📢
Welcome.
Axios Latino is the newsletter that summarizes the key news for Latino communities throughout the hemisphere every Tuesday and Thursday.
You can subscribe by clicking
here
.
1. The topic to highlight: The first elections with generative artificial intelligence
A fight is already being waged so that misinformation and attempts at disinformation affect Latino voters in the United States, which this November will hold general elections in which specialists are worried that generative artificial intelligence and tools such as
deepfakes
.
Why it matters:
For this election cycle there are a record number of Latinos eligible to vote, 36.2 million.
However, many Hispanic Americans tend to get their news through social networks such as YouTube, TikTok or WhatsApp, where experts say moderators are less likely to intercept misinformation or hoaxes when it is disseminated in Spanish.
Details:
The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan organization in the US, will host a free bilingual panel this Thursday night designed to help Latino voters find credible news sources.
PolitiFact en Español has also expanded its team of reporters
to address misinformation in political news.
Noticias Telemundo also offers you the T Verifica service.
The campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, CHC BOLD PAC, also recently launched 'Our Lucha,' an information-sharing project in Spanish and
Spanglish
that will seek to debunk misinformation about candidates.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
In his own words:
Alex Mahadevan, director of MediaWise at the Poynter Institute, says the amount of misinformation and disinformation targeting Spanish-speaking voters in the United States so far is on par with what it was during the 2020 presidential election.
However, Mahadevan says he finds it worrying that this time there are more tools available with which those promoting hoaxes can spread misinformation, such as using AI to manipulate voices or create fake videos.
He says the concern is primarily because on many social media platforms, popular among American Latinos, there is less monitoring of misinformation or disinformation shared in Spanish.
Up Close:
The 'Our Fight' project of the Democratic BOLD PAC responds to the fact that the alarm has been sounding for some time about the problem of disinformation in Spanish in the US.
This year, BOLD PAC has indicated that there will likely be hoaxes on issues such as reproductive rights or attempts to discourage Latino voters from going to the polls through misinformation.
Representative Linda Sánchez, Democrat of California, tells Axios Latino that they are also on alert for the possibility that certain Republican candidates claim benefits established by law when in reality they voted against those measures.
"We need a quick response if there are false claims of that type," says Sánchez, adding that "there are races throughout the country where there are important Latino populations that can make a difference" but be affected if misinformation or inaccurate data is not combated. .
On the Republican side
, an advisor to Donald Trump's campaign, Danielle Alvarez, says that efforts like 'Our Lucha' by Democrats seem more indicative that that party does not trust Hispanics.
"Their campaign on alleged misinformation shows that they do not believe that we are capable of discerning fact and fiction; it seems condescending to me," Alvarez said via email.
2. Criminalization of NGOs in Venezuela
Experts indicate that the increasingly noticeable attempts by the Venezuelan regime to control the work of non-governmental organizations and civil society is a new worrying sign of the situation in the South American country when elections are about to be held.
Why it matters:
Associations, NGOs and more groups provide key services in the country – such as running soup kitchens or prenatal care centers – that few people would otherwise be able to access, given the conditions of high inflation and acute shortages of food and medicines.
Furthermore, NGOs are often among the few groups that document bad government practices or human rights violations, says Jimena Reyes, director for the Americas of the International Federation for Human Rights.
News Boost:
President Nicolás Maduro's government last week ordered the closure of the local office of the UN Human Rights Agency.
The Chavista regime argued that the international organization had a "colonialist attitude" and that it supposedly supports "impunity" because the UN agency said due process of recently detained activists must be respected.
The National Assembly, chaired by the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), is also in the final stages of passing a law that the UN recently warned will criminalize the work of nonprofit groups and will likely force many of them to close.
In his own words:
"This occurred in a general movement of a breakdown of democracy," Reyes tells Axios Latino, also pointing out the actions to try to leave the candidate María Corina Machado, elected in primaries of the opposition coalition Unitary Platform.
"Sadly today there is no independence of justice in Venezuela. And this law is also being voted on and a wave of arbitrary arrests carried out in recent weeks," adds Reyes.
"It does not predict a transition year of 2024."
The moves in Venezuela
echo those taken by other undemocratic nations, such as Nicaragua.
There, UN officials were also expelled after they reported mistreatment of Nicaraguans who participated in massive protests in 2018.
The Nicaraguan regime then criminalized NGOs and arrested dissident voices in the run-up to the 2021 elections, in which President Daniel Ortega, who has been in power since 2007, won re-election without the possibility of participating. opposition.
The other perspective:
The regimes of Venezuela and Nicaragua argue that their laws that have led to the closure of NGOs are only oversight for the purposes of transparency and combating fraud.
3. Shooting in Texas, among the worst of 2023
The Allen, Texas, mall shooting, where a suspect with neo-Nazi views opened fire on people in May 2023, has been named among the deadliest events caused by extremists in the United States last year.
Among those who died were two little Hispanic sisters and a person of Venezuelan origins.
Big picture:
The ADL Center on Extremism's report indicates that hate crime-type homicides involving people with extremist views decreased, but the Allen shooting contributed to the toll remaining high.
A tribute to the victims of the Allen, Texas shootingJoe Raedle/Getty Images
In total, American extremists were responsible for at least 17 murders in 2023 in seven separate incidents.
That was down from the 27 homicides by U.S. extremists recorded in 2022, according to the analysis.
In short:
Eight people were killed in the shooting and seven were injured.
The authorities attribute the armed attack to Mauricio Garcia, who was 33 years old and was killed during the incident.
He had tattoos with symbols of alleged white supremacy, according to authorities reports, although it appears that he opened fire at random instead of looking for specific victims.
Important note:
Experts say right-wing extremism among Latinos in the United States comes from three sources: Hispanic Americans who identify only as racially white;
the misinformation spread on the internet, and positions among some Latino groups that perpetuate false stereotypes about black and Jewish people.
4. First survey of its kind on LGBTQ+ youth in Mexico
A new survey shows that more than half of people in Mexico who identify as LGBTQ+ have seriously contemplated suicide in the last year, indicative of a mental health crisis for millions of people in the country.
Overview:
The data comes from the Mexico office of The Trevor Project, an organization for suicide prevention and support among communities in gender diversity.
The numbers demonstrate the work pending in Mexico, even when the country has made progress in the inclusion of LGBTQ+ communities.
Equal marriage is recognized nationally and the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico has ruled that it is unconstitutional for authorities not to recognize the gender identity of trans people, including minors.
There has also been growing public acceptance with the popularity of figures such as Wendy Guevara, a trans woman who is an influencer and
reality TV
star , and Guillermo Barraza, a drag artist who has just premiered a news program on a public channel.
Yes, but:
Mexico also has a high rate of hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people, and this year there have already been several cases of transfemicides.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
There are no national government statistics on these crimes, but the NGO Letter S estimates that trans women have 15 homicides per 100,000 people and that for gay men the rate is 4.2 murders per 100,000 people.
Up Close:
For this first-of-its-kind survey, The Trevor Project's Mexico office (established in 2022) asked more than 10,000 LGBTQ+ people last year about their mental health and feelings of acceptance among peers and family.
57% of LGBTQ+ people ages 12 to 17 in Mexico said they had seriously considered suicide in the last year.
The figure was 46% for people aged 18 to 24 surveyed.
Just over a quarter of respondents (22%) said they felt LGBTQ+ identities were accepted in their home, while a third (34%) said they had been accepted by family members after coming out or coming out.
The survey was carried out in collaboration with researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the associations Yaaj México and Infancias Trans.
To wit
: Mexico's official statistics institute, Inegi, estimates that 1 in every 20 people in Mexico identifies as LGBTQ+.
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts: call or text
988
, where help is also provided in Spanish.
You can also text "HOME" to 741741 for help in English and Spanish, or send a WhatsApp message to The Trevor Project bilingual service at +55 9225 3337.
5. Summary of key news from Latin America and the Caribbean
1.
Guatemalan journalist
José Rubén Zamora, imprisoned since 2022, said this week that for several years, until the country's government transition this January, he was subjected in prison to torture-like conditions with less than an hour of access to natural light despite to health problems.
The journalist, whose outlet elPeriódico used to publish reports on corruption in the Government, was arrested during the mandate of Alejandro Giammattei (2020-2024) and accused of alleged money laundering.
Zamora denies that accusation and is appealing his sentence.
The new Guatemalan president, Bernardo Arévalo, said this week that he will work to guarantee Zamora's freedom.
2.
The Colombian guerrilla
ELN announced the suspension of its peace negotiations with the Government.
The ELN said that it feels betrayed by the Government due to unspecified actions by the Police and because some state officials have said that they would soon begin regional peace negotiations with different actors on their own side.
It is not clear whether the national government would be part of these parallel negotiations.
The dialogue between the ELN and the Government of Gustavo Petro has progressed with difficulty for a year and a half;
In the most recent round of dialogue, completed in the first days of February, both parties had agreed to extend a ceasefire.
Pachanga Thursday
Every Thursday we publish our Pachanga to highlight reader achievements.
If you or someone you know has just celebrated an anniversary, adopted a pet, or had a job success and wants to celebrate, send an email with information and a photo to
axioslatino@axios.com
Congratulations to Paulina Vera, who was recently re-elected president of the Hispanic Bar Association of DC, an organization that brings together professional lawyers of Latin origins who operate in the US capital.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Trujillo-Esmeral.
Background Illustration: Axios Visuals
The group led by Vera has more than 500 members.
She is also a professor at the George Washington University Law School, where she supervises the clinic specializing in immigration issues that helps provide legal representation to migrants.
Thanks for reading us!
We return on Tuesday.
And thanks to Carlos Cunha, Eulimar Núñez and Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath for helping review and edit.
If you want to share your experiences with us or send us suggestions and comments, send an email to
axioslatino@axios.com
.
Do you want to read any of the previous editions?
Silvia Hector Webber helped enslaved people escape via Texas: meet this heroine
Mosquito vs.
mosquito: scientists modify the most lethal animal in the world to combat dengue, Zika and chikungunya
What past mass deportation policies show about Trump's immigration plans