Weekend World Watch: Seven and fifty

* World: Marches were held around the U.S. on Saturday in protest of the seventh anniversary of the military invasion of Iraq while South Africans are preparing to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre.

* Europe: Outrage over sex abuse scandals in countries like Ireland and Germany continue to put pressure on Pope Benedict XVI.

* Russia: Approximately fifty rallies were held nationwide as part of a "Day of Anger" against the Russian government’s economic policies.

* France: French officials have egg on their face after mistaking five Catalan firefighters on vacation for a group of ETA separatists.

Image – Guardian UK (“The day that changed the course of South African history: on 21 March 1960, police opened fire on thousands of unarmed protesters, killing 69 people. The massacre sparked decades of armed struggle and forced the world to confront apartheid Photograph: Corbis.”)
Online Sources- Washington Post, BBC News, Times Online, Reuters, New York Times

Weekend Headlines: March 20-21, 2010

* Haiti: The country’s physically disabled aren’t the only people with disabilities hurt by January’s tremor; according to the New York Times Haiti’s mental health system is at “the point of collapse.”

* Chile: The government may raise mining royalties as part of a plan to pay for post-earthquake reconstruction efforts.

* Guatemala: Local human rights groups are peeved at a judge’s decision to release the former army officer convicted of killing activist Bishop Juan Gerardi.

* Panama: An estimated 10,000 protesters marched in Panama City against the policies of President Ricardo Martinelli.

Image – Guardian UK (Some survivors of Haiti’s massive January earthquake live in makeshift tent camps).
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, New York Times, Reuters, Washington Post, LAHT

Argentina: Convicted skinheads to work at Holocaust Museum

The following sounds like a modern-day O. Henry story.

Last August a pair of Argentine skinheads were arrested for vandalizing a synagogue and other buildings with anti-Semitic graffiti. They were subsequently convicted for their crime and, in an ingenious twist, will be forced to work for fifty hours at Buenos Aires’ Holocaust Museum. Aside from janitorial duties the skinheads will also have to participate in "educational and cultural activities” held at the museum.

The prosecutor in charge of their case hopes that the pair will learn more than the axiom that crime doesn’t pay:

“The law is granting them a chance to face reality. With this probation we hope that they may be truly aware of what they did,” said…Luis Duacastella Arbizu. – [ed. Translated text]

One can easily call it a case of the punishment fitting the crime.

Image- BBC News (Please note that this image of painted swastikas are not those mentioned in the aforementioned Buenos Aires case).
Online Sources- Wikipedia, ABC.es, Clarin

Prosecutors blast "beaner-jumping" teens in Marcelo Lucero trial

Opening statements were made this week in the trial against one of the teens accused of the 2008 hate crime murder of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero.

Prosecutors started proceedings yesterday by claiming that nineteen-year-old Jeffrey Conroy and six others roamed the streets of Patchogue on Long Island seeking random Latinos to assault. "They were looking for blood, specifically Mexican blood," said one of the prosecutors about the teens that were accused of assaulting Lucero as part of a made-up sport they called "beaner-jumping." Furthermore, prosecutors claimed that Conroy admitted to police that he stabbed Lucero and had kept the murder weapon as a “trophy” when he was arrested.

Four of the defendants have already pled guilty and are expected to testify against Conroy who has declared not guilty of charges including murder and manslaughter. Aside from defending his client’s alleged innocence, Conroy’s lawyer attacked Lucero’s character by pointing out his prior drug use. Conroy faces a maximum sentence of life in jail if convicted of second-degree murder.

The second day of Lucero’s trial coincides with Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy publicly declaring his candidacy for New York Governor. As the New York Times noted in an editorial, Levy’s policies on immigration (including his dismissive reaction to Lucero’s murder) could be a major liability:

It isn’t just that he sometimes repeats xenophobic lies, as when he told a library meeting a few years ago that a flood of illegal immigrants’ babies was swamping the Southampton Hospital maternity ward. It isn’t just that he has allied himself with groups at the far-right edge of the debate. It is that his strategy of trying to make life untenable for Long Islanders he presumes to be illegal is divisive and ineffective. His reaction to tragedies like the killing of the Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero has been heartless and dismissive.

Image- CBS News (Jeffrey Conroy and six other teens have been accused of killing Marcelo Lucero in 2008).
Online Sources- New York Times, NY1, Huffington Post, New York Daily News, CNN, The Latin Americanist, NBC New York

Daily Headlines: March 19, 2010

* Brazil: While Pope Benedict XVI has been caught up in a sex abuse scandal another controversy is brewing in Brazil where a priest was allegedly caught on camera having sex with a teen.

* Guatemala: Former President Alfonso Portillo is a stone’s throw from being extradited to the U.S. to go on trial for corruption.

* Dominican Republic: Dominican police have upped the manhunt to capture the man one U.S. Marshal described as “the Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean.”

* Venezuela: Execs at Royal Dutch Shell backtracked from claims that foreign oil firms are losing interest in investing in Venezuela due to the Chavez administration’s policies.

Image – Huffington Post
Online Sources- CBS News, CNN, Time, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post

Today’s Video: Forgetting Romero

Earlier today we highlighted the life of the late Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero including his work against government oppression and how his countrymen admire him today. “The Daily Show” (TDS) last night also looked at Romero but under the guise of a story we mentioned last Friday: the controversial curriculum changes in Texas. “That is how Oscar Romero got disappeared by rightwingers for the second time” concluded TDS host Jon Stewart at the end of the report.

Fast forward to the 2:45 mark to view how such a vital person in Latin American history was removed from future Texan textbooks:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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Nuestro Cine: Remembering Romero

Next week marks the thirtieth anniversary of one of the darkest days in Central American history: the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Despite depth threats and pressure from El Salvador’s elite Romero fearlessly spoke out against the oppression and violence carried out by the government. "One must not love oneself so much, as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life that history demands of us, and those that fend off danger will lose their lives," said Romero in his March 24, 1980 mass only minutes before being gunned down by a sharpshooter.

Today Romero is viewed as a martyr who courageously defended the rights of El Salvador’s poor and most vulnerable people. His countrymen hold him in very esteem and some even tried to get him recognized as a saint by the Vatican.

In 1989 the Archbishop’s actions were portrayed on the silver screen in the film “Romero”. The late Raul Julia played the titular character in a performance Roger Ebert called “restrained and considered.” The entire film is available (illicitly?) on YouTube; for now here is the trailer to the great film:

Online Sources- Tim’s El Salvador Blog, BBC World Service, Roger Ebert’s Blog, YouTube, Wikipedia

Daily Headlines: March 18, 2010

* Cuba: Cuban police have been accused of heavy-handedness and repression after breaking up a peaceful protest yesterday by the Ladies in White.

* Mexico: According to the FBI the recent killings of three people connected to the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez may have been a case of mistaken identity.

* Latin America: Agriculture ministers from thirteen countries are meeting in Ecuador in order to figure out how to eliminate malnutrition and hunger.

* Peru: The country’s justice minister was let go from his post over alleged irregularities in the 2009 pardoning of a former TV executive.

Image – Al Jazzeera English (“The wives and mothers of political prisoners marched (as the Ladies in White) to demand that they be freed.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, The Independent, Miami Herald, Living in Peru, People’s Daily Online

Today's Video: Che's lost in translation

Today is St. Patrick's Day and in recognition of such we're featurnig a rather unique interview from Ernesto "Che" Guevara's 1965 trip to Ireland. The famed revolutionary had, shall we say, an interesting translator according to the description provided to the YouTube vid:

The lady speaking to CHE is an Air Hostess pulled from the plane he was on at the last minute,not a translator,and more so ,Che understood what she was saying in English anyway!

See for yourself what The Irish Echo claimed to be the "last time he spoke or was seen publicly outside of Cuba":

Online Source- YouTube

Is Mexico's violence overblown?

In an article posted yesterday, Foreign Affairs wonders how dangerous Mexico really is, in the wake of two U.S. Consulate members being killed and continued drug violence in the country.

Writer Allyson Benton argues that the violence is not as bad as in the past or compared to other Latin American countries.

In 1997, 17 people were murdered per 100,000, and in 2008, this number was down to 12, Benton notes.

Benton also writes that the drug wars are focused where the cartels operate, mostly in the northern and western states. "Murder rates among citizens not involved in the drug trade continue to decline," she writes.

Finally, she argues that country's like Colombia and Venezuela have murder rates nearly doubling Mexico's.

Benton concludes, "Violent crime, particularly involving the drug trade, is a serious problem for Mexico and the country's people. But context is crucial for issues so easily sensationalized."

What do you think? Is the violence in Mexico the result of over-saturated news or sensationalism?

Source: Foreign Affairs

Photo: newspapertree.com

Belarus offers aid to Venezuela

Add Belarus to the list of countries offering to help Venezuela boost its military.

The country's president, Alexander Lukashenko, offered help to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez yesterday.

He said Chavez should not have to worry about foreign threats. "Together, we can counter this threat," Lukashenko said, although not specifying the threat.

According to the AP, Lukashenko told Venezuela's National Assembly that Belarus would like to "share the experience of creating an integrated defense system."

Source: LA Times, AP

Photo: Miami Herald

Daily Headlines: March 17, 2010

* U.S.: The Department of Homeland Security has ordered a halt to construction of a controversial “virtual fence” along the U.S.-Mexico border so that $50 million in funds may be directed “to other purposes.”

* Cuba: "Cuba desperately needs political and legal reform to bring the country in line with basic international human rights standards,” said a statement by Amnesty International regarding a report published on Tuesday.

* Argentina: The government rejected reports that it’s purposefully blocking beef exports due to the weakened domestic economy.

* Puerto Rico: A U.S. government report released yesterday found staff negligence and dirty equipment in Puerto Rican veterans clinics.

Image – The Gazette (“A prototype of a tower for the virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexico border at a test facility in Playas, N.M.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Washington Post, Reuters, AP, BusinessWeek

World Watch: Another natural disaster

* Asia: Disaster teams from several Asian countries are heading towards Fiji after an untold number of deaths due to Cyclone Tomas.

* Sri Lanka: Is Sri Lanka’s 25-year civil war finally over?

* Iraq: Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi holds a slim lead in parliamentary elections over current PM Nouri al-Maliki.

* Russia: The U.N. has blasted environmental problems in construction projects for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

Image – ABC Online (“There is significant damage to schools and hospitals and dozens of homes have been destroyed” as a result of Cyclone Thomas hitting Fiji.)
Online Sources- Guardian UK, BBC News, Times Online, ABC Online

Israeli FM avoids Lula

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s “mission of peace” in the Middle East has hit a diplomatic pothole.

On Monday the Brazilian leader gave a special address at the Knesset where he called for a renewed push against violence in the region as well as “a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.” Sadly one key member of Israel’s government opted to ignore Lula:

Israel's foreign minister (Avigdor Lieberman) confirmed Tuesday that he boycotted meetings with the visiting Brazilian president, claiming he refused to visit the grave of the founder of modern Zionism...

Lieberman said he was upset at Silva's decision not to visit late Zionist leader Theodor Herzl's grave, especially while agreeing to lay a wreath at the tomb of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Wednesday.

"A person who is not prepared to visit Herzl's grave but is visiting Arafat's grave, I don't accept that," Lieberman told the Israeli news Web site YNet. He claimed the snub breached protocol.

A Brazilian government official anonymously told the AP that Lieberman’s claim was “odd” in that other heads of state recently visiting Israel skipped stopping at Herzl's grave. That explanation did not stop the World Zionist Organization treasurer to call Lula’s gesture “an insult to Israel’s citizens.”

As part of his tour Lula is expected to meet with Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before traveling later this week to the West Bank and Jordan.

Image- AP (“Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, lays a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 16, 2010.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Ha’aretz, AP, Jerusalem Post, LAHT

Latinos in Trenton caught up in immigration hoax

Was somebody trying to spook Latinos in New Jersey from attending this Sunday’s immigrant’s rights rally in Washington? That’s one possibility being brought up after an immigration hoax reportedly scared Latinos in Trenton.

False word spread through e-mails and text messages that federal officials were conducting raids at a shopping mall in the New Jersey capitol. “We don’t know where this is coming from, but it was very upsetting to a lot of people. It’s just not right,” said Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund representative Maria Juega to The Trentonian newspaper. The deception led to Latinos staying away in droves from stores like a Food Bazaar supermarket whose manager reported a 20% drop in customers as a result of the hoax.

The rumors come on the heels of another hoax that claimed that immigration agents conducted raids a Philadelphia area Wal-Mart stores. That ruse was more detailed than the one on Saturday:

The Food Bazaar rumor followed a similar false story of a supposed agreement allowing immigration agents to enter Wal-Mart stores to arrest illegal immigrants, Juega said.

The rumor has been spread through e-mail and text messages that include photographs of agents next to handcuffed people, she said. The pictures were supposedly taken during a recent raid at a Philadelphia area Wal-Mart. Lee said the distribution of the photographs suggested the rumor was an orchestrated hoax.

Whatever the motive may be behind the hoaxes (including a supposedly “misguided” attempt at promoting immigration reform) such juvenile tricks do nothing but stoke fear and deepen divisions in our communities. They are a distraction from the important work of formulating, passing, and enacting meaningful changes to the immigration system.

Image- Illinois State Museum
Online Sources- NJ.com, PR Newswire, The Trentonian, New York Daily News

Another Honduran journo slain

A northern Honduran reporter has become the latest journalist slain by the “ongoing violence” in that Central American country.

Radio and TV reporter Nahum Palacios Arteaga was killed on Sunday after unknown gunmen attacked him in his car. Police claimed that Arteaga was specifically targeted “because a total of 41 shots were fired at his car.” Two other passengers in the car including a cameraman were wounded in the brazen attack.

Arteaga has become the third journalist murdered in the past two weeks in Honduras. The killings against members of the media led dozens of journalists to protest in San Pedro Sula as well as public condemnation from the French government. None of the three murders have been solved, a sad fact that comes as no surprise to the head of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ):

"This spate of murders targeting journalists in Honduras shows the alarming level of increasing political violence in the country," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary.

"There is a disturbing trend of targeting of journalists in a cold-blooded series of planned assassinations"…

The IFJ says journalists are victims of organized crime as the country struggles to restore political dialogue and law and order in the wake of last year's coup d'état which sparked political unrest in the country. The Federation accused at the time the coup leaders of attacking journalists and closing media in Honduras.



"Journalists are extremely vulnerable in Honduras as impunity is taking hold in the country," added White. "Every effort must be made to protect journalists and restore the rule of law and order to the streets."

Image- New York Times (Honduras’ de facto government came under fire last year for limiting the press such as the temporary closing of Globo radio station).
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, news24.com, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, AP, La Prensa Grafica, International Federation of Journalists