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Axios Latino summarizes the key news for Latino communities in the hemisphere;
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You will always find it in Spanish on Noticias Telemundo.
1 theme to highlight: Generational divisions
Half of Hispanics in the United States say that abortion
should be legal
, but a quarter believe that it should not be legalized under any circumstances, according to a new survey of the Latino population by Ipsos for Axios and Noticias Telemundo.
Big Picture
: Support for abortion rights depends heavily on whether respondents were born in the United States: 41% of immigrants surveyed said it should be legal, but the figure rose to 59% and 62% among immigrants. second- and third-generation Latinos, respectively.
The poll was conducted nationwide days before the Supreme Court struck down the Roe v.
Wade Act of 1973 that protected the right to abortion at the federal level.
Twenty-nine percent of Latinos who reported speaking only Spanish at home said abortion should be legal, compared to 63% of Latinos who said they spoke only English.
Why it matters
: Friday's ruling, after which half of states are expected to ban abortions, will likely have a huge effect on Latina, Black, Native American and Asian women, exacerbating already-vast health inequalities, they warn. advocacy groups like UnidosUS.
Opinions about abortion will also affect the November elections.
Democrats are pushing the issue as a linchpin of their campaign, seeking to mobilize young voters.
Millennial and Gen Z Latinos are a key constituency, which could help decide the majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
In the Axios Latino poll, 31% of respondents said the Democratic Party is better on issues like abortion, while 13% favored the Republican Party.
In figures
: When asked if abortion should
not
be legal in the United States, 40% of respondents who identify themselves as Republicans agreed, compared to 24% of Latinos who consider themselves independent and 21% of who are Democrats.
Support for access to contraceptives was overwhelming;
only 12% of respondents overall felt that birth control should be illegal.
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
The intrigue
: Chris Jackson, an Ipsos pollster and vice president of that polling company, said lower religious affiliation also appears to partially explain the generational difference between immigrant and US-born Latinos in their views on abortion.
“I think what generation you belong to has a pretty strong correlation with religiosity,” he said.
First generation are more likely to identify as religious and say they regularly attend services.
Latinos who oppose abortion
on religious grounds celebrated the Supreme Court's decision.
But they indicated that people of faith, including politicians, must now demonstrate that they “are completely pro-life and pro-woman from the womb to the grave, not only with rhetoric but with actions” to protect children and families, said the Rev. Samuel RodrĂguez, leader of the world's largest Hispanic evangelical conference.
2. The next battle for abortion rights
Abortion rights advocates in the US are beginning to focus their legal battles on rolling back or loosening state restrictions, with lawsuits challenging laws intended to make nearly all abortions illegal in states like Utah and Louisiana.
When people ask me what is the key lesson we can learn from Latin America: it is that it has been proven that it does work to speak out."
Paula avila-guillen, COLOMBIAN LAWYER
Activists in Latin America marked out a road map
in a very similar battle, which could serve as an example to the US now that it is in a situation similar to that of many nations in that region.
After years (even decades) of mobilization and activism, several large countries, such as Mexico and Colombia, managed to decriminalize abortion.
In the years in which attempts were made to restrict it, the rates of termination of pregnancies were not reduced.
In other nations, such as El Salvador, anti-abortion laws are among the strictest in the world.
Many women have even been imprisoned for spontaneous miscarriages (in addition, suicide is the third leading cause of maternal mortality).
But there have also been successful legal fights for these women to regain their freedom.
In her own words
: Paula Avila-Guillen, from the Women's Equality Center and who has been a participant in the so-called green tide protests in Latin America, said that activism in the United States should initially focus on ensuring that there is still availability of contraceptives and methods that do not require going to a clinic, such as abortion pills by mail.
Demonstrations in favor of abortion in Colombia with the characteristic scarf that has given its name to the Marea Verde movement in Latin America.
Advocates can also work for at least some states to have laws that formally recognize the right to abortion to make up for the federal recognition lost in Dobbs v.
Jackson.
Such a rule is already being discussed in California.
And given that the battle in Latin America continues, Avila-Guillen indicated that the path for people in the US to recover the unrestricted right to abortion will take a long time.
"My only hope is the green tide, because those changes [in Colombia, Mexico and Argentina] would not have happened in these two years without those marches, without the
handkerchiefs
. I think that's the only way out," Avila-Guillen told Axios.
"When people ask me what is the key lesson that we can learn from Latin America, it is that it has been proven that it does work to demonstrate," he added.
The other perspective:
The anti-abortion movement will work to have it banned “in every state and in the [federal] Congress,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told Axios last week.
3. Protests spread in Ecuador
The indigenous coalition in Ecuador behind protests - against the effects of inflation, the shortage of medicines and mining projects on their lands - that have shaken the country for two weeks, ruled out on Monday the government's plan to ease gasoline prices, saying that it is insufficient.
Why it matters
: The protests, which began on June 13, have blocked roads and highways in the capital and several provinces.
That has slowed oil production and is causing food shortages.
The lockdowns have also led to oxygen shortages at certain hospitals and temporary school suspensions, according to authorities.
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador is leading the protests, and university students have joined them.
Ecuadorian women stand in front of a barricade outside the National Assembly in Quito, on June 26. Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images
News impulse
: The National Assembly is debating this week to apply a political trial against the president, Guillermo Lasso, due to the situation.
The president has said that with this process the opponents are using the protests as an "attempt to destabilize democracy" and his government.
He has affirmed that the opposition parties have the help of the indigenous group, which he denies.
Details
: Lasso said during a national address on Sunday that gasoline will soon drop by 10 cents.
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities asks for a reduction of 40 cents.
Lasso also ended the state of emergency, with a curfew and military surveillance, declared on June 18 in six provinces.
Amnesty International states that at least one person was killed by the military in the state of emergency.
Some protesters have been accused of setting cars on fire and committing acts of violence and looting.
4. A dreamer in the White House
Cindy Nava is an immigrant from Mexico who was undocumented.
Now, after working for a decade without pay in the New Mexico Legislature, she will join the Joe Biden Administration as an adviser on housing issues.
From undocumented to government worker: the success story of the 'dreamer' Cindy Nava
June 27, 202202:21
Why It Matters
: Nava's appointment as an adviser for policy at the Department of Housing and Urban Development makes her one of the first Dreamers to receive a White House presidential appointment.
Nava celebrated her appointment in an interview with Axios, and highlighted it as a particular achievement after years of living in uncertainty around her immigration status, her accent and the feeling of not feeling sufficiently prepared despite her years of experience.
For years, very few people knew of Nava's immigration status, even as she became a well-known political analyst in New Mexico.
Details
: Nava was born in Chihuahua and was brought to New Mexico as a child.
She grew up in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
He became involved in politics after high school.
He worked in the New Mexico state House with Democratic legislators.
She couldn't collect because she was undocumented.
She was part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which gives study or work permits to Dreamers, until she became a US citizen through marriage.
Her experience
: Working for state legislators exposed her to housing problems in New Mexico, one of the poorest states in the United States.
Nava said he will keep stories he has witnessed about power outages on Navajo reservations or lack of proper plumbing in border communities very much in mind when he plays his role at the Department of Housing.
5. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean
1. Authorities are investigating how the deaths of 50
migrants
occurred in a truck found in San Antonio, Texas, on Monday night.
Sixteen people who were locked inside the trailer were hospitalized.
So far most of the deceased have been identified as Mexican, Guatemalan and Honduran people.
2. El Salvador has begun the
construction
of a mega-prison
for more than 36,000 people accused of being gang members.
The arrests have been carried out en masse as part of a state of emergency declared in March.
Activists and NGOs say there has been a large number of arbitrary arrests and human rights violations.
El Salvador announces construction of controversial mega-prison to concentrate gang members "in one place"
June 26, 202201:49
3. At least 50 people died in Colombia
this Tuesday in a fire in a prison, in which thirty people were also injured, according to authorities.
Prisoners set fire to a mattress during a fight and the flames spread through a pavilion with 200 people interned in the Tuluá prison, in western Colombia.
6. Unexpected finds
Workers renovating a house in Lima, Peru, discovered pre-Inca tombs earlier this month.
Archaeologists are now studying the tomb, which was bundled with silver and copper objects, making it appear to be from a wealthy 15th-century family.
Ancient Inca tomb found during house renovation in Peru
June 24, 202200:33
Thank you for reading!
We will be back on Tuesday.
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