· September, 2012

Stories about Latin America from September, 2012

35 Million Escape Poverty – But Can Brazil Overcome Inequality?

The United Nations campaign to end poverty in 2015 is finding results in Brazil, home to 194 million people. Some 35 million Brazilians have escaped poverty over the last decade, but questions are nevertheless being raised concerning the government's effort to overcome inequality.

29 September 2012

Panama: Controversial 510 Copyright Bill Approved

The 510 Bill that would regulate copyrights in Panamá was approved on September 26, 2012, by the National Assembly. The outrage against this bill is coming to a boiling point on social networks and Panamá's mainstream media since, among other things, it establishes unprecedented liberties to the legislative body charged with enforcing it.

28 September 2012

Puerto Rico: Plagiarism Revealed Through the Net

Janet Marilyn Hernández, a Venezuelan blogger and public relations professional, discovered that her thesis was plagiarized in a newspaper article and blog post written by professor Ivan Ríos of the University of Puerto Rico. Using email, posts, Twitter and Facebook she brought the situation to the attention of the University and the mainstream press. The professor has since resigned.

27 September 2012

Mexico: Writing from Jail

Enrique Aranda Ochoa writes literature from jail. Convicted of kidnapping in 1997 with a sentence of 50 years in prison, Enrique has used his time in jail to write six novels and earn various literature awards. His latest book, available for purchase in an electronic format, focuses on the mysteries of the Mayans.

27 September 2012

Peru: Activists Begin “Civic Crusade” in Defense of the Nanay River

In our first post in this tree-part series we briefly introduced some water-related issues in Iquitos, and later presented the controversy generated by the transnational Conoco Phillips and their exploration and search for hydrocarbons in the Nanay River basin. In this post we continue addressing the issue and discuss how organizations like the Water Committee are fighting this problem.

27 September 2012

Guatemala: Profiting from Catastrophes

Kevin from the Guatemala Solidarity Network blog points readers to an article by Danilo Valladares published in Inter Press Service about “‘big disaster business’ – profiting from catastrophes.” In a...

27 September 2012

Uruguay: Legislators Move Forward Bill to Depenalize Abortion

After 14 hours of intense debate, Uruguay’s Chamber of Deputies voted 50 to 49 in favor of depenalizing abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Twitter was abuzz during the whole day as Uruguayans shared their opinions on abortion and the bill under debate.

27 September 2012

Peru: Young Woman Killed After Participating in Reality Show

Peruvian netizens were shocked by the murder of 19-year-old Ruth Thalia Sayas Sanchez, a young Peruvian woman who participated in the newly launched reality show 'The value of truth' (El valor de la verdad). Her ex-boyfriend and two others kidnapped and later killed her for money after she had won 15,000 Peruvian soles (about US$5,700) on the show.

26 September 2012

Venezuela: Electoral TwitCam

Journalist and Global Voices contributor Luis Carlos Díaz [es] is streaming “Electoral TwitCams” to discuss the upcoming Venezuelan elections. You can watch the first video stream [es] and tune in...

25 September 2012

Chile: Interview with Poderopedia Founder

Jessica Weiss from IJNet interviewed Miguel Paz, founder of Poderopedia [es], a data journalism project which seeks to reveal links among members of Chile's elite: Poderopedia's team will collect and...

25 September 2012

About our Latin America coverage

Melissa Vida
Melissa Vida is the Latin America and Spanish-language editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.

Fernanda Canofre
Fernanda Canofre is the Brazil editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.