Monthly Archives: December 2018

Professional Baseball Players from Cuba now permitted to play in MLB without defecting

Tyler Cadenas | December 20, 2018 Cuba has been the hub for baseball for over 100 years. First with the Cuban League founded in 1878, then the Cuban National Series founded in 1961 after the wake of the Cuban Revolution. As of 2016, Cuba ranked third on most international players currently rostered on an MLB team. Since the embargo placed… Read more »

El Salvador court frees woman jailed under anti-abortion laws

A woman who was jailed for attempted murder under El Salvador’s strict anti-abortion laws has been freed. Imelda Cortez, 20, says she became pregnant by her stepfather who sexually abused her for many years. Doctors suspected she had tried to perform an abortion after she gave birth to a baby girl in a latrine in April of last year. The… Read more »

Chile police chief asked to resign over Mapuche killing

Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera has asked the country’s police chief, Hermes Soto, to stand down amid growing pressure over the death of an indigenous man five weeks ago. Mr Piñera said Hermes Soto and 10 other police commanders should resign to make way for new leadership in the Chilean police. The death of Camilo Catrillanca, 24, led to protests across… Read more »

Cuban baseball players allowed in MLB without defecting

US Major League Baseball (MLB) and Cuba’s Baseball Federation have reached a deal to let Cuban players sign with US teams despite diplomatic tensions. Eligible Cuban players can now join MLB teams without defecting from the communist-run nation, in a deal similar to those with Asian leagues. The MLB has also agreed to pay Cuba’s Federation a percentage of signing… Read more »

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: Argentina ex-president faces trial

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-46639187Ms Fernández, 65, is accused of being at the centre of a massive corruption racket that allegedly saw millions of dollars in bribes paid by businessmen to government officials. The allegations stem from a batch of records kept by Oscar Centeno, a driver for a public works official, between 2005 and 2015. In the notebooks, Mr Centeno writes about delivering… Read more »

Vivir sin miedo

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South America has had waves of political thought advance and subsequently recede. In the aftermath of the triumph of Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin over Spanish colonial domination, South America initially saw limited democracy and republics. In Brazil, benevolent Emperor Pedro II advanced rights faster than the population could have possibly expected, and he remained incredibly popular even… Read more »

Uruguay’s “Live Without Fear” to hold constitutional reform plebiscite for harsher penal code

MercoPress reports, “The Uruguayan “Live Without Fear” (Vivir Sin Miedo) campaign collected 376,427 signatures, way above the Electoral Court’s threshold to force a a plebiscite on security matters in the next elections, Senator Jorge Larrañaga announced Saturday.  Larrañaga, of the National Party, underlined the signature gathering reflected a “rebellion [of those] who desire to live in peace.” “Living without fear”… Read more »

Quebec: Overflowing francophone schools will use space in anglophone network

The Montreal Gazette reports, “QUEBEC — Education Minister Jean-François Roberge has signed on to plans to temporarily house francophone students from the Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys in schools run by the anglophone Lester B. Pearson board. “There are, at the moment in the anglophone network, several classrooms that are free,” Roberge said at a news conference. “As of January 2019, classes… Read more »

Haiti Turns to Slow Food to Speed Up Agricultural Recovery

Ozy News reports, “Across Haiti, people still talk about former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s 2010 apology for American trade policies that contributed to the decimation of their country’s agriculture. By pressuring Haiti to lower tariffs in the 1990s, the U.S. flooded the country with its food products, including low-quality rice, that the local agriculture industry couldn’t compete with. But Guito… Read more »

Brazil top court suspends order that could free ex-President Lula

Al Jazeera reports, “The chief justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court late on Wednesday knocked down a colleague’s ruling that would have freed from jail former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, but said the full court will take up the contentious case in April. Chief Justice Dias Toffoli wrote in his ruling that it would be up to all 11… Read more »