Obama to move immigration reform this year "as quickly as I can” and to create jobs through Recovery Act

President Obama spoke tonight about immigration reform and unemployment among people of color during his first 100-days in office Press Conference. Obama was very confident and after a briefing he responded to questions from pre-selected journalists.

Obama dedicated most of his press conference to the following topics: auto industry and financial crisis, Guantanamo torture records, the swine influenza outbreak, Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan wars, abortion, the possible absolute Democratic majority in the Senate among other topics. Obama mentioned the words “Latinos" and "Hispanics” twice when asked about immigration and unemployment. Watch a video at the end of this post.

U.S. President Barack Obama walks through the halls of the White House after holding his third nationally televised prime-time news conference April 29, 2009 in Washington, DC. Obama talked about the accomplishments of the first 100 days of his presidency. Photo Getty Images via Daylife.

On immigration president Obama confirmed his intention of pushing for a federal immigration legislation reform but he wasn’t specific on a time frame, only he said that we wants to move the process this year.

This question was asked by Lori Montenegro, the DC correspondent of Telemundo TV.

OK. Lori Montenegro?

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, when you met with the Hispanic Caucus a few weeks ago, reports came out that the White House was planning to have a forum to talk about immigration and bring it to the forefront.

Going forward, my question is, what is your strategy to try to have immigration reform? And are you still on the same timetable to have it accomplished in the first year of your presidency?
And, also, I'd like to know if you're going to reach out to Senator John McCain , who is Republican and in the past has favored immigration reform?

OBAMA: Well, we reach out to -- to Senator McCain on a whole host of issues. He has been a leader on immigration reform. I think he has had the right position on immigration reform. And I would love to partner with him and others on what is going to be a critical issue. We've also worked with Senator McCain on what I think is a terrific piece of legislation that he and Carl Levin have put together around procurement reform. We want that moved, and we're going to be working hard with them to get that accomplished.

What I told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is exactly what I said the very next day in a town hall meeting and what I will continue to say publicly, and that is we want to move this process.
We can't continue with a broken immigration system. It's not good for anybody. It's not good for American workers. It's dangerous for Mexican would-be workers who are trying to cross a dangerous border.

OBAMA: It is -- it is putting a strain on border communities, who oftentimes have to deal with a host of undocumented workers. And it keeps those undocumented workers in the shadows, which means they can be exploited at the same time as they're depressing U.S. wages.
So, what I hope to happen is that we're able to convene a working group, working with key legislators like Luis Gutierrez and Nydia Velazquez and others to start looking at a framework of how this legislation might be shaped.

In the meantime, what we're trying to do is take some core -- some key administrative steps to move the process along to lay the groundwork for legislation. Because the American people need some confidence that if we actually put a package together, we can execute.

So Janet Napolitano, who has great knowledge of this because of having been a border governor, she's already in the process of reviewing and figuring out how can we strengthen our border security in a much more significant way than we're doing.

If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders, then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.

On the other hand, showing that there is a more thoughtful approach than just raids of a handful of workers as opposed to, for example, taking seriously the violation of companies that sometimes are actively recruiting these workers to come in. That's again something we can start doing administratively.

So what we want to do is to show that we are competent and getting results around immigration, even on the structures that we already have in place, the laws that we already have in place, so that we're building confidence among the American people that we can actually follow through on whatever legislative approach emerges. OK?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

OBAMA: I see the process moving this first year. And I'm going to be moving it as quickly as I can. I've been accused of doing too much. We are moving full steam ahead on all fronts.

Ultimately, I don't have control of the legislative calendar, and so we're going to work with legislative leaders to see what we can do.

Next was Andre Showell, the host and correspondent for Black Entertainment Television – BET News. The handsome and well spoken Showell asked about unemployment among communities of color (thanks Mr. Showell for not calling us Hispanics or Latinos) and the specific actions to be taken by the Obama administration to help us:

Andre Showell? There you go.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

As the entire nation tries to climb out of this deep recession, in communities of color, the circumstances are far worse. The black unemployment rate, as you know, is in the double digits. And in New York City, for example, the black unemployment rate for men is near 50 percent.

My question to you tonight is given this unique and desperate circumstance, what specific policies can you point to that will target these communities and what's the timetable for us to see tangible results?

OBAMA: Well, keep in mind that every step we're taking is designed to help all people. But, folks who are most vulnerable are most likely to be helped because they need the most help.

So when we passed the Recovery Act, for example, and we put in place provisions that would extend unemployment insurance or allow you to keep your health insurance even if you've lost your job, that probably disproportionately impacted those communities that had lost their jobs. And unfortunately, the African-American community and the Latino community are probably overrepresented in those ranks.

When we put in place additional dollars for community health centers to ensure that people are still getting the help that they need, or we expand health insurance to millions more children through the Children's Health Insurance Program, again, those probably disproportionately impact African-American and Latino families simply because they're the ones who are most vulnerable. They have got higher rates of uninsured in their communities.

So my general approach is that if the economy is strong, that will lift all boats as long as it is also supported by, for example, strategies around college affordability and job training, tax cuts for working families as opposed to the wealthiest that level the playing field and ensure bottom-up economic growth.

And I'm confident that that will help the African-American community live out the American dream at the same time that it's helping communities all across the country.

In other words, the immigration reform is on the hands of the U.S. Congress, right now under the leadership of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD), and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

When it comes to help unemployed non white people, president Obama is hoping that the solution will come as an collateral effect of his administration's Recovery Act, but there are not specific plans on how to create jobs directly or at least stop the lost of more jobs.

By the way, Telemundo -a TV station owned by NBC that runs programs only in Spanish- did not show Obama's press conference. Instead, it had a Mexican soup opera at the moment when Montenegro was asking her question to president Obama! As La Bloguera points out:

"Lori Montenegro, from Telemundo gets to ask the prez a question, while Telemundo shows a telenovela instead of the press conf. /Irónico que telemundo está mostrando una telenovela mientras que su corresponsal le pregunta a Obama"

Lamentable y terrible -embarrassing even.

Video: April 29, 2009 Presidential Press Conference
Courtesy of the White House

This is the full transcript of Obama's press conference tonight, thanks to The Huffington Post.


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Swine flu outbreak caused by agribusiness and NAFTA free trade policies

The same way that happened centuries ago, when Europeans brought diseases that caused the biggest genocide in human history -millions of Indigenous peoples died- now the multinational companies are poised to repeat history.

Imagen via Texas Beyond History

For some days I was sceptical about the whole craze on the swine flu outbreak, especially because the media seem not to care about the 5,000 Mexicans dying annually because of the internal drugs war, but then again it is alarming that over 150 Mexicans have died of this influenza.

Reading the news today I understand there is a chance that this disease outbreak was caused by agro industries and free trade policies. This is not a joke nor a coincidence.


Granjas Carroll

This disease outbreak could have been caused by an industrial pork farm with over 56 thousand porks located in southest Mexico, owned by Grajas Carroll a binational corporation: created by Smithfield of the U.S and Agroindustrias Unidas of México. This corporation was founded in 1994 when NAFTA was implemented.

The British paper The Guardian, known by its partial independence among U.K. papers, posted this today:

Four-year-old could hold key in search for source of swine flu outbreak

Case confirmed in village in south-eastern Mexico where 60% of residents fell ill

A Mexican village whose inhabitants were overwhelmed by an outbreak of respiratory illness starting in February has emerged as a possible source of the swine flu outbreak which has now spread across the world.

The state government of Veracruz in eastern Mexico has confirmed one case of swine flu in the village of La Gloria with the sufferer named locally as a four-year-old boy, Edgar Hernández Hernández. The federal government said tonight that he tested positive for the same strain of the virus which has claimed lives in Mexico.

The boy's case earlier this month came amid an outbreak of respiratory illness in the area in which around 400 people requested medical help. The boy was treated in hospital and survived. But two babies from the same village died during the outbreak. Sufferers complained of symptoms including fever, severe cough, and large amounts of phlegm.

Indigenous boy Edgar Hernández in a photo from The Washington Post

The Guardian denounces:

[…] Early today the US owner of an industrial pig production facility around 12 miles from La Gloria said it had found no clinical signs or symptoms of swine flu in its herd or Mexican employees. The world's biggest pig meat producer, Virginia-based Smithfield, said it is co-operating with the Mexican authorities' attempts to locate the possible source of the outbreak and will submit samples from its herds at its Granjas Carroll subsidiary to the University of Mexico for tests.

[...] The statement came after Mexico's national public health authority, the Mexican social security institute, raised concerns that waste from the Granjas Carrol facility may be responsible for the outbreak of illness, according to local media.

"According to state agents of the Mexican social security institute, the vector of this outbreak are the clouds of flies that come out of the hog barns, and the waste lagoons into which the Mexican-US company spews tons of excrement," reported Mexico City newspaper La Jornada.

[..] The outbreak of respiratory illness in the area of the Granjas Carroll plant was first detected at the beginning of this month by Veratect, a company based in Washington state which monitors the spread of disease and pandemics around the world for corporate clients.

The Guardian information is true. Granjas Carroll has several facilities in the Perote valley, like this one located 12 miles fom La Gloria town:


And here you can read the press realese of Veratect (PDF file) and the denounce made days ago by a Mexican paper against Granjas Carroll in this link (in Spanish).


Free Trade flu

There is a relation between this flu outbreak and the pollution caused by industrial agribusinesses, and this was noted today also by the renowned journalist Amy Woodman:

The "NAFTA Flu": Critics Say Swine Flu Has Roots in Forcing Poor Countries to Accept Western Agribusiness

As the US reports its first known death from the global swine flu, the World Health Organization has raised its pandemic threat level. Several countries around the world have banned the import of US and Mexican pork products. We speak to professor and author Robert Wallace, who says the swine flu is partly the outcome of neoliberal policies that forced poorer countries to open their markets to poorly regulated Western agribusiness giants.

Liste/Watch/Read

Amy Woodman is not alone on this. CNN's Sanjay Gupta traveled to La Gloria and interviewed the parents of Edgar Hernández confirming that this disease is believed to be created by Granjas Carroll pollution, who forbid Gupta from entering its facilities.

Meanwhile, pseudo liberal blog Huffington Post blames the four-year-old Mexican boy for this outbreak, ignoring the whole story of Granjas Carrolll:

Edgar Hernandez Hernandez: Swine Flu's "Possible Source"
Read here

Now here is a Google map of La Gloria I made, check how close is to the Gulf of Mexico area, and all the resorts American tourists love to visit:

La Gloria, Veracruz, México

This disease outbreak should be a warning on the consequences that greediness of multinational corporations and free trade policies can cause. American corporations go to poorer countries and pollute, abuse and break laws with actions that otherwise couldn't do in the United States. And they do it in complicity with corrupted local elites who care little about their people, in this case the Indigenous Mexicans.

Diseases and pollution can be some of the worst consequences of free trade policies, and they need to be addressed urgently. Of course, nobody would care about Mexican Indigenous peoples dying -- but in this case the swine flu virus doesn't know of borders nor nationalities.


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Adams Mill Road & Columbia Road renovation works almost done in Adams Morgan

One of my favorite urban spaces in Adams Morgan is going under serious renovation works. Long overdue and almost finished, the new design of the popular corner of Adams Mill Road, NW -between 18th Street and Lanier Place- and Columbia Road, NW -between 18th Street and Euclid Street- is finally showing some progress.

The Adams Mill Project is being executed by the DC Department of Transportation -DoD, and it was scheduled to end by November 2008. Five months later this is what the complicated intersection looks like. I took these pictures last week:

The intersection of Adams Mill Road NW and Columbia Road NW, is now a spacious and clear, but wasted space. The corner space looks cleaner and more organized than before, but a lack of imagination has left a horrible community board standing right in the corner. That thing should have been removed.

An electrical panel and the ugly "umbrella" community board are obstacles that prevent from having an open space, which should have also benches and flower pots, I believe.

This is a plan of the final project, once finished -click for a better view:

More photos...

This cute garden was included at the corner of Lanier Street NW and Adams Mill Road NW



What used to be an abandoned corner is now a wider space for resting and pedestrian contemplation. But wait, I see no benches here neither!



A photo before the landscaping design was finished.



The ugly gas station will soon be covered by beautiful plants and flowers.


When the works started at the end of last year.



This two corners are now more spacious, but I don't see any urban infrastructure that can be used by pedestrians. Say, benches, bicycles racks, tables, flower pots.


Map


View Larger Map
d.

V Summit of the Americas: beginning of Obama era in Latin America brings hope for Cuba while Hugo Chavez confirms leadership in the region

Official photo of the V Summit of the Americas
Reuters

Last weekend we witnessed a historic shift in the regional relations between the United States and Latin America, during the V Summit of the Americas held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. At least a shift of attitudes and intentions.

The meeting of 34 hemispheric heads of state has served to improve the diplomatic tone between the U.S. and the rest of the continent, and to remind Americans that America is not just a country but a continent - where the southern countries are crucial for the future of United States. Our region deserves the attention that President Obama has offered, contrary to what his predecessor Bush did- in what has been the second presidential international tour since Obama took office.

Undoubtedly is fair to welcome and celebrate the historic meeting between the two most influential presidents of the Americas: Barack Obama and Hugo Chávez, two African descent men who represent different political tendencies, but who also symbolize the hope for millions.

The meeting between Chavez and Obama has been received with surprise in the United States as most of the media here had tried to ridicule Chavez during the Bush administration, ignoring the impressive influence that the Venezuelan leader has in Latin America. But overall, this encounter has been received enthusiastically by the majority of Americans who want their government to promote peace and a most efficient international cooperation in the region.

Obama was greeted by Chavez again the next day, and those friendly exchanges have caused the angry protest of ultra-right conservatives in the U.S. and Latin America, who prefer to promote violence and division among the region -in the same fashion of Pinochet's plan Condor or Uribe's plan Colombia- and those who hate the progress of the oppressed peoples of Latin America, as they prefer to benefit the racist and corrupt elites of the continent.

President Obama also had the courtesy to greet presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, two of the staunchest critics of the Bush foreign policies, among other heads of state. There is a saying in Spanish: "a man's kindness does not take away his braveness."


Another major issue of the Summit, and in some ways a victory for leftist movement in the continent has been Cuba.

There was an impressive wave of solidarity with the government of Raúl Castro, -absent but was represented through his allies- and this left without alternative to the United States but to announc that finally there is a chance to seek for new terms in their bilateral relations, as long as Cuba is prepared to promote change in their government as well.

All countries in the Americas, excluding USA and Canada, support the return of Cuba to the Organization of American States. An important sign is that in the U.S., leaders of several movements of solidarity with Cuba are very enthusiastic that a change of the trade blockeade will occur during the Obama administration, something that the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also refered in her statements in Port of Spain, while announcing that the U.S. will soon send a new ambassador to Venezuela.

It was a pleasant surprise to see the unity of the continent, this time several countries presented their views in two main blocks: South America was represented by President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina, and Central America represented by President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua.

Fortunately, the obsolete right-wing forces in the region were overshadowed by its own weak political presence, something unthinkable in the 2004 summit at the IV Summit in Argentina. The political map in Latin America continues leaning towards the left, with the triumph of the FMLN in El Salvador, and president-elect Mauricio Funes was also present at this Summit.

Another surprise was the moderate presence of Brazil -it was expected to lead a third option at the Summit- and president Inazio Lula da Silva was very smart on keeping a low profile, few days after his meeting with president Obama in Washington, DC. It was obvious the mutual respect and friendship between the presidents of the U.S. and Brazil.


Back at home

President Obama has said upon his return to Washington, DC, that his Latin America tour has been successful and that the U.S. approach towards the region was worthwhile. This tour included a quick visit to Mexico, where he met not only with the controversial president Felipe Calderón -who has been accused of electoral fraud- but also with the powerful left-wing opposition, to whom Obama said "we have started a friendship that must be deepened."

The approach of Obama towards Venezuela and Cuba has been criticized by radical sectors of the Republican party -who have no majority in any federal political branch right now- but Obama has said that Venezuela does not pose a danger to the U.S. because "their military budget is 1 / 600of the U.S. budget "and has added that the V Summit of the Americas has helped to "launch a new era of cooperation" between the countries of the Western Hemisphere.

As a proof of the success of this approach, President Hugo Chávez has announced that he has appointed Roy Chaderton, former Foreign Minister and current Venezuelan ambassador to the OAS, as the new U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.



The influence of Chavez and ALBA

Rather some like it or not, Hugo Chávez was been able to use this Summit to confirm his influence and leadership on the continent.

The respect that most presidents of the continent have shown towards the Venezuelan president, has served to "shut up" to those who promoted a racist campaign of vilification and defamation against President Chavez.

Despite being democratically elected twice in his country and even winning national referendums, Chavez has been accused of being a dictator. There is an international effort to overthrown Chavez from power but he announced today that his government has bought Russian missiles to guarantee the defense of his country saying that "we don't want to declare war to anyone, but we have to equip and prepare ourselves."

During a second meeting, Chavez offered Obama with a copy of the book "The Open Veins of Latin America" an essay by the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano. That book has since climbed to #2 in sales ranking on Amazon.com from last Sunday, when it was ranked #66,000 in the list. The book was published first in 1971, and it describes the history of European globalized colonialism since the XV century invasions until the U.S. policies of the past century in Latin America.

The alternative presidential group ALBA -created and influenced by Chavez- received an important media coverage in the Summit. The president of Bolivia Evo Morales, was able to achieve a political success when the U.S. offered its support and openly rejected the failed attempt to murder him in a terrorist attack that has caused three deaths in Bolivia. Morales was greeted personally by Obama. Meanwhile, leftist president Ortega of Nicaragua was selected as one of the speakers at the opening ceremony of the Summit.

It was very noticeable the lack of importance given to Alan Garcia the president of Peru, which is the fifth largest country in the continent and where the U.S. might have installed a secret military base recently. This says much about the little influence that García in the region, despite the fact that he held two international summits in Lima in 2008.



The Obama era in Latin America

Impressive. The respect and admiration that president Barack Obama inspires in Latin America is unquestionable. Obama is a leader who brings up trust and respect by nature, someone who has restored honor and dignity to the presidency of the United States in the eyes of the world. This marks a huge difference from the buffoonish and unpopular presence that Bush represented in previous continental summits.

During the V Summit of the Americas, president Obama could exchange ideas with all leaders of the continent thanks to the group meetings that were held. While Obama has stated tougher views against left-wing government upon his return to the U.S., still there is a real confidence in the hemisphere that the Obama administration's foreign policy will be very different from Bush, who for 8 years merely promoted a militarism race and free trade in Latin America.

The conclusions and consequences of the V Summit of the Americas are yet to be defined. The final resolution has not been signed by several countries to protest the influence of the U.S. against Cuba. The OAS Secretary General, Manuel Insulza, of Chile, has preferred to maintain a moderate profile and abide by the mandates of the organization in a diplomatic fashion, but he was prudent to allow a progressive influence of leftist governments of Latin America during the event.

In fact, this Summit has a positive balance for the region, because it opens the possibility for better understanding between the U.S. and Latin America, who need each other in many aspects, but especially economically.

However, the friendly attitude of Obama will alsro rise anger and protest from U.S. conservative groups, who do not want to lose its negative influence in the U.S. leading role in the international arena. Conservatives also are protesting in Latin America. President Obama has to be aware of those groups, in every possible way.



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Fenced parks issue gets my opinion -parcially- in the Washington City Paper

Last week, Dave McKenna of the Washington City Paper emailed me and then called me to ask about the possibility of the National Park Service “discriminating” on soccer players, especially immigrants from Latin America.

I told Dave that I don’t believe that is the case, and also I said that I'm sure someone out there is upset when DC parks end up with dry grass and dust all over, after a season of soccer tournaments.

Dave McKenna posted this:

Another commonality of the blocked-out locations: The pickup soccer games were overwhelmingly, and often exclusively, played by Hispanic groups. Carlos Quiroz, a Peruvian native and longtime District resident, takes the fenced off soccer fields as a sign of a cultural disconnect between the government and the players.

Quiroz says no amount of fencing will kill off pickup soccer.

“In Latin American culture, you play sports wherever you can,” says Quiroz, who monitors issues important to the area’s Hispanic residents on his blog, Carlos in DC. “That is very different from here [in the U.S.], where everywhere you need permits from the government, you need to reserve space, and you need to sign up with the city or county so somebody is responsible for any damage before you are allowed to use any field. In Latin America, you just find a spot in any field or on the street, anywhere, put down some stones for goals, and just start playing. The players don’t think about killing grass. They are going to play, anywhere they can.”

No, no, no, Dave. I never used the word Hispanic when we spoke on the phone about this DC fenced parks issue. Because, once again I am not a Hispanic and if you have ever visit my blog you will see a video where I explain why I am not a Hispanic. Most of brown people from Latin America, especially the huge Central American population in Washington, DC, are in fact either Indigenous or Afro descendant peoples, although most of us would identify each other as Latinos.

Hispanic means Spaniard, another European identity which is only one part of who we are as people. It’s a wrong term imposed by the U.S. government and it’s discriminatory and somehow racist as deny our true racial heritages. So please stop calling us Hispanics, because cultural and racial identities are not sport names that can be changed - like soccer which is known as football in most of the world. Get it?

About the fenced out parks

When Dave and I spoke I mentioned that I believe that if rules are known by soccer players in DC area, they will respect them. That is the case in the DC suburbs where players rent and keep areas to play this sport, according to MD and VA counties rules.

The problem in DC is the lack of regulation in the use of public spaces for sports, which makes people use green areas without considering the damages produced. So I am all for parks protection from damages and keeping them nice and green, for the people and by the people. In that sense, soccer –futbol- players will also have to cooperate, and as much as I love to see them playing, I am not a good player anyways, but I hate to see neglected grass areas. And this goes for dogs, yoga lovers and what not.

Everyone needs a spot to enjoy in the city, and when it comes to urban shared spaces, we all have to remember that there is someone coming after us, so let’s clean after we use them and leave them the way we found them, or even better. Yah.

By the way, I took these photos of Malcom X park [Meridian Hill] last February. The improvements in that area are more than welcomed, and if it was needed to fence the grass area until it was green again, be it. Now let the soccer players in, but give them some schedules!

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May 1 march in DC to stop immigration raids and racist 287g program

The U.S. Homeland Security's Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) is expecting to incarcerate 440 thousand undocumented immigrants in 2009, according to official data, including not only adult workers but also children, pregnant women, elderly and mentally ill. This will cost over $ 1.7 billion dollars to the federal government at a rate of $99 dollars per person daily.

Anti immigration raids are racially motivated, they do not stop undocumented immigration, they criminalize workers and families, and they violate human rights. It is time to stop raids and incarcerations.


Local police enforcement of federal immigration laws (ICE-287g Program) has caused racial discrimination, human rights abuses, lawful detention of American citizens, division of families, abandonment of children whose parents are suddenly deported, and countless similar human tragedies.

But undocumented immigration continues. It is time to stop abuse and racism, xenophobia and hatred on immigrants, especially against Indigenous and Afro descendants from the Americas.

It is time to push for a legal reform in the United States which can be fair and realistic. This will end a humanitarian crisis that has caused thousands of deaths in the border and unfair incarcerations.

Join hundreds of rallies for immigrants, tomorrow May 1, 2009 all across the United States. In Washington, DC we will gather at Malcolm X Park (Meridian Hill) at 3:00 PM and we will rally to the White House at 4:00 PM. Bring your friends, relatives, neighbors, coworkers.

Yes we can.


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Dear Washington Post editor, about Venezuela

Dear Washington Post editor,

I thought about sending you a letter, but instead here is this post for those who might read your infamous editorial:

When controlled newspapers in the U.S. -including your paper- write editorials on American foreign policy, they usually represent the voice of specific interest groups, not necessarily the voice of fairness and reality.

Your editorial titled "Wrong Subject" shows how your paper editorial continues to be a traditionally one sided voice that is manipulated. Your editorial is clearly an attempt to attack the government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, even by using lies:

"AT THIS weekend's Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, President Obama can expect to be importuned by Latin American leaders to go further than he already has to remove U.S. sanctions on Cuba. Leading the chorus -- or trying to -- will be Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who has been propping up the hemisphere's oldest dictatorship with petrodollars."

Your editorial accuses president Chavez of being a dictator, but Chavez got into power after being elected by democratic vote in 1998 -free elections remember- and he has been reelected 2 times since then. Also Chavez has won national referendums, where Venezuelans had the chance to decide on issues that affect their lives directly but never before were consulted by their government.

Also your note defends Manuel Rosales, the Mayor of Maracaibo and former presidential candidate. A Venezuelan man told me last night “Rosales is a member of the political establishment for over 2 decades and he should be in jail for supporting the illegal 2002 coup d'etat." That violent coup was an attack to democracy and it was supported by the Bush administration, unlike the rest of the world.

Your editorial makes serious accusations regarding internal affairs in Venezuela, using a very harsh language like “pro-government thugs” and states that president Obama “ought to make clear that for the United States, at least, foreign policy will continue to be linked to democracy” something I definitely agree with. So I was surprised when Obama announced that his government won’t prosecute CIA torturers. Is torture part of democracy?

In that editorial, you include the opinion of Venezuela's Catholic bishops (Conferencia Episcopal de Venezuela), a conservative group of bishops that has supported previous corrupted right-wing governments that exploited the poor majority of that country. Those priests have opposed Chavez since he took power and they also supported the 2002 coup.

Dear editor, you fail to mention that former defense minister Raúl Baduel had pending charges of corruption and that he refused to appeared to court, so he was arrested. In the recent February 2009 referendum -which you accuse of government manipulation- there were thousands of international observers that guaranteed a free and clean electoral process.

The editorial you posted did not mention anything about the progress and achievements made by the Bolivarian revolution in 10 years, in regards of social justice, education, health care, equality, true access to democracy for all people, and especially the success of the Misiones: authentic social programs where the government spends a record of 14% of the national budget.

The Venezuelan revolution has been a success in many aspects, including the reduction of the extreme poverty rate from 42% in 1998 to 9.5% in 2008, while general poverty was reduced from 50.5% in 1998 to 33.4% in 2008.

Venezuela is today an illiteracy-free country and the Venezuelan state spends 7% of its GDP on education --compared to 3.8% in 1998. Also, about 88.9% of Venezuelans have access to free health care, unemployment fell from 12% in 1998 to 6.1% by early 2009. Is that true democracy or what?

Because democracy means not only the right of people to vote, but for them to have equal access to better opportunities. In 2007, the minimum wage of Venezuelans was the highest in Latin America ($372 dollars a month) and the Venezuelan economy has grown continuously by 526.98% compared to 1998 when Chavez took power.

These are just few examples that the model of government implemented by Hugo Chavez is working for most Venezuelans - it is not perfect but as it's new and fighting all odds- but is a government system most Venezuelan people keep reelecting for a reason. And that is something the U.S. government needs to respect and understand.

Perhaps the American model of democracy might not be the best choice for other countries - have you thought of that? Look, most Americans usually can vote only for two main parties, and some non-white voters are prevented from voting. Let's remember that elections in the U.S. are sometimes stolen and the popular vote is not always respected; and I could go on and on.

So how can the U.S. promote democracy and civil rights overseas? When this country denies that to over 12 million immigrant workers for instance, meanwhile hundreds of thousands of undocumented people -most of them Indigenous to this continent- have been incarcerated along with their children and pregnant women in many cases. Is this a true democracy when one third of American citizens are victims of a racist and blind judiciary system? Is this is the nation of freedom when over 3 million of its citizens-the biggest rate in the world- are incarcerated?

Perhaps, dear WaPo editor, your next editorial should refer to Puerto Rico's struggle for independence and how many Puerto Ricans are in prison because of their fight for freedom. Last January 26, six Americans -including Reverend Luis Barrios, a Puerto Rican college teacher, author and community leader from NYC- were incarcerated after protesting the abusive School of the Americas in Georgia. Rev. Barrios has wrote to his wife stating that he's been abused and almost tortured.

You keep lying until nobody will believe you

Last night I was at a film screening of a documentary about the “Socialism of the 21s t century” currently applied by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

What I saw in the film was a true popular transformation going on in the South American country. Of course, the movie was in some way biased -and very repetitive sometimes- but there is not doubt in my mind that it showed the truth most of times.

How touching was to see working class people in Venezuela talking about their president and government with such pride and happiness, something I have never seeing in the U.S., where most Americans live somehow afraid of their own government.

Afterward I mentioned your editorial to the attendees, but it was received with laughs and calls to ignore it. Seriously, one person was so aggressive and repealed my suggestion so that everyone in the room would write you letters of protest. He said "the Washington Post will never change its dirty tricks" or something like that.

But you know what dear editor? I want to believe the contrary and I look forward to seeing one day you write a fair editorial about Venezuela. I still hope that one day you will include the other truth in your paper, which is the voice of millions of Venezuelans who believe that Hugo Chavez is the best choice for them right now.

This weekend presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez will meet in person -at least briefly- in the Summit of the Americas. If everything goes well, this encounter might reduce tensions between both countries and it will rebuild a constructive relationship among two important political currents in Latin America.

Both Chavez and Obama are Afro descendant leaders of a continent that is searching for a better future, both men have different approach to government but they share a common vision of building a better world for everyone. Thanks for reading this.


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No Volverán: a film on Venezuela and its socialist revolution – screening at Venezuelan embassy in DC

Hands Off Venezuela will be hosting a screening and open discussion of the film "No Volverán - The Venezuelan Revolution Now" at the Andres Bello Hall of the Venezuelan Embassy.

"In this in-depth investigation the film makers take us on a journey through the fervor of the Presidential Elections in December 2006, traveling deep into the shanty towns (barrios), and to several factories under workers' control, to find out why there is a movement to over-through Capitalism, what Socialism of the 21st Century is, and how it is changing people's lives."

Film screening and discussion
Free and open to the public

Thursday, April 16
6:30 PM

Venezuelan Embassy
1099 30th Street NW
(between M St & K Streets NW in Georgetown)
Washington, D.C.20007.

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No Volverán - The Venezuelan Revolution Now

You can watch the entire film here, but make sure to visit the producers website and support their work. Also come to the screening tomorrow and hear from people what they think of the current reality of Venezuelan people.

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Description of the film

From the makers of the Hands Off Venezuela film 'Solidarity', and the Sanitarios Maracay short film series, comes 'No Volverán – The Venezuelan Revolution Now', an exciting feature length documentary about the Venezuelan Revolution.

Behind the policies of president Hugo Chávez is a revolutionary mass movement that is saying NO to capitalism, and attempting to change the course of Latin American history. Journey deep into the barrios, out to the factories and into the heart of the revolution to find out why there is a movement to transform society. Meet the people who are fighting for power in their communities, and taking control of their work places. Follow the factory workers of Sanitarios Maracay in their struggle against sabotage and corruption, as they pave the way forward with their unprecedented campaign for full nationalization under workers' control. In this feature length documentary, meet many of the key revolutionary figures to find out how they are trying to build socialism of the 21st century, and how it is changing people’s lives.

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Radio show about DC government budget and future of public property including MLK and Mount Pleasant libraries

The Latino Media Collective - a progressive DC radio show- TONIGHT at 7:00 PM will be talking about Washington, DC local issues, including:

* Mayor Adrian Fenty’s Budget Proposal Legislation before the City Council.

* Present and future of Public Property in DC City Council to pass HPV legislation.

* The Martin Luther King Library and the Mount Pleasant Library.

Panelist guests:

• Martina Gillis Massey, Advocate Coordinator, Fair Budget Coalition
• Parisa Norouzi, Co-Director, Empower DC
• Chris Otten, Community Organizer, former Candidate for DC Mayor for the Green Party, Currently at District Dynamos
• Robin Deaner, Executive Director, Library Reinassance Project
• Nzingha Tingling-Clemmons, Member, Parents and Citizens Committee to Stop Medical Experimentation

LISTEN ONLINE HERE

Hosts: Norberto Martinez and Janet Hernandez, with Engineers: Oscar Fernandez and Andrea Zamudio, Carlos A. Quiroz with reports from Carlos in DC blog.

Studio telephone: 202-588-0893


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ChocQuibTown: the musical voice of urban Afro Colombians

ChocQuibTown is an amazing group of Afro Colombian artists who define their music as "Afro Colombian Hip Hop Funk".

Photo by Margarita Mejia / Revista Semana

ChocQuibTown mixes the mostly-rural Afro Colombian music of the Pacific coast with urban rhythms from the United States and the Caribbean. This is the music of the younger urban Black population of Colombia.

Almost one third of the population of Colombia is Afro descendant, but somehow they have not been included in that country’s national identity as people and culture. Although the influences of Black Colombians are obvious in every aspect of the South American country, many Colombians ignore their black compatriots contributions because of many reasons, including racism and segregation.

Most Afro Colombians live in the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Colombia but in the last years have been displaced by violence and poverty from traditionally rural areas to big cities like Bogota, Cali, Barranquilla and Medellin and others.

That is how was created the name of this talented group: these artists come from the state of Chocó and its capital city Quibdó, which is a region of mostly Afro descendant population.

The songs of ChocQuibTown mix Afro Colombian traditional genres like Bunde, Currulao, Bambazú and Aguabajo with the music of Afro descendants of the U.S., Jamaica, Cuba and others like Hip Hop, Reggae, Electronic, Rumba, Flow, Salsa, Songo and Guajira.

“Our main goal is to show the sensitivity of our culture and our music, so they can be known in our own country and maybe in the rest of the world, so everyone can know why we are the way we are, we want to be part of spaces that had made us invisible as an ethnic group and artistic expression” said Tostao, the leader of the group.

What I see in the art of ChocQuibTown is a strong willingness to incorporate African American and Afro Caribbean music and traditions into their lyrics and tunes, and this is perhaps an attempt of these younger displaced Afro Colombians to find an identity living in the big Colombian cities, where most of them face discrimination and lack of equal opportunities.

Photo by chocquibtown.com

This young generation of Afro Colombians are not rural anymore like their ancestors -nothing wrong with being rural at all- and now that they are in the cities, some of them are tying to hold on to their roots and that is just awesome. By doing this, they won’t end up losing their identities in the middle of the savage life of any big urban space, they won't try to fit in just to belong which is what make people sometimes forget who they are.

Personally I am loving the music of ChocQuibTown, and I really hope they will perform one day in the DC area. Check their official website here.



Related posts

• Video of Afro Colombian group Bahia in DC
• Afro Colombian films in DC
• Afro Descendants of Latin America celebrate heritage in DC

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Mexicans in the Unites States and the love of a Mexican official for his flag more than his people

The report Mexican Immigrants in the United States, 2008 from Pew Research Center has been published. The reports highlights the increasing presence of Mexican born immigrants in the US -about 13 million people- and over half of them being undocumented.

This statistical profile provides historical data on the flow of migrants from Mexico to the U.S. The profile also describes the demographic, employment and income characteristics of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. using data from the March 2008 Current Population Survey.

Download the complete factsheet


Burger King goes anti Mexican flag

Some people just love their national flag. This ad was created in Europe and now the Mexican government is protesting Burger King requesting them to take this commercial off the air:

Mexico's ambassador to Spain said Monday he has written a letter to Burger King's offices in that nation objecting to the ad and asking that it be removed. Jorge Zermeno told Radio Formula that the ads "improperly use the stereotyped image of a Mexican. We have to tell these people that in Mexico we have a great deal of respect for our flag," Zermeno said.

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How can you properly use an stereotyped image anyways? Although I know this ad can be offensive in the sense that uses the Mexican flag colors, I also know that the Mexican government seems not to care much about their own people in Texas who are being incarcerated, abuses, exploited.

What about the racist Mexican TV that is even more offensive than this ad, and I don't see any Mexican officials protesting. Mexican telenovelas for instance (soap operas), are so racist and discriminating that they portrait dark skinned Mexicans in a demeaning way in a daily basis. Anyone protesting yet?

Fine, it was good that this ad is protested, but also Mexican authorities should start protesting against the abuses their compatriots are suffering in the United States and Europe as well.

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National Week of Action to Hold the Department of Homeland Security Accountable!

“I love this great country that has given me so many opportunities, it’s a beautiful place where I am raising my children, I work at a University and this is my home now” said today Marlene Jaggarnauth, an immigrant who a couple of years ago was detained by Homeland Security’s Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents in her home of Florida.

Mrs. Jaggarnauth was incarcerated for months before being deported to Trinidad & Tobago where she is originally from, leaving behind her three children under the custody of her mother, a U.S. legal resident.

After years of a costly and emotionally stressful legal battle, she was allowed to return to the U.S. and reunite with her family. Now, Mrs. Jaggarnauth is an advocate for the rights of ICE detainees, especially mentally ill people, because she wants to stop the abuses she witnessed while in prison.

This testimony was presented along with the expertise word from five other women who are advocates for human rights in the U.S. at a press conference organized by non profits Rights Working Group partnering with Detention Watch Network, as they begin a week-long campaign titled “Hold the Department of Homeland Security Accountable!”

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The advocate leaders who are organizing this campaign are Karen K. Narasaki, Executive Director of the Asian American Justice Center and Chair of the Rights Working Group; Aarti Shahani who is an independent Researcher for Justice Strategies; Sarnata Reynold, Director of Refugee and Migrants Rights for Amnesty International; Cheryl Little, the Executive Director of the Florida Immigration Advocacy Center; and Andrea Black, Network Director of the Detention Watch Network.

They talked about the countless cases of abuse, neglect, racism, violence and discrimination that undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens are facing everyday around the country, as a result of failed policies, and a racially profiled enforcement practiced by Homeland Security’s ICE agents. They also raised the need of action in order to hold Homeland Security accountable for the crimes and excesses they have done, and to ask the Obama administration to stop these abuses.

The Rights Working Group posted this information on its website:

Hold DHS Accountable!
NATIONAL WEEK OF ACTION, APRIL 8-15, 2009

The actions will call attention to the ongoing need for oversight and accountability at DHS in the wake of continuing worksite raids and inhumane detention conditions.

The Problem

The Constitution upholds the protection of civil liberties and human rights for all people in the U.S. However since 9/11, there has been a steady and alarming erosion of the human rights and civil liberties of many people living in the U.S, particularly immigrants. In response, the RWG launched the Hold DHS Accountable! Campaign calling for an end to immigration enforcement policies that violate due process protections and other basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Issues

The DHS regularly conducts warrantless and aggressive raids on homes and workplaces to round up hundreds of immigrants, often sweeping up legal residents and citizens. Raid victims are often detained without access to counsel or a phone call to contact family members.
Individuals detained by DHS, including vulnerable populations like the elderly, infirm, refugees and children, are being held in inhumane and overcrowded conditions often without charges for months and even years.

The Solution

DHS Enforcement Practices

The Hold DHS Accountable! Campaign is urging President Obama to place a moratorium on current immigration enforcement policies that deny due process in order to conduct a top to bottom review of these policies and programs. The goal is to establish enforceable standards that will ensure that U.S. immigration enforcement practices uphold the due process and human rights of citizens and non-citizens alike. In particular, the RWG is calling on DHS to:

• End immigration raids that lock up people without due process and
• Stop arbitrary imprisonment without trial, expand the use of safe, effective and cost efficient alternatives to detention, and create enforceable standards and independent oversight to ensure that detention conditions are humane.

Backlogs

The RWG members and allies played a critical role in pressuring DHS to process hundreds of thousands of citizenship applications delayed longer than six months by FBI name checks. These name checks appeared to be linked to the applicants' religion, race or country of origin and not due to evidence or suspicion of criminal activity. As a result of this advocacy, DHS and the FBI have eliminated the backlog of applications pending longer than six months.

In a recent press statement, the FBI also committed that by June 2009, it would complete 98 percent of USCIS name check requests within 30 days and process the remaining two percent within three months. However, there is still a need to create efficient and transparent mechanisms to ensure that, in the future, all eligible immigrants can attain citizenship in a timely manner.

Read more here

The Detention Watch Network has posted this:

National Week of Action to Hold DHS Accountable
From April 8 2009 to April 15 2009

Restore our values of due process and human rights

Take action during the National Week of Action to demand DHS oversight and meaningful reform to protect our communities’ due process and human rights.

In its first 100 days, the Obama Administration has taken some important steps to hold the Department of Homeland Security accountable. DHS Secretary Napolitano has launched an investigation of the Bellingham workplace raid to investigate if due process protections were violated and directed DHS agencies to assess the impact of their programs in order to identify needed reforms. However, fundamental reform is needed to ensure that DHS is held accountable to enforcing our immigration laws in a sensible and fair manner.

To date, there has been limited response to:

* Two recent deaths in detention in Virginia and Louisiana.
* Reports of detainees who, after protesting conditions in the Reeves Texas detention facility, were prevented from speaking with family or outside observers.
* Degrading treatment of immigrants by local law enforcement in Maricopa County, Arizona acting under an ICE 287(g) agreement.
* ICE local enforcement programs that are sweeping immigrants into detention facilities or deportation without a fair day in court.

TAKE ACTION!

During this National Week of Action from April 8-15, demonstrate your community’s need for DHS accountability and reform:

* Visit Congressional representatives in their home districts to raise awareness for the need for DHS reform.
* Hold vigils outside of local ICE offices or detention facilities.
* Host a community conversation to share the stories of those who have been affected by inhumane and unfair DHS policies.
* Write letters to the editor of your local and regional newspapers to explain the need for DHS reform.

Read more here

Documents

Also please see the documents given today at the press conference:

RWG Homeland Security Week005

Publish at Scribd or explore others: School Work Books security human

RWG Homeland Security Week006

Publish at Scribd or explore others: School Work Books security human


RWG Homeland Security Week001

Publish at Scribd or explore others: School Work Books security human

RWG Homeland Security Week002

Publish at Scribd or explore others: School Work Books security human

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Cuba’s Fidel Castro responds to the US: we don’t need charity – plus the opinion of a Cuban American

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has responded today to the announcement of the Obama administration to end restrictions for travel and remittances of Cubans living in the U.S.

"Nothing has been said about the blockade" is the title of Castro’s column of today, which I have translated into English here:

Reflections by Fidel Castro

Not a word about the blockade

The U.S. government announced by CNN, that this week, Obama would visit Mexico, beginning his journey towards Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, where he will be in four days to participate in the Summit of the Americas. It announced the easing of some restrictions imposed by the odious Bush administration to Cubans living in the United States to visit their relatives in Cuba. When asked whether such privileges benefited to other Americans, the answer was that they were not authorized.

About the blockade, which is the cruelest of the U.S. actions, not a word was said. That is how is called with piety what constitutes a genocidal measure. The damage is measured not only by its economic effects. It constantly takes human lives and leads to painful suffering to our citizens.

Numerous diagnostic equipment and vital medicines are not accessible to our patients even if they come from Europe or Japan or another country, as long as they use certain components or programs from the United States.

Restrictions related to Cuba must be applied by companies of the United States that produce goods or provide services anywhere in the world under the extraterritoriality principle.

An influential Republican senator, Richard Lugar, and several more colleagues of his party in the Congress, and another significant number of Democratic senators are in favor of removing the blockade. The conditions are created for Obama to use his talents in a constructive policy to end to what has failed for almost half a century.

In the other side, our country which has resisted and that is ready to resist whatever it takes, does not blame Obama for the atrocities committed by other governments of United States. [Our government] does not question either his sincerity or his desire to change the policy and the image of United States. [It] understand that he fought a hard battle to be elected in spite of centuries-old prejudices.

Based on that fact, the President of the State Council of Cuba had expressed his willingness to talk with Obama and, on based on the strictest respect for sovereignty, to normalize relations with the United States.

At 2:30 in the afternoon Jorge Bolaños, the head of the Cuban Interests Section office in Washington, was summoned by the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Shannon, at the State Department. Nothing of what was spoken there was different from what was stated by CNN.

At 3 and 15 p.m. began a long press conference. The essence of what was said there is included in the words of the presidential adviser for Latin America, Dan Restrepo who said:

"Today president Obama has ordered to take certain measures, certain steps, to reach out the Cuban people, to support their desire to live with respect for human rights and to determine their own destiny and the destiny of their country.

The president has instructed the Secretaries of State, Commerce and Treasury to initiate the necessary actions to eliminate all restrictions on individuals to enable them to visit their relatives in the island and to send remittances. He has also given instructions so steps are taken to allow the free flow of information between and among the Cuban people who are in Cuba and the rest of the world, and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian resources sent directly to the Cuban people.

By taking these steps to help close the gap between divided Cuban families and to encourage the free flow of information and items of humanitarian aid to the Cuban people, President Obama is trying to meet the objectives set during his campaign and since taking office.

All of those who believe in basic democratic values crave for a Cuba that respects human rights, political, economic, basic rights of its people. President Obama believes that these measures will help to achieve that goal. The president encourages all those who share this desire to remain committed to his strong support for the Cuban people.

Thanks."

At the end of the conference, the adviser candidly confessed: "Everything is done for the freedom in Cuba."

Cuba does not applaud the misnamed Summit of the Americas, where our countries do not discuss with equal conditions. If they could be useful, it would be for a critical analysis of the policies that divide our peoples, plunder our resources and hamper our development.

Now Obama only needs to persuade to all Latin American presidents that the blockade is harmless.

Cuba has resisted and will resist. We will not ever extend our hands asking for charity. [Cuba] will continue holding our heads high, in cooperation with the brotherly peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, whether or not there will be more Summits of the Americas, and whoever is governing the United States Obama, a man or a woman, a white citizen or a black citizen.

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 13, 2009
6:12 p.m.

The response of Fidel Castro might also be motivated by the measures proposed by the U.S. government, which would give licenses to American telecommunication companies. They would try to influence the Cuban opinion with their manipulated information, in some way and not in the best way. There hasn’t been an official reply from the Cuban government yet.


Opinion of a Cuban American

This is a comment shared by a friend of mine:

What the Obama administration has done is to adopt the same proposal released by the Cuban American National Fund [the influential conservative Cubans of Miami] ] that was published few days ago. But I believe the document was worked out together to give Obama some cover. The telecommunications parts are intrusive, and they are intended to allow more of what today does Radio and TV Marti, but in another way.

It involves a dare to Cuba: we dare you to say yes, and we dare you to say no. We'll have to see how the government of Cuba responds; clearly, you don't just show up in Havana with some cables and say "We're here to install your new satellite/cable system." Maybe Cuba will demand equal rights to broadcast in the U.S.

However, this is happening when Cuba is about to get the fiber-optic cable from Venezuela hooked up, anyway. that's coming across the Caribbean to Jamaica and from there to Santiago de Cuba. American telecoms, if allowed in, would go from Florida and to Havana.

it's going to be a 2-edged sword. At least the family travel lift will allow for a lot of us to go to Cuba now. So little changes, so much to change. it's a new world.

Also, there are still bills pending in Congress to further relax the blockade, especially concerning opening travel to all people in the U.S., not just Cubans with family in Cuba. it's not clear yet whether Congress will stick to Obama's leadership or even go further.

Now we must wait for the official response of the Cuban government, in order to continue analyzing these historical changes. In fact, there are great expectations from Cubans in the U.S. now that they will be able to help their relatives and visit them more often.

I hope that both the Raul Castro and Barack Obama administrations will not fall into the tricks that Cuban American Republicans are used to play around these issues –they are a big part of the problem and their actions have kept Cuban families divided for too long already. Also I hope that the U.S. will freed soon the five Cuban citizens that are incarcerated because they were investigating terrorist connections financed by the right-wing Cubans of Miami.


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