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Axios Latino is the newsletter that summarizes the key news for Latino communities in the hemisphere every Tuesday and Thursday.
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1. The theme to highlight: They honor the Mayan heritage from the first base
Teams from the US Minor League Baseball (MiLB) will be honoring symbols of Latino identity this season, such as the ancestral ball sport Pok Ta' Pok.
It is part of the Copa de Diversión initiative, designed to bring the US Hispanic public to the stadiums.
Why it matters
: About 28% of Major League Baseball players today are Latino.
Although baseball in general has had drops in attendance at games and in the audience of televised games.
With the Cup, the Minors want to attract more public.
More details
: This is the sixth season of the MiLB where games from the Copa de la Diversión have been included.
In this edition, 95 teams will participate with logos and names adjusted to reflect aspects of Latino identities.
Clubs participating in the series decide on special logos in collaboration with their local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and local Latino personalities so that the team name is representative of the area.
Eight teams will play in the cup for the first time, including the Pensacola (Florida) Blue Wahoos, who during special games will be called the Pensacola Pok-Ta-Pok, with iconography highlighting Mayan ballgame heritage.
To design the logo, the group collaborated with Jacobo Vidal, a graphic artist in Mexico City.
A cap with the special logo for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos CupCourtesy of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos
Other new teams include the Binghamton, New York Rumble Ponies, who will become the Binghamton Condors in honor of the South American bird during special games, while the Augusta, South Carolina, GreenJackets will become the Augusta Wild Turkeys.
Background
: The cup traces its origins to 2017, when the MiLB hosted "It's Fun Being a Fan," a promotional show that saw four teams change their names to better reflect the Latino communities in their area.
For example, the then Las Vegas 51 became the Las Vegas Silver Kings.
The program became the Fun Cup the following year, with the participation of 33 teams.
MiLB says that in its pre-pandemic records, cup games drew 20% more crowds than other matches.
Up Close
: Other teams say their special logos are representative of benefits and details they owe to Latino immigrants.
The Lynchburg, Virginia Hillcats will be Hill City Lemonades, with Mr. Agrio (a skull with a lime) as their mascot.
They say it is a "tribute to the Hispanic travelers who spread lemon seeds throughout the Americas."
The Eugene (Oregon) Emeralds will be the Eugene Monarchs.
The team says they chose the name to honor the pattern of migration across North America for these butterflies, which are "a symbol of hope for the migrant population" in the US.
2. A record number of institutions for Hispanics
The number of colleges
and universities classified as federally Hispanic-serving nonprofit institutions (HSIs)
reached an all-time high last year in the United States , according to a new analysis.
Why it matters
: The fact that HSIs have risen is indicative that Latino college enrollments are rebounding after plummeting early in the pandemic.
Details
: Between the 2021 and 2022 school year, a total of 571 two- and four-year schools achieved HSI status, according to a study by the Hispanic Association of Universities (HACU) and published last week.
That number is 2% higher than the previous school year, when the number of HSIs fell for the first time in a decade due to the effects of the pandemic on school enrollment.
Last year nearly two-thirds of all Latino college students enrolled in HSI, according to the group.
Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
To know
: US universities and
colleges
earn the HSI designation if 25% or more of their undergraduate enrollment are full-time Hispanic students.
With the designation provided by federal law, those schools are eligible to receive funds from the Government.
Most of the HSIs are in urban areas of the US 80% are concentrated in California, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Texas and Puerto Rico.
In their own words
: "It is encouraging that enrollment at these institutions is returning to its pre-pandemic status," said Antonio R. Flores, HACU President and CEO.
3. Community groups that fill a gap
Several organizations are helping US communities recently hit by flood or fire related disasters, bridging the gap these communities experience by rarely receiving federal assistance.
Big Picture:
Black and Latino communities are among the hardest hit by disasters in the United States, and are also often the last to receive both immediate and long-term federal aid.
Aïda Amer/Axios
This disparity is suffered when the incidence of phenomena such as hurricanes, fires or heat waves is becoming more frequent due to the climate emergency, which aggravates the disasters resulting from these phenomena.
The situation
: The Adelante Mujeres group is an example.
Helps low-income US Latinas and their families cope with the impact of the wildfires in Washington County, Oregon, where many families depend on work in fields that have been battered by flames.
The Black Resilience Network is another group focused on supporting these communities.
He is helping coordinate support in majority black towns in Mississippi hit by tornadoes last week.
In her own words:
"Having a specific focus as to who is vulnerable is very important," Atyia Martin, founder of the Black Resilience Network, tells Axios reporter Ayurella Horn-Muller.
4. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean
1. Mexican authorities
announced Friday that they will permanently close the immigration detention center where a fire last week has left 40 people dead.
Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
Five people have been arrested in connection with the incident in Ciudad Juárez.
The president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, visited the city over the weekend, where he was greeted by migrant protests.
2. Guillermo Lasso, the Ecuadorian president
, said on Sunday that he would go to defend himself before the National Assembly in a process of impeachment, after the prosecution was endorsed by the Constitutional Court last week.
Lasso faces accusations of embezzlement, which he denies.
The legislature has until mid-May to carry out the process.
5. 🏠 Housing and recycling
A Bolivian organization has built around 400 houses for low-income families using recycled bottles.
Details
: Casa de Botellas was founded by Ingrid Vaca Diez in the year 2000.
The organization uses old PET plastic and glass bottles to build the houses, which also helps to recycle and clear trash in areas of Bolivia.
They have built homes in Bolivia (where they also built a classroom), Argentina, Mexico, Panama, and Paraguay.
Planet Earth: initiative promotes the construction of houses made of plastic and glass bottles
Jan 24, 202301:51
How it works
: The bottles, which are donated or collected by volunteers, are filled to the brim with sand and non-recyclable trash like batteries and plastic bags.
Then they are placed in the form of a grid, smoothed with the help of threads.
Since they form the main structure, a mixture of cement and limestone is added for the walls, which are covered with plaster and decorated.
The group also uses recycled tires for parts of the flooring.
It is possible to make a 450-square-foot (40m2) house with around 8,000 PET bottles or a 1,800-square-foot (170m2) house with around 36,000 bottles for a low cost in about a month, according to Vaca Diez.
Thanks for reading us!
We return on Thursday.
Do you want to read any of the previous editions?
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The journey to recover the accent in official California documents: "Our name is our greatest treasure"
Latino and Black Families Are More Food Insecure and Now They Just Lost Their “First Line of Defense”
Fears of economic collapse raise fears that Silicon Valley will curb its support for Latinos
