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Book Giveaway: In The Time Of The Butterflies

8:32 am By BiancaLaureano · Arts|Books|Culture|Dominican Republic|literature · 7 Comments

14 Mar 2011

On Monday March 21, 2011 at 7 PM EST Dominican author Julia Alvarez, author of In The Time of the Butterflies, will be interviewed by Haitian author Edwidge Danticat (Krik? Krak!; The Farming Of Bones). As part of announcing and participating in this virtual event (unless you live in Miami then you can witness the interview in 3D at Books & Books), Algonquin Books has offered 3 VL readers a copy of Alvarez’s book.

If you are not familiar with the book In The Time of the Butterflies, it is a historical novel of the Maribal Sisters, known as Las Mariposas, during the Trujillo regime. It has been turned into a film starring Salma Hayek, Edward James Olmos, and Marc Anthony. I’ve used this text in teaching from Latina testimonios, women, art, and culture, to women and organizing. The text is also extremely accessible for younger readers.

As we usually do with our giveaway’s at VL, the first three folks that leave a comment and have a valid email address for us to reach them, receive the texts! Algonquin Books will ship internationally, so those of you who have not been able to participate in some giveaways because of your location, this giveaway is for you!

You may watch the live webcast Monday March 21 at 7PM at the Algonquin Book Club site. We are told that you may also sign in to chat with other viewers and there is also a reading guide if you choose to use this text for a book club.

Calle 13 Kicks It at Viña del Mar

8:44 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile|GLBT|Music · 8 Comments

25 Feb 2011

Not having satellite television means missing out on the Festival de Viña del Mar en Chile. While some of the lesser known artists can be reminiscent of a bad American Idol audition video, when the stars come out on stage they really shine. Case in point Calle 13. And as much as I want to dislike some of their sexist messaging, there are times like two nights ago at la Quinta Vergara where they make you go hmm.

Not only did they call out homophobia, which has been in the headlines in Chile recently, including criticism at the Festival itself, but Residente, also had a message for the Mapuche written on his back. Now this last action, reminded me of Lady Gaga’s so called pro-DREAM act act where wearing a tee shirt = activism. But who knows if Residente’s body graffiti made people google Mapuche.

Plus, They performed with Inti-Illimani and the song Latinoamérica felt especially powerful in that place.

Check it…

Via / Digital Girl

Update on Wilder Peña Case

11:54 am By Maegan La Mala · Colombia|Immigration · 1 Comment

13 Feb 2011

Thank you to all of you who signed your names to the letters in an attempt to stop the deportation of Wilder Peña, a 31-year-old Afro-Colombian male, I wrote about last week, originally from Jamundi, Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia who fled to the U.S. to seek asylum in 2001.

Supporters set up a Facebook page on Wilder’s behalf and are calling for people, in an act of love for human rights, make calls tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, so that Wilder can stay with his familia in the U.S.

· If you are a Washington, DC resident or a member of a Colombia, human rights or solidarity organization please contact the office of Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton at phone number: (202) 225-8050 and urge the Congresswoman to intervene on Wilder’s behalf. On Friday, the Congresswoman received a letter from U.S. activists, NGOs and constituents earlier today calling upon her to act. When you call say that you are greatly concerned about Wilder Peña’s safety and hope that she will intervene to protect Wilder’s life. If you are a Washington, DC resident you can also send your own letter to the Congresswoman via email through her site : https://forms.house.gov/norton/webforms/issue_subscribe.htm

You can also contact the following persons and ask them to take action:

· Contact Vincent Cochetel, Regional Representative for the U.S. and the Caribbean of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at (202)296- 5191.

· Contact Eric Schwartz, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Migration and Refugees, U.S. State Department by calling the State Department switchboard at 202-647-4000 and asking to be connected to his office.

· Contact Maria Isabel Castro, Consul, Colombian Consulate in New York, at (212) 798-9055 or maria.castro@cancilleria.gov.co

· Contact , Libia Mosquera Viveros, Consul, Colombian Consulate in Washington, DC, herself Afro-Colombian, at (202) 332-7476/(202) 332-7573 or consuladowash@gmail.com

For more information about Wilder and his case please keep reading.

Thank you/Mil Gracias

Urgent Action Alert : Afro-Colombian Faces Deportation

8:58 am By Maegan La Mala · Colombia|Immigration · 3 Comments

11 Feb 2011

Late last night I received an urgent appeal asking for help to prevent the deportation of Wilder Peña.

Wilder Peña is currently detained in an immigration detention facility in Batavia, NY and scheduled for deportation to Colombia on February 28. His life was threatened following a massacre of ten persons and the assassination of three members of his family and several of his friends at the hands of illegal armed groups. Unfortunately, due to poor legal representation he was denied asylum. Two appeals, made by the same lawyer, were also denied. Pending deportation to a country where he could potentially be killed, Wilder fled to Canada, leaving his partner and their infant son behind. He was detained at the border and has been in detention ever since.

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is collecting names for letters to the United Nations High Committee on Refugees in DC and the local DC congresswoman.

Clicking below will show you the text of the letters.

LettertoHolmesNorton
LettertoUNHCR

If you would like to sign the letters in order to help keep Wilder alive and with his familia, please send your name and organizational affiliation (if any) to GSanchez@wola.org

Gracias

Mexico is Not the Most Dangerous Latin American Country

7 Jan 2011

The mainstream media, the United States government, and even some commenters here want to paint Mexico as the biggest danger to the United States since hmmm communism/the Russians/ Cubans…ay you get the point. Some stats tell a different story though.

The country currently with the highest murder rate is Honduras, followed closely by El Salvador.

There is no analysis as to why, although many will point to the drug war and gangs which really are crimes based in poverty. Much of the poverty in Latin America can be linked to inequity which can be linked in part to United States intervention ( a la NAFTA and more direct military interventions).

What I have not seen is much analysis about how many of these deaths are that of mujeres and under what circumstances. In El Salvador, 562 women were killed. We do know that in Honduras, for example, post-coup (because we can call it a coup now) there has been an increase in violence against women.

Via / The Mex Files

What’s Ahead for Latin America in 2011 : Elections

5 Jan 2011

The last year on VivirLatino was really dominated by the immigration debate in the United States. While I will continue to cover the issue of immigration, especially with the likelihood of anti-immigrant / anti-Latino measures being pushed by the Republican led House of Representatives, it would be naive of me to function as if U.S. policy towards Latin America has nothing to do with how Latinos are treated inside the U.S. It would be equally naive to act as if we as Latinos in the United States have no ties to our countries of ancestry and as if policy inside of those countries don’t matter to us, our families, and our communities.

So one of my new year’s resolutions for the site (among many) is to make more of an effort to cover what is happening in Latin America and attempt to make the connections between that and comunities here inside the United States.

There are several elections in Latin America slated to take place this year. The countries with presidential elections this year include Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peru, and Argentina.
Read more…

Southern Chile Experiences Earthquake in New Year

9:48 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile · 1 Comment

3 Jan 2011

In what is being described as an aftershock of the massive 8.8 quake that occurred early last year, a quake measuring 6.9 (or 7.1 depending on the source) shook the south of the long, thin country yesterday. No injuries or deaths have been officially reported.

Yesterday’s quake, which included several strong aftershocks, was centered just west of Temuco, in the 9th Region. Coastal towns like Tirúa, Puerto Saavedra and Toltén auto-evacuated, not waiting for official instructions from the government, which was widely criticized for not issuing evacuation orders following the February 2010 quake for coastal areas which suffered death and damages due to tidal waves and flooding.

P.S : Temuco was my home for many months in Chile, so I pray everyone is safe and taking care of each other especially la familia Hermosilla and la familia Huechan.

Via / El Diario

Brazil, Meet Your New President

9:47 am By Maegan La Mala · Brazil|Women · 1 Comment

2 Jan 2011

Today in Latin American Historia : Dia de la Revolucion en Cuba

10:09 am By Maegan La Mala · Cuba|history · 4 Comments

1 Jan 2011

On January 1st 1959, U.S. backed dictator of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista fled the island for the Dominican Republic following the Battle of Santa Clara. This ushered in the communist government, led by Fidel Castro, that remains in power today.

While we can and should debate and question the Cuban revolution, as we should all revolutions, including the ones we actively participate in,
a quote from Grace Lee Boggs, from a conversation at the U.S. Social Forum last year, that I recently read is echoing within as I think about the Cuban revolution, U.S. interventions in Latin America, and the idea of democracy. Boggs was talking specifically about Chinese democracy but it’s applicable here as well.

“What is important is not our critique if the Chinese vertical democracy, but the understanding that democracy is now a concept in contention and that we are all participants in creating what we think should be the democracy of the future”

Image Via / Wikipedia

Grace Lee Boggs Quote Via / A Conversation Grace Lee Boggs, Immanuel Wallerstein, U.S. Social Forum 2010

“Model” Latin American Democracy Attacking At Least 2 Indigenous Nations

11:39 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile · Comments Off

23 Dec 2010

After the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners, Chile was even more lauded as a model democracy in region still portrayed in the media (and U.S. Cables as per Wikileaks) as run by power hungry and perhaps mentally unstable leaders.

What isn’t being covered, except in a few select outlets (namely orgs out of Chile, independent radio here in U.S. and through social media) is how the Chilean government is at this moment terrorizing two Indigenous nations.

VivirLatino has covered a little of what has been happening in the south of Chile regarding the Mapuche community (full disclosure, my elder child is Mapuche). Recently released cables have shown that while former Chilean Michele Bachelet may have been a victim of the U.S. sponsored coup/dictatorship of Pinochet, she had no qualms about reaching out to the U.S. to investigate the Mapuche as “terrorists” when they have been merely defending their lands.

From the L.A. Times:

One leaked cable, dated February 2008, tells of a meeting between U.S. Ambassador Paul Simons and Bachelet’s interior minister, Edmundo Perez Yoma, in which officials discussed the possibility that the Mapuche might be receiving aid from the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, or the FARC guerrilla army in Colombia, or even the ETA, the Basque separatist group in Spain.

The implications are powerful, for if indeed a connection was made (or rather invented) this certainly could place more U.S. anti-terror funds into Chile to suppress the Mapuche nation.

Then people question why I called Bachelet’s socialism “lite”.

VivirLatino