Las Notis is a daily news column that gets you up to speed on politics, media news + other going ons in Latin America and the diaspora—all in one quick digest.
Here’s your glimpse at what’s going on today.
- On Tuesday, after weeks of speculation, Joe Biden announced that Kamala Harris will be his running mate. The former California prosecutor, who is the first Black woman and the first woman of Indian descent to be nominated as VP, released her first campaign ad as part of the Biden ticket this morning, writing on Twitter, “[Joe Biden]—I’m ready to get to work.”
- The Trump administration is reportedly having logistical trouble drafting a proposal that would block U.S. citizens and permanent residents from re-entering the U.S. from the Mexican border, an idea thrown around under the flimsy pretext of curbing the spread of the coronavirus. [WaPo]
- Prosecutors in Mexico have opened an investigation against the country’s former President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) on charges of corruption. [BBC]
- Despite data showing that fires in the Brazilian Amazon have increased in recent months, the country’s President Jair Bolsonaro called the fires “a lie” on Tuesday. The first 10 days of August recorded 10,000 fires, according to Brazil’s national space research agency Inpe. [Reuters]
- Protesters in Bolivia organized mass street blockades to demand that interim President Jeanine Áñez resigns and elections happen quickly. The protests come after a government announcement that elections had been moved from May to October. Many of the protesters, who include nearly 150,000 miners, coca leaf farmers, labor union members, and Indigenous activists, are supporters of the ousted President Evo Morales. [NPR/WaPo]
- The 1960s singer Trini Lopez, known for his renditions of “Lemon Tree” and “If I Had A Hammer,” died on Tuesday after coronavirus complications. The Mexican artist, mentored by singers such as Buddy Holly and Frank Sinatra, was 83. [HuffPo]
- NPR’s Code Switch interviewed Mark Hugo Lopez, who helped lead a new Pew study that finds that only 23% of Latinos in a national random sample have heard of the term “Latinx.” Of the people surveyed, 61% said they prefer the term “Hispanic” instead of “Latino.” The survey has reignited debate online, with many people pointing out that the term took off among queer and non-binary communities, who aren’t specifically noted in the sample.