#latinos united

[valhalla-awaitsfor-us]

I need Roier, Mariana and Missa to sing "A Dios le pido" At Roiers wedding.

[hookedonvillains]

The OGs 3 LDF is BAAAAAAAACK and better than EVER!!!

[degeneratedworker]

"Cellar with supplies" Soviet Union c. 1970s

[moonsfireflies1993]

Why Panama is on Strike

From afar the Panama protests look like maybe a bunch of hypersensitive eco-fools or maybe like those people who think throwing paint on museums is making any difference instead of going directly to the companies. 

The reality is that Panama is protesting way more than just the “contract”. But, let's start with the contract. 

First, the company can own Panama by owning land property of the Panama state" inside or outside the 17,000 hectares from what was licensed.” This means that the ANATI (the National Authority of Land Administration) HAS to give it to the mining company with no setbacks.

The mine puts danger around 8 countries of Centroamerica with already reported 200 environmental damages

If the company wants to own private lands that are located inside or outside of hectares of the land that was licensed. The company can own the land and pay nothing in exchange, with no questions.

The contract was done with random permits without the proper process of acquisition. 

The contract promises to give Panama a very small quantity of payment to Panama when Panama already spends millions of dollars on the state. This means the company will give Panama less money than what Panama already invests in the country. So we are selling parts of Panama for less than what we already invested. 

Panama's government is allowing a foreign company to NOT pay 70% of their taxes during the first 10 years of copper extraction. 

The community of Donoso (where the mine is located) says they see tons of copper trucks going out every week and at the same time they complain they haven't seen improvements in their community. Ejm: railroads, electricity.

The company threatens with an international lawsuit of millions of dollars if Panama doesn't sign the contract. But if the company fails to comply with the contract, claims it will only pay 70 million dollars (Which is less than what they make extracting copper from the mine).

The contract has a clause that makes an actual law. The contract will reign according to the laws of Panama, except if a law looks inconsistent. In other words, if Panama makes a law that prohibits mining or a law that obliges them to pay taxes, because of their contract it will not apply at all because of that clause. 

The joke was that the president signed the contract in less than 3 hours.

Now, going to the other complaints of the population. Panama already has tons of issues and complaints that are not resolved. These issues have put the whole country on the verge of exploitation.

In September, there were massive protests in several parts of the country because of the sexual assault of the minor Madeleine at the hands of the National Juvenile Assembly. To keep it short. Every year the country makes a national juvenile assembly and this kid was from outside the city representing her district. She ate and drank with each political party and told a classmate to check on her because her water tasted like medicine. The kid hours later was attended by an ambulance with no notification of this to her mom. After this, the kid was behaving erratic and paranoid with a location on her phone that wasn't at the hotel in Panama where all the kids were. The other claims of the event were that all the minors had those dinners with the political parties representatives and on those tables were "Gringos" (foreign European or North American people). Why those kids were sharing tables with gringos in the first place?

When the kid arrived from the trip, she was in a catatonic state and with constant PTSD attacks. There's still no justice or any trace of who were the ones who committed those crimes, and even no accountability by the MEDUCA (The Ministry of Education of Panama).

It is not the first time since such an event happened at the hands of the state. In 2021, we had another state scandal when it was reported that one of the deputies ( Arquesio Arias) of the national assembly raped several women in the indigenous Kuna Yala region. Of course, you can imagine he was dismissed from the charges and when that announcement was published, one of the victims tried to kill herself and got into the ER.

Then there are the deputies who name some of their relatives to the state payroll and don't even work in the state but take tons and tons of money monthly. Meanwhile, the oncologico hospital keeps getting shortages of injections and gloves.

Panama is considered an international hub, one of the richest countries of Latin America and still we struggle with poverty and access to vital things for the population, why? Because people of the state and international companies steal the money, they sometimes build roads and bridges and the costs are higher to the price from the real costs of those constructions, for example, the Odebretch scandal. They charge lots of money, so they can bribe some of the money to both parties (the construction company and the one who is soliciting the construction.

But then again bribing is part of the panamenian culture as we say "juega vivo", bribing the police, the hospital, and the system is all about money and taking advantage of situations as they come even if it is illegal.

Is funny we are all fighting for water, Well my friends here where I am with the famous "Panama Canal" that provides us with most of our income as a nation while having lots of rivers and geographically we are surrounded by both the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean, having all of that I get shortages and cuts of water for more than 6 times a month.

This week, the IDAAN (the company that provides water to the whole nation), has been making shortages all week. My family and I have been saving water tanks each day because of the shortages. I keep joking internally that I have a toxic relationship with the IDAAN since we kind of got used to this and the irony is that while the entire country struggles with the shortages they still sign a contract that will even affect the water flow to the Panama Canal in the long term.

The protests are not just because of the damage to nature is that the government sold us to a foreign Canadian company that has shareholders from the US and China to exploit us leaving us with nothing.

My biggest worry right now is that our current president is sick, the whole country knows he has cancer and during his last speeches, he has been looking like a corpse with now rumours of him leaving the country to intern himself to a hospital in Houston Texas. If he dies then probably the vice president has to take charge, but he has been missing since the protests and people HATE him. So yeah, Panama is on the brink of chaos and if that happens .. well

[candela888]

Countries Tyrannosaur fossils have been found in 🦖

[reasonsforhope]

Last Wednesday [October 18], WBEZ (91.5 FM) reported that a civic leader of St. Louis visited the Chicago Mayor’s Office to discuss a program whereby migrants from Venezuela could be brought to the Gateway to the West in order to ease the migrant crisis gripping the Windy City just as winter temperatures arrive.

It’s estimated that 20,000 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, have arrived in Chicago this year, and finding them places to stay has been challenging.

The WBEZ report details that St. Louis is currently in a decline of population and employees, and some in the city believe the migrants and the city would be better off long-term if they moved there.

The International Institute of St. Louis announced the new Latino Outreach Program last month with the aim of both attracting and accommodating migrants arriving from Latin America.

Karlos Ramirez, vice president of Latino Outreach for the International Institute, told WBEZ the as-yet unconfirmed agreement “could be the potential for a great relationship between both cities,” adding that “if the [migrants] are going to be in a better place, St. Louis is going to be in a better place, and Chicago is going to be in a better place, I think everybody wins.”

Ramirez says that any next step would have to include sharing details and practices between Latino Outreach and its partners with their counterparts in Chicago.

Fox News 2 reached out to the St. Louis Mayor’s Office for comment, and the representative shared a statement released previously in response to the WBEZ report.

“While the City has not had direct conversations on welcoming more migrants from Chicago, the City of St. Louis has had a longstanding cooperative relationship with the International Institute to welcome immigrants and refugees to the St. Louis area.”

Other migrant welcome programs in the city, such as the Arch Grants program, saw great success in Afghans fleeing the country in August of 2021, and the International Institute modeled its efforts for Latino Outreach on this success.

-via Good News Network, November 6, 2023. Video via Fox 2 St. Louis, October 20, 2023. Note: Fox local affiliate networks are not the same as Fox News, and many are editorially independent/not The Actual Worst.

Note: If you're in St. Louis, you can check out the International Institute of St. Louis to get involved or call your local representatives to support!

[wwemcumuscleslover]

Latino power into the Dick Wolf Universe

Nick Amaro & Antonio Dawnson

[dreamersbcll]

Chinese Satellite

it’s just a matter of time before i’m hearing things

2/4

——————————————————————————-

Sam comes home two years later.

She’s twenty years old, on the cusp of her twenty-first. There wasn’t really a good reason for why she came home. Regret for all the relationships she left behind. Maybe it was the curiosity, wondering what had changed and what stayed the same in the sleepy town she grew up in.

Mostly, it was the guilt.

One thing Sam Carpenter excelled at was dwelling in the past. Stagnant. Never moving forward.

It probably explains why she couldn’t enter the house that raised her.

A couple of minutes past midnight, Sam rolled into Woodsboro, and within half past the hour, she sat outside her old home.

The car she was driving wasn’t hers— much like the house she was outside wasn’t either. It was funny. She didn’t have a plan for coming back. She just got into Stacy’s car and drove.

She could be anywhere else. Doing anything else. But yet she was here. Living in the past again.

Getting out of the car, she wrapped her sweater around her, shivering. It was a hot May night, but this was her second time trying to get clean. Detox didn’t care for the weather. She would freeze anyway.

Sam ambled across the street, her hands digging into her skin. She walked slowly, carefully, ensuring no one could see her. If someone saw her, she wouldn’t have a good explanation for why she was here.

And if Tara saw her, well, she would have to break her little sister’s heart a second time.

As she approached the house, she noticed two lights were on. The kitchen light, and Tara’s room. The kitchen light wasn’t a shock- their mother needed it for her drunken late-night escapades. Tara’s, however, was a shock. Sam can’t recall her little sister staying up so late.

She probably missed it. A lot fell through the cracks in the last seven years.

If she squinted, she could see a cross above Tara’s bed. Funny. She doesn’t recall that.

Sam stood right outside the kitchen window, peering in. Not much has changed. The same wooden table with two functioning chairs still stood, with the same old paintings of fruit on the walls. There were still photos of the sisters- even cracked and crooked- posted all over the walls. It was comforting to know that even though she was gone, her face was still on the walls.

Her free hand fell to the cross around her neck, twirling the chain around her fingers. She knows leaning on her history with religion wasn't the right move. Nor the smart one. All it ever did was maim her and leave her barely breathing.

Sometimes, she likes to think that maybe if she prayed harder, somebody would listen.

It never worked. But maybe standing outside the house she grew up in and staring through the windows she knew well would lead to something.

Who was she to question God’s ways?

Her eyes flitted up to a picture on the wall. It was the sisters, somewhere around Sam’s eleventh birthday. The two sisters were squished together, both in their nicest church dresses. Easter Sunday.

Sam closed her eyes, taking in the photograph. She remembers that day well. In fact, she could probably relive it. The sickly sweet scent of Easter lilies, the scratchy dresses, the smell of coffee after service. She remembers Tara crying because she kneeled on a hairpin during prayer and her mami scolding both girls for being too loud.

Opening her eyes, Sam looked at the photo again, noticing the cross tightly held by Tara’s fist. It clicks. Sam does know that cross. It was the one their mami gifted both of them, one to keep and talk to God with.

She shrugged. It couldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like anyone else would be listening anyway.

Breathing out, Sam stared at the photo and spoke.

“We haven’t spoken in a while, have we?”

Already, she wasn’t very sure if she was speaking to Tara or God.

“I’ve got to tell you what a state I’m in…” she trailed off, collecting her thoughts.

Laughing a bit, Sam ran a hand through her hair. This was ridiculous. Standing outside her old home in the dark, staring into a kitchen that was never really hers. Pathetic almost. But some sort of gravitational pull kept her rooted in the spot, stuck in place.

“Fuck. I guess I don’t know. I have to tell you that I’ve started looking for a warning sign. A warning sign that maybe I shouldn’t come home. A sign that I shouldn’t look for more excuses, yeah?”

Sam bit down on her lip. Hard. Lying was a sin.

Good thing she was racking them up.

“That’s a lie, I guess. The truth is, I miss you. That’s my warning sign. Yeah. Yeah, the truth is that I miss you. I miss you so fucking much. I can’t-” she hiccups, a sob caught in her throat.

Sam clears her throat, wiping her nose hastily with her sleeve. “And I’m tired. God, I’m tired. I shouldn’t have let you go. I’m sorry.”

Looking down at the cross around her neck, she shuddered. “I shouldn’t have let you go.”

She shook her head, hand grasping the chain tight off to snap it. “But I did. And now I’m twenty years old. She’s fifteen. And you probably aren’t real, so what’s the point of all this?”

Nobody answered. Nobody heard her. It was silent. Like it always was around Sam.

“I don’t know. I just wish someone would hear me. Point me the right way,” she shrugged.

Groaning, Sam let go of the chain. “But no one is there. There are just echoes. That’s it.”

Sam looks around again, waiting for someone to come out. Anyone. Someone to hear her, talk to her. Point her in the right direction. Tell her what she was doing was wrong, and there was a fitting way to fix it.

Yet, God was silent. So was her childhood home.

“Why don’t you help me? Why weren’t you there for me? Were you ever there?” she half-shouted, snapping her mouth shut.

Fuck. She shouldn’t have yelled. Someone could hear her. Someone could find her.

But nobody answers.

She turns around, almost robotically, and marches back to her car. Sam is sure if she turned around, she would be met with silence. But if she marched forward to the car, maybe she could find someone to hear her. Maybe.

And so Sam crawls into the empty arms of someone she loves, the only love she hadn’t screwed up.

Empty arms with the name heroin. The only light that bathed Sam’s face from then on was the lighter she used to spark up.

If God wasn’t going to listen, neither was she.

[daenerysoftarth]

so apparently not a lot of people know this but. america created (or helped create) [edit: germany actually did create zyklon b but it was first used on humans in america] Zyklon B, which was the gas the nazis used to exterminate Jewish people en masse in concentration camps during the holocaust. people often believe the nazis invented it in the 30s or 40s, but actually it was first invented and used in the 1920s at the mexican american border. it was used to “cleanse” migrant workers, who were forced to strip, shave, and then had to be sprayed with this poison before being permitted entry into the United States. much like how Jewish prisoners in concentration camps were stripped, shaved, and then forced into gas chambers to “cleanse” europe of their presence. afaik america has never apologized for this or paid reparations to Holocaust survivors. or the surviving families of those migrant workers. just something to keep in mind as US politicians continue to pretend that it is their deep love of Jewish people that causes them to support Israel, and not their monetary interests in the region

(also important note: mexico has the largest indigenous population on the planet and many mexicans have some >50% amount of indigenous heritage in them, so this is fundamentally an act of blocking native peoples from their own land. much like israel stealing palestine)

[silverfroot]

got a job

it will be hard, time consuming, energy draining. But I need that job.

I will spend an absurdity of time taking one bus after another. Oh God!

I thought I was preparing myself to this challenge when I experimented different study methods. However, the challenge will be WAY BIGGER than I thought.

This photo is from the public transport of my city. I will work hard and then spend 4 hours a day on this. Sometimes I can't even put both feet on the ground. There's no dignity to working class in Brazil.

That's why I am interested on applying to learn how to ride a motorcycle. I would buy a humble one. However the cost of just ATTEMPTING to get a driver license is absurd, it's HUGE, it's about 4 to 5 times a minimum wage.

[lonewolflink]

.

[kuramirocket]

"Indigenous automatically means we are the people of this land. I believe that's important to know because there are white people in the United States trying to deport. Who are they deporting? Who? People who look like who? Like you. Brown people. Indigenous people. You're telling me that you guys, Europeans, white people, came from another land, arrived here and said, 'Oh, you guys are going to get deported.' Whoa whoa whoa. First of all you're not an immigrant. The immigrant are the people who are trying to throw you out of here. Those are the immigrants. So it's correct to say the immigrant are trying to replace us. That's why it's important to know this stuff because we allow them to tell us who we are. 'We are immigrants,' and that's what people who colonize you want to do. They want to erase what you are and tell you what you are. Give you your worth and your value. And that is the problem and that is why I write. We have allowed the colonizers to, ofc, erase who we are and also afterwards tell us now you're this, you're latino, you're hispanic. And that's what we claim. How can the people who obviously hated us and destroyed us, also tell us who we are."

- Ricardo Ignacio discussing the topic of mexican immigration to the United States

[zaelit0]

Colombia 1920

In the vibrant tapestry of Colombia in the 1920s, a fusion of fashion, economy, politics, and culture wove together to create a distinct era marked by dynamic shifts and cultural effervescence.

Fashion in Colombia during this time reflected the influence of both European trends and indigenous traditions. Urban centers like Bogotá and Medellín saw the emergence of a cosmopolitan elite, who adorned themselves in the latest Parisian styles, showcasing opulent fabrics and elegant silhouettes. Meanwhile, rural communities maintained their traditional attire, preserving centuries-old craftsmanship and textile techniques.

Economically, Colombia experienced a period of growth fueled by the expansion of industries such as coffee and textiles. The coffee boom, in particular, bolstered the nation's economy and solidified its position as one of the world's leading coffee exporters. However, this economic prosperity was not evenly distributed, exacerbating existing disparities between the urban bourgeoisie and rural peasants.

Politically, the 1920s in Colombia were characterized by instability and upheaval. The decade witnessed the rise of populist leaders and the emergence of leftist movements advocating for social justice and land reform. Simultaneously, conservative factions sought to maintain the status quo, leading to political polarization and occasional unrest.

Culturally, Colombia experienced a flourishing of artistic expression and intellectual discourse. Writers, poets, and artists contributed to a rich cultural tapestry, exploring themes of identity, heritage, and social change. Musically, genres such as vallenato and bambuco gained popularity, reflecting the diverse cultural heritage of the Colombian people.

Despite the challenges and contradictions of the era, the 1920s in Colombia were a time of innovation and transformation. As the nation navigated the complexities of modernity and tradition, it forged a unique path marked by resilience, creativity, and the enduring spirit of its people.

[moonsfireflies1993]

The American who killed the panamenian protesters and other reasons why I dislike American culture

This Tuesday, November 7 some teacher unions and indigenous collectives were protesting closing of the railroads because of the mining contract and the corruption, a man called Kenneth Darlington killed 2 of the protesters who were unarmed. This man had trouble with the law years prior. In 2005, he was detained for the illegal possession of arms. Of course, because anything can be bought in Panama he was pardoned from all charges.

The man is a zonian American. And what is a zonian? Well, zonians were the Americans who grew up inside the canal zone. Which meant they lived inside the American settlement that managed the Panama Canal. Most of the Americans who lived there were from the south of the US, and only spoke english. Most of them grew up isolated from Panamanian society and disconnected from all the problems Panama was dealing with their precedence on Panamanian land.

They even implemented some of their ways, like segregation of blacks and whites in some of their canal zone areas. They loved how they lived in Panama because they had so many benefits that the common Americans living in the US didn't had. Like, free taxes, good housing, good salary, and long vacations.

Some of those Zonians got back to the US and most of them mourned the life they had in Panama. So, as you can imagine, now being American retirees some came back to live in Panama. Some of them never left and stayed in the Albrook area, trying to adapt to the changes while also holding some of those old American ideals from the South.

As you know from my older posts, Panama is currently dealing with a corruption crisis that has to do more than just random people fighting for nature preservation. This crisis that started in October made some far-leftist unions manifest, some taking advantage of the situation and others with other concerns regarding their community. Some people support their methods of protests of closing railroads and some people criticize it because of how it's leaving some provinces without access to resources.

Regardless of the anger of being trapped in traffic because of the protests no one absolutely no one has the right to kill another individual.

Now, going to the title of this post it may look like someone who hates Americans in general which is not entirely like that. But, on my end, from what I have seen on how Americans live, with college/university debt, a health system with absurd prices and their individualistic culture. As someone who has interacted with all kinds of Americans visiting Panama, I always felt some disdain for how they think their ways of living apply the same in a different country, in this case, them visiting Panama. Don't get me wrong, I have met nice Americans as well, but also someone's who come across as entitled.

It was a surprise of mine to see today, Wednesday 8 a post from the New York Post talking about the event and to my surprise, the amount of American accounts commenting distasteful things without even asking a Panamanian about the issue or doing some research. It just confirms a bit more of my judgment of how they live in a bubble, thinking their ways apply to the rest of the world. Then again I know some Americans don't think in such ways, but sadly I have seen some of this kind of behaviour in both extremes of the left and the right. Trying to relate to an issue by applying some of their American mindset to it. And what I mean by that is just their society rules, what is ok and not ok in their culture and even their societal issues.

I don't think you need to be from another country to understand why killing is bad, especially if a group is unarmed and not actively attacking you. And celebrating it just tells me the lack of character and ethics of that individual.

[candela888]

Some of the different types of cumbia in Latin America 🇨🇴🇵🇦

Cumbia is a folkloric genre and dance from Colombia & Panama. Since the 1940s, commercial or modern Colombian cumbia had expanded to the rest of Latin America, and many countries have had their own variants of cumbia.

[kafkaesque97]

my dad just said "look a photo of my trip to india" and he showed us a photo of him and his friend looking like Shah Rukh Khan in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and i just lost it