News

An economic lunacy is gripping Puerto Rico. Wall Street has demoted the island’s debt to “junk bond” status. The government is teetering on bankruptcy and raising taxes in every direction. The latest proposals include a 16% “Value Added” tax and a tax on every obese child. In fact, despite the claim that Puerto Ricans “pay no […]

St. Patrick’s Day is very special in Mexico because it is a time when Mexicans remember the San Patricios, or the Battalion of St. Patrick.

On the morning of February 11, in a park in the city of Santiago, Dominican Republic, a Haitian man was found hanging from a tree. Bound hand and foot, the corpse of Jean Baptiste Harry has prompted special investigations, incited fiery protests on both sides of Hispañola and become the flashpoint in an international debate […]

In response to the Jessica Hérnandez autopsy released yesterday by the Denver medical examiner, Hérnandez family attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai shared the following statement with the media last night: The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner has classified the death of Jessica Hérnandez as a homicide. The report shows that Jessie was shot from the driver’s […]

The Background Shortly after its December release, I interviewed filmmaker Seven King about his documentary The Rebirth of Paris. King’s documentary is an homage to Paris is Burning. The Interview I asked King a few questions centered on the state of the ballroom scene, the connection between the “older” and “newer” generation of artists, as […]

“What are you?” “Where are you from?” “What kind of name is that?” “You don’t look Puerto Rican.” These are all things you hear a lot when you’re a three-quarter-Rican from The Bronx. I’m used to people being curious about my background, and my hippie-dippie first name, but I’ll never get used to people telling […]

Two days after Consejo Latino leaders in Pasco, Washington, met with Department of Justice officials in response to a letter they sent to the DOJ last week surrounding the shooting death of Antonio Zambrano Montes, the American Civil Liberties Union formally supported the civic group’s request for a federal investigation. Here is a copy of […]

(Spanish version here.) This essay does not judge or condemn Luis Muñoz Marín. We all know that President Barack Obama, Governor David Patterson (New York) and Congressman Trey Radel (Florida) used cocaine, Mayors Marion Barry (Washington, D.C.) and Rob Ford (Toronto)  smoked crack, and innumerable politicians and CEOs do a little “something something” on the regular. But […]

During my travels and with many different endeavors, I have the privilege of meeting several bright and charismatic leaders from across the globe. As someone who has dedicated his life to developing positive, social change in a society where quantifiable progress comes slowly, we as Latinos often become tired of fighting, resisting and advocating for […]

When a Puerto Rican wins the Powerball, it’s time to invoke the second amendment and load our guns. That is the message that went out when a $564 million Powerball lottery was held on February 11 and one of the three winning tickets was sold in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Almost immediately, Latino Rebels reported a national spate of offensive tweets, which […]

If growing up, you were given or not given things, opportunities or even certain sermones, it most likely had to do with your gender. If you were a girl and wanted to run around the patio instead of playing indoors, a relative may have called you impropia. If you were a boy and wanted to […]

The following video shows an unidentified man who says he witnessed the shooting death of Antonio Zambrano-Montes in Pasco, Washington. The man says he saw the officers killed Zambrano-Montes in “cold blood.” The YouTube information for the video says this: Eye witness to the 2/10/2015 shooting in Pasco, WA tells his story of the police […]

Last night on Latino Rebels Radio during a detailed conversation about the shooting death of Antonio Zambrano-Montes in Pasco, Washington, Felix Vargas of Consejo Latino said that his group would be formally requesting the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the case. The following is the letter Vargas sent today to Attorney General Eric Holder. […]

Toronto-based VarageSale is one of the hotter apps around, earning the 2014 Startup of the Year award in Canadian tech circles. According to its own marketing copy, the app is “the fun way to buy and sell in your trusted local community.” Think virtual garage sales, with local pages run by local administrators and you […]

Here is another longer video showing different angles of this week’s shooting death of Antonio Zambrano-Montes in Pasco, Washington.

“Jane, you ignorant slut.” So began the famed catchphrase by Saturday Night Live’s Dan Aykroyd to Jane Curtin in their weekly running comedy sketch on NBC. Somewhere rushing around in my brain is a similar phrase I’d like to use with Lorne Michaels, the creator and executive producer of the four-decades-long SNL late-night comedy show. […]

Pasco’s local newspaper published video from yesterday’s Justice for Antonio Zambrano-Montes Anti-Police Brutality Rally and March. The Zambrano-Montes case has already gained national and international attention. Last night, NBC News ran a segment on its newscast. Outlets such as The Guardian and CNN also covered yesterday’s march. Tonight, Latino Rebels Radio will talk with Pasco […]

GENEVA—“Let us stand for a minute of silence,” Emmanuel Decaux, chairperson of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), told those gathered on February 2 in this Swiss city to discuss the grave problem of involuntary disappearances in Mexico. A high-level government delegation and a sizeable civil society contingent traveled from Mexico to attend the […]

A graphic yet troubling video of Pasco police officers shooting and killing Antonio Zambrano Montes has gone viral on YouTube in the last two days. According to local media accounts, Zambrano Montes, a homeless migrant worker originally from Mexico, was hurling rocks at officers. This the YouTube video (CREDIT: Dario Infante Zuniga/ViralHog.com): This is what […]

AUSTIN—On Thursday afternoon, members of the Latino Community Affairs (LCA) organized a nonviolent United Against Racism March protest in response to the Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) fraternity party where some guests wore sombreros, ponchos, “border patrol” shirts and construction hats. More than 300 protesters showed up to the event and listened to several speakers before marching […]

I am one of hundreds of East Harlem artists denied housing at Artspace PS109. The Promise In the summer of 2014, 53,000+ people applied to live in 89 affordable apartments at Artspace PS109. This has become an all too common scene in New York City’s housing market. Decades of public subsidies and assistance for luxury development in NYC […]