Daily Headlines: March 22, 2016

* Latin America: The U.N. concluded that the poverty rate in Latin America and the Caribbean grew by seven million people in roughly one year, while a report found that the region is very vulnerable to cyber attacks.

* Ecuador: The Ecuadoran government announced the creation of a new marine sanctuary that will protect some 18,000 square miles around the Galapagos Islands.

* Mexico: Some 200,000 residents in Mexico have been displaced as a result of dam construction nationwide according to a new study.

* U.S.: The Latino electorate in Arizona could be key in deciding who will win today's Democratic presidential primary in that state.

YouTube Source – DW

Online Sources – Andina, Nearshore Americas, National Geographic, teleSUR English, The Hill

Daily Headlines: March 21, 2016

* Cuba: Cuban authorities reportedly began releasing this morning some of the approximately sixty dissidents arrested on Sunday hours prior to U.S. President Barack Obama’s arrival to the island.

* Peru: Peru’s electoral body, which has already barred two presidential candidates, opened an investigation against poll frontrunner Keiko Fujimori over allegations of distributing cash to supporters.

* Haiti: In the latest chapter of Haiti’s political crisis, legislators rejected Interim President Jocelerme Priver’s choice for prime minister.

* U.S.: “It’s like wearing a condom to protect against head lice,” said comedian John Oliver on the latest edition of “Last Week Tonight” as he assailed the notion of erecting a barrier along the entire U.S.-Mexico border.

YouTube Source – Associated Press

Online Sources – Fox News Latino, The Independent, Bloomberg, ABC News

Daily Headlines: March 18, 2016

* Chile: Chile’s Chamber of Deputies approved a proposal backed by President Michelle Bachelet to partially legalize the total ban on abortion put in place during the Pinochet military rule in 1990.

* Nicaragua: Nicaragua officials welcomed the International Court of Justice ruling in favor of taking on the Central American country’s decades-long maritime border dispute with Colombia.

* Cuba: The Cuba government dropped a 10% tax on the U.S. dollar ahead of President Barack Obama’s historic state visit to the island starting on Sunday.

* Mexico: A new report conclude that attacks against members of the press suffered an increase of 21.8% between 2014 and 2015 with incidents occurring on average nearly every twenty-three hours.

YouTube Source – Channel 4 News (Video uploaded on August 2015).
 
Online Sources – Vice News, Yahoo News, Reuters, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: March 17, 2016

* Honduras: A member of Honduran indigenous rights group Copinh was killed nearly two weeks after acclaimed environmentalist Berta Cáceres was murdered.

* Guatemala: For the fourth time former Guatemalan strongman Efrain Rios Montt faces a trial on charges of genocide while a judge tossed out separate attempts by defense attorneys and lawyers for civil war victims to delay proceedings.

* Mexico: Restrictions go into place barring the use of thousands of autos in Mexico City on Thursday days after the megalopolis issued its first air pollution alert since 2005.

* Colombia: Colombia’s main labor unions as well as student activist and social organizations will mobilize today to protest against the government.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English
 
Online Sources – The Guardian, ABC News, NBC Latino, Colombia Reports

Daily Headlines: March 16, 2016

* Argentina: The lower chamber of the Argentine federal legislature approved a package to repay creditors in a legal tug-of-war with the government over some $100 billion in debt related to the country’s 2001 default.

* U.S.: Will recently retired presidential hopeful Marco Rubio provide a boost to fellow Cuban-American Senator Ted Cruz in his aspirations for the White House?

* Puerto Rico: Acclaimed Broadway composer Lin-Manuel Miranda urged Congress to take urgent action to help debt-ridden Puerto Rico though legislators have largely waffled on the issue.

* Mexico: The governor of the Mexican state of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo, suggested enacting a “pilot scheme” to allow the cultivation of opium poppies as a measure to combat drug violence.

YouTube Source – euronews (Last month “Argentina has agreed in principle to a deal with US hedge funds ending a 15-year-old dispute over its failure to repay billions of dollars worth of bonds.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, BBC News, Vox, The Huffington Post

Daily Headlines: March 15, 2016

* Venezuela: Authorities in southeastern Venezuela have recovered the bodies of seventeen men missing for over a week and possibly massacred in a case of illegal mining.

* Cuba: Ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip next week to Cuba, the Treasury Department announced new relaxing of travel and trade restrictions.

* Canada: A new report concluded that deporting convicts from Canada to Jamaica and Honduras could have a “boomerang effect” on crime in the North American country.

* U.S.: As a new slate of presidential primaries take place today, it’s worth noting that Latinos don't represent a monolithic voting bloc.

YouTube Source – Al Jazeera English (June 2014 report on the Venezuelan mining industry.)
 
Online Sources – CBC, Fox News Latino, Quartz, MarketWatch

Daily Headlines: March 14, 2016

* Cuba: The Cuban Tourism Ministry said that some one million foreign visitors traveled to the country in the first three months of 2016, which represents a 14.6% increase compared to the same period last year.

* Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico’s “brain drain” of skilled workers leaving the island has hit the health care sector hard as an average of one doctor immigrates away from the commonwealth each day.

* Peru: A new poll showed greater support for Keiko Fujimori ahead of next month’s presidential election but not enough to avoid a runoff.

* Uruguay: “There could be an elephant out there,” claimed an optimistic executive at French company Total regarding exploration of what could be a very promising Uruguayan offshore oil field.

YouTube Source – AJ+

Online Sources – Xinhua, NPR, Reuters, MercoPress

Daily Headlines: March 11, 2016

* Honduras: Representatives of more than 200 conservation and human rights groups signed a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry calling on the U.S. to back an investigation into the recent death of renown Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres.

* Chile: A Chilean judge halted the sixteen-year probe looking into a U.S. professor missing and possible abducted by state agents, while former “Caravan of Death” Gen. Sergio Arellano Stark died at the age of 94.

* Latin America: The gender pay gap in Latin America has narrowed by 12% from 1990 to 2014 but women still earned 26% less than men according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

* Brazil: Some twenty Syrian refugees claimed that they are being hurt by the bureaucratic process in order to obtain local work permits.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (Honduran human rights activist Berta Cáceres was shot on killed at her home on March 2nd).

Online Sources – The Hill, The New York Times, BBC News, Reuters, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: March 10, 2016 (Updated)

* Peru: Keiko Fujimori’s path to the Peruvian presidency (and possibly pardoning her imprisoned ex-presidential father, Alberto) became a lot easier after electoral officials disqualified her main rival.

Update: The Organization of American States expressed concern over the ruling against Julio Guzman and will send an observer mission ahead of the April 10th election.

* Cuba: U.S. book publishing industry representatives signed a petition urging the White House to eliminate the Cuba trade embargo for texts and educational materials.

* Puerto Rico: A U.S. District Court judge upheld Puerto Rico’s ban on same-sex marriage and claimed that the 2015 Supreme Court ruling overturning gay marriage prohibition does not apply to the commonwealth.

* El Salvador: Salvadoran officials are considering declaring a “state of exception” in order to combat violence though critics believe such a measure is illegal and an abuse of authority.

YouTube Source – CCTV English

Online Sources including Update – ABC News, Publishers Weekly, NBC News, InSight Crime

Daily Headlines: March 9, 2016 (Updated)

* Mexico: An editorial in a Mexican Catholic Church publication questioned Pope Francis’ comments during his visit to Mexico last month admonishing some clergy for their opulence and not connecting with their parishioners.

* Brazil: Will convicted former construction tycoon Marcelo Odebrecht collaborate with Brazilian authorities as part of the “Lava Jato” corruption investigation?

Update: Prosecutors are expected to announce on Thursday that money laundering charges will be raised against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

* Latin America: The Ecuadoran government claimed that envoys from Latin American oil producing states will reportedly meet in Quito this Friday to discuss the low price of crude.

* Venezuela: Street protests, a constitutional amendment and a recall vote are part of the Venezuelan opposition’s strategy to oust President Nicolás Maduro before his term is scheduled to end.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources including Update – BBC News, Fortune, Reuters, The Latin Americanist, Catholic News Service

Daily Headlines: March 8, 2016

* Honduras: The recent murder of Honduran indigenous leader Berta Caceres has shined a light on the threats made against environmental activists throughout Latin America.

* Chile: The Chilean economy grew last January at its slowest pace in ten years due to decreased production in the manufacturing and mining sectors.

* Venezuela: At least twenty-eight Venezuelan miners have gone missing and may have been massacred as part of a struggle to control a “disputed gold claim.”

* Brazil: The “Lava Jato” corruption probe could sink Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s possible candidacy to return to the Brazilian presidency.

YouTube Source – ODN

Online Sources – Christian Science Monitor, Reuters, ABC News, BBC News

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