-Today marks the 480th anniversary since the Virgin of Guadalupe allegedly appeared to indigenous boy Juan Diego in Mexico.
-Peruvian President Ollanata Humala may have only taken office in , but his administration is already facing some major challenges after his cabinet chief stepped down over the ongoing protests against mining in the northern part of the country and Humala reshuffled his cabinet, replacing ten positions. At the same time, the prime minister stepped down, and Humala has tapped a former military officer, Oscar Valdes, to serve as Prime Minister.
-Mexican police arrested a major leader of the Beltran Leyva cartel over the weekend. While these arrests are often high-profile stories, it’s worth remembering they often either result in somebody else filling the vacuum, or in increased violence as different factions of cartels or different cartels battle for power and to assume greater control, leaving even more Mexican citizens caught in the crossfire.
-After serving twenty years in prisons in the United States and France, Manuel Noriega returned to Panama yesterday, where he will continue to serve time, possibly under house arrest (due to Panamanian laws regarding prison terms for those over 70 years of age). As the article notes, while Noriega spent the last two decades in prison, Panamanian society and politics have witnessed some major transformations.
-Also yesterday, Cristina Kirchner, Argentina’s first woman president, was sworn into office for a second presidential term after handily winning re-election in October.
-In Chile, calls have emerged for a law that prohibits the public honoring of ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet, whose 1973-1990 regime murdered over 3,000 Chileans and tortured tens of thousands more.
-The United States Supreme Court has agreed to rule on Arizona’s controversial immigration law SB 1070 after a federal appeals court blocked several of the provisions of the law, including the part of the bill that required police to inquire about the immigration status of an individual when stopping them for a crime. In November, Arizonan voters recalled Russell Pearce, the state senator responsible for authoring the law.
-Argentina plans on commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Malvinas/Falklands War with a new museum that will focus on ” the Malvinas veterans and their sufferings.”
-In Brazil, voters in the northern state of Pará, Brazil’s largest state, rejected a plan that would have partitioned the state into three smaller states.
-Finally, a Mexican man has been arrested for raping and then selling his 14-year-old daughter for 5000 pesos (about $365).
Americas South and North 