Che: El Argentino [Film Trailer]

Che: El Argentino [Poster & Scenes]

Required Reading: Puerto Rico by Jose Trias Monge

Jose Trias Monge's Puerto Rico is a perfect primer to anyone who wants to truly understand the status problem of the world's oldest colony. As a historian, legislator and career politician Trias Monge's perspective was of great curiosity to me for its lack of the dogmatic approach typical of political figures, which made it into an unexpected interesting read. He takes an academic, almost purely intellectual, look at the choice before the Puerto Rican electorate and the natural gridlock that has resulted. Interestingly, putting aside his political affiliation, the book shockingly comes close to arguing for Puerto Rican independence. Check it out, it's a quick read at 240 pages and you'll appreciate every page.

Bill Richardson at the DNC

Here is Bill Richardson's Speech at Invesco Field in Denver, Colorado on the final night of the Democratic Convention.

Daddy Yankee wants McCain to be his Big Boss

After being told that Daddy Yankee had "endorsed" McCain by my girlfriend I had to quickly go to YouTube to see the video. Sheer laughter followed. There are so many layers of wrong going on that the brain needs to slooooooow down to fully appreciate the magnitude of it all.

The idea behind getting Daddy Yankee’s “endorsement” is to buy; oops I mean win over Latino support for McCain aka Grumpy Bush. The idea is a simple one: get someone those people like to support us so that we won’t have to do anything to win them over.

Reform the immigration laws? Look I have a picture with Oscar De La Hoya.

Puerto Rico is still a colony? Look everyone I’m dancing with J-Lo!

I can only wait for the Iris Chacon endorsement of McCain come October! Sorry, but we recognized your hustle a while back and that wont work with us.

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have a stronghold within the “Latino” community. Although traditionally the stereotype goes that Cuban-Americans (read: Miami's Cuban population) votes Republican, and Puerto Ricans (read: New York City's Puerto Rican population) vote Democratic.

These stereotypes and realities however hold more weight with the previous generations. The majority of the 18-28 year olds don’t hold any allegiance to a particular party. That isn’t to say they aren’t politically engaged and active. Most young people recognize the wealth of their own communities and working towards ensuring their capacities are challenged by developing their own organizations rather than turning to outdated organizations or political parties.

Getting back to Daddy Yankee, someone please inform him that as a resident of Puerto Rico he can’t vote for the president! Puerto Rico’s colonial status makes its residents eligible to die in American wars but incapable of voting for the President or congressperson who votes for it.

In the end this orgy of stupidity will be forgotten. Daddy Yankee will continue his career to some degree or another, although he will certainly take an L for this. McCain will continue to grow older.

And older.

And older.

Holding firmly to his misguided vision of the direction the United Stated need to head.

One more thing; what was up with Daddy Yankee’s hair? Daddy Yankee, my niggs, you’re Puerto Rican, get a tape up!

Update: Politico.com is reporting that Daddy Yankee first approached the Obama campaign but was rejected due to the content of his lyrics and his police record.

Nydia Velazquez speaks at DNC

The Puerto Rican Congresswoman from New York took the floor at the DNC and laid out her support for Obama. Probably, out of the many who have spoken at the DNC, hers is a better performance than most. However in the back of my mind I find it a little difficult to see her as a strong Obama supporter given her adamant support for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Nevertheless, she is the definition of a fighter and there is much respect for her across the party. She may soon become a leader within the party, which may open the door for some national recognition, maybe. All in all, she's easily one of the most influencial Puerto Rican voices in American politics.

Joe Baca of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at the DNC [Video]

This speech is perhaps as forgettable as your last drink of water. Hispanic Congressman Joe Baca looks nervous and seems to be a little rattled by the teleprompter. The fact that he mispronounces Obama's name as "Orama" was a little disappointing, though he is probably the most disappointed of all. In all, it's good that he got the floor to express his support and the support of the Caucus for the Obama/Biden ticket.

Haiti under Hurricane Gustav [Video]

Video from the Associated Press shows Hurricane Gustav's landfall upon the nation of Haiti. The storm threatens Cuba, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. A Hurricane Warning has already been issued in Cuba.

Evo Morales fights peacefully for the future of Bolivia

Last week's popular referendum in Bolivia was a resounding victory for the administration of Evo Morales, who's pro-poor & pro-equal rights policies have angered the landed elite. While the referendum should have put to an end the hopes of the landed class opposition, it seems to have instead made them more brazen in their demands for full control of the resources and wealth of one of the poorest nations in the hemisphere. The people of Bolivia have spoken, but the wealthy land-owners will have their way no matter what. President Morales however refuses to be drawn into violent confrontations.

The Real News reports on the situation:

Denver's First Latino Mayor Federico Peña speaks at Democratic National Convention

About Federico Peña: Born in Laredo, Texas, Peña earned a B.A. (1969) and a J.D. (1972) from the University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas School of Law. Moving to Colorado, where he became a practicing attorney, Peña was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1979, where he rose to become Minority Leader. In 1983, Peña defeated a 14-year incumbent, William H. McNichols, Jr. to become the first Hispanic Mayor of Denver, a post to which he was re-elected in 1987.

Peña advised Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton on transportation issues during Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign, and Clinton chose Peña to head the United States Department of Transportation. Although he had intended to leave Clinton's cabinet after a single term, Peña also served as Secretary of Energy for one year, from 1997 to 1998.

Information from Wikipedia

COHA: Mexican Drug War Escalates

Reprinted from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs article "Searching for solutions to Mexico's skyrocketing violence"

On August 21, Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa held a security summit at the National Palace. In attendance were the Mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, and Mexico’s thirty-one state governors. Those in attendance, represented most of the nation’s political parties, were still able to display a stunning show of relative harmony and cooperation in the face of dangerously mounting violence brought about by growing street gangs and more violent drug cartels throughout Mexico. A seventy-five-point package of security measures was unanimously adopted and will be implemented over the next three years. The package includes initiatives aimed at purging police corruption, constructing several new maximum-security prisons, and creating a database for mobile phones that the government will use to track down criminals using them.

Violence Everywhere
The unprecedented level of violence resorted to by Mexico’s drug gangs has reached a fevered pitch. On August 16, masked gunmen murdered thirteen people in a village in Chihuahua, a state that has witnessed 1,026 deaths so far this year. The number of gang-related deaths for all of Mexico so far this year stands at 2,682, already surpassing the 2007 total of 2,673. The escalating violence represents an ugly offensive by Mexican drug gangs retaliating against the government’s increased determination to combat drug trafficking and the drug-related violence that has plagued the country in recent years. Since 2007, Calderón has ordered 36,000 troops to be deployed against the gangs throughout Mexico’s thirty-one states, with only modest results.

Complicating the situation, Mexico’s various police forces are saturated with corruption, and its tolerance of violence, systemic. Various drug cartels have taken advantage of this, bribing the authorities – particularly the intelligence service – to side with them by waging war on their rivals. According to a congressional Research Service Report, authorities in Nuevo Laredo municipal officials have been known to kidnap competitors of the Gulf cartel, while members of the Sinaloa cartel enjoy police protection. According to the same report, in December 2005, the Mexican Attorney General’s office (PGR) reported that one-fifth of its officials were under investigation for criminal activity. This culture of corruption was starkly revealed by the Fernando Martí case, where a fourteen-year-old boy was kidnapped last June 4 by drug gang members masquerading as policemen. His body was found on August 1 in the trunk of an abandoned car. Subsequent investigation uncovered the involvement of fourteen members of the Federal District Judicial Police in the killing.

No Respite from the War’s Escalation
The chronic lack of integrity displayed by the police has further weakened Mexicans’ plummeting confidence in their government’s ability to cope with drug gangs. A poll taken in early June showed that 53 percent of the population believed that drug gangs were winning their war against federal forces, while a mere 24 percent thought that the government had the matter under control. Some 3,000 people from Ciudad Juárez - of mostly middle-class families – crossing illegally into the United States, do so out of fear of violence. Particularly hard hit by gang violence, Ciudad Juárez has registered 800 homicides so far this year—tripling the 2007 figure—as well as a spurt of bank and car robberies. The University of San Diego’s Trans-Border Institute recently reported that there has also been an increase in acts of extortion and kidnappings that have specifically targeted the business community.

In spite of Calderón’s intensified war against Mexico’s drug barons and the early phase in the implementation of Washington’s predictably under-funded Merida Initiative, the death toll continues to mount and there is no indication that the future will be any brighter than the past. This spotlights the inherent problems embedded in the Mexican government’s strategy, such as unrestrained venality in the police force as well as in the tainted bureaucracies at the municipal, state, and federal levels. On July 31, the government announced a shake-up in the PGR, with the departure of Noé Ramírez, the head of Mexico’s secret anti-organized-crime unit, Siedo, and three of the PGR’s deputy attorneys. This announcement followed a meeting during which the head of the PGR, Eduardo Medina-Mora, and public security minister, Genaro García Luna, blamed each other for their inability to coordinate and harness their respective intelligence-gathering units. This manifestation of ineptitude reinforced the need for Calderón’s call for the government to agree on public security policies and to improve coordination among the federal, state and municipal administrations in order to advance the nation’s uphill fight against crime.

A united campaign against the drug gangs, this time with Calderón and Ebrard de facto at the helm, has been necessary for a long time, but may be too much to ask for, especially amid the current escalating levels of violence with its skyrocketing death tolls reported from many Mexican cities. A coordinated and innovative bipartisan approach on the part of all government levels, rather than any further militarization, or going easy on the purveyor of crime, may prove to be the ultimate key to stemming the country’s current surge in violence. Added to this is the population’s flagging confidence in the bona fides of the country’s security forces. With the August 21 summit, Calderon and his colleagues may have made an initial move (albeit, a tiny one) in the right direction.

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Amy Coonradt
August 26th, 2008