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Immigrant Narratives : Choose Your Mother or Your Child

22 Jun 2009

Quick. Choose. The house is burning and you have to choose. Your mother or your child? Who do you save?

The current framing of the immigration reform movement and the immigrants it claims to represents takes place against a backdrop of human lives. And in our house, the United States of America, is aflame. The framing of the current immigration reform movement however, the good vs. bad immigrant narrative that we have written about and discussed extensively, forces advocates and the media into a corner. Choose. The idea is that we can’t have it all when it comes to immigration reform. That we need to make compromises, find workable solutions to borrow an often heard phrase from the Reform Immigration for America Summit. That means choosing between your mother or your child.

The Cure Remade a la Latina

5:56 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Argentina| GLBT| Music| mexico · 1 Comment

16 Jun 2009

Here at VL we’ve been fans of the Kumbia Queers for a while now. The Argentine-Mexican queer combo seems to be an endless source of awesome-weird jams that get the cintura a-movin’. So what was my delight when I found that the Kumbia Queers had remade an old 90s favorite of mine — The Cure’s Love Song– in Spanish and rendered in the cumbia style. Check it out.

Emo-depressed mixed with cumbia lightheartedness…awesome translation with a mixture of seriousness and tongue-in-cheek silliness. It’s the best of both worlds!

Gloria Trevi is Getting Hitched

1:14 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities| Chismes| Music| mexico| society · Comments Off

9 Jun 2009

After a scary, even criminal relationship with ex Sergio Andrade which landed her in prison, Mexican 80s icon Gloria Trevi has apparently found love again in partner Armando Gómez. Venezuela’s (semi-defunct) RCTV reports:

Sources close to Gloria said that the singer is anxious for the event [saying] “if all goes right the wedding will be in December. I’m very excited because I’m getting married for love. Armando and I have overcome many obstacles.

Gloria, who is already working on her wedding dress, says she’ll be negotiating an exclusive [of the wedding] with a Mexican magazine.

Felicidades Gloria! Just make sure you stay as crazy as you have always been.

Via / RCTV’s El Observador

At least 35 killed in fire at Mexican day care center

11:12 am By la Macha · Labor| mexico| youth · 1 Comment

8 Jun 2009

Tragedy occurred over the weekend in multiple places. One of the most notable was this fire that killed 35 and hurt countless others at a daycare center in Mexico.

And from the BBC News:

Reports say the fire started in a tyre depot next to the state-run centre.

President Felipe Calderon said that the fire was a “painful tragedy for all Mexicans”.

“I have ordered the federal prosecutor to carry out investigations as soon as possible to help us know exactly what happened and how, and to determine the corresponding responsibility,” he said.

More than 140 children are reported to have been at the centre when the fire began.

This is just so horrible. And it made me remember the “ground zero” kid (remember him?) and how *his* home was next to a pig factory. It reminded me of all the lives that were lost back in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s here in the US that basically kicked the labor movement into high gear.

Why were people working in such conditions? Why is it considered ok to have some children grow up surrounded by toxins that kill?

There are no answers yet–and given the Calderon government’s past history with transparency and accountability, I hardly expect them. I wish nothing but strength and healing for the people dealing with this tragedy–and may Calderon be on the right side when these families begin raising hell in the name of their loved ones.

Swine Flu “Patient Zero” Immortalized in a Statue

27 May 2009

964429 Um, what? Sure, he was famous for about a minute, but what’s the motivation behind making little Edgar into a bronze statue? Apparently attracting tourists to his hometown of Perote, Veracruz (Mexico). Reports 20 Minutos:

The statue of patient zero of the new flu in Mexico has a frog in his right hand as a symbol of biblical plagues. It was made by Mexican sculptor Bernardo Luis Artasanchez, who traveled to La Gloria in the town of Perote, Veracruz, to spend time with the youngster and his family.

The effigy, some 4 feet high and weighing 154 pounds, was created at the petition of the Veracruz authorities to symbolize the victory over AH1N1 virus and to attract tourists.

I guess I can understand the “victory over the virus” argument, but to attract tourists? I mean, do you think families will take an alternate route on their way to Veracruz from Mexico City and hit Perote to see the flu boy statue? I’m not seeing it.

Perote is beautiful by the way, I can vouch for it.

Via / 20 Minutos

Mexico City Tells Swine Flu ‘Adios’

4:52 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Health| Latin America| mexico| society · Comments Off

21 May 2009

3482891591_0772d4b1b1 While the swine flu might have claimed its latest victims stateside, Mexico City – plagued by the stigma of the disease for weeks now — is officially declaring the illness to be yesterday’s news. The city has lowered the alert level as the Mayor, Marcel Ebrard, tells citizens it to take a chill pill, since the megapolis has reached a milestone in its fight against the flu: one full week with no new cases. The AP reports:

Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said the change means the risk of contagion is low, the situation is under control and the images of countless people wearing blue surgical masks in cars, sidewalks, restaurants and theaters can be consigned to history.

“There’s no longer any need” to wear masks, Ebrard said. “Now you can come to the city without any risk.”

City Health Secretary Armando Ahued said nobody has been hospitalized with respiratory infections in the last three days, and no swine flu cases have been confirmed since May 14. “We are seeing a 96.1 percent drop in cases, and that’s why we are dropping the alert level to green today,” Ahued said.

The flu has meant a sharp dip in tourism to the city and indeed to the entire country, so I assume that as small as this milestone might be, the capital is anxious to milk it for all its worth in an effort to get tourists back to the Mexican capital with a quickness.

Via / AP

Image via xaminmo on Flickr

Fidel Castro Accuses Mexico of Lying About Swine Flu

4:26 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Cuba| Health| Latin America| mexico · Comments Off

13 May 2009

We don’t hear a lot from good old Fidel Castro, but when we do, it’s always something interesting. Take this piece of new: the Mexican government is angry because the Cuban leader is accusing them of keeping the 411 about the swine flu epidemic under wraps so as not to mess up Obama’s visit to Mexico. In a piece published in Cuba’s Granma newspaper, Fidel says that because of this deception, Cubans are now paying the price as citizens there were infected:

Today the presence of the H1N1 flu virus was detected in Cuba. The carrier is a young Mexican citizen who studies medicine in our country. The only thing that can be confirmed is that it didn’t come from the CIA, it came from Mexico [...]

The Mexican authorities did not inform the world of the presence of the virus while awaiting Obama’s visit, and now they are threatening us with suspending that of President Calderón, previously suspended for other, understandable reasons unconnected to the epidemic.

Mexico is emphatically denying this accusation, and Mexican president Felipe Calderon shot back yesterday that he “acted with determination, with promptness and with one single priority, which is and will always be to protect the health and the life of Mexicans.”

On the other hand, the Mexican Secretary for Foreign Relations (SRE) says that Castro’s accusations are making things a bit, well, weird for the relations between the two countries. Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, SRE, says that the declarations “make bilateral relations awkward”.

Via / Granma and Times of India

Visiting the Mami’Hood : Various Reflections on Mothering While Brown

11 May 2009

A belated Happy Mother’s Day to all who observed yesterday. The VL team has lots of mami power and yesterday as I spent the day cleaning, working, and yes visiting my own Mami and Titi, I was thinking about Latina mami’hood, the trabajo of raising our children and the lessons in love, struggle, and justice that we learn and impart on our young ones.

In Chile, for example, three Mexican mothers recently testified about the deaths of their daughters. These deaths represent just a tiny fraction of the hundreds of deaths and disappearances of mujeres in Ciudad Juarez.

Between 1993 and 2008 there were 447 registered cases of femicides in and around Juárez that are marked by signs of rape and extreme torture. Apart from the 447 registered cases, there are an estimated 70 young women still missing.

The State of México is accused for failing to confront the femicide phenomenon and in so doing, violating the right to life of its victims. Although only three mothers of the victims came to testify in Santiago, the court signaled that the three cases represent all of the femicides that have taken place in México to date.

The three mothers of the murdered women who testified were Irma Monreal, mother of Esmeralda Herrera, 14, Josefina González, mother of Claudia Ivette Conzález Banda, 20, and Benita Monárrez, mother of Laura Berenice Remos Monárrez, 17. On Tuesday, April 28, the mother’s gave their stories.

Their daughters were found dead in October 2001 along with the bodies of five other women and girls in a zone known as “Campo Algondonero” in Juarez.

The women had been tortured, raped and mutilated.
“I have faith and trust in the judges of this court,” said Monárrez. “I have faith that we will find justice.”

Instead of receiving flowers on Mother’s Day, these mothers are putting flowers on their daughter’s graves.

Speaking of flowers…….
Read more…

Obama Reassures Latinos on Swine Flu Epidemic

4:35 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Health| Immigration| Obama| Politics| mexico · 13 Comments

8 May 2009

barack-obama2 As the swine flu hysteria appears to be losing momentum, President Obama reached out to the Latino community today via Latino health professionals in a town hall style meeting with the aim of reassuring Latinos that the epidemic will not lead to discrimination. AP reports:

President Barack Obama sought Friday to reassure Hispanics that swine flu won’t lead to an epidemic of discrimination in the United States just because Mexico has been the epicenter of the outbreak.

At a town hall-style meeting at the White House, Obama told about 130 Latino public health professionals and neighborhood volunteers that the nation’s plan to fight the flu will not exclude their communities. Even if some residents are here illegally, they will still be able to get medical care for the flu, administration officials assured the group.

“We’re one country, we’re one community. When one person gets sick, that has the potential of making us all sick,” Obama said. “We can’t be divided by communities.”

I think it’s interesting that Obama chose to specifically address the Latino community on this issue right now. What do you think is behind this? Just a good excuse to do a bit more courtship?

Via / AP

Latino Civil Disobediance : Mexicans in NY, Ricans in DC

7 May 2009

mmedidiororr The past few days have been busy for activists around the issues of Puerto Rico’s colonial status and Mexican political prisoners.And yet, I can’t seem to find much information about either act of civil disobedience in the mainstream news media.

From Narco News:

Today, May 4, 2009, the Other Campaign New York took over the Mexican Consulate in New York to demand the liberation of the 12 political prisoners who have been brutally repressed for resisting neoliberal urbanization projects that are destructive to human life and culture, specifically the construction of an airport in Atenco, and for protecting displaced flower vendors in Texcoco.

Today, on this third anniversary of the repression, the arrests, the violations, the torture, and the breaking and entering made by the military police in Atenco, a delegation of members of Movement for Justice in El Barrio succeeded in entering the offices of the Consulate of Mexico in New York despite the fact that these offices have been under strict and tightened security since precisely 3 years ago when Mexicans of The Other Campaign New York with real heart and memory, demanded the liberation of the political prisoners of Atenco. We succeeded in entering the offices to hold a non-violent protest demanding the immediate release of the prisoners of Atenco.

Once inside, the compañer@s of the Other Campaign New York, amongst the clamor of: “Freedom for political prisoners (Presos politicos, libertad)!, Liberty, liberty, to those prisoners for fighting (Libertad, libertad, a los presos por luchar)!, We are all Atenco (Todos Somos Atenco)!”, along with other chants, and with our signs, some with prison bars to look like a cell, and also with bandanas, gave out to our fellow country men and women at the Consulate DVD’s of the video “Breaking the Siege”, about the repression in Atenco, and informational flyers where we explain our main demands.

Later, we demanded to speak with the consul Ruben Beltran in order to give him a letter of demands. First, they told us that he was not there because he was in Mexico, but we knew that this was a lie, since the day before the consul was in El Barrio at an event proselytizing for PAN during the imposed Cinco de Mayo celebration.

After a while, the authorities of the Consulate told us that the Consul was in New York but that he could not be found in the Consulate, and they closed consular services to the public, asking all of their clients to abandon the offices. By the end of our action, the consul arrived. We gave him a giant size letter on a poster-board with the following
demands:

1. Liberty for the political prisoners in Atenco.

2. Cancel the arrest warrants for those 2 who are being persecuted.

3. Revoke and appeal the sentences.

4. Complete respect for the human rights of the detained and the persecuted.

5. Punishment for those responsible for the violations of human rights.

The consul, Rubén Beltrán, first told us that he was open to engage in dialogue with all Mexican people in New York and listen to all opinions, but then blamed us – and our cause, the liberation of the prisoners in Atenco – for having closed the services of the Consulate and for having left so many people unattended.

VivirLatino