Politics

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 […]

Looks like Arizona Republican candidate for US Congress Gabriela Saucedo Mercer is back in the news. This time, it is not about plagiarized quotes about food stamps. Now Saucedo Mercer, who is running against Democrat Raúl Grijalva, for Arizona's District 3, has things to say about "Middle Easterners." Here is what CBS Baltimore posted: “If […]

This morning NBC Latino's Sandra Lilley and Adrian Carrasquillo published on-the-record comments from Puerto Rico's Zoraida Fonalledas, the chairwoman of the GOP’s permanent organization committee, who said that yesterday's bizarre scene where chants of "USA! USA!" drowned her out as she stepped up to the podium at the Republican National Convention were not directed at her. […]

It was a bizarre scene that has gone viral on YouTube (over 146,000 views last time we checked), and as we reported yesterday, there were different accounts as to why Puerto Rico's Zoraida Fonelladas could not speak at the podium of the Republican National Convention yesterday in Tampa. Here is the clip that has gone […]

Now there are conflicting stories, one saying that the boos and chants  of “USA! USA!” by some Republican delegates today in Tampa were all about trying to seat some Ron Paul delegates after RNC chair Reince Preibus had called for a vote to unseat them. However, whether it was irony or just plain ignoranace, all […]

This past weekend Univision anchor and Twitter rockstar Jorge Ramos published an open letter to the GOP on his personal web page. Called “Squandering the Hispanic Vote: An Open Letter to the GOP,” Ramos proceeded to give the Republican Party some strategic advice about the 2012 election a few days before the party’s convention in […]

So much for the moderate stance on immigration that the Romney campaign has been trying to promote the last few months in its quest to gain more support particularly among US Latino voters. Tuesday, Politico ran a piece confirming that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach—the architect behind laws such as Arizona's SB 1070—pushed for […]

Tuesday at the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference, writers from all over the world—including Pulitzer Prize novelist Junot Diaz—issued a statement condemning Arizona's House Bill 2281, the law that allowed for the banning of books at Tucson Unified School District  and the dismantling of TUSD's Mexican American Studies program.   We, the undersigned writers attending the […]

We asked Roberto Lovato to record his thoughts and impressions about a meeting he and others from the Caravan for Peace had with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio last week in Phoenix. Here is what Lovato sent us this weekend. GUEST POST by Roberto Lovato “America's Toughest Sheriff” has the softest hands of any lawman […]

This came in from the YouTube channel of NDLONvideos:  The US Commission on Civil Rights held a briefing in Alabama on the impact of state-based immigration laws. They invited the author of SB1070 and the sponsor of Alabama's hate law. Kris Kobach can't testify about the impact of immigration laws. Undocumented people can. Riders from "No […]

In 2007, when Joe Biden was trying to win the Democratic nomination for President, he was asked about immigration and the question of Mexico. This is what he said. In short, Mexico has its problems and its "dirt poor villages." And it is because of Mexico's problems that Mexicans want to "jump over a wall […]

On the first day when undocumented youth could begin to come out of the shadows due to the deferred action executive order issued by the Obama administration, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer issued her own executive order that would essentially denying state agencies to deny any undocumented youth applying for deferred action the ability to get […]

So it appears that the political distractions will continue. Now the US English-language media has started ripping up a story that Governor Mitt Romney shows a preference for vaginas because he was on a Spanish-speaking radio show in Miami and said that "mangoes, papayas, and mangoes" are his favorite kinds of  Cuban fruits. Granted, the […]

Tomorrow August 15, the United States government will initiate a deferred action process providing temporary relief from possible deportation to young people "who were brought into this country through not fault of their own." The June 15 executive action announced by President Obama, which was praised immigration advocates but also seen a sly and cynical […]

On August 12, the Caravan for Peace was launched on the Tijuana-San Diego border and it has now begun a cross-country journey across 25 cities, from Los Angeles to Washington DC. Organized by Global Exchange and Mexico’s Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD), the caravan is bringing the realities and tragedies of the Mexican […]

A few weeks ago the Los Angeles Times reported a story that explored Mitt Romney's efforts to fund Bain Capital and how some of the company's initial investors were from families who had tied to El Salvador's Dirty War and its death squads. The news opened a wound with many Salvadoran Americans who were displaced […]

Leave it to pro-statehood and GOP darling Luis Fortuño to conveniently stop being a pro-US-statehooder during the London Olympics. The last few days, Fortuño, who is facing a tough re-election this November, has suddenly become one proud boricua during Puerto Rico’s Olympic efforts. Never mind the fact that as someone who fervently supports Puerto Rico […]

The last few days, the #YoSoy132 movement and others in Mexico protested the studios of Televisa, one of the country's largest media companies. The protest has caught the attention of the mainstream media, including the New York Times, which posted a new story about an hour ago tonight. Here is an excerpt from that story: […]

Another Sunday, another march in Mexico to protest the alleged fraud during the July 1 presidential elections. Yesterday’s marches were captured via social media, with unconfirmed images being posted and shared (like this one below, which we are sure is from 2006) throughout the day. Here is a Storify of pics taken from Twitter and […]

Today, the LA Times reported a story about the early days of Bain Capital and how Mitt Romney and other founding partners of Bain went out to raise money in 1984 for the new firm. The Times report covers the early founding history of Bain. Here is a part of the article: The first outside investor in […]

Today Latino Decisions published a new poll commissioned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and America’s Voice that shows President Obama increase his lead over Mitt Romney among US Latino voters. The latest results reported that Obama was favored by 70% of those polled with Romney earning 22% support from poll participants. The […]