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

Daily Headlines: December 31, 2015

* Chile: Education reform activists including those participating in protests since 2011 won a key victory when Congress approved a law last week dropping tuition for most state universities.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan opposition leaders blasted a high court ruling blocking the election of four legislators to the National Assembly and, thus, preventing a critical two-thirds supermajority for anti-government forces.

* Puerto Rico: 2016 will not start of well for Puerto Rico’s finances after Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla admitted that the commonwealth will default on $37 million of its $72 billion in public debt.

* Mexico: According to the Los Angeles Times, the relaxing of marijuana laws in several U.S. states has led to reduced earnings for Mexican drug gangs.

YouTube Source – AFP (Video uploaded in June 2015).
 
Online Sources – ABC News, Latin American Herald Tribune, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times

Bolivia: The Evo Strikes Back in Viral Video

In Latin American countries, the themes of political campaign ads may vary between the inventive, the edgy and the downright silly. But what type of ads is most effective? It’s a question that comes to mind after watching a recently released spot from Bolivia that has become a viral video.

“Bolivian Wars: El Despertar del Sí” (“Bolivian Wars: The Awakening of Yes”) was done for the campaign in favor of constitution reforms allowing President Evo Morales to run again in 2019. The video shows scenes from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and superimposes Morales’ face on several characters representing the Resistance such as Finn. The Dark Side is depicted by faces of former leaders prior to Morales getting into power in 1998 like ex-president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada as the villainous Emperor. In order to hammer the good versus evil point home, the video shows real life images of deep unrest and violence during the “gas wars” of 2003. The video ends mentioning that its “premier” will be on February 21st, which is the date of the constitutional referendum next year.

Published seven days following the world premiere of the latest “Star Wars” entry, the official video on the Sí Bolivia Facebook account has received at least 139,000 views and has been shared over 3000 times.

Daily Headlines: December 30, 2015

* Cuba: President Raul Castro said that plummeting earnings from key exports like sugar and nickel led the Cuban government to slash its 2016 economic growth estimate from 4% to 2%.

* Central America: The foreign ministries of Guatemala and El Salvador expressed serious reservations over the rumored plan in January to raid and deport thousands of recently arrived Central American migrants from the U.S.

* Paraguay: The head of the Paraguayan disaster response agency said that water levels of the heavily flooded the Paraguay River should lower in the next two months but could rise again this March.
 
* Venezuela: The opposition could lose its supermajority in the next federal legislature after the ruling PSUV filed legal motions to dispute the election of eight congressmen.

YouTube Source – Vox

Online Sources – Reuters, Independent Online, Vox, BBC News

Daily Headlines: December 29, 2015 (Updated)

* Colombia: Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said that the removal of landmines in Colombia “will take a generation, tens of thousands of specialists and lots of international aid.”

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan Violence Observatory claimed that Venezuela’s murder rate increased to 27,985 killings in 2015 or approximately ninety per 100,000 residents.

Update: On a related note, El Salvador's homicide rate jumped by a whopping 70% in 2015 with nearly 104 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

* Puerto Rico: Time is running out for Puerto Rico to make a $1 billion payment and prevent default by next Monday.

* Mexico: The bullet-ridden bodies of four people including that of Carlos Rosales Mendoza, co-founder of Mexico’s La Familia Michoacana drug gang, were abandoned near a highway in Morelia.

YouTube Source – CCTV America

Online Sources including Update– BBC News, ABC News, CNNMoney.com, Fox News Latino, Voice of America