Latin America

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Amazon Indians Win Repeal of Land Grab Laws

Decision hailed as major victory for indigenous people

(Newser) - Peru's Congress has revoked two laws that led to bloody clashes between police and indigenous protesters, CNN reports. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of ditching the laws that opened up the country's Amazon region to mining, logging, and oil companies. Dozens of people died earlier this month when police moved...

Cuba Rejects OAS Membership

Cuba calls decision to revoke suspension 'a major victory' but won't rejoin

(Newser) - Cuba has decided not to rejoin the Organization of American States despite the group lifting the country's 47-year suspension, the Voice of America reports. Cuba's parliament leader called the decision to lift the ban "a major victory," but said Cuba hasn't changed its thinking on the group and...

OAS Votes to Readmit Cuba

Castro blasts group as a tool of the US

(Newser) - The Organization of American States voted today to revoke a 1962 measure expelling communist Cuba, reversing a landmark of the Cold War in the hemisphere. It was not immediately clear if the ministers set democratic reform or human-rights conditions on Cuba's return to full participation in the organization, as Secretary...

El Salvador's 1st Leftist President Sworn In

Vows to transform nation, praises Obama in inaugural speech

(Newser) - A former TV journalist representing a party founded by Marxist guerrillas has been sworn in as El Salvador's first leftist president. Mauricio Funes, who ran on a center-left, pro-America platform, called Barack Obama an inspiration in his inauguration speech and singled out Hillary Clinton, who attended the ceremony, as "...

Chile's Thrift Pays Off as Downturn Bites Elsewhere

Finance minister hailed for dodging commodity bubble

(Newser) - Chile's thrifty finance minister is starting to look like a prophet as spendthrift, "grasshopper" economies founder around him, the Wall Street Journal reports. Andres Velasco's tight grip on the country's copper revenue during the commodities boom made him and his party deeply unpopular at the time, but the country...

Chavez Hints at Ditching OAS to Form Cuba Partnership

Nations eye alternative regional group

(Newser) - Venezuela would jump at the chance to join Cuba as an Organization of American States outcast, reports the AP. The never-shy Hugo Chavez claims the OAS, which suspended Cuba in 1962, serves US interests and says the two countries could form an alternative regional group. Cuba's foreign minister agreed, calling...

Chávez Targets Cable Station as Tensions Rise

Move part of a larger effort to extend govt's reach, say critics

(Newser) - Venezuela is taking steps to shut down an anti-Chávez TV news station as tensions continue to grow between the government and opposition. Authorities have accused the station of "media terrorism" by covering an earthquake before the government released an official report. Three months after winning a referendum that...

Cinco de Mayo Marginalizes Non-Mexican Latinos

(Newser) - Cinco de Mayo has become a very visible celebration in the US, but the Mexican holiday’s prevalence is just one indicator of the marginalization of other Latino immigrants, the AP reports. The Mexican-American population is almost equal to that of all other Latin American immigrants combined, resulting in a...

Supermarket Magnate Wins Panama Election

Landslide offers rare right-wing victory in Latin America

(Newser) - A conservative supermarket owner won a landslide victory in Panama's presidential election, in a rare win for the political right in the region. Ricardo Martinelli, a multimillionaire who financed his own campaign, vowed to expand investment in the Panama Canal and introduce a flat tax. "We can't continue to...

6.0 Quake Shakes Mexico City
 6.0 Quake Shakes Mexico City 
Apr 27, 2009 12:40 PM CDT

6.0 Quake Shakes Mexico City

(Newser) - A strong earthquake struck central Mexico today, causing tall buildings in the capital to sway and sending office workers into the streets. The 6.0-magnitude quake was centered near Chilpancingo, about 130 miles southwest of Mexico City, and 50 miles from the resort of Acapulco, according to the US Geological...

US Wants Informal Chat on Cuba Ties
US Wants Informal Chat
on Cuba Ties
Apr 27, 2009 8:58 AM CDT

US Wants Informal Chat on Cuba Ties

Casual discussions could pave road to 'open relationship'

(Newser) - The US is inching toward loosening relations with Cuba on the heels of President Obama’s Latin American trip, the New York Times reports. Cuban diplomats are set to meet informally with US officials to “test the waters,” an administration official said, mulling future talks over migration, drug...

Ecuador's Lefty President Nabs Landslide Win

Correa is country's first incumbent to be reelected in 37 years

(Newser) - Voters reelected Rafael Correa as president of Ecuador yesterday, making the US-educated leftist the first incumbent to win reelection since 1972. "We have made history," said Correa at his victory rally. After his three predecessors were all thrown out of office amid anti-government protests, Correa has brought a...

Obama's Apologies Create a Sorry Situation: Rove

No reason for contrition in GOP pundit's mind

(Newser) - Barack Obama has finished his "international confession tour," and Karl Rove can’t figure out what it was supposed to accomplish. After his public apologies on two continents, "our adversaries rejoiced," Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal. David Axelrod swears this will yield “very,...

Japan Pays Latin American Workers to Go, Stay Home

Plan hatched to ease recession burdens

(Newser) - Faced with rising unemployment, Japan is paying foreign workers to leave the nation for good, the New York Times reports. The offer targets some 366,000 Latin Americans of Japanese descent who perform undesirable manufacturing jobs. With industrial production at a 25-year low, many of them are out of work,...

Hugo's Gift Keeps on Selling

Volume on colonial oppression becomes overnight best-seller

(Newser) - Hugo Chavez has done for a book on the exploitation of Latin America what Bo did for Portuguese water dogs, the BBC reports. Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent has gone from 54,295th to second on Amazon’s sales...

Obama Defends Handshake, Urges Cuba to Free Prisoners

Bolivian prez accuses US of assassination plot

(Newser) - President Obama defended his friendly chat with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and asked Cuba to free its political prisoners, the Wall Street Journal reports. At the close of the Summit of the America's today, Obama brushed off Republican criticism, saying that turning a new page with Venezuela and Cuba represents...

Chavez Gives Obama Book —on Colonial Oppression

(Newser) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave President Obama a Spanish-language book today about the historical ravages visited on Latin America by colonial powers, Politico reports. The English title of the 1971 book by Eduardo Galeano is The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. The...

Obama Calls For 'New Beginning' With Cuba

(Newser) - Adding warm words to the ongoing thaw in US-Cuba relations, President Obama said today he sought "a new beginning" with the island's communist regime, the Los Angeles Times reports. Obama spoke after arriving at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. "I...

Obama to Push for Treaty on Arms Trafficking

(Newser) - President Obama wants to add muscle to America’s promise to curb the flow of weapons to Mexico’s drug cartels. After meeting with Mexican leader Felipe Calderon today, Obama said he would push the Senate to ratify a decade-old treaty on the matter, the Washington Post reports. President Clinton...

Chinese Influence Grows in Latin America

Deal by deal, Sino-South American relationships erode U.S. clout

(Newser) - Stepping into a gap created by the 1-2 punch of Bush administration neglect and worldwide recession, China is pumping billions of dollars into Latin America, helping to shore up slowing economies while the US plays catch-up in the region, the New York Times reports. "This is how the balance...

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