Argentina, Latin America: Week in Review, Southern Cone
Stolen As Infant, Argentine Man Reunites With Biological Family
August 10, 2012 By Staff
Top Story — The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo announced Wednesday that a man stolen as a baby during Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship has finally been reunited with his biological family. Pablo Javier Gaona Miranda, now 34, contacted the Grandmothers a month ago but said he had always known he was adopted, and that his adopted mother told him in 2008 that his biological parents were disappeared political prisoners. Gaona Miranda’s parents, Ricardo Gaona Paiva and Maria Rosa Miranda, were kidnapped by Argentine security forces in May 1978 and never seen again, and Miranda, then a one month-old baby, was given up for adoption to a military family. Gaona Miranda is the 106th person the Grandmothers have reunited with his biological family, but there are likely many more stolen children who have not yet discovered their true identities.
Read more from the New York Daily News.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- Mexican authorities discovered the dead bodies of fourteen men stuffed into a van in San Luis Potosí on Thursday.
- The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld lower court rulings that will prevent a class-action suit by immigrant janitors who have tried to sue Wal-Mart for illegal labor practices, including locking them in stores overnight and on weekends.
- Mexico extradited suspected drug boss Sandra Avila, known as the “Queen of the Pacific,” to the U.S. to face charges for trafficking that she helped build up the Sinaloa cartel.
Caribbean
- The U.S. Justice Department is beginning to impose more restrictions on Guantanamo Bay prisoners’ access to counsel to challenge their imprisonment.
- Prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base are reportedly huge fans of the 1990s television series “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, which has surpassed both the Bill Cosby Show and Harry Potter in popularity.
- Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and Warren Weir earned a gold, silver and bronze medal, respectively, in the 200-meter finals at the London Olympics, sweeping the event and illustrating Jamaica’s sprinting dominance.
Central America
- El Salvador’s National Forensic Institute (IML) announced that murders are again on the rise in El Salvador in August, indicating that a gang truce between the MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs may not hold.
- Facebook is now available in Kakchiquel, a language spoken by indigenous Guatemalans.
- Interpol has made conservationist, “Whale Wars” TV star and current fugitive Paul Watson an internationally wanted man after he skipped bail in July.
Andes
- Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro lashed out against “tabloid” media coverage of a Venezuelan diplomat’s murder in Kenya, saying government opponents were trying to pain Venezuelan officials in a bad light.
- Bolivia may release up to 5,000 low-risk inmates to ease the burden on its overcrowded prisons.
- The governor of Peru’s embattled Cajamarca region, Gregorio Santos, said there was no point negotiating with Minera Yanacocha about its controversial Congas mining project that he and many of his constituents oppose.
- Ecuador signed an agreement with state-owned Peruvian oil firm Petroperu on Wednesday to use a Peruvian pipeline to transport crude from its Amazon region.
Southern Cone
- The Uruguayan government submitted the text of its proposed marijuana regulation and distribution bill to Congress on Wednesday, but Uruguayan President José Mujica said he would only implement the pot bill if 60 percent of Uruguayans support it.
- Chilean lawmakers are proposing a bill that would legalize the cultivation of marijuana for personal use.
- Chile’s labor department has blacklisted Starbucks and Wal-Mart for two years from supplying government offices due to alleged anti-union policies.
Image: jav¡ @ Flickr.
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