Daily Headlines: May 28, 2013

* Mexico: Amat Escalante won the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival for "Heli," an “ultra-violent” movie that takes place in Mexico.

* Honduras: President Porfirio Lobo said that he’s backing efforts by Catholic Bishop Romulo Emiliani to broker a truce between the Mara Salavatrucha and 18th Street gangs.

* Brazil: A tearful Neymar bid farewell to fans and players of Brazilian side Santos before heading off to soccer giants FC Barcelona.

* U.S.: According to report released earlier this month, electoral officials in the U.S. tend to be biased against Latino voters.

Video Source – YouTube via user filmfonds

Online Sources- ESPN; France 24; Washington Post; Miami Herald

Daily Headlines: September 12, 2011

* Mexico: A survey of 8,000 drivers concluded that Mexico City has the world’s worst traffic.

* Panama: According to the U.N. Population Fund there continues to be an in increase in the number of female AIDS patients in Panama.

* Argentina: “Los Pumas” lost to England 13-9 in their inaugural match at the Rugby World Cup.

* Honduras: President Porfirio Lobo sacked four key Cabinet members including the Ministers of Security and Foreign Relations.

Image – BBC News

Online Sources- BBC Sport, Honduras Weekly, Inside Costa Rica, Reuters

Daily Headlines: July 19, 2011

* South America: The long arm of the law recently caught up with former military members in Argentina, Peru and Colombia who are accused of human rights abuses.

* U.S.: In an attempt to capitalize on a number of GOP Latino wins in last year’s midterm elections Republican Party leaders started a new program aimed at recruiting new Latino candidates.

* Honduras: Security has been strengthened around President Porfirio Lobo who claimed that he received death threats from disgruntled business interests.

* Brazil: “Maritime routes” are allegedly being increasingly used for arms trafficking out of Brazil.

Image – AFP via BBC News (“Thousands were killed or tortured during Argentina's Dirty War.” Last week a Buenos Aires court sentenced two ex-army officers to life imprisonment for running “one of Argentina's most notorious prisons” during the Dirty War.)
Online Sources- The Telegraph, BBC News, Politico.com, MSNBC, CSMonitor.com

Honduras reinstated to OAS

This afternoon members of the Organization of American States (OAS) overwhelmingly voted in favor of readmitting Honduras after an almost two year absence.

All but one of the thirty-three representatives voted in favor of reinstating Honduras, which was suspended from the hemispheric body in the wake of the June 2009 ouster of former President Manuel Zelaya. The “rule of law has not been completed…Repressive impunity continues,” said Ecuadorian diplomat Maria Isabel Salvador who placed the lone vote in objection.

Yet Salvador’s views were not entirely shared by the other representatives that were willing to give Honduras the vote of confidence. “The significance of this cannot be understated,” said Grenada ambassador Gillian Bristol, according to the MiamiHerald.com.

Several events over the past month worked in favor of Honduras’ reinstatement including Zelaya returning to his homeland after courts dropped corruption charges against him. (According to the AP, the possibility that Zelaya could face trial was a sticking point for several countries including Argentina, Brazil, and Nicaragua). Before returning from exile, Zelaya and current president Porfirio Lobo signed a “reconciliation pact” that also facilitated Honduran reinstatement to the OAS.

Several rightwing commentators in the U.S. were highly critical of the process behind Zelaya’s return to Honduras. Former Assistant Secretary of State Roger F. Noriega considered Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as a puppet master content with either a “friendly government” in Honduras or a failed state where his “allies in the illegal drug trade will prosper.” Ex-Bush administration official José R. Cárdenas also blasted Chavez and added his criticism for Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos who helped broker the Zelaya-Lobo agreement.

Meanwhile, a group of eighty-seven U.S. legislators sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton critiquing her support of Honduras’ reinstatement. In e-mail message we received earlier today, the letter allegedly urged the State Department (DOS) “to vigorously press the Honduran government to take concrete steps to end abuses by official security forces by suspending, investigating and prosecuting those implicated in human rights violations.”

In response, a DOS spokesman said today that the U.S. “will continue to work with the Lobo government to promote greater respect for human rights in Honduras.”

Image- Elmer Martinez/AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian (“The Honduran president, Porfirio Lobo, (left) shakes hands with ousted former leader Manuel Zelaya in Colombia over an agreement to allow the latter's return to his homeland.”)
Online Sources- Department of State, Fox News, Foreign Policy, MSNBC, BBC News, MiamiHerald.com, El Universal

Manuel Zelaya returns to Honduras

Nearly two years after being ousted from the Honduran presidency Manuel Zelaya returned to his home country.

The former leader arrived in the capital city of Tegucigalpa this afternoon on a flight from neighboring Nicaragua. Thousands of supporters of the deposed leader gathered near Tegucigalpa's main airport and celebrated the return of Zelaya.

After arriving, Zelaya addressed his backers and praised the "reconciliation" pact he signed along with current president Porfirio Lobo that facilitated his return:

Furthermore, according to AFP:

"We arrive full of optimism and hope to search for an exit to this crisis. At one moment we had almost lost it all, but they never defeated us," he told his supporters.

Zelaya, 58, thanked his supporters and paid homage to those "who spilled their blood in this plaza," including an 18 year-old shot dead during a protest a week after the coup.

"Their blood was not spilled in vain because we are here still engaged in the struggle," he told the enthusiastic crowd.

Despite the warm welcome some Hondurans were upset with Zelaya's return from exile. "(He) should focus on singing and playing his guitar, which he does well ... and forget about politics, because his time has passed," said ex-legislator Irma Acosta. Even if Zelaya does "forget about politics" the deal reached between him and Lobo last Monday permits the formation of a new political party by Zelaya's supporters.

The pact, which was facilitated by the Colombian and Venezuelan governments, also permits for the country's planned return to the Organization of American States (OAS). According to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza claimed that Honduras "has already met the necessary conditions for its reentry into the organization". Reinstatement could come as soon as next month.

Video Source - YouTube
Online Sources - The Guardian, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Bloomberg, BBC News

Daily Headlines: May 24. 2011

* Honduras: The Central American country could soon be readmitted into the Organization of American States after Honduran president Porfirio Lobo and ousted leader Manuel Zelaya signed a key pact with the help of the Colombian and Venezuelan governments.

* Peru: Conservative presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori led in two polls over her nationalist opponent Ollanta Humala though plenty of undecided voters are still up for grabs.

* U.S.: According to a newly released report, Arizona’s Latino population dropped by 100,000 residents since the controversial SB 1070 anti-immigration law went into effect over a year ago.

* Mexico: Authorities claimed that police freed 62 women including a 13-year-old girl who were forced to work as prostitutes.

Image – AP via MSNBC ("Honduras' President Porfirio Lobo, left, and Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya, right, shake hands after signing an agreement as Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos applauds in Cartagena, Colombia, Sunday, May 22, 2011. The accord allows the return of Zelaya to his homeland and Honduras' re entry into the Organization of American States, OAS, as a solution to the crisis caused by the June 2009 coup that sent Zelaya into exile and caused the OAS to suspend Honduras as a member.")
Online Sources- Reuters, LAHT, AS/COA Online, MSNBC

Daily Headlines: July 7 2010

* Latin America: Health officials are on high alert after dengue outbreaks killed sixteen and three people in Honduras and Puerto Rico, respectively.

* Venezuela: OPEC’s oil reserves grew by four percent in 2009 partly due to an increased contribution from Venezuela.

* Mexico: Approximately 18,000 residents of the northern Mexican town of Ciudad Anahuac were evacuated due to fears that a nearby dam will overflow.

* Central America: First it was Honduran President Porfirio Lobo; now it’s Guatemala’s Alvaro Colom who claims that there is a conspiracy to oust him from office.

Image – MSNBC (“Although killer diseases such as dengue fever are long-forgotten by Americans, they still plague millions worldwide — and these infections could start becoming more widespread in the U.S. Some, such as dengue fever, are spread by infected mosquitoes.”)
Online Sources- AP, LAHT, Bloomberg, BBC News, The Latin Americanist

Overworked Uruguayan president vows “healthier regimen”

Is Uruguayan president Jose Mujica (to use an famous phrase from the “Lethal Weapon” movies) “too old for this shit”? Perhaps, but the 75-year-old has been ordered by doctors to slow down from his daily routine.

According to presidential physicians Mujica suffers from an “over exposure to stress” since he took office in March. Indeed, as MercoPress noted, Mujica has visited several countries in the Americas since assuming the presidency roughly ten weeks ago and he tends to work between 12 to 15 hours each day.

As a result of the doctors’ recommendations Mujica will skip the Caribbean and the European Union Summit next week in Spain and Vice President Luis Almagro will instead head the Uruguayan delegation. Furthermore, Mujica pledged today to change his habits including undergoing a strict diet:

"I won't have a serious problem if I do something about it ... . I need to control myself and try to prioritize issues rather than do everything at the same time," Mujica said during his twice-weekly radio program.

"I wake up at night at 3 a.m. and my head is buzzing with all kinds of problems," he added.

The leftist, who was jailed for 14 years for his guerrilla activities, said he would switch to a new healthier regimen next week, aiming to fit in an hour's walk and an afternoon nap.

Mujica won’t be the only notable absence at next week’s conference; Honduran President Porfirio Lobo will skip the summit since some countries still do not recognize his government.

Image- BBC News
Online Sources- imdb.com, momento2.com, MercoPress, Clarin, Reuters, LAHT

Honduran gov't warns Zelaya of possible return

Former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has been in exile in the Dominican Republic for over two months since the inauguration of Porfirio Lobo. While Lobo helped broker Zelaya’s safe passage to the Caribbean country his administration seemingly doesn’t want him to return to Honduras.

On Monday Honduran Attorney General Luis Rubí warned that police would arrest Zelaya if he were to come back to the Central American state. At a press conference Rubi said that Zelaya “has pending lawsuits which he must face if he enters the country and it will be up to judges to decide the nature of the crimes.” Zubi’s remarks were backed by Security Minster Oscar Alvarez who said last week that there are several arrest warrants pending against Zelaya.

The remarks made by Rubi and Alvarez contradict comments recently made by Lobo:

Until now Zelaya has yet to announce a return to Honduras but current president Porfirio Lobo admitted last Thursday that he can do so “whenever he wants” and “he must be treated with dignity as a former president.” – [ed. Translated text]

Ongoing violence continues in Honduras while roughly one in two people live below the poverty line (as of 2004). Several countries and international entities such as the U.S. have campaigned for the normalizing of relations with Honduras which had been cut after last June’s ouster of Zelaya.

Image- CNN
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, La Tribuna, AFP, La Raza, Voice of America, ruralpovertyportal.org

Fractured Honduras swears in new president (Updated)

Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo was sworn in as Honduran president today amidst a country still in political turmoil.

“We are emerging from the worst political crisis in our history,” declared Lobo during his inauguration speech in which he briefly paused in order to sign an amnesty decree for deposed president Manuel Zelaya. That order was approved by Honduras’ Congress yesterday and also includes amnesty for the generals behind last June's controversial ouster.

While the crowd at the ceremony reportedly applauded Lobo’s move they also supposedly jeered his thanking of foreign diplomats including Costa Rican President Oscar Arias and Dominican President Leonel Fernandez. Fernandez- who attended today’s inauguration- was key in brokering a deal last week facilitating the safe passage of Zelaya from Honduras. Zelaya is expected to soon leave from the Brazilian Embassy where he has been since September and travel as a private citizen to the Dominican Republic and possibly Mexico. (Update: Zelaya arrived safely in the Dominican Republic Wednesday evening).

Despite Lobo’s optimism, Honduras has been mired in a deep political division that was exacerbated by Zelaya’s ouster. Though it’s expected that some international aid will be restored to Honduras Lobo will have his hands full trying to tackle the country’s poverty:

Human rights groups documented serious abuses, including deaths, as security forces cracked down on pro-Zelaya protesters and media outlets in the weeks following the coup.

Lobo, a wealthy landowner from the same ranching province as Zelaya, says he wants to get beyond Central America's worst political crisis in decades and get aid flowing again.

"Due to the political crisis, Honduras has lost $2 billion dollars in foreign aid and international investment," Lobo said as he was being sworn in.

Image- CNN
Online Sources- BBC News, Reuters, Dominican Today, The Latin Americanist, MSNBC, Xinhua, New York Times

Zelaya given okay to leave Honduras

Honduran president-elect Porifirio Lobo and Dominican president Leonel Fernandez worked out a deal allowing the exit of ousted leader Manuel Zelaya. The pact would permit Zelaya safe passage out of the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa and to the Dominican Republic after Lobo takes office next Tuesday.

"We must all forgive,” said Lobo earlier today while adding his hope that the agreement would quell Honduras’ political crisis. Zelaya, meanwhile, told local radio that the accord “is a goodwill gesture by Porfirio Lobo” and is also evidence that Lobo is "distancing himself from the dictatorship" of de facto president Roberto Micheletti.

Why hasn’t Zelaya left the Brazilian embassy and how did Honduras’ political crisis develop? BBC News gave a helpful summary of events:

Honduras' interim government has so far refused to allow Mr. Zelaya to travel without fear of arrest.

He has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Honduras since his return to the country in September.

Mr. Zelaya was forced into exile on 28 June after trying to hold a vote on whether a constituent assembly should be set up to look at rewriting the constitution.

His critics said the vote, which was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, aimed to remove the current one-term limit on serving as president and pave the way for his possible re-election.

Mr. Zelaya has repeatedly denied this and pointed out that it would have been impossible to change the constitution before his term in office was up.

Image- The Independent (Ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya has been holed up at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since last September).
Online Sources- New York Times, MSNBC, BBC News, AFP

Daily Headlines: December 14, 2009

* Honduras: Manuel Zelaya’s next move might be to meet with President-elect Porfirio Lobo for conciliatory talks in the Dominican Republic. (Thanks to one of our commentators for the tip!)

* U.S.: Musicians in Philadelphia paid tribute over the weekend to Joaquin Rivera, a beloved Latino community activist who died in a hospital waiting room and was subsequently robbed.

* Paraguay: President Fernando Lugo’s favorability has slipped a bit over the past year though nearly six in ten Paraguayans feel he’s doing an “average” job.

* Brazil: French investigators will soon resume the search for the black boxes of Air France Flight 447 that crashed off the Brazilian coast roughly six months ago.

Image – Times Online (“Manuel Zelaya has been living in the Brazilian embassy since September.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, BBC News, Philly.com, CNN, Angus Reid Consultants

What’s Mel Zelaya’s next move?

With the results of Honduras’ national elections in the books, it remains to be seen what ousted president Manuel Zelaya will do next.

Earlier this week, Zelaya sought to leave the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa where he has been for over two months. The de facto government reportedly accepted Zelaya’s request to go to Mexico only under the condition that he resigned from the presidency. Zelaya subsequently refused and claimed that he would stay in the presidency until his term ends on January 27.

In the latest action, Zelaya admitted earlier today that he would leave the embassy by the end of next month:

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says he will leave the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras by Jan. 27, when his presidential term ends, according to an interview broadcast Friday.

Zelaya said in the telephone interview with Globo TV that he wants to leave soon but did not say where he will go. He has been holed up in the embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa for three months under threat of arrest if he sets foot outside the building…

The top-ranking Brazilian official at the embassy also told Globo TV that Zelaya must leave by Jan. 27. Francisco Catunda did not say where Zelaya might go, saying only that it would be "another destination."

In the meantime, President-elect Porfirio Lobo has been attempting to gain global recognition for the elections that have been largely repudiated. Only five countries in the Americas have publicly backed the elections yet one of them is the U.S. "We salute the Honduran people for this achievement and we congratulate President-elect Lobo for his victory. These November 29 elections marked an important milestone in the process moving forward, but not its end," asserted Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday.

Image- AFP (“Honduran soldiers and policemen stand guard behind a fence outside the Brazilian Embassy.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Xinhua, New York Times, AP

Comic Relief: Zelaya's Embassy Ordeal

When the 2006 Honduran presidential campaign got a little nasty, supporters of current president-elect Pepe Lobo frequently pointed out that deposed president Mel Zelaya never finished his university education.

Now that the amount of goodwill from Lobo's supports towards Zelaya is basically nil, it's easy to imagine Mel's critics having a good chuckle over the anecdotes the Miami Herald unearthed about Zelaya's ongoing confinement at the Brazilian embassy.

The most interesting detail of Zelaya's time in capacity should spawn at least a couple good political cartoons:

"Supporters wrapped Zelaya's room in foil to protect him from the radiation waves to block cellphones, which they believed were harmful."

Any chance that could possibly be effective?

Image Source: Miami Herald
Online Sources: Wikipedia, Miami Herald

Honduran Congress rejects Zelaya return

After hours of debate Honduras’ legislature decided not to permit ousted president Manuel Zelaya to finish his term in office.

Of the 126 members of Congress at least 64 MPs voted against reinstating Zelaya whose presidency officially ends next month with a mere ten legislators voting for reinstatement. Furthermore, the office of Honduras’ Attorney General concluded that it would be “inadmissible and inacceptable” to return the leader who was forcefully exiled last June.

While dozens of Zelaya backers protested outside the congressional building, the expelled leader remained defiant:

Mr. Zelaya, who was ousted in June, had told the BBC that he would refuse reinstatement because he did not want "to legitimize a coup"…

Speaking to BBC Mundo from inside the Brazilian embassy where he took refuge in September, he said: "Will the elections change the military leadership that conducted the coup that ousted me? It remains the same. Will the elections change the composition of the Supreme Court that issued an arrest warrant [against me] without due cause? It remains the same," Mr. Zelaya said.

Conservative Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo became president-elect on Sunday in elections that have not received full international recognition.

Image- Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- AFP, Hondudiario, El Heraldo, Xinhua, BBC News, The Latin Americanist