Axios Latino: Real Border Violence and Other Things You Should Know About

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1 theme to highlight: Border violence is not what they paint it

Violent crime reported in the United States

increased in 2020 for the first time in four years, but rates in 11 of the largest communities along the Mexican border remained below the national average, according to an analysis by Axios.

FBI, Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and Census data Graphic by Jared Whalen / Axios

Why it matters

: The low rates of violent crime in border communities, with a population mostly of Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigrants, dispel year after year myths of the border as a region of crime and chaos.

Between the lines

: Alex Nowrasteh, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, believes that the presence of the Border Patrol is likely to help reduce violent crime numbers.

• But he adds that various studies show that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes overall, and that helps explain the region's low homicide rates.

By the Numbers

: Axios' analysis of 2020 Census and FBI data found that 11 border communities had an average rate of 340.2 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, about 15% less than the national average of 398.5.

• Additionally, the average homicide rates in the 11 communities, ranging from San Diego, California, to Brownsville, Texas, were 4.1 murders per 100,000 residents, well below the FBI-reported national average of 6.5.

Yes, but

: The State Department issued a notice last week to warn against traveling to the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas due to high crime and kidnappings.

• Other border states such as Chihuahua and Coahuila have an alert that asks to "reconsider travel" for the same reason.

Bottom line

: Crime and the immigration crisis at the border will likely be among the defining issues in the 2022 midterm elections. But the data shows that the two issues are not as closely linked, as some candidates might claim.

2. Latinos take the climate emergency more seriously

Eight out of 10 Latinos

in the US consider addressing the climate emergency a priority, a higher number than non-Hispanics, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

Data from the PewGraphic Research Center by Axios Visuals

Why It Matters

: The climate emergency has a disproportionately negative effect on Black, Latino, Asian and Native American people in the US, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

• More than half of Latinos reside in states that are already among the most affected by the effects of global warming, such as severe droughts and fires in California, increasingly high temperatures in Texas and Arizona, or floods in Florida.

• Latinos living in Latin America and the Caribbean will face one of the worst socioeconomic crises due to looming global warming, according to a UN report.

  Temperatures in the region have risen more than the world average in the last two decades.

Important note

: A recent White House report emphasizes that rising temperatures and weather events in Latin America and the Caribbean will generate more climate migration, as happened after Hurricanes Eta and Iota hit Guatemala and Honduras in November 2020.

• The report was released before the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, begins this Sunday.

• Scientists warned in August that global warming is increasing faster than expected, and that past targets to mitigate it are insufficient.

By the Numbers

: 81% of US Latinos view the climate emergency as a major concern, in contrast to 67% of non-Hispanics surveyed by Pew.

• Latinos who live in the continental United States but were born elsewhere are more concerned about the effects of global warming: 79% fear its impact on their communities compared to 64% of those born in the US.

3. An oasis in a literary 'desert'

Texas State Senator José Menéndez poses with minors at the Guadalupe Latino Bookstore in San Antonio Texas, Oct. 1 Courtesy of Tony Diaz

A bookstore in one of the poorest areas

of San Antonio, Texas, where reading materials are hard to come by, has just opened thanks to the

novelist Tony Díaz and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center.

Why it matters

: The bookstore seeks to be an initial step to reduce the access gap to books in certain areas, known as literary deserts, bringing reading to low-income Latino neighborhoods and patching up the lack of representation of Latino authors in most stores across the country.

• Aside from the newly opened Guadalupe Latino bookstore, Southwest San Antonio has no other bookstores.

"We want children to grow up thinking that it is raining Latino poets and writers."

tony diaz, novelist

The Big Picture

: A 2016 study found substantial disparities in access to print among people living in low-income neighborhoods in the United States.

• The widespread lack of reading materials, coupled with high rates of poverty in these communities, has had profound academic consequences for minors in those deserts, according to the researchers.

4. Nicaragua is nearing the end of a ruthless campaign

More than 1,530 acts of political violence

have been committed by forces linked to the president, Daniel Ortega, in the run-up to next week's presidential elections in Nicaragua, and the vote will aggravate that repression, says a report by the organization without end of profit IDEA.

Merchandise alluding to Daniel Ortega and Ernesto 'Che' Guevara for sale at a market stall in Managua on October 7, 2021.Oswaldo Rivas / AFP via Getty Images

Current situation

: The State Department, the European Parliament and the Organization of American States (OAS) have said that the November 7 vote "will lack any credibility."

• More than 130 high-profile dissidents, including eight opposition candidates, Ortega's former comrades in arms, student activists and newspaper editors, have been jailed or forced into exile since this summer.

• The repression of the Ortega regime and Vice President / First Lady Rosario Murillo has also caused thousands of other people to flee the Central American country in recent months.

• The IDEA report found that one million people have been removed from the voter rolls, about 20%, and that the number of ballot boxes was reduced by 25% in the most populated areas.

For reference

: The practically assured result would be Ortega's third consecutive reelection for a five-year term.

That would keep him in power for 20 consecutive years, longer than Anastasio Somoza, the dictator Ortega fought to overthrow in his guerrilla days.

5. Summary of key news from Latin America and the Caribbean

Ecuador has been rocked by protests

even as it is in the midst of a state of emergency, declared on October 19 in response to increasing violence by drug trafficking groups.

Protesters and police clash in the province of Cotopaxi, Ecuador, during a strike over fuel prices on October 26, 2021. Rodrigo Buendía / AFP via Getty Images

• This week, protesters took part in a massive protest in response to an announcement that fuel subsidies will be slashed and prices will rise.

• The state of emergency was declared after a prison riot in early October left 118 dead but, even with the new security measures, seven inmates in the same prison were found hanged last weekend.

Congress and the governor of Puerto Rico

voted in favor of a plan to cut the island's public debt by half, cutting pensions.

• The proposal is an attempt to remove Puerto Rico from bankruptcy declared in 2017. However, it depends on the unlikely support of the territory's financial supervision board appointed by the White House and Congress.

• The oversight group, dubbed the Board, and the Puerto Rican government will meet for bankruptcy mediation on November 8.

6. 👚A free 'shop' for migrants

Migrants in Ciudad Juárez

waiting for news of their asylum claims in overcrowded shelters and makeshift camps can now take a shopping break.

And they can do it in stores where everything is free.

This initiative in Ciudad Juárez offers free clothing for the most disadvantaged migrants

Oct. 9, 202102: 03

More details

: The Free Tienda group has opened 28 stores since January in the city across the border from El Paso, Texas.

• The stores run on donations and are open to anyone else who may need their merchandise, not just migrants.

  Each person can choose five items per day.

Why it matters

: Many of the people who migrated north did so carrying only what they could carry on their backs.

By the time they arrive in the border town, their clothing is torn or unusable, and many have even lost their footwear.

• Most also cannot afford to buy clothes, having spent almost all the money they had on the trip, either on meals or on paying for extortions demanded by criminal groups along the way.

Until Tuesday, thanks for reading us.

Do you want to see any of the most recent previous editions?

The brake on Latino education

A Hispanic paradox

The right to die

A neglected danger

In search of future politicians

The 'perfect' business for drug trafficking