Julio Ricardo Varela

The craziness continues. UPDATE: Some people thought that this entire fuss was about the late Hugo Chávez. Seriously. UPDATE: Google has responded. We enjoy celebrating holidays at Google but, as you may imagine, it’s difficult for us to choose which events to highlight on our site. Sometimes for a given date we feature an historical […]

On March 27, the national news media confirmed that Arizona senator John McCain (R) was live-tweeting the news of a woman who had scaled an 18-foot border fence in Nogales, AZ in the middle of the day, just yards away from four U.S. senators and a U.S. Border Patrol station. FOX News reported the following: “It […]

Originally published at JulioRVarela.com I am tired. I am tired of how the US mainland media continues to portray the island-territory of Puerto Rico with one broad brushstroke—that it is a new hotbed of violence and chaos. Recently, Fortune’s Cyrus Sanati told U.S. billionaires to “beware” of Puerto Rico, saying that the island “has a bevy […]

Yes, familia, even opinion writers in blue state Massachusetts show their cultural ignorance once in a while. Take the case of The Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby, a conservative columnist who today penned the following opinion piece, “Americans speak every language, but only English unites us.” The column focuses on Gabriel Gómez, a second-generation Colombian American […]

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is one of the oldest and most respected Hispanic civil rights organizations in the United States. Formed in 1929, it has an exceptionally notable history, and as part of its mission statement reads, LULAC’s goal “is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health […]

Someone, anyone in the mainstream English-language U.S. network news world, please wake up and enter the 21st century. Now that Soledad O’Brien will no longer be heading up a show on CNN (she will remain on the network as a nonexclusive producer), the representation of Latinos in prominent hosting roles for the country’s top English-language […]

Given that Twitter will be very busy tonight when Jorge Ramos chats immigration with Mamiverse, Latino Rebels, and iHispano, I am feeling a bit selfish right now. I know many people have submitted some great questions for Ramos, but there is a part of me that just wants Ramos to answer the following 10 questions […]

This morning I was contacted by Colombia’s W Radio to make a live appearance on its morning show. The topic? A piece the Rebels wrote about the “Fulgencio” episode which aired last week on ABC’s “Modern Family.” I said yes, and within five minutes of agreeing to talk, the show had me on live to […]

Originally published at JulioRVarela.com Of all the emails and messages I have received regarding the cancellation of WAPA-TV’s “SuperXclusivo” show in Puerto Rico, the following note at the end of this post by my cousin Omar Pereira basically sums up for me why I always thought that the Boicot a La Comay movement was a […]

I was 3 years old the night my hero died.

Censorship. In the Internet age, it is a word that is tossed about a lot and mostly misinterpreted. To give this column some context, let's actually read from the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or […]

Looks like Puerto Rico is waking up after rallying behind a social media campaign against WAPA's "SuperXClusivo" show, hosted by puppet called La Comay (portrayed by actor Kobbo Santarrosa). The incredibly popular show (seen both in Puerto Rico and in the US through WAPA América) sucks. It is a bastion of all that is bad […]

Before you jump to conclusions—which some people associated with the "Los IceHogs" November 16 event being promoted by the American Hockey League's Rockford IceHogs said I had done already—my NBC Latino piece about the event did not say that the people behind the now Internet-famous IceHog in a sombrero with garish jersey accompanied by Corona maracas […]

The current wave in marketing has agencies everywhere telling brands that if you don't go "Latino," you will miss out on the NEXT BIG THING. So in a world where agencies are looking for business and brands are now ready to spend on the "Latinization" of their offerings, it is getting messy out there. Add […]

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT JULIORVARELA.COM Last night the island of Puerto Rico experienced a historic election. Not only did Puerto Ricans go to the polls to vote for Governor, Resident Commissioner, and other legislative positions, they also voted in yet another non-binding plebiscite that tried to determine whether Puerto Ricans favored its current commonwealth relationship with […]

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT JULIORVARELA.COM So, this interview from Fox Business' Varney and Co. with Puerto Rico Secretary of Commerce José Pérez-Riera is quite telling. The level of ignorance from the American media is sad. Let's get this straight: you can disagree with Pérez-Riera, but the interviewers should at least respect the guy. When will Puerto Ricans wake […]

UPDATE, October 25, 2012: As I suspected, although the vast majority of private and public responses I have received for this piece has been very positive, I have also been criticized by some for linking to some of the blog posts that didn't clearly reveal that what they were writing was a sponsored post. Since […]

Originally Published at JulioRVarela.com Tonight, Puerto Rico's Noticias 24/7 broadcast a debate to discuss the island's upcoming November 6 political status plebiscite. The moderated forum featured pro-statehood Governor Luis Fortuño, pro-independence candidate for governor Juan Dalmau, and  Luis Delgado, who supports a freely associated sovereign state. I could get into the details and try to encapsulate decades […]

I will be honest with you. I went into last night’s Democratic National Convention keynote address by San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro with low expectations. Sure, everyone was billing it as the first time a Latino was being featured as a keynote speaker in the history of political conventions, but after a week where people […]

Last week, I shared a post that included what my friends were saying about an open letter Univision’s Jorge Ramos wrote to the Republican Party. I wrote that post because in the end, no matter what you think about Ramos, he is still the most popular and well-known Spanish-language news anchor in the United States. […]

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT JULIORVARELA.COM August was supposed to be a great month for Puerto Rican Governor and pro-statehood Republican Luis Fortuño. He was supposed to claim victory for changes to Puerto Rico's constitution. He did not, essentially setting himself up for an unsuccessful re-election bid in November against an opponent who quite frankly is not the […]