Stories about Latin America from January, 2012
Spanish-Speaking Twittersphere Fumes Over Announcement
Twitter's announcement that it will restrict certain user content according to the laws of individual countries immediately caused a negative reaction in the Spanish-speaking Twittersphere. Twitter users widely employed the hashtags #CensuramestaTwitter and #TwitterCensored to display their anger with the social networking site.
Puerto Rico: The Art of Sound
Julieta Muñoz interviews artist Carola Cintrón Moscoso for Revista Cruce [es] on the art of sound: “There was light, but something was missing: sound!,” says Carola who works with audio...
Cuba: Human Rights Double Standard
Lilianne Ruíz, blogging at Translating Cuba, compares a television spot “that shows a series of watercolors of butterflies from one of the five officials of the Interior Ministry imprisoned in...
Puerto Rico: Waste of Money
Dondequiera says of a US $20 million ad campaign to promote tourism: “If we could only use 1/4 of that money to police and clean our beaches, maintain the bathrooms…....
Cuba: Upwardly Mobile?
The latest Cuban media campaign “is directed against the [expensive] mobile vendors, those sellers of fruits and vegetables who transport their goods on a tricycle or other wheeled device” –...
Panama: President Receives Draft for New Constitution
“President Martinelli received [es] a draft of a new constitution from a special commission working on the subject,” reports Bloggings by boz. Boz looks at two of the biggest issues...
Costa Rica: Young Entrepreneurs Present Mobile Game
Six young Costa Rican entrepreneurs have created a mobile game platform called TweetLand. In the blog Fusil de Chispas [es], Cristian Cambronero writes about the debut of Route 140, the...
Mexico: Discussing Nonviolence with Javier Sicilia
Fred Rosen interviewed Javier Sicilia, founder of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity. Rosen will report on the conversation in upcoming posts in his blog at the NACLA...
Bolivia: Pro-Road March Reaches La Paz
Marchers in favor of a project to build a road that would go through the TIPNIS indigenous territory reached La Paz. Mario R. Duran from the blog Palabras Libres [es]...
Brazil: Sex Scandal on Big Brother Provokes Debate on Machismo
The live broadcast of an alleged rape on the TV show with the highest ratings in Brazil on 14th January, with no immediate intervention by TV Globo, led thousands of internet users to declare their disgust and outrage, but also provoked an important debate on machismo and sex education in the country.
Chile: Mapping Chile with OpenStreetMap
In El Quinto Poder [es], Marcelo Aliaga writes about OpenStreetMap (OSM), “a free editable map of the whole world,” and the OSM community in Chile. He invites Chileans to participate...
Brazil: Watchdog of 2016 Olympics Reports on Suspended Bid
An injunction has suspended bid for 2016 Rio Olympic Park, reported the organization RioOnWatch. The court considered that the concerned Public-Private Partnership contract is not clear on whether or not...
Cuba: Pope's Visit & Human Rights
In the wake of more repression against Las Damas de Blanco, Uncommon Sense thinks “that the pope should postpone his visit until human rights conditions improve in Cuba.”
Cuba: No Political Reforms
Cuban bloggers discuss the national Communist Party conference, which took place this past weekend.
Peru: Terrorism, Youth and Social Networks
One of the strongest repercussions of the MOVADEF's decision to apply to register as a political party is the amount of young activists and supporters the group has attracted and how they are using social networks to spread their message.
Brazil: Movement Calls for March Against Law on Construction in Salvador
The Movement ‘Desocupa Salvador’ – which recently claimed rights for public space during carnival -, is now calling [pt] people to march towards the City Hall on February 1. Major...
Brazil: ‘Vale’ is Elected the World's Worst Corporation
Researcher Telma Monteiro wrote on her blog [pt] about the election of the Brazilian mining company Vale as the world's worst corporation of 2011, with over 25,000 votes on the...
Cuba: The Cardinal Rule
In the context of the country's upcoming papal visit, Angel Santiesteban writes: “What we Cubans have to achieve won’t come from anyone’s visit, nor from the ‘peace concert’, although it...
Cuba: Playwright Passes On
Havana Times acknowledges the passing of “Cuban writer, playwright and theater director Humberto Arenal”, who passed away yesterday.
Brazil: A View from Aboard on Pinheirinho Eviction
Jimmy Greer, an activist and sustainability consultant for I-See Global based in London, writes about “the brutal eviction” of Pinheirinho, in Brazil as “another example of a skewed approach to...
Brazil: Indigenous Leader Criticizes “Developmentism” Policies
Brazilian blogger Julio Carignano, from the blog Sítio Coletivo, interviewed [pt] a former indigenous Guarani chief, Teodoro Tupã, who criticizes the policies of progress and “developmentism” towards indigenous peoples –...