NEW YORK — A Port-au-Prince school collapsed on a sunny day in Nov. 2008, leaving 80 children dead. The school, perched precariously on a hillside, had been built without a permit and with watered down concrete, its students crammed into overcrowded classrooms to increase tuition profits. “Where was the state?” asked William O’Neill, a lawyer [...]
North America Mexico Federal prosecutors in Mexico City announced Wednesday that they will advocate to overturn the city’s new gay marriage law on grounds that it violates the constitution, the Washington Post reports. The federal Attorney General’s office reportedly stated that the law “strays from the constitutional principle of protecting the family.” The Roman Catholic [...]
The Colombian government alleged that a Venezuelan military helicopter flew over a Colombian army base in the city of Arauca on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Colombia’s foreign ministry plans to send a letter of protest to the Venezuelan government and called the incident unacceptable. Relations between Colombia and Venezuela have soured in the [...]
Honduras is ready to swear in newly elected President Porfirio Lobo after six months of politcal turmoil following the June 28 coup that forced then-president Manuel Zelaya out of office and into exile, The BBC reports. Lobo said his first goal as president would be to ensure the safe passage of Zelaya to the Dominican [...]
Mexican doctors said that Paraguayan soccer player, Salvador Cabañas, is in critical but stable condition after being shot in the head in a Mexico City nightclub bathroom on Monday night, according to the Canadian Press. Dr. Enrique Martínez said that the Club America striker has brain swelling and that the bullet is still lodged in [...]
NEW YORK — Fifteen minutes after he heard about the earthquake in Haiti, Dominican barber Jose Taveras said he made a donation to the Red Cross. Taveras was born in the Dominican Republic, a country that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. “I consider Haiti a part of my country,” Taveras said through his [...]
Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabañas was shot in the head Sunday night in Mexico City, according to the Guardian Newspaper. Cabañas, who plays for Club America in Mexico’s Primera Division, is in critical condition at a Mexico City hosiptal, the BBC reports. Cabañas was conscious when he arrived at the hospital, but has a heart problem [...]
Cable providers dropped the opposition channel Radio Caracas Television, better known as RCTV, after it refused to comply with Venezuelan laws requiring local television stations to periodically televise speeches by President Hugo Chávez, the Associated Press reports. RCTV was previously classified as an international network, excusing it from complying with local laws requiring the station [...]
Three judges on the federal trial court hearing challenges brought by Guantanamo prisoners are calling on Congress and the Obama administration to enact a law to address one of the nation’s most perplexing moral and legal dilemmas: When can the United States indefinitely detain terrorism suspects? In lengthy interviews, Chief Judge Royce Lamberth and two [...]
TOP STORY: HAITI The earthquake in Haiti continued to dominate headlines on Latin America this week. The following list provides a sample of some of the most important developments. Little disaster relief has reached the poor neighborhoods encircling Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, leaving residents to fend for themselves, NPR reports. The Obama administration has extended [...]
Indigenous Colombians Face Possibility Of Extinction, U.N. Report Says
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