PEMEX Contractor, Mexico’s Largest Bank at Center of Major Financial Scandal

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Article from SourceMex, March 19

A massive case of fraud and mismanagement is at the center of a financial scandal involving a private contractor for the state-run oil company PEMEX, Mexico’s largest bank, and powerful individuals with connections to the conservative opposition Partido Acción Nacional (PAN). The controversy centers on Oceanografía, a company based in Ciudad del Carmen in Campeche state, which has provided offshore oil services to PEMEX subsidiary Exploración y Producción (PEP) for more than four decades. The company, whose majority owner is entrepreneur Amado Yáñez Osuna, is under investigation of fraud and money laundering. In the most recent case, the company is alleged to have fraudulently obtained millions of dollar in loans from Mexico’s largest bank Grupo Financiero Banamex (GFB). Carlos Navarro Read More

Cuba Aims to Increase Coffee Production After Harvest Levels Plummet

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Article from NotiCen, March 20

Cuba aims to increase coffee production this decade after harvesting 6,200 tons of beans during 2013-2014, a low figure compared with the 60,000 tons achieved in 1959. Coffee remains the most popular drink on the island and has been ingrained in the country's culture since the Haitian Revolution in the late 18th century. The Cuban coffee industry had its most difficult moment in 2012 when the harvest was a mere 4,000 tons, considered to be the worst in more than a century. That harvest forced the government to import coffee from Vietnam to meet the needs of a population that seems to be able to do without everything but the tiny cup every morning. Daniel Vázquez Read More

Salvador Sánchez Céren Wins Salvadoran Presidency by Hair’s Breadth

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Article from NotiCen, March 20

After a year-and-a-half-long campaign season, two rounds of voting, competing claims of victory, right-wing protests, a thinly veiled coup threat, and a partial recount, El Salvador’s grueling presidential race has finally produced a victor: former guerilla commander and current Vice President Salvador Sánchez Céren. El Salvador’s top election official, Tribunal Suprema Electoral (TSE) head Eugenio Chicas, made the announcement on March 16, a full week after Sánchez Céren of the governing Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) faced off against Norman Quijano of the hard-right Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) in an astonishingly close winner-take-all runoff. Benjamin Witte-Lebhar Read More

ILO Report: Latin America’s Youth Still Struggling To Access Job Markets

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Article from NotiSur, March 21

In Latin America, unemployment and job insecurity continue to have a disproportionate impact on young people (aged 15 to 24). A serious economic problem, the situation also has major social and political implications and is even, in some cases, affecting stability and democratic governance, a recently released International Labour Organization (ILO) report concluded. "It is not surprising that young people take to the streets, as their lives are marked by discouragement and frustration because of lack of opportunities," Elizabeth Tinoco, regional director of the ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, said Feb. 13 upon presenting the study. The ILO is a UN agency specializing in labor issues. Elsa Chanduví Jaña  Read More

Afro-Brazilian Religious Groups Organize Under Banner of Religious Freedom

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Article from NotiSur, March 21

When Pope Francis visited Brazil for World Youth Day in July 2013, he met with business, cultural, and religious leaders from across the country. Of particular note, he received Ivanir dos Santos, a babalawo, or Afro-Brazilian priest. It was a first-time encounter of major symbolic proportions given the history of animosity between the Catholic Church and syncretic religions like candomblé and umbanda, which blend African and Catholic traditions. "For society, [this encounter] signifies that, regardless of sect, we are all brothers and sisters," says dos Santos. "It was a valuable moment for the entire world and a moment of pride for religions with African roots." This sentiment reflects a recent surge in political activism and advocacy for religious freedom on the part of the Afro-Brazilian religious community, which until recently has largely remained hidden from mainstream society. Gregory Scruggs Read More

Nicaraguan Mining Boom Continues, but Who Really Benefits?

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Article from NotiCen, March 13

A leading Nicaraguan environmental group is sounding the alarm at President Daniel Ortega’s cozy embrace of metals mining, an industry that has boomed in recent years and now boasts the country’s number-one export product: gold. The sector enjoyed another banner year in 2013. Led by B2Gold, a Canadian firm, miners exported nearly US$436 million worth of gold, a new record, despite a substantial drop in the commodity’s selling price. The precious metal finished the year as Nicaragua’s leading export. And yet, for all its lustrous numbers, the resurgent industry's overall contribution to the econom is deceivingly small, and the pollution created by this economic activity is extracting a heavy toll on Nicaragua. Benjamin Witte-Lebhar Read More

TB Outbreak in Argentine Sweatshops

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Article from NotiSur, March 14

Tuberculosis, a disease linked with poverty that had been under control in Argentina since the early part of the last century, has reappeared with a vengeance in the country’s capital. As before, the outbreak appeared in clandestine sweatshops that make high-fashion, expensive clothing. Paradoxically, the city that is a South American cultural Mecca with the highest rates of human development also has the country’s highest pollution levels. After reading files from the state Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) and the four main public hospitals where infectious diseases are treated, Prosecutor Federico Delgado criticized Buenos Aires, pointing out that its tuberculosis (TB) index increased 25% (from 26.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 1985 to 33 cases in 2011) in the Argentine capital, while the national TB index dropped by 39% for the same 26-year period. Andrés Gaudín Read More