Stories from 19 July 2011
Indonesia: Demand to open torture trial
The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence and the Asian Human Rights Commission urge the Indonesian government to make transparent the torture trial involving members of the Indonesian army. The torture incident which led to the death of Charles Mali took place in East Nusa Tenggara.
Cambodia: Prison overcrowding
Licadho reports about the prison overcrowding in Cambodia. It added that Cambodia's prison system is among the 25 most overcrowded in the world.
Azerbaijan: Culinary Competition
Scary Azeri comments on the tendency for her fellow Azerbaijanis living in England to outdo each other when it comes to preparing meals for get-togethers. The blog says that this inherent competition ultimately leads to less such meetings.
Puerto Rico: Puerta de Tierra Website
The legendary neighborhood Puerta de Tierra, in the outskirts of the walled city of Old San Juan, has a website with a wealth of information [es] on its history, people, and activities.
Lithuania-Austria: Ex KGB-Officer Causes Controversy
Albatross of Litauen blog reports [GER] about a controversy between Lithuania and Austria, where Austrian authorities first arrested and then released a former KGB-officer, who commanded Soviet Alpha-forces during the bloody Vilnius 13 January 1991 events.
Dominican Republic: 93 Women Murdered This Year
Remolacha.net [es] briefly comments on a news story in which the director of the feminist non-profit Colectiva Mujer y Salud [es], Sergia Galván, denounces that 93 women have been murdered by their partners or ex-partners this year in the Dominican Republic.
Mexico: Sinaloa Governor Calls for Special Investigation on Femicides
Aguachile commends Sinaloa Governor Mario López Valdez (Malova) “for taking the issue of femicides seriously and not brushing it under the carpet […] Malova considered the rise in femicides in Sinaloa “alarming,” and called for a special investigation by his justice department to analyze the so far 56 reported cases...
Cuba: Project Rainbow
Feminist blogger and LGBT activist Yasmín Portales Machado [es] has launched Project Rainbow (Proyecto Arcoiris) focused on LGBT advocacy in the island: “The reason? There is not a single LGBTI group in Cuba that completely satisfies me.”
Cuba: BloggersCuba is back
The digital project BloggersCuba [es] has made a come back: “BC returns for those inside and outside the digital network, inside and outside Cuba, for those who are part of the island and want to live it with us. BloggersCuba has reborn, again, deeply spontaneous and free.”
Cuba: Freedom of Press
Rogelio Díaz Moreno offers a profound analysis on recente debates [es] on access to information and freedom of press in Cuba.
Haiti: The Price of Work
Haiti Grassroots Watch, along with students from the Journalism Laboratory at the State University of Haiti’s Faculty of Human Sciences, investigates a “Cash for Work” program in the Ravine Pintade slum run by a US “non-profit” organization, and uncovers corruption, sexual abuse and social conflict.
Cuba: Defending “Las Damas”
Cuban bloggers continue to update their posts about the most recent attack on Las Damas de Blanco, in which members of the group were reportedly “attacked and brutally beaten…by agents of Castro State Security upon exiting a church sanctuary.”
Chile: Teen Warns About Earthquakes via Twitter (@AlarmaSismos)
TNW Latin America features the work of 14-year-old Sebastian Alegria (@sebasak), a Chilean teen sending earthquake warnings on Twitter through @AlarmaSismos: “The way it works is ingenious: Sebastian bought a domestic earthquake detector for only $75. He then replaced the internal circuit with an Arduino board which interprets the signal....
Costa Rica: Student Murdered in High School in Orotina
Julio Córdoba, in his blog Ciencia Ficción (Science Fiction), reflects [es] on the complex subject of violence after a student was murdered in a High School in Orotina on Monday, July 18.
Cuba: New Movie “Habanastation”
El Taburete [es] comments that the US documentary filmmaker Michael Moore will present the new Cuban movie “Habanastation” in Michigan. The movie tells the story of the friendship of two boys from Havana who come from different socioeconomic classes.
Haiti: Student Murdered in DR
BELTIFI INC. republishes a news release about the murder of a Haitian student in the Dominican Republic, saying: “Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the Lindor family.”
Caribbean: Carnival in Toronto
The Caribbean Camera posts a photo album of the 2011 Kiddies Carnival Toronto Parade, here.
Trinidad & Tobago: Photography in Media
Mark Lyndersay considers the future of photography in local mainstream media: “Why would a young photographer have shown up in a newsroom looking for work two decades ago? You either wanted to learn the craft or get published. In 2011, neither of these reasons is enough…”
Barbados: REDJet in T&T
On learning that REDJet has finally been approved to provide service out of Trinidad and Tobago, B.C. Pires says: “[It is] going to be good for everyone who thought something was wrong, somewhere, if it cost about the same to fly from Trinidad to Barbados as from Trinidad to New...
Russia: Putin Wary of WTO
Kyle Keeton of Windows to Russia argues that Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, is right in his wariness towards membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), fearing that this might hurt the country's economy.
Russia: Putin As Universal Evil
Ernst Krenkel of Backyard Safari discusses [GER] how Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, is often portrayed as a universal evil in the West, to the point where he is even accused of being an accomplice in an alleged conspiracy [FR] against former IMF director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
