by the El Reportero’s wire services

Angeles sin Fronteras, a group formed to assist people deported from the United States, has created five shelters to help migrants, who often end up penniless on the streets of Mexican border cities.

The newest shelter was opened in Mexicali, the capital of the northwestern state of Baja California, where the group rented an abandoned hotel to serve as a refuge for the rising number of poor deportees in the area.

The 50-room building, known as “El Cinco” (Number Five), is being used by Angeles sin Fronteras to temporarily house 60 people.

One of those living at the shelter is Pablo Hernandez, a 26-year-old who lives in a room lit by a candle and furnished with a piece of cardboard and a blanket.

Hernandez, who lived in the United States from the age of 2 until he was deported a year ago, has found shelter at the building in Mexicali’s red light district.

“I don’t know how I ended up here, how I fell into drug use,” Hernandez, whose relatives live in Texas, told Efe. “I just want another chance to return to my familiy.”

Mexicali, like many other border cities in Mexico, has experienced a surge in the number of deportees who have arrived from the United States. Many of these people lived in the United States for most of their lives and end up on the streets in Mexico, often becoming depressed and using drugs to deal with the fact that they have nowhere to go.

El Cinco does not have electricity, running water or bathrooms, and the building’s residents live off money earned from washing cars or handouts.

“We have to help them so they can develop. They have great potential and we want to show that not all of them are criminals and they can contribute something to society,” Angeles sin Fronteras member Sergio Tamai told Efe.

Bolivian Telecom Company Connects with New Communications Satellite

Bolivian state-owned telecommunications company Entel has established contact with the Tupac Katari satellite, which the Andean nation put into orbit in December, President Evo Morales said.

The first contact with the satellite was made on Tuesday, Morales said during a military ceremony in the central region of Cochabamba.

“We have good news our Entel has had successful contact with our communications satellite, Tupac Katari. We are very happy, proud of our satellite,” Morales said Wednesday.

The satellite is expected to be fully operational in March, the president said.

The Tupac Katari satellite, or TKSat-1, named for the Indian leader who staged a rebellion against the Spanish Empire in the 18th century, was built by China Great Wall Industry Corporation, or CGWIC, an aerospace company that is a unit of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The TKSat-1 was manufactured under the terms of a cooperation agreement signed by Bolivia and China in 2009. The $302 million project was largely financed with a loan from the China Development Bank and the Tupac Katari was developed from the Chinesemade DFH-4 platform.

The satellite was launched on Dec. 20 from China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

The TK Sat-1 entered geostationary orbit last weekend and China turned control of the satellite over to Bolivia.

The satellite will be operated by ground control stations in the Bolivian regions of La Paz and Santa Cruz staffed by civilian and military personnel trained in China. The TKSat-1 weighs 5, 200 kilos (11,453 pounds) and is expected to function for 15 years.

The satellite will improve telecommunications and Internet access in isolated rural areas of Bolivia. The TKSat-1 is also equipped to relay radio and television signals, and to provide service for neighboring countries in South America. Bolivia expects to save around $15 million as it will no longer need to lease capacity on foreign-owned satellites.

by the El Reportero’s wire services

Enrique Peña Nieto

In a coruscating climax to the political year, President Enrique Peña Nieto won approval for probably the most significant reform in Mexico’s modern history. To push through an energy reform, entailing amendments to sacrosanct constitutional articles at the heart of the Mexican Revolution and ending the 75-year monopoly of the state oil company Pemex, just one year after he took office is a remarkable feat.

The left-wing Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) was powerless to prevent the bill’s passage through congress at both a federal and state level, but it is adamant that it has merely lost a battle and not the war. It is simultaneously challenging the reform before the supreme court and pushing for a referendum to be held on it in 2015. In the meantime Peña Nieto will need to get secondary legislation through congress to enact the reform and convince potential private investors in the oil sector not to be deterred by judicial uncertainty.

Once supportive Latinos turning backing on President and Affordable Care Act

They were among President Obama’s best supporters, but support for the president and his signature health insurance scheme is quickly dying among Hispanics.

A recent Gallup poll showed Obama’s approval rating among Hispanic down 23 percent, to 52 percent in November from 75 percent in December 2012.

“Hispanics’ approval ratings of Obama have shown the most variation of any group’s ratings throughout his presidency,” the pollsters said when they released their report Dec. 5. “That means their views of him are less firmly anchored than those of other groups, which may help explain why their opinions of the president soured more than any other group’s in recent months.”

That’s not good news for the president, who is in desperate need of Hispanic support for the Affordable Care Act. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation report found that Hispanics account for 32 percent of the nation’s non-elderly uninsured population — just the group he needs to buy into Obamacare to make it a success.

Highly Respected Colombian Journalist Antonio Jose Caballero

Colombian journalist Antonio Jose Caballero, who covered assorted incidents involving late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and was an expert on Vatican issues, died Tuesday in Bogota, RCN Radio – for which he worked – reported. He was 68. Caballero, an excellent and widely respected reporter, died in the Clinica del Country of an illness that had afflicted him for some time, the medical center said in a communique.

Born in Santander de Quilichao, in southwestern Cauca province, Caballero studied at Madrid’s Complutense University and at Italy’s RAI Television Directorate, after which he returned to Colombia, where he worked for some of the country’s most important media outlets.

Cuban Woman Arrives in US to Donate Bone Marrow to Sister in Miami

A Cuban woman finally arrived in Miami to donate bone marrow to a sister suffering from leukemia, after a month of uncertainty due to U.S. authorities’ initial rejection of her visa request, El Nuevo Herald newspaper said Tuesday. The emotional meeting of Alina Ortega Reyes and her ailing sister, Damay Ortega, took place Monday night at Miami International Airport. The visa is “the best gift of my life,” Alina, 47, said upon arriving in Miami, El Nuevo Herald reported.