Miami Herald's Coverage of the Americas January 30, 2010

Check out the Miami Herald for the latest about the Americas.  Some of the stories you'll find:

• A group from Utah was inspired to bring more than 100 Haitian orphans back to the U.S. where potential adoptive parents were lined up
• A group of Puerto Rican doctors who traveled to Haiti in the wake of the nation's devastating earthquake to provide aid are under fire for posting tasteless photographs on Facebook 
• The ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru are evacuated by helicopter after heavy rains damage train tracks.

News about the Americas from The Economist January 30 Issue

Below you will find the Economist's digest items about the Americas from their January 30, 2010 edition.  Please note that a subscription is needed to access their website.

• Two weeks after an earthquake hit Haiti, followed by massive aftershocks and killing up to 300,000 people, international help began to reach substantial numbers of survivors. UN peacekeepers fired tear-gas at a crowd who mobbed aid workers distributing food supplies.
• Manuel Zelaya, who was deposed as president of Honduras in a coup and has spent months holed up in the Brazilian embassy, went into exile in the Dominican Republic. This was part of a reconciliation plan agreed by the newly elected president, Porfirio Lobo. Honduras’s Supreme Court and Congress absolved the military officers who removed Mr Zelaya from power of any wrongdoing.
• Venezuela’s vice-president and defence minister, Ramón Carrizález, resigned, denying rumours of a split with President Hugo Chávez. Meanwhile, the government ordered cable-television providers to stop carrying a pro-opposition channel, RCTV. There were big protests over this and over electricity blackouts, water shortages and rising crime.
• The United States asked Guatemala to extradite Alfonso Portillo—an ex-president who had previously been extradited to Guatemala from exile in Mexico—on money-laundering charges.
• Germany issued an arrest warrant for Jorge Rafael Videla, a former dictator of Argentina currently held in custody there, on charges of murdering a German man. And Brazil extradited a former Uruguayan military officer to Argentina over alleged abuses against dissidents in Argentina’s “dirty war” during the 1976-83 dictatorship.

You will also find in depth articles about Haitian leaders wonder how to rebuild a country in ruins; Hugo Chávez worrying ever less about maintaining a semblance of democracy; and an examination about why economic liberalism (what we would call conservative economic policies in the United States) is taboo in socially liberal Brazil. 

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Miami Herald's Coverage of the Americas 1/14/10

Check out this week's Miami Herald Americas section.  It has the latest about the Caribbean, Central and South America.

Here are some highlights:

Haiti earthquake had been predicted for years

The earthquake in Haiti surprised South Floridians who didn't expect earthquakes in the Caribbean. But geologists had been sounding the alarm for some time. - Updated 2 minutes ago

• Aerial photos of the devastation in Haiti 
• Latest photographs after earthquake in Haiti 
• On the web | U.S. Geological Survey Haiti Podcast 

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  U.S. captive was aiding Jews

  The American contractor arrested in Cuba on spying charges was helping Jewish groups, sources said.
  
  
  

• U.N. peacekeepers among the dead, missing

  United Nations officials announced that more than a dozen peacekeepers were killed in the earthquake and that over 100 remain missing. - 2:33 PM ET
  

• Changes in Venezuela's currency to impact U.S.

  
  

  As Venezuela significantly devalued its currency , experts agree that the U.S. will likely suffer from a loss of exports with the country.
  

  • Venezuela shutters stores in price-hike crackdown
  • Sector Snap: Venezuela weighs on consumer cos.

Opinion piece by Arik Arad on Airport Security

Here's an interesting piece by a colleague of Tom Sheer's about airport security.