Daily Headlines: December 4, 2015

* Latin America: A court in El Salvador ordered former President Francisco Flores to stand trial on corruption charges days after an Argentine tribunal sentenced ex-leader Carlos Menem to four-and-a-half years in jail for embezzlement.

* Ecuador: Police in Quito clashed with protesters angry over the National Assembly’s decision to approve a series of constitutional amendments including eliminating presidential term limits starting in 2021.

* U.S.: The U.S. Department of Justice named sixteen Latin American soccer confederation executives including the current presidents of the regional CONCACAF and CONMEBOL entities as part of its widening investigation.

* Brazil: Stocks in Brazil tumbled this week reportedly due to investors worried that “the process to impeach President Dilma Rousseff may take months and involve several votes in Congress.”

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (“Former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores has been ordered detained and held for trial on charges of misappropriating US$15 million in Taiwanese aid donations.”)
 
Online Sources – ESPN, BBC News, Bloomberg, teleSUR English, Latin American Herald Tribune

Daily Headlines: September 4, 2013

* Mexico: Press group Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate release of four journalists who were recently arrested while covering protests against the Mexican government’s plans for educational reform.

* U.S.: A new report from the Pew Research Center found that nine of the top ten U.S. states where the Latino population has grown the fastest are located in the South.

* Chile: Three men who claimed to have been sexually abused by “prominent priest” Fernando Karadima in the 1980s have filed a $900,000 lawsuit against him.

* Argentina: Another day, another trial for ex-Argentina president and convicted arms trafficker Carlos Menem. 

Video Source – YouTube via user panamericanavideos (“Thousands of protesters (on Monday) took to the streets of Mexico City to protest against the reforms proposed by President Enrique Peña Nieto”).

Online Sources- LAHT; Huffington Post; GlobalPost; Businsesweek

Daily Headlines: June 14, 2013

* Brazil: Mass protests have taken place in major Brazilian cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on the eve of the Confederations Cup soccer tournament.

* U.S.: While Congress continues to wrangle over immigration reform several recent polls have shown widespread public support for a bipartisan plan by the Senate’s “Gang of Eight.”

* Argentina: Former President Carlos Menem was convicted yesterday for arms smuggling though he will not serve prison time for now due to his immunity as a senator.

* England: Manuel Pellegrini of Chile signed a three-year contract on Friday to serve as head coach of Manchester City, one of England’s top soccer clubs.

Video Source – YouTube via user brasilfatos fatos (In this amateur video, Sao Paulo police fired tear gas into a group of demonstrators on the evening of June 13, 2013).

Online Sources- Reuters; Politico; ABC News; SI.com

Daily Headlines: March 8, 2013

Argentina: An Argentine court convicted former president Carlos Menem for illegally selling weapons to Croatia and Ecuador during the 1990s.

* Brazil: The price of sugar hit a four-month high due to the possibility that Brazilian sugar growers will increase ethanol production.

* Panama: Mariano Rivera, who has a record 608 saves, is expected to soon announce his retirement from professional baseball.

* Puerto Rico: Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla endorsed a proposal that would grant drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants.

Online Sources - Bloomberg, BBC News, USA TODAY, Huffington Post

Weekend Headlines: March 31-April 1, 2012

* Latin America: A new album of Selena will be released on Tuesday while fans of the late “Queen of Tejano” music recall the singer who was tragically murdered on March 31, 1995.

* Chile: The U.N.’s human rights office called on Chilean officials to pass new anti-discrimination laws in the aftermath of the attack and death of homosexual teen Daniel Zamudio.

* Argentina: Prosecutors claimed that ex-president Carlos Menem should stand trial over the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed 85 people.

Daily Headlines: September 14, 2011

* U.S.: According to a Census Bureau report the poverty rate for Latinos rose to 26.6% while roughly one-third of Latino children are below the poverty line.

* Venezuela: Electoral officials announced that the presidential vote will be held on October 7 next year, roughly eight months after the opposition is expected to pick their candidate to run against President Hugo Chavez.

* Cuba: Sixty-two worshippers on a “spiritual retreat” have sequestered themselves for over three weeks in a Havana church.

* Argentina: Former President and current Senator Carlos Menem was acquitted on charges of arms smuggling to Croatia and Ecuador.

Image – CSMonitor.com (“Job seekers line up at a career fair in New York. Hispanics saw one of the sharpest rises in the poverty rate of any group in the United States. More Hispanics under 18 are poor than any other group.”)

Online Sources- Reuters, Al Jazeera English, Time, Voice of America, CNN

Argentine Court Upholds Junta Members' Sentences

This week Argentina's highest court upheld a lower court's ruling to let the life sentences of General Jorge Videla and Admiral Emilio Massera stand.

Videla and Massera, part of Argentina's repressive military regime that ruled from 1976 to 1983, were charged with crimes against humanity in 1985. However, President Carlos Menem issued them a pardon in 1990. The new ruling declares those pardons unconstitutional.

Online sources: Página 12, EFE

Image: Página 12

Weekend Headlines: February 7, 2009

* Costa Rica: Sudan’s U.N. Ambassador called Costa Rica a "banana republic" after his Costa Rican counterpart justly defended any future war crimes indictment of the Sudanese president.

* Peru: A mayor has suggested the legalization of illicit drugs in order to combat “hypocritical” federal drug laws.

* Cuba: Fidel Castro’s latest article blasts U.S. President Barack Obama’s economic plans and questioned what will happen to the U.S. within the next four years.

* Venezuela: Security tapes of the recent attack on a Caracas synagogue have been recovered and will be examined by investigators according to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

* Latin America: The global economic downturn could cause poverty to rise in the region by as much as 15% according to the U.N.

* Argentina: Ex-President Carlos Menem has refused to testify at his trial where he’s accused of secretly trafficking arms during his time in power.

Image- AFP (“Sudanese refugee children from Darfur pictured at the Farchana refugee camp in Chad, June 2008.”)
Online Sources-Reuters, CNN, BBC News, AP, MSNBC

Daily Headlines: December 2, 2008

* Ecuador: The World Trade Organization upheld a ruling in favor of Ecuador with regards to banana exports.

* Mexico: According to officials at least 37 people were killed in the border city of Tijuana in three days.

* Argentina: Ex-president Carlos Menem has been charged with illegally selling weapons to several countries during the 1990s.

* Venezuela: In the latest chapter of the “Maletagate” ordeal, a Venezuelan lawyer was sentenced to two years in jail.

Image- AFP
Sources- The Latin Americanist, Reuters, MSNBC, BBC News, IHT

Bloggers of the world unite

• Numerous Latin America countries commit all sorts of human rights violations, as one blogger notes.
• So where did the potato originate from: Chile or Peru?
• Argentine prosecutors have their eye on an alleged cover-up by ex-president Carlos Menem.
• The Democratic presidential primary is splitting Puerto Rico’s independence movement according to this post.
• A look at the peaceful transition of power in Paraguay after 61 years of one-party rule.
• Columnist Andres Oppenheimer blasts “anti-immigration anchors” like Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly.
• Are Colombia’s FARC guerillas wearing Venezuelan uniforms?
• Several bloggers examine a leading Cuban dissident group’s decision to support Barack Obama.

Sources- Memory in Latin America, Slashfood, Inside Latin America, New America Media, The Oppenheimer Report on Latin America, Voices Without Votes, Venezuela News and Views, Mexico Reporter

Image- Reconstruction

Daily Headlines: August 21, 2007

* Ex-Argentine president Carlos Menem’s political comeback was cut embarassingly short after getting trounced in a provincial election.

* In El Salvador, scientists discovered the Mayan version of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.

* Mexico’s peso fell to its lowest point since July 2006.

* Follow-up: A silver lining amidst the great tragedy and suffering from last week’s deadly earthquakes in Peru is the creation of at least 8000 reconstruction jobs.

Sources- Bloomberg, Reuters UK, Wikipedia, Newsday

Image- Telegraph.co.uk (2003 photo of Carlos Menem)

Follow-up: Splitsville for Bolocco and Menem

In an interview with the Chilean press, former argentine president Carlos Menem admitted that he and Chilean celebrity Cecilia Bolocco have separated. “We are separated because living together had become impossible,” said Menem but not as a result of photos published last week showing a topless Bolocco sunbathing with an Italian businessman. Menem added that the pictures snapped by paparazzi represented a “serious mischief” against Bolocco’s privacy.

Image- La Opinion (Carlos Menem and Cecilia Bolocco)

Link (English)- SignOnSanDiego.com, The Latin Americanist

Link (Spanish)- La Nacion

Bolocco’s boobies could cost marriage to Argie ex-prez

Cecilia Bolocco- Miss Universe 1987 and wife of ex-Argentine president Carlos Menem- might have some explaining to do after paparazzi caught her sunbathing topless in the company of an Italian businessman. The photographer who snapped th photos alleges that he has “more compromising images” of the 41-year-old Chilean celebrity.

Meanwhile Menem has gone in hiding in his native province of La Rioja while rumors surround his reaction to the photos and a possible end to the Bolocco-Menem marriage.

Links (Spanish) – La Nacion, Clarin

Link (English)- Wikipedia

Image- El Pais (Cecilia Bolocco in a revealing dress during last February’s Viña del Mar music festival)