Former guerrilla Cesare Battisti on hunger strike in Brazil

Former leftist guerrilla Cesare Battisti may be ready to die of hunger in a Brazilian prison rather than face multiple murder charges in Italy, his home country.

Battisti, who is wanted in Italy on four murder charges, reportedly went on a hunger strike and gave Brazilian Sen. Jose Nery a letter addressed to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva saying he favors death in Brazil.

“I am ready to die if I have to but never at the hands of my executioners,” Battisti's letter said, according to Reuters.

The 54-year-old Battisti denies responsibility for the deaths, which occurred in the 1970s when he belonged to a group called Armed Proletarians for Communism.

Battisti's judicial fate is in the hands of Brazil's Supreme Court, which is expected to make a decision on whether to extradite him.

Earlier this year Lula granted Battisti political refugee status, but Italy considers him a terrorist. He escaped from an Italian prison in 1981 and lived in France for years, then fled when his extradition was approved in 2006, Reuters reported. He was on the run when he was arrested in Brazil.

-- Efrain Hernandez Jr.

Mexico Decries Forbes' Powerful People

MEXICO CITY — Mexico decried Forbes magazine’s decision to name the country’s most-wanted drug lord to its “World’s Most Powerful People,” calling it an insult to the government’s bloody struggle against drug cartels.

 A spokesman for the Interior Department — which oversees domestic security — described the listing of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman as No. 41 of the 67 most powerful people as “a justification of crime.”

 “(This) is a mockery of the struggle the government is waging against organized crime,” Luis Estrada said. “This not only goes against the efforts of the Mexican government, but the international fight to eliminate mafias and organized crime.”

Marc and Jennifer are not in crisis

Photo courtesy Fanny Garcia/Designing Digital Pixels

 

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s relationship is not in crisis, as was reported everywhere recently.

New rumors surfaced when Jennifer was seen walking alone on the red carpet for the premiere of Michael Jackson's movie "This Is It" a few weeks ago, leaving some to wonder: Where is Marc?

But Wednesday night, Jennifer was sitting front row enjoying her husband’s concert at the Gibson Amphitheater. The famous actress, singer, model and entrepreneur looked happy and in love.

Marc dedicated the song "Valio La Pena" and blew kisses to her several times during the show.

Too bad we couldn’t get pictures of the Puerto Rican Diva. The Gibson´s security team was instructed that anyone approaching JLo should be escorted out, apart from confiscating the camera card.

On Friday, November 13th, Marc will hold another concert at the Honda Center in Anaheim and surely Jennifer will be in the front row.

It seems it will be a family Thanksgiving and Christmas after all for the Muñiz-Lopez couple and their children, Max and Emme, at their Long Island, New York mansion.

--Tommy Calle/Hoy

To read this and other stories in Spanish, visit http://www.vivelohoy.com/losangeles

Jenni Rivera and Alejandro Fernandez leave their fans, and press, waiting

The 11th annual Los Premios de la Radio concert Tuesday at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles drew thousands of people hoping to see their favorite Mexican regional singers.

But two much awaited stars, Jenni Rivera and Alejandro Fernandez, left hundreds of fans and the media disappointed when they stayed off the red carpet at the LA Live venue.

It’s amazing how celebrities’ attitudes appear to change for different events, even at the same location. A few weeks ago, Michael Jackson fans, dressed like him packed the venue for the premier of "This Is It." On Tuesday night, fans had donned hats and cowboy boots.

Some stars who walked the red carpet then, included Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Love Hewitt and many more who did not shy from shaking hands with fans and posing for photos.

Meanwhile, at Los Premios de la Radio, which for the last 10 years was held at the Gibson Amphitheater, both "El Potrillo" and "La Diva de la Banda" refused to speak with the media or  fans.

But others who did oblige by walking the red carpet Tuesday night were Vicky and Marisol, members of Los Horoscopos de Durango, Lupillo and Juan Rivera and Los Tucanes de Tijuana. Also on hand were some telenovela actors, and the host of the show, Adal Ramones.

The difference in star attitudes for "This is It" and "Los Premios de la Radio" appear to show the big distinction between how they treat English and Spanish media. Despite the presence of hundreds of television, print and cable outlets at the latter, some celebrities did not find it important to give them, or their fans, a few minutes of their time.

— Tommy Calle/HOY

 
To read the full story in Spanish this Friday, visit vivelohoy.com/losangeles

 

Consuls from Latin America nations will help with the census

U.S. Census officials met with the consuls of several Latin American nations to ask for their support in spreading the word about the 2010 Census and the importance of being counted and to allay any concerns that immigrant communities may have.

“It is vital that every person living in the United States takes part to assure accurate representation and funding for vital services”, said Marycarmen Moran, promoter of the 2010 Census, adding that the consuls agreed to do all they can to make the census a success.

Census officials need the consuls' cooperation because Latino immigrants, mainly undocumented, have expressed concern regarding the confidentiality of the information obtained during the process, consulate officials said.

“The immigration status of the individual is an issue that has generated some fear among immigrants,” said Eddie Bedon, Ecuador’s consul general. “The Office of the Census has assured us that the confidentiality of the information will be safeguarded, and the census is being conducted irrespective of immigration status.”

“For Ecuador,” Bedon continued, “the information gleaned from the census will be very important. The statistics regarding the number of Ecuadoreans who live and work here will help us meet their needs, and defend their rights and interests.”

William Jarquin, consul of El Salvador, said his government was also committed to working with the census. “For Salvadorans it is extremely important because we need to know just how many of us are out there.”

Pablo Cesar Garcia, consul general of Guatemala, said: “Immigrants need to understand that when they cooperate with the census, they are helping to create statistics that will then be used to obtain more community investment because, based on these statistics, the city of Los Angeles will receive more [federal] funds for education and health.”

In addition to the consuls from Guatemala, El Salvador and Ecuador, consuls from Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Bolivia, Mexico and the Dominican Repúblic, among others, attended the meeting with Census officials.

— Paula Diaz/HOY
 

To read this story in Spanish on Friday, visit www.vivelohoy.com/losangeles

A shakeup expected at Chivas USA

It was a sad view: An empty clubhouse, only one player in the locker room. It was no accident that the weeping player was Yamith Cuesta, the Colombian defender whose foul on Mike Magee inside the box resulted in the converted penalty shot by Landon Donovan for the only score of the game, a brutally intense playoff MLS game in the Home Depot Center on Sunday night.

L.A. Galaxy's 1-0 victory (an aggregate of 3-2 in the two-leg match) gave the team, led by Donovan and David Beckham, a ticket to the Western Conference championship game on Friday (Nov. 13) in Carson. It also left Chivas USA with the sour taste of loss for the fourth straight postseason — it lost each time in the first round.

A cleanup should be coming to the Chivas USA team, one with the most connections to Mexico in the MLS. The team owners are Mexican and the fans, for the most part, are also Mexican. However, it is perceived and certainly seen, that the coach, Preki Radosavljevic, prefers to play the non Mexican players. For instance, Eduardo Lillingston, the Mexican forward who led the team in goals this season, played only the last 15 minutes of 180 against Galaxy on Sunday.

Along with the unhappy clubhouse, there is uncertainty about the future of so many players, including Claudio Suárez, Lillingston, Mariano Trujillo and Jesús Padilla, all Mexican. Jorge Flores, a promising Mexican American player, should be back for 2010.

— Ricardo López/HOY

Look for the dramatic video footage taken by HOY of the L.A. soccer battle in the Home Depot Center at www.vivelohoy.com/lagalaxy

Honduran civil leaders denounce intimidation and fraudulent elections

Honduran labor and civil leaders embarked today on a “Honduran Justice Tour” around Los Angeles to decry the human rights violations, threats and violence they say the de facto government of Roberto Michelletti is inflicting on those who support President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted June 28th in a military-backed coup.

“There’s a lot of fear. For me there is no normal life,” said Iris Munguia, coordinator of women’s programs with the Coalition of Latin American Banana Unions, who was arrested and detained by police for several hours after taking part on one of the many massive demonstrations held in support of Zelaya.

Munguia and the rest of the leaders visiting Los Angeles, all part of the Coordination of the Movement for Dignity and Justice, say they are asking for a boycott of the Nov. 29th presidential elections, which they call a “farce.”

“These are not legitimate elections because they happen in the middle of a coup,” said lawyer Sarah Janet Aguilar, another member of the movement.

Aguilar says the elections would only “legitimize” the unconstitutional removal of Zelaya as president.

The week-long visit to Los Angeles takes place just days after a deal to end the crisis fell through.

— Francisco Castro/HOY

To read the full story in Spanish this Friday, visit http://www.vivelohoy.com/losangeles

 

Pacquiao thanks Latinos for their support

Just days before his highly anticipated fight against Puerto Rican champion Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas, Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao looks a little distracted this time. 

Pacquiao’s fans, most of them Filipino, filled the Montalban Theater in Hollywood in a send-off for their idol organized by Nike. Pacquiao also took the stage to sing with Melissa R.

Before going on stage, Pacquiao told HOY that he understands the responsibilities of his worldwide fame. The interview took place in a small room with his trainer, Freddie Roach, and about 20 others, including some family members.

The ‘Pacman’ thanked Latino fans for their support. “Les quiero agradecer a los mexicanos” (I want to thank Mexicans), he said in Spanish, when asked about his growing popularity in this community.

Pacquiao said he’s not surprised that so many Latinos admire him, even though nine of his last 10 victories were against Mexican fighters, including greats such as Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Márquez and Erik Morales.

— Ricardo Lopez/HOY

To read the full story in Spanish this Friday, visit http://www.vivelohoy.com/losangeles

Salvadorans in Los Angeles ready to lend their country a hand

 

Two women embrace in the midst of devastation. Photo by EFE.

Salvadoran community organizations in Los Angeles have mobilized to help their country after a tropical storm over the weekend left at least 130 people dead in the small Central American nation.

Groups including Clínica Monseñor Romero, the Central American Resources Center [CARECEN] and the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund [SALEF] are already collecting donations and there are plans for more fundraising activities over the weekend.

In the meantime, the Salvadoran Consulate in Los Angeles reports receiving dozens of calls since Monday morning from people looking for information about their relatives and how to help their country in this time of need.

Reports from El Salvador call for more rains tonight and the arrival of a cold front that would further dampen the rescue efforts along the Chichontepec volcano, where a landslide destroyed many homes. The states more affected are San Salvador, Cuscatlan and San Vicente.

Paula Diaz

To read the full story in Spanish this Friday, visit http://www.vivelohoy.com/losangeles.

Beck will reach out to Latinos

Charlie Beck, the mayor’s nominee to head the Los Angeles Police Department, told Hoy Newspaper he will make a particular effort to reach out to Latinos through community meetings and by conducting news conferences and any other police function in English and Spanish.

“I need to get the concerns of all the communities in Los Angeles and some communities have more problem communicating with me than others,” Beck said.

He will also maintain Special Order 40, which prevents LAPD officers from inquiring about people’s immigration status.

“Special Order 40 is part of the core values of LAPD and that will continue as is,” noted Beck, who has also designated Michoacan, Mexico-born captain Rigo Romero to be his Special Agent for the Latino Community.

“Rigo is not just a Spanish speaker. Rigo’s personal history ties him deeply to the immigrant community. He and I are going to work very closely making sure that the police message goes out just as clearly in Spanish as it does in English,” Beck said.

“Rigo knows me, he knows my philosophy. He can tell you what it is that I think because he and I have that kind of relationship,” he said.

-- Francisco Castro/Hoy

To read the full story in Spanish, visit http://www.vivelohoy.com/losangeles

ICE arrests migrants with permits to be in the country legally

Two women who had applied and been approved under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that gives them permits to be in the country legally report being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, arrests that landed them in jail, in one case for an entire month.

Maria de Barrera was arrested in Los Angeles when ICE agents came to her house looking for people who no longer lived there.

“I showed the agents my worker’s permit and he said that was not enough and took it away,” said Barrera, 46. She was taken to an immigration detention center and was released several hours later after her lawyer showed ICE agents Barrera had been approved under VAWA.

Elvira Ayon, 26, who also was approved under VAWA, was arrested in Delano, Calif., and later taken to an immigration detention center in Arizona where she spent a month before a lawyer gained her released.

Jorge Mario Cabrera, spokesman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), says such cases are common and calls them proof of the “racial profiling” practiced by ICE.   

“They [ICE] don’t go looking for people in Beverly Hills or West Hollywood. They go to our communities to conduct raids,” noted Cabrera.

But Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for ICE, denies any racial profiling and says those are isolated cases.

“We detain people from Asia, Europe and all over the world who have violated immigration laws,” she said.

She blames the arrests of migrants legally allowed to be in the country to the fact that ICE agents don’t have remote access to Department of Homeland Security databases to check whether someone has been approved for such permits or other immigration benefits. But she says those cases don’t occur very often.

Kice also says their enforcement actions are specifically targeted to individuals who have avoided detention and have deportation orders, but that sometimes these people have moved and they encounter “collateral violators” in those residences.

“If they can not provide legitimate documentation and identification to show us that they’re in the country legally, we take them to the office to check their status,” said Kice.

-- Paula Diaz/Hoy

To read the full story in Spanish, visit http://www.vivelohoy.com/losangeles

Preserving El Salvador's historic memory: Organizer explains big L.A. event

As Reed Johnson reports, over the next week, an ambitious multimedia happening at the Los Angeles Theatre Center downtown will try to salvage some of El Salvador's missing past. The project has the umbrella title "Preservación de la Memoria Histórica Salvadoreña" (Salvadoran Preservation of Historic Memory), and you can read the rest of the report here. Below you can see a Spanish-language interview with William Flores, who was one of the main organizers behind the event, in a video from DesdeAquiTV.com, which is an Internet TV channel based in LA.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Central America is most crime-ridden region in world, U.N. report finds

Central America has become the region with the highest levels of nonpolitical crime worldwide, with a murder rate of 33 per 100,000 inhabitants last year, three times the global average, according to a new report from the United Nations that also says crime threatens the region’s development.

The U.N. said:

Some 79,000 people have been murdered in the region over the past six years, but despite these heightened levels of violence, solving the problem of insecurity is possible within the framework of democracy, according to the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) Report on Human Development in Central America 2009-2010.

The full report is available here in Spanish.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Literacy brings immigrants closer to full participation in life

Native Spanish speakers break the code of the written word with help from an L.A. adult-education center, writes Hector Tobar.

In her one-bedroom apartment in the Pico-Union district, garment worker Julia Rodriguez lives surrounded by young readers.

Her oldest child, 10-year-old Santos, is giving Harry Potter a try. Nine-year-old Wendy devours girl-detective stories. Even her youngest, 6-year-old Marlyn, zips through early reader books.

"Tim spins," Marlyn reads from her book. "Tim spins his hat."

Julia listens to her daughter and beams. Until recently, the 34-year-old mother of three couldn't read the simplest sentence in any language. Having been illiterate most of her life, she feels deep, bittersweet emotions watching her children master reading.

Earlier this year, in the classrooms of the nonprofit Centro Latino for Literacy, Julia finally started learning to read and write herself.

Read the rest of Tobar's column here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Image: Julia Rodriguez, 34, says her children, Santos, left, Marlyn and Wendy, inspired her to learn to read. "Before, there was no sun for me. Now I feel" more awake, Julia says. She recently bought her first book. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

More NBA en Español

The National Basketball Assn. announced today the launch of éne-bé-a, a marketing campaign that tailors the NBA experience to Latino fans. 

With Latinos accounting for 15% of the NBA’s U.S. fan base of 120 million, according to Simmons Market Research, the new campaign aims to engage these fans and reach new ones.

“It will allow us to further grow the game of basketball throughout the Hispanic market,” said Saskia Sorrosa, NBA senior director of U.S. Hispanic marketing.

It’s the league’s first comprehensive, multi-platform promotion catering to Latino fans and will include:

-- Television, radio and online advertising

-- TV spots featuring the Phoenix Suns' Leandro Barbosa and other pro players that will run on Latino networks such as Telemundo, Univision, Telefutura, Discovery en Espanol, CNN en Espanol and MTV3, among other channels

Film based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez book prompts protest in Mexico [Updated]

If you look at the culture pages in Mexico’s newspapers these days, there is little question about what’s the talk of the town in literary circles — old men having sex with young girls, writes Andres Oppenheimer.

He's referring to a debate currently raging here in Mexico about whether a planned movie based on Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez's book "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" would glorify the sexual exploitation of children.

As the Huffington Post reports, the Regional Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean filed a criminal complaint with Mexico's attorney general's office on Oct. 5.

The complaint does not specifically name Garcia Marquez, but instead "whoever is responsible for acts that could be constituted as the crime of condoning child prostitution."

Coalition Director Teresa Ulloa told the Associated Press that a movie adaptation of the Colombian author's novel would promote pedophilia and be accessible to a wider audience.

Read the full column from Oppenheimer here and go here for more from the Huffington Post.

[Updated at 11:57 a.m.: An earlier version of this post said the Regional Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean had filed a criminal complaint with Mexico's attorney general's office today. It was filed Oct. 5.]

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Drought and disease hit Peru

You may remember a report earlier this year on a drought in Mexico and how it was affecting both country and city-dwellers.

Farther south, inhabitants of the Andean mountains of Peru are also being hurt. Al Jazeera reports on how rising temperatures caused by climate change mean that diseases originally only seen in tropical areas are spreading to the mountains.

Watch the video, from Al Jazeera, for more.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Dole withdraws lawsuit against Swedish filmmaker

The Associated Press reports that Dole Food Co. is withdrawing a defamation lawsuit against a Swedish filmmaker after complaints in Sweden that it was trying to limit free speech.

Dole had sued filmmaker Fredrik Gertten for showing the documentary "Bananas!" despite a court ruling that the case on which the film was based had been part of a massive extortion plot against the company.

The documentary shows the alleged plight of Nicaraguan workers who say they were made sterile by a pesticide used at Dole banana plantations during the 1970s.

Dole's lawsuit sparked protests in Sweden, where critics said the food company was trying to interfere with freedom of speech.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Joint U.S.-Mexican police patrols among proposed fixes for the border

Mexican and U.S. police patrolling the border together?  

That radical idea is one of the recommendations made by a blue-ribbon panel of scholars, diplomats and other experts that spent most of the year searching for “a new vision” in dealing with cross-border issues as diverse as migration, security and water.  

“It’s time to do something different, even if it is provocative and controversial,” said Andres Rozental, a former deputy foreign minister of Mexico and co-chair of the so-called Binational Task Force on the United States-Mexico Border.

The task force was put together by the Los Angeles-based Pacific Council for International Policy and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations. It presented its findings at a conference in a Mexico City hotel Tuesday night.  

Recommendations included an urgent, comprehensive reform of immigration laws in the U.S.; creation of a binational border-development administration; establishment by Mexico of a federal police force for the border; and the easing of monopolies in Mexico to spur competition and private investment.    

But the point that really got the room buzzing was a recommendation to “cross-deputize” Mexican and U.S. border police for joint operations.  

Rozental and fellow co-chair Robert C. Bonner, former Drug Enforcement Administration chief, were quick to explain that did not mean Mexican police would be enforcing U.S. laws, or vice versa. They would patrol together and share information, Bonner said -- seemingly simple tasks that both sides have traditionally resisted.  

The task force suggested that changes in both nations’ capitals may have opened an opportunity. The Mexican government, it said, has “moved beyond a reflexive preoccupation with sovereignty” that thwarted cooperation on law enforcement, while a new administration in Washington has bluntly acknowledged its shared responsibility for the trafficking of drugs and weapons.  

“Both governments seem ready to replace nationalist finger-pointing with a 21st century approach to border management that benefits both sides,” the group’s report concluded.  

You can read more about the task force and its report here, or in Spanish here.

-- Tracy Wilkinson in Mexico City

Tougher rules on policing illegal immigrants

Luz Maria Diaz knew what happened to illegal immigrants at the Wake County jail. But her teenage daughters didn't.

So when the girls were arrested after fighting on their high school campus in September, they freely admitted that they were born in Mexico. Detention officers at the jail checked their immigration status and promptly handed them over to federal authorities.

Now Diana, 16, and her sister, Yolanda, 18, are battling to stay in the country.

"I never thought this could happen ... for a simple fight," their mother said. "I was in shock."

Read more of this report from Anna Gorman here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City.

Photo: Luz Maria Diaz, 35, worries about what will happen to daughters Yolanda, 18, left, and Diana, 16, right. The two were arrested after a fight on their school campus, then processed for possible deportation under a program known as 287(g). The program has drawn criticism after reported civil-rights violations, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has called for an end to it. In July, the Obama administration announced that participating agencies must focus their efforts primarily on serious and violent criminals. Credit: Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times