Daily Headlines: September 10, 2014

* Guatemala: The Guatemalan Constitutional Court recently suspended the “Monsanto Law,” which would have forced farmers to obtain permission from firms like Monsanto, DuPont or Bayer in order to grow certain crops.

* Chile: President Michelle Bachelet announced a series of legal reforms including strengthening a Pinochet-era anti-terrorism law in response to a bombing in Santiago, Chile on Monday.

* Peru: Four indigenous environmental activists were murdered in a remote area of Peru allegedly at the hands of illegal loggers.

* Haiti: At least twenty-three people died and thirty-two were injured when a bus fell into a ravine in southern Haiti yesterday.

Video Source – teleSUR English via YouTube

Online Sources –VOXXI; Fox News Latino; The Latin Americanist; Voice of America; Reuters

Daily Headlines: June 12, 2014

Note: The biggest story from the Americas is the World Cup that is set to commence later today in Brazil.  Over the next month we will publish several articles on the tournament including matches involving teams from the region and events off the field.  Thus, our “Daily Headlines” entries over the next few weeks will focus primarily on non-World Cup news.


* Colombia: Juan Gabriel Vásquez’s novel on violence in his native Colombia led him to become the first South American author to win one of the world's richest literary prizes, the International Impac Dublin Literary Award.

* Chile: An estimate 80,000 people including university professors and students renewed demonstrations calling for major reforms of the Chilean education system.

* Haiti: Amidst clashes between police and anti-government protesters in Port-au-Prince, Haitian officials announced that the first round of legislative elections would be held this October.

* Mexico: A WikiLeaks-like website has uncovered some two dozen cases of “wildlife crimes” around the world including illegal logging in Mexico, elephant poaching in Africa and illicit fishing activities in Alaska.

Video Source – VOXXI via YouTube

Online Sources – The Guardian; BBC News; The Irish Times; Bernama

Brazil: Government talks tough over environment

In the wake of last Tuesday’s controversial resignation by Brazil’s environment minister several cabinet officials have strengthened their rhetoric on the environment. Marina Silva quit due to difficulties with “implementing the government's environmental agenda” and her disappointment with President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. Since then, the Lula administration has tried to show that they are taking environmental problems very seriously:

• Newly-appointed Environment Minister Carlos Minc proposed increasing the use of the army to protect the Amazon rain forest, national parks, and native lands.
• Justice Minister Tarso Genro criticized foreign countries for exploiting “the Amazon as a global reserve for big multinationals.”
• Planning Minister Roberto Mangabeira Unger argued that the government would show that conservation and economic development “could be achieved side-by-side.”

Whether the rhetoric can transform itself into strong actions (such as a recent crackdown on illegal logging) remains to be seen.

Sources- BBC News, Xinhua, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, Associated Press

Image- New York Times (“Brazil sees a need to stem deforestation, as in shutting a clandestine sawmill.”)

Daily Headlines: February 15, 2008

* Over 100 celebrities including David Beckham, Ricky Martin, and Penelope Cruz have publicly backed Alejandro Sanz [image] in his dispute with the Venezuelan government.

* Did illegal loggers kill as many as fifteen natives in the Ecuadorian rainforest?

* Coca-Cola’s fourth-quarter profit grew higher than expected partly due to increased sales in Latin America.

* Approximately 4000 people demanding easier access to yellow fever vaccinations blockaded a highway in Paraguay.

* Follow-up: Mounting delays in handling immigration applications in the U.S. have forced officials to try to streamline the process for seeking a green card.

Sources- MSNBC, BBC News, The Latin Americanist, International Herald Tribune, Bloomberg

Image- Typically Spanish

Daily Headlines: May 23, 2007

* The U.S. Senate voted against an amendment to remove the guest worker program from the bipartisan immigration compromise created last week.

* Researchers in Argentina found that Viagra may help lessen the effects of jet lag in men. (No laughing from the peanut gallery, please!)

* The U.N. Security Council became the latest setting for the debate over alleged bomber Luis Posada Carriles.

* Brazilian energy minister Silas Rondeau resigned due to accusations of corruption over a public works project.

* "Stop illegal logging in Honduras" is the message being conveyed via this El Diario/La Prensa editorial.

* “The discrepancy between what is reported internationally and what is happening on the ground (in Venezuela) raises concern that even respected groups like Human Rights Watch, the BBC World News, and CNN are out of touch.” Oh really?

Sources- Yahoo! News, The Latin Americanist, ABC News, Reuters, BBC News, El Diario/La Prensa, Upside Down World

Image- NPR (According to the caption “U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), left, shakes hands with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) as Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff looks on during a news conference to announce a compromise on immigration legislation between the White House and the Senate”)