Chile, Latin America: Week in Review
Chilean Man Dies After Anti-Gay Beating As Chile Debates Anti-Discrimination Law
March 29, 2012 By Staff
Today in Latin America
Top Story — Daniel Zamudio, the 24 year-old Chilean man who was attacked and brutally beaten by suspected Neo-Nazis, died of his wounds on Tuesday night while Chile continues to debate whether or not to enact an anti-discrimination law that would make hate crimes illegal. On March 3, attackers beat Zamudio in a Santiago park for over an hour, causing broken bones and head trauma that left him in a medically-induced coma for 25 days. Prosecutors called for murder charges against the four suspects who are now detained for Zamudio’s killing, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The suspects allegedly carved Nazi symbols into Zamudio’s body and some already have criminal records for crimes against gays. Meanwhile, Chile’s lower house has yet to approve a bill that would make discrimination against vulnerable groups illegal, though the measure was introduced seven years ago and approved by the Senate in November.
Read more from the AP.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- Amnesty International USA released a report saying that U.S. border patrol officials discriminate against Latinos and Native Americans, resulting in human rights violations.
- Victims of human trafficking rarely report crimes due to a fear of deportation, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Office of Policy and Strategy.
Caribbean
- After leaving Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI met with Fidel Castro and made a speech urging “authentic freedom” on the island.
- Dominican police have accused five teenage beggars of killing a seven year-old boy and stealing $8 from him.
- The Club Caribe LLC distillery will become the third rum distillery to open in Puerto Rico and is expected to offset a $140 million loss after the Captain Morgan distillery moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Central America
- Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes said that his government had not negotiated a truce between rival gangs that is credited with reducing the country’s homicide rate dramatically in a month.
- An 18 year-old Panamanian hotel worker lost at sea for 26 days returned home to Panama Tuesday after he was rescued off the Galapagos Islands and two of his friends died at sea.
- Inmates at a maximum-security prison in Guatemala allegedly made threatening phone calls to 5-star hotels and other businesses in El Salvador demanding money.
Andes
- A body thought to belong to missing Colombian land rights activist Manuel Ruiz was discovered near a bridge on Monday. His 15 year-old son is still missing.
- Bolivia’s Movement Toward Socialism party unanimously elected Bolivian President Evo Morales to run for re-election in 2014.
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez lashed out at a travel warning on the U.S. Department of State website that mentioned the “pervasiveness” of violent crime in Venezuela.
Southern Cone
- The Brazilian Senate approved a pension reform bill that would limit payments to retired government workers to about $2144 per month.
- Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro said that Uruguay would not support an economic blockade of the Falkland Islands and disputed reports that the country was sending a group of businessmen to the islands.
- The Brazilian Olympic Committee said that it would aim to double its medal count between the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Image: jpcatepillan @ Flickr.
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1 Comment
[…] seven years ago. Chileans outraged by the murder of Daniel Zamudio, a 24 year-old gay man who died March 27 after a brutal beating, called on the House to pass the law, which was approved by the Senate in November. After […]
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