Poverty falls among Hispanic children but experts warn that progress is in danger

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1. The Spotlight: Less Poverty for Hispanic Children

Child poverty in the United States has experienced a dramatic decline in recent decades, with Latinos especially benefiting, according to research.

The experts say they are encouraged, although they warn that in order to maintain this positive change it is important that social programs are not put to an end.

Big Picture

: Child poverty has been on the decline for decades.

In 2021 it hit an all-time low, largely thanks to pandemic relief programs like the childcare tax credit or free school meals.

• But several of those programs are ending, experts warn.

By the Numbers

: The most recent Census poverty data, released last week, indicates the rate for Hispanic children fell the most of all childhood racial/ethnic categories, from 29% in 2009 to 8.4% in 2021 .

• Another analysis, which reviewed rates from 1993 to 2019 (pointingly excluding the pandemic as an anomalous year), found a 59% drop in child poverty, which was 64% for Hispanic children, according to the group Child trends.

But, but, but:

Latino children are still nearly three times more likely to live in poverty than non-Hispanic whites, according to the report.

• Latino families' limited access to well-paying jobs or child care benefits, and issues related to immigration status (because immigrants cannot access some federal benefits), contribute to these higher rates.

More details

: The advances are largely due to tax breaks for low-income families, minimum wage laws at the state level, the good performance of the economy and the increasing labor participation of women, according to Lina Guzmán, director of the institute on Hispanics from Child Trends.

• "We know what works and we know how to continue developing the programs that work," Guzmán said.

• That's why it's important to bolster social safety nets by restoring expanded childcare tax credits from the pandemic, said Brayan Rodriguez, an analyst with UnidosUS, a progressive civil rights organization.

• Rodríguez says his organization is lobbying Congress to restore those credits and that he's hopeful something will pass by the end of this year.

  He said they've had some support among Republicans, but many don't agree with extending it because they argue it will grow the deficit.

2. Another blackout for a flooded Puerto Rico

Rains from Hurricane Fiona are still battering Puerto Rico, and more than 79% of those dependent on the main power company are still without power.

At least two people have died on the island.

Authorities canceled classes and non-essential jobs on Tuesday.

"What little I had I lost."

After recovering from Maria this woman suffers another nightmare for Fiona

Sept.

20, 202203:06

News Momentum

: Fiona made landfall on the island over the weekend and arrived in the Dominican Republic on Monday, before moving toward the Turks and Caicos Islands this morning.

In Puerto Rico,

the storms caused power outages because the power grid is in shambles from Hurricane Maria in 2017.

• Blackouts have become even more common in the past year, when the private company LUMA took over and started jacking up prices.

  Bills in Puerto Rico are, on average, 20 cents more expensive than in the 50 states.

Namely

: The governor, Pedro Pierluisi, warned that it may be days before the lights are turned on again on the island.

• Keith Turi, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told NBC News that flooding and mudslides are also a concern.

3.

 Between the trauma of the earthquakes

Monday's strong earthquake in Mexico City, Michoacán and Colima left many shocked, especially since it coincided with the date of the 1985 and 2017 earthquakes, the deadliest in the history of the capital.

The earthquake began just minutes after a drill and commemoration in honor of victims of those earthquakes.

Scare in Mexico just after a drill and on the same date of two devastating earthquakes

Sept.

19, 202202:09

News impulse

: At least one person died in the state of Colima and there was a tsunami alert on the Michoacán coast after the magnitude 7.7 earthquake.

Account

: An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 shook Mexico City on September 19, 1985, causing the collapse of buildings.

The Mexican Red Cross estimates that at least 10,000 people died.

• On September 19, 2017, another powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.1 occurred.

  369 people died.

Comment from Mexico City, via Marina:

"It feels almost like a cruel joke that three big earthquakes happened on the exact same date: a scientist did the math yesterday and said the probability was 0.00075%. But I feel like, if It is a cosmic joke, we Mexicans have managed to laugh last because in the midst of losses we have become stronger.

• "The building codes have improved, the evacuation processes are faster, the death toll has fortunately dropped, the memes continue to improve. Emotionally it is still very difficult to cope with earthquakes, but yesterday when the ground stopped, a tortilla shop began to distribute free tortillas (there is a myth in Mexico City about carbohydrates, scares and earthquakes)".

• "That reminded me of the most important learning we've had in the strange coincidence of September 19: how Mexicans can and have come together spontaneously to clear debris, find survivors, and go on living."

4. Ecuador moves between the US and China

Ecuador's interests are best served by "balanced" relations with the United States and China, said the president, Guillermo Lasso, in an interview with Axios reporter Dave Lawler.

I hope that the president of the United States pays more attention to Latin America."

Guillermo Lasso, President of Ecuador

Recount

: Last year, the ambassador in Washington DC told Axios that the indifference of the United States was forcing Ecuador and other Latin American countries to turn to China for economic and commercial relations.

Lasso, who traveled to Beijing

in February to renegotiate Ecuador's debt with China, said he hopes to finalize a bilateral trade deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping by the end of this year.

But he insisted that he has not abandoned hopes of having a bilateral free trade agreement with the US as well, despite the fact that the Joe Biden government has shown little interest.

• "I hope that the president of the United States pays more attention to Latin America, of course he does," Lasso said.

• He did highlight areas of bilateral cooperation, particularly in the fight against drug trafficking.

  He recently proposed a popular consultation where one of the questions will be whether it is convenient to extradite drug traffickers to the United States more frequently.

Big

picture: Lasso took office in May 2021 as Ecuador's first conservative president in two decades, and was initially wildly popular for COVID-19 vaccination drives.

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso Franklin Jacome/Press South Agency/Getty

• But parts of the country were paralyzed in the summer by protests against Lasso, started by indigenous groups over rising costs of living.

• Gang violence and drug trafficking have also skyrocketed in Ecuador.

Bottom line

: Ecuador is one of many countries facing high levels of public debt when inflation has been rising due to factors such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

• "We will continue with our work," Lasso said, "but we cannot change our circumstances overnight."

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

Chilean President Gabriel Boric

dedicated his Tuesday speech to the UN General Assembly to criticizing the most developed countries for not doing enough to combat the climate emergency.

Boric, one of the world's youngest leaders, also became one of the few public figures in Latin America to openly criticize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Gabriel Boric before the 77th UN General Assembly Mary Altaffer / AP

• Today the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, and the Colombian Gustavo Petro also gave a speech before the General Assembly.

• Bolsonaro wanted to defend his response to the pandemic, after there were attempts to prosecute him for it;

  His government publicly criticized vaccines and he promoted supposed cures that are not effective.

  Brazil has one of the worst death tolls from COVID-19 on the planet.

• Petro, meanwhile, criticized the war on drugs and said there should be more attention to how the climate crisis affects the Amazon rainforest, which he said puts the entire world in danger, than how coca crops in the jungle affect few.

The lawyers of the Argentine vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner,

appeared in court on Monday to begin her defense against the corruption charges she faces.

• Fernández de Kirchner, who recently survived an assassination attempt, is accused of participating in a network where certain businessmen obtained preference for public contracts after allegedly paying bribes.

• The Prosecutor's Office presented its case at the end of August, requesting a 12-year sentence and permanent disqualification from holding public office.

• The trial will last until the end of the year, at least.

6.🧵 Farewell smile: Weaving new lives

A Honduran community group is teaching women who have survived domestic violence and adolescents with little access to education to sew, to help them find work.

A community tailor shop seeks to empower women in Honduras

July 11, 202202:27

Details

: The project is funded in part by a local government that has committed to employing women for several years to sew school uniforms and dance costumes for community events.

• Honduras has one of the highest rates of violence against women in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to UN data.

• A similar project was established a year ago in Brazil, focused on creating employment opportunities through textile work for refugee women.

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