By Marina E. Franco and Russell Contreras
Welcome to Axios Latino, a newsletter to tell you every week the stories that have a special impact on the Latino communities in the United States and in Latin America. If you are interested in subscribing and receiving the newsletter in your email (in English), you can do so by clicking here. Every week we will publish it in Spanish on Noticias Telemundo. [Sign up here to read the newsletter in Spanish]
1 topic to highlight: The echo of transcontinental protests
The anti-racist demonstrations
of the Black Lives Matter movement, translated as Black lives matter, have spread to Brazil and Mexico, as slogans and protests from Latin America and the Caribbean have shaped US political activism.
A protest in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2020 with the Portuguese version of the slogan "Black lives matter" (Black Lives Matter).
Nelson Almeida / AFP via Getty Images
It is a sample of how movements and demonstrations transcend borders and the various languages in the American continent.
More details
: In the main Brazilian cities, 75% of the people killed by the police since 2017 were black.
Starting last year, when anti-racist protests grew after the assassination of George Floyd, they quickly spread from the US to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In Colombia, where 10% of the population identifies as black or Afro-descendant, the largest protest by Afro-Colombians so far had been a strike in 2017 in the small coastal town of Buenaventura.
But last year anti-racist demonstrations were felt even in Bogotá, with thousands of people demanding justice after the young black Anderson Arboleda was killed by a police beating.
Activist inspiration also
comes from Latin America to the US.
At some of the US #BlackLivesMatter marches in 2020, there were those who said the phrase: "They wanted to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds."
The saying has been popularized with Mexican protests, especially those demanding to know the whereabouts of 43 rural students from the Ayotzinapa Normal who have been missing since September 2014. The last time they were seen was when police were forcing them to get on patrol cars.
The saying "The people united will never be defeated" from a Chilean protest song from the 1970s has also been adapted into several languages and continues to be used in marches, including recent anti-racist demonstrations in the US.
2. The political battle that Latinos are about to face
A Census ad released in January 2020 to try to encourage Latino participation in filling out the questionnaire.Sarah L. Voisin / The Washington Post via Getty Images
Activists and politicians are beginning
to prepare to fight for Latinos to be fairly represented in politics, with new 2020 Census data released Thursday that will define the division of electoral districts.
What's happening
: New data shows that Hispanics in the U.S. have been behind much of the population growth over the past decade, but that hasn't always been reflected in how legislative districts are defined or distributed the budgets.
The first series of 2020 Census results, released in April, already indicated that there was an undercount of Latinos in the country, which would severely dilute their political power.
During the counting process, there were reports that the attempts to obtain the answers in communities of population minorities were not enough, and some people in charge of conducting the Census interviews assured that in certain neighborhoods they were ordered to enter false information to hasten the delivery of the questionnaires.
What will happen now
: The Congressional Hispanic Caucus promises to allocate millions of dollars to ensure that the electoral districts, to be defined after the announcement this Thursday of the Census, are fair, especially in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
Those three states in particular are seen as key to determining who could control the federal House of Representatives from now on.
3. How much does a name matter? For many Latinos, little
Will Chase / Axios Data
The majority of Latinos in the US
indicate that they have no preference whatsoever over which term is used to refer to them, whether it is
Hispanic
or
Latino
, according to a Gallup poll.
In numbers
: If they had to choose, 57% of people surveyed say they would prefer
Hispanic
.
Only 5% say they prefer
Latinx
.
The term
Latinx
, which seeks to be the inclusive and gender-neutral alternative, is used almost exclusively by young people, according to another survey by the Pew Hispanic Center.
The general situation
: In Latin America and the Caribbean another option has emerged, since x is not pronounced in the same way as in English.
The
e
is used
for nouns to be gender neutral.
For example,
elle
is being used
to replace the binary he / she and as an equivalent for the pronouns
they / them
used in English by non-binary and trans people.
[What term do you prefer? We'd love to hear what you think]
4. These chefs break barriers
A Peruvian woman and an indigenous
Mexican
woman
have been recognized as pioneers in the culinary world.
The best chef in the world opens her kitchen and teaches how to prepare a delicious dish
Aug. 6, 202102: 02
What's happening
: Pía León was named the best female chef in the world last week, while Claudia Albertina Ruiz Sántiz was highlighted as a person who will shape the future of gastronomy.
León was recognized for her work in three Peruvian restaurants that focus on the country's biodiversity and whose ingredients are obtained with fair trade.
Ruiz Sántiz has been called a role model for the way in which she overcame discrimination and the traditional demands of her Tzotzil people to open her own restaurant.
He also gives work and training to other young people of indigenous origins.
The awards were given by the World's 50 Best Restaurants organization, which every year polls different people in the industry to determine the best restaurants in the world.
In her own words
: "It is very gratifying that you recognize that food links your roots, the cultural, the traditional, your beliefs, myths, respect for the land: that gastronomy has a lot of richness beyond taste," said the chef Ruiz Sántiz to Noticias Telemundo.
This "counteracts all those very constant voices that have tried to tell me along the way: 'you can't, you're a woman, you're indigenous, you're not worth it,'" he adds.
5. Summary of key news from Latin America
Many migrants from Haiti, Cuba or African countries who want to reach Mexico or the United States try to make their way when crossing from the beaches of Necocli, Colombia, to Panama.Joaquín Sarmiento / AFP via Getty Images
Panama and Colombia reached an agreement
to safely cross 600 people a day, in response to a looming migration crisis of thousands of people trying to move between the two countries in their flight from poverty, violence and other crises exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of the migrants are Haitians, Cubans or from African countries who intend to reach Mexico or the United States.
So far this year, around 50,000 people have tried to cross the Darien Gap, a dangerous jungle and marshy area that divides Panama and Colombia and which has no roads.
That number of crossing attempts is higher than that of the last three years added.
The Cuban regime has accepted
only four out of dozens of appeals to the sentences handed down to those who participated in the massive protests in July on the island.
With the appeals, these people have managed to get out of prison with the payment of a fine or it has been established that they must serve their sentences on labor farms, according to local media.
Hundreds of people remain in detention after the summary trials that have taken place since the demonstrations demanding "homeland and life."
Indigenous groups in Brazil
have accused the president, Jair Bolsonaro, of genocide before the International Criminal Court on the grounds that his government's policies are systemically anti-
indigenous
.
Among other things, Bolsonaro has been pushing for a law that would allow mining and agriculture to access protected territories in the Amazon and contact isolated tribes.
6. The Olympic count for the region
Graph showing how many gold, silver and bronze medals each Latin American delegation obtained (with country names in English) Connor Rothschild / Axios
Athletes from Latin America and the Caribbean
broke records and made history for their countries in Tokyo, despite institutional obstacles such as lack of funding and support.
More details
: Among the people who accumulated success is the Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, who won gold by breaking a world record that had existed since before she was born.
The Ecuadorian Neisi Dajomes won the first gold medal for a woman in the history of her country, in the weightlifting competition where her compatriot Yajaira Salazar also won silver.
The Dominican athletics team surprised by finishing second in the 4X400 meter mixed relay, the first time that event was held.
And the sprinter who gave them the advantage, Marileidy Paulino, later won silver in the individual 400 meters.
Puerto Rican Jasmine Camacho-Quinn set an Olympic record by winning gold in the 100-meter hurdles.
The Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade was applauded even by Simone Biles for obtaining gold in the horse jumping final and the silver medal in the all apparatus competition.
She is the first Latin American to get a medal in the last category.
Guatemalan badminton player Kevin Cordón also gave hope to the region: he beat several players with the best rankings to finish fourth in the world.
6. A “new” Aztec temple causes unease
Images of how the temple would have looked, of the current reconstruction and part of the light show that will be on display for the public from August 13 to September 1 in downtown Mexico City. from Mexico
An ancient pyramidal temple once
again stands in the center of Mexico City, with a scale reconstruction that is part of the commemorations of the 500th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan, an event that formally gave way to the Spanish conquest and colonization of Mexico.
What happens:
The structure aims, according to authorities, to honor the indigenous peoples who "resisted" by reshaping one of the many temples that were destroyed to build Catholic churches.
For the 500th anniversary commemorations, the Florentine Code will also be read, an oral history of how the Nahuas lived through the defeat of the Aztec stronghold of Tenochtitlan that August 13, 1521.
But, but, but:
The temporary reconstruction of the Huey Teocalli in Mexico City has been criticized by archaeologists as a publicity stunt and a waste of money.
The Templo Mayor museum, which houses the royal remains, has had a collapsed roof since April due to a storm and has not been fixed.
Thanks for reading, until next week.
Do you want to see any of the previous editions?
- Shooting against Latinos
- Recommended reading for this summer: new Latin American voices
- Olympic hopes despite obstacles
- Behind the multiple crises due to COVID-19 in Latin America
- A pain for the whole hemisphere
- The shedding of innocent blood
- A heat-battered border thirsts for protection