Daily Headlines: May 8, 2014

* Venezuela: 243 anti-government protesters were arrested on Thursday morning as part of a crackdown on tent camps in Caracas while the U.S. Congress is considering several proposals to raise sanctions against President Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

* Brazil: Federal police have threatened with going on a 24-hour strike in the middle of the World Cup unless the government raises their pay and improves their working conditions.

* Latin America: A new World Health Organization report found that areas of Brazil, Paraguay and Costa Rica have some of the world’s cleanest air.

* Mexico: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will reportedly go ahead with a planned visit to Mexico later this month despite being subpoenaed by Congress over the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Video Source – CNN en Español via YouTube

Online Sources – Latin Times; ABC News; Al Jazeera; Xinhua; NBC News

Crooked Colombian Campaign Contractor Caught

For the second time this year, Colombian authorities uncovered an illicit spying operation that may have included surveillance of government peace talks with the FARC rebels.

Agents representing the Colombian prosecutors office raided an office used by the social media team of Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, the presidential candidate representing the political party loyal to former President Alvaro Uribe.  Andrés Sepulveda was arrested during the raid, and suspected with spying over the peace negotiations held in Cuba and also trying to hack the e-mail account of President Juan Manuel Santos.

"The aim of the people who are connected to that criminal enterprise, was to sabotage and interfere with the peace process in Havana," Eduardo Montealegre said at a press conference yesterday.

In a radio interview this morning, Montealegre added that Sepulveda attempted to infiltrate the e-mail accounts of one of the top negotiators for the FARC, foreign journalists and ex-congresswoman Piedad Córdoba.

Sepulveda also claimed that the campaign activist sold his information for at least $100 million pesos (over $51,000) to unknown parties as part of a “black market of information.”

Zuluaga, who could force a runoff against Santos in the May 25th election, condemned Sepulveda’s actions and claimed that he was “surprised” over the allegations.  Nevertheless, he acknowledged that his campaign did hire the services of the firm Sepulveda belonged to that was run by the hacker’s sister-in-law.

According to the Colombian press, Sepulveda presents him in social media networks as a “senior developer and ethical hacker.”  Among the messages he wrote on his Twitter account in recent weeks includes “the worst thing a strategist can do is to be without principles and sell himself to the highest bidder.  That double morality is shameful.”

Daily Headlines: May 7, 2014

* U.S.: A Pew Research Center report released today found that number of Catholic Latinos in the U.S. has decreased in contrast to the increase in Latinos identifying themselves as evangelical or nonreligious.

* Latin America: Haitian health officials confirmed the spread of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus to that country while cases of malaria in Venezuela have skyrocketed this year.

* Cuba: Cuban officials claimed that four Cuban exiles from Florida were arrested last month and suspected with “planning attacks on military installations” on the island.

* Chile: Chile could become the next Latin American country to allow the partial decriminalization of abortion according to remarks made by the head of the National Service for Women.

Video Source – Catholic News Service via YouTube (Most U.S. Latinos are Catholic though the percentage has gone down from 67% in 2010 to 55% this year according to the Pew Research Center).
 
Online Sources – The Guardian; LAHT; ABC News; Reuters; El Universal

Veep Varela Victorious in Panama’s Presidential Election

Voters in Panama gave Vice President Juan Carlos Varela a promotion and elected him as the Central American country’s next president.

Panama’s electoral tribunal declared Varela the winner on Sunday night after deciding that he held an “insurmountable” lead over his main rivals, ruling party candidate Jose Domingo Arias and former Panama City Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro.  At the time Varela was declared president-elect, he had 39% of the vote compared to Arias’ 32% and Navarro’s 28%.

Varela won even though the last polls taken in the weeks prior to the election placed him behind Arias and Navarro in the three-way dogfight for the presidency.  Yet much like Costa Rica’s presidential race, enough voters were apparently swayed by Varela’s strong anti-corruption platform.  In addition, there may have been discontent that if Arias were to win then he would be a puppet controlled by current President Ricardo Martinelli.  (Indeed, Arias’ vice presidential pick was First Lady Marta Linares while Martinelli crisscrossed the country over the last few weeks actively campaigning for Arias).

“This government is going to fight against inequality and is not going to tolerate corruption,” Varela told supporters shortly after he won the election.  “Better days will come to Panama, with a government that is human, decent and visionary,” he added.

Sunday’s election, which was marked by a peaceful and high turnout, was the latest chapter in the ugly rivalry between Varela and Martinelli.  Both were partners when Martinelli was elected to the high office in 2009 but that relationship quickly unraveled:

Daily Headlines: May 6, 2014

* Cuba: A delegation of four U.S. legislators visited Cuba and called on the Castro regime and U.S. President Barack Obama to “make a serious commitment to engage in negotiations” for the liberation of imprisoned contractor Alan Gross.

* Mexico: In his latest full-page advertisement in Mexican newspapers, acclaimed film director Alfonso Cuarón called for public debates in order to discuss a major energy reform proposal supported by President Enrique Peña Nieto.

* Latin America: Former U.S Secretary of State George Schultz, British deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and five Nobel-prize winning economists became the latest prominent voices to speak out against the “war on drugs.”

* Brazil: Brazil’s main stock index rose to its highest point in nearly five months yesterday after polls showed that President Dilma Rousseff’s odds of winning reelection in the first round have decreased.

Video Source – YouTube user JewishNewsOne (Alan Gross, a U.S. contractor serving a fifteen-year prison sentence in Cuba following a 2011 conviction, went one a seven-day hunger strike last month).

Online Sources – GlobalPost; NBC News; Reuters; Bloomberg

Uruguay: 5400 Legal Abortions in the Past Year Says Catholic Church

An estimated 5400 legal abortions have taken place in Uruguay over the past year according to information from the local Catholic Church.

As mentioned in the Uruguayan press, the data was based on pamphlets that were distributed in churches nationwide over the weekend.  The statistics were reportedly based on a study that analyzed the number of abortions done since first trimester abortions were legalized in 2012.

The pamphlets allegedly mentioned that parishioners should use the information to “reflect” on the issue of abortion.  In addition, the text in the booklets also advised readers to keep them until October’s presidential election.

The information in the pamphlets contradicts Uruguayan officials that mentioned last February that 6676 abortions took place between December 2012 and November 2013.

The issue of abortion has become an important topic ahead of the presidential election in approximately five months time.  Adding fuel to the fire was the decision by doctors in the city of Salto who refused to oversee the abortion requested in the name of mentally disabled woman who became pregnant when she was raped.  (Uruguayan law permits abortions in the first fourteen weeks when the mother's health is at risk, a fetus has malformations or the pregnancy was due to rape).  As a result, the woman was taken to a hospital in the capital city of Montevideo though it hasn’t been mentioned in the press if she underwent an abortion or not.

Daily Headlines: May 5, 2014

* Dominican Republic: Dominican health officials have documented some 3500 suspected cases of the chikungunya virus, which is a mosquito-borne virus that causes intense joint and muscle pain and has spread throughout the Caribbean over the past five months.

* Venezuela: A Human Rights Watch report published today blasted “Venezuelan security forces” for being behind “an alarming pattern of abuse” against opposition protesters and civilians since early February.   

* U.S.: Did the judges rob Argentine boxer Marcos Maidana from what would have been the first defeat in welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s career?

* Uruguay: Uruguayan officials set guidelines for the legal selling and production of marijuana including limiting individuals to purchases of 40 grams of the drug per week and set the price at less than $1 per gram.

Video Source – YouTube user ExcélsiorTV (The chikungunya virus, which is commonly found in Asia and Africa, has spread throughout several Caribbean countries and, as seen in this video, reached the Mexican state of Jalisco). 

Online Sources – The Huffington Post; Human Rights Watch; The Latin Americanist; USA TODAY; The Independent

Daily Headlines: May 2, 2014 (Updated)

* Cuba: Juan Formell, the singer and founder of renowned Cuban music group Los Van Van, died on Thursday at the age of 71.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan officials will reportedly present today evidence allegedly showing opposition street protests that have taken place over the past two months are part of a plot to oust the government.

Update: Venezuelan Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres detailed at a press conference on Friday afternoon a supposed international "insurrectionist conspiracy" plotting to overthrow the government.  Among those involved in this alleged plot are Venezuelan opposition politicians like the imprisoned Leopoldo Lopez, local university student protest leaders, human rights activists, foreign figures including ex-Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the U.S. State Department.
    
* Colombia: Rescuers are searching in the Cauca province for up to fifteen people possibly trapped in an illegal mine that collapsed and claimed the lives of at least three workers.

* Mexico: According to a new report more than half of Mexico’s 40 million children live in poverty while one in three indigenous youth reside in “extreme poverty.”

Video Source – YouTube user Planet Records Official

Online Sources including Update – ABC News; euronews; Billboard; GlobalPost; Prensa Latina; El Nacional

De Musica Ligera – Ani Cordero

De Musica Ligera is our occasional feature on music from the Americas as well as a song from 1980s Argentine rock group Soda Stereo.

As the Brooklyn Vegan music blog recently described “Ani Cordero is a woman of many projects”.  Indeed, her work has included playing in the band Pistolera and participating as a touring member of famed Brazilian rock group Os Mutantes.  Her latest project is a solo album entitled Recordar: Latin American Songs of Love & Protest, which features songs “from the 1930s-1970s that highlight influential artists who provided the soundtrack for social change.”

Below is a music video from one of the songs on Recordar, a cover version of “Macorina” originally sung by the late Mexican singer Chabela Vargas:

Ani Cordero will be in concert on Thursday at Joe’s Pub in New York and on Sunday at Crossroads in Philadelphia.

Video Source– YouTube user Ani Cordero
 
Online Sources – Brooklyn Vegan; Official website for Ani Cordero

Today’s Video – Adeus Ayrton

This Thursday marks the twentieth anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna, one of the best motor racing drivers of all time.

As we mentioned in 2011, the Brazilian-born Senna died in an accident after crashing into a barrier in the early laps of the San Marino Grand Prix.  He was only thirty-four years old at the time of his death on May 1, 1994.

Though his life was tragically cut short, Senna amassed three World Championships brief ten-year career and until 2006 he held the record for most pole positions with sixty-five. His forty-one Grand Prix victories are third all-time while his 25.64% winning percentage is the third highest among drivers with at least one hundred F1 entries.


Despite his prowess on the track, perhaps his greatest legacy is through his deep concern for Brazil’s poor.  Throughout his life he quietly donated tens of millions of dollars for charitable causes and the Instituto Ayrton Senna, a charity founded after the driver’s death, has helped over a million children through a series of education programs.

The following video shows Brazilian TV footage of Senna’s funeral that took place three days after he passed away.  An estimated one million people from all walks of life lined the streets of Sao Paulo to pay their respects to their idol and national hero.

Their faces speak for themselves:

Video Source – YouTube user rogermania
 
Online Sources - Instituto Ayrton Senna; The Guardian; The Latin Americanist

Kerry, Jaua in Spat Over Venezuelan Internet Access

Internet access in Venezuela has become the latest dispute in the diplomatic tug-of-war between the U.S. and the South American state.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry labeled Russia and Venezuela as countries with “an absolutely unmistakable pattern” of cracking down on the Internet. 

“The places where we face some of the greatest security challenges today are also the places where governments set up firewalls against some of the basic freedoms online,” he said during a speech given as part of the annual Freedom Online Coalition conference.

“In Venezuela, the government has used security forces to disrupt peaceful protests and limit freedoms of expression and assembly. And this has included blocking access to selected websites and limiting access to internet service in certain parts of the country,” added Kerry who spoke via a Google Plus video chat at the conference in Estonia.

Venezuela’s foreign minister, Elias Jaua, said yesterday to the press that he “rejected” the “false” accusations made by Kerry.

“We are all under threat from a (U.S.) government that believes they have the right to intervene and sanction against countries based on the reality they construct from diplomats at their respective embassies,” Jaua mentioned.

Jaua also referred to the recent political unrest in Venezuela and blamed “hackers” for targeting official websites as part of a “fascist intent to oust” Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

Internet access and social media campaigns have become important tools for the Venezuelan opposition to espouse their views against the government and to publish alleged cases of brutality by the authorities. Last February that the government was accused of being behind a brief blackout of images on Twitter while street protests against the Maduro regime grew in major cities across the country.

Daily Headlines: April 30, 2014

* Mexico: An estimated sixty-four people have died mostly as a result of drug-related violence in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas this month including fourteen in a shootout yesterday.

* U.S.: A new report concluded that there has been a steady increase of Latinos born in the U.S. and entering adulthood while the rate of Latinos immigrating to the U.S. has diminished.

* Argentina: A seventeen-year-old girl was attacked and killed in what was described as “an extreme case of bullying.”

* Honduras: Did Honduras qualify for the World Cup by fixing matches with the help of a Singaporean criminal syndicate?

Video Source – teleSUR via YouTube (Residents of Tamaulipas, Mexico marched earlier this month to repudiate the spike in violence over the last few weeks).

Online Sources – Fox News Latino; The Guardian; ABC News, CNN

Anger Grows in Rio’s Favelas Over Recent Violence

Residents of a pair of Rio de Janeiro’s impoverished neighborhoods vented their anger after two people were killed amid law enforcement activities.

On Monday, a seventeen-year-old was shot and killed in the Morro do Chapadao favela during a police operation to recover stolen automobiles.  According to the Brazilian military police, the victim was in a stolen car and had a firearm next to him when he was caught in a shootout between officers and criminals.

In response to the shootout, Morro do Chapadao residents took to the street to protests and nine buses were set on fire by a “20-strong group of youths” near Morro do Chapadao.  They also disputed police allegations that the dead teen belonged to street gangs that deal with drug trafficking in the area.

Meanwhile, several schools were closed in and around the Alemao favela today and three cars were reportedly torched yesterday following the death of an elderly woman under mysterious circumstances.

According to MercoPress:

Dalva Arlinda Beserra de Assis, who had been on her way home Sunday with her 10-year-old grandson, was hit by a single bullet - although it is uncertain who fired the shot - and died as she was being transported to a nearby hospital, officials said.
 

The shootout began at nightfall in the Complexo do Alemao housing project when police officers patrolling the zone were attacked by members of a drug trafficking gang shortly after one of the members of their group, identified as Ramires Roberto da Silva, was arrested.
 

When the shootout was over, about 50 residents blocked traffic on an avenue bordering the shantytown, or “favela,” to protest the “police violence.” The demonstrators set up barricades and set fire to wastepaper in trash cans, but the protest concluded without any further incidents or arrests.

Daily Headlines: April 29, 2014

* Brazil: A social media campaign has grown in support of Brazilian soccer player Dani Alves who responded to the racist taunt of having a banana thrown at him in the middle of a match in Spain by nonchalantly gobbling up the fruit.

* Mexico: Acclaimed film director Alfonso Cuarón published a full-page advertisement in Mexican newspapers yesterday of a list of questions for President Enrique Peña Nieto to answer regarding a controversial energy reform proposal.

* Peru: Indigenous leader Ruth Buendia was named as a co-recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts to halt construction of the Paquitzapango hydroelectric project.

* Colombia: Thousands of farmers are protesting against the Colombian government’s agrarian polices in a demonstration that could affect the May 26 general election and President Juan Manuel Santos’ chances of winning reelection.
  
Video Source – YouTube user Love Football

Online Sources – GlobalPost; The Guardian; Reuters; The Telegraph

The Weekender – Survival By Learning

“The Weekender” is our new feature where every weekend we hope to highlight a short film, movie or documentary pertaining to the Americas.  We’re showing our latest entry today in order to make up for the lack of posts in the last few days.
One of the main concerns for Central American countries affected by high levels of is how to properly combat gang violence.  Such is the case with El Salvador where governments past and present have largely failed in implementing successful policies against street gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13) and Barrio 18.  The Mano Dura ("Iron Fist") strategy championed by then-President Francisco Flores in 2004 took a tough approach against gangs but ended up backfiring.  A 2012 truce between the MS-13 and Barrio 18 helped lower El Salvador’s murder rate last year but homicides have spiked since the pact apparently ended months ago.

While President-elect Salvador Sanchez Ceren takes office in June and Salvadoran church leaders look into brokering a new truce, the gang violence problem will likely continue to be front and center in that country.  A potential approach that has not been applied as public policy is to emphasize rehabilitation of gang members away from a life of crime and towards something more meaningful.  Another underused strategy is emphasizing education among the very young in order dissuade being allured into the world of street gangs.

The latter method is employed by the Fundación CINDE nongovernment organization.  Below the page break is a film from that foundation that depicts their work in El Salvador:

Daily Headlines: April 28, 2014

* Vatican: Pope John II was officially declared a saint yesterday partly due to the reported healing of a brain aneurysm that affected Gloribeth Mora Diaz of Costa Rica.
 
* Panama: According to the latest polls the election for Panama’s next president on May 4th could be a neck-and-neck race between Jose Arias representing the ruling conservative party and “moderate leftist” candidate Juan Navarro.

* Brazil: Brazil’s civil aviation minister admitted that Rio de Janeiro’s main international airport could be hit by blackouts during the World Cup of soccer that begins in roughly six weeks.

* Peru: Some five hundred members of the Achuar indigenous group occupied Peru’s biggest oil field in the Amazon rainforest in order to call for the cleanup of oil that has spilled over the last few decades.
  
Video Source – AFP via YouTube

Online Sources – BBC News; ABC News; Reuters; Bloomberg; The Guardian