Daily Headlines: March 11, 2014

* Chile: Leaders from around the Americas will attend the presidential inauguration of Michelle Bachelet who returns to Chile’s Palacio de la Moneda for a second non-consecutive term.

* Mexico: Mexico's Gallos Blancos de Queretaro first division soccer team could be relegated over suspicions that the squad was used to illegally launder money.

* Bolivia: An Amnesty International report found that victims of human rights abuses during the dictatorship period of 1964-82 in Bolivia were being denied proper access to compensation.

* Venezuela: Medical professionals upset at a shortage of medicines in hospitals and the importing of thousands of doctors from Cuba have become the latest group to protest against the Venezuelan government.
 
Video Source – euronews via YouTube (Michelle Bachelet was reelected as Chile's president in a landslide victory last December.)
 
Online Sources- GlobalPost; BBC News; Mercopress; The Miami Herald

Daily Headlines: March 10, 2014

* El Salvador: Electoral authorities could take days to declare a victor in the second round of El Salvador’s presidential race where leftist Salvador Sanchez holds a razor-thin 0.16% lead over conservative rival Norman Quijano.

* Mexico: Mexican officials say Knights Templar drug cartel chief Nazario Moreno Gonzalez was killed in a shootout yesterday even though the government in 2010 claimed he was dead.

* Colombia: After yesterday’s local elections, President Juan Manuel Santos’ coalition in the Colombian Congress shrank slightly but will still retain a legislative majority.

* Brazil: Paulo Nogueira Batista, Brazil’s representative at the International Monetary Fund, warned that the institution “will suffer a loss of credibility” if it were to ease its rules in order to provide a large loan to the Ukraine.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube

Online Sources- Bloomberg; GlobalPost; Reuters; CNN

Daily Headlines: March 7, 2014

* South Africa: Brazil may have romped South Africa 5-0 in an international soccer friendly on Wednesday but the big winner was a five-year-old boy who entered the field and received a warm reception from the verdeamarela players.

* U.S.: Florida’s Supreme Court ruled against granting undocumented immigrants licenses to practice law in a case whose plaintiff entered the U.S. from Mexico at the age of nine, and later graduated from law school and passed the state bar exam.

* Colombia: Famous Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez celebrated his 87th birthday by greeting journalists and well-wishers outside of his Mexico City residence.

* Nicaragua: Senior Nicaraguan government officials denied rumors that Russia would build a military base in the Central American country.

Video Source – YouTube user Neymar Junior
 
Online Sources - Huffington Post; Russia & India Report; seattlepi.com; Fox News Latino

Venezuela: Two Dead in Violent Clashes on Thursday

The unrest that has hit Venezuela over the past month has intensified with the deaths of two more people this morning.

"We have learned that a motorcycle driver was killed by a sniper and a member of the National Guard was also killed in the same place by a sniper," said Diosdado Cabello, the head of the federal legislature, in a press conference on Thursday.

According to Venezuelan daily El Universal, the incident began when protesting residents of the Los Ruices neighborhood in eastern Caracas were confronted by armed motorcycle gangs trying to break down improvised barricades.  Both groups engaged in a standoff until firemen came into the area to put out a small fire caused by a Molotov cocktail thrown by one of the motorcyclists.  The bikers fought with the firemen and then members of the National Guard and police officers brought in to bring order to Los Ruices. The authorities shot tear gas and water cannons while the gangs threw rocks and bottles at the officers.

The armed gangs are part of the colectivos and they emerged during the era of the late President Hugo Chávez.  Over the years they have functioned in order to garner support for the government and have reputedly helped run community services. Yet the colectivos have been accused of acting as paramilitaries that have harassed opposition activists and blamed for exacerbating much of the violence that has claimed the lives of at least twenty-one people over three weeks.

Last month a statement from Human Rights Watch noted that current President Nicolás Maduro claimed that he doesn’t “accept violent groups within Chavismo and the Bolivarian Revolution,” but the regime has turned a blind eye by “not taking effective steps to disarm them.”

Daily Headlines: March 5, 2014

* Vatican: Despite helping shepherd increased interest in Catholicism and being named as a finalist to the next Nobel Peace prize, Argentine-born Pope Francis insisted in an interview that he is a “normal person.”

* U.S.: The head of the National Council of La Raza Latino rights group blasted U.S. President Barack Obama over his immigration policy, while the Supreme Court declined hearing appeals in two cases regarding controversial local immigration ordinances.

* Mexico: Hundreds of members of a “self-defense group” entered the city of Apatzingan in Michoacán and ordered the mayor to resign due to his supposed ties to the Caballeros Templarios drug cartel.

* Haiti: Gustavo Gallon, the U.N.-appointed expert on human rights in Haiti, said that “full compensation” should be paid to the thousands of victims of a cholera epidemic.

Video Source – Catholic News Service via YouTube
 
Online Sources- The Guardian; Politico.com; Reuters; BBC News; LAHT

U.S. to Impose Sanctions Against Venezuela?

U.S. President Barack Obama may have its hands full trying to deal with Russia’s incursion into the Ukraine yet there may be a possibility that the White House could support imposing sanctions against Venezuela.

“There should be sanctions on individuals... The administration is looking at those,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz citing an unidentified "high-level" State Department official.

The head of the Democratic National Committee also claimed that she is also speaking to the White House with the aim of having President Obama take executive action to clear up the immigration status of some Venezuelan residents in the U.S.

Wasserman Schultz blasted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for repressing the opposition and limiting freedom of the press but warned that sanctions against Venezuela must be targeted and not broad.

“Fanning those flames through sanctions, the concern is (with) such a terrible economic situation there already, with many, many people living there in poverty... You could potentially through sanctions make things much, much worse for people on the ground,” said the legislator whose congressional district has one of the largest populations of Venezuelans living in the U.S.

Her remarks came after a closed-door “listening session” with Venezuelan expats who urged greater U.S. action against the Maduro regime.

“We don’t have a government, we have a regime of thugs, they’re stealing our money,” said one of the participants at the event.

Numerous U.S. legislators, particularly those of Cuban-American background, have backed the use of sanctions against the Venezuelan government.  One bipartisan Senate resolution was introduced last week by Bob Melendez and Marco Rubio and “urges President Obama to immediately impose targeted sanctions that are already possible under existing law and encourage a process of dialogue between Venezuela’s government and the political opposition.”

While the proposal calls out the Venezuelan government’s “chronic mismanagement of its economy”, the suggested sanctions would target those suspected of human rights violations exclude economic actions against the Venezuelan state.

Daily Headlines: March 4, 2014

* Uruguay: The U.N.’s International Narcotics Control Board blasted “misguided initiatives” to legalize marijuana use in areas like the U.S. state of Colorado and the South American nation of Uruguay.

* Colombia: Why are German guns in Colombia despite a prohibition on their export from the European country?

* Mexico: Police in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas found six Somali migrants who were lost after having been left behind by smugglers.

* Peru: Remittances to Peru have dropped by 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the previous year even though remittances via money-transfer companies increased 3.1%.
 
Video Source – CNN via YouTube

Online Sources- Deutsche Welle; The Guardian; GlobalPost; LAHT

Daily Headlines: March 3, 2014

* Brazil: In the latest black eye to preparations for the upcoming soccer World Cup, pieces of metal fell from the roof of the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte.

* Bolivia: At least four people died and sixty were injured when a footbridge collapsed during a Carnival parade in the Bolivian city of Oruro.

* Guatemala: Residents near Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano could soon be evacuated after the volcano shot plumes of hot ash and vapor over two miles high.

* Puerto Rico: Several dozen teachers protested at Puerto Rico's largest mall against pension changes that they claim would “impoverish educators.”

Video Source – YouTube user tvbrasil

Online Sources- The Guardian; CBC News; Washington Post; Fox News Latino

Alfonso Cuarón Captures Historic Oscar

Alfonso Cuarón of Mexico won the Academy Award for Best Director in recognition of his work for the space thriller Gravity.

“Thanks to you mom; I wouldn’t be here it weren’t for you,” Cuarón said in Spanish as he made history by becoming the first Latin American to win the Oscar for top director.

Cuarón also thanked Gravity's actors and crew including his son, Jonás, who helped co-write the film that won seven Oscars tonight.

The 52-year-old also was one of the two winners of the Oscar for Best Editing for Gravity, a movie that helped him capture best director honors at the BAFTAs and Golden Globes.

Cuarón also served as director for 1995 drama A Little Princess, 2001 coming-of-age tale Y Tu Mamá También and 2004 fantasy Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban amongst others.

Earlier in the evening, Lupita Nyong'o captured the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Patsey in 12 Years a Slave.

"No matter where you're from, your dreams are valid," was the inspirational message said by Nyong'o after receiving the Oscar.

"It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is due to so much pain in someone else's" added Nyong'o who won the Oscar one day after her thirty-first birthday.

Born in Mexico City, Nyong'o lived in Mexico and was reportedly named after the Virgin of Guadalupe.  She was nearly the age of one when her parents took her to Kenya but return to the Latin American nation when she was sixteen-years-old in order to learn Spanish.

"I've seen others fight over my nationality but I'm Kenyan and Mexican at the same time.  That's why I insist that I'm Mexican-Kenyan and I love carne asada tacos", Nyong'o said prior to tonight's ceremony.

Prior to her breakout role in the film that won the Best Picture Oscar, Nyong'o worked on the production crew of several films.  One of these movies was 2005 drama The Constant Gardner that was directed by Fernando Meirelles of Brazil.

Daily Headlines: February 28, 2014

* Argentina: Two gay men from Russia legally married in Argentina as part of a campaign by some LGBT activists “who want Argentina to become a refuge for Russians and other nationalities who fear persecution at home because of their sexual orientation”.

* Cuba: “The struggle continues, long live a free Cuba” were allegedly the last words of Cuban revolutionary turned anti-Castro activist Huber Matos before he died yesterday.

* U.S.: President Barack Obama launched the My Brother’s Keeper program aimed at preventing black and Latino youth from falling into social problems in adulthood like drug use and incarceration.

* Brazil: According to new government data the Brazilian economy grew by 2.3% last year, which represents a 1.3% increase compared to 2012.

Video Source – Reuters via YouTube

Online Sources- Miami Herald; Reuters; Sydney Morning Herald; LAHT

Daily Headlines: February 27, 2014

* Latin America: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed that his country plans to install military bases in several nations including Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

* Mexico: Hundreds of supporters of recently apprehended drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman marched in Culiacan yesterday, and insisted that he was innocent and a benefactor for the poor in Sinaloa.
 
* Cuba: Fernando Gonzalez, one of the “Cuban Five” men convicted in 2001 of spying in the U.S., is expected to be released from prison today after having completed his fifteen year sentence.

* Brazil: Military police in Rio de Janeiro simulated a riot in anticipation of possible street protests during the upcoming soccer World Cup. 

Video Source – Prensa Latina via YouTube (Video uploaded in May 2013).

Online Sources- CNN; ABC News; MercoPress; The Latin Americanist; BBC News

Daily Headlines: February 26, 2014

* Mexico: Spanish flamenco guitar master Paco de Lucia died in Cancun, Mexico today at the age of 66.

* Argentina: Repsol’s executive board approved a plan that would permit the Argentine government to pay the Spanish firm $5 billion in compensation for the 2012 nationalization of energy company YPF.

* Chile: Scientists believe that whale fossils in Chile‘s Atacama desert and dating back millions of years might be the first example of repeated mass strandings of marine mammals.

* Brazil: The Brazilian tourism board asked Adidas to stop selling World Cup t-shirts with double entendre phrases and sexualized images on them.

Video Source – YouTube user slowhand44dz
 
Online Sources- Businessweek; LAHT; The Latin Americanist; The Independent; Reuters

U.S. to Expel Venezuelan Diplomats

The U.S. State Department announced that it will expel a trio of Venezuelan diplomats in a retaliatory measure after three U.S. consular officers were given the heave ho from Caracas.

The Vienna Convention “permits the United States to declare any member of a diplomatic mission persona non grata at any time and without the necessity to state a reason,” according to a statement reportedly from the State Department.

The agency named Venezuelan First Secretary Ignacio Luis Cajal Avalos, First Secretary Victor Manuel Pisani Azpurua, and Second Secretary Marcos Jose Garcia Figueredo as the diplomats who must leave the U.S. within the next forty-eight hours.

On February 17th, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro expelled three U.S. consular officials who he alleged met student protesters intent on ousting him.  State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki replied by calling the accusations “baseless and false,” and urged the government and opposition to engage in peaceful dialogue. 

So far the Venezuelan government has not publicly responded to the State Department’s actions.  But this afternoon, Maximilian Arveláez was appointed as Venezuela’s next Ambassador in a move Vice President Elias Jaua said was proof of the need to establish “honest and frank” diplomatic ties between both countries.

Venezuela and the U.S. have not had ambassadors in each other's countries since 2010 and relations between the two countries have been weak under Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez.

Daily Headlines: February 25, 2014

* U.S.: According to a recently released U.S. government study, health habits within the Latino population reflect the diversity of cultural backgrounds among Latinos.

* Brazil: European and Brazilian officials announced the creation of a new interoceanic telecommunications cable that could prevent U.S. intelligence surveillance.

* Central America: Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla said that her country will file a complaint with the International Court of Justice in order to resolve a border dispute with Nicaragua.

* Honduras: At least thirty-nine people died over the weekend in Honduras including eight fatalities in San Pedro Sula, which is one of the most violent cities in the world.

Video Source – YouTube user VoiceofOCvideo

Online Sources- National Insitutes of Health; LAHT; Reuters; Deutsche Welle; The Latin Americanist

U.S. to Seek Extradition of Drug Capo “El Chapo”

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán is behind bars in a Mexican prison days after he was apprehended in a predawn raid.  How long he will remain in his native homeland is unknown as U.S. prosecutors and politicians have expressed their desire to see the Sinaloa drug cartel leader extradited north of the border.

“We plan to seek his extradition,” said Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the US attorney's office in Brooklyn.

“This guy, he ran a global enterprise, so he’s big. He’s as big as Pablo Escobar,” Nardoza said to TIME magazine. “He may wind up being charged in Mexico first. We don’t know what the time line is and how exactly this is going to proceed … He’s facing a lot of time in prison based on the charges we’ve brought against him.”

Prosecutors in New York may have to compete with their counterparts in Chicago where investigators in 2013 named Guzmán as “Public Enemy No. 1.”

“I think we have the strongest case,” Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration n Chicago, said on Saturday. “I fully intend for us to have him tried here.”

In addition, Rep. Mike McCaul also advocated for the extradition of Guzmán, which he claims as necessary due to corruption in Mexico and Guzmán’s successful prison escape in 2001.

“This is the largest, biggest drug lord we’ve ever seen in the world,” the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said yesterday.  “I would ask that the Mexicans consider extraditing him to the United States, where he would be put into a super-max prison under tight security, where he cannot escape”.

An obstacle to a possible extradition of Guzmán is that he faces indictments from at least seven U.S. federal district courts on charges related to his leadership of the violent Sinaloa cartel. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder highlighted how “(we) were able to work effectively with Mexico through the cooperative relationship that U.S. law-enforcement agencies have with their Mexican counterparts.”  Yet it’s unknown if Holder would press for extradition to San Diego, Texas, Brooklyn or other areas where “El Chapo” could stand trial.

In addition, Mexican law enforcement officials might be reluctant to extradite Guzmán since he faces charges in Mexico.  Thus far, the Mexican government has yet to respond to any request for extradition though Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Eduardo Medina Mora mentioned, “it is important that (Guzmán) first face the charges against him in Mexico’s courts.”

Daily Headlines: February 24, 2014 (Updated)

* Venezuela: Will a planned meeting today between President Nicolás Maduro and opposition figure Henrique Capriles help quell some of the unrest in major Venezuelan cities?

Update: "I will not attend the Federal Council meeting and wash Maduro's face while he's repressing (the people)", declared Capriles regarding his decision on Monday afternoon to skip the meeting with Maduro.  

* Bolivia: At least fifty-nine people have died and tens of thousands of families are homeless due to heavy rains and flooding that have affected Bolivia over the last few weeks.

* Mexico: Mexico is expected to surpass Japan and Canada in order to become the largest exporter of cars to the U.S. by the end of this year.

* Haiti: A Haitian appeals court reversed a 2012 ruling and found that ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier can be tried on charges of crimes against humanity.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube

Online Sources including Update - El Universal; Bloomberg; The Latin Americanist; Reuters; LAHT; USA TODAY