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Neus Espresate, impeller in Mexico of Latin American literature, dies

by Mónica Mateos-Vega
La Jornada

The editor-publisher Mrs. Neus Espresate, one of the great movers of Latin American literature in Mexico, passed away at the age of 83, around 4 p.m., after staying several days hospitalized due to breathing problems, informed their relatives.

Cofounder of Ediciones Era in the 1960s, where she unveiled the first works of authors such as José Emilio Pacheco, winner of the Cervantes Prize in 2009, Neus Espresate Xirau was born in 1934 in Canfranc, Huesca, Spain.

Her family moved to Mexico in the early 40’s of the last century because of the Spanish Civil War. Her father, Tomás Espresate, founded the bookstore and printing company Madero, and collaborated in what would be the great professional project of his daughter, the publishing house Era, whose name was formed with the initials of the surnames of the promoters of this initiative: Neus Espresate, Vicente Rojo and José Azorín, all children of exiled Republicans and militants of the Unified Socialist Youth.

In 2011, when the publisher received an honorary doctorate from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), for her contribution to the dissemination of knowledge in the social sciences, journalist Elena Poniatowska recalled that Neus “arrived with her brothers Jordi and Enrique (Quique) in 1943. She was a shy and reserved 12-year-old girl who kept secrets and experiences too hard for her few years.

Before being able to leave to Mexico, the children knew schools and convents of the pro-Franco right. Guiomar Rovira (who also comes from Port Bou, in Catalonia, where Walter Benjamin died) recalls that his great-aunt told him that the Espresates were, since then, red. In Mexico, the sky was opened. They had left behind the war and the lonely Atlantic and reunited with their parents. This girl forged in solitude became a formidable reader and a passionate politician; Of lectora happened to propose to his father, Don Tomás, to make an editorial (La Jornada, 8/3/11)

In the 1960s, the first book Era published was La batalla de Cuba, by journalist Fernando Benítez.

The second title was Palabras cruzadas, interviews by Elena Poniatowska.

Gabriel García Márquez published the first edition of The Colonel has no one to write.

After a life that had to face in its beginnings the horrors of fascism, Espresate lamented that in his old age he saw return the blind violence of a dark right, against which I have fought throughout my life.

In 2004, when she was recognized in Spain with the Liber Prize, she insisted that the past should not be forgotten and in that task the editors: we acquired a huge responsibility for the preservation of memory.

The Reporter first received the news from her daughter Isabel Fernandez Espresate, who started almost two decades ago as one of this paper’s translators.
The staff of El Reportero and especially its editor, Marvin Ramirez, extend their most sincere condolences to Isabel and rest of the family for this significant loss. (This article was cut to fit space).

Talking about women inclusion in the TV industry

It looks that EstrellaTV is ahead of its competition in terms of gender inclusion.

“Passing on this very interesting data about LBI Media and how we far exceeded our competitors (Univision, Telemundo, Unimas, Galavision, Azteca América, and Entravision) by far in terms of the number of executive women in our company, proudly said to El Reportero Marco Antonio González, Vice President of EstrellaTV.

“For International Women’s Day… we also celebrate and honor the achievements of our powerful women in LBI Media! Fifteen women at the top of our company, something that makes us very proud of! It is said easy, but not many can achieve it!”

EstrellaTV signal is now being carried by Dish, so it will reach so many more people now.

Millions of Americans live in Mexico, can we continue to coexist?

by Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz

The global political landscape is going through seismic changes. From the vote for Brexit to the election of Donald Trump, we are living in unpredictable times. Trump’s ascent to the presidency has huge implications for global trade relations and for minorities living in North America. Barack Obama’s progressive social reforms look like they may become just a footnote in history. And the special relationship between two great countries – Mexico and the US – could be in grave danger. In this context of upheaval, we have to rethink how we do “neighbor politics.”

In Mexico we firmly believe that “respect for the rights of others is the basis for peaceful coexistence, between individuals as between nations” – in the words of Benito Juárez, the Mexican president whose statue stands not far from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, and who shared the ideals of the first Republican president of the United States of America.

With nearly two million Americans living among us, Mexico is the country with the largest community of US citizens living outside the United States. In the state of Jalisco, of which I am governor, one of the largest communities of expatriate Americans in the world resides peacefully on the banks of Lake Chapala, with thousands of others living in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. These people are an essential part of the heartbeat of our community.
However, I fear the inflammatory rhetoric of Trump could put that social harmony at risk, sowing the seeds of division. The lazy stereotypes he uses are wrong and unbefitting of a man who is now leading one of the greatest countries in the world.

Jalisco was once only known as the birthplace of hot sauce and tequila. Today, it has become Latin America’s Silicon Valley, with a thriving technology industry worth $21bn and on the brink of a quiet economic revolution. There is no doubt the close relationship between the US and Mexico brings huge economic, cultural and social benefits to both countries. The US is Mexico’s main trading partner. The North American Free Trade Agreement allows Mexicans to get US work visas, opening up a gateway of opportunity. Also, six million American jobs – within US territory – depend directly on trade with Mexico. But beyond our trading relationship and our common border, Mexicans and Americans share a dream: one of freedom and prosperity for their people. Let’s not put that at risk.

Tens of thousands of Americans visit our state every year. When they come, they are my constituents – even if it is just for one weekend. Their financial situation or background is irrelevant. Since the beginning of my administration, I have continuously acknowledged their contributions to our society, which are not only financial, but also cultural and social.

In Mexico, as in the United States, these are challenging times and, as in any relationship between two parties, the efforts and actions taken by one will affect the other: every one of the measures Mexico undertakes to improve life in our nation has an impact on our relationship with our northern neighbor. Sometimes, when things don’t turn out as we had hoped, we are tempted to cast blame on the other side for everything. Frustration turns to anger, and decisions based on this anger become a destructive force to those who make them. Let us not forget what Mark Twain said about this: “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”

The essence of the United States is the richness of its diversity, the joining of forces of people from all around the world who, through their work and effort, have dignified and redefined the worth of those who decide to emigrate, to break down barriers in search of a better future. This is why Mexicans, throughout the world, always identify with those who emphasize our similarities and the way in which we can use them for our mutual benefit, to continue growing, together. We recognize, of course, that neighboring countries are not going to agree on everything. However, problems are solved through better communication, increased cooperation and seeking to find joint solutions.

Building a wall along one of the largest and most dynamic borders in the world is a toxic symbol of mistrust. In one single reckless act, the US risks destroying the very special relationship it has built with Mexico over many years and portraying Mexicans as second-class citizens. A wall is both a physical and a symbolic barrier to the notion of working together to solve common problems. The money invested in building something like this would be better spent in solving structural problems and strengthening ties.

I invite all those who harbor and peddle hatred against Mexico and Mexicans to come to visit. I can guarantee that if Trump or his supporters spent time in Mexico, they would embrace the richness of the country, the humility of the people and see the talent we have. We are at the start of a new era.

The futures of both Mexico and the US are interlocked, so while we live in uncertain times I believe that if we focus more on what unites us rather than divides us, both countries will have a great future together.

The elites won’t save us

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Dear readers:

The following article, written by American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, professor at Princeton University, and author of several New York Times best-sellers, Chris Hedges, is one of those pieces that extracts real juice from the things the mainstream media almost never get to touch – because they are mostly submitted and controlled by the power to be, private interests and corporate greed. Because of lack of space, it will be published in two parts. THIS IS PART ONE OF TWO. – Marvin Ramírez.

The elites won’t save us

by Chris Hedges

The four-decade-long assault on our democratic institutions by corporations has left them weak and largely dysfunctional. These institutions, which surrendered their efficacy and credibility to serve corporate interests, should have been our firewall. Instead, they are tottering under the onslaught.
Labor unions are a spent force. The press is corporatized and distrusted. Universities have been purged of dissidents and independent scholars who criticize neoliberalism and decry the decay of democratic institutions and political parties. Public broadcasting and the arts have been defunded and left on life support. The courts have been stacked with judges whose legal careers were spent serving corporate power, a trend in appointments that continued under Barack Obama. Money has replaced the vote, which is how someone as unqualified as Betsy DeVos can buy herself a Cabinet seat. And the Democratic Party, rather than sever its ties to Wall Street and corporations, is naively waiting in the wings to profit from a Trump debacle.

“The biggest asset Trump has is the decadent, clueless, narcissistic, corporate-indentured, war-mongering Democratic Party,” Ralph Nader said when I reached him by phone in Washington. “If the Democratic strategy is waiting for Godot, waiting for Trump to implode, we are in trouble. And just about everything you say about the Democrats you can say about the AFL-CIO. They don’t control the train.”

The loss of credibility by democratic institutions has thrust the country into an existential as well as economic crisis. The courts, universities and press are no longer trusted by tens of millions of Americans who correctly see them as organs of the corporate elites. These institutions are traditionally the mechanisms by which a society is able to unmask the lies of the powerful, critique ruling ideologies and promote justice. Because Americans have been bitterly betrayed by their institutions, the Trump regime can attack the press as the “opposition party,” threaten to cut off university funding, taunt a federal jurist as a “so-called judge” and denounce a court order as “outrageous.”

The decay of democratic institutions is the prerequisite for the rise of authoritarian or fascist regimes. This decay has given credibility to a pathological liar. The Trump administration, according to an Emerson College poll, is considered by 49 percent of registered voters to be truthful while the media are considered truthful by only 39 percent of registered voters. Once American democratic institutions no longer function, reality becomes whatever absurdity the White House issues.

Most of the rules of democracy are unwritten. These rules determine public comportment and ensure respect for democratic norms, procedures and institutions. President Trump has, to the delight of his supporters, rejected this political and cultural etiquette.

Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism, noted that when democratic institutions collapse it is “easier to accept patently absurd propositions than the old truths which have become pious banalities.” The chatter of the liberal ruling elites about our democracy is itself an absurdity. “Vulgarity with its cynical dismissal of respected standards and accepted theories,” she wrote, infects political discourse. This vulgarity is “mistaken for courage and a new style of life.”

“He is destroying one code of behavior after another,” Nader said of Trump. “He is so far getting away with it and not paying a price. He is breaking standards of behavior—what he says about women, commercializing the White House, I am the law.”

Nader said he does not think the Republican Party will turn against Trump or consider impeachment unless his presidency appears to threaten its chances of retaining power in the 2018 elections. Nader sees the Democratic Party as too “decadent and incompetent” to mount a serious challenge to Trump. Hope, he said, comes from the numerous protests that have been mounted in the streets, at town halls held by members of Congress and at flash points such as Standing Rock. It may also come from the 2.5 million civil servants within the federal government if a significant number refuse to cooperate with Trump’s authoritarianism.

“The new president is clearly aware of the power wielded by civil servants, who swear an oath of allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, not to any president or administration,” Maria J. Stephan, the co-author of “Why Civil Resistance Works,” writes in The Washington Post. “One of Trump’s first acts as president was a sweeping federal hiring freeze affecting all new and existing positions except those related to the military, national security and public safety. Even before Trump’s inauguration, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives reinstated an obscure 1876 rule that would allow Congress to slash the salaries of individual federal workers. This was a clear warning to those serving in government to keep their heads down. Trump’s high-profile firing of acting attorney general Sally Yates, who refused to follow the president’s immigration ban, sent shock waves through the bureaucracy.”

A sustained, nationwide popular uprising of nonviolent obstruction and noncooperation is the only weapon left to save the republic. The elites will respond once they become afraid. If we do not make them afraid we will fail.

Up to 90 percent of urinary tract infections caused by chicken meet

by Russel Davis

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are caused by an array of factors such as sexual activity and age. However, food choice also appears to be a key culprit in the onset of UTIs. A study, published by the CDC in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, found that the source of the bacteria Escherichia coli (E.coli) found in female UTI sufferers was both fresh and processed meat and poultry products. Researchers also found that chicken meat accounted for 61 percent of E.coli occurrences in said group.

Another, more recent study, published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology showed that more than half of examined chicken products were culture positive for E.coli, while a third were resistant to multiple antibiotics. Research data also showed that 70 percent to 90 percent of UTIs are caused by E.coli. The results suggest a strong correlation between meat products and clinically relevant strains of the infection, researchers said.

More bacteria present in grocery store-bought chicken meat

The source where live chickens were purchased is considered the key factor in the dirt that’s being leveled on supermarket-bought chicken meat. The online edition of Men’s Health Magazine has listed chicken meat among its top 10 dirtiest foods that consumers eat, and for good reasons. According to their online report, the advocacy group Consumer Union examined 484 raw broilers and found that 42 percent were infected with Campylobacter jejuni, while 12 percent were infected by Salmonella enterides. The online article explains that close counters in hen houses give way to bug infestation. High volume processing operations were also pointed out as a major contributor that affects the quality of chicken meat. Experts recommend opting for free-range poultry to help prevent potential bacterial infection.

A 2012 study by Johns Hopkins University researchers also found that chicken meat bought from supermarkets showed traces of arsenic-based drugs, painkillers, antibiotics and antidepressants. Traces of caffeine and Prozac were also found in samples. High levels of arsenic exposure were tied to increased risk of cancer. The findings were published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Super foods to naturally combat UTIs

Natural remedies including berries, tubers and leafy vegetables may help keep urinary tract infection at bay. HealWithFood.Org has created a list of top 10 foods that may help prevent the onset of a UTI.

1. Cranberries and cranberry juice
While it is still unclear how cranberries fight the infection, experts infer that the flavonols in these tart berries prevent bacteria from attaching to the bladder.
2. Blueberries
Much like cranberries, blueberries have been found to keep UTIs from recurring. Blueberries also provide an overall health boost.
3. Water
Fluid intake plays a key role in preventing UTI onset. Adequate water consumption helps keep the infection at bay.
4. Cinnamon
This fragrant spice has shown strong antibacterial and antifungal properties, making it a good staple in preventing UTIs.
5. Sweet potatoes
These tubers are an excellent source of beta-carotene, which provides sufficient protection against UTI.
6. Carrots
Like sweet potatoes, carrots contain very high concentrations of beta-carotine, a nutrient known to prevent UTIs. They are also packed full of other nutrients to help with overall health.
7. Kale
Kale contains high levels of beta-carotene, which is an anti-UTI carotenoid. This makes it an ideal food to prevent the recurrence of infection.
8. Horseradish
The pungent chemical allyl isothiocyanate found in horseradish is known to be a potent antibacterial.
9. Rosehips
Rosehips are also known to prevent a wide array of diseases.
10. Yogurt

The probiotics in yogurts were found to be effective in preventing the onset of UTIs. A study in Finland revealed that women who consumed dairy products containing probiotics had lower odds of recurring UTIs than those who did not. (Visit Remedies.news for more information about these natural UTI remedies.)

Trump faces challenge of visa overstays, the largest source of illegal immigration

by Josh Siegle

As President Donald Trump focuses on border security in his initial actions to counter illegal immigration, a new report shows the unauthorized population increasingly is made up of those who first entered the U.S. legally.

In each year from 2007 to 2014, the report from the Center for Migration Studies finds, more people joined the undocumented immigrant population by remaining in the U.S. after their temporary visitor permits expired than by sneaking across the Mexican border.

In 2014, about 4.5 million U.S. residents, or 42 percent of the population of roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants, had overstayed their visas, the report says.

Overstays accounted for about two-thirds—66 percent—of those who ended up joining the undocumented immigrant population in 2014.

“What’s happened is that popular conception has made it seem that illegal immigration means people coming from the southern border,” Robert Warren, a co-author of the report, said in an interview with The Daily Signal. “One of the reasons we put the report out is that illegal immigration is much more varied and we need to look at different policy options.”

Visa overstays—legal entrants to the U.S. who stay past their allotted time here—long have been the underreported component of illegal immigration.
A report by the Department of Homeland Security found that as of Jan. 4, 2016, a total of 416,500 of the 527,127 overstays in 2015 remained in the U.S. More have left the country since then, the government said.

The Trump administration has referred to visa overstays, but so far has concentrated on fulfilling the president’s campaign promise to build a wall across the southern border.

“There’s this assumption in the Trump administration that the southern border is out of control and people are flooding across it, but we have much better control of the border now than we did in previous decades,” Edward Alden, an immigration and visa policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said in an interview with The Daily Signal. “Whereas this other problem of visa overstays is increasingly becoming out of control.”
‘Shining a Light’

Trump’s revised executive order temporarily banning travel from six terrorism-prone, Muslim-majority countries contains some language related to combating visa overstays.

The president calls for Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to pursue “expedited completion” of a long-promised and delayed system to obtain biometric data—such as fingerprints, facial recognition images, and eye scans—on those leaving the country. Such a system would tell the government who has left the country, and how many who should have departed are still here.

In 2004, the 9/11 Commission recommended the Department of Homeland Security complete an entry and exit system “as soon as possible,” viewing it as an important national security tool because two of the hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001, had overstayed their visas.

Foreigners who apply to enter the U.S. on a visa are interviewed and photographed and have their fingerprints taken at a consulate overseas before arriving here. But collecting biometric data on those exiting the country is not as easy.

Plagued by financial and logistical challenges, the government has introduced various pilot projects at some airports and land borders, but has struggled to implement a biometric exit system on a large scale.

Trump’s executive order asks Kelly to provide ongoing reports on the progress of an entry-exit system, but it does not impose a concrete timetable for completion.

“For a long time, administrations didn’t take the visa overstay issue seriously,” Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said in an interview with The Daily Signal. “Hopefully with the White House’s light shining on the issue, we will see more progress on the entry-exit system, but it’s the kind of thing that will take a while. It’s a process, not an event like the border wall is.”

The Center for Immigration Studies, which calls for tougher enforcement of immigration laws, supports construction of the wall.

Shift in Behavior

The report from the Center for Migration Studies, which opposes the border wall, concludes that the biggest reason for the shift since 2007 toward more visa overstays, and fewer border-crossers, is the significant drop in illegal arrivals from Mexico in that time frame.

Mexico is the leading country for both overstays and arrivals across the border, representing about 55 percent of the undocumented immigrant population, the study says.

But U.S. border apprehensions of Mexicans has fallen sharply, from 809,000 in 2007 to just 230,000 in fiscal year 2014—a level not seen since 1971, according to the Pew Research Center.

Alden, of the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that the trend toward an increasing percent of visa overstays and fewer border apprehensions of Mexicans shows that the Trump administration should not focus on building a wall — especially at a cost estimated to be as high as $25 billion.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to be spending most of our money fortifying the part of the border under the best control and ignoring visa overstays, which is getting worse,” Alden said.

But Krikorian counters that the Trump administration can have multiple focuses. He says the deterrent force of a wall is important.

Yes, it does cost a great deal of money, and yes, for me, it’s not job No. 1 in a policy sense. But in a broader political sense it sends an important signal that the government is actually serious about illegal immigration control.

Trump’s early clampdown and rhetoric on illegal immigration may be having an impact. Roughly 840 people a day were caught illegally entering the U.S. from Mexico last month, according to Customs and Border Protection, a drop of about 39 percent from January.

“If the wall doesn’t go beyond being a symbol, and it just becomes an excuse to avoid doing those other things—like stopping overstays—than we have a problem,” Krikorian said. “I don’t get that sense from this administration.”

Policy Options

Beyond finishing the biometric entry-exit system, experts say there are quicker ways the Trump administration can tackle visa overstays.

The government also can take simpler steps to deter visa overstays by emailing reminders to foreigners of their expected departure date, specifying the consequences of not leaving on time.

Many who overstay their visas don’t intend to settle in America, Alden said, and simply don’t know when they have to leave.

“The biometric entry-exit system has been the unreachable holy grail,” Alden said. “But it doesn’t really get at the real problem. The problem is not an identification problem. The question is how do we discourage the act of overstaying a visa in the first place.”

Mexico should confront its xenophobic past

It’s past time for an apology to the Chinese-Mexican community

by Antonio C. Hsiang

Mexico has recently been on the receiving end of an ugly wave of xenophobia from some American politicians and members of the public.

In response, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, standing in solidarity with his country’s diaspora, made it a point to personally receive 135 deported Mexican nationals on February 7. Mr. Peña Nieto declared at the airport, “You are not alone, do not feel abandoned. The doors to this, your house, will always be open.”

The president’s gesture was likely designed to portray Mexico as a principled and moral country. If this was indeed Mr. Peña Nieto’s goal, then perhaps it is an opportune time for Mexico to confront its own historical responsibility for xenophobic and exclusionary policies.

Almost a century ago, Mexico experienced a dramatic rise in xenophobia against immigrants from China, resulting in exclusionary policies and outright violence. Given the fraught political climate today, it is long past time for the Mexican government to apologize to the Chinese-Mexican community.

Doing so would not only help heal deep historical wounds, it would lay the foundations for a stronger Mexican foreign policy going forward.

Mexico has an oft-ignored history of discriminating against Chinese immigrants. “Chinese-Mexicans are nearly absent from the Mexican national narrative,” according to Grace Peña Delgado, professor at UC Santa Cruz.

An anti-Chinese movement emerged during the Mexican Revolution and attained peak influence before and during the Great Depression. While most of Mexico’s anti-Chinese groups were formed between 1922 and 1927, with names such as the Comité Pro-Raza, Comité Anti-Chino de Sinaloa and the Liga Nacional Obrera Antichina, there was a significant amount of animosity against the Chinese prior to the 1920s.

Perhaps the most violent single episode occurred in 1911, when Mexican revolutionary forces massacred over 300 people of Chinese descent in the city of Torreón.

Popular Mexican politicians of the time often fanned the flames of xenophobia. For example, as one of the most prominent national politicians of the era, Plutarco Elías Calles had held strong antichinista leanings since his days as a Sonoran state politician.

He was known as the Maximato, and his powerful position made it easier to expel Chinese with impunity. Not only did he support a special tax on Chinese farmers and merchants in the agricultural towns around the capital, he denied reentry permits to those people of Chinese descent who had traveled to China.

Later, in 1931, his son, Rodolfo Elías Calles, assumed the governorship of Sonora and formed “rural brigades” to search for Chinese hiding in the countryside. Mere association with the Chinese community was enough for these vigilantes to act, and among the victims were many Mexican women married to Chinese men.

As a result of the violence and discrimination, Mexico witnessed a mass exodus of people of Chinese descent. Some 70% of Chinese-Mexicans were expelled to China or, ironically, the United States. While repatriation efforts began almost immediately and lasted until the 1980s, the legacy of the hatred is hard to erase.

A formal Mexican government apology at this particular moment can achieve multiple purposes. First, it would strengthen Mexico’s moral argument in lobbying for immigration reform in the United States. After being elected as president, Mr. Peña Nieto argued that he “would welcome the implementation of comprehensive immigration reform in the United States.”

Should he choose to make amends for a particularly xenophobic period of Mexican history, Mr. Peña Nieto would pose a powerful moral challenge to American President Donald Trump to take immigration reform seriously.

Second, such a gesture would be good global statesmanship. An apology would display a commitment to liberal values while at the same time signal a greater level of friendliness towards China.

It would also be in keeping with Mr. Peña Nieto’s own views, having stated that he “intend[s] to start a new era of economic and political cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region.”

In some ways, Mr. Peña Nieto would be following in the footsteps of his NAFTA counterparts. In 2006, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered a full apology to Chinese-Canadians for the Head Tax and expressed his deepest sorrow for the subsequent exclusion of Chinese immigrants from 1923 until 1947.
Similarly, in October of 2011, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution apologizing for past discriminatory laws that exclusively targeted Chinese immigrants, in particular the notorious Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. In June of 2012, the U.S. House of the Representatives also passed a resolution expressing regret for past discriminatory laws. This apology came on a resolution sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu (Democrat-Calif.), the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress.

Making amends for Mexico’s xenophobic past can pay dividends for the country’s future relations with China. As a gesture of goodwill, it can be sold domestically as a sort of prepaid “pilón.”

There is a neat historical symmetry here. Historically, pilón has been an important part of Chinese businesses in Sonora. It refers to the tip of a cone of piloncillo, or brown sugar in a crystallized form.

Chinese business owners in Sonora regularly gave their customers some sort of pilón or small gift with a purchase. Over time, it became a metaphor for something above and beyond the expected: “un detalle” (a little extra), in the words of some Sonorans.

The Sino-Mexican relationship is one with high stakes. An apology served as pilón may be a small price to pay in order to advance Mexico’s moral standing in the world and economic interests with China.

The writer graduated from Intituto Militar de Estudios Superiores, Uruguay, obtained an MA in Latin American Studies from New York University, and an MA in Political Economy and Ph.D in Political Sciences from Claremont Graduate University. Currently he is professor and director of the Center for Latin American Economy and Trade Studies at Chihlee University of Technology, Taiwan.

Mexico-US treaty invalid, politician claims

by the El Reportero’s wire services

The deterioration in relations between Mexico and the United States has triggered a couple of claims over the countries’ common border, one of which would put into question the ownership of five U.S. states and parts of four others.

A prominent Mexican politician and a lawyer yesterday proposed a legal claim that would invalidate the treaty with which Mexico surrendered half its territory to the United States.

Former Mexico City mayor and three-time presidential candidate Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and lawyer Guillermo Hamdan Castro argue that the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo fails several tests as to its validity.

The treaty gave the U.S. what is now California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Utah and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Hamdan said during a presentation in Cuernavaca, Morelos, yesterday that the most important element is in the accord’s first sentence, which contains an admission that the U.S. army invaded Mexico. Signing an agreement in that context renders it null, he said.

Another legal factor is that the agreement ceding Mexico’s territory was signed under pressure.

Hamdan conceded it would be impossible for Mexico to recover the lost territory should the legal claim be upheld, but suggested instead the U.S. should pay compensation for the use of the land over the last 168 years.

But given that the dollar “has meant nothing since the 1970s,” he observed, payment should be in gold or pesos. No amount was stated.

Cárdenas, a founder of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, and Hamdan are calling on Mexicans to join them in a march to Los Pinos, official residence of President Enrique Peña Nieto, to present the proposal.

Hamdan said the president is the only person who can take the claim before the International Court of Justice.

The second claim is that 430 kilometers of the border was incorrectly marked, meaning that about 85,000 hectares now in Arizona and New Mexico actually belong to Mexico.

The claim has been made by Senator Patricio Martínez, a former governor of Chihuahua, who discovered the mistake in the 1990s. In the mid-19th century, he said, piles of stones were used to mark the border.

But towards the end of the century Mexico found the cairns had been destroyed and parts of the border marked too far south, according to a report today by the Financial Times.

Martínez’ discovery was based on an engineer’s report. A second study conducted since has confirmed the finding, he said. Now he plans to file a motion in the Senate to have the mistake corrected.

He said the matter was raised by Mexico in a letter to the Secretary of State in 1897, but was subsequently forgotten.

Source: El Universal (sp), Financial Times (eng)

A new mural is born in the Excelsior District

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

A new mural is being born at the Excelsior District’s Dignity Health-GoHealth Urgent Care by the direction of Hispanic artist Ferran Torras. It started on March 2 and will be finished by Sunday. Everyone is invited to come and watch it being done. At 4598 Mission Street, SF.

Back to the Picture Gallery presenta la exposición de arte de la artista y curadora Martha Castrillo

In a warm and cozy art exhibition, Servio Gómez, proprietary of Back to the Picture, hosted a special opening reception of artist and curator’s Martha Castrillo Chen’s exhibition of 18 different artists from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds in the Mission District of San Francisco.

An enthusiast SF resident originally from Nicaragua, Castrillo, who originally studied interior design and psychology at SF State University and now a consummated painted and curator, invites those art lovers to come enjoy her displayed art at Back to the Picture Gallery, at 934 Valencia, at 20th St.

You will be able to see works of artists of the category of MCCLA art teacher Calixto Robles, of brothers André and Gabriel Castrillo, of renowned world traveler Nicaraguan-Chinese photographer Robert Siu, and Myrna Funes, (who is not a cousin of El Salvador former president Mauricio Funes as it was previously reported), Antonio Huerta, Rich Nyhagen, Felipe Acosta, Alejandra Blum, Vladimir Cuevas, José Islas Colin, Marlene Jahoor, Kevin Lu, Jason Mecier, Mark Nestra and Dan Stingle.

They are being exhibited now until March 12. Don’t miss it!

7th Annual San Jose Jazz Winter Fest 2017

San Jose Jazz proudly announces the official Winter Fest 2017 lineup: Roy Ayers, Donny McCaslin, The Cookers, Wallace Roney, Villalobos Brothers, Ben Allison & Think Free, Huntertones, Kim Nalley and Kalil Wilson, Mary Stallings, Natalie Cressman, Ron E. Beck Soul Revue, Reva DeVito, CME, Mark PLSTK, Shea Butter, Chale Brown, Troker, Jazz Organ Fellowship with Akiko Tsuruga and Tony Monaco, The Eulipions Jazz Sessions, Silvestre Martinez, and some of the Bay Area’s premier youth jazz ensembles.

Within the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose Jazz Winter Fest 2017, the Jazz Beyond series, co-curated with local production house Universal Grammar, presents buzzy young stars pushing the boundaries of jazz, soul and hip-hop and the Next Gen performances showcase top regional student jazz ensembles and offer up master classes.

Coming up from now through March 3, 2017, San Jose Jazz presents its 7th Annual SJZ Winter Fest 2017, featuring more than 25 concerts in downtown San Jose, Saratoga and Palo Alto.

Now thru Friday, March 3, 2017, at Cafe Stritch, The Continental, Schultz Cultural Arts Hall at Oshman Family JCC (Palo Alto), Trianon Theatre, MACLA, Café Pink House (Saratoga), Poor House Bistro, Hedley and other venues in Downtown San Jose. Event Info: sanjosejazz.org/winterfest. Tickets: $10 – $65.

Five continents of fashion and fantasy

Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA) 40th Anniversary celebration will kick off with a retrospective show of costumes, designed by Mario Chacon, award-winning, Salvadoran designer. Spanning a creative career of over 50 years, the costumes will be presented in a runway show on Saturday, March 11 at 7 p.m. in the Theater.

Also, Join us for the reception afterwards with music by the trio “El Guajiro”.

Models, representing the diversity of the community, will showcase a lavish line-up of 75 one of a kind costumes, including Historical, Ethic and Carnaval styles.

Mario is highly regarded in the Mission District for the many fantasy costumes that he has designed and produced for numerous Carnaval San Francisco contingents over the years.

Mario Chacón studied architecture in El Salvador, but a costume design program at City College of Los Angeles ignited his passion for fashion and design. Mario’s designs have been featured at the deYoung Museum and are on permanent display in San Salvador. His most recent exhibition is in Santa Tecla, El Salvador, a historic town outside the capital.

Luis Echegoyen, pioneer of Bay Area Latin television, will host the show. Immediately following the show there will be a meet-and-greet in the Gallery on the 2nd floor providing an opportunity to talk to the designer and mingle with the costumed models.

FASHION SHOW on Saturday, March 11, at 7 p.m. Theater | RSVP on Eventbrite.

Fiction series about García Márquez in production

by the El Reportero’s news services

Due to the 90th anniversary today of the birth of Gabriel García Márquez, celebrated by Colombians and the world of literature, a project is being prepared for the realization of the first series of fiction referred to the Literature Nobel Laureate.

The project will be based on research carried out over the past two years on archival materials.

Prior to this anniversary and the transfer of the ashes of García Márquez from Mexico City to Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, many tributes have been made on the occasion of the birth of the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

The emission from the end of last years of a new bank note of 50 thousand pesos (about 17 dollars), which takes his portrait is among them, as well as paintings in high buildings of Colombian cities, in the style of giant graffiti with his emblem.

Also the channel Canal Capital projected a year ago the release of a documentary series directed by filmmaker Lisandro Duque, which tells the life and work of the author of No One Writes to the Colonel.

This work consisted of three episodes that showed conversations with illustrious friends of the writer from Paris, Barcelona, Mexico, Havana, Cartagena, Bogotá, and Zipaquirá, with revelations, moments and anecdotes of his life.

Also on Monday the Foundation for New Ibero-American Journalism will pay homage to Gabo, with the call for Gabriel García Márquez Awards for Journalism for the 2017 edition.

Films supported by SF Film Society grants and residencies to be showcased

The San Francisco Film Society announced today that the 60th San Francisco International Film Festival’s anticipated Centerpiece event will be Patti Cake$ (USA 2016), first-time feature director Geremy Jasper’s dynamic and inspiring film which tells the story of Patricia “Patti Cake$” Dombrowski, a big girl with a big mouth and big dreams of hip-hop superstardom. Patti Cake$ was a Spring 2014 SF Film Society / KRF Filmmaking Grant winner. The celebratory Centerpiece screening will take place on Wednesday, April 12, 7:30 p.m. at the historic Castro Theatre.

In addition to Patti Cake$, three documentary features, one narrative feature, one narrative short and three documentary shorts-all of which received funding or creative support through various SF Film Society artist development programs-will be included in this year’s Festival lineup. San Francisco native Peter Bratt’s feature documentary Dolores is one of them.

In the first film of its kind, DOLORES sheds light on this enigmatic, intensely private woman who is among the most important activists in American history.

With unprecedented access to both Dolores and her children, the film reveals the raw, personal stories behind the public figure. It portrays a woman both heroic and flawed, working tirelessly for social change even as her eleven children longed to have her at home.

The film follows Dolores Huerta’s fascinating life, from the fearless young woman confronting teamsters on violent picket lines to the activist grandmother nearly beaten to death by a San Francisco police squad. Overshadowed by the legacy of Cesar Chavez and forced from the ranks of the all-male union leadership after his death, Dolores learns the painful truth — that her gender is the greatest obstacle of all. But she turns her defeat into inspiration, setting the course for a lifetime pursuit of equality for all.

Contacts with Russian Embassy

by Admin

Posted on March 4, 2017

Our press seems to be in a feeding frenzy regarding contacts that President Trump’s supporters had with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and with other Russian diplomats. The assumption seems to be that there was something sinister about these contacts, just because they were with Russian diplomats. As one who spent a 35-year diplomatic career working to open up the Soviet Union and to make communication between our diplomats and ordinary citizens a normal practice, I find the attitude of much of our political establishment and of some of our once respected media outlets quite incomprehensible. What in the world is wrong with consulting a foreign embassy about ways to improve relations? Anyone who aspires to advise an American president should do just that.

Yesterday I received four rather curious questions from Mariana Rambaldi of Univision Digital. I reproduce below the questions and the answers I have given.

Question 1: Seeing the case of Michael Flynn, that has to resign after it emerged that he spoke with the Russian ambassador about sanctions against Russia before Trump took office, and now Jeff Sessions is in a similar situation. Why is so toxic to talk with Sergey Kislyak?

Answer: Ambassador Kislyak is a distinguished and very able diplomat. Anyone interested in improving relations with Russia and avoiding another nuclear arms race—which is a vital interest of the United States—should discuss current issues with him and members of his staff. To consider him “toxic” is ridiculous. I understand that Michael Flynn resigned because he failed to inform the vice president of the full content of his conversation. I have no idea why that happened, but see nothing wrong with his contact with Ambassador Kislyak so long as it was authorized by the president-elect. Certainly, Ambassador Kislyak did nothing wrong.

Question 2: According to your experience, are Russians ambassadors under the sight of the Russian intelligence or they work together?

Answer: This is a strange question. Intelligence operations are normal at most embassies in the world. In the case of the United States, ambassadors must be informed of intelligence operations within the countries to which they are accredited and can veto operations that they consider unwise or too risky, or contrary to policy. In the Soviet Union, during the Cold War, Soviet ambassadors did not have direct control over intelligence operations. Those operations were controlled directly from Moscow. I do not know what Russian Federation procedures are today. Nevertheless, whether controlled by the ambassador or not, all members of an embassy or consulate work for their host government. During the Cold War, at least, we sometimes used Soviet intelligence officers to get messages direct to the Soviet leadership. For example, during the Cuban missile crisis, President Kennedy used a “channel” through the KGB resident in Washington to work out the understanding under which Soviet nuclear missiles were withdrawn from Cuba.

Question 3. How common (and ethic) is that a person related with a presidential campaign in the US has contact with the Russian embassy?
Answer: Why are you singling out the Russian embassy? If you want to understand the policy of another country, you need to consult that country’s representatives. It is quite common for foreign diplomats to cultivate candidates and their staffs. That is part of their job. If Americans plan to advise the president on policy issues, they would be wise to maintain contact with the foreign embassy in question to understand that country’s attitude toward the issues involved. Certainly, both Democrats and Republicans would contact Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin during the Cold War and discuss the issues with him. As the person in charge of our embassy in Moscow during several political campaigns, I would often set up meetings of candidates and their staffs with Soviet officials. Such contacts are certainly ethical so long as they do not involve disclosure of classified information or attempts to negotiate specific issues. In fact, I would say that any person who presumes to advise an incoming president on vital policy issues needs to understand the approach of the country in question and therefore is remiss if he or she does not consult with the embassy in question.

Question 4: In a few words, What’s your point of view about Sessions-Kislyak case? Is possible that Sessions finally resigns?

Answer: I don’t know whether Attorney General Sessions will resign or not. It would seem that his recusal from any investigation on the subject would be adequate. He would not have been my candidate for attorney general and if I had been in the Senate I most likely would not have voted in favor of his confirmation. Nevertheless, I have no problem with the fact that he occasionally exchanged words with Ambassador Kislyak.

In fact, I believe it is wrong to assume that such conversations are somehow suspect. When I was ambassador to the USSR and Gorbachev finally allowed competitive elections, we in the U.S. embassy talked to everyone. I made a special point to keep personal relations with Boris Yeltsin when he in effect led the opposition. That was not to help get him elected (we favored Gorbachev), but to understand his tactics and policies and to make sure he understood ours.

The whole brou-ha-ha over contacts with Russian diplomats has taken on all the earmarks of a witch hunt. President Trump is right to make that charge. If there was any violation of U.S. law by any of his supporters—for example disclosure of classified information to unauthorized persons—then the Department of Justice should seek an indictment and if they obtain one, prosecute the case. Until then, there should be no public accusations. Also, I have been taught that in a democracy with the rule of law, the accused are entitled to a presumption of innocence until convicted. But we have leaks that imply that any conversation with a Russian embassy official is suspect. That is the attitude of a police state, and leaking such allegations violates every normal rule regarding FBI investigations. President Trump is right to be upset, though it is not helpful for him to lash out at the media in general.

Finding a way to improve relations with Russia is in the vital interest of the United States. Nuclear weapons constitute an existential threat to our nation, and indeed to humanity. We are on the brink of another nuclear arms race which would be not only dangerous in itself, but would make cooperation with Russia on many other important issues virtually impossible. Those who are trying to find a way to improve relations with Russia should be praised, not scapegoated.

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