opposition parties will formally present a plan seeking the ouster of President Nicolás Maduro prior to the end of his term in 2019.

* Peru: Peru might lose at least $6 million per day in export revenue due to heavy rain, flooding and extreme heat from the El Niño weather phenomena.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (Video uploaded on November 2015).
 
Online Sources – BBC News, NBC News, Reuters, Voice of America

Daily Headlines: March 2, 2016

* Latin America: The Food and Agriculture Organization acknowledged strides throughout Latin America to combat hunger but warned that 34.3 million people in the region lack access to food.

* Cuba: British rock group the Rolling Stones announced that they’ll play a free concert this month in Havana, while U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to attend a Tampa Bay Rays vs. Cuba baseball game during his visit to the island on the 22nd.

* Peru: Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa of Peru became the latest prominent Latin American figure to assail Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

* Haiti: A three-judge court in the U.S. began listening to the case of Haitian plaintiffs suing the United Nations regarding a cholera epidemic has killed more than 9,000 people in the Caribbean state.

YouTube Source – AFP (Video uploaded in 2012).
 
Online Sources – Xinhua, NPR, ESPN, The Guardian, The New York Times

Daily Headlines: March 1, 2016

* Venezuela: Defeated presidential candidate Henrique Capriles claimed that an investigation into alleged improprieties when he was Miranda state governor are part of a government plot against a possible referendum seeking the dismissal of President Nicolás Maduro.

* U.S.: A new poll found that 78% of Latino voters believe women should have the right to an abortion if respondents disagree with such an action.

* Argentina: Former Argentine intelligence chief Antonio Stiuso testified as part of the probe into the apparent murder of crusading prosecutor Alberto Nisman in January 2014.

* Colombia: Santiago Uribe, the younger brother of ex-President Alvaro Uribe, was arrested over supposedly creating a paramilitary force known as the “Twelve Apostles.”

YouTube Source – AFP (Henrique Capriles lost in a tight presidential election to current President Nicolás Maduro in 2013).

Online Sources – GlobalPost, NBC News, Yahoo News, Colombia Reports

Daily Headlines: February 29, 2016

* Guatemala: Two former military officials were sentenced to over one century in prison for the enslavement and systemic raping of indigenous women during the Guatemalan civil war.

* Argentina: The Argentine government reached a $4.65 billion deal to repay four holdout creditor funds as part of a settlement to repay debt from the country’s $100 billion default in 2001.

* Brazil: Ex-Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is reportedly considering running for another term in 2018 despite being investigated under the “Lava Jato” corruption scandal.

* Venezuela: A new $5 billion loan and gold mining venture could save Venezuela from falling into default.

YouTube Source – AFP
 
Online Sources – Christian Science Monitor, Reuters, The Guardian, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: February 26, 2016

* Argentina: Argentine investigators believe that the mysterious death of crusading prosecutor Alberto Nisman was a homicide rather than the suicide theory presented last year by the government of then-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

* Brazil: Fifty families of the Villa Autodromo favela in Rio de Janeiro are holding out against eviction for construction and development of Summer Games venues.

* Colombia: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry could meet as soon as next week with Colombian government and FARC rebel negotiators working out a final peace agreement. 

* El Salvador: Several hundred protesters marched in San Salvador against the extradition from Spain of former military members accused of the massacre of six Jesuit priests in 1989.

YouTube Source – CCTV America (“Nisman was a prosecutor who was investigating the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed 85 people, when he was found dead from a gunshot. Alberto Nisman was about to present evidence that then Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner had covered up Iran’s role in the bombing.”)

Online Sources – Business Insider, ABC News, NBC News, The New York Times, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: February 25, 2016 (Updated)

* Brazil: Police have sought the arrest of six executives of a mining firm run by Vale and BHP Billiton over the collapse of a dam that killed seventeen people in Minas Gerais last November.

* U.S.: Could Brian Sandoval, the Latino Republican governor of Colorado, be chosen as the Supreme Court successor to recently deceased judge Antonin Scalia? (Update: Nope).

* Guatemala: The brother of former Vice President Roxana Baldetti is the latest figure to be detained as part of a probe into widespread corruption in Guatemala.

* Cuba: The Cuban government gave permission for seven “high profile” dissidents to travel abroad in a move that comes about one month prior to U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to to the island.

YouTube Source – CCTV (Last November, the U.N. found that “Brazil's Doce River contains high levels of heavy metals and other toxic chemicals following the country's worst-ever environmental disaster.”)
 
Online Sources including Update– Sydney Morning Herald, CBS News, BBC News, The Tico Times, CNN

Daily Headlines: February 24, 2016

* Latin America: The Zika virus outbreak has shined a light on the debate over abortion and birth control to the forefront across the Americas including in Puerto Rico where officials have capped the prices of condoms.

* Cuba: The two Republican presidential candidates of Cuban background – Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz – are vehemently opposed to White House plans to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales conceded defeat following a referendum where a majority of voters opted against a constitutional amendment that would have allowed him to run for a fourth straight term.

* Costa Rica: Costa Rica’s nickname of being the “Switzerland of Central America” may come into question after police reported a record 558 murders in 2015.

YouTube Source – AFP (“The United Nations (earlier this month) urges countries hit by the dangerous Zika virus to let women have access to contraception and abortion.”)
 
Online Sources – NPR, Scientific American, Reuters, The Tico Times, CBS News

Daily Headlines: February 23, 2016

* Honduras: An international mission to combat widespread corruption in Honduras began its work though protesters believe the group lacks the strength of a similar investigative panel in nearby Guatemala.

* Peru: NASA scientists are conducting an experiment in Peru using potatoes in order to figure out the viability of growing crops on Mars.

* Nicaragua: Nicaraguan officials paroled 8149 inmates and repatriated nearly 100 foreign convicts as part of a plan to ease severe prison overcrowding.

* U.S.: A new study found that 71% of Latinos believe speaking Spanish is not a prerequisite to being considered as Hispanic though roughly three in four respondents speak the language at home.

YouTube Source – AFP (“Thousands of people (last August) hold a march with torches in the Honduran capital to protest against corruption and demand the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez and a UN probe into impunity”.)

Online Sources – ABC News, Popular Science, Yahoo News, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: February 22, 2016

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales said that he would respect the results of a constitutional referendum where most voters reportedly rejected allowing him to run for an unprecedented fourth presidential term.

* Brazil: In the latest chapter of the “Lava Jato” bribery affair Brazilian police ordered the arrest of Joao Santana, a “political marketing expert” who helped the last three presidents win their respective elections.

* Panama: Panamanian immigration officials will allegedly grant travel permits to 145 Cuban migrants seeking to travel northbound to the U.S.

* Latin America: The Copa America Centenario group draw was held amid the “FIFA-gate” corruption scandal involving former regional and national soccer confederation figures from the Americas.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – ESPN FC, Fox News Latino, The New York Times, Yahoo News

Daily Headlines: February 19, 2016

* Latin America: According to the World Bank, Latin America could lose approximately $3.5 billion due to the Zika virus outbreak with some tourism-dependent countries losing over 1% of gross domestic product.

* Peru: The Peruvian government declared a water quality emergency after a pair of oil spills contaminated water supplies in the Amazonas and Loreto regions.

* U.S.: An estimated 14,000 gathered at the Wisconsin state Capitol building as part of the “Day Without Latinos” protest against strong anti-immigrant measures.

* Puerto Rico: The untimely death of Supreme Court judge Antonin Scalia might improve the odds of the high court ruling in favor of a debt restructuring program for Puerto Rico.

YouTube Source – CCTV America

Online Sources – Peru This Week, NASDAQ, Fusion, Reuters

Daily Headlines: February 18, 2016

* Latin America: The White House confirmed that President Barack Obama will travel to two Latin American countries next March including becoming only the second sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba.

* Honduras: The National Autonomous University of Honduras' Observatory of Violence found that the Central American state’s homicide rate fell by 12% in 2015.

* Venezuela: President Nicolás Maduro announced a series of economic measures such as devaluating the national currency by 37% and raising the price of gasoline for the first time since 1997.

* Bolivia: Six public employees in the Bolivian city of El Alto were killed amid protests held days before an important constitutional referendum.

YouTube Source – EFE International
 
Online Sources – Reuters, CNBC, Business Insider, Voice of America

Pope Francis: We Cannot Ignore Migratory “Humanitarian Crisis”

“Forced migration is a global crisis,” declared Pope Francis during the homily at a mass held in Ciudad Juarez near the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We cannot deny the humanitarian crisis” due to migrants traveling thousands of miles across mountains, and deserts, said the pontiff at the event held on the final day of his six-day visit to the Latin American country.

Theirs is a “journey wrought with terrible injustices: enslaved, kidnapped, blackmailed (and) our brothers” exploited by the business of human trafficking. 

In his view, it is a humanitarian crisis that is measured “by names, by histories, by families” among those making the arduous trek northbound through Mexico.

“To say of the many women worse lives have been unfairly taken away,” the pontiff added seemingly in recognition of the thousands of femicides occurring in the northern border region.

The former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina recognized the work of civil organizations and clergy members who defend migrants “on the front line while risking their own lives."

He noted “it is time for salvation, for mercy” and urged the tens of thousands of people attending the mass to “ask God…to open our hearts.”

“No border can prevent the mercy we share between our brothers and sisters,” said the Pope who acknowledged those following the mass in El Paso including those flowing a live telecast at the Sun Bowl Stadium.

He later thanked the Mexican people for their hospitality and admitted that there were occasions that he wanted to weep after observing “so much hope among a people who have suffered.”

Prior to the pope’s message in Juarez, migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border region held high expectations that he would acknowledge their difficulties and provide a sympathetic voice:

A letter sent to Pope Francis from the Border Network for Human Rights was read at its Monday rally. The letter, signed by about 200 families, was delivered to the pope Monday, said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network…
 

"We ask that you direct your voice and message to the powers that be that enact public policies that criminalizes and oppresses us; we ask that you lift the spirits of immigrants to a worthy place, for Jesus himself was an immigrant," the letter stated in part.

The Pope did not shy from discussing immigration during his visit to the U.S. last year by urging political leaders “not to turn their back on our neighbors” and praised those who open their hearts towards migrants.

During his time in Mexico, the Argentine-born pontiff called on youth gathered in Michoacán to reject violence and “dare to dream” of a better future, while in Ecatepec he urged Mexicans to resist the temptations of greed and corruption. It remains to be seen how many cold hearts he may have warmed such as a former associate of imprisoned Knights Templar drug gang leader Servando Gómez Martínez who attended the Pope’s mass on Tuesday in Morelia.

YouTube Source – EFE (“The Pope stood and prayed at a cross situated near the U.S.-Mexico border…and subsequently blessed hundreds of followers on the U.S. side of the Rio Bravo.”)
 
Online Sources (English) – BBC News, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, The Latin Americanist, USA TODAY
 
Online Sources (Spanish) – Excelsior, El Universal, El Informador

Daily Headlines: February 17, 2016

* Brazil: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff affirmed that the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be held as scheduled later this year despite concerns over the impact of the Zika virus outbreak.

* Venezuela: The opposition-led legislature approved a measure that could pardon some seventy-five imprisoned political dissidents such as Leopoldo Lopez.

* Argentina: The Argentine government allegedly reached a deal with holdout creditors to repay debt from the country’s $100 billion default in 2002.

* Colombia: Police chief Rodolfo Palomino resigned over rumors of young cadets were forced to serve as male prostitutes for senior officials and politicians.

YouTube Source – CNN
 
Online Sources – MercoPress, ESPN, Colombia Reportd, Reuters, Yahoo News

Daily Headlines: February 16, 2016

* Cuba: The U.S. and Cuba will sign an aviation agreement today that would allow up to 110 commercial flights to fly to nine destinations on the Caribbean island.

* Colombia: While the Colombian government and FARC rebels seem to be close to reaching a peace deal, the country’s second-largest guerrilla army has gone on a violent offensive that has left at least three state security agents dead.

* Peru: Approximately 2000-3000 barrels of oil are estimated to have spilled in the northern Peruvian region of Amazonas and might have contaminated the Chiriaco River.

* Venezuela: Four oil-producing nations including Venezuela conditionally agreed to cap their output at January levels as part of an attempt to raise the price of crude.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – NBC News, Vice News, MercoPress, Latin American Herald Tribune, BBC News

World Bank: LatAm Indigenous Still Face Major Struggles

During a mass at the southern Mexican state of Chiapas on Monday, Pope Francis criticized how Mexico’s indigenous populace has suffered from the “culture of rejection” found in our modern world. His comments could also apply to the indigenous peoples of other nations in Latin America and the Caribbean that continue to confront major obstacles for socioeconomic advancement.

A new World Bank study concluded that indigenous people make up 14% and 17% of the region’s poor and extreme poor, respectively, even though they account for 8% of the total populace. The report further claimed that indigenous people face great difficulties to obtain basic social services and access new technologies.

Amerindians in some countries fare bother than others such as in Bolivia and Brazil where poverty levels have decreased while the education gap is shrinking in Ecuador and Nicaragua. Overall, however, process has moved at a glacial pace compared to non-indigenous peoples.

"Latin America has undergone a profound social transformation that reduced poverty and expanded the middle class, but indigenous peoples benefited less than other Latin Americans," said Jorge Familiar, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, in a statement.

Nearly half of the indigenous populace reside in cities and tend to reside in neighborhoods that are “less secure, less sanitary, and more disaster-prone” than those typically inhabited by residents of other groups.  The labor outlook for indigenous urban residents does not fare much better as the World Bank found that it is more likely for them to work in the informal sector.