Dominican Republic

February 15, 2017 By Fausta

Dominican Republic: Journalists murdered on Facebook Live

while reading the news,

Journalists slain during Facebook Live broadcast in Dominican Republic. Lone gunman bursts into station and opens fire in eastern city of San Pedro de Macorís.

An unidentified gunman burst into the studios of a radio station in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday morning and opened fire, killing a producer and a broadcaster live on air and seriously wounding a secretary.

The Guardian has more,

Three men have been arrested, but none has been charged. Police say they do not yet have a motive.

Medina was also the official announcer of the Estrellas Orientales baseball team.

Milenio Caliente is a popular local radio programme recognised for its lively political analysis and social campaigns.

In recent weeks, Medina had repeatedly condemned pollution in Laguna Mallen, a protected lake in San Pedro.

September 26, 2016 By Fausta

The pre-debate Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Yes, there’s a presidential debate tonight. Meh.

ARGENTINA
Argentina plans eurobond

Probe into Nisman’s death will go to federal courts

Stiuso habló de una “guerra” entre espías tras la muerte de Nisman. La versión del ex director de la SIDE sobre su pelea con el espionaje K

En su testimonio, afirmó que se dio una orden ilegal a Migraciones para saber sus movimientos, reveló el dueño de un teléfono clave y vinculó a Aníbal Fernandéz.

Argentina Seeks To Export Its Human Rights Policy

BOLIVIA
“Narcos”. Artículo completo de Veja sobre Evo y Álvaro – Evo Morales and his vice-president Álvaro García Linera, investigated by the DEA.

Give it up, Evo: Bolivia’s Morales accuses Chile of restricting access to ports

BRAZIL
Brazil’s Supreme Court Gives OK to Open Probe of New President Temer

Judge approves preliminary investigation, which is based on plea-bargain testimony by a key witness that implicates President Michel Temer, other PMDB members

CHILE
CIA found ‘convincing evidence’ Chilean dictator was behind 1976 D.C. attack

The latest revelations about the Cold War-era case come on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Orlando Letelier, a leading opponent of the Pinochet regime and onetime Chilean foreign minister, and his think-tank colleague, Ronni Moffitt, in a car bomb on D.C.’s Embassy Row.

COLOMBIA
“The FARC’s abortionist confessed to [performing] 400+ abortions on abused girls. Is there pardon, justice, and reparation?”

El abortista de las Farc confesó más de 400 abortos practicados a niñas abusadas. ¿Hay perdón, justicia y reparación? #Villavicencio pic.twitter.com/Wt4xuMt3ny

— Óscar Iván Zuluaga (@OIZuluaga) September 22, 2016

CUBA
How Kim (DPRK) and Castro (Cuba) Blackmail Abe (Japan)

Nearly on a monthly basis, some senior North Korean is on a “working visit” to Cuba. Or some senior Cuban regime official is on a “working visit” to North Korea.

With the exception of China, there’s no other nation in the world that North Korean officials visit with such frequency.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Republic’s Former Anti-Drug Chief Sentenced to 20 Years

ECUADOR
Ecuadorian Police Oust Dozens of Cubans Demanding Visas from Quito Park

IMMIGRATION
HILLARY: THE THIRD WORLD HAS A “RIGHT” TO MOVE TO THE UNITED STATES. No, they don’t.

JAMAICA
American says he wants to protect Jamaica’s natural ganja

MEXICO
Priest Killings Highlight Mexico Govt’s Credibility Problem

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua rejects U.S. bill for loans with strings attached (emphasis added)
The Nicaraguan government was responding to the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act, a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. A version was introduced by Senator Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate earlier this month.

Nicaragua on Thursday criticized a proposal by U.S. lawmakers that would require the Central American country, which will hold elections in November, to make political changes in order to receive international loans.
. . .
The Nicaraguan government was responding to the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act, a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. A version was introduced by Senator Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate earlier this month.

The bill proposes blocking Nicaragua from obtaining loans from international financial institutions unless the country “is taking effective steps to hold free, fair, and transparent elections.”

On Nov. 6, Nicaraguans will vote for president and 90 members of the National Assembly.

President Daniel Ortega is the favorite as he seeks his third consecutive term.

PANAMA
Smithsonian opens climate change lab in Panama

PARAGUAY
Polka lessons

Budgets have been roughly in balance and public debt is low. The central bank aims for an inflation rate of 4.5% and usually gets close. Commercial banks are healthy (in part because they charge high interest rates and face little competition). Regulation, like the tax code, is business-friendly. Independent trade unions, suppressed under Stroessner, are weak.

PERU
Peru President Says Unasur Unable to Resolve Venezuela Crisis

PUERTO RICO
Where were you when the lights went out? The Puerto Rico blackout, from space

URUGUAY
More on Abu Wa’el Dhiab: Uruguay says ex-Gitmo detainee demands exceed government

“The Uruguayan government is doing everything possible,” Vazquez said. “But as I’ve said in the past: If the countries where the Syrian citizen wants to go don’t take him, we can’t do anything about it.”

VENEZUELA
Military and Police Corruption: Venezuela’s Growing Evil

April 18, 2016 By Fausta

The Carnival Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Well, well, Carnival Cruise Lines expected Cuba’s communist regime to lift its restriction on Cuban-born Americans who arrive by sea, but nooooo . . . and now a group of Cuban Americans have a discrimination lawsuit against Carnival in federal court.

Babalu posts that

the MV Adonia, that is scheduled to sail to Cuba was found to be deficient in meeting safety standards set by the U.S. Coast Guard and that it’s first voyage to the Dominican Republic under Fathom’s flag was canceled.

Additionally, last Tuesday protestors demonstrated in front of Carnival Corp.’s Doral headquarters. Among them was Ramon Saul Sanchez, president of the Democracy Movement, which organized the protest. Now, after living in the U.S.A. for forty-nine years, Ramon Saul Sanchez Has U.S. Residency Application Denied.

Sanchez, who obtained legal entry into the U.S. in what is known as a “parole,” applied for permanent residency in 2002 so he could legally travel aboard the many flotillas he has organized over the years and return easily to the United States.

That permanent residency request was denied and his parole has now also expired, according to the letter issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

“You are not authorized to remain in the United States and should make arrangements to depart as soon as possible,” stated the letter, dated April 7 and received by Sanchez Thursday. “Failure to depart may result in your being found ineligible for immigration benefits and inadmissible to the United States in the future.”

The letter also states that the decision cannot be appealed. However, a motion to reopen the case could be filed. Sanchez said he has lawyers working on the next step.

Maybe he ought to have tried calling himself a “Dreamer,” or claim to be Syrian.

ARGENTINA
Time Warp: Five dead in Argentina after taking drugs at electronic music festival that ‘got out of control’. Doctors said they were trying to determine what drugs the victims had taken

Argentina ex-president Fernandez de Kirchner defies court

The former Argentine President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has refused to testify at a court hearing into fraud allegations.
. . .
Emerging from the courthouse, Ms Fernandez gave a stirring hour-long speech to the crowds. She suggested she and other leftist leaders in the region had been unfairly accused of corruption by a “media, political and judicial matrix”.

The crowd trashed the location.

BOLIVIA
Evo feels the Bern at the Vatican,

#BromanceBern: Dem presidential candidate Bernie Sanders shakes hand w Bolivian Pres Evo M… https://t.co/IjNImiQBfP via @bpolitics

— Fausta (@Fausta) April 15, 2016

BRAZIL
Re: the impeachment vote, go here.

Two days ago, Brazil’s Rousseff Works to Sway Lawmakers on Eve of Impeachment Vote. President meets with officials at her residence while other lawmakers continue congressional session

WHY BRAZIL IS WORRIED ABOUT ISIS. The Olympics are scheduled to open on August 5th.

CHILE
Storms leave three million without water in Chile capital

“Unfortunately the weather system over the metropolitan region brought rain that caused increased sediment in the Maipo River, which means a water cut for the population affecting about three million people,” Santiago Mayor Claudio Orrego told a news conference.

COLOMBIA
Colombia struggles with peace fatigue.

Santos published an op-ed in The Guardian, As Colombia’s leader, I know we must rethink the drugs war.The president of Colombia argues that his country’s narco-related violent history illustrates exactly why a global rethink on prohibition should be the key discussion at this week’s UN general assembly special session on drugs

CUBA
Panama Intercepts Major Drug Shipment From Cuba

Today’s Capt. Louis Renault moment: Raúl Castro hardens rhetoric, warns Cubans to be alert to U.S. intentions

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
993 kilos of cocaine seized off Dominican Republic

ECUADOR
Leaked Documents Confirm Ecuador’s Internet Censorship Machine

Cubans in Ecuador want to fly directly from Quito to reach the U.S.

Earthquake headlines:

RING OF FIRE: 7.8 MAG ROCKS ECUADOR…
JAPAN EXODUS AS MORE QUAKES SHAKE…
Region ‘swaying every hour’…
Rescuers race against landslides…
TOYOTA stops operations due to supply shortage…
Mysterious foam fills streets…
Top scientist: Could foreshadow ‘mega quake’…
LIST: STRONGEST SINCE 1900…

Bernie Sanders’s new friends, ¿Una nueva alianza de izquierdas?: Bernie Sanders, Evo Morales y Rafael Correa juntos en Roma

MEXICO
U.S. Goes After New Cartel, Mexican Government Defends the Criminal Group

Authorities have just identified and moved to seize some assets tied to a new cartel in Mexico that had been quietly working under the radar for year supplying large quantities of heroin into Philadelphia. Soon after the announcement, a Mexican governor rushed to their defense claiming they were not a security threat.

Known as the Laredo Cartel, the group had been supplying the streets of Philadelphia with a steady supply of heroin from Mexico.

‘New’ Vigilante Groups Keep a Violent Tradition Alive in Michoacán

PANAMA
IMF chief: regulators long ‘alarmed’ over Panama’s handling of taxation.Christine Lagarde responds to Panama Papers revelations, noting that authorities were concerned but did not take ‘expected’ action

PUERTO RICO
Dethroned Puerto Rico Miss Universe contestant files £2.1 million lawsuit. That’s $3million in America.

Ms Caride was stripped of her title after she was criticised for being dismissive and saying she did not love cameras in an interview with a local newspaper.

Say “NO” to the bailout: Puerto Rico rescue falters under attack by conservatives, investors.

VENEZUELA
Shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic, Venezuela travels forward in time half an hour to help ease energy crisis.Nicolás Maduro rolls back measure enacted by Hugo Chávez to provide more daylight during hours of peak energy consumption amid drought conditions

This week’s podcast,

Now live in @SCantojr‘s podcast: Cuban baseball players plus US-Latin America stories of the week https://t.co/iXnYoFdhAZ

— Fausta (@Fausta) April 15, 2016

February 15, 2016 By Fausta

The Presidents’ Day Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmer ARGENTINA
Argentina Takes More Aggressive Stance with Bond Holdouts. President asks U.S. court to lift injunction preventing it from borrowing overseas

Economic data in Argentina: An Augean stable. The government is rebuilding its discredited statistics institute

BOLIVIA
Bolivia’s Morales Seeks Probe of Contracts That Went to Ex-Lover’s Company

@Fausta https://t.co/WwiINM83i5 NO one seems to pay attention to #Bolivia – Hezbollah Leonardo Coutinho wrote excellent article

— Wikileaks Bolivia (@armadaoriental) February 12, 2016

BRAZIL
Brazil mobilises 200,000 military personnel in ‘day of action’ against Zika virus. Rio de Janeiro will host the Olympics in August, so defeating the virus on the city’s streets is the central priority

CHILE
Chile starts to flow electricity to Argentina for first time

COLOMBIA

Carta del Alcalde de San Vicente de Caguán, Humberto Sánchez Cedeño, denunciando permanente extorsión de Farc pic.twitter.com/NYVzSzuBpe

— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) February 12, 2016

Protests Paralyze Bus System in Colombian Capital

The FARC promise to stop adding to their child soldier problem

COSTA RICA
Microsoft to Train Costa Rican Inmates as Web Developers

CUBA
Hellfire Missile Mistakenly Sent to Cuba Has Been Returned to U.S. The training missile had been rerouted in Germany and put on a plane to Cuba, where it had remained for more than a year

Two “Brothers”: Pope Francis and the Chekist

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Does Focusing on Race in the Dominican Republic Impede Positive Change?

ECUADOR
Why did Erdogan’s bodyguards beat up these Ecuadorian women?

Ecuador To Sell One Third Of Pristine Rainforest To Chinese Oil Companies. Ecuador is in the midst of talks to sell one-third of pure, untouched rainforest to Chinese oil companies despite environmental impact and protests from indigenous people.

MEXICO
Cartel Boss Behind Mexican Prison Massacre Linked to American’s Death

#VERGUENZANACIONAL En Mérida: Mayor (EjBV) ayudante del Maestro Chávez [ex gobernador de Barinas Hugo De Los Reyes Chávez padre del comandante Hugo Chávez] cae con 400 kilos de cocaína

Video: 1,400 American Workers Outraged as Company Informs Them It’s Sending Their Jobs to Mexico

PANAMA
Test of new Panama Canal locks where cracks were detected deemed a success

PARAGUAY
Murder Draws Attention to Paraguay-Uruguay Marijuana Trade

PERU
Oil from Peru pipeline spill reaches major river, indigenous group says

PUERTO RICO
Fiery debate over Puerto Rico’s debt at investment summit

The fiery debate between Jim Millstein, the U.S. territory’s lead debt restructuring adviser, and Nader Tavakoli, the CEO of Ambac — one of the largest insurers of PR-issued debt — was over whether the island should be granted access by Congress to Chapter 9 bankruptcy laws to restructure a large portion of its outstanding debt.

URUGUAY
What Happened with Marijuana Legalization in Uruguay? Lessons from the First Country to Legalize Cannabis Nationwide, Two Years Later

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s Collapse Brings ‘Savage Suffering’. Dying infants, chronic power outages and empty shelves mark the world’s worst-performing economy

Venezuela leader’s foes move to oust him. The new opposition-controlled National Assembly in Venezuela plans to speed up moves to oust the government of Nicolas Maduro as economic woes deepen.

THE LIGHTS GO OUT IN BERNIE SANDERS’ UTOPIA, VENEZUELA

December 14, 2015 By Fausta

The Argentina inauguration Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Mauricio Macri was inaugurated last Thursday as Argentina’s new president. Having created ‘as many problems as possible for the new government’ and behaving as petulantly as usual, Cristina Fernandez skipped the festivities.

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s new government won’t seek to revive Iran deal on JCC bombing probe

Argentina Abandons Pact With Iran to Investigate ’94 Attack at Jewish Center

If you work for MTV and are planning a helicopter trip, you may want to reconsider.

BOLIVIA
Las Valkyrias de Bolivia – the women wrestlers of La Paz (I posted on the cholitas a few years ago).

BRAZIL
More on Odebrecht, Brazilian Builder OAS’s President Arrested in Bribery Probe. Elmar Varjão among executives alleged to have overcharged government on contracts

Corruption in Brazil. Weird justice. The courts treat suspects too harshly, and convicts too leniently

Brazil Senator Sees 2016 Budget Plan With No Primary Surplus. The Brazilian budget proposal for 2016, which could get its final vote in Congress as early as next week, will probably have a fiscal target lower than Finance Minister Joaquim Levy has called for, a senator involved in the budget discussions said.

CHILE
Ex-soldier held after radio caller admits Chile slayings

Police on Friday arrested former conscript to Guillermo Reyes Rammsy, identifying him as the man who made an emotional 25-minute call to a radio program this week. A judge placed him under house arrest.

COLOMBIA
Colombian prosecutor accuses rebels of 150 forced abortions

Oil Production in Colombia Down 1% in November

COSTA RICA
Minnesota native, St. Thomas grad found stabbed to death in Costa Rica hotel room

CUBA
Cuba Begins to Re-Imprison Political Dissidents ‘Freed’ Under Obama Deal

Miami Herald tries to shame the Castro regime into being nice to the White House
Even the Clinton Administration Made an “Effort” to enforce U.S. Law, Cuba Sanctions

Moody’s Reaffirms Cuba’s Credit Rating but Changes Outlook to Positive. As the church lady put it,

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Forced to Flee Dominican Republic for Haiti, Migrants Land in Limbo

ECUADOR
Ecuador signs deal with Sweden for Assange questioning

EL SALVADOR
Two-Month Border Surge Brings Nearly 11000 New Illegal Alien Minors to U.S.

HONDURAS
Mapped: Which countries have the highest murder rates?Central and South America have the highest homicide rates in the world while European cities are least blighted by murder

JAMAICA
Jamaica slips in equal pay global rankings, PSOJ concerned

LATIN AMERICA
Elections Won’t Save Latin America.Global Climate Talks Reveal Misguided Notions of Development Still Prevail

MEXICO
Pope Francis Plans Mexico-U.S. ‘Cross-Border’ Mass During Election Year

Mexican cartel boss ‘El Chapo’ spent heavily to escape maximum security jail, thereby giving new meaning to “the price of freedom”.

PANAMA
Panama’s Ex-President Found in Contempt in Spying Probe

PARAGUAY
South America’s Other Insurgents: Paraguay’s EPP

PERU
American citizen accused of sex trafficking underaged girls in Peru. Peruvian and U.S. authorities say Brown “facilitated sex tourism and exploitation of children”

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Governor: We Won’t Make It to 2016 without Bankruptcy. Island Bigwigs Dismiss Concerns over Waste, Seek DC Approval for “Restructuring”. Capt. Louis could have been Puerto Rican,

VENEZUELA

Quitting before you start. Two Chavista assembly-members elect have already said they won’t take on the seats they were elected for less than a week ago, preferring their old mayor’s jobs. More may follow.

Not by a long shot, Election loss does not mean the end of socialist Venezuela

The Latin Leftist Sore Loser Club

En Venezuela ganó otra vez el castrocomunismo. Lo único cierto es que Venezuela seguirá subyugada a los Castro durante muchos años más y seguirá como trinchera continental del par de sátrapas asesinos que buscan desde allí seguir intoxicando a Latinoamérica con la ideología criminal del marxismo

October 19, 2015 By Fausta

The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

ARGENTINA
AMIA prosecutors file request letter to US on Stiuso’s whereabouts

The persistence of Peronism: Argentina’s dominant political brand is defined by power, not ideology.

To the extent that it has an ideology it is a vague blend of nationalism and labourism, expressed in the PJ’s founding “three banners” of political sovereignty, economic independence and social justice.

Power as an end in itself,

Rather than ideas, Peronism embodies a consistent set of political emotions and practices. Perón declared in 1951: “The masses don’t think, the masses feel and they have more or less intuitive and organised reactions. Who produces those reactions? Their leader.” His second wife, Eva Duarte, touched the hearts of the masses. Ms Fernández has proved to be an accomplished disciple: she has ruthlessly pursued popularity by postponing inevitable economic belt-tightening, by exploiting her widowhood and by associating herself with Pope Francis, an Argentine who has Peronist roots.

Argentinian artists risk religious wrath with ‘Barbie, The Plastic Religion’

BAHAMAS
Bahamas Reports More Than $60 Million in Damage from Hurricane Joaquin

BOLIVIA
Commodity Price Decline to Cost Bolivia $3 Billion, Government Says

BRAZIL
Brazil Police Launch Preliminary Probe into Rousseff’s Re-Election Campaign

COLOMBIA
Ex-president Pastrana resigns from ‘Super Commission’ for peace

However, on Thursday he resigned from the commission citing his disappointment in the transitional justice deal which he claims was “the biggest concession achieved by the FARC after the acceptance of drug-trafficking as a crime connected to their ideals.”

COSTA RICA
Drug Raids Reveal Italian Mafia Presence in Costa Rica

CUBA
Within the Past Year: Assad, Putin and Castro Ties

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Haiti, Dominican Republic to reopen talks on migration, trade disputes. The presidents of Haiti and the Dominican Republic have agreed to resume talks to resolve disputes on migration and trade. Relations between the neighbors on the island of Hispaniola have been strained.

ECUADOR
Ecuador’s Rafael Correa pushes for foreign investment

But with an unfriendly business environment, Correa may find it hard to entice the private sector to pick up the slack.

EL SALVADOR
A murder every hour: How gang warfare has turned El Salvador into the world’s most violent nation

In August alone there were 911 murders – an average of nearly 30 a day.

In one incident, 14 members of one of the country’s most powerful street gangs were killed in a prison.

The dead were said to have belonged to ‘Barrio 18’ gang ‘Faccion Revolucionarios’, or Revolutionaries’ Faction.

Normally at war with rival gang ‘Mara Salvatrucha’, an internal power struggle between Revolucionarios and Surenos (Southerners) has seen the violence – and death toll – soar.

HAITI
Life miserable for Haitians expelled from Dominican Republic

MEXICO
ebook: The Wounded Eagle: Three years in the Mexican drug war, 2010-2012.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

EXCLUSIVE: ARREST OF GULF CARTEL BOSS TRIGGERS CHAOS NEAR TEXAS BORDER

PANAMA
Over 10 tonnes of drugs go up in smoke in Panama

VENEZUELA
Oil nations feel the strain of Opec’s continuing price war. Crisis-hit Venezuela to press for change in policy, reports Andrew Critchlow

September 28, 2015 By Fausta

The post-papal visit Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Thank God Papa Che came and left without incident. Yet, as Rich Lowry put it,

The Catholic Church’s traditional discomfort with modernity has cachet at this moment in American politics, especially when it is wrapped in the fashionable causes of income inequality and climate change. In this sense, Pope Francis is (inadvertently) a genius marketeer by taking crackpot attitudes about economic development and getting them a respectful hearing.

ARGENTINA
Taking the Pope to School

Argentina’s Presidential Hopefuls Aim to Further Militarize Drug War. Experts Warn “Failed Policy” Will Lead to More Violence, Corruption

Can Argentina responsibly develop its massive shale oil and gas potential?

Lost in translation: KIM KARDASHIAN SPARKS OUTRAGE IN ARGENTINA AFTER TWEETING ‘POPE IS DOPE’

BOLIVIA
Bolivia row with Chile over strip of land to Pacific Ocean goes to The Hague.
Anger in Chile as International Court of Justice at the Hague declares it has jurisdiction to rule on Bolivia’s claim

BRAZIL
Gates Foundation sues Petrobras. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sues the Brazilian state-owned oil company, Petrobras for investment losses due to corruption.

CHILE
Chile refuses bilateral negotiations over Bolivia border dispute

COLOMBIA
Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC leaders signed an accord in Havana under the aaegis of Raul Castro. Alvaro Uribe refers to it as an “Agreement of Impunity” (#AcuerdoDeImpunidad):
“Santos, it’s not peace that’s near, it’s the surrender to FARC and the tyranny of Venezuela.”

Santos no es la paz la que está cerca, es la entrega a Farc y a la tiranía de Venezuela

— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) September 23, 2015

The accord does not address the issue of drug trafficking.

Colombia Peace Process: Theatre of the Politically Absurd.

The accord is one of the biggest stories of the year, and U.S. media has barely mentioned it, even when the pope was involved (link in Spanish).

COSTA RICA
Violence in Costa Rica Reaching ‘Pandemic’ Levels?

CUBA
Governor Cuomo and Raúl Castro of Cuba Meet

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Haiti border crisis grows as Dominican Republic expels ‘migrants’

ECUADOR
Ecuador’s President Used Millions Of Dollars Of Public Funds To Censor Critical Online Videos. Exclusive: BuzzFeed News has seen leaked documents that reveal Rafael Correa used the intelligence budget to delete content critical of him and the first lady from YouTube, Facebook, and other sites.

IMMIGRATION
Testing the limits on crazy immigration policies, a New plan: we’ll pay to import formerly deported illegals with mental illnesses

JAMAICA
Jamaican Anti-Gay Rally to Oppose Same-Sex Marriage, Even Though No One Has Proposed It. Like it or not, Jamaica is leapfrogging over decriminalization and straight to relationship equality. Here are four reasons LGBTI activists should embrace the issue.

LATIN AMERICA
State capitalism, populism, extractive economies and corruption don’t work: Support for Latin American Leaders Has Fallen Steadily, Poll Shows: Latin America’s political leaders face a bleak future and a potent backlash from citizens regionwide who feel increasingly disillusioned as economies stumble and corruption flourishes, a new poll across 18 countries by a respected Chilean firm shows.

Latin America cracks open its doors as Syrian refugee crisis mounts. Syrian Issa Hassan is one of the first to land in Mexico today as citizen pressure to do more mounts. Many countries in the region have had their own experiences with authoritarian rule and brutality.

MEXICO
Mexico’s Peña Nieto meets Iguala parents and vows to “search for truth”. President holds first face-to-face with families of the 43 missing teaching students

Dozens of Clandestine Graves Found During Search for Missing Mexican Students

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua says planned canal will cut sailing time for mega-ships, if it ever gets started, that is.

PANAMA
Companies building controversial dam in Panama hit with $1.2 mn in fines

PARAGUAY
Paraguay Homicides Drop, But Border Remains Violent

The figures show high concentrations of violence in the states of Amambay and Alto Parana, with those provinces registering 50 and 31 homicides respectively. Both of these states are major border crossings between Paraguay and Brazil. Amambay in particular isone of the most dangerous border regions in Latin America, registering a murder rate of 66.7 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2014.

PERU
British tourists held overnight by Peruvian protesters. Tour party hijacked by indigenous campaigners angered by halt in road construction

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Funds May Face Federal Oversight. Legislation that would subject Puerto Rico mutual funds to the same regulations as mainland funds is expected to be introduced in Congress on Friday, a sign Puerto Rico’s financial crisis is drawing greater scrutiny.

URUGUAY
Dozens Injured, Arrested in Student Protest in Uruguay

VENEZUELA
Antonio Ledezma: Seven Months under House Arrest, Still No Hearing for Caracas Mayor. Venezuelan Opposition Fears a Repeat of Leopoldo López Case Leaked Government Study Reveals Extent of Shortage Crisis in Venezuela. Report Exposes “Economic War” as Fraud, Says Center for Documentation Director

Venezuelan defector reveals secret meetings between Maduro and Hezbollah