Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Daily Headlines: December 4, 2012 (Updated)
* Honduras: At least 149 people were murdered by Honduras’ National Police over the past 23 months according to a report presented yesterday.
Update: Police spokesman Héctor Iván Mejía criticized the report as inaccurately "generalizing" the police as "criminals". But in his remarks to the website of Honduran daily La Tribuna, Mejía did not touch on the data presented in the report blaming the police for 149 murders in nearly two years.
* Cuba: The U.S. State Department urged Cuban officials to release ill, imprisoned contractor Alan Gross and “return him to his family where he belongs.”
* Mexico: Doctors in Mexico confirmed that retired Colombian soccer goalkeeper Miguel Calero is brain dead and on life support machines.
Update: Miguel Calero was declared clinically dead by doctors overseeing him according to a statement from Mexican soccer club Pachuca. The forty-one-year-old Calero appeared in fifty games for the Colombian national team, and won three CONCACAF Champions Cup and a Copa Sudamericana in his eleven years as Pachuca goalkeeper.
* U.S.: Two suspected Mexican drug smugglers were accused of killing a U.S. Coast Guard officer on California's seas.
Video Source – YouTube via user Vox Populi (Honduran police officers were accused of abuse while trying to break up a teachers’ occupation of a Tegucigalpa school in 2010).
Online Sources including Updates - CNN, The Huffington Post, ESPN Soccernet, Fox News Latino, LaTribuna.hn, RCN Radio
Monday, December 3, 2012
Today's Video: Shattering Taboos on AIDS
In the upcoming days several of our posts will focus on HIV/AIDS throughout the Americas in commemoration of World AIDS Day that was observed last Saturday.
Guillermo Chacón, President of the Latino Commission on AIDS, mentioned recently to The Huffington Post that stigmas on HIV/AIDS are one of the main factors that "disproportionately impact" the Latino populace.
"Talking about HIV and safe sex is still very difficult, and we need to promote more education around both of these subjects so that people are aware of how HIV is transmitted and what they can do to have safer sex," said Chacón. He also observed that "homophobia and transphobia are also major obstacles to address HIV/AIDS" and, thus, he recommends that "we also advocate for LGBT rights and acceptance in all of our families".
One of the efforts aimed at removing the unfortunate stigma on HIV/AIDS among Latinos comes via new webseries that commenced last week. Sin Vergüenza (translated as Shameless), according to the description provided with the initial episode, aims to "encourages people to get tested as a routine part of their medical care and to seek HIV medical care should they test positive".
The first chapter of this dramatic, telenovela-like webseries can be viewed below:
Guillermo Chacón, President of the Latino Commission on AIDS, mentioned recently to The Huffington Post that stigmas on HIV/AIDS are one of the main factors that "disproportionately impact" the Latino populace.
"Talking about HIV and safe sex is still very difficult, and we need to promote more education around both of these subjects so that people are aware of how HIV is transmitted and what they can do to have safer sex," said Chacón. He also observed that "homophobia and transphobia are also major obstacles to address HIV/AIDS" and, thus, he recommends that "we also advocate for LGBT rights and acceptance in all of our families".
One of the efforts aimed at removing the unfortunate stigma on HIV/AIDS among Latinos comes via new webseries that commenced last week. Sin Vergüenza (translated as Shameless), according to the description provided with the initial episode, aims to "encourages people to get tested as a routine part of their medical care and to seek HIV medical care should they test positive".
The first chapter of this dramatic, telenovela-like webseries can be viewed below:
Daily Headlines: December 3, 2012
* Peru: A ten-year ban on the import, production and use of genetically modified foods went into effect in Peru last week.
* Colombia: At least twenty guerillas were killed in a military raid reported as the “biggest military operation against FARC since peace talks began in October”.
* Argentina: Former navy captain Alfredo Astiz, known as the "Blonde Angel of Death," is among the sixty-eight defendants involved in the biggest “Dirty War”-related trial in Argentine history.
* U.S.: A recently released report found that domestic workers in the U.S., most of whom are undocumented immigrants, suffer from all forms of abuse at the hands of their employers.
Video Source – YouTube via user FirstscienceTV
Online Sources- current.com, France24, BBC News, LAHT
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Today's Video: Psychopath
Over the past few days we've focused on several instances of abuse against women in Latin America in commemoration of the recent International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. On Monday we will discuss several news stories from the Americas focusing on HIV/AIDS in observance of World AIDS Day this past Saturday. The following story from Colombia is a tragic confluence of these two subjects.
Police in Bogotá this weekend arrested a 57-year-old truck driver accused of infecting approximately fifty of women with HIV. According to the EFE news agency police believe that José Libardo Rojas "seduced" dozens of women in five states even though he knew he was infected with HIV.
Rojas, who had an arrest warrant issued against him for alleged child abuse, was detained in very ill health and subsequently sent to a hospital while under police custody.
Over 7000 new cases of AIDS have been reported in Colombia in 2011 based on government data released on World AIDS Day.
Video Source - YouTube via user InfoColombia
Online Sources - Univision.com, Vivelo Hoy
Police in Bogotá this weekend arrested a 57-year-old truck driver accused of infecting approximately fifty of women with HIV. According to the EFE news agency police believe that José Libardo Rojas "seduced" dozens of women in five states even though he knew he was infected with HIV.
Rojas, who had an arrest warrant issued against him for alleged child abuse, was detained in very ill health and subsequently sent to a hospital while under police custody.
Over 7000 new cases of AIDS have been reported in Colombia in 2011 based on government data released on World AIDS Day.
Video Source - YouTube via user InfoColombia
Online Sources - Univision.com, Vivelo Hoy
Weekend Headlines: December 1-2, 2012
* Mexico: Police clashed with protesters opposed to Enrique Peña Nieto while he was being inaugurated on Saturday as president of Mexico.
* Latin America: The presidents of Colombia and Nicaragua agreed to use dialogue to resolve a territorial dispute while the Peruvian and Chilean presidents said that they would respect an upcoming international court ruling on maritime boundaries.
* Paraguay: At least 69 people have died this year in Paraguay as a result of the dengue fever that has also killed over 400 people throughout Latin America.
* Brazil: President Dilma Rousseff vetoed portions of a controversial bill that would redistribute oil royalties amongst Brazilian states.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Today's Video: A Sibling's Search for Justice
We'll be back over the weekend with more headlines from around the Americas including news on violence against women.
"Justice for My Sister" is a documentary released this year that focuses on Rebeca Eunice Pérez, an impoverished Guatemalan woman who sought retribution for her murdered sister, Adela Chacón Tax. The film shows the many hardships faced by Pérez over three years including the trial against her Tax's ex-boyfriend who was accused of beating her to death.
"Breaking the silence helps other women do the same and this serves as a chain for healing," said the film's director, Kimberly Bautista, to the EFE news agency.
Creating the documentary took its toll on Bautista who was attacked by a group of robbers while filming in Guatemala. Nevertheless she soldiered on and the documentary was completed and reportedly screened this week in Los Angeles.
The following video is the trailer to "Justice for My Sister" that also notes how only 1% of the 580 femicide cases in Guatemala in 2007 were solved:
Online Sources - Official Website for "Justice for My Sister", Siglo21.com.gt
Video Source - Vimeo
"Justice for My Sister" is a documentary released this year that focuses on Rebeca Eunice Pérez, an impoverished Guatemalan woman who sought retribution for her murdered sister, Adela Chacón Tax. The film shows the many hardships faced by Pérez over three years including the trial against her Tax's ex-boyfriend who was accused of beating her to death.
"Breaking the silence helps other women do the same and this serves as a chain for healing," said the film's director, Kimberly Bautista, to the EFE news agency.
Creating the documentary took its toll on Bautista who was attacked by a group of robbers while filming in Guatemala. Nevertheless she soldiered on and the documentary was completed and reportedly screened this week in Los Angeles.
The following video is the trailer to "Justice for My Sister" that also notes how only 1% of the 580 femicide cases in Guatemala in 2007 were solved:
Online Sources - Official Website for "Justice for My Sister", Siglo21.com.gt
Video Source - Vimeo
Report: Fourteen Women Murdered per Day in Mexico
In a televised farewell speech broadcast this week, Mexican president Felipe Calderon expressed his satisfaction with the path his country took during his six years in the presidency. Yet while he patted himself on the back for having “worked to leave a stronger country with a better justice system and a healthier and stronger economy,” there are numerous goals that went unfulfilled during the Calderon regime. One of them is the plight of violence against women.
Fourteen Mexican women day each day as a result of violence according to a report published by the Fundación Origen women’s’ rights group. Between November 2011 and 2012 the organization claimed that 4112 women were victims of femicides while nearly 4000 females “disappeared” during that period of time.
“One of the worst things is that most of them stayed quiet and only two of the femicides registered over the past year were denounced,” alleged Fundación Origen president Mariana Baños to Mexican daily Milenio.
A survey conducted by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH, in Spanish) found that 30% of women do not denounce violence against them since they believe that “if there is domestic violence it’s a family issue and nothing more.” Yet the CNDH also concluded that problem with women speaking out against being the targets of violence also occurs due to a lack of help from the government.
“There are laws for the protection of female victims of violence in most of the 31 states and Mexico City but they are not respected,” claimed attorney José Luiz Zamora to Xinhua. “There is also a lack of political will behind funding and creating the necessary mechanisms for these laws to be applied,” added Zamora.
Daily Headlines: November 30, 2012
* Panama: Only nine countries including Panama voted against a U.N. General Assembly proposal that granted nonmember observer status to Palestine.
* U.S.: A new report concluded that a sharp decrease in births among immigrant women led the U.S. birth rate to fall to its lowest level on record.
* Venezuela: Vice President Nicolas Maduro said that President Hugo Chavez is doing "very good" while seeking "hyperbaric oxygenation" therapy in Cuba.
* Brazil: Luis Felipe Scolari was rehired as the Brazilian men's soccer team coach ten years after he helped guide the squad to a World Cup title.
Online Sources: Huffington Post, NPR, Reuters, SI.com
Video Source: YouTube via euronews
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Daily Headlines: November 29, 2012
* Colombia: A recent International Court of Justice on Colombian territory and public doubts over peace talks with the FARC have caused the approval rating of President Juan Manuel Santos to plummet by fifteen points in two months.
* Latin America: A U.N. report concluded that poverty levels in Latin America and the Caribbean decreased to its lowest levels in three decades due to an increase in wages and more jobs.
* Brazil: According to new government data deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has hit a record low yet the deforested area is still three times the size of Sao Paulo.
* Argentina: A U.S. appeals court froze a ruling made last week that would’ve obligated Argentina to pay about $1.3 billion in debt to foreign creditors.
Video Source – YouTube via teleSUR English (“The Minister of Foreign Relations of Colombia, Maria Angela Holguín, was summoned by the Senate of her country to explain the scope of the judgment of the International Court of The Hague that subtracts maritime possessions from this country in favor of Nicaragua”).
Online Sources- Bernama, Colombia Reports, CNN, Huffington Post
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Remembering the Mirabal Sisters
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was commemorated this past November 25th in order to raise awareness of the abuse faced by women worldwide. Thus, Friday’s posts will examine several instances of aggression and exploitation against women in the Americas.
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was created via a resolution approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999. The draft resolution for the date was introduced by the representative of the Dominican Republic, which was no coincidence since November 25th represents a dark day against women’s rights in that Caribbean country.
The Mirabal sisters (Patria, Dedé, Minerva and Maria Teresa) were four political dissidents opposed to the authoritarian rule of strongman Rafael Trujillo. They were known as Las Mariposas (The Butterfly Sisters), a nickname that came about due to their efforts for freedom and democracy in their country. Despite dangers such as harassment from the police and the imprisonment of three of their husbands the sisters forged ahead and became symbols of the Dominican resistance movement.
The Trujillo regime’s campaign to silence the Mirabal sisters came to a climax on November 25, 1960. On their way home after visiting their incarcerated husbands, three of the sisters were intercepted by a group of soldiers. Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa and their driver were choked and beaten to death. The assassins brazenly tried to cover up the murder as an auto accident.
The plan to murder the Mirabal sisters backfired for the government and became a rallying cry against the Trujillo dictatorship. Support for Trujillo decreased as more people defied the repression and spoke out in opposition to his rule. Approximately six months after the Mirabal sisters were murdered Trujillo was ambushed and killed.
The spirit of the Mirabal sisters has lived on in popular culture through novels such as In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Álvarez and films like 2010’s Trópico de Sangre. The surviving Mirabal sister, Dedé, helped create a museum in memory of her slain sisters and has campaigned for the rights of Dominican women. This week, for instance, Dedé and Álvarez lent their names to a petition criticizing a proposed Penal Code reform that will allegedly infringe the rights of women and children.
The video after the page break examines the legacy of the Mirabal Sisters and includes comments from Dedé on her courageous siblings:
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was created via a resolution approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999. The draft resolution for the date was introduced by the representative of the Dominican Republic, which was no coincidence since November 25th represents a dark day against women’s rights in that Caribbean country.
The Mirabal sisters (Patria, Dedé, Minerva and Maria Teresa) were four political dissidents opposed to the authoritarian rule of strongman Rafael Trujillo. They were known as Las Mariposas (The Butterfly Sisters), a nickname that came about due to their efforts for freedom and democracy in their country. Despite dangers such as harassment from the police and the imprisonment of three of their husbands the sisters forged ahead and became symbols of the Dominican resistance movement.
The Trujillo regime’s campaign to silence the Mirabal sisters came to a climax on November 25, 1960. On their way home after visiting their incarcerated husbands, three of the sisters were intercepted by a group of soldiers. Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa and their driver were choked and beaten to death. The assassins brazenly tried to cover up the murder as an auto accident.
The plan to murder the Mirabal sisters backfired for the government and became a rallying cry against the Trujillo dictatorship. Support for Trujillo decreased as more people defied the repression and spoke out in opposition to his rule. Approximately six months after the Mirabal sisters were murdered Trujillo was ambushed and killed.
The spirit of the Mirabal sisters has lived on in popular culture through novels such as In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Álvarez and films like 2010’s Trópico de Sangre. The surviving Mirabal sister, Dedé, helped create a museum in memory of her slain sisters and has campaigned for the rights of Dominican women. This week, for instance, Dedé and Álvarez lent their names to a petition criticizing a proposed Penal Code reform that will allegedly infringe the rights of women and children.
The video after the page break examines the legacy of the Mirabal Sisters and includes comments from Dedé on her courageous siblings:
Daily Headlines: November 28, 2012
* Mexico: A report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development concluded that Mexico’s economy growth is expected to diminish by 0.5% to 3.3% next year but will then rebound in 2014.
* Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez, who has been largely out of the public spotlight since winning reelection nearly two months ago, traveled to Cuba to seek medical treatment related to his cancer.
* U.S.: A new study found that Latinos lag behind other racial groups in the use of technology such as the Internet and cell phones.
* Cuba: Cuban government officials claimed that imprisoned U.S. contactor Alan Gross does not have a cancerous tumor and that his “general health condition…is normal.”
Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English (Video uploaded in February 2012).
Online Sources- Reuters, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Fox News Latino, ABC News
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Daily Headlines: November 27, 2012
* Panama: At least five people are dead and parts of Panama are under a state of emergency as a result of damage from torrential rainfall.
* Puerto Rico: The murder of former champion boxer Hector “Macho” Camacho has shined a light on the rampant violence in Puerto Rico that includes at least 858 homicides this year.
* U.S.: Could “undocumented immigrants” be named as Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2012?
* Colombia: One of the FARC negotiators involved in peace talks between the guerillas and the Colombian government claimed that both sides are “on the same wavelength.”
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Today's Video: Food for Thought
Today is the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. and it is generally believed that the first Thanksgiving feast took part between the Pilgrims and native Americans in Massachusetts in 1621. But as we first mentioned five years ago, the first Thanksgiving really occurred in 1565 when Spanish explorers and Timuca natives in St. Augustine, Florida got together and dined on bean soup.
The following brief video via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette delves into the history behind the first Thanksgiving nearly 450 years ago:
Video Source - YouTube via user PostGazetteNow
Online Source - The Latin Americanist
The following brief video via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette delves into the history behind the first Thanksgiving nearly 450 years ago:
Video Source - YouTube via user PostGazetteNow
Online Source - The Latin Americanist
Daily Headlines: November 22, 2012
* Brazil: 176 people in Sao Paulo were killed in October according to new data revealed hours after the city's security chief resigned from his post.
* Latin America: The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning to nationals visiting Honduras and updated its warning on traveling to Mexico.
* Peru: Indonesian law enforcement officials claimed that hundreds of women from that country work as “drug mules” in Peru.
* Argentina: A U.S. federal judge ordered the Argentine government to immediately pay over $1 billion owed to foreign creditors since the country defaulted a decade ago.
Video Source – YouTube via user ABCOfficialNews
Online Sources- BBC News, Times of India, USA TODAY, Bernama, The Guardian
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Daily Headlines: November 21, 2012 (Updated)
* Puerto Rico: Former world boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho remains in critical condition and is reportedly struggling to survive after he was shot last night.
Update (November 22): Hector “Macho” Camacho is brain dead and close to death according to doctors overseeing the critically injured former pugilist.
"We have done everything we could,"said Dr. Ernesto Torres of the Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan to the press on Thursday morning.
He added that Camacho's family will decide by Friday whether to take the former three-time title holder off of life support machines.
* Venezuela: The Venezuelan economy grew by over five percent in the third quarter but manufacturing has supposedly hit a fifty-year low.
* Argentina: Buenos Aires and other major cities were paralyzed yesterday after Argentina's main labor unions declared a general strike.
* Honduras: Could Xiomara Castro, the wife of ousted ex-president Manuel Zelaya, win next year's Honduran presidential election?
Video Source: YouTube via Associated Press
Online Sources including Update: Globalpost, ABC News, BBC News, Fox News Latino, Reuters, Huffington Post
Monday, November 19, 2012
Daily Headlines: November 19, 2012
* Colombia: Envoys representing the Colombian government and the FARC rebels are scheduled to continue historic peace talks today in Cuba.
* Ecuador: President Rafael Correa said Ecuador would welcome "with open arms" Spanish workers fleeing economic woes at home.
* Brazil: Over one million people took part in Rio de Janeiro's Gay Pride parade, which had the theme of combating homophobia.
* Mexico: The Attorney General's office contradicted a federal police report regarding the controversial shooting of two CIA agents last August.
Online Sources: BBC News, ABC News, Bloomberg, Gulf Times
Video Source: YouTube via Al Jazeera English
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