Daily Headlines: October 26, 2016

* Brazil: Tributes from the soccer world have poured in for Carlos Alberto, the captain of Brazil's World Cup-winning men’s national team in 1970, who died on Tuesday at the age of 72.

* South America: The Vatican announced it will soon released records linked to the infamous “Dirty War” era, while political tensions remain high in Venezuela days prior to Church-led negotiations between the government and opposition.

* Honduras: Some member of the United States Congress are not seeing eye-to-eye with the State Department over around $55 million in aid to Honduras despite the country’s dismal human rights record.

* Nicaragua: The Nicaraguan government accepted observers from the Organization of American States to monitor elections on November 6th where polls indicate President Daniel Ortega will easily win another term in office.

YouTube Source – Classic Football 

Online Sources – Los Angeles Times, Yahoo Sports, Reuters, CBC, The Washington Post

Daily Headlines: October 6, 2016

* Argentina: “We have 40 years of love to give you," said the brother of the 121st person positively identified by the Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo as having been stolen and illegally adopted during the “Dirty War” era of military rule in Argentina.

* Caribbean: At least sixty-nine people died in the Caribbean and authorities once again postponed Haiti’s presidential election as a result of Hurricane Matthew.

* Chile: The Chilean government announced an overhaul of the country’s Sename child services system following reports of 865 minors dying over the past eleven years in network shelters.

* Brazil: The International Monetary Fund indicated that Brazil’s recession may be worse than expected based on economic indicators such as declining industrial activity and a rising unemployment rate.

YouTube Source – CCTV America (Video uploaded in October 2014).
 
Online Sources – teleSUR English, Reuters, Fox News Latino, CNN Money

Daily Headlines: August 29, 2016 (Updated)

* Mexico: Juan Gabriel, the iconic Mexican singer and songwriter known for such hits as “Siempre en mi Mente” and “Querida”, died on Sunday at the age of sixty-six.

* Colombia: FARC commanders issued a definitive ceasefire to begin on Monday and days after the rebels and the Colombian government reached a historic peace deal that awaits approval via a plebiscite this October.

* Argentina: An Argentine court convicted thirty-eight ex-military officers last week for their role in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of several hundred victims during the oppressive “Dirty War” era.

* Venezuela: A U.S. Department of State spokesman condemned moving opposition figure Daniel Ceballos from house arrest to prison in an action he deemed as trying to “intimidate and impede the Venezuelan people's right to peacefully express their opinion” ahead of a September 1st rally.

Update: The Venezuelan government replied to the criticism by accusing the U.S. of promoting "instbaility" and plotting a coup during the September 1st anti-government march.

YouTube Source – JuanGabrielVEVO

Online Sources including Update – Fusion, ABC Online, The New York Times, Reuters, 20minutos.es

Daily Headlines: August 15, 2016

* Argentina: Human rights group the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo held their 2000th weekly march in Buenos Aires days after the United States (US) declassified hundreds of documents related to actions during the “Dirty War” era.

* Cuba: Former Cuban president Fidel Castro made a rare public appearance to celebrate his 90th birthday and also penned a letter thanking his compatriots “for the signs of respect, greetings, and gifts” he has recently received.

* Puerto Rico: The US government declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico due to the spread of the Zika virus that has infected at least 10,000 people there.

* Guatemala: A Canadian legal aid group has called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to probe a local mining firm accused of allegedly using legal chicanery to prevent a referendum over a Guatemalan mine.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English

Online Sources – BBC News, The Bubble, Vice News, The Toronto Star, The Atlantic

Daily Headlines: May 30, 2016 (Multiple Updates)

* Argentina: An Argentine court last week sentenced ex-dictator Reynaldo Bignone to twenty years in prison for his role in the infamous Operation Condor secret program to monitor and murder dissidents across South America.

* Mexico: Kidnapped Mexican soccer striker Alan Pulido is said to be in good health following his rescue by federal and state security forces in the early morning hours today.

Update: Questions have been raised over the nature of Pulido's liberation with conflicting accounts claiming that he allegedly fought off his captors and may not have been rescued by security agents. 
 
* Puerto Rico: Several thousand protesters marched in San Juan yesterday to call for the release of independence activist Oscar Lopez Rivera on the 35th anniversary of his imprisonment.

* Brazil: The administration of acting President Michel Temer has once more come under fire after a recording leaked of anti-corruption chief Fabiano Silveira giving legal advice to embattled Senate leader Renan Calheiros.

Update: Silveira resigned from his post on Monday and, thus, becomes the second member of Temer's cabinet to quit in the span of a week.

YouTube Source – CCTV America

Online Sources including Update – Fox News Latino, Reuters, ABC News, The Atlantic, BBC News, Vice News

Daily Headlines: May 20, 2016

* Brazil: Jose Dirceu, a former aid to ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was among ten people sentenced to prison for their role in the “Lava Jato” corruption scandal.

* Colombia: Will drug maker Novartis accede to a Colombian government request to lower the price of imatinib in order to keep its monopoly on the cancer medication in the South American country?

* Chile: Chile’s Supreme Court urged that the U.S. extradite three former security agents believed to have been involved in the 1976 kidnapping, torture and murder of a U.N. official.

* Argentina: Argentina’s opposition-led legislature handed President Mauricio Macri a defeat by approving a proposal to prevent mass layoffs.

YouTube Source – France 24 (Then-President Dilma Rousseff last March failed in her attempt to install her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as her chief of staff.)
 
Online Sources – Deutsche Welle, Vice News, Reuters, Nasdaq

Daily Headlines: May 4, 2016

* Argentina: Ex-Argentine Air Force chief Omar Graffigna is the latest former authority from the “Dirty War” period to go on trial for human rights abuses including the kidnapping and “disappearing” of dissidents.

* Venezuela: The probability that PDVSA could fall into default by the end of the year grew after the Venezuelan state-oil firm allegedly issued $310 million in debt to its suppliers.

* Honduras: Four people including two men purportedly linked to a controversial dam project were arrested for the murder of Honduran environmentalist and indigenous leader Berta Caceres.

* Colombia: The Colombian government once again refused to commence formal peace talks with the ELN unless the guerillas free all their hostages.

YouTube Source – AFP (Former “Dirty War” era political leaders and military officers accused of human rights abuses have gone on trial in recent years but one Argentine newspaper last November controversially called for an end to such proceedings).
 
Online Sources – Business Insider, Colombia Reports, NPR, BBC News

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: October 14, 2014

* South America: An Italian judge ruled that twenty-one officials from former military dictatorships in four South American countries should be put on trial for their alleged role in Operation Condor.

* Bolivia: Newly reelected President Evo Morales promised to not enact anymore major nationalizations and claimed that he will pursue “realistic, practical” economic policies.

* Venezuela: The U.N. Human Rights Council called on Venezuelan authorities to “immediately release” imprisoned opposition politician Leopoldo López.

* Mexico: Two gunmen murdered a Sonoran activist and radio show host while he was presenting his program live on the air.

Video Source – YouTube user JourneymanVOD
 
Online Sources – spyghana.com; Reuters; MercoPress; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: September 18, 2014

* Argentina: Three medical staff and two former commanders of a secret military hospital have gone on trial over their alleged roles in the illegal adoption of babies from political dissidents during the Dirty War era.

* U.S.: New Census Bureau data found that the poverty rate for Latinos dropped by 2.1% in 2013 while median income grew last year for the first time since 2000.

* Panama: Is the Central American nation of Panama really the world’s happiest country?

* Brazil: The U.N. removed Brazil from the World Hunger Map after concluding that the number of undernourished residents decreased by more than 80% in ten years.

Video Source – CCTV America via YouTube (Estela de Carlotto, leader of Argentina’s Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, reconnected last month with her long-lost grandson).

Online Sources – BBC News; Los Angeles Times; The Guardian; ABC News

The Weekender – Once Was Lost, But Now Am Found

“The Weekender” is our new feature where every weekend we hope to highlight a short film, movie or documentary pertaining to the Americas. We’re running this feature today since it’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S.
August 31st was the annual observance of the International Day of the Disappeared, which is an occasion used to commemorate the millions of victims gone missing often as a result of war, violence and human rights abuses.  Sadly, this problem has plagued numerous Latin American countries such as a Colombia plagued by decides of armed conflict and drug-rated violence in Mexico.

One of the most infamous examples of disappearances in Latin America has been the estimated 30,000 individuals missing during the dark “Dirty War” period in Argentina from 1976 to 1983.  While numerous former Argentine military commanders and officers have faced justice in recent years for their roles during the brutal “Dirty War” era, numerous organizations and activists have campaigned to reunite missing individuals with their families.

One of the best known of these groups is the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which for nearly four decades has worked to identify babies born to political dissidents and put up illegally for adoption.  Thus far the “Abuelas” have identified 115 missing individuals including two in August alone.  One of these was Guido Montoya Carlotto, the grandson of Grandmothers founder Estela de Carlotto who was born in June 1978 to parents detained and later executed by state security forces.

The video below the page break is a documentary detailing the seemingly tireless efforts by “Abuelas” activists and others to shed light on the illegal adoptions during the “Dirty War”.  The 2010 film produced by Australian TV network SBS includes revealing interviews with several individuals identified by the Grandmothers and the children of a media magnate who rejected any efforts to see if they may have been adopted illegally. 

The Weekender – The Not-So-Beautiful Game

“The Weekender” is our new feature where every weekend we hope to highlight a short film, movie or documentary pertaining to the Americas. 
Four countries remain in the hunt to become champions at the World Cup currently being held in Brazil.  Among the four elite teams looking to win at soccer’s premier tournament is Argentina, which eliminated Belgium in their quarterfinal match on Saturday.  Next up for los albicelestes is a semifinal duel with the Netherlands, a rival who Argentina beat to win its first World Cup in June 1978.

That tournament thirty-six-years ago was hosted by Argentina in the middle of the Dirty War era where an estimated 30,000 people where killed or “disappeared” at the hands of a ruthless, authoritarian government.  Then-strongman Jorge Videla used the World Cup as propaganda to convince skeptical Argentines and critics around the world that all was fair and well in the South American country.  Yet amid the festivities of the tournament, individuals deemed as “subversive” by the state where kidnapped, tortured and killed.

One of the most infamous “torture centers” was the ESMA naval school located blocks away from the River Plate stadium where the final was played.  ESMA prisoners were forced by guards to celebrate during the match with them or run the risk of additional beatings and possibly being murdered. For Miriam Lewin and Graciela Daleo, their captors had a sadistic plan for them following Argentina’s 3-1 win in the final against the Dutch: 

The guards forced prisoners into a convoy of waiting cars. The gate slid up and they drove into the madness. Fans packed the avenue, waving blue-and-white flags, chanting, "Argen-tina! Argen-tina!" The guards demanded the prisoners look out the windows.

"Who remembers you?" one of them taunted.

Daleo asked permission to stand up through the car's sunroof. The cold wind hit her gaunt face and shivered her thin frame. The people looked right through her. Nobody knew she was disappeared, the single most important detail of her life, which meant that she didn't exist to them. The guards demanded that Daleo and Lewin celebrate. Miriam felt the stares. "If you weren't happy," she'd say decades later, "you were heading straight to the death flight."

She sat in the middle of the back seat, trying to look happy. The cars parked at a local restaurant, and the guards took the prisoners inside. Waiters pushed tables together. The torturers ordered beer and pizza and shared them with young women they'd raped with a cattle prod. Lewin looked around, feeling pale and skinny, like an alien, as the place exploded with joy and noise. People danced next to her, right in her face.

Daily Headlines: November 5, 2013

* Argentina: The government declassified hundreds of previously secret files including transcripts of all the meetings held by the “Dirty War” military junta and the names of blacklisted artists.
 
* Puerto Rico: A new survey reveled that about one in three Puerto Ricans are seriously considering leaving the island due to the commonwealth’s financial troubles.

* Guatemala: Guatemala withdrew from the Petrocaribe oil alliance due to the inability to reach “favorable rates for purchases and financing.”

* Cuba: Dissident Guillermo Fariñas claimed that he was attacked by a “government-organized mob” on Sunday when he attempted to file a complaint against the detention of several members of the Ladies in White protest group.

Video Source – YouTube via user TV Pública – Argentina
 
Online Sources- BBC News; LAHT; Reuters; Miami Herald

Daily Headlines: August 22, 2013

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan government announced plans to install some 30,000 surveillance cameras nationwide in order to combat rampant crime.

* U.S.: A new study concluded that Latino children are diagnosed with autism later and less often than other children partly due to several factors including language differences between doctors and patients as well as limited access to primary care.

* Brazil: David Miranda, the Brazilian partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, was granted a limited court injunction preventing British officials from “inspecting, copying or sharing” data seized from him during his recent detention at Heathrow airport.

* South America: The Chilean Supreme Court unanimously approved the extradition of an ex-Argentine judge accused of crimes against humanity during the Dirty War era.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English (Video uploaded on March 2013).
 
Online Sources- NBC Latino; CNN; AFP; ABC News

Argentina: Controversy Over Potential Videla Burial Site

Officials of the Argentine city of Mercedes are none too pleased that their neighborhood will reportedly be chosen as the burial site for former “Dirty War”-era dictator Jorge Videla.

“He must have been the most nefarious person this country has ever had and it’s a weight that the people of Mercedes must carry,” said Marcelo Melo, the city’s human rights government representative.

Despite his “repudiation” of burying the infamous ex-strongman in Mercedes, Melo noted “we cannot prevent his family from bringing his remains to privately-owned burial plots.”

Some residents of the city where Videla was born and raised are upset over the burial plans announced by the late ruler’s lawyer.

“We had to put up with many hardship during the dictatorship.  I don’t want him in my city,” said Aida Ibaldi according to infobae.com.

“Videla’s family has his body, which was not tortured or abused, and they can bury him when and where they want,” said Juan Ignacio Ustarroz, the nephew of one of the tens of thousands of Argentines who “disappeared” during Videla’s five years in power.

In anticipation of the burial, nineteen social and political organizations will hold a protest against Videla on Wednesday night.  The demonstrators are expected to gather outside of the cemetery in Mercedes where posters of some of the local political activists killed under the Videla military regime have been placed.

The 87-year-old passed away in a civilian prison on Friday where he was serving a fifty-year sentence for the illegal kidnapping of dozens of babies from political prisoners.   Videla had also been serving a life sentence since 2010 for the deaths of thirty-one dissidents during his de facto presidency.

Videla’s death comes as proceedings began in a trial over Plan Condor, a secret intelligence operation by South American dictators to kidnap and murder their opponents. Videla was one of the most senior former officials indicted by prosecutors and he neglected to provide testimony to the case.  Nevertheless, prosecutors hope there is some evidence they can use that Videla has not taken to his grave:

Daily Headlines: May 10, 2013

* Guatemala: Former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt took the witness stand for the first time in his genocide trial yesterday and alleged that he didn’t order the massacre of hundreds of indigenous Ixil.

* Venezuela: U.S. immigration officials were allegedly granted access to Timothy Tracy, a California filmmaker detained last month and accused of conspiring against Venezuelan government.

* Uruguay: Gen. Miguel Dalmao was convicted and sentenced to twenty-eight years in prison for the 1974 murder of professor and political activist Nibia Sabalsagaray.

* Panama: Panama Canal administrators announced a series of water-saving measures as part of energy rationing caused by a drought.

Video Source – YouTube via PBS News Hour

Online Sources- ABC News; The Guardian; Businessweek; The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: April 25, 2013

* Argentina: Pope Francis told that the president of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo that he's "at the disposal" of the group that helps find hundreds of Argentines missing during the "Dirty War" period.

* Uruguay: Troubled striker Luis Suarez has been banned for ten games by English soccer officials after biting a rival player on the arm.

* Mexico: No, U.S. legislator Louie Gohmert, Al Qaeda has not established "terrorist camps" in Mexico.

* U.S.: The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit alleging that some 20,000 students in California who need to learn English are receiving inadequate language instruction.

Video Source - YouTube via romereports.com

Online Sources - Huffington Post; SI.com; GlobalPost; PolitiFact.com

Daily Headlines: April 19, 2013

* Guatemala: Judge Carol Patricia Flores annulled the genocide trial of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt on the grounds of a technicality though it’s unclear if a higher court will overrule her decision.

* South America: A rematch of last year’s Copa Libertadores final between current titleholders Corinthians of Brazil and Boca Juniors of Argentina is among the matches in the round of 16 in this year’s competition.

* Argentina: Pope Francis sent a message of support to the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an Argentine group that for the past thirty-six years has protested the thousands of disappearances during the Dirty War period.

* U.S.: Sal Castro, a California social studies teacher and activist who played a key role in 1960s Chicano student walkouts, died at the age of 79.

Video Source – YouTube via user telesurenglish (Note that this video was posted shortly before a Guatemalan judge annulled the genocide trial of ex-strongman Efraín Ríos Montt).
 
Online Sources- Huffington Post, Christian Science Monitor, SI.com, Catholic Culture

Daily Headlines: April 10, 2013 (Updated)

* Brazil: Latin America's biggest defense trade fair takes place this week in Rio de Janeiro where deals could be made between international firms and governments with growing military budgets.

* Chile: Work resumed at state-owned Codelco after a 24-hour strike though tensions continue between management of the copper giant and labor unions seeking better worker conditions. 

Update: A Chilean court suspended work at the Barrick-owned Pascua Lima gold mine due to alleged environmental threats to indigenous communities.

* Argentina: Catholic officials in Argentina are hoping Pope Francis will grant sainthood to three priests and two seminarians murdered in a 1976 “Dirty War” massacre.

* Cuba: Authorities in Cuba handed over a U.S. couple accused of kidnapping their two sons and fleeing by boat to the Caribbean island.

Video Source – YouTube via user portalfab (Video created by the Brazilian Air Force for the ninth edition of the LAAD Defense and Security expo that began on Tuesday.)
 
Online Sources including Update- NBC News, GlobalPost, Dialogo Americas, Washington Post, Al Jazeera English, ABC News

Daily Headlines: March 13, 2013

* Chile: The world’s biggest radio telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, will be officially inaugurated on Wednesday though it has been in use for the past two years.

* Bolivia: Should the next Pope accept Bolivian President Evo Morales’ suggestion and try wine made from the coca leaf?

* Venezuela: According to the International Energy Agency, Venezuelan oil spending will likely decline if interim leader Nicolás Maduro wins next month’s presidential election.

* Argentina: Former military strongman Reynaldo Bignone was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed under his rule during the 1980s. 

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- Huffington Post, Sky News Australia, Bloomberg, TVNZ