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Axios Latino is the newsletter that summarizes every Tuesday and Thursday the key news for Latino communities in the hemisphere.
1 theme to highlight: Promote ignored poets
The Latin writer Ada LimĂłn, recently named Poet Laureate
of the United States, proposes with her art mechanisms to heal traumas, and wants to promote voices without much echo in that country, such as the Mexican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
News push
: The Library of Congress announced Tuesday that she will be the 24th person in this position, and the first woman of Latino descent.
The Poets Laureates are tasked with raising awareness of this art and promoting it to the public.
Details
: LimĂłn is the author of six collections of poems and hosts a poetry podcast.
She will begin her term in the fall.
She is originally from California, and lives in Kentucky.
Her grandfather was a Mexican immigrant, and she too has British ancestry.
Photo illustration by Shoshana Gordon/Axios / Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.
Poetry has the power
to help people process the trauma they have experienced, connecting with their humanity and with the world around them, LimĂłn explained to Axios Latino.
"It will make us stronger, braver and more prepared for what is to come. We cannot go from one trauma to another without doing any emotional processing. We will lose the battle for our souls if we do not stop to heal and process," explained the poetess.
His goal is to make poetry more accessible in public spaces and through social media, he added.
Her Mexican heritage makes her very proud,
she said, but she doesn't want to be pigeonholed because of her race or ethnicity.
"I'm suspicious of identity labels because they can be used to put us in harmful compartments, with people thinking things like, 'Oh, you're Latino, so I know what to expect from you,'" he said.
It seeks to promote authors who have received little attention in the American literary world, such as Phillis Wheatley, a poet who managed to publish a book despite being enslaved, as well as the Mexican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
"Very often this idea is held here that poetry has only been a thing for white men," LimĂłn said, and he wants to change it.
2. Bricks against illegal fishing
Mexican authorities began a program to throw bricks
into the Gulf of California to curb illegal fishing of endangered species.
The purpose is to sink fishing nets.
The Mexican Navy removes an illegal fishing net in the Sea of ​​Cortez in March 2022Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images
The Big Picture
: Marine poaching and illegal fishing in Mexican oceans is an extremely lucrative business, according to a report by the Brookings Institution.
That has attracted cartels and other criminal organizations that extort money from fishermen or offer them money to search for prized species, which can fetch a premium on China's black market.
Animals whose only habitat is in Mexico are affected by this illegal trade, largely because they get caught in fishing nets for other species.
The most notorious case is that of the vaquita marina, which only lives in the Sea of ​​Cortez and has been caught up in the illegal trade of totoaba fish.
Details
: The Secretary of the Navy began to implement a plan last week that consists of throwing 193 concrete blocks with hooks into the water of the Gulf of California, which it promotes as a low-cost measure against illegal fishing.
The cement bricks with hooks that the Secretary of the Navy will use to try to sink illegal fishing netsCourtesy of SEMAR Mexico
Yes, but
: Environmentalists are concerned that the bricks can catch fish and kill them by dragging the nets.
The Mexican government last year desisted from armed patrols against illegal fishing boats in the Gulf of California, announcing instead that there will be sanctions if they are sighted.
In the past, fishermen in the protected areas have attacked both the authorities and the NGO Sea Shepherd during their patrols.
Pending issue
: The United States summoned Mexico to "environmental consultations" in February, a first step for possible sanctions, pointing out that the lack of protection measures for the vaquita marina violates the trilateral USMCA trade agreement.
Beyond
: The black market in China also wreaks havoc on other marine protected areas in Latin America.
Ecuador and Peru have reported an increase in illegal fishing boats, linked to Chinese and Spanish owners, in the Galapagos.
Endangered species that live there, like hammerhead sharks, are sometimes accidentally caught and killed.
3. The video that has shaken Uvalde
Images released Tuesday of police reaction in Uvalde during the shooting at an elementary school have sparked strong reactions, and parents of the 19 children killed by the shooter say they feel further traumatized by this video.
Several parents of children murdered in Uvalde are reluctant to watch the video of the 77 minutes of police passivity
July 13, 202202:47
News
push: The Austin American-Statesman and KVUE news outlets released segments of Robb Elementary school security camera video on Tuesday, which were played by the rest of the nation's press.
The recording shows several officers who practically did not move for more than an hour despite the shots.
That same Tuesday a meeting of the Municipal Council of Uvalde became heated when the families of the victims expressed their anger that the video was leaked before they could see it.
The resignation of school police chief Pete Arredondo, who had been sworn in as a councilman despite controversy over his actions, was also formalized.
stir.
Arredondo is also temporarily suspended from his position with the police department.
4. Naturalization exam courses
The Republican Party launched a program to help immigrants prepare for the civics test that is necessary to pass to become a US citizen (and be able to vote).
Why it matters:
It's a new step in the party's efforts to reach out to migrants and build a more diverse coalition of voters.
Curiously, the plan arises from the political grouping that for a long time had restricted immigration as the focus of its agenda, backing several measures in this regard during the presidency of Donald Trump.
File image of the USCIS offices in Miami, Florida.Wilfredo Lee / AP
News Momentum
: The 10-hour Republican Civics Initiative courses will take place starting this Thursday.
The first was in Doral, Florida, as reported by Sophia Cai of Axios.
Big Picture:
The Republican National Committee has spent millions of dollars establishing some 30 community centers in areas with high populations of Black, Latino, Asian descent, Native American, and Jewish people.
There are already 12 "Republican Hispanic Republican Community Centers" in Latino areas of various states.
Between the lines:
Groups linked to the Democratic Party have also held naturalization and citizenship promotion days for years.
When Trump was elected they reinforced them.
Trump, who has advocated eliminating birthright citizenship, has been accused of implementing policies that caused even greater delays in the citizenship and naturalization processes.
Currently the wait is at least two years.
5. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean
Protests in Panama City on July 12, 2022Rogelio Figueroa/AFP via Getty Images
The protests spread this week in Panama
after the government announced austerity measures that include the dismissal of 10% of public workers.
The protests have been brewing for days, with claims that the president, Laurentino Cortizo, is not doing enough to ease the effects of high inflation.
Cortizo announced Monday that he would freeze the prices of gasoline and 10 staple foods in response to the protests.
Aerial view of a riverbed in the Brazilian Amazon, where the loss of green areas can be seenRogerio Florentino / EFE
Deforestation in the Amazon reached record levels
in the first half of this year, according to satellite data from the Brazilian public agency INPE.
Its portion of the world's largest rainforest lost some 1,500 square miles (nearly 4,000 square kilometers), the equivalent of five times the size of New York City.
Experts warn that this deforestation releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the remaining forest can absorb, which will worsen global warming.
6.
🎧 From Colombia to Las Vegas
A Colombian DJ and violinist is celebrating because she claims to be the first Latina turntable player to land an artist residency in Las Vegas.
This Latina is the first Colombian woman to occupy the residence of DJ in a hotel in Las Vegas
July 1, 202202:45
Details
: Esther Anaya got a one-year deal this April to DJ at two of the Resorts World Las Vegas clubs.
Anaya has performed alongside artists like Maluma, Rihanna, Kanye West, Maná, and David Guetta.
She also just released a song with Snoop Dogg, she told Telemundo.
The DJ moved to the United States at the age of 14, when her family sought political asylum due to the conflict with the Farc-EP.
Pachanga Thursday
Three Latina filmmakers are being recognized as part of a program that supports emerging Hispanic talent in Hollywood.
Photos courtesy of The Latinx House.
Graphics by Axios Visuals.
They are Cecilia Aldarondo, Yulene Olaizola and Nicole Mejia, who will be the first generation of the Adelante Directors Fellowship.
The show grew out of a partnership between the group The Latinx House with Netflix, the production house Shondaland, and the Sundance Institute's Women at Sundance project.
Congratulations!
Let's hope they are on their way to becoming big stars.
If you want to be part of the Pachanga, where every week we highlight the achievements of our readers, send an email to axioslatino@axios.com.
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