AmericaLatina

Here is a letter from my great-aunt in Maracaibo-just a few things about life in Venezuela.

Hola,la vida en Maracaibo es muy caliente,la temperatura sube a 47ºC,llueve poco y todo es muy seco.El sol es muy hermoso y tambien el bello lago con un extraordinario puente.Por todo el Lago hay torres petroleras.El nativo es muy alegre,le gusta un tipo de musica llamada gaita,con tambores y marracas.Hay muchos indigenas llamados Goajiros,las mujeres usan mantas y se pintan la cara,ellos viven en la ciudad pero conservan sus costumbres.La comida de navidad se llama hallaca,parece tamal Mexicano pero es mas rico,tambien se comen arepas y mandocas hechas de maiz.                   

Hello, the life in Maracaibo is very hot, the temperature climbs to 47 degrees Celsius (116 degrees Fahrenheit!), it rains little and everything is very dry.  The sun is very beautiful and there is also a beautiful lake with an extraordinary bridge.  Over all the lake there are petroleum towers.  The native is very happy, he likes a type of music called gaita, with drums and maracas.  There are many indigenous people called Goajiros, the women wear ponchos and paint their faces, they live in the city but keep their customs.  The Christmas food is called hallaca, like a Mexican tamale but is richer, also they eat tortillas and mandocas made of corn.

 Romero tells the story of the civil war that wracked the country of El Salvador three decades ago, and of the mild-mannered Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero who grudgingly entered the conflict on the side of the poor. Romero evolved into one of the most visible and outspoken critics of the outrages committed during the Cold-War conflict and gave consistent voice to the principle of nonviolence. For his activism, Archbishop Romero would pay with his life.

This movie does not pull punches in the images of violence that it presents. This is righteous anger from the director, who wanted to wake people up with something hard, not fuzzy. You will find this hard to believe, but the movie stops just as the war begins. In other words, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Some attending the funeral of Romero are shot for doing so by government soldiers, some circling above in a helicopter and firing down on the public.

A guerrilla group is formed from many parties – some Marxist — in the following year. It was called the FMLN for the Faribundo Mart National Liberation Front. They launch a civil war against the government, and the government earns the backing of the U.S. in the name of fighting the Cold War. The U.S. will vastly increase its military aid and training to El Salvador, totaling an average of $1.5 million dollars per day for the next 12 years.

The death toll is between 60,000 and 75,000 killed over the war, varied depending on when you start the war and the death count. This is in a country of 6 million. So the share of dead to the total population would equal, if this were to happen to the U.S., would be as if the U.S. lost 3.25 million people. Think of this way, their loss would be as if the U.S. had suffered death on the scale of the 9-11-2001 attacks every three days since the day of those attacks.

Professor Diane Soles of the Sociology Department at UW-Whitewater sees Cuban film taking a new direction.  Dr. Soles is a specialist in Cuban film and has conducted research in the Cuban Film Institute in Havana. She offered her perspective on Cuban film past and present during our Latin America seminar on Nov. 4.  

 The Cuban Film Institute (Instituto cubano del arte y industria cinematograficas) was an early part of the new revolutionary state put in place under Fidel Castro in 1959. The institute did what it was designed to do. That is, it promoted and controlled a type of film that contrasted with Hollywood by challenging an audience to think, by focusing on the collective rather than the individual, and by bringing film to everyone including the poor.  One example of films in the heyday of the institute in the 1960s were those by the late director Tomas Gutierrez Alea, such as “Memories of Underdevelopment” or the comedy “Death of a Bureaucrat”.

 Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 when Cuba entered an economic crisis, the resources of the institute have collapsed and a new group of filmmakers rely on foreign funding. This means that many newer films operate farther outside the umbrella of the state.  Two new directors and examples of their work are Pavel Giroud and his film “La edad de la peseta” and Alejandro Brugués and “Personal Belongings”. 

Robert Almonte, a retired Deputy Chief of the El Paso Police Department, spent most of his career investigating Mexican drug dealers and the Mexican drug trade.  During his research, he began to encounter many of the same saints displayed in the stash homes, in vehicles and even on Mexican drug dealers.  Almonte came to learn that these saints are being used as protection against law enforcement officials.

The most common saints:

La Virgen de Guadalupe: Patron Saint of forgiveness for past crimes

Torimo Romo: rescued migrants in the desert

Santo Nino de Atocha: the boy pilgrim, patron saint of prisoners and travelers

St. Jude: Patron Saint of lost causes-helps to get through difficult situations (like trafficking drugs)

St. Ramone: Patron Saint of secrets and silence.  Drug traffickers will tape a penny over St. Ramone’s mouth to keep their deals a secret.

Jesus Malverde: Angel of Poor, Mexican Robin Hood

San Simone: from Guatemala, gaining popularity in Mexico-Patron Saint of undocumented immigrants as well as Patron Saint of Gamblers and Drunkards

Juan Soldado: Patron Saint of illegal aliens.

The most famous: La Santa Muerte (Saint Death): La Santa Muerte is not canonized by the Catholic Church, in fact, she is not even recognized by the Catholic Church.  La Santa Muerte is a skeleton dressed similar to the Virgen Mary.  Whereas the Virgen Mary only listens to the wealthy and well-off, it is believed by many Mexicans that La Santa Muerte hears prayers from the poor and criminal-minded.  La Santa Muerte is usually seen wearing three colors: red=love, white=good luck, and black=protection.  La Santa Muerte has recently become associated with violence in Mexico, where drug dealers will execute people and offer their heads to La Santa Muerte.  Violence linked to Saint Death has not been seen yet in the United States.

These saints are usually seen as images on candles with prayers on them.  The other most common way these idols are displayed are on small cards that can be kept in a wallet or displayed on the dashboard of a vehicle.  Besides the saints, another common card is the Mano Poderosa-which is the image of Jesus’ hand with a religious figure on each of His fingers.  Mexican drug traffickers carry this around to literally have God’s hand protecting them from law enforcement.  Pendants of the saints worn around the necks of drug traffickers are incredibly common as well.

Many Mexican drug dealers and traffickers also believe in brujas (witches) and curanderos (healers).  Brujas are used to make hexes against particular narcotics officers.  Curanderos are known to prepare medicines from herbs and plants.  They also lead their followers in prayer and perform a “limpia” where they used a branch to “clean” the drug trafficker.

Many Mexicans are now becoming involved in Santeria, which is the combination of African Gods and Catholicism.  The drug traffickers want as much good luck as they can get, so they are trying this religion that is popular in Cuba and the Caribbean.

Other commonly seen idols among Mexican drug traffickers are: Tweety Bird-who in cartoons always seems to escape Sylvester, and Scarface.

Many drug traffickers have more than one idol, believing that “more is better.”  Besides just praying to these idols, drug traffickers have gotten creative.  In Kentucky, pounds and pounds of marijuana were found being transported in a four-foot statue of St. Jude.

Narcotics officers now have an extra clue to look for when searching a suspected stash house or when pulling over a suspicious driver.  As more law enforcement agents learn about the Patron Saints of the Mexican Drug Underworld, one can’t help but wonder, who’s side are the saints on?

When I was 16, I got the opportunity of a lifetime-I got to travel to Guatemala City with 7 other youth from my church to do mission work at our sister church, Cristo Nuestr0 Paz (Christ Our Peace).  We stayed in a convent in Zone 2 of Guatemala City and took a bus everyday to Zone 18, where our sister church is.  There are 21 zones in Guatemala City.  1-4 are where the wealthiest live and the government buildings are.  The higher the zone number, the poorer the area.  So essentially, Zone 18 is the 4th poorest in all of Guatemala City. 

The convent we stayed at in Zone 2 was very nice.  It even had a pool with a slide!  Only one of the nuns spoke English, but they all tried very hard to keep us fed and comfortable.  They made money to support their convent by educating young girls.  Although the nuns did not wear the traditional habits we see in movies, they were always fully clothed in long dresses and usually had some sort of long fabric covering their hair.  It was funny to sit in a room full of pictures of saints while the nuns hovered around the television cheering on the Guatemalan soccer team!

Zone 18 was quite different from the business buildings and McDonalds we had seen in Zone 2.  The church was over a century old.  Connected to the church was Padre Pedro’s house.  Padre Pedro was the only priest at Cristo Nuestro Paz, and he and his adult son, Mario, were seen as local heros and were known by everyone in Zone 18.  On the other side of the church was a combined medical and dental clinic.  After a quick tour, it was obvious that they were far behind us when it came to technology.  The medical center was just being introduced to computers-old, bulky things I had not seen since kindergarten.  Up the hill from the church was the two-room grade school.  The children were delighted to see us, and performed a song and dance for us.  I couldn’t help but notice how clean the kids were, after seeing all those Christian Foundation commercials back home, I was expecting everyone to be sick and dirty looking.

A tour of the rest of Zone 18 proved how poor this area is and how much they needed our help.  Houses were one- roomed tin huts.  Most homes have one bed the entire family shares made of wood, with one lightbulb dangling from the rusty roof.  One corner of the house was usually a shrine to the Virgin Mary with religious icons and candles.  Most of the land in Zone 18 is owned by wealthy businessmen that live in Zones 1-4 who charge exorbitant rent.   The water is polluted from the locals bathing and doing laundry in the river. 

Violence and prostitution are two huge problems in Zone 18, our “gringo” group was always led and followed by at least two locals for our protection.  We met a mother of two of the children families at our church sponsor to send to school.  Her husband had been murdered so to make ends meet she made and sold tortillas all day, and worked in a sweatshop at night.  She said the sweatshop was tedious work for little pay, but it was the only option she had.

After seeing how terrible the living conditions were here, I was surprised how hopeful everyone was.  It was also obvious how important religion was in their lives.  They prayed more than anybody I had ever known before.  They prayed before all meals, prayed in the morning, and at the end of all our visits, they prayed for our protection. 

With the majority of their population being under age 18, the inhabitants of Zone 18 are hopeful of change.  Padre Pedro visits the grade school and guarderia (daycare) kids regularly.  He preaches about Jesus and miracles, hoping that the youth will have faith to work for change in their poor neighborhood.

For more information on how St. Paul Parish helps Cristo Nuestro Paz: http://www.stpaulgenesee.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34:christ-our-peace-parish-guatemala&catid=7:sister-parishes&Itemid=9

       Raices do Brasil/Roots of Brazil Capoeira Madison is one of several schools in the United States that is spreading the popularity of this rythmic and active Afro-Brazilian art form. Capoeira is sprung from the sugar cane plantations and culture of African slaves in Brazil. One reason for its popularity today in Brazil and other terminals of the African diaspora is the fact that it was an illicit practice only practiced in secret during the slave era.

         Director/Instructor Dominic Stryker — also known as Professor Sabidinha — and four students of the school explained and demonstrated capoeira at an appearance on the UW-Whitewater campus on Oct. 26. Their visit was sponsored by a grant from the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at UW-Milwaukee.   

          Better than any written explanation could ever do, the demonstration displayed the complex give-and-take of the movements between the two weaving, kicking, and twirling participants in the middle of the roda, or circle. A video of the presentation is available here  as a movie download from itunesU site for UW–Whitewater. The authentic instruments, including the bowstring-and-gourd berimbao, also provided the live sensation of the rythmic heart to the action.

          Instructor and director Dominic explained that different people are attracted to capoeira for one of its many facets, such as its roots in Afro-Brazilian nationalism or the martial arts feel. But since all participants share in all the drumming, singing, and moving that involves capoeira, they eventually embrace the other aspects as well.

High priest figure

In part because of the ties linking New York City to the Caribbean, the New York Times periodically covers the influence that the African-influenced religion called Santeria wields both in New York and in the Caribbean, in particular Cuba.

This story from about a decade ago is a good example, and offers a good overview of the religion and its history:

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

Published: Monday, January 27, 1997

The recreation room is thick with cigar smoke by late afternoon. Three drummers frantically pound sacred drums, enticing worshipers to crowd around and step to the pulse. A singer chants insults in an African language, hoping to anger the santos, or deities, into appearing.

 

Suddenly, a woman draped in white shudders violently. Her eyes glaze, then roll back into her head. She reaches for her forehead as if to soothe it, all the while twirling low to the ground, round and round, massaging the intricate rhythms of the drums. Yemaya, the deity who symbolizes the sea and masquerades as the Virgin Mary, has finally come into the room. Yemaya has possessed her.

Read the entire article here.

Rev.  Rafael Rodriguez is pastor at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Whitewater and a native of Venezuela. After obtaining a law degree in Venezuela, Rev. Rodriguez came to Milwaukee to become a priest. After his ordination he first served as associate pastor in West Bend, Wisc. before coming to Whitewater

In a presentation Oct. 21 at UW–Whitewater, Rev. Rodriguez discussed the importance in Latin America and the Catholic Church of the reforms carried out in the 1960s. The reforms were initiated by the Vatican II Conference presided over in Rome by Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI from 1962 to 1965.  Figuratively, the idea of Vatican II was to “open the doors and windows of the church to let in fresh air”.  A number of reforms sought to make religious life more accessible through such things as sermons in the language of the church’s location rather than in Latin, and welcoming more work by lay members.

In Latin America at a conference of bishops in Medellin, Colombia in 1968 the ideas of  Vatican II inspired church members to focus Latin America’s Catholic Church on social problems of poverty and oppression. This was an innovation in Catholicism offered by Latin Americans that came to be called Liberation Theology. lOne outcome of this was that ay members took the initiative in a burgeoning of what are called Christian Base Communities in poor areas.

With the arrival of Pope John Paul II in 1978 the emphasis of the church shifted to liberating the world, especially those Catholics in his native Poland, from communism. Conversely, the Papacy discouraged Liberation Theology and social activism that often resembled, or openly embraced, Marxism.

Then, and now, Rev. Rodriguez said, the church exists within political movements and struggles. He cited the case of Honduras, where the current Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga supported the ouster of  left-leaning President Manuel Zelaya this past summer.

“Astounded” is the word I would use to describe my common reaction to reading the essays by Mexican native Alma Guillermoprieto in the New Yorker magazine. A single paragraph sometimes would give me pause. I’d put the magazine down and just shake my head at the talent there.

The talent with English, the honesty, the cultured manner of letting her own personality direct the topics and prose, are all in full display in the books and essays by Ms. Guillermoprieto. I look forward to seeing how she handles the genre of the “talk”, since she is visiting UW-Whitewater this evening to discuss “How to Be a Mexican” at 7 p.m. in Young Auditorium.

Here is more praise from the announcement of her visit by the sponsoring College of Letters and Sciences:

Guillermoprieto is considered an authority on how life in Mexico and South America relate culturally to the United States as she was born in Mexico and grew up in both Mexico and the U.S. She has devoted 30 years to the study of Latin American history and has related it to her own life in her two books, “Looking for History” and “The Heart That Bleeds.” In 2000, Guillermoprieto was awarded the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting, one of the most coveted awards in journalism, by Long Island University.

One of the most visible of the Mexican drug cartels now at war in that country is called La Familia Michoacana. 

The “family” is one of at least seven cartels spread across the republic. NPR provides a useful map to locate them.

“La familia” has influenced the political life inMichoacan.  10 mayors and 20 other officials wee held in relation to this.  los Angelos Times provides an article discussing how the political life has been corrupted along with a picture showing Rafael “El Cede” Cedeno Hernandez along with others being arrested.

For those who know spanish here is a video capturing  Rafael “El Cede’s” Cedano Hernandez arrest.

La Familia Michoacana

                                                By: Michelle Alvarado

La Familia Michoacana is a newly formed Mexican drug cartel group formed in the west-central part of the state in Mexico, Michoacana according to Corey Flintoff’s A Look at Mexico’s Drug cartel.[1]  The “Family” is suspected to have begun around 2004.  They had a goal according to the article Mexico’s Drug War of “eradicating the trafficking of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice”, and other narcotics, kidnapping, extortion, murder-for-hire, highway assaults, and robberies”.  Originally the group was portrayed as an organization fighting against drugs.  To make their family name known “The family” was responsible for entering a dance club and throwing five severed human heads on the floor of the night club in the town of Uruapan.  This group is very powerful and dangerous that they have lately even been involved with political corruption of this south central state.  Even though the alleged leader of La Familia Michoacana, Alberto Espinoza Barron, (AKA “La Fresa”), was arrested last year the group still remained strong and powerful.  Recently in late April Rafeal “El Cede” Cedeno Hernandez was arrested for his involvement in La Familia.  “El Cede’s” brother Daniel soon after stepped down from federal deputy candidate in the congressional election, which a small Mexico Green Ecological Party had nominated him. In reality it was less of a political organization than a corrupt family enterprise.  However, corruption just doesn’t stop there.  According to the Los Angeles Times [2] in late May the political corruption of La Familia became very clear.  Ten mayors and twenty other local officials were detained as part of a drug investigation.  George Grayson who wrote La Familia Michoacana: Deadly Mexican Cartel Revisited, [3] back in July that the “Family” “ambushed units of armed forces and federal police in eight cities, beginning at Michoacana’s colonial capital, Morelia”. The family used high powered rifles and grenades against its enemies in Guerro and Guadalajara states.  They are upset about their leaders being taken out, that on July 13^th along the Morelia-Lazaro Cardenas highway the “Family” executed twelve federal officers and left them in a pile alongside the road reading “Vengan por otro, los estamos esperando” or in English “come for another (of our leaders), we are waiting for you”.  The cartel is now moving from its Mexico’s market into the US markets like Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles.  Underneath the trailers of fruits and vegetable lays drugs and weapons being imported into the United States.  The law enforcement agencies from both coasts have very little to no experience with “La Familia”.  Military intervention is obviously necessary, but more than just this action needs to be done to stop the drugs from entering into the United States.  Many will agree that cleaning house is needed.  If you get rid of the corrupt politicians and government official, this will remove “La Familia” from being above the law.

[2] Turner, La Familia Michoacana, 2009.

http://agonist.org/nathan_wilcox/20090601/la_familia_michoacana        

[3] Grayson, La Familia Michoacana: Deadly Mexican Cartel Revisited.

http://www.fpri.org/enotes/200908.grayson.lafamiliamihoacana.html