Daily Headlines: October 28, 2016

* Brazil: Brazilian authorities warned that a recent outbreak of prison violence between the PCC and Comando Vermelho criminal groups could spill on to the streets.

* Panama: The Panamanian government took a big step in its push to remove the stigma from the Panama Papers leak by signing a multilateral treaty to combat tax evasion.

* Cuba: The United Sates Food and Drug Administration has purportedly given the green light for the clinical trial of a Cuban lung cancer medicine known as CIMAvax.

* Haiti: Spain’s soccer federation has been ordered to return around $240,000 in public funds that were misappropriated instead of being spent on a project in Haiti.

YouTube Source – AFP 

Online Sources – InSight Crime, ESPN FC, Reuters, The Latin Americanist, CBC

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 12, 2016

* Haiti: An official report said Hurricane Matthew decimated Haiti’s agricultural sector including the loss of tens of thousands of acres of farmland and more than 350,000 heads of livestock.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan intel chief Gustavo González López accused the opposition of planning a terrorist escalation aimed at deposing President Nicolas Maduro, while critics point out that state-owned PDVSA is falling closer to default in the oil-rich country.

* Honduras: Authorities in the United States and Honduras are collaborating in the investigation of thirty-five members of the Honduran political elite with potential ties to criminal groups.

* South America: In the latest round of World Cup qualifiers, Brazil heads the standings with four straight wins and Argentina was stunned at home against Paraguay.

YouTube Source – CCTV News (“Hurricane Matthew has left Haiti in a catastrophic state…Making things worse is that the country is still struggling after it was devastated by a magnitude-7 earthquake in 2010.”)

Online Sources – Xinhua, InSight Crime, UPI, Finanical Times, Goal.com

Daily Headlines: October 5, 2016

* Venezuela: Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino claimed a deal worked out by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC states to slash oil production could add an extra $10 to $15 per barrel of the commodity.

* Latin America: Mexico’s soccer federation plans to appeal FIFA’s latest fine imposed over homophobic chants by fans as the world governing body also handed down penalties against nine other Latin American countries over unruly crowd behavior.

* Brazil: A poll released yesterday found that most Brazilians continue to disapprove of President Michel Temer, who took over for ousted predecessor Dilma Rousseff and will remain in power until 2018.

* Mexico: Mexican police rescued 122 migrants from the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras from three vehicles on a highway in the northern state of Tamaulipas.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour (Video uploaded in June 2016). 

Online Sources – Bloomberg, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, BBC Sport, Voice of America, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: September 7, 2016

* Chile: A Chilean Senate panel approved a controversial proposal to relax a total ban on abortion and allow it under certain cases including when the pregnancy is caused by rape.

* Brazil: Much like his predecessor, interim President Michel Temer faces his own corruption scandal that could taint his rule less than a week after taking office.

* Latin America: While World Cup 2018 qualifiers were held through the Americas, the bigger news may be that FIFA president Gianni Infantino would be open to a possible joint United States-Mexico bid for the 2026 version of the tournament.

* El Salvador: the Nicaraguan government conceded asylum to former Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes who is under investigation in his home country for purportedly not declaring $700,000 of his personal income.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour (The 2013 rape and impregnation of an eleven-year-old girl in Chile helped reopen the debate on abortion, which is illegal under all circumstances in that country.)

Online Sources – Deutsche Welle, Reuters, teleSUR English, Vanguard, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: September 1, 2016

* Venezuela: Several hundred thousand people are marching at a protest in Caracas against the regime of President Nicolas Maduro and calling for his resignation from office.

* South America: Qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup resume today with matches including the latest battle between neighbors Uruguay and Argentina, and Ecuador looking to continue their historic home field advantage in Quito versus Brazil.

* Costa Rica: Costa Rica has been running its electrical grid using renewable energy sources for at least 121 days and officials are hoping to stretch that out to a full year.

* Latin America: A new report found that operations by special U.S. military forces including Green Berets and the Navy SEALs have tripled in Latin America between 2007 and 2014.

YouTube Source – Agencia EFE 

Online Sources – Reuters, Xinhua, Goal.com, The Independent, Common Dreams

Daily Headlines: August 2, 2016

* Cuba: The Cuban government accused the U.S. State Department of attempting to rush to settle billions of dollars of claims between both countries.

* Venezuela: Electoral officials have approved the first step in a possible recall vote against President Nicolas Maduro, while Amnesty International blasted a decree that is reportedly shifting more power to the military.

* Argentina: Could the appointment of Edgardo Bauza as new coach of the Argentine men’s national soccer team lure Lionel Messi back into the fold for los albicelestes?

* Mexico: The mayor of a town in Michoacán state and four police officers were arrested and charged with the massacre of ten people purportedly in relation to the local drugs trade.

YouTube Source – Associated Press (From March 2015: “Nearly 60 years after Fidel Castro took over Cuba, American families and companies who have claims on billions worth of confiscated property are wondering if the communist government will pay up as the U.S. and Cuba restore diplomatic ties.”)

Online Sources – ESPN FC, Reuters, The Guardian, BBC News, CNN Money

Daily Headlines: July 21, 2016

* South America: The Copa Libertadores title is up for grabs and will be decided in Medellin next Wednesday as Independiente del Valle of Ecuador and Colombia’s Atletico Nacional tied 1-1 in the first leg of the finals.

* United States: A federal appeals court ruled that that the voter ID restrictions in Texas violated the federal Voting Rights Act by discriminating against the poor and minorities like Latinos.

* Mexico: Pedro Rosas Tamayo, a Mexican journalist who received death threats and was purportedly under police protection, was shot and killed at his home in Veracruz.

* Puerto Rico: Several hedge funds who are bondholders of Puerto Rico’s multi-billion dollar debt filed a lawsuit against the Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla and the government of the commonwealth.

YouTube Source – Fox Deportes

Online Sources – SBS, Fox News Latino, teleSUR English, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: July 5, 2016

* Chile: The Chilean men’s soccer team on Sunday celebrated its recent Copa America Centenario triumph with an open-top bus parade in Santiago and a ceremony attended by 30,000 fans of La Roja at the Estadio Nacional.

* Latin America: New academic research indicates that Venezuela’s homicide rate is high but not as much as scholars believed, while the murder rate in El Salvador has fallen in recent months.

* Uruguay: The head of the Uruguayan National Drug Board said that officials are considering expanding an upcoming program to legally sell marijuana beyond pharmacies and into other retail options.

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan government ended its plan to save energy that was enacted last April and included electricity rationing, shortened work weeks for state employees and moving clocks forward half an hour.

YouTube Source – AFP

Online Sources – Goal.com, Vice News, InSight Crime, Xinhua, Lift

Daily Headlines: June 27, 2016

* Panama: After months of construction delays, cost overruns and worker strife the expanded Panama Canal reopened on Sunday and is expected to generate $2 billion in annual revenue.

* Chile: Chile’s golden generation of soccer players steered the men’s national team to second consecutive Copa America victory in the span of twelve months.

* Colombia: While Colombia is on the cusp of a historic peace deal with the FARC rebels, the government has offered tax breaks to companies investing in projects located in regions ravaged by armed conflict.

* Paraguay: Fernando Lugo, the former president who was ousted in 2012, said he would run again for Paraguay’s highest political office in 2018.

YouTube Source – Associated Press

Online Sources – USA TODAY, The Huffington Post, Fortune, teleSUR English

Daily Headlines: June 22, 2016

* Colombia: The Colombian government and FARC rebels will reportedly agree to a bilateral ceasefire, which could serve as a precursor to a final peace deal that might be reached in about one month from now.

* U.S.: Lionel Messi broke the record of most goals for a player on the Argentine men’s national team as the albiceleste had little trouble beating the U.S. by a score of 4-0 in a Copa America Centenario semifinal.

* Mexico: Tensions continue in the Mexican state of Oaxaca following clashes between striking teachers and police that left at least eight people dead.

* Puerto Rico: Debt negotiations between Puerto Rican officials and bondholders ended without a resolution despite a July 1st deadline to avoid falling into a major default.

YouTube Source – euronews (Last month “the Colombian government agreed on a plan to reintegrate child soldiers from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, into society”.)
 
Online Sources – BBC News, UPI, Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters

Daily Headlines: June 20, 2016 (Updated)

* Brazil: Acting President Michel Temer will reportedly urge federal legislators to approve an $850 million emergency payment to help fund the cash-strapped Rio de Janeiro state prior to the Olympics this August.

* U.S.: The semifinals of the Copa America Centenario are set with the hosts U.S. facing pre-tournament favorites Argentina and Chile looking to capitalize off their quarterfinal mauling of Mexico by beating Colombia.

* Latin America: A new study from Global Witness concluded that Latin America remains the most dangerous region for environmental activists with four countries from the region accounting for 100 recorded deaths of environmentalists last year.

Update: On a related note, a former Honduran soldier claimed that slain environmental activist Berta Cáceres was named on a purported hit list of social activists targeted by the military.
 
* Ecuador: Family members of some of the 688 fatalities from a 7.8-magnitude earthquake marched in Portoviejo on the two-month anniversary of the tremor.

YouTube Source – euronews
 
Online Sources including Update – teleSUR English, NPR, Sports Illustrated, BuzzFeed News, Bloomberg, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: May 26, 2016

* Peru: A sixty-day state of emergency was declared for the Madre de Dios region following the spread of mercury poisoning due to illegal mining operations.

* Brazil: Prosecutors looking into the “Lava Jato” corruption scandal reportedly are examining possible financial wrongdoing related to “all the venues and services financed with federal funds” for the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

* Puerto Rico: The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote within the next few days on a bipartisan congressional plan to restructure Puerto Rico’s roughly $70 billion public debt.

* South America: Ecuadoran minnows Independiente del Valle join former Copa Libertadores champions Atletico Nacional, Boca Juniors, and Sao Paulo in the final four of this year’s edition of the top South American soccer club tournament.

YouTube Source – DW (English)

Online Sources – Popular Science, Reuters, ESPN FC

Daily Headlines: April 22, 2016

* South America: Nine teams from Brazil and Argentina advanced to the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores bracket led by top seeds Atletico Nacional from Colombia and Mexico’s UNAM.

* Latin America: Soybean prices have dipped as a result of floods damaging the crop in Argentina, while Chile’s El Teniente copper mine restarted operations following days of heavy rainfall.

* Guatemala: The shooting death of a thirteen-year-old Guatemalan boy has led to increased tensions between the Central American country and neighboring Belize.
 
* Mexico: President Enrique Peña Nieto presented to Mexico’s Congress a plan to decriminalize the use of marijuana for personal use up to 28 grams and legalize medical marijuana.

YouTube Source – Football Mania (Defending Copa Libertadores titleholders River Plate of Argentina join eight former championship teams to the last sixteen of this year’s edition of the tournament).

Online Sources – Goal.com, Bloomberg, Reuters, Vice News, GlobalPost

Daily Headlines: March 24, 2016

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales of Bolivia claimed his country will file a new lawsuit with   the “appropriate international bodies” over the landlocked state’s desire for access to the ocean.

* South America: World Cup qualifiers resume today in South America with matches including Luis Suárez returning to the Uruguay lineup, and a Copa America finals rematch between Chile and Argentina.

* Mexico: For all the talk on the U.S. presidential campaign race on building a wail along the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities announced yesterday the discovery of the twelfth drug smuggling tunnel between Mexico and California since 2006.

* Venezuela: Five men including thee officials with PDVSA pled guilty in a U.S. federal court over their involvement in a bribery scheme between U.S. energy companies and the Venezuelan state-run oil firm.

YouTube Source – AFP (Footage from May 2015. The International Court of Justice last September rejected a Chilean appeal to drop analyzing Bolivia's decades-long dispute for ocean access.)
 
Online Sources – Fox News Latino, ESPN FC, Goal.com, ABC News, Reuters

Daily Headlines: February 22, 2016

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales said that he would respect the results of a constitutional referendum where most voters reportedly rejected allowing him to run for an unprecedented fourth presidential term.

* Brazil: In the latest chapter of the “Lava Jato” bribery affair Brazilian police ordered the arrest of Joao Santana, a “political marketing expert” who helped the last three presidents win their respective elections.

* Panama: Panamanian immigration officials will allegedly grant travel permits to 145 Cuban migrants seeking to travel northbound to the U.S.

* Latin America: The Copa America Centenario group draw was held amid the “FIFA-gate” corruption scandal involving former regional and national soccer confederation figures from the Americas.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – ESPN FC, Fox News Latino, The New York Times, Yahoo News

Daily Headlines: February 1, 2016

* El Salvador: Ex-President Francisco Flores passed away on Saturday prior to standing trial over the alleged embezzlement of $15 million in earthquake relief funds.

* Chile: Manuel Pelligrini will depart from coaching English soccer club Manchester City, while ex-Spanish international Juan Antonio Pizzi will head Copa America titleholders Chile.

* Guatemala: Two former Guatemalan military commanders are expected to go on trial today over the raping and enslavement of eleven women during the brutal civil war thirty years ago.

* Ecuador: Ecuadoran officials finalized the $80 million sale of 500,000-acre oil blocs to a pair of Chinese firms despite resistance from environmentalists and indigenous Amazon communities.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – USA TODAY, The Guardian, BBC Sport, SBS, The Los Angeles Times

Daily Headlines: January 12, 2016

* Venezuela: Venezuela’s new opposition-led congress has been thrown into disarray after the Supreme Court voided new legislative actions over the swearing in of three barred lawmakers.

* Mexico: Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, alleged co-leader of the Sinaloa drug gang along with Joaquin Guzmán, is reportedly Mexico’s most wanted criminal days after the recapture of “El Chapo”.

* Guatemala: A Guatemalan tribunal once again suspended the trial of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

* Europe: Lionel Messi of Argentina captured the Ballon d’or as the world’s top male soccer player for a fifth time while Brazil’s Wendell Lira won the goal of the year award.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – Reuters, The Tico Times, The Latin Americanist, BBC Sport

Daily Headlines: December 24, 2015

* Brazil: Brazilian Attorney General Rodrigo Janot is investigating if embattled congressional leader Eduardo Cunha received $475,000 in bribes related to next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

* Uruguay: Eugenio Figueredo, the former vice president of soccer governing body FIFA, was extradited to his native Uruguay where he will be arraigned in connection to a massive corruption scandal.

* Canada: Canadian immigration authorities withdrew the deportation order against a Salvadoran refugee who has received sanctuary in a British Columbia church since 2013.

* Puerto Rico: Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla believes that the island will be unable to make a $1 billion debt payment due on New Year’s Day.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour (The toxic waters where certain aquatic events are schedules is one of numerous problems that have arisen in preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympics).
 
Online Sources – CBC, Reuters, BBC News, SI.com

Daily Headlines: December 16, 2015

* Mexico: At least seventeen corpses were found abandoned in a ravine days after Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto proposed two new legal initiatives in the battle against disappearances and kidnappings.

* South America: The former head of South America’s soccer federation, Juan Angel Napout, pled not guilty to charges related to the “FIFA-gate” corruption scandal while Paraguayan officials allowed the extradition one of Napout's predecessors, Nicolas Leoz, to the U.S. for questioning.

* Venezuela: U.S. investigators will reportedly charge Venezuela’s National Guard chief Néstor Reverol with cocaine trafficking as part of a widening probe aimed at Venezuelan military officials.

* Latin America: According to the Inter-American Development Bank exports from Latin American and Caribbean will drop by 14% this year and the outlook for 2016 may not be much better.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (“Data just released by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office indicates that 185 mass graves containing over 500 corpses have been found in the country in the last five years.”)

Online Sources – NDTV, InSight Crime, New York Daily News, Fox News Latino, MercoPress