Silvia Viñas · May, 2012

Latest posts by Silvia Viñas from May, 2012

Honduras: US State Department Releases Human Rights Report

  29 May 2012

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

  25 May 2012

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

  23 May 2012

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

  21 May 2012

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...

Guatemala: A ‘Guatemaltequismo’ A Day

  17 May 2012

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

  15 May 2012

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

  15 May 2012

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

  14 May 2012

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

  11 May 2012

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

  10 May 2012

“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

  8 May 2012

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

  7 May 2012

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

  4 May 2012

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

  3 May 2012

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”

  2 May 2012

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...