Recently in Latin America Category
Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. Psalm 126:5
Today we observe the seventh anniversary of the deadly strikes against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the heroic and tragic efforts of the passengers and crew of flight United 93 who lost their lives trying to save themselves and, in the process, averting an even greater disaster. By any rational measure, we were all victimized by these events.
But let us not forget our Chilean brothers and sisters who today observe an equally life-altering event: the 35th anniversary of the overthrow of the only known democratically-elected communist president, Salvador Allende. That coup resulted in thousands of people killed, tortured, mutilated, raped, and disappeared.
And our hands are stained with their blood.
"No podemos permitir que Chile se vaya a las alcantarillas", dijo Kissinger a Jesse Helms, entonces director de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA).
"Estoy con usted", le respondió Helms en la conversación telefónica que ocurrió el 12 de septiembre de 1970 pocos días después de que Allende iniciara su Gobierno.
Which translates, roughly to
"We cannot allow that Chile goes down the gutter," said Kissinger to Jesse Helms, then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
"I'm with you," responded Helms in the telephone conversation of September 12, 1970, a few days after Allende took over his government.
Since that day, the U.S. government did everything in its power to create a climate of crisis in Chile and, as Nixon stated, make Chile's economy scream. While U.S. involvement in the coup is neither confirmed or denied, what is undeniable is that U.S. actions created the environment that facilitated the coup from occurring.
Many people say that in September 11 innocent civilians were killed. I agree. They also say that we didn't deserve to be attacked. To quote Clint Eastwood in "Unforgiven," "deserves has nothing to do with it."
We may choose to be blissfully oblivious to the effects of our nation's foreign and monetary polices on other countries. Or we can pick and choose which facts fit our preferred narrative.
What we don't get to choose is how the other countries - or the people in it - react when they feel they've had enough.
So, today on September 11, 2008, my wish for our American, Chilean, and Muslim brothers is the same:
Paz y reconciliación.
Peace and reconciliation.
These events got me thinking about how far behind the U.S. is when it comes to political gender equality when compared to Latin America.
Do you know when Latin America elected its first female president? In 1990. Do you remember who?
Violeta Chamorro was elected President of Nicaragua, and her UNO coalition defeated the Daniel Ortega's Sandinista government (yes, the same Daniel Ortega who now swears his communist ideations back in the '80s were just a bad dream).
Since then, Panamá's Mireya Moscoso, Chile's Michelle Bachelet, and Argentina's Cristina Kirchner have been elected to their nations' highest post. And while "American," though not "Latin," Janet Jagan was elected President of Guyana.
Isn't it ironic that the nation that incessantly boasts about its freedom, justice, and equality has yet to nominate a woman for the top post of its country while Latin American nations ravaged by decades of repressive regimes are having no problem finding and electing capable females?
What's even more interesting, in many Latin American nations, the rise in female political activism and access has been tied to "affirmative action."
Since 1991, 12 Latin American countries have enacted quota laws that in some cases have doubled the number of female congressional representatives. While in the United States women make up just 15 percent of the House of Representatives and 14 percent of the Senate, in Argentina and Costa Rica, women comprise fully one-third of the national congresses.[BRIEF ASIDE: No, I don't consider "affirmative action" to be "quotas," but some people somewhere do. It's a joke.]
Which countries? These ones:
Quotas or not, it is clear that Latin American countries are more receptive to the idea of a female leader than the U.S.Latin American Countries With Legislative Gender Quotas
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru. Venezuela recently rescinded its law. In Colombia, there is a legal requirement that women occupy 30 percent of appointed positions in the executive branch.
Go figure.
Since finally succeeding his ailing 81-year-old brother, Fidel, in February, Mr. Castro, 76, who appeared before hundreds of thousands of Cubans at a May Day rally on Thursday here in the capital, has been busy with a flurry of changes. In the last eight weeks he has also opened access to cellphones, lifted the ban on Cubans using tourist hotels and granted farmers the right to manage unused land for profit.
Let me tell you, the human mind amazes me, it puts pieces of the 'puzzle' together in ways you just can't understand: I was watching the old boob tube today after a nice dinner, and for some reason I stopped at channel 66, The US Senate. Bush and Fox were clipped talking about how great NAFTA has been for trade between the
Okay, piece one.
I am subscribed to a financial email newsletter, and today I happened to read it instead of deleting it. What caught my eye was this" "The New American Currency." Fired up Google and this is what I get:
And your really, REALLY need to read this. Canadians are upset; WAKE UP AMERICANS, the dollar is going down the tubes!CNBC Interview with Stephen Previs about the Amero.
This video highlights a very serious concern which none of our media is looking into. The Amero is being looked at as the defacto currency of the North American Community (or Union).
Steve Previs: One thing the people who are dollar-based need to focus on is the Amero. That’s the one thing nobody’s talking about that’s going to have a big impact on everybody’s life in Canada, the US and Mexico. If you google it you can find out all about it. The Amero is the proposed new currency for the north American community which is being developed right now between Canada the US and Mexico to make a borderless community much like the EU and the dollar, Canadian dollar, us dollar and the Mexican peso being replaced by the Amero.
Interviewer: You really think that will get any leeway?
Source.
Steve Previs: You may want to visit a couple of web sites to see how far along it is. The Canadians are pretty upset about it whereas the Americans apart from the Texans are the only people who know anything about it the rest of the public is really with their heads in the sand on this one. Click here for more.
This is the reason I don't give too much energy into racism, immigration, and the border - they are all side notes and distractions to this bigger back room deal.
Immigration is good for the financial health of Social Security because more workers mean more tax revenue. Illegal immigration, it turns out, is even better than legal immigration. In the fine print of the 2008 annual report on Social Security, released last week, the program’s trustees noted that growing numbers of “other than legal” workers are expected to bolster the program over the coming decades.Emphasis added. The report can be accessed here.
One reason is that many undocumented workers pay taxes during their work lives but don’t collect benefits later. Another is that undocumented workers are entering the United States at ever younger ages and are expected to have more children while they’re here than if they arrived at later ages. The result is a substantial increase in the number of working-age people paying taxes, but a relatively smaller increase in the number of retirees who receive benefits — a double boon to Social Security’s bottom line.
We’re not talking chump change. According to the report, the taxes paid by other-than-legal immigrants will close 15 percent of the system’s projected long-term deficit. That’s equivalent to raising the payroll tax by 0.3 percentage points, starting today.
That is not to suggest that illegal immigration is a legitimate fix to Social Security’s problems. It is another reminder, however, of the nation’s complex relationship with undocumented workers. Would the people who want to deport all undocumented workers be willing to make up the difference and pay the taxes that the undocumented are currently paying?
On the one hand, unless you're a recalcitrant anti-immigration (or anti-illegal-immigration) advocate, this shouldn't surprise you since it's common sense. The whole point of the no-match letters that are now being used in some towns, counties, cities, or states to establish whether a person is an illegal immigrant is to inform the person that because there is no match, he or she would not be entitled to benefits - or would receive reduced benefits -if he or she did not correct the error.
On the other hand, you really have to wonder about an editorial that pretty much sings the virtues of a system based on the permanent disenfranchisement of an entire group of workers. "They" are such a good thing for "us." While the article raises the issue of whether Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes to make up the difference in revenues, it doesn't discuss the implications of providing a path to citizenship for these workers. What would the picture look like if these workers could receive Social Security benefits when the time comes?
So, for the NY Times, it seems it's OK to exploit "them" as long as it benefits "us."
Argentina is not in Mexico, so they are not Mexican. Illegals? They are illegal in their own country?!? ....Smack!
This sidling wicket goblin, who is terrorizing Argentinian Mexicans, made one teenager "so scared after seeing that thing that we had to take him to the hospital."...Hmm... a hobbit gnome terrorizing illegals? This is no mystery at all.
Latinos have a history of racial discrimination and prejudice dating hundreds of years. Both against Latinos of African descent and against indigenous communities in Central and South America.Today's case-in-point comes courtesy of the Dominican Republic, where blacks are being discriminated against.
La Embajada de Estados Unidos en el país instruyó a todo su personal para que se abstenga de visitar la discoteca “Tonic”, en esta capital, bajo el alegato de que el establecimiento incurre en “discriminación racial”.
La misión diplomática estadounidense dio a conocer la información en un comunicado de prensa en el que asegura que la discoteca “Tonic”, prohibió “la entrada a empleados afro-americanos que laboran en la Embajada” el día 12 de enero.
Which translates to
The press release (Spanish only) can be found here.The U.S. Embasy in [the Dominican Republic] instructed all its personnel to abstain from attending the club "Tonic," in the capital due to allegations that it engages in "racial discrimination.
The U.S. diplomatic mission provided this information in a press release that alleges that "Tonic" denied "entry to African-American employees who work at the embassy on January 12.
Isolated incident, you say? Apparently not.
Se trata de la segunda denuncia de este tipo realizada por la misión diplomática estadounidense en el país. La primera se produjo el año pasado, cuando el 22 de julio del año pasado la discoteca Loft, localizada en la avenida Tiradentes, de esta capital, prohibió la entrada de empleados afro-americanos de la Embajada de Estados Unidos.Which translates to
This is the second complaint of its kind made by the U.S. diplomatic mission. The first was made last year when, on July 22nd, the club Loft, [also in the capital], barred enty to African-American employees of the U.S. Embassy.Of course, the only reason we know about this is because it involved U.S. embassy employees. Who knows how often this really happens.
And just like I discussed in the previous entry . . .
Relaciones Exteriores aseguró, a través de Rosario Graciano De los Santos, subsecretaria encargada de Asuntos Consulares y Migratorios, que “parece increíble” que en el país ocurran hechos discriminatorios, ya que “el 70 % de la población es mulata y el 20% negra”.
Sin embargo, no hubo ninguna sanción contra la discoteca por parte de las autoridades judiciales o del Ministerio Público.
Which translates to
Same ol' thing: "nobody's white." So racial issues get swept under the rug.[Dominican Republic's] Foreign Relations Ministry stated, through Rosario Graciano De los Santos, subsecretary in charge of Consular and Migratory matters, that "it was incredible" that in the Dominican Republic such discriminatory acts occur because "70% of the population is mulatto and 20% is black."
However, neither the judiciary nor the Public Ministry impose a fine on the club.
UPDATE: When it rains, it pours. I just came across this.
En México, aceptó el gobernador de Yucatán, Patricio Patrón Laviada, se explota y se discrimina a los inmigrantes centroamericanos.
“Con qué cara le decimos a Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘oye, no hagas tal cosa’, si nosotros, apenas podemos, repetimos la misma historia.”
“Es inaceptable lo que a veces hacemos con los centroamericanos”,
Hay algo, agregó, que “si bien no lo justifico, sí lo puedo explicar, que un güero de ojos azules ve a un moreno y dice: ‘éste es diferente’; pero entre nosotros no hay ni siquiera esa situación, somos el mismo pueblo, la misma raza, ‘¿cómo podemos hacer algo así’?”
In Mexico, accepted Yucatan's governor Patricio Patron Laviada, Central American immigrants are exploited and discriminated against.But this last paragraph is the money line.
"How can we tell governor Arnold Schwarzenegger 'hey, don't do that,' when, as soon as we can, we do the same thing.
It is unacceptable what we sometimes do to Central American immigrants.
There's one thing, he added, that, even though I cannot justify, I can understand; when a [white,] blue-eyed person looks at a dark-skinned person and says "he's different." But among us, we're the same nation and the same race. How can we do something like this?
This is another installment of the Latino Bloggers Series (formally known as "What Latino Bloggers Need To Do".The Latino Blogosphere is now becoming more authoritative: There are gossip sites, blog-journalists, witty-opinions, book reviews, independent voices, news sites, Venezuelan sites, activism, politics, marketers, authors.
Note I said in the title that the Latino-blogosphere is maturing - not matured yet. We can consider this the tip of the iceberg and the beginning of Latino Blogs maturing. Just a few short years ago, Latino bloggers looked and felt like a faint aspiration of their author's intentions. Those fledgling days are being outpaced by some of the strides made by Latino bloggers on a daily basis. And now with election year upon us like salsa on a taco, we will see more establishments, organizations, reporters, shows, average Jose's look up Latino blogs than before.
The post is a good read; if you haven't checked out Mario's radio show, you should.
The failure of the Obama campaign to garner Latino support is that his campaign was simply less accessible to Latinos than was the Clinton campaign during a critical early decision making period...
Richardson has even less Latino support than Obama in the poll Hutchinson quoted. In fact Richardson has received less financial support from Latinos than has Clinton. An indication that among even the Latino political elite who have shown tremendous ethnic political loyalty for at least two decades Richardson has been outdone by Clinton.
Since newspapers abhor a vacuum, now the issue du jour is whether Latinos will vote for Obama.
“Many Latinos are not ready for a person of color,” Natasha Carrillo, 20, of East Los Angeles, said. “I don’t think many Latinos will vote for Obama. There’s always been tension in the black and Latino communities. There’s still that strong ethnic division. I helped organize citizenship drives, and those who I’ve talked to support Clinton.”And it's not just mainstream media.
I recently had a discussion with a good friend who heads a prominent Latino social service agency in Los Angeles about the White House prospects of Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. He lowered his voice and shamefacedly said that many Latinos that he talked with scoffed or sneered at the idea of voting for Obama.Emphasis added. There are many possible reasons why Latinos may feel "apprehensive" about voting for an African-American candidate. However, lets focus on the one reason nobody is discussing in either article.
When I asked why, his answer was blunt. They just can’t see themselves voting for a black guy. The disdain, or less charitably bigotry, that he said many Latinos express toward Obama is anecdotal and can hardly be taken as the sentiment of most Latinos. But that some expressed that sentiment is not surprising.
Atahualpa Yupanqui wrote a beautiful milonga entitled Los Hermanos or "The Brothers." Although it may be deemed a protest song or a song about the common Argentinian, the lyrics are universal and apply to the situation at hand here.
Which translates, roughly, to "And so we keep on walking/tanned in solitude/and in us our dead ones/so nobody's left behind."Y así seguimos andando
curtidos de soledad;
y en nosotros nuestros muertos
pa' que nadie quede atrás
Emphasis added. And therein lies the main issue: Latinos have a history of racial discrimination and prejudice dating hundreds of years. Both against Latinos of African descent and against indigenous communities in Central and South America. That, compounded with a near universal denial of racism in Latin America, or denial of it as being a problem, and it is not surprising that as we carry nuestros muertos, their attitudes shine through.
The interesting and ironic thing is that, compared with Latin America, the U.S. has been extremely progressive in how it deals with racial discrimination. For example, when they conducted the census in Puerto Rico, well over 75% of the people identified themselves in terms of color as "white." We're not talking Argentina here, which is recognized as the most European of the Latin American nations. We're talking about Puerto Rico, home of salsa music and reggaetón.
And, why do people call themselves "white" when most Puertoricans are mulatto? Because nobody wants to be black. But because there are so many people of color - either black or brown - Puertoricans came up with two interesting conventions: first was "el que no tiene dinga, tiene mandinga" or "he who does not have dinga (ancestors from the African dinga tribe), has mandigo (ancestors from the African mandigo tribe)." Or, "everybody's black." The second one was that if you have a single blood relative who was white - no matter how far removed - then you're white. Those two conventions managed to remove race from the everyday debate in P.R.
What it hasn't removed is the fact that most of the statewide elected officers are white. Puerto Rico has never had a dark-skinned governor. Or resident commissioner. And one of our all-time greatest musical export, Menudo, was always an all-white boy band.
And P.R. is hardly alone on this. In the Dominican Republic, it was the political "kiss of death" for a Presidential candidate when rumors surfaced stating that he was either born in Haiti or he was of Hatian parents.
And so it goes in Latin America. I can't think of a single country that is "free from sin" so to speak.
When it comes to race, we need to drop our dead ones and leave them behind.
Three Puerto Ricans with alleged ties to the independence movement in Puerto Rico have been subpoenaed to appear in Brooklyn Federal Court Friday to answer to a grand jury.Graphic designer Tania Frontera, social worker Christopher Torres and filmmaker Julio Antonio Pabon are due in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York Friday. There are also indications that the FBI is trying to locate and subpoena Hector Rivera, one of the founders of the Welfare Poets, a New York-based collective of activists and poets.
Expected to have caused organized protests in Puerto Rico Thursday night, the investigation of these individuals by the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice also sparked New York City Council members to gather on the steps of City Hall Thursday in opposition to the subpoenas.
I'm up to the second part of the book and I have to give props to Junot Diaz for writing a very engaging tale of a fat-nerdy Dominican kid growing up in New Jersey. Constantly, we are told that Mr Diaz's voice is very unique, so I won't write the same (I think I just did). La Bloga, has a nice interview (you gotta love the La Bloga peeps).
From Amazon: "This is the long-awaited first novel from one of the most original and memorable writers working today. Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuku - the curse that has haunted the Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim. Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Diaz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time."
