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.

Daily Headlines: February 15, 2016

* Cuba: Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill met with ex-Cuban President Fidel Castro days after the religious figure held historic discussions with Pope Francis in Havana.

* Haiti: Ex-legislative leader Jocelerme Privert was selected as interim president, while elections delayed since last December have once again been rescheduled for April 24th.

* U.S.: Dominican pitcher Jenrry Mejia became the first player to receive a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball following a third positive test for performance enhancing drugs.

* Colombia: Colombian flower growers are hoping to reap profits from the high Valentine’s Day demand abroad coupled with a weakened peso. 

YouTube Source – Rome Reports (Pope Francis met for the first time with the chief of the Russian Orthodox Church last Friday prior to the Argentine-born pontiff’s trip to Mexico).
 
Online Sources – teleSUR English, Reuters, Fox News Latino, USA Today, CNN

Daily Headlines: February 12, 2016 (Updated)

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan Supreme Court overrode a state of emergency measure passed by the opposition-led National Assembly, and legalized a decree of special economic powers for President Nicolás Maduro.

Update: Congressional leader Henry Ramos Allup said that the opposition will soon "present a concrete proposal" for the removal of Maduro from office.

* Latin America: A new report found that Chinese financing to Latin America and the Caribbean spiked from $10 billion in 2014 to $29 billion in 2015.

* Puerto Rico: Despite being hampered by a $70 billion debt and an economic crisis, Puerto Rico's government courted wealthy investors at a summit yesterday to invest in the commonwealth.

* Brazil: Brazilian officials accepted Israel’s new pick for ambassador to the South America country after dropping a former West Bank settler leader as the original appointment.

YouTube Source – France 24 English

Online Sources including Update – ABC News, Fox News Latino, CNBC, The Times of Israel, Yahoo News

Daily Headlines: February 11, 2016 (Updated)

* Latin America: A pair of recent polls found that most Latin Americans are pessimistic over the region’s governments handling of the Zika virus outbreak, and 41% of people in the U.S. are less likely to take a trip to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Update: On a related note, Brazilian health officials claimed that it can take a year to develop a vaccine against Zika. Doing so, however, will be a major challenge.

* Mexico: At least fifty-two inmates died following a riot and a fire at the Topo Chico prison located near Monterrey in northern Mexico.

* Peru: Peru’s copper output is expected to grow by 19% this year, which will allow the country to leapfrog China and become the world’s second-largest copper producer.

* El Salvador: Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes will become the next ex-Central American leader to face a trial over alleged wrongdoing while in office.

YouTube Source – Bloomberg Business

Online Sources including Update – The Guardian, Reuters, CNN, Bloomberg, Vox

Daily Headlines: February 10, 2016

* Brazil: Brazil’s annual inflation rate rose to 10.7% and, thus, climbed to its highest point in over twelve years.

* Dominican Republic: Much like Pulitzer Prize-wining author Junot Diaz, Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa has come under fire in the Dominican Republic for criticizing the controversial elimination of citizenship to tens of thousands of people with Haitian background.

* Haiti: The World Health Organization warned that at least 1.5 million Haitians could suffer from malnutrition caused by a drought made worse by El Niño.

* Cuba: Analysts believe the number of Cubans migrating to the U.S. is on the rise over worries that the "wet foot, dry foot" immigration policy could soon be scrapped.

YouTube Source – CCTV America
 
Online Sources – MercoPress, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, CNBC

Daily Headlines: February 9, 2016

* Nicaragua: Nicaraguan officials still plan to go ahead with the construction of an interoceanic canal despite construction delays, financing issues, and strong opposition from residents.

* Latin America: The Vatican presented a more detailed agenda of Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Cuba and Mexico, while Catholics in Chile have urged the pontiff to fire a bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse cases.

* Argentina: The Argentine government offered $6.5 billion to settle with some creditors holding on to $80 billion in defaulted debt but may face pushback from bondholders seeking full repayment.

* Puerto Rico: More bad news for debt-ridden Puerto Rico as economic activity suffered a 0.5% yearly drop last December.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour (Video uploaded on April 2015).

Online Sources – The Australian, Catholic News Service, teleSUR English, Bloomberg, Reuters

Daily Headlines: February 8, 2016 (Updated)

* Haiti: Monday marks the first full day a transitional government rules Haiti after Michel Martelly stepped down as president amid political chaos and instability.

* Mexico: A ninth inning home run by Jorge Vazquez in the final game helped power Mexico to the Caribbean Series title for the third time in four years.

Update: On a related note, Cuba's Gourriel brothers including "star infielder" Yulieski reportedly left the team hotel and plan to defect as part of an attempt to play in the major leagues. 

* Venezuela: Shopping malls in Caracas will cut their hours of service to four hours per day as a result of weather-related energy rationing.

* El Salvador: Human rights advocates and friends of six Jesuit priests massacred in 1989 are pleased with the recent arrest of four ex-military members accused of committing the murders.

YouTube Source – AFP
 
Online Sources including Update – Vice News, The Latin Americanist, BBC News, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, ESPN

Daily Headlines: February 5, 2016

* Colombia: U.S. President Barack Obama proposed increasing foreign aid to Colombia by more than 50% to around $450 million in order to help end “half a century of wrenching conflict” in the Latin American country.

* Peru: The odds of Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned former leader Alberto Fujimori, winning Peru’s presidential election in April could become stronger with the possible disqualification of two campaign rivals.

* Brazil: The first Palestinian Authority embassy in the Americas was inaugurated this week in the Brazilian capital city of Brasilia.

* Venezuela: A congressional plan to free political dissidents has become the newest battleground issue in the acrimonious relations between the Venezuelan government and the opposition.

YouTube Source – AFP
 
Online Sources – Reuters, Forward, Yahoo News

Daily Headlines: February 4, 2016

* Ecuador: British authorities threatened with arresting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange if he decides to leave the Ecuador’s embassy in London where he has been given refuge since June 2012.

* Chile: A Chilean judge ordered the remains of the late Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda to be returned to his tomb nearly three years after they were uncovered.

* Cuba: Cuba’s foreign minister claimed that relations between his country and the U.S. would not be fully normalized until the trade embargo against the island is eliminated.

* Panama: Software giant SAP will pay a $3.9 million settlement in relation to a bribery scandal involving former Panamanian government officials including ex-president Ricardo Martinelli.

YouTube Source – Reuters (“The founder of whistleblower website, Wikileaks, returns to the spotlight ahead of a U.N. panel decision that could determine whether he has been ‘arbitrarily detained’ in London”.)

Online Sources – euronews, The Register, Reuters, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: February 3, 2016

* Haiti: In an unusual twist in Haiti’s electoral crisis, musician turned president Michel Martelly released a song criticizing his political rivals that includes “sexually suggestive lyrics” against “an award-winning female journalist.”

* Argentina: The Argentine Congress is expected to approve a deal to pay $1.35 billion to Italian creditors holding unpaid debt related to a record $100 billion default in 2002.

* U.S.: Approximately 10,500 Latinos are believed to have voted in the Iowa presidential caucuses last Monday, which far outnumbers the 1000 from four years ago and triple the participation in 2008.

* El Salvador: Is San Salvador truly the world’s most violent city instead of Caracas, Venezuela?

YouTube Source – TRT World 

Online Sources – InSight Crime, Voice of America, Buzzfeed, Reuters

Daily Headlines: February 2, 2016

* Dominican Republic: A group of U.S. rabbis who recently visited the Dominican Republic condemned the country’s immigration laws that left “stateless” tens of thousands of residents of Haitian background.

* Puerto Rico: Puerto Rican officials presented a restructuring plan that would cut its debt from $49.2 billion to $26.5 billion, while the debt issue will likely be discussed at a meeting scheduled today between President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

* Venezuela: Problems at Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA are to blame for Pastor Maldonado likely being out of Formula 1 racing.

* Brazil: Child labor in Brazil dropped by 43% over the past decade according to new government statistics.

YouTube Source – AFP (Video uploaded on November 2015).
 
Online Sources – Al Jazeera America, Bloomberg, Reuters, Autoweek