Eye Openers + non-US news Hispanic y Latino News & Info (Noticias)
November 24, 2009
The mayor of a wealthy suburb (San Pedro Garza Garcia) of Monterrey said Monday that he has sent his family to the United States for their own safety as he pursues his campaign against extortion and kidnapping gangs.
November 23, 2009
On the mayor’s agenda: ‘Civilize’ Mexico City – Marcelo Ebrard
In Argentina, One Person Dies Every 28 Hours from Police Repression
November 21, 2009
A fire destroyed 106 houses in the Ecuadorian Pacific coast city of Guayaquil and left more than 500 people homeless, as well as 14 children with symptoms of smoke inhalation.
LatAm Immigrants Are Changing Spain, Sociologist Says
Mexico’s top domestic security official said Friday that sectors of the general public have cooperated with drug cartels in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez, and the government is about to launch new social programs there to combat gangs.
Pro-Castro mob attacks spouse of top Cuban blogger – Yoani Sánchez
Central American nations will demand $105 billion from industrialized countries for damages caused by global warming, the region’s representatives said on Friday.
November 20, 2009
Police in Peru say gang members killed people to drain their fat for cosmetics
Mexican authorities predict fewer Mexican immigrants will be back home for Christmas
The current global crisis will cause the number of poor people in Latin America to rise by 9 million to 189 million this year, the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said in a report presented on Thursday.
Ana Maria Perez Gonzalez, said to be the oldest woman in the world, died in Mexico this week. She was 119.
November 19, 2009
Mexico’s Drug Violence Gives Rise To Vigilantism
The University of Panama indefinitely suspended classes on Wednesday after confrontations between students and police during a protest against alleged U.S. involvement in plans to build new military installations.
November 18, 2009
A New United Movement Stops Mexico for a Day
Mexico’s Juarez on path to anarchy
Experts warned on Tuesday that the rise in health problems due to obesity among Mexican children, which is considered to be an epidemic, threatens “for the first time” to reduce life expectancy rates in the country.
The estimated damage caused by the Nov. 7-8 floods and mudslides to El Salvador’s infrastructure has climbed to $880 million, the country’s public works minister said Tuesday.
Trend Toward Smaller Families in Latin America – The number of people per household in Latin America will fall by 18 percent by 2020, according to a study released in this capital Tuesday by consulting firm Euromonitor International.
After two days of deliberations, on Oct. 14 the Mexican Supreme Court made public its decision that Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (governor of the state of Oaxaca) is culpable for the human rights violations that occurred in Oaxaca as a result of teacher protests and political and social unrest in May 2006-January 2007 and July of 2008.
Organizations alarmed by the increased violence against women and others in Mexico are traveling by caravan to demand justice for the victims. – The national caravan, which began in Mexico City, is part of the international Mujeres de Negro (Women in Black) campaign to protest violence against women, children and other vulnerable groups.
40% of Guatemala’s Elderly Living in Poverty
Murder rates: Cuidad Juárez deadlier than Miami in ’80s
November 16, 2009
Authorities say a 7-year-old boy, three women and a university professor are among 15 people who were killed in a single day (this past Friday) in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez.
Turtles Are Casualties of Warming in Costa Rica
November 13, 2009
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya accused the U.S. government Thursday of weakening and changing course in the conflict over the June 28 coup that saw soldiers hustle him out of the country.
The idea of the United Nations accepting a peacekeeping mission in Juárez may not be far-fetched, and the U.N.’s work in Haiti is an example.
November 12, 2009
Monterrey (Mexico’s 3r-largest city) has fired almost a quarter of its traffic police for failing tests designed to detect corruption and ineptitude. And half of Monterrey’s traffic cops were ordered to undergo more training after performing poorly on the tests. Only a bit more than a quarter were found to be completely fit for the job.
November 11, 2009
Brazil emerged early Wednesday from a widespread power outage that plunged its major cities into darkness for hours – affecting millions of people
November 10, 2009
Women play a bigger role in Mexico’s drug war – Addiction, the economy and the lure of living well have sucked many into the narcotics underworld. The trend threatens the foundations of Mexican society.
Cubans Warily Test Their New Freedom To Criticize
Chávez’s Next Target: El Salvador – Twenty-first century socialism may have stumbled in Honduras but it is being tried again in El Salvador.
Mexican clergy seek global help as violence grows
November 9, 2009
Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez detained, beaten on way to march
Ancient trees at risk in Peru – The huarango is a celebrated Peruvian tree that can live for over a thousand years.
November 7, 2009
A small Dominican Republic town plagued by birth defects wants to know if a U.S. power company is to blame.
Report on Women’s Human Rights Violations Shows Systematic Attack on Women Under Honduran Coup
November 6, 2009
A third woman has filed a paternity claim against Paraguay’s Roman Catholic bishop-turned- president, her lawyer confirmed Thursday – President Fernando Lugo
November 5, 2009
In Mexico, fears of a ‘lost generation’ – Violence among young soars as drug cartels recruit more minors
Deal to restore Manuel Zelaya in Honduras at risk – Supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya say lawmakers are stalling efforts to bring him back to office before a Nov. 29 election.
November 2, 2009
In Latin America, weapons buying spreads mistrust – Weapons purchases in Latin America are soaring as nations cast a wary eye on their neighbors.
A little more than 1 million people work in the illegal drug trade including “around 200,000” women, according to the COCyP association of peasant organizations, based on police estimates.
Rights activists in the northern Mexican border city of Tijuana have hung 5,100 small white crosses on the fence straddling the U.S. frontier to commemorate migrants who have died trying to cross.
Zelaya, Micheletti Beginning to Disagree About Crisis-Ending Accord
October 29, 2009
As scientists race the clock to increase food production worldwide, new trials to plant genetically-modified maize have stoked anger in Mexico, the cradle of corn.
October 28, 2009
Mexico’s pink taxis cater to fed-up females – In colonial city of Pueblo, these cabs don’t stop for men
October 27, 2009
Central America is most crime-ridden region in world, U.N. report finds
October 26, 2009
Guatemala suffered 2,953 murders during the first 9 months of this year, a prominent human rights organization said Friday.
October 17, 2009
Tens of thousands of people have marched to protest Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s decision to disband a public electricity company.
October 14, 2009
Faced with a deep recession, Cuba tries socialism lite – scaling back socialism in an attempt to save it
Mexico’s automotive industry saw production plummet 37.7% during the first nine months of this year, while exports plunged 35.5% and domestic sales dropped 30.6%
October 13, 2009
The slumping global economy is having a stimulus effect on Costa Rica’s famous sex-tourism industry, as a growing number of unemployed women — from Colombia to the Dominican Republic — flock to San José to seek a living in the world’s oldest profession.
October 12, 2009
Just over 50% of Brazilians age 25 and older did not complete the eight years of basic education
Honduras De Facto Regime Opens Fire in Poor Neighborhoods: Youth and union members targeted by coup violence
October 9, 2009
Several acclaimed Argentine writers presented a new work that uses the Bible as its starting point but takes creative liberties with some of the most widely read passages of that holy text.
Mexico aims to make Baja safer for U.S. tourists – Task force will be made up of bilingual officers; primarily will serve Americans – Initial plan is to create a force that patrols a 50-mile tourist corridor of Baja
October 7, 2009
Killings in Cuidad Juárez: Girl, 9, among 35 homicides in first 4 days of October
A trio of South Florida Republican lawmakers said Tuesday that the remedy to the post-coup woes in Honduras lies in U.S. support of next month’s scheduled elections. – U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart
October 5, 2009
Nobel Prize to Piedad Cordoba? – One of the most controversial figures in Colombia may be an odds-on favorite to win one of the world’s most prestigious awards.
For 90 Minutes, a Break From a Political Crisis in Honduras – A victory against the United States on Saturday would virtually assure Honduras of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1982.
The good news is that Washington has finally begun to take stronger actions on Honduras. The bad news is that the actions completely contradict each other, resulting in ambiguity, paralysis and infighting as the Honduran crisis explodes.
October 2, 2009
Colombia’s spy scandal – The intelligence agency has been spying on Colombians — but most don’t care if it means they’re safer from guerrillas.
Political scheme turns Mexican into odd celebrity – Rafael Acosta strode into Mexico City’s legislature with his arms raised triumphantly and was sworn into office. Immediately after the ceremony, he requested a leave of absence – part of an elaborate political scheme that has captivated Mexico.
September 30, 2009
Peru’s largest penitentiary, located in Lima, transforms itself into a discotheque on the weekends where drugs and beer are sold, and authorities also allow entry to women and bands
Experts compare Mexico’s battle with drug cartels to Colombia’s
September 29, 2009
A Chilean family who was removing the soil from the yard of their home where they were planning to do some construction got a big surprise when they found four skeletons dating from 320 B.C.
Coup Declares State of Siege, Suspends Constitutional Rights – Honduras
September 28, 2009
Nearly 70% of Argentine forests lost in a century
The Sound and Fury of the Honduran Coup: Acoustic and Chemical Attacks on Brazilian Embassy
September 24, 2009
Barack Obama’s call for action on climate change and his admission that rich nations have a particular responsibility to lead has received strong praise from an unusual source – U.S. nemesis Fidel Castro.
Cubans tell of capture and torture on Mexican journey
Mexico’s unemployment rate rose to 6.28% in August, the highest rate in more than 13 years.
Breaking the Silence: The Mexican Army and the 1997 Acteal Massacre
Last week marked the beginning of a sea change in U.S. and Cuba cooperation on the environment. Our Oceans team invited and secured visas for a delegation of Cuban scientists to come to the U.S. for meetings with EDF and other partners.
September 22, 2009
Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho seeks protection for new threats
The countdown has begun for Mexico’s 2010 bicentennial, but efforts to celebrate with a massive public-works campaign are mired in problems.
September 21, 2009
Mexico could see up to 5 million cases of swine flu during this winter’s flu season, a higher projection than officials had previously given
The Caesar restaurant in the Mexican city of Tijuana, which is considered to be the birthplace of the famous Caesar salad, closed its doors this week because of the recession
The future of freedom of speech in Latin America is being subjected to the “harassment” of policies designed “to put limits on it that are being repeated around the region,” Gonzalo Marroquin, vice president of the Inter-American Press Association, said at the conclusion of a forum held in Caracas.
Parents Rent Children to Pornographers for a Few Cents in Peru
September 18, 2009
Former presidents from Peru and Bolivia joined newspaper editors from across the Americas on Friday in condemning what they call a series of attempts by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and some of his allies, to clamp down on the news media.
South American nations are spending billions bulking up the military to defend rugged jungle and mountain borders as well as oil and mineral reserves. However, analysts say the region faces few real external threats.
September 17, 2009
Mexico water shortage becomes crisis amid drought
Crops are wilting in the countryside, and the capital’s water shortage has turned dire as Mexico grapples with its worst drought in more than half a century.
Honduras: Colombian ex-Paramilitaries Recruited by Pro-Coup Forces
Guatemalan army stole children for adoption, report says
Honduran Coup Squeezed From Above and Below—But is it Enough to Restore Democracy?
September 15, 2009
U.S. officials troubled by fake currency flowing from Peru – In the last year, agents have recovered about $8 million in fake notes across the U.S. and $18 million, as well as fake passports, in raids in Peru, authorities say.
September 14, 2009
One of Colombia’s leading cyclists has pulled out of a race after receiving the stunning news that his father had died – followed by his mother one hour later.
Argentine Cattle No Longer Just Home On The Range – ever so quietly, Argentina is increasingly fattening its herd in American-style feedlots.
September 10, 2009
Uruguay clears way for gay adoptions
September 9, 2009
Fighting over Frida Kahlo – In Mexico, the emergence of work said to be made by the artist has led to a very public debate about its authenticity.
President Alvaro Uribe signed legislation Tuesday calling for a national referendum on amending the constitution to allow him to seek re-election for a second time.
September 8, 2009
Peru: 370 potato varieties catalogued in 7 Huanuco provinces
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has accepted the resignation of his attorney general who has been key in the battle against drug cartels. – Eduardo Medina Mora
With a new attorney general, Mexican President Felipe Calderon is trying to get even tougher on drug cartels and those who protect them. – but is Arturo Chavez the right person for the job?
According to El Comercio, the Central Reserve Bank of Peru estimates that from 2009 until 2050, climate change will cost the Peruvian Government six to seven times the total of Peru’s GDP in 2008 or US$855 Billion.
September 4, 2009
FASINPAT: A Factory that Belongs to the People- Argentina
Mexico’s ‘Murder Capital’ Lives Up To Reputation – During a 48-hour stretch this week, 37 people were killed – Cuidad Juarez
Gunmen Kill 17 At A Drug Rehab In Mexico – Cuidad Juarez
September 3, 2009
A federal judge ordered the Cuban government and the ruling Communist Party on Wednesday to pay $27.5 million in damages to a Kentucky woman whose journalist son has been jailed since a 2003 crackdown on dissent.
Chilean judge calculates Pinochet’s secret fortune – the accounts of Pinochet and his family reached a value of $25,978,602.79 shortly before his death in December 2006.
September 2, 2009
Return of the dictators? Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe is the latest in a string of Latin American leaders to push for more time in office.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to meet ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Thursday, the State Department said as Washington debates formally cutting off aid to the Honduran government.
Cuba embargo law set to expire — but it doesn’t mean much
Drug Cartels Make $64 Billion a Year from U.S., Mexican Says
September 1, 2009
Mexico evacuates thousands ahead of hurricane
Mexico Forecasts Winter Swine-Flu Infections Rising to 1 Million
Lessons from Mexico for next wave of swine flu
Honduran Constitutional Assembly Would Be a Step Toward the Emancipation of Women
August 27, 2009
Cuba faces toilet paper shortage
A poll of Cuban Americans on Colombian rocker Juanes’ controversial Cuba concert showed mixed feelings in the exile community.
August 26, 2009
Argentina court ruling decriminalizes marijuana and makes personal use a constitutional right
Exports from Latin American and Caribbean nations are set to show their steepest fall in more than 70 years, the United Nations has predicted.
Police in the Mexican border city of Tijuana say they have arrested six men for stealing pieces of the U.S. border fence to sell as scrap metal.
August 25, 2009
Mexico’s water commission warned Monday of the risk of a “critical” water shortage at the start of 2010 and called on state governments to act now to save water.
LAPD Bicycle Police in Mexico City
Honduran Society Faces Contradictions of Illegitimate Institutions – Part 1: The Coup’s Version of ‘Order in the Court’
August 24, 2009
Peruvian food has worldwide sales of US $1.5 billion, says Gastón Acurio
Honduras’s Supreme Court has rejected a Costa Rica-brokered deal that would have restored ousted President Manuel Zelaya to power and sternly warned that he faces arrest if he returns.
August 21, 2009
The international financial crisis and the outbreak of swine flu have had a profound effect on Argentina, including what many see as part of its very essence – the tango.
Argentina’s Impoverished North Battles Ferocious Dengue Epidemic
Report: 52 Mexican reporters killed in last decade
The U.S. State Department is warning Americans to stay away from President Felipe Calderon’s home state of Michoacan, where drug cartel members killed 18 federal agents last month.
Mexico City has suspended its anti-kidnapping chief over a rescue attempt fraught with catastrophic errors in which police killed two of their own FBI-trained commanders and a captor shot the kidnapped woman.
August 18, 2009
Diego Luna pidió reacción ante violencia – Preocupado por lo que vive México
August 17, 2009
Singer Carlos Ocaranza was gunned down Sunday as he left a bar where he had given a concert in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara – related to Valentin Elizalde
August 16, 2009
Mexico cartels go from drugs to full-scale mafias
Doctored Data Cast Doubt on Argentina – Economists Dispute Inflation Numbers
Hundreds of farm workers in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur are being exploited by employers who trick them into believing they are in the United States and keep them in line with threats of deportation
August 14, 2009
Report: Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez aggressively seizing control of media
August 13, 2009
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has declared a water-shortage alert in the Mexican capital, saying the situation could become “extremely serious” by the beginning of 2010
Peru detects swine flu in Amazon Indian tribe
August 12, 2009
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is suffering from the H1N1 virus, making him the first head of state known to have contracted swine flu.
Since Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez called golf a “bourgeois sport,” officials have moved to shut down two of the country’s best-known courses.
August 11, 2009
More than 600 former agents of Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency, or AFI, are now working for drug cartels, Reforma newspaper said Monday, citing anonymous official sources.
August 10, 2009
Argentine faithful pray for jobs as poverty soars
A racehorse valued at $100,000 was stolen earlier this week by several assailants who killed it to sell its meat by the kilo at a market south of Lima.
Cuban economy feels heat of world downturn
Despite the economic embargo the U.S. has maintained against Cuba since 1962, the communist island imported from its northern neighbor products – mainly food – valued at more than $4.4 billion over the past eight years,
Mexican Drug Cartels Smuggling Stolen Oil To US, Selling It To American Refineries
August 6, 2009
Nike Becomes Latest Brand to Sign With Mexico’s Hot Indie Shops – Anonimo Launches With the Iconic Marketer on Board
August 5, 2009
In Argentina, Flu Takes Center Stage – Capital’s Lively Theater District Grows Quiet With Arrival of H1N1
August 3, 2009
A sprawling refugee tent city just blocks from the presidential palace has become a nagging reminder to residents of Colombia’s cosmopolitan capital that a brutal conflict is being fought in far-flung provinces.
Upscale grocery stores that were scheduled to close two days last week for inventory remained shuttered Monday – sparking rumors of food shortages because of the country’s dire economic situation.
Venezuelan regulators revoked the broadcast rights of 34 radio stations on Friday, deepening a rift between President Hugo Chavez’s government and the private media.
Brazil Takes the Lead in Using Twitter
July 29, 2009
A Transgender Person is Murdered Every 3 Days in the World…Mostly in Latin America
In Venezuela, Plantations of Cacao Stir Bitterness – The passions surrounding the crop have turned it into a contentious political issue
July 28, 2009
Nicaragua Abortion Ban Forces Rape, Incest Victims To Give Birth
Mexico City authorities have announced an emergency, 10-month water rationing plan in response to severe shortages that Mayor Marcelo Ebrard blames on global warming.
July 23, 2009
Mexican drug lords sport flashy, goofy nicknames – Edgar Valdez Villarreal is believed to be the chief hit man for one of Mexico’s most brutal drug cartels. His nickname? “Barbie.”
Several Mexican discount airlines have recently been grounded because of safety violations, and regulators are closely watching other financially strapped airlines that often carry American tourists and others on domestic routes.
July 21, 2009
Mexican Drug Cartels Spread Their Tentacles Into 47 Nations
State Ruled by Crime and Chávez Family – Barinas, Venezuela – Stretching over vast cattle estates at the foothills of the Andes, Barinas is known for two things: as the bastion of the family of President Hugo Chávez and as the setting for a terrifying surge in abductions, making it a contender for Latin America’s most likely place to get kidnapped.
Castro retiene 600 cubanos con visa estadounidense
Honduran military overthrew the democratically elected government of Manuel Zelaya two weeks ago there might have been a sigh of relief in the corporate board rooms of Chiquita banana,” writes journalist Nikolas Kozloff. “Earlier this year the Cincinnati-based fruit company joined Dole in criticizing the government in Tegucigalpa which had raised the minimum wage by 60%.” Kozloff goes on to trace Chiquita’s “long and sordid” political history in Central America.
July 20, 2009
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused unnamed U.S. intelligence agencies of planning the coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya without the knowledge of President Barack Obama.
July 16, 2009
Mexico has retaliated against Canada for imposing visa restrictions, saying Canadian officials and diplomats will need visas to enter Mexico.
Swine flu bites Southern Hemisphere – Schools and theaters are closed while swine flu deaths rise during Argentina’s winter.
In Argentina, Pepsi Becomes ‘Pecsi’ – Responding to Local Pronunciation, the Brand Changes Its Name
July 15, 2009
Why Honduras Sent Zelaya Away – The former president threatened to use force against the Congress and other institutions.
An armed gang shot dead a mayor in northern Mexico, capping a vicious 48-hour period that has seen 30 people killed, including 12 police officers in the west of the country – Chihuahua
July 14, 2009
Canada imposes a visa on Mexico // Canadá impone una visa a México
July 11, 2009
Honduras’ Micheletti is both admired and reviled – A kingpin of Honduran politics for 30 years, Roberto Micheletti is a ’stubborn mule’ who has become an international political figure overnight.
July 9, 2009
Mexico Accused of Torture in Drug War – Army Using Brutality To Fight Trafficking, Rights Groups Say
July 8, 2009
Mexico: Voters Share Their Null Ballots on Twitter
July 2, 2009
Is there a lot of “cantinfleando” happening in Mexico? – Midterm elections
July 1, 2009
Honduran Rural Leader Rafael Alegria: “Some Battalions Are Refusing to Repress the Population”
Honduras new government is censoring journalists
Generals Who Led Honduras Military Coup Trained at the (infamous) School of the Americas
June 29, 2009
Mexican Man Allegedly Tries To Sell Woman, 4 Kids To U.S. For $2,000 Each
Ontario Convention Center Caters to Quinceañera Celebrations
June 28, 2009
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says soldiers rousted him out of bed, beat his body guards and arrested him in his pajamas in what he criticized as “a coup” and “a kidnapping.”
June 25, 2009
Cuba’s Population to Fall Below 11 Million by 2032
Mexico fights resurgent dengue fever – on the rise in Mexico and elsewhere in the Americas.
June 22, 2009
Drug cartels in Mexico killing street dealers – In Tijuana, they fill at least 90 percent of the body bags, according to top law enforcement officials.
June 19, 2009
Colombia tops in internally displaced says U.N.
Mexico levied organized crime and drug charges Thursday against seven mayors, the former state attorney general and 19 other officials in the western state of Michoacan for allegedly aiding a drug cartel.
June 17, 2009
The Drug Lord Who Got Away – Mexican Capo Unleashes Mayhem on U.S. Border; The Making of a Legend – El Chapo
June 16, 2009
Cuba to Carry out Reforms in Face of Economic Crisis
In Mexico, the U.S. Downturn Hits Home – Poor Towns Especially Hurt as Immigrants’ Money Transfers Drop Sharply
June 15, 2009
Cuidad Juárez: 100 killed since June began; 18 slain on Friday, Saturday
June 11, 2009
The United States on Wednesday canceled more than $60 million in assistance to Nicaragua, citing concerns about democracy, rule of law and a free market economy in the Latin American nation now led by a former Marxist guerrilla leader.
Bullets don’t stop Guatemala green activist – Yuri Melini was shot seven times by an assailant nine months ago. The outspoken champion of environmental causes has made many enemies, and gained recognition too.
The leader of Peru’s Amazon Indians will be flown to exile in Nicaragua after seeking asylum following violent demonstrations that killed scores of police and protesters. Alberto Pizango, the head of Aidesep, which represents 56 tribes
Venezuela bans Coke Zero, cites “danger to health”
June 8, 2009
Mexican day care deaths stir anger at safety rules
June 7, 2009
16 Dead in Acapulco:: Soldiers fought for two hours with armed men apparently holding police hostage at a house in Acapulco, leaving one soldier and 15 gunmen dead, a military official said Sunday.
June 6, 2009
Mexico day care fire kills 31 children
June 5, 2009
Mexican drug gangs are moving operations to Guatemala, where weak law enforcement and deep-rooted corruption provide fertile ground, officials and analysts say.
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim on Thursday launched a joint 100 million dollar project to protect Mexico’s environment with the government and the World Wildlife Fund.
What Is Killing Chile’s Coastal Wildlife?
In its rivalry with Peru to have the largest number of registered butterfly species, Colombia has taken a giant step in exhibiting these creatures: interactive butterfly habitats that recreate natural ecosystems.
A senior communist official says Cuba is happy with an Organization of American States decision lifting a decades-long suspension on the island, but it won’t return to the group.
Colorado Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba’s 11-year-old son and brother-in-law were released by kidnappers a day after being abducted in Venezuela.
June 4, 2009
Mexico is failing to stop deforestation, despite planting millions of trees, Greenpeace said here Wednesday, two days before the country hosts the UN World Environment Day.
June 3, 2009
Mexico’s only national English-language daily newspaper, the News, based in Mexico City, was bought by a Mexican media company, and dozens of staffers were laid off over the weekend
Mexican officials say kidnappings have jumped 8.7 percent over an eight-month period despite stepped-up arrests.
Chile reports 1st swine flu death in South America
Cubans faced power blackouts, longer waits for buses, uncomfortable working conditions and skimpier lunches on Monday as the government introduced austerity measures to cope with a growing economic squeeze.
The rounding up of thousands of suspects in Mexico’s drug war has left the already unruly prison system overwhelmed with jailbreaks and struggling to contain deadly riots between inmates from rival gangs.
June 2, 2009
A university professor was among more than 20 people killed as the violence in Juárez surged over the weekend.
June 1, 2009
Mexico City museums ask for help after influenza
May 30, 2009
Lots of people without water in Mexico City this weekend – Se quedan al 50% de agua por 48 horas – Preparan pipas para surtir líquido a miles de afectados
A Leader’s Limit – Why Colombia’s successful president should not seek another term in office
May 29, 2009
Peru: Freezing Temperatures in Puno Result in 133 Children Deaths
Mexico’s top prosecutor on Thursday offered a $380,000 reward for information in the kidnapping and murder of a newspaper reporter who was found beaten and dead in an irrigation canal in northern Mexico this week.
Hugo Chavez Talkathon To Last 4 Days
April 24, 2009
$62,000 movie download in Mexico
April 22, 2009
Dengue Fever Spreading, Worsening In Latin America
April 18, 2009
Paraguay: President Fernando Lugo Admits Fathering a Child as Bishop
April 15, 2009
Peru: Mass Sterilizations During ex-president Alberto Fujimori Term
April 11, 2009
About five million people in Mexico City woke up Thursday with dry taps/no water.
April 10, 2009
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales is on a hunger strike to force the National Congress to pass a law.
April 7, 2009
Peru court sentences Alberto Fujimori to 25 years prison
April 2, 2009
Police in northern Mexico caught a gang that allegedly stole oil from state-owned pipelines and smuggled it across the border to sell it to U.S. refineries, authorities said Tuesday.
March 24, 2009
Mexico’s government on Monday offered up to $2 million each for information leading to the arrest of 24 top drug lords in a public challenge to the cartels’ violent grip on the country.
The extravagant home of a brother of the president who legalized divorce in Cuba nearly a century ago is now a ramshackle wedding palace. 60% divorce rate in Cuba – the dilapidated mansion stands high atop a rocky promontory as a monument to a long-suffering institution.
March 23, 2009
In just under 60 years, per-capita availability of water in Mexico has fallen by 75 percent,
Rural Mexican villages dig moats to repel gangsters – Ditches don’t always deter raids, but federal troops can’t be spared – Cuauhtemoc
The Many Stories of Carlos Fernando Chamorro – President of Nicaragua
March 21, 2009
Five indigenous human rights activists in Mexico are still being held in prison nearly a year after their arrest, despite insufficient evidence against them.
March 17, 2009
The dark side of Cuban cigars – With long-suffering Cuba hard hit by the economic crisis and pounded by two hurricanes last year, the government has stepped up its fight against illegal trade, including in cigars
Where’s Ecuador? Better not ask that question in Brazil. A new Brazilian geography text book for sixth-grade students doesn’t even include the South American country on the map.
Fueled by Coca, Peru’s Rebel War Reignites
Cuidad Juarez – The killings appear to have slowed in the murder capital of North America. Three hundred homicides, or about five a day, occurred in Juárez in the first two months of the year. During the last two weeks, the death toll has fallen to one or two a day.
March 16, 2009
Peru beer made from coca leaf to be exported to China
March 14, 2009
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Simón Bolívar! – Inspired by socialist President Hugo Chavez, a father and daughter are hoping to launch a line of action figures from Venezuela’s history to counter the popularity of “imperialist” American superheroes like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
Chile sues U.S. banks over hidden Pinochet accounts
March 13, 2009
EL SALVADOR: ‘Many Swapped Farming for (Shrinking) Remittances’
El Salvador Holds National Elections Amidst Renewed GOP Threats Against Electing FMLN
March 12, 2009
An outbreak of mass hysteria is reported to have struck three indigenous communities living near the river Coco in northern Nicaragua.
March 6, 2009
Mexican Drug Cartels Load Up On US Bullets
The Mexican president has blamed US “corruption” for hampering his nation’s efforts to combat violent drug cartels. Felipe Calderon also told the AFP news agency that the main cause of Mexico’s drug gang problems was “having the world’s biggest consumer [of drugs] next to us”.
March 3, 2009
Fidel Castro said Tuesday that two of his closest lieutenants had become seduced by “the honey of power,” and hinted that they were demoted because their angling for leadership roles in a post-Castro Cuba had become unseemly.
For Some Taxi Drivers, a Different Kind of Traffic – Cabbies’ “narco-tours” in Mazatlán
Spain’s Basque country voters end nationalist grip on power – Election results leave way open for socialists to lead new government in the region
President Raul Castro shook up Cuba’s top leadership on Monday, replacing key figures tied to his brother Fidel Castro with others apparently closer to him
February 16, 2009
Mexico will start a national register of mobile phone users that will include fingerprinting all customers in an effort to catch criminals who use the devices to extort money and negotiate kidnapping ransoms.
With home sales plunging as the global financial crisis chokes domestic demand, Chilean real estate companies are offering apartments at what they say are cost prices at night — and even picking up buyers’ air fares as an incentive.
Brazil To Distribute 65 Million Condoms For Carnival
President Hugo Chavez won a referendum to eliminate term limits Sunday and vowed to remain in power for at least another decade to complete his socialist revolution. Opponents accepted defeat but said Chavez is becoming a dictator.
February 10, 2009
The drive by Venezuela’s autocratic president, Hugo Chavez, to export his brand of socialism across Latin America and remain in power indefinitely is being jeopardised by tumbling oil prices.
February 9, 2009
Will Bolivia Be Ruined, Improved, or Hated Because of Electric Cars?
February 5, 2009
Cómo Carmen pierde su playa – México azotado por una tormenta perfecta – Playa del Carmen, Cancún, Akumal, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres y toda la Riviera Maya
February 4, 2009
Mexico drug fighter killed after less than a day on job – Retired Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñonez, his aide and a driver were tortured before being killed near Cancun
February 1, 2009
Guatemala’s government on Friday filed 3,350 criminal complaints accusing former soldiers, paramilitaries and others of human rights violations against more than 5,000 civilians during the country’s 1960-1996 civil war.
Hands across Caribbean – interesting read about Cuba
January 28, 2009
The International Labor Organization says as many as 2.4 million Latin Americans could lose their jobs this year due to the global economic crisis.
Some experts worry that a new generation of Latin American strongmen, or caudillos, is taking hold. They are generally civilians instead of soldiers, and they take office via elections instead of coups, but once in power they use every means available to extend their terms in office — by years or even decades.
January 26, 2009
Wal-Mart’s Entry Into Chile Market Threatens Cuban Rum
January 23, 2009
Capturan a presunto narco; confiesa haber matado a 300 – Santiago Meza López, conocido como El Pozolero del Teo, ocupa el número 20 en la lista de los más buscados por el FBI. El sicario, quien fue detenido en la carretera escénica Ensenada-Tijuana, afirma que se deshacía de los cuerpos de sus víctimas con ácido
Mexico fires up $550 million wind farm
January 21, 2009
Heavy rains have damaged part of one of Peru’s top tourist destination, depositing clay and sand on mysterious figures etched in the desert sand by indigenous groups centuries ago, an archaeologist said Monday.
Dominicanos desaparecidos podrían estar presos en Cuba
Tequila gives Mexico an environmental hangover
December 28, 2008
Laura Zuniga, Mexican Beauty Queen, Jailed, Stripped Of Title
Nicaragua turns to wind power, builds 19 windmills
Disappearing Caribbean: The unique Cuban way of life – There’s nowhere like Cuba. But how much longer do we have to experience its unique way of life?
Caracas gunmen vanish from city payroll – Some 4,000 city of Caracas employees, including hired gunmen, have failed to show up for work following the election of opposition Mayor Antonio Ledezma.
December 23, 2008
Spanish-based Grupo Excelencias teamed with the communist government to create mallhabana.com, designed to let Cubans in the United States and elsewhere around the world use U.S. dollars to buy gifts for relatives here.
A reigning Mexican beauty queen from the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa was arrested with suspected gang members in a truck filled guns and ammunition, police said Tuesday. Miss Sinaloa 2008 Laura Zuniga
Cuidad Juárez slayings persist with 20 over weekend, 3 Monday
December 22, 2008
Web offers murky messages on Cuidad Juárez violence
Hundreds of Brazil’s eco-warriors at risk of assassination
December 21, 2008
Juárez violence is boon to non-cartel criminals – Lawlessness affects businesses, taxpayers
A yearlong epidemic of violence, the bulk blamed on drug-related viciousness, also killed the laughter and the music, decapitated a way of life, and shoved families and individuals on both sides of the Rio Grande into a perpetual state of sadness. The once-vibrant downtown nightclub and tourist district — the cultural corazón of Juárez — usually jammed with people this time of year, is now hauntingly silent.
December 19, 2008
Cuban President Raúl Castro has offered to exchange political dissidents in his country for five Cubans jailed in the United States on espionage convictions.
December 18, 2008
Latin America has 40 million indigenous residents, who speak 420 languages, says UNICEF
Peru’s cash-strapped Christmas treat: guinea pig
Spain’s last statue of Franco is taken down in Santander
The German company Siemens AG has acknowledged paying millions of dollars in bribes to secure business in Venezuela and Argentina
December 17, 2008
Inundaciones en Colombia dejan más de 1,1 millones de damnificados
December 15, 2008
Dos millones de personas sufren hambre en Bolivia un país con poco más de un millón de kilómetros de territorio y menos de 10 millones de habitantes debido a insuficientes políticas alimentarias pero también por desastres naturales agravados por el cambio climático, informaron expertos.
In Colombia, they call him Captain Nemo – Authorities say Enrique Portocarrero was the innovative creator of stealthy submarines called semi-submersibles, used by cocaine traffickers to evade detection.
Mexican Playboy Magazine Apologizes for Nude Virgin Mary Cover
December 12, 2008
Mexico announced a plan Thursday to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 using solar power, wind and other clean technologies — making it one of the few developing countries to set a specific emissions reduction target.
Playboy publica fotos que representan a la Virgen semi-desnuda
Nearly 30,000 Cuban doctors, dentists, nurses and technicians are providing healthcare to the poor through a Venezuelan government-sponsored program, officials here said Wednesday.
Colombia: Social Conflict Replaces Warfare – Social conflict has overtaken the center of the political stage, displacing President Alvaro Uribe, who merely repeats the script that brought him so much success in the war: the Indians, sugarcane workers, teachers, government workers, truckers, and anyone else who protests and mobilizes is being manipulated by the FARC guerrillas.
“Hellboy” director Guillermo del Toro says he is unlikely to make another film in Mexico because his father’s kidnapping 10 years ago left him fearing for his safety, a newspaper reported Thursday.
December 10, 2008
Mexico’s bloody drug war – The drug violence in Mexico rivals death tolls in Iraq.
On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Wednesday — a day when Cuban dissidents traditionally gather for protest marches — Belinda Salas, a leading Cuban activist, was beaten by Cuban police, she said via telephone in Havana.
Undocumented migrants expelled from the land of their dreams – A government-chartered plane recently carried more than 100 undocumented Hondurans back to their country, one of several daily deportation flights.
December 9, 2008
Mexico: Gang killings more than double in 2008
December 8, 2008
Debate Rages in Peru: Was a Lost City Ever Lost? – Machu Picchu
A Lifestyle Distinct: The Muxe of Mexico – Mexico can be intolerant of homosexuality; it can also be quite liberal. Gay-bashing incidents are not uncommon in the countryside, where many Mexicans consider homosexuality a sin. In Mexico City, meanwhile, same-sex domestic partnerships are legally recognized — and often celebrated lavishly in government offices as if they were marriages. But nowhere are attitudes toward sex and gender quite as elastic as in the far reaches of the southern state of Oaxaca. There, in the indigenous communities around the town of Juchitán, the world is not divided simply into gay and straight. The local Zapotec people have made room for a third category, which they call “muxes”
At least 28 people, including 10 people in two separate mass shootings at bars, were slain over the weekend in Juárez, Mexican authorities said.
December 7, 2008
Hugo Chávez’s government gave out millions of dollars in cash and goods to buy votes in recent elections, evidence and testimony shows.
December 6, 2008
Bolivian leader Evo Morales on Thursday accused the US government of encouraging drug-trafficking as he explained his decision to banish the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Bolivian leader Evo Morales on Thursday accused the US government of encouraging drug-trafficking as he explained his decision to banish the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Sólo 20 policías vigilarán a 18,000 universitarios – Mexico
Cuba Police Accuse Prominent Blogger Of Illegal Activity – Yoani Sánchez
23 seconds of the Mexican drug war – When four people in a jewelry store were killed by gunmen who took nothing, few doubted it was a message sent in the drug war. – Video
December 5, 2008
Pain and Protest on the Day of the Butterflies: Violence Persists Against Women in Mexico
Traditionally pro-Chavez slum turns to opposition – The barrio of Petare, one of the biggest slums in Latin America
México presentó su primera denuncia penal por el cultivo ilegal de maíz modificado genéticamente en la tierra ancestral del grano, informó el secretario de Agricultura Alberto Cárdenas
December 3, 2008
Mexico quickly becoming favorite place for car thieves – About 60,000 vehicles were stolen in just over a year, Mexican insurers report
In the face of an unfolding legal battle over its ownership, the Gelman collection of 20th-century Mexican art has been hidden by its current owner, American curator Robert Littman
Archbishop warns alcoholism wreaking havoc on Mexican society
