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I still cannot understand the xenophobit attack on a humble street vendor

It would seem that the gates of hell had let out the most evil souls to come to harm and create confusion among peaceful and honorable mankind – only to do harm. In this case, the victim turned out to be a humble street vendor named Benjamin Ramírez, 24.

Like thousands of Facebook users who first saw the video taken by the victim – and uploaded to Facebook by his mother, Imelda Reyes – who shows a man accompanied by a woman with a dog, offend, humiliate and throw the source of work of a young man on the street, turning his cart where he sells his merchandise to live, I was astonished. And all because he blocked the sidewalk with his food cart.

“How cold and mean are those people!” I said, if you can call them people.

And just two days after having dumped the cart with its merchandise of elotes (corns) and its bottled ingredients, on Hollywood Boulevard in the city of Los Angeles, the video has been visited by more than 8.3 million.

Meanwhile, the young Mexican man has received a great unexpected and deserved solidarity and support in social networks and newsreels, condemning the action.

And not only that, but he also has received offers of monetary aid, which no doubt will contribute to enhance his small family business – so to make the Argentinean jealous.

In some messages, the aggressor, who was identified as Carlos A. Hakas and regrettably born in Argentina and known to be a musician, has been classified as the most hated man in social media.

I can already imagine the permanent damage that will bring to the name of this poor wretch – especially in the musical environment, for whome I feel only pity.

Very little is known about Latinos – although there are some out there – who bring out from the closet this type of hatred towards people of their own community and who are exposed in front of millions of people. But why did he do this? It only occurs to me that he suffers from a high degree of psychopathy.

And I wonder, where and with whom has this man grown up to have such feelings, such wild and insensitive behavior towards a humble young man who was not doing anything to him?

It’s amazing how fast the news runs on social networks using a simple video taken from a cell phone and within a few hours of having happened, to have been seen and touched the sensitivity of thousands of people, and how quickly have been discovered the identity of this individual, where he lives since he his identity.

According to some unconfirmed reports, police detained Hakas after the incident and after interrogating him they let him go, but is again being sought for another incident he would have had with another man working in the same neighborhood.

In an interview with ABC7 the victim said that he already had three previous confrontations with the couple that opposes him to sell in that corner, but this time wen beyond words. Before, the man had already threatened him.

In an article titled, Musician Carlos A. Hakas could learn a thing or two about love, published on DeeDee Garcia Blase’s network Huffpost, contributor co-founder of Somos Independents – National Mexican-American Woman-led Get Out The Vote orgaqnization, she said:

“Normally, when a person thinks of a great musician or a legendary musician, we think of people like Bob Marley, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Selena or the like. Clearly their music was inspired by love for their peers …“

He added: “However, it seems that musician Carlos A. Hakas should probably learn one or two things about love – you know, the kind of love that John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix wrote.

In a commentary on the site, Hernández, CEO of Latin Heat Entertainment wrote:

“Carlos A Hakas – You cannot do what you did to that food seller! You deserve all the bad karma you’re getting … maybe next time you’ll see other people with respect … because what you did deserves no respect.“

TG Williams wrote:

     “A racist bullying. I have seen your video, and I am a native of America, and my ancestors include the first illegal immigrants of Spain. I am ashamed of the humanity of this person, and your art is negligent if it does not speak to humanity. (You) a failed human being, and a failed musician.“

Alejandro Venegas wrote:

“… you’re a piece of sh… messing up with those in your own community, because people like you is why this country is the way it is. You should be helping people like him who work hard every day and work hard to put food on the family table, this should be a lesson so that you do no more harm, because karma is going to get back to you.“

Karina Morales wrote:

“I hope your career dies and you have to be on the streets selling corn and that way you learn how difficult it is.”

To hate this man for his xenophobic action is to bring upon oourselves the karma that would be his own by nature; that is why we must forgive him, for he did not know what awaited him or what will await him by his action.

And for the victim: “There is no evil that for good does not come”. It will turn into a blessing for you.

Florida county sued for detention of US citizen

Suit against Miami-Dade County claims Honduran-born Garland Creedle was illegally detained, as activists hope to restore Miami’s ‘sanctuary city’ status

by Richard Luscombe

In itself, Garland Creedle’s short stay at Miami’s Turner Guilford Knight correctional centre ought to have been unremarkable. Arrested after an alleged domestic dispute at his family’s home one evening in March, the 18-year-old posted bond, and charges were never filed.

The Honduran-born teenager, however, now finds himself at the centre of a legal fight that immigration activists hope could ultimately restore Miami’s status as a so-called sanctuary city – and end county mayor Carlos Gimenez’s controversial cooperation with Donald Trump’s aggressive anti-immigrant agenda.

A lawsuit filed against Gimenez and Miami-Dade County by a coalition of advocacy groups, including the University of Miami school of law’s immigration clinic and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, claims county jail officials acted illegally by detaining Creedle for two days at the request of US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (Ice) as a “removable alien” even after his bond payment had posted.

According to the lawsuit, not only is Creedle a US citizen, making him ineligible for deportation, but Miami-Dade’s actions in holding anyone on an immigration detainer without a valid arrest warrant contravenes both the US constitution and Florida law.

“That a US citizen was held illustrates the problematic nature of these detainers, and one of our claims is there’s an insufficient probable cause finding on the detainer,” said Rebecca Sharpless, Creedle’s attorney and director of the immigration clinic at UM law school.

“We warned the county; we wrote to the mayor and commissioners before they decided to go forward, stating it was unlawful and that it was bad policy because it mixes immigration policy with our criminal justice system. They failed to heed our warning.”

The lawsuit, Sharpless says, is the culmination of six months of frustration and fear among south Florida’s sizeable immigrant community.

Gimenez caused outraged in January when he overturned years of county policy and ordered jails to approve all immigration detainer requests instead of only those for people facing serious charges. It followed an executive order from Trump cutting federal funds from cities and counties who offered safe haven to the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US.

The mayor, who did not respond to a request for comment this week, justified the move at the time by pointing to $355m in government money Miami-Dade received for public housing, transportation and police programs.

Yet despite a federal judge blocking Trump’s order in April; a subsequent clarification from the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, that only certain law enforcement funds would be withheld; and community protests, Gimenez and the Miami-Dade commission have persevered with the policy.

One consequence, opponents say, has been an upswing in the number of episodes in which law enforcement officers have taken into custody immigrants suspected of even the most minor offences, then passed them on to Ice.

“One of the big promises Gimenez kept saying was police officers would not function as immigration agents, but he either chooses to ignore it’s happening or doesn’t know,” said Thomas Kennedy, deputy political director of the immigration advocacy group FLIC Votes.

“The tension is inextricably linked with police enforcement. Say you’re an undocumented immigrant driving to work and run a stop sign, or you’re involved in a minor accident and the police decide to take you in. Your due process gets violated and you’ll be held for the immigration agency.

“It’s a fear immigrants have always had, even in the Obama years, but Obama wasn’t targeting the average, working-class immigrant. Driving every day, interacting with police officers, it’s always a nerve-wracking experience. This policy can bring such a heavy penalty and rip families apart.”

Between Gimenez signing the order in January and mid-June, Miami-Dade turned over 124 detainees to Ice custody, figures show. Among them is Raul Quiroga, a father of two from Argentina who has lived undocumented in the US for 15 years and was driving to his job as a construction worker in Miami in May when he bumped another vehicle with his truck.

He was arrested by state troopers, passed on to Ice and has been held at an immigration facility 40 miles from his family’s home pending deportation.
“My children are not well, they are very sad because they cannot see their dad and they do not understand why this is happening,” said Laura Quiroga, whose younger son, Thiago, nine, is a US citizen.

“Raul is the only support for the family, and we are being evicted from our apartment. I hope we can stay in the US but I’m very afraid he’ll be deported at any time.”

Members of several activist groups staged a protest at the privately run Broward detention centre in Pompano Beach on Saturday, accusing Ice agents of “kidnapping” detained immigrants for profit and denying them basic human rights and dignity.

“A deportation monster is being created by asking Congress [for] millions of dollars to increase detentions and deportations,” said Maria Asuncion Bilbao of United We Dream. “At times like these all we have is each other, and we have no choice but to organize and fight together.” the Guardian.

Mexico seen as winner of first battle in NAFTA talks

There is some optimism after US document makes no mention of tariffs

Compiled by Mexico News Daily

Fears that a push from the United States to renegotiate the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would have a negative effect on Mexican exports and the economy in general might prove to be unfounded.

In fact, the Mexican Institute of Financial Executives (IMEF) believes that Mexico has won the first battle in looming trade talks with its northern neighbor after the U.S. government announced Monday that it would not seek to introduce protectionist measures such as tariffs or new quotas on industrial and agricultural goods entering the country.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative released an 18-page document entitled Summary of Objectives for the NAFTA Renegotiation in which it outlined its goals across a range of areas from digital trade to energy, the environment to investment and anti-corruption measures to currency, among others.
President of the national economic studies committee of the IMEF, Gabriel Casillas, explained that one of the main points for renegotiation from the U.S. perspective will be the rules of origin, which determine whether a particular product gets preferential treatment under the agreement depending on where it was made or produced.

However, some of the measures proposed will benefit not just the United States but Mexico and Canada as well, giving all three an advantage over competitors from other regions of the world.

“To update and strengthen the rules of origin, as necessary, to ensure that the benefits of NAFTA go to products genuinely made in the United States and North America,” is the objective as stated in the document.

No reference is made in the document to a desire to introduce tariffs on imports from either Canada or Mexico, news that is welcomed in Mexico.

“That there are no tariffs on the discussion table and a free market is maintained is a 50 percent win for Mexico. It’s probable that in the renegotiation process there will be bumps along the way but in the end it will arrive at a good place,” Casillas remarked.

There are currently more than 16,000 clauses in the 23-year-old agreement, each one dealing with a specific product.

Another objective is “to ensure that the rules of origin incentivize the sourcing of goods and materials from the United States and North America.”

Mechanisms already exist in the agreement that stipulate what percentage of the constituent parts of a product need to be sourced from the North American market in order for protectionist mechanisms not to apply, but the U.S. is seeking to make the rules stricter.

“If you want to make a car in Mexico and export it to the United States we need it to have at least 62.5 percent of its parts from the neighboring country so that it can pass free of tariffs. On this matter, they want to increase the origin content measures on some products for the benefit of the U.S.,” Casillas explained.

Objectives related to tackling corruption and making labor laws central to a renegotiated NAFTA are also outlined in the document.

Casillas conceded that introducing the changes in those areas might be complicated but that they are not necessarily bad for Mexico.

“They can be seen as a straitjacket to achieve good things, above all on corruption issues,” he said.

IMEF president Adriana Berrocal commented that it would be preferable for NAFTA renegotiations to conclude before Mexico’s presidential election and the United States midterms, both to be held in 2018.

“Both administrations are very conscious of that and are doing what is possible to meet [the requirements] on time. If for any reason it is delayed and it carries over to the next government, there’s not much to forecast now,” Berrocal remarked.

The United States has a trade deficit with Mexico that reached $63 billion last year and the stated objective to “reduce the trade deficit with the NAFTA countries” is seen as a priority for the U.S. in the upcoming talks.

Still, both members of the IMEF remain confident that an agreement that benefits all three members of NAFTA will be reached despite President Donald Trump’s occasional rhetoric and Twitter tirades that suggest otherwise.

A trade attorney and former counsel for international trade at the Economy Secretariat described the document as “very positive.”

“It deals with many of the fears of Mexican officials, particularly on going back to a tariff system . . . . It’s clear the U.S. does not want to move back to tariffs,” Carlos Véjar said in a report by the Financial Times.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer today announced that the first round of negotiations will be held Aug. 16-20 in Washington, D.C. He said John Melle, assistant trade representative for the western hemisphere, will be the U.S.’ chief negotiator.

Source: El Economista (sp), Financial Times (en).

Mexico: Left Wing López Obrador leads poll for 2018 presidential race

The National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), headed by presidential candidate Andres Manuel López Obrador, is leading the polls for the July 2018 elections, according to a survey released today.

MORENA, founded in 2014 by the 63-year-old politician who will run for the presidency for the third time, appears with 28 percent, followed by the right-wing National Action Party (PAN) with 23 percent, according to El Sol de México daily.

The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has 17 percent and a possible independent candidate got 10 percent.

According to the poll, 80 percent of respondents believe that PRI, which Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto belongs to, should not continue ruling the nation.

Peña Nieto has a low-level of popularity because many Mexicans believe he has failed in his crackdown on widespread corruption, as well as boosting the domestic economy after having pushed several reforms in important sectors of the country, the newspaper said.

In a simulated setting with potential top contenders, López Obrador had 31 percent, while Margarita Zavala, PAN candidate and wife of former President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012), scored 26 percent.

The current Secretary of Interior in the cabinet of Enrique Peña Nieto, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, PRI candidate, had 15 percent and Miguel Angel Mancera, allegedly representing the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), reached seven percent.

Guerrero ejidos create self-defense force

But armed forces have agreed to mount operation against a local crime gang

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

It wasn’t long after the establishment of yet another self-defense group in Guerrero that representatives of the armed forces met with its leadership and agreed to go after local criminals.

The spokesman for the new United Ejidos Rural Police said senior officers in both the Army and the Navy met yesterday with the new police force and agreed to pursue members of a gang that has been blamed for murders, assaults, robbery and extortion in seven ejidos, or agrarian communities.

The ejidos are located within the municipalities of Zihuatanejo and Coyuca de Catalán.

Artemio Sánchez Sánchez of the new police force said the meeting also agreed that the police would document the criminal activities of the gang and file criminal complaints.

He said the ejidos’ force, made up of at least 200 men armed with 22-caliber rifles and shotguns, would wait for a few days to see the results of efforts by federal forces before taking any action on its own.

Its original intention, announced Saturday in Vallecitos de Zaragoza, was to take on the gang and defend local citizens against it.

Sánchez lamented that neither state nor municipal authorities were represented at yesterday’s meeting, and issued a plea to the state that it send police to assist the federal forces.

Source: El Sur (sp)

Training CJNG recruits: they eat their victims

Teenage gang members reveal use of cannibalism

Eating human flesh is part of the training for young recruits to the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel (CJNG), two teenage boys told state authorities in Tabasco.

The teenagers, aged 16 and 17, said they were forced to eat the flesh of their torture victims, said the state Attorney General’s office. The two suspected members of a local CJNG cell were arrested recently in relation to the execution of five people on May 23.

Earlier that month the minors apparently kidnapped, tortured and executed an individual. The two boys narrated, “without any sign of remorse,” that they kept the corpse in a fridge and for a period of time cut off and ate pieces of the flesh.

The body was found on May 26 on the banks of the Carrizal River in the municipality of Nacajuca. At the time authorities said the corpse was missing both arms and other unspecified parts.

The Attorney General believes other minors have been trained by the CJNG in the same manner, and that boys as young as 12 could be part of the same process.
The training, said the authorities, is intended to create extremely dangerous, cold-blooded criminals.

Governor Arturo Núñez Jiménez lamented that more and more minors continue to be recruited by organized criminal gangs, and called on the people of Tabasco to assume their shared responsibility to prevent the phenomenon from happening.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Mexico: Former municipal mayor sentenced for beating journalist

Enrique Benjamin Solis, former mayor of the municipality of Silao, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, was sentenced to two years in prison for qualified injuries and threats to the reporter Karla Janeth Silva, of El Heraldo, the newspaper reported today.

Solis, a member of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), confessed that he had ordered Police Director Nicasio Aguirre to beat the journalist for criticizing him.

The trial lasted more than two years. The aggression was perpetrated on September 4, 2014, in El Heraldo’s office in Silao, by Jose Samuel Ornelas, with support from Luis Gerardo Hernandez and Joaquin Osvaldo Valero, who were paid by Jorge Alejandro Fonseca, deputy director of the police.

The newspaper noted that although Solis was sentenced, justice was not served, because the other participants in the organization and execution of the attack were not indicted.

It was reported that Solis will only serve seven months and days of the sentence, because he spent one year and four months in the Social Rehabilitation Center (Cereso) during the trial.

The power of being seen

by Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, Superintendent

Students need to feel seen, to see themselves reflected in their teacher’s eyes as having limitless potential. That’s how learning happens.

That’s something I felt strongly as a student in Oakland public schools and something I kept in mind for years as a teacher in Oakland. As the Superintendent of Oakland Unified School District, I work to ensure all students feel seen by their teachers and safe in our schools. When students feel safe and supported, they are more motivated and inspired to be their best.

I was born and raised in East Oakland and attended Oakland public schools all the way through middle school: Montclair Elementary and Montera Middle School.
For high school, I attended The Branson School in Marin through a program my mom discovered, called A Better Chance. It helps students of color get into independent schools. I got up at 5:30 every morning to take public transportation from Oakland to Marin so I could have that unique college preparatory experience.

I later received a full-ride scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, with plans to become a corporate lawyer.

But my true passion was always working with young people. When I was growing up, I taught dance and piano to make extra money. In college, I taught middle school to incarcerated students.

So with these meaningful experiences, I returned to Oakland to begin teaching at Parker Elementary School, just a block away from the home where I grew up. It was there that I fell in love with teaching.

Working in Oakland schools for the past 19 years, I’ve seen challenges across the District ranging from schools being under-resourced to the emotional trauma that many students in our city feel because of what happens on our streets and in some of our homes.

Regardless of what they face off campus, we must ensure that students feel safe inside our schools.

As the new Superintendent, I want all students and their families to know that Oakland Unified School District is a Sanctuary District. That means we don’t ask for or require proof of legal immigration status when you enroll and that our schools never collect that kind of sensitive information.

There are steps you can take to protect yourself with immigration relief you might qualify for. You can also receive help covering the costs of legal services and application fees.

If you live or go to school in Oakland, you can access free or low cost legal services through the Oakland Immigration Project , which is led by trusted Oakland immigration organizations. The Oakland Immigration Project aims to help qualified Oakland immigrant families apply for immigration relief and work authorization to open the door to economic stability and success.

No matter where you were born or what challenges you have overcome to be here, school can be your refuge. I want to make sure all students have the tools to pursue their passions, just like I did. It starts with being seen.

To access free or low cost legal services in Oakland, go to: www.oaklandimmigrationproject.org. For more information on what Oakland Unified School District is doing, stay tuned to our website at: www.ousd.org.

(Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell took office July 1 as the new Superintendent of Oakland Unified School District).

Boxing Schedule – The Sports of Gentlemen

Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina (CN23)
Isidro Ranoni Prieto vs. TBA
JULY 29, 2017
Barclays, Brooklyn, NY, USA (Showtime)
Mikey Garcia vs. Adrien Broner
Jarrett Hurd vs. Austin Trout
AUGUST 4, 2017
Chukchansi Park, Fresno, CA, USA (UniMas)
Jose Carlos Ramirez vs. TBA
TBA (ESPN2 / ESPN Deportes)
“Golden Boy Boxing”
AUGUST 11, 2017
Argentina (TyC / VTV)
Caril Herrera vs. Julio Escudero
Sebastian Papeschi vs. Francisco Torres
AUGUST 15, 2017
Shimazu, Kyoto, Japan (beIN)
Shinsuke Yamanaka vs. Luis Nery
AUGUST 18, 2017
TBA (ESPN Deportes)
“Golden Boy Boxing”
AUGUST 26, 2017
StubHub Center, Carson, CA, USA (HBO / BoxNation)
Miguel Cotto vs. Yoshihiro Kamegai
SEPTEMBER 9, 2017
California, USA (HBO)
Wisaksil Wangek vs. Roman Gonzalez
Ekaterinburg, Russia
Shane Mosley vs. Magomed Kurbanov

Art Huichol – MEX AM Festival

Compiled by the El Reportero’s news service

Wenima López Robles is an artist originally from the wixárika community in Tuapurie Santa Catarina Cuexcomatitlan, north of Jalisco. Since she was 12 years old she has been devoted to share the culture of Huichol art.

Her collection Ta-Iyari, which literally means “our heart”, displays all the heritage of life that the ancestors left for humanity as well as the canonical work that this indigenous group develops to keep the continuity of the life they were granted.

On July 17, 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Consulate General of Mexico, 532 Folsom Street San Francisco.

Blues, Music, Arts & BBQ Festival in downtown Redwood City

The City of Redwood City announced the schedule of events for the Pal Blues, Music, ARTS, and BBQ Festival coming up July 21 and 22. Celebrate summer in Redwood City this July with family fun, food, art and entertainment and more! After you and your family enjoy the Fourth of July in Redwood City, mark your calendars for the free Pal Blues, Music, Arts & BBQ Festival!

Featuring live music, the Pal Blues, Music, Arts & BBQ Festival also offers delicious food and drink on Redwood City’s Courthouse Square (2200 Broadway, Redwood City).

For its 12th year, a special rendition of the festival puts women in the forefront by celebrating Women in the Blues, with musicians from the San Francisco Peninsula and beyond.

Friday, July 21 with Music on the Square & Art on the Square from 5 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. 6 p.m.

Saturday, July 22 with Art on the Square from 12 p.m. – 8 p.m. For more event details, visit www.palbluesfestival.com

A special Latin dance night

“Edgardo & Candela” is a Salsa Band based in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years, making them one of the most established Salsa Orchestras in California.

Better known as simply “Candela,” their trade mark is their high energy level performance, featuring great vocals, a tight rhythm section and the powerful sound of the horns.

The band features the crop of professional musicians in the Bay Area, which makes for an incredible musical experience every time they play!

During the evening, Edgardo will personally assure that everyone is entertained while he mixes singing tunes by Oscar De León, Marc Anthony, Eddie Palmieri, Rubén Blades, Tito Puente, Guaco, Pete “Conde” Rodriguez, Celia Cruz and Ray Barretto among others, but the real treat here is Edgardo’s original music, presenting him as a mature composer and poetic lyricist.

At Le Colonial, 721 Sutter St. San Francisco, on Saturday, July 29. Also with the presence of DJ EldelaClaveSF.

Silicon Valley’s Premier Annual Music San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2017

San Jose Jazz Summer Fest returns for its 28th festival season from Friday, August 11 – Sunday, August 13 in and around Plaza de César Chavez Park in downtown San Jose, Calif.

A showcase for jazz and related genres, SJZ Summer Fest is also nationally recognized as one of the biggest Latin festivals in the country. A standout summer destination for music lovers, concert-goers and families alike, the three-day event features 120+ performances on 10 stages, attracting tens of thousands of visitors to downtown throughout the weekend.

The 28th Annual San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2017 features an acclaimed roster of artists from around the world as well as homegrown Bay Area talent.

Oaxaca band’s versión of hit song went viral

Young musicians from the Sierra do an adaptation of the international hit Despacito

by the El Reportero’s news services

The eyes of Mexico and the world have turned once again to the small mountain community of San Bartolomé Zoogocho and the talented members of its youth brass band. Eight years ago it was after the visit of a celebrity. This year, fame came through a viral video.

For the sheer pleasure of playing music and without any other motivation, the youths adapted and interpreted a reggaeton song called Despacito, which was released in January by Puerto Rican artist Luis Fonsi and has since become an international hit.

One of the students recorded the band’s rendition of the song, a distinctly Oaxacan version, and posted the clip to Facebook. The rest is viral history.

San Bartolomé Zoogocho has had a brass band and a music school for over 60 years, during which time over 1,600 children from Zapotec, Chinantec and Mixe indigenous towns have learned to play an instrument and to appreciate listening to music and performing it.

Now part of the town’s Social Integration Center (CIS), the band gets along without any official support, not that it has had much in the past.

Its director for the last 22 years has been Camilo Jiménez Hernández, a former student, who told the newspaper El Universal that 40 years went by after the school opened in 1952 before authorities provided any kind of support. After some interest was shown in the early 1990s, little was done until 2009.

In that year, Spanish songwriter and singer Miguel Bosé visited Zoogocho, and with him came media coverage and donations. School facilities were renovated and the musician himself donated six instruments.

But since then no officials have returned to Zoogocho.

But band members carry on, making efforts to purchase their own instruments and continue practicing. Jiménez has made ends meet, and the people of Zoogocho contribute what they can. That has been enough to take the youths to several states to perform and for the last three years they have given a performance during the Guelaguetza cultural celebration in the state capital.

It was 22-year-old Gustavo Ojeda who authored the arrangement and adaptation of the reggaeton hit Despacito for a brass band. He joined the band 10 years ago and dreams of becoming a great composer.

“I like that song a lot, its musicality, which was what I based the arrangement on. Music is a way to express feelings, and I relax through it. I am interested in all [musical] genres,” the youth told El Universal.

After one of the band members posted the video online, they received encouragement from strangers. “The comments motivated me . . . .” said Ojeda. “There have also been negative comments, but those encourage me to improve my work.”

Another of his dreams is to study at a national music school, but money is hard to come by. His parents are farmers in the neighboring town of Santo Domingo Cacalotepec, and traveling to the country’s capital is expensive. For the time being he is enrolled in private lessons.

“A fundamental part of our work is to preserve traditional music. The youths also make arrangements of traditional dance [music], religious chants, that’s basic.” After that part of the work is done, “they start getting inspired.”
Source: El Universal (sp)

What is the culture of Planet Earth?

by Jon Rappoport

Seen from afar, the predominant culture of Earth has always favored war. War, control, aggression, and slavery of one kind or another, under the sway of small elite groups.

The current fad called collectivism, stripped of its feel-good propaganda, is simply another form of control.

None of this has anything to do with private property or freedom and independence of the individual. These ideas and practices have been corrupted, and utilized to create monopolies.

Earth culture has also always embodied leaders and followers. One cannot exist without the other. The leaders accumulate force (soldiers, priests, spies, etc.) and then try to coerce and dupe the rest of the population into opting for hatred aimed at some opponent.

In truth, the bulk of humanity has always been loath to participate in the war culture. Their natural state is tolerance and friendship. But with enough time, with enough coercing and duping and propagandizing, many sectors of the population can be turned into armies of sheer conquest, into lower forms of themselves.

Once the trend in this direction gathers steam, there are wars and more wars, and bitter lasting enmities between polarized groups. Past wars provide reasons and excuses for present wars. “Remember what they did to us the last time!”

All large religious organizations add fuel to the fire, by prescribing and enforcing rules of behavior (beyond basic moral teachings) which bottle up natural energies and emotions in humans and, adding insult to injury, induce guilt where none is deserved.

However, despite this craven Earth culture, societies and civilizations have emerged in which a measure of individual freedom, tolerance, friendship, and rationality are expressed. During those periods when this occurs, there is a noticeable lack of one rallying cry: UNITY.

Unity is not necessary. Unity is usually promoted as an exaggerated reflex. It is the invented justification for some perverse set of actions. Unity is a synthetic concept. It is dumped on the heads of the population as an artificial stand-in for natural tolerance and friendship and freedom and responsibility.

It is a hypnotic stick.

*Don’t mistake cooperating for unity. Cooperating is something else entirely. Unity is a weapon that devalues the individual. It aims to induce a Collective and make that fantasy an acceptable theme in the human conduct of life. Unity is either a preparation for war or a platitude for bringing about passivity.

For some people, unity is a drug far more powerful than heroin to a street addict. It must be obtained. It must be felt. It must somehow be transmitted.
Leaders, of course, understand this and play it up one side and down another.

The truth is, a reasonable society understands the primacy of the individual. An unreasonable society over-stresses unity.

Defense of the nation can be achieved through cooperation. Selling unity is necessary for initiating wars of conquest and empire.

Of course, if 70 or 80 percent of a nation’s population is already living in a trance, they will only respond to artificial and synthetic archetypes, no matter what the goal is. In that case, waking up from the trance is the first prolonged order of business.

I’ll take this unity-operation a step farther: Significant sectors of society have been tuned up to accept some final notion of “collective consciousness,” as an ultimate ideal and promise. This accompanies the equally flawed idea of a political and economic and social collective utopia.

It is possible for an individual to experience a state of consciousness in which he connects to every other individual. But there is nothing final about it. There is no compelling reason to assume that, once through that door, an individual would never leave.

There are unlimited numbers of states of consciousness. Finding names and descriptions of all of them would be impossible. Not only that, every individual is unique; assuming there is some sort of map of consciousness-states which is same map for every person is a culturally deranged fantasy.

So even in the area of consciousness itself, unity has been sold. It’s sold as the “final and complete and all-embracing” end-game; and those who have bought the idea go on to believe it should apply to all other areas of life.

This is how they are duped into accepting a papier-mache archetype that erases the need for the individual.

That’s the kicker wherever unity is hustled. The individual vanishes for as long as the trance lasts.

(Jon Rappoport is the author of three explosive collections, The Matrix Revealed, Exit From The Matrix, and Power Outside The Matrix).

The persecution of the most vulnerable for political gain

As we enter into the fifth month of the presidency of Donald Trump, immigrant communities would have been the most hit by the new law just passed by the House.

As this edition goes to press, the news of a bill backed by Trump to crack down on undocumented immigrants passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, drawing criticism from immigration activists and others who called them a threat to civil liberties.

The target is the so-called “Sanctuary City,” a status designated by local government to protect undocumented immigrants who are jailed for whatever minor offenses, even for traffic violations.

The House voted 228-195 to pass the “No Sanctuary for Criminals Act” that would withhold some federal grants to so-called “sanctuary city” jurisdictions that do not comply with certain federal immigration laws.

Also passed was “Kate Law, ” named for Kate Steinle, who was shot dead in San Francisco in 2015 by an undocumented immigrant who had been deported five times.

It must be noted that it is well-known undocumented labor is part of the daily life in the United States, and restaurant chains, construction companies, private homes, etc., utilize these men and women to perform jobs most American won’t do. And so, they are part of the growing economy in the country. And they are not criminals.

However, with so many laws mining our lives, anyone may hit one of them and get arrested for a violation.

And the sad thing is that when someone runs for public office they try to blame the easiest target, so they find a perfect one in undocumented people. But it is not fair to continue inflicting pain to millions who had left their countries to serve and help the US economy with their low-cost labor that most citizens won’t do. And this anti-Sanctuary Law really unfairly hurt the most vulnerable.

The legislators and politicians know that these sanctuaries don’t protect the criminal, it just protects the person from being automatically deported without the benefit of due process – a right to see a judge, a process that is guaranteed in a democracy and in the Constitution.

Sanctuaries provide some protection for undocumented immigrants under laws that limit how much cooperation local police may have with federal immigration authorities.
The “No Sanctuary for Criminals Act” prohibits sanctuary cities from adopting policies that restrict police officers from asking individuals about their immigration status or the immigration status of others.

Imagine that a hateful neighbor wants to take revenge against his undocumented neighbor because he has a pretty wife, and calls the police on the guy, and accuses him of selling drugs, when in fact is a fabrication. So he is arrested.

Well, the sanctuary protection will not notify the immigration, rather, the suspect will be investigated and probably released after it is found that he is innocent. So the wife and his children didn’t lose their loved one. The family remained intact. But now all this could change.

And although both bills will need approval from the Senate to become law, the panic will already be spread onto the community.

Texas is going through its own persecution case of Latinos.

A federal judge will hear arguments to decide whether the harsh anti-sanctuary cities law will take effect in September.

Anger at Texas’ strict new immigration law simmered as a thousand Latino policymakers and advocates gathered in Dallas this weekend, ahead of a hearing in which civil rights groups will ask for the measure to be blocked.

A federal court in San Antonio will hear arguments on Monday, with Judge Orlando García to decide whether to grant a preliminary injunction that would stop the law, known as SB4, from taking effect on Sept. 1.

SB4 is in some aspects redolent of Arizona’s SB1070, a “show me your papers” law that was passed in 2010 but largely neutered by court challenges. Conference-goers in Dallas also recalled California’s Proposition 187, a measure passed by voters in 1994 that would have denied social, health and educational services to undocumented immigrants. It was swiftly halted in court.

The Texas law would in effect ban “sanctuary cities” – places that offer limited or no cooperation with immigration authorities – by criminalizing and fining officials who do not accede to requests to hold immigrants for federal pick-up and potential deportation.

The human face of the case is that many people enter the US without documents because sometimes they are too poor to qualify for a visa in their country, and because visas are almost impossible to obtain. The requirements are too high for this people to fulfill. They just want to work, work and work, and so they cross the border for survival.

I feel for those many – who probably have been living in the country for decades and have no criminal record – that will be victimized by this law, and who will leave their families behind for petty offenses such as traffic violations.

And also for those businesses that benefit from low-cost labor, which allow them to keep consumer prices low for the general public.

And with this I am not endorsing the presence of those who are real criminals who deserve to be taken away. But to soften those harden hearts.
Why cannot this government pass to another page by embracing everyone and start a new chapter of reconciliation? Why every administration has to go through the same process of persecuting the most vulnerable, in the name of security?