January 2011 - VivirLatino

Accusations of Sexual Aggression Against Police Arresting Students in Puerto Rico

By Maegan La Mala | January 31, 2011 - 9:15 am | Uncategorized

The Caribbean Peace & Justice Project, el Grito de las Excluidas y Excluidos de Puerto Rico (The Cry of the Excluded of Puerto Rico), and the Pro-Haitian/Dominican Childhood Committee issued a press release yesterday denouncing and demanding an investigation into inappropriate touching (or toqueteo/feeling up) of women by the riot police in Puerto Rico who have been arresting those UPR students engaged in civil disobedience.

A video on Indymedia Puerto Rico shows an officer, on two clear occasions, touching the breasts of a young woman he is arresting and restraining in a police van. No doubt the police and Gov. will defend the actions saying the officers were merely restraining the protester and that they may have had accidental contact. From my perspective it looks like the officer took an opportunity to “cop a feel” (pun intended) not once but twice.

As we think of what is happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Puerto Rico and globally really wherever young people are gathered, especially those that identify as women, we have to wonder and know that once incident caught on video likely represents countless more incidents not documented.

This week can be the determining week for the freedom of Oscar López Rivera.

By Maegan La Mala | January 31, 2011 - 7:00 am | Uncategorized

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The US Parole Commission has said they intend to make their decision to confirm or reject the negative recommendation by the US Parole Examiner on Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar López Rivera, #87651-024, currently incarcerated at FCI Terre Haute. Oscar, 68 years old, is presently serving his 30th year of incarceration for struggling for Puerto Rican independence.

The National Boricua Human Rights Network and the Puerto Rico-based Comité Pro-Derechos Humanos are urging the parole commissioners to reject the wrong-headed and politically punitive recommendation of the parole examiner. We intend to flood the Parole Board with letters until they respond positively. PLEASE DO ALL THREE of the following:

1) DAILY CALL-IN CAMPAIGN FOR THIS WEEK (Jan 31-Feb 4): CALL the Parole Board in support of Oscar Lopez Rivera from 9:00am UNTIL 5:00 PM (EST) CALL and have others call. It only takes 5 minutes. THE NUMBER IS: 301-492-5990 hit 0 to speak to operator. Sample script is below.

Hi, my name is ______________ and I live in Chicago [NY, etc.] The Parole Commission should parole Oscar López # 87651-024 immediately, in spite of the hearing examiner’s recommendation to deny parole.

IF YOU HAVE TIME, USE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING REASONS:
1) Oscar has the support of a broad sector of Puerto Rico’s civil society as well as Puerto Rican and Latino communities throughout the United States.
2) Oscar was not accused or convicted of causing injury or taking a life. He was never accused or convicted of participating in the 1975 Fraunces Tavern bombing or any other action that resulted in injury or death.
3) President Clinton’s determination that Mr. López Rivera’s sentence was disproportionately lengthy, and his offer that would have resulted in Mr. López Rivera’s release in September of 2009.

2) Download the letter to mail and fax here (or write your own using that as a template and place on your letterhead) and send right away. (FAX NO: 301/492-5543) Remember the Parole Commission has stated their intention to make their decision by Feb. 4. Get as many of your friends, family. colleagues and forward to your Facebook and retweet.

3) MAIL Letters to:
Isaac Fulwood, Chariman
United States Parole Commission
5550 Friendship Boulevard, Suite 420
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815

Re: Oscar López Rivera, #87651-024, FCI Terre Haute

Please keep close track of the letters sent/faxed to the Parole Board and let us know at alejandrom@boricuahumanrights.org.
Please forward far and wide and post and repost.

Via / Boricua Human Rights Network

Tear Gas, Rocks, Rubber Bullets. Egypt? No, in the U.S.

By Maegan La Mala | January 28, 2011 - 8:58 am | Uncategorized

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This morning, with good reason, much of the news in the twittersphere is focused on the popular uprisings in Egypt and the government’s harsh response by shutting down the internet, allowing for a mass cover up of violations of human rights. While it is easy to ignore what is happening in Egypt and the state response by dismissing it as something happening in a foreign land, tear gas canisters have also been opening over land currently occupied by the United States.

As we have been writing about, in Puerto Rico protests continue against rising fees in the university system but there are also protests against the violence being used against students and journalist attempting to do their jobs and cover the struggle.

Yesterday about 30 students were arrested during acts of civil disobedience carried out by the colonial Capitol Building. Originally students sought to present a plan whereby the Govt would allocate $50M from a surplus fund, eliminating the need for the $800 fees that sparked this latest round of protests. Riot police said they were forced to use tear gas because some of the hundreds of students that were protesting were throwing rocks.

Of special note in the video above from WAPA TV in Puerto Rico, is the nun who comes out to confront the police shooting tear gas, calling what their actions “disrespectful” and telling them that there are children nearby.

While there is no State blackout on information like what is happening out of Egypt, the fact that the U.S. media continues to not cover this, remains a shining example of colonizer politics at work.

The VivirLatino Response to the SOTU

By Maegan La Mala | January 26, 2011 - 1:37 pm | Uncategorized

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Despite not having any special beverages to get me through last night’s live-tweet of the State of the Union address, it was fun engaging with some of our followers, friends and fans. But now that morning after feeling sets in and we look back at what was really said and if it really matters in terms of policy.

What many in the Latino blogosphere were interested in was if President Obama would address issues like immigration and link that to the bigger issues of jobs and the economy, because yes, they do go together. To the surprise of many, Obama did mention immigration, specifically referring to the DREAM Act and then reverting to the usual enforcement first language we have come to expect from the right and we have seen in practice from the current administration. Overall, the SOTU though was an “America is Number 1″ pep rally and in the worse, most predictable, contradictory way.
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Wanna Participate in the SOTU Address Tonight?

By Maegan La Mala | January 25, 2011 - 1:53 pm | Uncategorized

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Despite my own pessimistic outlook on tonight’s State of the Union address tonight, there is pressure to be put on President Obama and opportunities to engage.

Alto Arizona put out a petition urging Obama to speak on immigration, pointing out how there has been much talk but little action from D.C. so far.

Reform Immigration for America has a mobile app that will poll your opinion in real-time as you are watching the State of the Union address.

Finally, if your issues are not addressed tonight, On Thursday, President Obama will give a national interview on YouTube and people can submit questions.

And yes, stay tuned to VivirLatino and our twitter account for our own live snarkfest, I mean commentary.

Waiting for the State of the Union. Waiting for Connections between Jobs & Immigration

By Maegan La Mala | January 25, 2011 - 9:27 am | Uncategorized

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Tonight is President Obama’s State of the Union Address. I haven’t decided if I am going to live blog/tweet it from VivirLatino’s twitter account, but what I have decided on is that I will likely be disappointed in the messaging and it’s failure to connect the dots for communities of color, especially immigrant communities.

You will have to excuse me for losing faith in the administration to do anything on immigration remotely looking like reform, this is including the alleged new push to pressure employers instead of the employed (more on that later). Instead of how continued raids and increased enforcement have broken more families apart than ever before, we have a President who waves the enforcement first flag along with the best among the GOP. Additionally, we have Latinos in the media saying that advocates and activists have a messaging problem, not a humanity problem, not a compassion problem, but a marketing issue, since we as Latinos, as immigrants, are commodities, bargaining chips.
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Quick Hit: White Supremacy and the Spokane Bomb

By la Macha | January 22, 2011 - 12:14 pm | Uncategorized

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I wrote about the Spokane bomb scare that just happened this past MLK day over at Global Comment!

A snippet:

Spokane human rights activist Tony Stewart has stated about the bomb scare that, “here we are facing something that is not to be taken lightly.” He knows, just like those of us working on immigration in Arizona know, that even if this bomb has nothing at all to do with politics, it emerges from an atmosphere of heated racist rhetoric and violence. Violent white supremacy has not only been on the rise, but has become normalized in the mainstream. It is imperative to put these incidences into a national context in addition to a local context, and to look at them from the perspective of infiltration of the mainstream by blatantly white supremacist organization rather than as a few fringe radicals acting “crazy.”

Protests and Arrests Continue at the University of Puerto Rico

By Maegan La Mala | January 21, 2011 - 9:52 am | Uncategorized

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Yesterday marked the second day of coordinated civil disobedience at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras as part of a strike that protests an $800 fee that some say is aimed at making the constitutional protected right to education in Puerto Rico a privilege.

Video from the first day of civil disobedience where at least 50 people were arrested. In one scene it looks as if about five police officers pile on top of one protester in order to arrest him. In the background you can hear a woman saying, “Ya, you have him already,” so that police will get off his back.

*****Please note that the videos do show police roughly arresting some and could be triggering*****

Some of the chants you will hear below, the second day of protest, include “Who is that you hear? The students leading the struggle” (It rhymes in Spanish). “Struggle Yes. Giving Up No”. The young woman in the blue shirt yells that those are arresting her, the police, are accomplices of an administration that wants to limit access to public education and she asks them, “How are you going to look at your children when they cannot enter the university”.

This is a struggle that has been going on for months with very little coverage in the U.S. media even though Puerto Rico is a colony of the U.S. I ask again, were this happening at a university in Indiana, would it be so ignored?

Workplace Raids Targeting Employers or Employed?

By Maegan La Mala | January 20, 2011 - 10:58 am | Uncategorized

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This morning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E) is set to announce the creation of a new office with the express job of auditing companies suspected of hiring undocumented workers. While the alleged purpose of these efforts to is to insure that companies use workers eligible to the work in the U.S. and to find those that don’t, the effects increase the number of unemployed overall.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Morton [head of I.C.E] said the new center would have the “express purpose” of providing support to regional immigration offices conducting large audits. “We wouldn’t be limited by the size of a company,” he said.

The audits, which have affected garment makers, fruit growers and meat packers, result in the firing of everyundocumented immigrant on a company’s payroll. Companies say this has hurt them, especially as they can’t attract American workers even during an economic downturn.

Last year, for example, Gebbers Farm, an agricultural concern in Brewster, Wash., dismissed an estimated 550 workers—about a quarter of the local population—after ICE told the company a number of its employees’ hiring documents were suspect.

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Susana Chavez is Una Mas : The Murder of a Ciudad Juarez Activist

By Maegan La Mala | January 19, 2011 - 7:29 am | Uncategorized

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***Post may contain triggers due to mentions of violence against women*****

She is credited with making the phrase “Ni una muerta mas,” (not one more dead woman) but 36 year old Susanna Chavez, an activist and poet who struggled for justice for the countless dead and disappeared women of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico became una mas when her body was found on Dia de los Reyes, January 6. She had been strangled and her left hand had been cut off.

What has happened since her body was found and identified follows the pattern of what some have called cover-ups to outright indifference regarding the death and disappearances in the Juarez region. Mexican officials say that Sanchez’s murder was not related to her activism or drug violence. Rather, Mexican officials seem to be engaging in some victim blaming.
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Monthly Archives: January 2011