Haiti, Latin America: Week in Review
Cholera Outbreak In Haiti Leaves 9,000 Hospitalized And Over 500 Dead
November 9, 2010 By Staff
Haitians attend a training session to provide information about cholera symptons and water safety.
Today in Latin America
Top Story — The massive cholera outbreak in Haiti has now claimed the lives of more than 540 people and hospitalized over 9000, with fears that the disease has spread to the capital of Port-au-Prince.
There are at least 120 cases of cholera being examined in Port-au-Prince, with varying reports on how many of these cases have been confirmed. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there are 73 cholera cases in the capital, while health officials say that only 15 cases have been confirmed in Port-au-Prince, according to Al Jazeera.
There have been concerns over the outbreak reaching Port-au-Prince since it was first identified in the Artibonite River region to the north of the city in October. If confirmed, the bacteria could put an estimated 2.5 to 3 million inhabitants at risk.
Cholera has already spread to half of Haiti’s 10 regions and authorities fear that the outbreak might worsen due to the flooding and mudslides caused by Hurricane Tomas. The storm left 20 people dead, with 36 injured and 11 missing.
The flooding caused more problems for medical workers in Haiti’s impoverished countryside, as they struggle to fight the water-born disease after the flooding. Generations of Haitians use the Artibonite River and its tributaries to, cook, bath and wash clothing, thus risking incidental consumption.
“The two things we do not have enough here are bottled water and latrines,” said Ruben Petit, a local minister helping the workers educate the community, according to the New York Times.
Just Published at the Latin America News Dispatch
- Sex work is flourishing in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake. Julie Turkewitz sends us this report from Port-au-Prince.
- Juan Víctor Fajardo reports on Bolivian President Evo Morales’ struggle to balance environmentalism and the demands of an economy still driven by mineral extraction.
- Argentines came together to remember their former President Néstor Kirchner at his funeral on Monday. Joel Richards sent us this photo essay from Buenos Aires.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- Northeastern Mexico is preparing for a surge in violence after the killing of alleged drug lord Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, alias “Tony Tormenta,” by the Mexican Navy.
- Mexican authorities arrested alleged Sinaloa cartel associate Manuel “The Sow” Fernandez Valencia Monday, who reputedly plotted to smuggle 8 tons of marijuana into the U.S.
Caribbean
- Catholic priests from Cuba kicked off a four-day visit to South Florida on Monday afternoon with a press conference at the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Coconut Grove.
- Cuban President Raul Castro has called the first congress of the ruling Communist Party in 14 years.
- The death tolls in Haiti from Hurricane Tomas and a raging cholera epidemic have risen, but a top U.N. official said on Monday there were “no objective reasons” why elections should not be held later this month in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean country.
Central America
- Ram Power announced the closing of a $160 million debt financing for the Phase II expansion of a geothermal power project in Nicaragua.
- SNC Lavalin Group will provide basic engineering for the Cobre Panama copper mine and maybe more work if the $4 billion project goes ahead.
Andes
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is hinting at impatience because Colombia hasn’t extradited a suspected Venezuelan drug trafficker who has accused one of the Chavez’s close aides of accepting bribes.
- Indigenous leaders and activists from across Venezuela marched through Caracas on Monday to demand that President Hugo Chavez’s government demarcate and recognize their ancestral lands.
- American activist Lori Berenson walked free from a Peruvian prison Monday for the second time after serving three-quarters of a 20-year sentence for collaborating with leftist rebels.
- Telecom Italia has received $100 million in compensation from Bolivia for its stake in the local telecommunications operator that was expropriated two years ago.
Southern Cone
- Uruguayan general Miguel Dalmao became the first active member of the Uruguayan military to be convicted of human rights abuses Monday for the 1974 murder of activist Nibia Sabalsagaray.
- Emilio Eduardo Massera, who ran Argentina’s clandestine Navy Mechanic’s School torture center after the 1976 military coup, died Monday at the age of 85.
- São Paulo police are still looking for the armed men who assaulted British Formula 1 driver Jenson Button Saturday.
Image: EDV Media Director @ Flickr.
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