by the El Reportero staff

Evo Morales

COLOMBIA: The government was delighted by a huge and unprecedented march in Cali on 12 April to protest against terrorism. The government did its best to appear not to have organised the march, though the march was led by the defence minister, Juan Manuel Santos, and the mayor of Cali.

The government needs all the public support it can muster in the face of the snowballing para-political scandal. On 11 April another three federal deputies were indicted by the supreme court for their links with the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) and the supreme court, which is leading the investigation into the parapolitical scandals, appears to be treating seriously claims by a leftwing senator, Gustavo Petro, that leading politicians in Antioquia had close links with the AUC. President Alvaro Uribe and his ministers dismiss Petro as a “terrorist in a suit.”

Chile’s big push to solve Bolivia’s demand for ocean outlet hinges on Peru’s agreement

Chile has been working hard to solve neighbouring Bolivia’s longstanding demand for restitution of access to the sea. Sovereign access was wrested from Bolivia by the Chileans during the War of the Pacific of 1879-84. Bolivia, under the strongly nationalistic rule of Evo Morales, seems willing to accept a less-than-perfect solution. The problem is whether Peru, inevitable third party in this matter, will acquiesce as long as Chile remains apparently determined not to cede on territorial issues with its southern neighbour.

Institutional meltdown as referendum approaches

Ecuador’s chronically weak state institutions buckled in March, as a debate over constitutional authority spilled over into the streets. It has yet to be satisfactorily resolved; as this edition went to press 57 deputies fired by the supreme electoral court (TSE) were still determined to return to congress, despite their alternates having now taken their place in the legislature. Meanwhile, the referendum on a constituent assembly, the trigger for the latest bout between the government and the opposition, is due to take place on 15 April, and President Rafael Correa has started to fret that blank or void votes could thwart his plans.

Chávez says Castro taking back good part of govt duties

According to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Cuban leader Fidel Castro has almost completely recovered from surgery he had last year. He said he has taken back a “good part” of duties governing the country, unofficially.

President Hugo Chavez, Cuban leader Fidel Castro has almost completely recovered from surgery he had last year. He said he has taken back a “good part” of duties governing the country, unofficially.

Castro has not been seen in public since he underwent emergency intestinal surgery that forced him to hand over power temporarily to his brother, Raul Castro, on July 31 last year.

Officials on the communist-run island insist Mr. Castro, in power since 1959, is recovering and will resume his duties.

Still apparently too weak to give one of his legendary speeches, Mr. Castro, 80, has in recent weeks taken to writing editorial columns in the state-run media denouncing his long-time ideological foe, the United States.

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by Rebecca Aman

John Trasviña

Latino and immigrant advocates generally agreed that President Bush’s call for comprehensive immigration reform April 9 in Yuma, Ariz., was an important step  to move the debate forward, but remained largely critical of some of his proposals.

“The words were correct, but the meaning was unclear,’’ John Trasviña, president and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, (MALDEF), told Weekly Report in reaction to the president’s speech.

Bush urged Congress to pass a comprehensive bill this year His speech came a few days after a controversial White House draft to overhaul the immigration system which had circulated in the U.S. Congress leaked to the media.

“The President’s speech…was a positive, hopeful sign that he continues to believe that immigration reform has to be comprehensive,” stated National Council of La Raza president Janet Murguía. But she urged the president to “move beyond just selling this message and start delivering to make it happen.”

Bush touted the administration’s border security efforts, stating a goal to increase the number of Border Patrol agents from 13,000 to 18,000 by the end of next year.

In addition, he called for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and a temporary worker program, but fell short of going into the specifics laid out in the White House draft.

According to the White House proposal, undocumented immigrants would have to pay more than $10,000 to attain citizenship. In his speech, Bush did not specify costs, but stated, “Illegal immigrants who have roots in our country and want to stay should have to pay a meaningful penalty for breaking the law.”

He further called for allowing foreign workers to come in “for a temporary period of time.” Under the proposal, guest workers would be required to return to their countries of origin after six years.

Latino advocates oppose that idea, as well as another one that would not allow families to come in with the workers.

George W. Bush

“Unfortunately, the president’s proposal falls short of his commitment to providing a realistic pathway for hard-working immigrants to have a shot at the American Dream,” stated Rosa Rosales, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

The organization stressed that visa categories for family members would be eliminated.

Jennifer Allen, director of the Arizona-based Border Action Network, stated, “President Bush’s announcement is misleading. He says his approach is ‘comprehensive’ but he’s actually creating more ways for immigrant communities to be deported…and treated like an exploitable, permanent underclass.”

Proponents of stricter immigration reform criticized Bush’s plan, claiming it offers “amnesty. “

The proposal is an alternative to immigration legislation introduced last month by Reps. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).

Their bill offers a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants for $2,000 and would allow 400,000 guest workers annually who would also be eligible for citizenship.

“The (Gutierrez-Flake bill) is the first step but not the end result,” Trasviña said. “The President’s proposal is a step in the opposite direction.”

Others were more critical of the Gutierrez-Flake bill. Javier Rodríguez, a spokesperson of the March 25th Coalition, told Weekly Report that the bill would “keep immigrant groups vulnerable.”

Hispanic Link.

by the El Reportero news services

Felipe Calderón

President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa celebrated his first 100 days in office on March 10, just before President George W Bush arrived. Bush’s visit did not, as we argue inside, settle whether Mexico’s foreign policy will be aimed at appeasing the US or championing Latin America. The attractions of a Latin Americanist policy are clear from the enthusiasm in Mexico for the Chilean president Michelle Bachelet.

Domestically, Calderón’s big initiative in the first 100 days has been the offensives against the drug trade, now running, with little apparent success, in nine of the country’s 32 states. Economically, Calderón has got both his budget through congress and an important pension reform. He has also started to explain why a fiscal reform is essential now that oil production, and reserves, are falling.

Kirchner picks fight with U.S. and Argentine judiciary

It was an eventful week for President Néstor Kirchner and one that could potentially have a defining influence on October’s presidential elections. Firstly, his government was involved in a diplomatic spat with the US for granting Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez permission to address a rally attacking George W Bush while the US President was in Uruguay. Kirchner’s wife, Senator Cristina Fernández, meanwhile, was boosting her profile and cementing the government’s foreign-policy priorities by visiting Ecuador and Venezuela. Secondly, Roberto Lavagna, the main threat to either Kirchner or Fernández winning the elections, at last sealed his alliance with one faction of the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) and is now trying to unite dissident Peronists. Finally, Kirchner became embroiled in a power clash with the judiciary which, for once, stood its ground.

Brazil wins the race to US$1 trillion

Brazil became the region’s first US$1trillion economy at the end of March when the official statistics agency, Ibge, revised its calculations for the country’s GDP. The revision, which was further flattered by the strength of the Real against the dollar, means that the Brazilian economy is now about 20 percent bigger than the Mexican economy. As Brazil’s population is nearing 180m, while Mexico’s is about 105m, GDP per capita figures still favour Mexico. Both economies are still lagging the US, whose output is 12 times Brazil’s and whose GDP per capita is almost seven times that of Brazil.

REGION: Cracks starting to show in Alba?

The US ambassador to Bolivia, Philip Greenberg, praised President Evo Morales on 29 March for his efforts to reduce coca cultivation and judged Morales’s call for more eradication in the Yungas region to be a “good sign”. Morales’s departure from his usual criticism of coca eradication signals a newly conciliatory approach to the US, and suggests that Bolivia is pulling away from the unyielding hostility to the US that President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela advocates. Last week Morales told coca growers in the Yungas region to “honour international commitments” to coca crop reduction, despite previous announcements that he wanted to increase the area permitted for legal coca cultivation from 12,000 to 20,000 hectares.

U.S. intelligence chiefs see no major security threat from Latin Am

Latin America poses no major threats to the national security of the US – at least according to the latest annual threat assessments presented to the US Congress by the director of national intelligence and the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Indeed the only clearly defined threats are the possibility that Colombia’s Farc guerrillas may continue to target US interests and nationals, and that Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez will persist in his effort to ‘neutralise’ US influence in the region.

by the El Reportero staff

Marina Junqueira and Danilo Maccarao

Among a packed auditorium of guests and contestants the King and Queen of Carnaval 2007 were crowned.

Danilo Maccarao was named Carnaval SF King and Marina Junqueira was crowned Carnaval SF Queen due to their winning Carnival spirit. The competition was scored in costume, dance, music and audience approval categories amongst 20 contestants.

The competition was judged by a seven-person panel of leaders from the Bay Area’s artistic community. The Carnaval SF 2007 King and Queen Competition was held Saturday night at Fanatics Sports Entertainment Complex in San Francisco located at 61 Cesar Chavez street. (A photo of them, taken by photographer John Lee, is attached.)

Danilo is originally from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil and has over 20 years experience in the Brazilian martial art form Capoeira. He has also toured with DanceBrazil, a critically acclaimed performing company that specializes in fusing Afro Brazilian and modern dance.

Queen Marina, was born in Brazil and has participated in San Francisco Carnival for the past 10 years. She performs with Aquarela Brazilian Dance troupe, which now holds the distinction of having five Carnaval San Francisco Queens and two Kings from its rosters. Both winners not only excelled in the costume and dance performances, but also received tremendous audience approval.

A Queen of Carnival contestant dances in front of the audience at the Fanatics Sports Entertainment Complex on March 31.

The event also showcased the “Love Happens 2007” theme by assigning willing single guests a single heart sticker and couples receiving stickers with two hearts. All the while the competition was being displayed on 35 flat screen televisions, so mingling and socializing guests wouldn’t miss any of the performances. In addition, the King and Queen competition was emceed by Kellita and Hot Pink-Feathers with entertainment by DJ Vanka, Sistas-Wit-Style and others.

King Danilo and Queen Maria won $500 each and will grace the royal float in the Carnaval SF grand parade on Sunday, May 27, which will be broadcast live on KRON 4 the Bay Area’s News Station and Telemundo. The parade begins at 9:30 am that morning at the corner of Bryant and 24th streets in the Mission. Carnaval San Francisco is produced by the Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc. and is supported by San Francisco’s Grants for the Arts. Since 1959, the Mission Neighborhood Centers has provided quality programs that promote self-sufficiency and community ­growth for the Mission District’s children’ youth, families and seniors.

by Tracie Morales

Rafael Olmeda

The percentage of Hispanic journalists employed in the nation’s English-language newsrooms declined slightly in 2006 from the year before for the first time in 29 years that the American Society of Newspaper Editors has been keeping track.

It is the second time during this decade that representation of all journalists of color has seen a drop from a previous year.

According to a report released during ASNE’s annual convention in Washington, D.C. D.C., March 27-30, while the number of Latinos working in newsrooms of the country’s daily papers increased from 7,600 in 2005 to 7,800 in 2006, the Hispanic presence dropped from 4.51 percent of newsroom personnel to 4.41 percent. The number of whites in the newsroom increased by 2,000, from 47,208 to 49,219 in that period.

The percentage of all journalists of color —Hispanics, blacks, Asians and Native Americans—decreased from 13.87 percent to 13.62 percent.

Hispanics alone represent more than 14 percent of the U.S. population, and people of color make up a third of it.

In 1978, ASNE started its campaign to diversify the industry at a time when persons of color represented 3.95 percent of newsroom personnel, by setting the goal of achieving parity by the year 2000.

Iván Román

In 1998, failing to meet its benchmarks, it moved its goal to 2025. Industry leaders are increasingly pessimistic of the new deadline.

“I don’t think we are going to reach parity by the time we’ve set,” Gilbert Bailón, incoming ASNE president and president/editor of the Dallas-based Al Día, told Weekly Report. “There are just too many mountains to climb when it comes to diversity, both in recruitment and retention,”

UNITY: Journalists of Color, stated that with such slow progress, it would take 40 years to reach parity with the current U.S. population.

But in 40 years, the organization emphasized, people of color will comprise about half of the total population.

Rafael Olmeda, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists stated, “We are asked to adapt to changes in the industry…is it too much to ask the industry to adapt to changes in the U.S. population?”

Diana Fuentes, executive editor of the Laredo Morning Times, stressed to Weekly Report that editors should not give up the fight. “It is not easy, but it can be done,” she said. “We have made a lot of strides. 8ut we need more commitment. It takes everybody to produce diversity.

Iván Román, executive director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, told Weekly Report that diverse newsrooms and smart business strategies go “hand in hand.” He said that newspaper budgets should be dedicated to reaching new readership.

He added the Parity Project, which NAHJ launched in April 2003, has successfully placed more than 160 Latinos in full-time positions at more than 20 participating companies. ~We’ve shown it can be done,” Roman said. “It takes will from the top to understand they must do it if they want to survive as news media.”

The ASNE survey was distributed to 1,415 daily newspapers; only 932 responded.

This is the first time the survey included online newspersons.

Online journalists of color comprise 16 percent of the nearly 2,000 news personnel working on their publications’ Web sites.

Latinos remained severely under-represented in large-size newspapers when compared to the number of Hispanics in those publication’s circulation areas, according to a report from the Miami-based Knight Foundation which used 2000 U.S. Census data. A report based on census projections for 2005 will be released in the fall.

For example, Hispanics make up 5.9 percent of the Los Angeles Times staff, but its circulation area is 38.3 percent Latino, according to the foundation. Staffs at the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post are each 4.3 percent Latino; but they have circulation areas that are 11.7 percent and 8.5 percent Latino, respectively. Among other major dailies that had major percentage disparities were (Knight circulation figures in parenthesis): The New York Times 4.0 percent (11.7 percent); USA Today 3.1 percent (12.5 percent); The Dallas Morning News 6.1 percent (21.2 percent); The Wall Street Journal 4.5 percent ( 12.5 percent); The Miami Herald 19.2 percent (47.1 percent).

In 2006, the number of newspapers reporting no journalists of color increased from 377 to 392, according to ASNE.

Hispanic Link.