Venezuelan President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías died March 5 after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 58. Chávez served as Venezuela’s president for 14 years, earning staunch defenders and fierce critics for his socialist reforms, changes to the country’s government and Constitution, and fiery criticism of the United States. The League of United Latin [...]
By Ivonne Rivero, El Hispanic News Portland, OR — José Julio Pérez Morales, youth affairs coordinator for The National Confederation of the Farmworker of the Dominican Republic (CONFENACA), visited Portland last month as part of a U.S. tour aimed at alert the public about the union’s efforts to improve the lives of farm workers [...]
By Kate Chester, Portland Community College Oaxaca City, Mexico — “Good morning, class. My name is Ita. Welcome to Spanish A-2. Over the next two weeks we will learn the present and past tenses, along with commands and how to use direct and indirect pronouns.” And so began my Spanish class taught by [...]
By Erin Rook, PQ Monthly As the marriage equality movement builds momentum in states across the nation, many couples are stuck in a tragic Shakespearean time warp. Like modern-day Romeos and Julians, Romitas and Juliets, binational same-sex couples are struggling for the right to simply be together. “It’s a really exciting time,” says Rachel B. [...]
Richard Jones El Hispanic News Milwaukie, OR — The death threat Saúl Reyes Salazar received could not have been more clear. In brief it warned, “Mind your own business or we’ll cut your head off at the neck.” That was not the first threat of that nature Reyes had received. The Chihuahua native estimated that [...]
Richard Jones El Hispanic News Portland, OR — A week-long vacation in El Salvador and a job as an international election observer? All in one package? As the special guest at the opening of CAUSA’s new Portland office on the second floor of the Left Bank Project (240 North Broadway), José Artiga made a case [...]
Jack Chang Associated Press Caracas, Venezuela (AP) — Since Hugo Chávez became Venezuela’s president more than 12 years ago, he’s been a constant presence in the lives of Rosiri de Blanco and her family. The 41-year-old mother of four has loyally watched Chávez’s weekly TV program “Hello, President” and received subsidized food from the popular [...]
Marcos Alemán Associated Press Tegucigalpa, Honduras (AP) — Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Sunday the coup that toppled him two years ago was an international conspiracy and that some of those plotting his ouster wanted to kill him. Zelaya ended his long exile and returned to Honduras on Saturday under a deal brokered by [...]
Katherine Corcoran Associated Press Mexico City (AP) — An anti-violence march that began in a central state with a few hundred people and gathered thousands over a four-day trek reached Mexico’s capital Sunday, led by a poet whose son was killed by suspected drug traffickers. People poured into the main Zocalo square in Mexico City, [...]
Jim Kuhnhenn Associated Press Writer San Salvador, El Salvador (AP) — Barack Obama went to Latin America to project a new, softer image of U.S. regional influence based on common bonds. “We are all Americans,” he declared. He leaves behind nations delighted by the attention but determined to use their growing economic voice their own [...]
