Uruguayan-Spanish journalist, editor, and blogger. Currently living in Chile, tweeting in English and Spanish under @silviavinas, and blogging on silviavinas.com
Latest posts by Silvia Viñas from July, 2011
Colombia: FIFA's U-20 World Cup
Colombia is hosting the U-20 FIFA World Cup. The opening ceremony [es] took place in Barranquilla on July 29. The country is in a happy mood and on Twitter netizens talk about the tournament with the hashtag #Colombiaesmundial.
El Salvador: National Assembly Repeals Decree 743 Requiring Unanimity on Constitutional Court
Decree 743 “the controversial law which attempted to impose a requirement of unanimity on the Constitutional Court” was repealed this week by El Salvador's National Assembly, as Tim reports in his blog. The blog Voices from El Salvador describes the repeal as an “important indication that civil society and public...
Mexico: Improvements in Education Decreasing Emigration Rates
The second post on a series about immigration throughout the Americas on the Council on Hemispheric Affairs Blog focuses on “Mexico's Improving Education and Declining Emigration”.
Peru: Reactions to Ollanta Humala's Swearing-In Ceremony
July 28 is Independence in Peru, and this year it is also the day Ollanta Humala was sworn in as the new President of Peru. In his blog Globalizado [es] Juan Arellano, Global Voices Spanish Translation Manager and author, adds a Storify post with pictures and Twitter reactions to the...
Colombia: Indigenous Peoples Seek to Restore Peace After FARC Attacks
As previously noted on Global Voices, Colombia's armed conflict is threatening indigenous peoples. Ahni in Intercontinental Cry reports that “The oldest and strongest grassroots indigenous organization in Colombia, The Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC),” has called for “a ‘Minga of resistance’ [“a traditional gathering or activity for the collective...
Mexico: A Mother's Struggle to Find Her Missing Daughter
Judith Torrea in her blog Ciudad Juárez, En la Sombra del Narcotráfico (Ciudad Juárez, In the Shadow of Drug Trafficking), tells the story [es] of Lucy, a mother who has been looking for her missing 18-year-old daughter, Nancy Navarro, for two weeks. Nancy disappeared in downtown Ciudad Juárez, and is...
Peru: Tweeting About President Alan García's Last Speech
Global Voices author and Spanish Translation Manager Juan Arellano has collected reactions [es] to President Alan García's last presidential address. Twitter users used the hashtags #mensajepresidencial, #teperdonocomoAlan, #LargateALAN, among others, to tweet during the speech. Ollanta Humala will be sworn in today, July 28, 2011, as the new president of Peru.
Mexico: 17 Dead After Jail Riot in Ciudad Juárez
“Seventeen people are dead following a Juárez jailhouse ‘riot’, which seems to have been more a pitched battle between the Mexicles and the Aztecas, two local gangs whose members populate the detention centers” reports Gancho, and adds: “The jail was built for 850 people, but houses some 2,700, which seems...
Colombia: Singer Joe Arroyo Dies
Colombian salsa singer Álvaro José Arroyo González, better known as Joe Arroyo, passed away on July 26 in Barranquilla. On Twitter, blogs and websites his fans reacted to the news remembering his life and his songs.
Argentina's Chinese-Argentines
The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) Blog launched a series “that will cover immigration throughout the hemisphere from a variety of different perspectives.” COHA Research Associate PoLin So kicks off the series with a post on Chinese-Argentines and their struggle to fit into Argentine society.
Chile: Mapuche Influence in Purén
In Don't Call Me Gringa Emily blogs about Purén, a town in the Araucanía Region, in an area “home to the country’s main indigenous population, the Mapuche”. Emily writes about the Mapuche history and influence in this town, illustrating her post with pictures of her trip.
Colombia: Homophobia, Beyond Religion
Homophobia might have religious roots in Colombia, writes Javier Moreno in Rango Finito [es], but Javier says that campaigns against homophobia should not focus solely on the Catholic Church, but rather on people that are homophobic because of ‘tradition’ and not necessarily religion.
Uruguay Wins 2011 Copa América
Uruguay beat Paraguay 3-0 in the Copa América final yesterday, Sunday July 24. The Latinamericanist writes about Uruguay's victory and Mauricio Milano at Montevideo Blogger [es] shares some thoughts and pictures of the celebrations.
Bolivia: What needs to improve in La Paz?
Luis Ramos in Citizen of La Paz [es] asks, “what do we need to change in La Paz?”. He answers his own question with a list of ten ideas, including improving transportation, planting more trees, building a convention center, more malls, a theme park, among other things.
Mexico: The Knights Templar, Violence and Norway
Bloggings by boz points out that the criminal organization the ‘Knights Templar’ is present in Mexico and that “the killer in Norway's shocking massacre last week also considered himself a member of the Knights Templar”. He adds: “I doubt anyone thinks these two groups are linked. […] Yet, it raises...
Ecuador: President Correa Wins Libel Case
Jim Wyss, in Inside South America, explains the latest developments in a libel case involving President Rafael Correa and newspaper El Univero. Monica Medel also reports on the case at the Knight Center's Journalism in the Americas blog: “Ecuador sentences newspaper directors to jail and millions in fines in president's...
Guatemala: Femicides During and After the War
On the Issues magazine features an article by Yifat Susskind, Executive Director of MADRE, on the femicides that took place during Guatemala's Civil War and that still go on today: “Across Guatemala, nearly 5,000 women have been killed in the past decade, attacked for the simple fact of being women.”...
El Salvador: Educating About ‘Machismo’
Olivia blogs about ‘machismo’ in her blog She Responded, saying she will never get used to “the culture of sexism and objectification of women” she sees every day in El Salvador. She also describes a workshop on gender equality she led with a local social worker.
Guatemalan Women Misrepresented by Guatemala's Tourism Board
“Please help me comprehend what’s wrong with our indigenous women that Guatemala’s Tourism Board hires light-skin ladinas and white women to represent our women? I need help understanding what’s wrong with the other 45% of the population? Don’t mestizos, ladinos, blacks and whites fit the ‘Guatemalan profile'?” asks Rudy Girón...
Venezuela's Football Team and Unity: A Partisan Talking Point?
“The lazy point to make about La Vino Tinto’s [Venezuela's football team] exhilarating run at the Copa América this year is that it’s a rare, exciting moment of National Unity – fútbol as the one last bastion of non-polarization in a politically fractured nation” writes Francisco Toro in Caracas Chronicles;...
Peru: Mining Commercial Sparks Controversy
A television ad [es] by Peru's National Mining Oil and Energy Society (SNMPE [es]) which aired on July 19 during the halftime break of the Peru-Uruguay football game for the Copa América has sparked a controversy among Peruvian social media users, as Global Voices author and Spanish Translation Manager Juan...
