Daily Headlines: March 6, 2015

* Argentina: An independent forensics team hired by the family of the late prosecutor Alberto Nisman concluded that he was killed and did not commit suicide as official investigators initially believed.

* Uruguay: Recently inaugurated president Tabaré Vázquez will continue the marijuana legalization program backed by his predecessor, José Mujica, and critiqued by the U.N.’s counternarcotics agency.

* Honduras: Archeologists reportedly located a “lost city” in the Honduran rainforest that belonged to a “vanished ancient civilization.”

* Caribbean: The CARICOM bloc of Caribbean states expressed their “grave concern” over “a number of recent developments grievously affecting Dominicans of Haitian descent and Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic.”

Video Source – YouTube user France 24 English

Online Sources – NPR; CNN; Bloomberg; Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: March 5, 2015

* Guatemala: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met with three Central American presidents in Guatemala to reportedly discuss issues like immigration, regional security and economic opportunities.

* Bolivia: Former Bolivian national police chief Gen. Oscar Nina was arrested and charged with illicit enrichment from drug trafficking.

* Argentina: Investigators appealed a court decision to throw out a probe against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for allegedly covering up Iran’s role in the 1994 AMIA bombing.

* Uruguay: The U.N.’s counternarcotics agency once again criticized the Uruguayan marijuana legalization plan for potentially breaking international treaties.

Video Source – YouTube user AFP

Online Sources –The Guardian; UPI; BBC News; The Tico Times

Daily Headlines: March 4, 2015

* Mexico: Mexican authorities purportedly detained alleged Zetas chief Omar Trevino Morales, which marks the second time in less than a week that officials nabbed a suspected drug cartel leader.

* El Salvador: Defense consultancy firm IHS Jane's warned that the delayed publication of last Sunday’s local election results in El Salvador could increase already heightened political tensions.

* Brazil: Brazilian prosecutors will expand their probe of a major bribery scandal involving oil company Petrobras by opening investigations into fifty-four politicians.

* Argentina: Britain’s Foreign Office is none too pleased that Argentina will print new currency bills containing images of the disputed Falkland Islands.

Video Source – YouTube user Univision Noticias (Mexican officials claimed that suspected Zetas leader Omar Trevino Morales was captured on Wednesday morning).
 
Online Sources – MercoPress; Bloomberg; CNN; IHS Jane's

Daily Headlines: March 3, 2015

* Chile: More than 3000 people have been evacuated in parts of southern Chile after the Villarica volcano erupted prior to sunrise this morning.

* Mexico: A spokesman for the families of the 43 Ayotzinapa students missing since September criticized the recent resignation of Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam. (Note: first link is in Spanish).
 
* Cuba: U.S. President Barack Obama expressed his hope that an American embassy can soon be opened in Cuba yet admitted that “there’s a lot of work that still has to be done” to fully normalize bilateral relations.

* Peru: Hundreds of people held a vigil in Lima calling for the legalization of same-sex unions and greater rights for the LGBT community.

Video Source – YouTube user Sky News

Online Sources – Quartz; teleSUR English; The Guardian; Fusion; Univision Noticias

Daily Headlines: March 2, 2015

* Uruguay: Tabaré Vázquez returned to the Uruguay presidency as the successor to José Mujica, the leader who helped legalize marijuana, decriminalize abortion and accept refugees from Syria.

* U.S.: Cuban-born Latin American baseball pioneer Orestes “Minnie” Minoso died on Sunday purportedly at the age off ninety.

* Brazil: In another negative sign for Brazil’s economy, financial analysts cited by the central bank predicted that the gross domestic product will decrease while inflation will grow.

* Chile: President Michelle Bachelet visited Valentina Maureira, a 14-year-old girl hospitalized with cystic fibrosis whose plea for euthanasia was rejected by the Chilean government.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews (“Uruguay has sworn in Tabare Vazquez as President replacing one leftist leader with another.”)

Online Sources – CNN; Fox News Latino; MercoPress; Bloomberg

The Weekender: Militias of Michoacán

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

In the early morning hours of February 27th Mexican authorities captured the country’s most wanted criminals: Knights Templar drug gang chief Servando “La Tuta” Gomez. The former teacher turned drug capo led a cartel that served as the de facto rulers of Michoacán state by bribing politicians, intimidating business leaders and ruthlessly eradicating any perceived enemies. The turning point started in early 2013 with the emergence of armed “self defense” groups of local residents allied with rival criminals. The vigilantes helped break up the power held by the Knights Templar though it remains to be seen what role they will take following Gomez’s arrest. Will they incorporate themselves to the government’s rural police force, continue their armed fight against the remnants of the Knights or succumb due to infighting amongst their leaders?

Below the page break is a VICE News video made about one year ago that looked at the rise of “La Tuta” and the Knights Templar, the group’s effects on Michoacán communities and the challenges faced by the “self defense” groups. (Perhaps it’s worth noting that even though the government legalized the vigilantes after the video was published, tensions continue between the federal law enforcement authorities and the local militias).

Daily Headlines: February 27, 2015

* Argentina: An Argentine judge dismissed charges originally filed by the late prosecutor Alberto Nisman over an alleged cover up by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Iran’s role in the 1994 AMIA bombing.

* Chile: The Chilean government rejected the euthanasia request of a 14-year-old girl hospitalized with cystic fibrosis.

* Latin America: Chinese loans to Latin America reportedly jumped by 71% to $22 billion last year and surpassed the money lent by the by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank combined.

* Mexico: A court settlement could allow thousands of Mexicans who were allegedly deceived into voluntarily exiting the U.S. to return and appeal their respective cases.

Video Source – YouTube user euronews

Online Sources – Houston Chronicle; GlobalPost; The Latin Americanist; CBS News; BBC News

Daily Headlines: February 26, 2015

* Venezuela: Political tensions have intensified following the February 19th detention of Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma and the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy on Tuesday.

* Guatemala: Ex-Guatemalan president Alfonso Portillo could soon return to his homeland after he was released from a U.S. prison where he served less than a year on bribery charges.

* U.S.: A new study found that Latinos are expected to account for more than 40% of job growth in the next five years mainly due to an increase in the number of working age Latinos to offset retiring “baby boomers.”

* Haiti: Approximately 10,000 protesters in Port-au-Prince called on better treatment and more respect of Haitians living in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Video Source – YouTube user ODN (“A policeman has shot dead a teenage boy during an anti-government protest in Venezuela.”)

Online Sources – Fox News Latino; ABC News; The Globe and Mail; Reuters

Daily Headlines: February 25, 2015

* Latin America: Remittances to Latin America reportedly jumped by 4% to $62.3 billion last year with Mexico and several Central American states seeing the most gains.

* Ecuador: President Rafael Correa called on OPEC countries to engage in an emergency meeting due to the low prices of oil.

* Colombia: Scientists have identified a new volcano in central Colombia though there are said to be no signs that it will soon erupt.

* U.S.: A new poll found that Latinos largely share similar views to non-Latinos on most foreign policy issues with the exception of immigration and climate change.

Video Source – YouTube via teleSUR English

Online Sources – Reuters; Wired; Fox News Latino; NBC News

Daily Headlines: February 24, 2015

* Brazil: Indonesia’s president denied granting clemency to eleven foreigners facing the death penalty for drug smuggling including a Brazilian national.

* U.S.: A senior official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claimed that the recent outbreak of measles in the U.S. has caused the virus to be “exported” to Mexico.

* Panama: The former president of Panama's top court, Alejandro Moncada, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to corruption charges.

* Mexico: The Mexican government sent a note of protest to the Vatican after Pope Francs warned against the “Mexicanization” of the drug trade in Argentina.

Video Source – YouTube user CCTV America (“Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to Brazil, adding to a diplomatic row over executions. A Brazilian drug smuggler was put to death last month.”)
 
Online Sources – Reuters; The Guardian; The New York Times; NBC News

Daily Headlines: February 23, 2015

* Cuba: The 270 members of the Ladies in White could soon select their new leader due to infighting within the Cuban protest group.

* South America: Diplomatic tensions have grown between Peru and Chile over a spying scandal.

* Colombia: The U.S. gave a strong indication of support to the Colombian peace process by naming veteran Latin America diplomat Bernie Aronson as special envoy to talks between officials and the FARC.
 
* Mexico: Authorities detained fifty-four migrants from Central America, Cuba and Sri Lanka who were traveling “in bad conditions and had not consumed food or water for more than 24 hours.”

Video Source – YouTube via Reuters (“Cuba's Ladies in White, a group made up of wives and mothers of jailed dissidents,” in a protest march last December.)
 
Online Sources – Zee News; Reuters; ABC News; Fox News Latino

Nusetro Cine: Orfeu e Eurydice

Tonight we will find out if Argentine anthology comedy “Wild Tales” can upset Polish Holocaust-era drama “Ida” and Russian satire “Leviathan” to capture the Oscar for top foreign film. Twice before has a Latin American movie won the Academy Award in that category and both came from Argentina including most recently “The Secret in Their Eyes”. Unofficially, however, one could make the case that the first ever best foreign film Oscar for a Latin American movie was given over fifty years ago.

Up to that time, 1959’s “Black Orpheus” wasn’t the first movie based on the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice but it was a unique adaptation from a play from Brazilian writer Vinícius de Moraes. Set in the in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval the film follows trolley conductor Orfeu who falls in love with a newcomer to the city, Eurydice. Their relationship becomes stronger despite Orfeu’s engagement to Mira and Eurydice constantly trying to run away from Death dressed in a stylized skeleton costume. Much like in Greek mythology, Death catches up to Eurydice and, thus, Orfeu travels to the underworld in order to get her back.

 “Black Orpheus” is famed for its soundtrack that was composed by two little-known artists at the time: Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfá. Their work helped create greater worldwide attention to bossa nova music through several songs in the film like "Manhã de Carnaval" and "A Felicidade".

Though “Black Orpheus” was based on de Moraes’ play, co-produced by Brazil’s Tupan Filmes, shot in Rio with mostly Brazilian actors and spoken in Portuguese, the French government submitted the film as its official entry to the Academy Awards. Since only one film can be nominated per country in the best foreign film category, France was recognized as the recipient of the Oscar. (The movie won the 1961 BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language and was Brazil credited together with fellow co-producers France and Italy).

Film critics then and now have mostly looked favorably upon “Black Orpheus” though its depiction of dark-skinned, happy-go-lucky Brazilians did not sit well with some viewers. Then-university student Barack Obama acknowledged that the movie was his mother’s favorite film yet he found it to be exploitative. Musician Caetano Veloso remembers the less than favorable reaction in Brazil:

Daily Headlines: February 20, 2015

* Cuba: A new Gallup poll found that roughly three out of five Americans want the U.S. to normalize relations with Cuba and also end the decades-long trade embargo against the island.

* Mexico: The Mexican economy grew at its fastest rate in two years according to new data revealed by the country’s the national statistics institute.

* Dominican Republic: Convicted Dominican drug trafficker Quirino Ernesto Paulino claimed that he donated about $4.6 million in cash to ex-president Leonel Fernandez.

* Chile: A Chilean judge dismissed the case against a Catholic priest who had facilitated the illegal adoptions of at least two babies during the Pinochet military regime.

Video Source – YouTube via Council on Foreign Relations
 
Online Sources – Reuters; Gallup; The Guardian; Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: February 19, 2015

* Argentina: Hundreds of thousands of Argentines participated in a “March of Silence” demanding justice in the investigation into the mysterious death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman last month.

* Uruguay: Despite backing the resettlement of six former Guantanamo detainees in Uruguay, President Jose Mujica was critical of their alleged lack of work ethic.

* U.S.: The February 10th shooting death of an unarmed undocumented migrant by police in Pasco, Washington has reportedly “galvanized” the small city’s Latino community.

* Bolivia: The Bolivian government provided details of its planned nuclear energy program and that includes “employing gamma irradiation with Cobalt-60 to improve seed quality and decrease the rate at which food spoils.”

Video Source – YouTube user BBC News

Online Sources – The Latin Americanist; ABC News; Fox News Latino; Reuters; The Huffington Post

Daily Headlines: February 18, 2015

* Central America: Officials from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador expressed their disappointment with a U.S. judge’s order this week to temporarily suspend planned relief for millions of undocumented migrants.

* Cuba: The State Department confirmed that the second round of diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Cuba will take place on February 27th in Washington, D.C.

* Mexico: Pemex will not ship finished gasoline or diesel through the company’s vast network of pipelines in order to prevent fuel from being stolen.

* Argentina: France’s top appeals court blocked Argentina’s extradition request for a former police officer accused of torture, kidnappings and murder during the “Dirty War” era.

Video Source – YouTube user Bloomberg Business

Online Sources – World Bulletin; RFI; CBC News; Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: February 17, 2015

* Latin America: Victims of child abuse from several countries in the Americas including Argentina, Mexico and Peru and urged Pope Francis to take stronger actions against clergy suspected of abuse.

* Argentina: President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner vowed that she will “endure” despite the pressure against her stemming from the death of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman.

* Venezuela: Organization of American States chief Jose Miguel Insulza suggested liberating imprisoned opposition activists Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina Machado in order to help overcome Venezuela’s political crisis.

* Haiti: At least twenty people have died after a freak electrocution accident during Carnival celebrations in Port-au-Prince.

Video Source – YouTube user euronews (Video uploaded in 2013).
 
Online Sources – USA TODAY; The Latin Americanist; MercoPress GlobalPost; Fox News Latino