Archive for February, 2011
Non-Voting Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner Says Gutierrez Disrespected Puerto Rico
6:08 pm By Maegan La Mala · Puerto Rico · 8 Comments
20 Feb 2011Remember that video of Illinois Democrat, Congressman, and Puerto Rican Luis Gutierrez denouncing the actions of police against the UPR student protesters? Well Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi said that Gutierrez insulted Puerto Rico, it’s residents and him.
“The speech was inappropriate and insulting to the people of Puerto Rico. I hope such action will not be repeated. But if it is, make no mistake: I will return to this floor again to defend my constituents – and the government they chose in free and fair elections – from all unwarranted attacks,” he said.
The resident commissioner said that comparing Puerto Rico to an authoritarian country not only demeans island residents but “the millions of men and women around the world who suffer under real dictatorships, who are truly oppressed, and who lack the dignity that comes only with genuine freedom.
The speech was inappropriate and insulting to the people of Puerto Rico. I hope such action will not be repeated. But if it is, make no mistake: I will return to this floor again to defend my constituents – and the government they chose in free and fair elections – from all unwarranted attacks,” he said.
Pierluisi also pulled the old “island vs. stateside Rican” defense, saying that Gutierrez representing parts of Chicago has no right to speak for Puerto Ricans. Except for one small problem. Pierluisi, who “represents” Puerto Rico has no vote. Doesn’t that sound democratic?
In Pierluisi’s defense, he was voted by the people of Puerto Rico to his seat. He shares political parties with the governor of the island and that party advocates for Puerto Rico to become the 51st state of the United States.
Updated to add that on Facebook someone started a group called :
A mi me representa Gutiérrez y no Pierluisi.
I am not a Gutierrez cheerleader but it’s brilliant.
Via / National Institute for Latino Policy
Freedom from Fear Award
8:28 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration · 4 Comments
20 Feb 2011Good Sunday morning!
A friend of VivirLatino wanted me to pass on information regarding the Freedom from Fear award, an award that seeks to honor fifteen ordinary people who have committed extraordinary acts of courage on behalf of immigrants and refugees—individuals who have taken a risk, set an example, and inspired others to awareness or action. The award seeks to honor unsung heroes who are not professional advocates. Based on nominations from people like you, awardees will receive a $5,000 cash award.
So this award is not for people who are in non-profits whose job it is to advocate but rather for people for whom struggle on behalf of immigrant communities is part of their very lives.
I am not a fan of scarcity models, that there isn’t enough for everyone but I do know that there are some people who have made their lives, not their living, around struggle. So I am gonna go ahead and make a few nominations and maybe you should too.
Wisconsin & Immigrant Communities
1:57 pm By Maegan La Mala · Health|Immigration|Wisconsin · 1 Comment
19 Feb 2011Over the last few days there has been much focus on Wisconsin and the people’s movement(s) against Republican Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to take away collective bargaining rights from public employees. This anti-union move, anti-worker moved on behalf of the government of the state is gathering support across the countries with numerous solidarity actions in other parts of the country. But what isn’t being reported is how Walker’s actions and other bills are a direct attack on immigrant workers.
According to a release from the immigrants’ rights organization Voces de la Frontera part of the proposed budget cuts in Wisconsin includes eliminating access for pregnant undocumented women and to the children of undocumented to BadgerCare, the state program that provides health insurance for uninsured working families. This opens the door to administrative changes that could impact access to immigrants who are in the country with legal status but are not citizens.
Everyone is out protesting in Wisconsin at the moment (and I have to work) but this is something I will be following up on and I hope others will as well. We cannot and should not separate attacks on workers from attacks on immigrant communities and their families. Think about who are the hands that drive so much of the economy and think about how many laws across the country are scapegoating those very same hands in the name of “American jobs”. Think about all the “anchor baby” laws that are popping up and the bills to defund women’s health services. All of these things are connected.
Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Denied Parole
9:34 am By Maegan La Mala · Puerto Rico · 5 Comments
19 Feb 2011Excuse the overwhelm of news out of Puerto Rico lately, but I am Puerto Rican after all.
Yesterday the U.S. Parole Commission denied parole to Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera. Lopez Rivera is currently inside a federal detention center in Indiana serving a 70 year sentence determined by a 1981 conviction on charges including seditious conspiracy and transportation of firearms linked to the Puerto Rican nationalist organization The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional (FALN). More than anything however, Lopez Rivera is “guilty” of advocating for the self-determination of Puerto Rico, a colony of the United States since 1898. While the U.S. is quick to support democracy (or at least say it does) globally, it denies that opportunity to the “island of enchantment”.
The Parole Board did not offer a reason for denial of release except via a prepared statement:
“We have to look at whether release would depreciate the seriousness of the offenses or promote disrespect for the law, whether release would jeopardize public safety and the specific characteristics of the offender,” said the commission’s chairman, Isaac Fulwood, Jr.
One theory is that they could be punishing Lopez Rivera for his rejection of a blanket clemency offered to FALN prisoners by former President Bill Clinton. His lawyers can appeal. But for now he must serve until at least 2021 under sentencing rules, although he can reapply for parole in two years.
Members of Congress of Puerto Rican descent had been pushing for his release.
NYC Educational Event in Support of the UPR Protests
9:56 am By Maegan La Mala · New York City|Puerto Rico · Comments Off
18 Feb 2011For local peeps looking for a way to get more information on what is happening on the ground in Puerto Rico here is an event in NYC .
NYwithUPR Solidarity Group Presents:
——————————————
An Educational Forum
Puerto Rico: Privatization & the Human Rights CrisisA TALK BY and WITH
William Ramirez, Director, ACLU – Puerto Rico ChapterThe Puerto Rico government’s recent firings of over 25,000 public
employees and spending cuts to public education are decisions that
have deepened the nation’s economic and social crisis. The government
aims to boost the privatization process of the basic services on the
island and has responded with intolerance and repressive police
brutality, including torture and sexual abuse. The University of
Puerto Rico (UPR) students continue to resist creatively, heroically
and valiantly. The university student strike continues to gain
momentum as more and more people and sectors join in solidarity.
Support the UPR students in their struggle against unjust tuition
increases, privatization and police repression!Monday, February 21, 2011 – 6:30 pm
Taller Boricua’s Multi Arts Space at Julia de Burgos Cultural Center
1680 Lexington Avenue @ 106 Street(#6 Train to East 103rd Street)
For more info: www.VirtualBoricua.org or FaceBook group: NY with UPR
ACLU Declares Human Rights Crisis in Puerto Rico
5:06 pm By Maegan La Mala · Puerto Rico · 6 Comments
17 Feb 2011In the United States, the media and the citizenry consuming media is focused on the protests in Wisconsin and the revolutions at work across the Middle East while continuing to turn a blind eye to what is happening in Puerto Rico.
It is too simple to look at the protests at the Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR) and say the student/youth led movement on the island is just about $800. As the American Civil Liberties Union reports, Since the pro-statehood Governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño came into power two years ago, free speech has been under all out assault.
The report, which calls the situation on the U.S. a colony, a “human rights crisis” makes special note of how women have been especially targeted by police for physical and sexual assault.
The report ties the pro-Statehood Fortuño with the ultra-right in the United States, as evidenced by his participation in the recent Conservative Political Action Conference.
The ACLU is looking to file charges on Human Rights violations and other legal options. The question is, that since Puerto Rico is a colony owned by the U.S., where and how will these charges be filed.
Released Documents on Secure Communities Reveals Possibilities for Opt-Out
12:19 pm By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Secure Communities · 3 Comments
17 Feb 2011Have some time for reading? Today portions of 15,000 pages of documents were released following litigation by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Center for Constitutional Rights and Cardozo Immigrant Justice Clinic, seeking documents from federal agencies related to the voluntariness of “Secure Communities,”.
Yesterday, I wrote on how some of the documents showed that the Department of Homeland Security was being purposely deceptive regarding if local areas could opt out of the program and how the program is slated for expansion under Obama’s 2012 Fiscal Year Budget. Today looking through some of the documents (and no I haven’t made it through all 15,000 pages), many of which are emails, we see that the “message” told to localities was that “opting out ” was not an option when it really may be. It also seems that I.C.E. was especially concerned about major cities, like my own NYC, opting out because of controversies, i.e. how the NYPD already has a huge racial profiling problem and the huge immigrant population in NYC.
I really recommend taking some time to read the documents. Just reading a few of them has my mouth agape at the blatant attempts at the federal level to manipulate local governments into adopting Secure Communities.
Mala’s Note : Originally I had written that all 15,000 pages had been released and that is not the case. Only a portion of the documents have been released. That correction is reflected in title change and edits to original body text
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez Denounces Civil Rights Violations in Puerto Rico
6:52 pm By Maegan La Mala · Puerto Rico · 13 Comments
16 Feb 2011Finally it seems that the situation in Puerto Rico is gaining a little more attention, with articles in mainstream media and earlier today Congressman Luis Gutierrez raised the issue before congress. Of course looking at the Congressional floor, we see the interest that the U.S. legislature, the only body who can “legally” change the status of Puerto Rico., has in what is happening to U.S. citizens there.
Miercoles Musica : Baile de los Pobres de Calle 13
1:37 pm By Maegan La Mala · Music · 5 Comments
16 Feb 2011I have a love/hate relationship with Calle 13. Some of their lyrics are hot but then they say some stuff that goes beyond dirty talk and seems sexist. Now they release a video for their song “Baile de los Pobres” . The video is supposed to be kind of a big deal because:
1: It has a naked guy in it (we’re featuring the edited version below)
2: The video was directed by Diego Luna.
The story isn’t anything out of the ordinary, star cross rich girl, poor boy lovers with a hell of lot of “exoticizing” going on which seems very not cool to me.
Que creen?
On the (Not So) Voluntary Nature of Secure Communities and it’s Expansion
10:04 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Obama|Secure Communities · 3 Comments
16 Feb 2011Seems like immigration policy under the current administration is rooted in double-speak. How else to explain how a program named “Secure Communities” has proven to detain and deport not just the “bad” immigrants, but those without criminal backgrounds, making immigrant communities less safe. Now there are more reports showing just how “voluntary” the program which runs all “criminal” suspects’ fingerprints through an immigration database really is.
From the San Francisco Examiner:
A voluntary program to run all criminal suspects’ fingerprints through an immigration database was only voluntary until cities refused to participate, thousands of recently released documents show. The Obama administration then tightened the rules so that cities had no choice but to have the fingerprints checked.
The documents made public by the Homeland Security Department provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how the administration scrambled to quiet the criticisms and negative publicity surrounding the immigration enforcement program known as Secure Communities.
The administration rewrote the program’s participation rules, the documents show, considered withholding federal funding and FBI information from resisters and eventually dug up case law to justify requiring cooperation.
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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