Latest posts by Silvia Viñas from May, 2012
Honduras: US State Department Releases Human Rights Report
Honduras Culture and Politics looks closely at the United States State Department report on human rights: “There's been a blind eye to certain kinds of human rights abuses in Honduras that happen, but don't seem to warrant action by the Secretary or her employees, including the Ambassador. So, we turned...
Costa Rica: Discipline Reaps Success for National Cyclist
Blogger ‘stwartmendez’ from La Tinta del Ocio [es] highlights the success of Costa Rican cyclist Andrey Amador who is participating in Giro d'Italia, the Tour of Italy cycling race. Amador came in third in the twelfth stage and first in the fourteenth stage. The blogger attributes this success to the...
Ecuador: ‘Conectándonos’ Event Kicks Off May 24
The event ‘Conectándonos’ Ecuador (“Getting connected Ecuador”), co-organized by Rising Voices and the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja [es] (UTPL for its initials in Spanish) will kick off tomorrow, May 24. You can follow the event on Twitter through the hashtag #ConECU. Furthermore, a roundtable [es] will be live-streamed tomorrow.
Colombia: Tweeting Marathon to Demand Senator's Resignation
Twitter users have organized [es] a tweeting marathon to demand the resignation of Senator Eduardo Merlano after the politician refused [es] to undergo a sobriety test. The goal is to reach 50,000 tweets (the amount of votes that got him elected senator) and through these tweets argue that he needs...
Mexico: Blogger Posts Final Open Letters Addressing Presidential Candidates
As we reported earlier, Global Voices contributor and blogger Juan Tadeo began an open letter [es] campaign to encourage citizens to write to the current presidential candidates. He recently finished writing his letters to all four candidates. His latest two are for Andrés Manuel López Obrador [es] and Enrique Peña...
Paraguay: A Look Inside Aché Indigenous Communities
For much of their history, the Aché indigenous people in Paraguay have been struggling to preserve their territory. Now, the Aché are using citizen media to preserve their language and their culture.
Guatemala: A ‘Guatemaltequismo’ A Day
Mario Cordero from Diario Paranoico [es] has opened a wikispace [es] where he posts one ‘guatemaltequismo’ (word that is used in Guatemala) per day. Mario also set up a Facebook [es] page where he shares that day's ‘guatemaltequismo’.
Colombia: 5 Dead, 19 Injured After Bomb Blast in Bogotá
Netizens are reacting to the explosion of a bomb on a bus on Caracas Avenue and 74th street in Bogotá, Colombia's capital. The attack was allegedly directed at former Interior Minister Fernando Londoño. The latest reports [es] list 5 dead and 19 people injured. Related words and phrases like “74...
Costa Rica: Blogger Interviews President Laura Chinchilla
Blogger Cristian Cambronero from the blog Fusil de Chispas interviewed [es] Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla. The interview was in part filmed by the production team Sürrealista [es], and two photographers (Priscilla Mora [es] and Diego Barracuda [es]) captured the meeting between Cristian and the President through photographs. You can read...
Ecuador: Being a Mother is Not Easy
On Mother's Day, May 13, Juan Pablo Martínez in the blog Realidad Ecuador [es] wrote about “the reality of being a mother in Ecuador.” Juan Pablo looks at several statistics that bring to light some of the common struggles Ecuadorian mothers face.
Nicaragua: The Media's Challenges in Going Mobile
Carlos R. Fonseca [es] blogs about the use of mobile devices in Nicaragua. He looks at the challenges Nicaraguan media outlets face in creating mobile applications and mobile versions of their sites due to a lack of information on how Nicaraguans use mobile devices.
Paraguay: How the Media Silenced the Chaco
“The media flew over the drama and didn't land over the human stories that were waiting below.” Carlos Rodriguez from the blog Rescatar [es] writes about the media's lacking coverage of the floods that hit the Paraguayan Chaco.
Chile: The Bigger Picture in a Plan to Make Stadiums Safe
Diego Sazo in Ballotage [es] looks at the government's plan to make football stadiums in Chile safe. He argues that the plan tackles harmless expressions that are typical in Chilean football games (like bringing a bass drum to the stadium), and that the government should instead focus on root causes of...
Bolivia: Netizens Report on Transportation Strike
Blogger Mario R. Duran from Palabras Libres [es] is gathering citizen reports and reactions to a transportation strike in El Alto and La Paz taking place today, May 7. Public transportation workers are protesting a law that reforms the municipal transportation system. You can follow the day's events on Twitter...
Uruguay: Twitter and Politics
Gabriel Budiño blogs [es] about recent articles that look at how politicians in Uruguay are using Twitter. One article calls Twitter “the next political trench”, while the other says that politics is not compatible with Twitter's 140 characters.
Guatemala: Community Leader Dies in Clashes in Santa Cruz Barillas
The blog Asamblea Departamental por la Defensa del Territorio- Huehuetenango [es] published an urgent statement about the death of Santa Cruz Barillas community leader Andrés Francisco Miguel and attacks on other community leaders who oppose the construction of a hydroelectric dam. Today, May 3, the BBC reports: “The Guatemalan government has...
Honduras: “Too much violence to keep track of”
Adrienne Pine explains that, “since the bold repossession of lands by thousands of campesinos around Honduras on the International Day of Peasant Struggle, there have been increasingly worrisome retaliations, so frequent that I can't keep track of them.” She reports on some of these cases and on other types of...
Mexico: Blogger Starts Open Letter Initiative to Address Presidential Candidates
Global Voices contributor [es] and blogger Juan Tadeo has started a nonpartisan initiative to encourage other bloggers and citizens to write open letters to Mexican presidential candidates. He has written his own open letters to Josefina Vázquez Mota [es] and Gabriel Quadri [es], and will soon publish his letters addressing...
