Latest posts by Silvia Viñas
#BlogsNi: Nicaraguan Blog Carnival Focuses on Identity
Nicaraguan bloggers will be sharing their ideas and reflections about identity [es] throughout November 2013: #BlogsNi ha llegado, todos y todas están invitados. Textos, imágenes, vídeos, audio y todo, todo en tu blog. — Néstor Arce (@NestorArce) November 7, 2013 #BlogsNi is here, everyone is invited. Text, images, videos, audio...
Michelle Bachelet Wins Chilean Election But Will Face Runoff
Netizens had voiced their discontent with Bachelet's candidacy and her previous administration. After yesterday's results, many are commenting about the difference between views on social networks and reality in Chile.
Winds of Waste: Plastic Bags Land in Venezuela's Paraguaná Peninsula
Silvia Castro's photo gallery, published by website Prodavinci, shows residents of the Paraguaná Peninsula in Venezuela with bags on their heads to call attention to the damage that trash and plastic bags are causing the peninsula. Prodavinci explains [es]: Due to its geographic location, the Paraguaná Peninsula ends up being...
PHOTOS: Humans of Latin America
Humans of New York has inspired photographers all over the world. The "Humans of..." projects from Latin America show the rich ethnic and cultural diversity of the region.
#ReformáÉsta: Daniel Ortega Looks to Reform Nicaragua's Constitution
Mildred Largaespada [es] from the blog 1001 Trópicos [es] writes that Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega “wants to reform the country's political constitution in order to be forever re-elected, among other issues in which he also wants absolute power.” In a post [es] dedicated to President Ortega, Mildred concludes: We don't...
New Knight Center MOOC on Media Project Development
The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas [es], with the support of Google [es], will be offering a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Spanish for journalists and student interested in learning about creating new online projects and generating audiences and revenue. Furthermore, as the announcement about the course...
Portraits of ‘Children Who Have Children’ in Guatemala
Swedish photographer and journalist Linda Forsell has just started a Tumblr blog where she will be sharing her project “about young girls that have been sexually abused and have babies as a result of it.” Forsell explains: Through a strong photographic depiction following the lives of a few of the...
Peruvians Protest Against Pro-Fujimori Congresswoman
Peruvian human rights organizations are speaking out against [es] the appointment [es] of pro-Fujimori congresswoman Martha Chávez [es] as a member of the Human Rights Commission in Congress due to her history [es] of disrespect of human rights. Yesterday, November 5, Congress rejected [es] the request by congressman Heriberto Benítez -who...
Latin American Women Face Harsh Penalties for Minor Drug Offenses
Between 2006 and 2011, the female prison population almost doubled in Latin America from 40,000 to more than 74,000 inmates. Most incarcerated women are accused of minor drug offenses, –75% -80% in Ecuador, 30 to 60% in Mexico, 64% in Costa Rica, 60% in Brazil and 70% in Argentina– linked...
Documentary Provides Intimate Look at Venezuelans Living Abroad
Desde Afuera (From Abroad) is a documentary which follows the stories [es] of five Venezuelans who recorded their daily activities living abroad using mobile and handheld cameras for over one year. Producers Johann Pérez Viera and Pedro Camacho put together this footage and Skype calls with the five participants to...
Argentina's Legislative Elections
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her allies lost by large margins in the biggest and most important elections in the country yesterday. Her legislative lists were crushed in Buenos Aires (both city and state), Cordoba, Mendoza, and Santa Fe. There is a reason that every major newspaper is talking about her...
One Month Until Honduras’ General Election
Mike Allison from the blog Central American Politics shares links to English-language posts on the November 2013 elections in Honduras. Mike recommends blogger Hermano Juancito's post “about the breakdown of the two-party system”; a post from the blog Honduras Culture and Politics on the newest poll results; and a post...
16 Books on Latin American Street Art
In Latin America, street art is of major cultural relevance. The region’s traditions of social movements and revolution have allowed the form to give voice to otherwise unheard sectors of the population. Of course, not all street art is politically or socially-oriented in content, but it does often provide insight...
This Weekend at Developing Latin America 2013 Apps Challenge (Part I)
This past weekend has been very productive for the Developing Latin America Apps Challenge. Here we bring you a brief summary of what happened in some of the participating countries.
Nicolás Maduro's First Six Months as President of Venezuela
Venezuela is sitting on top of the largest oil reserves in the world and has a continual flow of dollars coming in. So they are not on the brink of a collapse. But they are progressively sliding into the swamp of serious economic dysfunction that will make sustained growth difficult...
NSA Hacked Mexican Government, According to Latest Snowden Leak
According to information leaked by Edward Snowden and reported by the German publication Der Spiegel, the NSA (National Security Agency) “has been systematically eavesdropping on the Mexican government for years.” Cory Doctorow explains more at Boing Boing: A Snowden leak, discussed in detail in Der Spiegel, shows how the NSA broke into...
Chilean Students March to Demand Education Reform One Month Before Elections
The protests are part of ongoing mobilizations calling for an overhaul in the country's education system. This time students are pushing candidates to share specific proposals for education reform.
Media Factory Accepting Applications for New Media Projects in Latin America
Media Factory, a startup accelerator focusing on “the business of online news and journalism”, is accepting applications from journalists who want to create a digital news outlet in Latin America, as Angela Buenrostro explains in the Journalism in the Americas Blog: Teams must have an idea of what they want to...
Video: Colombian Artists Sing in Solidarity With Farmers
Although protests and road blocks have stopped, the farmers' struggle for land rights continues.
“Development For Who?” Guatemalans Resist Hydroelectric Project
“Development for who? Will the money stay in the community? No, it goes to fill others’ pockets, and we will continue to live in poverty. What we’re asking now is for the government to cancel all the [mining and hydroelectric] licenses that have been granted.” In Upside Down World, Kelsey...
Colombia's Problem with Urban Inequality
The government has puts lots of emphasis, understandably, on Bogotá's economic growth and claimed reductions in poverty. But according to data from the United Nations Bogotá is failing on another important measure: Economic Equality. A recent U.N. study, reported in El Tiempo, found that Colombia was the country which most increased...
