Inter-American Commission of Human Rights denounces state of Latin American prisons

A report published by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) last week denounced prison conditions in Latin America.

The report, which spoke in general terms of regional penitentiaries, highlighted ‘serious structural deficiencies that gravely affect the human rights’ of prisoners, including overcrowding, overpopulation, and excessive use of preventative detention which has lead to increased violence throughout Latin American penitentiaries.

Presented by the Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, Rodrigo Escobar along with the regional representative for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the UN, Carmen Villa, and the regional director of the Association for the Prevention of Torture (ATP) Sylvia Days, the report emphasised multiple problems within the prison system, including the excessive use of torture for criminal investigation, the excessive use of force by prison security forces and the absence of effective measures for the protection of vulnerable groups with the prison system.

As evidence of the ‘high rates of violence and the lack of effective control by prison authorities,’ the report cites the case of Venezuela, where according to state information, there were 1,865 deaths and 4,358 injuries in state penitentiaries between 2005 and 2008.

According to Escobar, the cause of these grave deficiencies within the Latin American prison system is the result not only of decades of inattention by state authorities, but also of an apathetic society, who prefers to look the other way when it comes to prison reformation.

‘The mere construction of prisons is not the solution,’ said Escobar.

Impunity rates startling high in Latin American violence against women

International NGO Comité de América Latin y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres (Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights—CLADEM) spoke out this week about impunity and violence against women.

According to CLADEM regional coordinator, Elba Beatriz Núñez, Latin American suffers from a ‘common pattern of violence against women and impunity in the justice system.’

Despite the widespread promulgation of laws designed to protect women, Núñez cites the failure of state government’s to devote the funds necessary to developing programmes designed to combat violence against women as the main cause of continued impunity.

This problem is especially pronounced in Mexico, who, despite have ratified every international human rights instrument, continues to underfund or ignore its obligations to women.

A prime example is Mexico’s failure to comply with a 2009 Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) ruling in Campo Algodonero v. The United Mexican States, in which the IACtHR found that the government of Mexico did not fulfil its human rights obligations when it failed to effectively investigate, prosecute and prevent crimes against women and girls in Ciudad Juárez.

CLADEM, who registers, on average, five hundred episodes of sexual violence against women every day, reported that 92 per cent of femicides in the region go unpunished. Femicides have been on the rise in Latin America, especially in Central America, due to increased trafficking of persons, drug trafficking and organised crime.

According to the NGO, seven out of ten Latin American women have suffered some sort of violence, and between seventeen and fifty-three per cent are affected by systematic violence.

Mexico develops first school of human rights

The regional government of Oaxaca, Mexico and the UNESCO Chair of Human Rights announced this week its creation of the first school of human rights in Latin America.

The Proyecto de la Escuela Virtual de Alta Formación de Derechos Humanos para personas Servidoras Públicas de Oaxaca (Virtual High School Training Project in Human Rights for Public Servants of Oaxaca) seeks to ‘better provide’ to its civil servants ‘the theoretical and practical tools essential to ensure the protection of human rights,’ in order to strengthen their knowledge and skills in the areas of administration of justice, public safety and education processes.

The development of this online education programme is in response to the June 2011 constitutional reform, which gave constitutional status to all human rights guaranteed in the international treaties of which Mexico is a party.

The new institution plans to create protocols and informational and coordinating mechanisms to create and systematise general best practices in the field of human rights.

According to Eréndira Cruzvillegas Fuentes, ‘human rights education is fundamental,’ because if state actors are not educated in and transformed by a human rights education, it is difficult to ‘see them as forces of change within the government.’

No such school exists in the region, says Cruzvillegas Fuentes, as such Oaxaca is the ‘pioneering state’ not only for Mexico, but for all of Latin America.

This educational project ‘represents a real opportunity to improve the daily work of all public servants, which allows the country to collectively advance on the issue of human rights,’ said Ana Güezmes, United Nations director of Mexico.

The virtual education programme aims to be up and running as early as next month.

Sergio Larraín photographs to be published

A book of photographs taken by experimental Chilean photojournalist Sergio Larraín is to be published in time for the French photography festival Les Rencontres d’Arles on 1^st July.

The volume will be accompanied by an exhibition, which will travel to Chile in 2014. The photographs will be available for the public to view at the Bellas Artes Museum in Santiago from 27^th March, and later in Concepción, Punta Arenas and finally La Serena, before travelling to Brazil.

The book collects 404 of his photographs, from an archive of over 5,000. It also includes drawings and a biographical essay written by Gonzalo Leiva, illustrating the artist’s professional and private life. Larraín died in February 2012 at the age of 81, at his home in Ovalle, Chile.

Agnes Sire, director of the Cartier-Bression Foundation, has both curated the exhibition and edited the book, which is being published by French publishing house Xavier Barral.

Young artwork exhibited in Mexico

A collection of artwork, Creación en movimiento: Jovenes creadores (Moving Creation: Young Creators) is being exhibited at the Vasconcelos Library in Mexico, showcasing the work of young people who were awarded grants by the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (National Arts and Culture Fund – Fonca).

The multimedia exhibition includes 349 works of art, from architecture to photography, painting and video. There will also be workshops, conferences, concerts and books available to visitors. It is free of charge and open to the public until 25^th August.

It has also been announced that a documentary series, 20 y + por el arte is to be launched, produced by Channel 22 with the support of Fonca. The series will follow young grant holders, explore their relationship with their artwork and the cities where they have grown up.

Russian cinema in Lima

The Russian embassy in Peru and the Catholic University present Nuevos Vientos en el Cine De Rusia (New Winds in Russian Cinema), showing from 17^th to 23^rd June in the PUCP Cultural Centre in Lima. Highlights include Elena, Andrewy Zvyagintsev’s third film, which won the Premio del Jurado Enfoque Especial (Special Jury Prize) at Cannes along with four other awards; and Fausto from director Aleksander Sokurov, the final installment in a four part series about power and how we wield it over others. In total 11 films are being presented, specially selected in order demonstrate variety in contemporary Russian cinema.

Free books to celebrate Writers’ Day in Argentina

Free books were left for passers-by to enjoy in Buenos Aires’s Plaza Once on June 13^th  to mark Argentina’s Día del escritor (Writers’ Day).

The date marks the birthday of Leopoldo Lugones, Argentine writer, journalist and founder of the Sociedad de Argentina de Escritores (The Argentine Writers’ Association – SADE), born in 1874.

Among the books given away freely were Palabras vivas, an anthology of texts by disappeared writers, La máscara sarda by Luisa Valenzuela, El protegido del ciervo by Garciela Aráoz, El intendente by Edgardo Berón and Gallito ciego by Marta Grané. All books were offered freely by the publishers and authors, and were hidden in trees and flowerbeds, on benches and in forgotten corners around the square.

The full timetable of viewings can be found here.

Argentina’s former President, Carlos Menem, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for illegally selling weapons to Ecuador and Croatia in the 1990s.

Menem is currently serving as a senator at the age of 82. He is due to start his sentence immediately, according to the president of the tribunal, who announced the decision on 13 June 2013. However, as a legislator, the former president must first go through an impeachment process by his fellow lawmakers. If they fail to oust him from the Senate, Menem could be incarcerated only after completing his term, which ends in 2017.

Menem ruled Argentina from 1989 to 1999 and is accused of smuggling 6,500 tons of weapons and ammunition to Croatia and Ecuador between 1991 and 1995. At the time, Croatia was under a UN arms embargo following the bombing of Yugoslavia. With respect to Ecuador, the country was engaged in a border war with Peru. Argentina signed a peace agreement with both nations in 1942, forbidding it to sell weapons to either one. The weapons it did sell were labelled as being destined for Panama and Venezuela to avoid the embargoes.

Argentina no longer is the King of Beef

The world’s most famous country for beef consumption fell from its perch as the top consumer of beef per capita. The consumption of red-meat has markedly decreased in recent years. Argentina has now slipped behind countries such as Mexico and New Zealand in the global ranking of beef exporters, making it the 11^th biggest exporter in the world. Last year, Argentines consumed about 129 pounds of beef per person compared to the United States which consumed 57.5 pounds of red meat per person. In 1958, Argentines consumed 222 pounds per person year, which is far higher than today.

Increases in beef prices is one of the majors explanations. However, a rise in grain demand in the last decade is also one of the reasons that beef consumption is falling. It has become more profitable for farmers to grow soybeans than to raise cattle. A major problem of the industry at the moment is the government’s support of beef prices and restriction of exports. Others blame this change on the Argentine’s will to go for a more balanced diet as the shift goes hand in hand with a rising demand for poultry, pasta, and pizza, in addition to the emergence of a vegetarian dining scene in Buenos Aires.

Major football team Independiente drops out of first division

Major football team Independiente drops out of first division. One of Argentina’s big five football teams, Independiente, has dropped out of the first division for the first time in their 108-year history. Contrary to River Plate, another team that suffered violent clash after dropping out of first division two years ago, Independiente supporters remained peaceful.

A train accident kills and injures passenger in Buenos Aires suburbs

A suburb train ran into another while it was stopped which resulted in a deadly accident on Thursday 13 June near Buenos Aires. There were three deaths and at least 70 injured. The accident took place near Castelar, at 30 km west of Buenos Aires. A year ago, on the same train line, there was an accident in the central neighbourhood of Once, causing 51 deaths and 700 injured.

US approves bilateral security aid package

On 14 June, the US approved $91.2m for security assistance to El Salvador. According to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Liliana Ayalde, the package will focus on four security programs as part of the Partnership for Growth (Asocio para el Crecimiento – APC).

The APC was signed in 2011 with the main aim of paving the way for El Salvador to fully develop. On security issues, the APC centers on institutional capacity building, as well as crime prevention. Of the 20 goals set by the APC, 14 are related to security and the rest to the economy.

The new package destines $25 million for children and youth education, mainly to improve educational opportunities for young people inside and outside schools.

Another $21.4m will be used to strengthen the judicial system, with $24.8m for crime prevention, with a focus on community-level security. Another $20m will go to a program for preventing youths from joining gangs.

The US supports El Salvador’s preventive approach to gang violence, but has reiterated its disapproval of the gang truce currently in place. According to the Salvadoran government, homicide is down 52% since the truce went into effect in March 2012.

Ayalde said of the new assistance package that improving El Salvador’s security would encourage both local and foreign investment.

Security agencies prepare campaign against crime

On 14 June, the recently appointed minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Perdomo, disclosed a new strategy to tackle insecurity caused by drug trafficking and extortion. The strategy has been in the works for at least eight months.

The armed forces and the Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General de la República – FGR) are the main institutions tasked with executing the plan.

Just last week the minister had announced the creation of the Special Anti-extortion Unit (Grupo Especializado Antiextorsiones – GEA). This unit would be made up of 1,100 police officers and 500 members of the armed forces.

According to Perdomo, the strategy is aimed at combating drug-related activity, both inside the country, and on the national borders. Inmates in all prisons will not be exempted from these measures, says the minister.

The gang truce signed on March 2012, however, includes a provision granting privileges to gang members inside prisons.

Perdomo’s statement was released the same day the National Civil Police (PNC) reported a 15% decrease in extortion from January to May of 2013, compared with the same period in 2012. About 90% of the extortion is attributed to gangs, affecting mostly small businesses and the transport system.

Study shows violence against children abounds

According to Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children, attacks against El Salvador’s children are a sign of a ‘public emergency’.

Santos’ task is to monitor El Salvador’s implementation of recommendations by the UN’s Study on Violence against Children. The study sets out 12 measures to prevent violence against children and to respond when these occur.

Between 2005 and 2011, more than 5,000 children were murdered in the country. Every three hours a teenage girl is sexually abused in El Salvador.

The main causes of youth death include suicides linked to teenage pregnancy and gang violence. Poor children are the most vulnerable because they are more likely to join gangs (maras).

Santos claimed that a great number of children don’t attend school or have social security, which makes them easy recruits for the maras.

She also denounced the fact that only 3% of the GDP is destined for education, while security spending is about 22%. This neglect, she says, has a major impact on crime prevention.

Presidential debate season begins; President Piñera submits social welfare bills, subsidies; 110,000 demonstrate for education reform

Presidential debate season begins

This week saw the first debate of the presidential campaign, between candidates from the parties of the centre-left Concertación Coalition. The candidates present were Claudio Orrego, Andrés Velasco, José Antonio Gómez, and former president Michelle Bachelet.

The first topic addressed was education, which has been a hot-button issue in Chile in the wake of massive student protests demanding more affordable, transparent, and high-quality public education. Bachelet reiterated her pledge to institute the right to free public higher education if elected. The former president and current frontrunner said education ‘has to be a right’ rather than a consumer good. José Antonio Gómez agreed.

Andrés Velasco, by contrast, said that higher education should only be free ‘for those who can’t pay,’ while Claudio Orrego said university education should be free for those in the lowest 70% of income earners.

Other topics discussed included pensions for public employees, gay marriage, abortion, and constitutional reform. Voters will have the chance to choose between the four candidates in the 30 June primary elections.

Andrés Allamand and Pablo Longueira, the frontrunners from the centre-right, responded to the evening’s debate. Allamand commented that ‘we have seen four former ministers from the Concertación who governed for 20 years and have ended up reneging on everything they did.’

Longueira offered a similar response, saying that the Concertación had 20 years to propose a constitutional convention for reform and never did so.

Allamand and Longueira, both candidates from the centre-right Alianza Coalition, had their turn to debate on Thursday. The two former ministers emphasized points of unity between them while questioning the opposition’s plans. Both took aim at Bachelet specifically, on issues such as the former president’s handling of the 27 February 2010 tsunami.

President Piñera submits welfare bills, subsidies

This week President Sebastián Piñera submitted a bill to Congress that would institute mandatory kindergarten for all Chilean children, establishing a right to universal and free access to preschool education from the age of 3.

Education Minister Carolina Schmidt told the press that obligatory kindergarten ‘is what we need to change the cultural conception that preschool education is just daycare.’ She added that early childhood education is the key to ‘equality of opportunity.’ Recent surveys show that 70% of children who do not attend kindergarten come from low-income families.

If it became law the reform would increase the number of years of mandatory schooling in Chile to 13. Congress is expected to take up the proposal in the next several weeks. It is estimated that the new scheme would cost US$300m per year.

Also this week, the government initiated a new Childcare Law (Ley Cuidado de los Hijos). Administration spokeswoman Cecilia Pérez called the bill ‘one of the most significant reforms of the last decade.’

Coinciding with the celebration of Father’s Day, the proposed law is designed to protect the rights of separated parents who are not their children’s primary caregivers. The reform provides incentives for compromise between separated or divorced parents, leaving judicial intervention as a last resort. Pérez said the purpose of the law is to make sure that both parents, whether they live with the children or not, will have rights and obligations in the care of the children.

Also this week, Piñera’s government paid subsidies for 6,000 middle-class residents of the Metropolitan Region. The subsidies are intended for the purchase of family homes. Housing Minister Rodrigo Pérez attended the event with Piñera.

In a speech marking the occasion Piñera emphasized the importance of a strong middle class, saying, ‘we are going to continue paying sudsidies because we want to enable our middle class to grow and progress.’ The subsidy program gives priority to families with more children, and who are caring for elderly parents.

110,000 demonstrate for education reform

Organizers say that around 110,000 people attended Thursday’s demonstrations for education reform.

During the protest, 17 year-old Pedro Aguilera, student body president at the Manuel Barros Borgoño School, was arrested by Carabineros in a violent incident caught on camera. The graphic images of Aguilera’s treatment at the hands of the national police, live streamed from the protest, prompted protests known as ‘cacerolazos’ in several locations across Chile. In a cacerolazo, citizens protest by taking to the streets and banging on pots and pans.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, released a statement condemning police violence against protesting students. The international organization called for an investigation into aggressive behavior by Carabineros targeting Aguilera and other students participating in Thursday’s demonstration.

Famed tenor Ronaldo Villazón returns in style; Poet Javier Sicilia leads war on drugs, releases ‘final’ work; Mexico becomes only World Heritage contender from Latin America

Famed tenor Ronaldo Villazón returns in style

Award-winning lyric tenor Ronaldo Villazon has returned to the spotlight after a vocal cord surgery which had threatened to cut short his career. Having scooped up praise for his performance of Donizetti’s Elixir of Love in May, he is set to play Mozart’s Lucio Silla – deemed one of the most challenging parts in the history of opera – at the prestigious Salzburg Festival this summer.

Villazon had withdrawn from the stage in 2007, announcing that he had to undergo surgery to remove a congenital cyst in one of his vocal cords. ‘Some assumed I had ruined my voice by taking on [Verdi's] Don Carlo or [Bizet's] Carmen, that I bit off more that I could chew’, he told El Universal newspaper several months after.

In 2010, the singer released ‘Mexico’, an album with traditional themes, prompting some to conclude that he had become a crossover artist. Yet his subsequent recording, a selection of Verdi’s arias that appeared in December, firmly reestablished him as an opera heavyweight in the eyes of international media.

‘I feel lucky to be able to do this’, the singer told El País, ‘when my only hope had been to sing in the shower again’.

‘I am about to record a number of Mozart’s later operas, and again, some will say: “How dare he sing Mozart?” But I refuse to be put in a box’, he added.

Poet Javier Sicilia leads war on drugs, releases ‘final’ work 

Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, famously heading the Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad (Mexican Indignados Movement), a movement against the Drug War and growing economic inequality, launched his ‘final’ volume of poetry dedicated to his son assassinated by drug traffickers on Tuesday.

The poet has claimed ‘Vestigios’ will be his last published work. ‘A poet lives off his words, off the language of his epoch. When this language is degraded, it cannot be used anymore. It’s not enough’, he said at the launch event in Mexico City this Tuesday.

Sicilia, earlier renowned for poems suffused with Christian mysticism, emerged as a public leader after his son Juan and six other victims were murdered by a drug gang in Temixco, Morelos, in March 2011.

The street protests he organized in Cuernavaca called for an end to the Drug War, the retreat of military forces from the streets, the legalization of drugs, and the removal of the then President Felipe Calderon; and soon spread to over 40 Mexican cities.

During the launch he was joined by two other poets, Sergio Mondragon and Eduardo Vázquez, who referred to him as a ‘political analyst and critic of the system’, as well as a ‘religious and mystic poet who writes with his body’.

Mexico becomes only World Heritage contender from Latin America

The Mexican nature reserve of El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Alta became the only Latin American site to contend for World Heritage status this year.

The World Heritage Committee, an agency of UNESCO, will be in session Jun 16-27 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, considering 32 candidate sites competing for the designation. World Heritage status, a recognition of a site’s ‘special cultural or physical significance’, ensures its legal protection under the Geneva Convention and enables the host state to request financial assistance for its upkeep.

The El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar is a biosphere reserve located in the Sonoran Desert in Northwestern Mexico, notable for its volcanic peaks, abundant craters and active dunes. Other contending sites include the Great Himalayan National Park in India and the Italian Mount Etna.

Military police accused of using excessive force

An investigation will be launched after Brazil’s minister of justice, José Eduardo Martins Cardozo, accused the military police of using ‘excessive’ and ‘abusive’ force against protestors at this week’s demonstrations in São Paulo.

On Thursday 13 June, the fourth day of the protests, an estimated 5,000 people gathered in São Paulo’s central in response to the recent increase in public transport fares, soon after what started as a peaceful demonstration turned violent.

Riot police fired tear gas and used rubber-coated bullets against the demonstrators, 55 people were injured and over 200 people were arrested. Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported seven of its reporters were hit with rubber bullets, including two who were shot in the face. In turn, police say they seized petrol bombs, knives and drugs from protesters, some of whom reportedly began attacking public property.

The protests stem from increasing frustration with insufficient and overcrowded public transportation systems but are also a sign of growing anger and pessimism with the country’s lagging economy, rising inflation, unemployment, and crime rates.

More than 2,000 people also took part in protests against fare increases in Rio, one of the host cities for the Confederations Cup which starts on Saturday, and protests have also been reported in the southern city of Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, and the capital Brasilia.

State senator Geraldo Alckmin defended police actions and rejected claims that they had used excessive force, branding the rioters ‘vandals’ and accusing them of being politically motivated. However many others, including São Paulo’s mayor Fernando Haddad, have condemned Thursday’s events and have called for a thorough investigation into police conduct.

The police response has touched a nerve in a country that endured over two decades of repression under a military dictatorship that ended in 1985. Amnesty International has also condemned the violence stating that ‘Brazilian authorities must ensure a prompt, full and impartial investigation into any possible excessive use of force by police.’

Rousseff under pressure due to rising inflation

President Dilma Rousseff dismissed growing media criticism and tried to reassure Brazilians that her administration is committed to fiscal discipline and lowering inflation. ‘There is no chance my government won’t fight inflation,’ she said at a public event on Wednesday 12 June, adding that inflation ‘is under control.’

Many economists also have become more pessimistic about Brazil’s economic outlook, citing worries about government spending and the country’s struggle to increase investment rates. This came after the government announced further plans on Wednesday, to hand out 17 billion reais (US$8 billion) in cheap loans for home appliance purchases, in a move to boost Brazilians’ purchasing power.

In a speech delivered Friday 14 June, Rousseff  highlighted the country’s economic strength stating ‘we have enough resources to maintain investments and social spending, in a serious, responsible way that ensures solid public finances and keeps inflation under control.’

While Rousseff’s administration has maintained policies that have pulled millions out of poverty in the government has struggled to tackle the underlying structural problems that are dogging economic growth and feeding inflation.

Amid weeks of violent clashes between Indians and farmers over land reforms and protests over the rising cost of transport across the country, Rousseff’s approval rating appears to be slipping slightly however, the polls showed she remains the clear favourite in next year’s race.

Concerns over increasing social unrest and crime ahead of mega events

As Brazil lifted the curtain on this year’s Confederations Cup with the opening ceremony held in the capital Brasilia on Saturday 15 June, riot police struggled to prevent a 1,000-strong crowd of demonstrators from reaching the stadium ahead of Brazil’s opening match against Japan.

Growing anger and frustration towards the allocation of funds for the upcoming mega events in Brazil, including the 2014 World Cup, and the Olympics in 2016 are becoming increasingly visible throughout the country and protesters chanted: ‘I renounce the Cup! I want more money in health and education!’ Protestors have also promised more organized action across Brazil in the days to come.

Concerns have been raised over Brazil’s growing social unrest and increasing crime rates ahead of the mega-events. The country still has an alarmingly high murder rate, and knife- and gun-point muggings, carjackings and armed robberies continue to be a part of daily life in cities across the country.

Last week, Spanish national newspaper El Pais published an startling report on crime rates in Salvador da Bahia, one of the cities playing host to upcoming events, reporting that the over 150 murders, 84 attempted murders had been recorded in March alone.

Rio has seen a spate of high profile incidents recently, including the March gang rape of an American student aboard a public transit van and the shooting last Saturday of a Brazilian engineer.

The Confederations Cup is seen as a test for Brazil ahead of next year’s World Cup and officials have brought in drones, thermal cameras, and thousands of troops to patrol the six stadiums hosting the events.

Martinelli says investment is key to growth

On Monday, Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli attributed his country’s rapid growth to a new state model of economic administration. In this model, the government takes the lead in infrastructural investment, replacing the private sector.

Panama has reduced poverty from 38.5 percent of the population to 25.5 percent in recent years, according to government statistics.

Speaking in Panama City at a forum for investors from around the world, Martinelli said that four years ago his country was ranked 59th in competitiveness by the World Economic Forum. Now, his country is in 40th place with a goal of breaking the top 30 in the next rankings.

The president encouraged investors to remember that Panama is still ‘under construction’ and that a variety of works are still in progress to improve the countries infrastructure. For every dollar of investment, forty cents currently go to infrastructural improvements.

Some of the most significant projects are a new metro system in Panama City, the implementation of a new system of buses, and the construction of hospitals and highways.

Peru’s middle class continues to expand

Peru’s sustained economic growth has allowed the country’s middle class to expand in recent years. Currently, seven out of every ten Peruvians belong to this socioeconomic level, according to the Interamerican development bank (BID).

BID’s Peruvian representative, Fidel Jaramillo, explained that his organisation’s report divided the middle class into two categories: emergent and consolidated. Between 2005 and 2011, the consolidated middle class grew from 25.9 percent of the population to 48.9 percent of the population. Many others left poverty during this period, and now, 21.2 percent belong to the ‘emergent’ middle class.

Families in the consolidated middle class have incomes between US$560 and US$1227 a month. The emergent middle class has an income of between US$350 and US$560 a month.

‘Three-quarters of the population now find themselves in the middle class,’ Jaramillo said. ‘These results show that Peru’s growth in recent years has favored the middle class.’

During the period of the investigation, the percentage of poor Peruvians decreased from 48.7 percent to 27.8 percent. The percentage of rich Peruvians also increased from 0.6 percent to 2.1 percent of the population.

Brazilian government says investment has not caused inflation

The Brazilian government has rejected the claim that government works are the cause of the country’s inflation.

One of the elements that composes inflation, government spending, has been criticised for increasing pressure on prices.

According to the political economy secretary of the Ministry of Housing, Marcio Holland, ‘investment’ cannot be considered in the same category as public expenditures. He assured the public that the investment promoted by the governement and foreigners do not influence price rises.

‘The classic assessment of investment is that it raises the capacity [of goods and services] offered, which results in lower prices. It does not seem reasonable that reducing investment will control inflation,’ he added.

Holland says that inflation is declining in Brazil and that the factors that result in higher prices, especially food prices, are disappearing.

‘The latest data that we have from the [consumer price index] is that inflation is at 0.37 percent after reaching 0.86 percent.’

University names Latin America’s most attractive cities for investment

The University of Rosario (Colombia) has released its latest rankings of the most attractive Latin American cities for investment. Taking into account 48 cities in the region, the report concluded that Santiago, Chile was the most attractive urban area for investors. It was followed by Sao Paulo, Brazil; Mexico City, Mexico; Lima, Peru; and Bogotá, Colombia, respectively.

The study took into account national- and local-level economic performance including expected growth. Rounding out the top ten were Monterrey, Mexico; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Panama City, Panama; Valparaíso, Chile; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Argentina approves assisted fertilisation treatment to both heterosexual and homosexual couples

Last Wednesday Argentine Congress approved an Assisted Fertilisation law, which provides reproductive assistance to both heterosexual and homosexual couples.

The law requires both public and private health plans to provide both low and high level-complexity treatments to couples seeking help in reproducing. Within the national health care system, citizens will be afforded free access to reproductive assistance.

This law will ‘help families who for years had to mortgage their homes or sell their belongings to afford a child,’ said Maria Elena Chieno, chair of the Health Care Committee.

According to statistics cited by Congress, there are more than 600,000 infertile couples in Argentina.

‘Assisted fertilisation is the law, from today forward. More rights, more inclusion, a better country,’ said Argentine President Cristina Kirchner via Twitter.

The proposed law was propelled into Congress by Argentine NGO Sumate a Dar Vida (Join Together to Give Life), who collected over 280,500 signatures in favour of the proposed legislation.

Oil spill in Ecuador threatens Peruvian communities

An oil spill from the Sistema de Oleoducto Transecuatoriano (Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline System—SOTE) on May 31st continues to threaten Peruvian communities along the Napo River.

Approximately ninety per cent of the 11,480 barrels of crude oil, which spilled into Ecuador’s Coca River last month, have made their way into Peru.

The Peruvian Organismo de Evaluación y Fiscalización Ambiental (Environmental Evaluation and Control Agency—OEFA) collected water and sediment samples along the river last Thursday to evaluate possible contamination. On Saturday, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala confirmed the existence of pollution, but was confident that the situation was under control.

For their part, the Ecuadorian state has contracted with US-based Clean Caribbean & Americas to clean up affected areas, and pledged support for those communities along the river affected by the spill.

Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa has offered his ‘apologies to Peru for the problems that we have caused.’

In Peru, thirty-four communities live on the banks of the Napo River.

Dominican Republic to help provide identification to Haitians

The Dominican Republic has offered Haitian officials use of state territory in order to identify Haitians living within its borders.

Dominican president, Danilo Medina, announced the initiative at the Cumbre de Jefes de Estado y Gobierno de CARICOM (Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community), held last week in the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince.

According to Nigel Fisher, Head of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the Dominican offer is ‘good, positive and contributory.’

Haitians, who without identification are stateless, can be listed as temporary workers inthe Dominican Republic once the Haitian government identifies them.

At the end of 2012, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there were 595 Haitians refugees and 1,785 Haitians seeking asylum in the Dominican Republic.

Eduardo Lalo wins Rómulo Gallegos novel prize

Puerto Rican writer Eduardo Lalo has been awarded the eighteenth International Rómulo Gallegos Prize for Fiction, for his book Simone. Lalo’s previous titles include La inutilidad and El deseo del lápiz.

Simone was competing with ten other novels for the prize, which is judged by a team of eminent writers and academics in the field of Hispanic literature, including previous winner Ricardo Piglia.

The prize, which was created in 1964 honour of Venezuelan novelist and politician Rómulo Gallegos, is awarded every two years in Caracas. It is worth US$100,000, making it one of the richest literary prizes in the world.

The award intends to stimulate the creative activity of Spanish language writers and is awarded by the government of Venezuela. This year there were 200 entries from 17 different countries.

Romantic Buenos Aires: the first ever festival of the romantic novel

6 June saw the launch of the first ever romantic fiction festival in Buenos Aires. Talks, seminars, performances, interviews and workshops ran throughout the four day festival in the Recoleta Cultural Centre, which hosted romantic novelists such as Alexandra Risley and Gloria Casañas.

‘Due to the notable growth that Argentina’s romantic fiction sector has experienced over the last four years,’ explained festival director Horacio García, ‘the decision was made to set up this festival to promote reading and interaction between writers and readers.’

Highlights of the festival included readings from famous love letters, including Yoko Ono to John Lennon, Napoleon to Josephine and Victoria Ocampo to Pierre Drieu la Rochell.

Visitors were also invited to leave one of their own love letters – and three thousand of them did. The winning letter will be chosen in ten days time; the prize is a ten day trip to Paris for two.

Blockbusters on the underground

This weekend, at Baquedano station in central Santiago in Chile, four films were shown free of charge to commuters on the underground.

The project, Cine de Estación (Station Cinema), returns this year to include three successful international films, Amigos (Friends, France 2011), Bachelor Party (United States, 2012) and Silver Linings Playbook (United States, 2012) as well as the 2013 Chilean film Qué pena tu familia, written and directed by Nicolás López and starring Ariel Levy.

Circus winners come to Bogotá

The winners of the Monte Carlo International Circus Festival began their 2013 Fantasy Tour on 7 June in Bogotá.

More than 40 performers including acrobats, clowns, cyclists, ballet dancers and tight-rope walkers star in this international production in a 4,500 event space.

The performers are a diverse range of nationalities: German, Russian, Mexican, Chilean, Monacan, Spanish, American, Brazilian and Ukrainian.

Ticket prices start at COP$25,000 (US$13). The event runs until 16 July.