Blog entries

A fire bomb, possibly homemade, exploded on a passenger bus in northwestern Guatemala City on Monday, killing at least six people and injuring 17 more. Witnesses told police that a woman came aboard the bus, placed the bag that presumably held the explosive on the luggage rack, and then got off the bus. An investigation … Read more

After more than 90 years, Yale University has agreed to return 363 ancient artifacts excavated by Hiram Bingham, who is accredited with discovering Machu Picchu in Peru. According to the Ministry of Culture, the 363 Inca pieces that Bingham excavated will first be exhibited in Lima’s Museo de la Nacion in March 2011, and then … Read more

Carrying on a tradition begun under former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President Dilma Rousseff will bring together her principal ministers today for a coordination meeting to define the first steps to be taken by her government. As under Lula, these meetings will be held at the beginning of each week but do … Read more

It was a banner year in the history of gay rights in the Americas. Here are the top-20 LGBT-related stories. 20) Open Doors: United States. The law that banned HIV-positive non-U.S. citizens from traveling or immigrating to the United States officially ended. The ban began as policy in 1987 and became law in 1993 (January … Read more

Samuel Moreno, mayor of Bogotá, and his predecessor Luis Eduardo Garzón are under investigation by Sandra Morelli, Colombia’s Controller General, for corruption in the awarding of contracts for Bogotá’s TransMilenio public transit system. Ms. Morelli moved Tuesday to freeze the financial assets of both the incumbent and ex-mayor. The TransMilenio dilemma began when Mr. Garzón … Read more

Dear Readers: Weekly Roundup will take a winter break. Look for the next issue on January 12, 2011. Happy holidays! Chávez in Charge The Venezuelan National Assembly granted to President Hugo Chávez on December 16 the power to rule by decree for the next 18 months, in what El Tiempo calls legislators’ “fourth instance in … Read more

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration and Alberta’s regional government have pledged to develop a plan to correct “significant” flaws in the environmental oversight and pollution monitoring program of Canada’s vast oil sands within 90 days. The announcement follows a report from the federal Oil Sands Advisory Panel, which highlighted “significant shortcomings in the monitoring … Read more

The long-running debate over how to deal with the irrational and impulsive strongman, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, has reached feverish pitch this winter. The latest casualty in this war of words has become U.S. Ambassador Larry Palmer, the Obama administration’s nomination as ambassador to Venezuela. Worse yet, Chávez ultimately got what he wanted out of … Read more

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, released yesterday, documents violence and a climate of intimidation in Honduras in the aftermath of the 2009 military coup. The 65-page report, titled “After the Coup: Ongoing Violence, Intimidation, and Impunity in Honduras,” identified 47 cases of threats or attacks—including 18 killings of journalists, human rights defenders and political … Read more

Last November, in an unprecedented display of force, the Brazilian authorities performed a spectacular crackdown on criminal gangs operating in the Complexo de Alemao, a big system of favelas in the northern area of Rio de Janeiro. Such display of force is by no means excessive: some of the gangs in Rio’s favelas are well-armed, … Read more

The Haitian Electoral Council decided on Sunday to postpone the publication of the results of a recount of the November 28 presidential election. The recount, conducted by the Haitian government with the supervision of the Organization of American States (OAS), was a response to widespread allegations of fraud and ballot stuffing. In a statement, the … Read more

El paisaje es desértico y frío. Sopla el viento y sólo oyes, apenas, la paja brava crecida en esas tierras sin agua. Lo único que se ve, con suerte, son llamas y alguna vez un campesino. Así es el altiplano en la región de Potosí y Oruro, cerca de Orinoca, allí donde nació Evo Morales. … Read more

Earlier this week, Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas was awarded the European Union’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.  Mr. Fariñas, however, was unable to accept the award in person after Cuban authorities denied him papers to leave the country.  In his place, the presenters of the Sakharov Prize left Mr. Fariñas chair empty with just … Read more

The European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Guillermo Fariñas, a psychologist and independent journalist from the City of Santa Clara in central Cuba. Fariñas has been imprisoned 11 different times for his advocacy for a peaceful transition to democracy and the rule of law on the island. He received worldwide … Read more

Last week, thousands of poor families (13,000 people according to initial government counts), mostly non-citizens from bordering countries, took over a huge Indoamericano park nearby the Buenos Aires city town of Villa Soldati, and began constructing makeshift homes. The lack of immediate government response to the public park squatters, led angry neighbors to attempt to … Read more