Weekend Headlines: May 15-16, 2010

* Puerto Rico: On the one hand the man accused in the brutal murder of Jorge Steven López Mercado changed his plea to guilty and immediately received a 99-year prison sentence.

* U.S.: On the other hand a New York jury declared a mistrial for the second defendant in the killing of Jose Sucuzhanay.

* Colombia: Presidential candidate Antanas Mockus said that if he were elected he would try to normalize trade with Venezuela but also warned “if Venezuela becomes another Cuba, it would be sad for everyone.”

* Mexico: The bodies of seven men kidnapped on Monday were found dead in Chihuahua on Wednesday.

Image – Pink News (Jorge Steven López Mercado was killed in November by a man who claimed to hate gays but “offered the victim cocaine to have sex with him.”)
Online Sources- Towleroad.com, Gothamist, Americas Quarterly, LAHT

Daily Headlines: May 10, 2010

* Latin America: According to the International Labor Organization one in ten minors age 5-17 in Latin America and the Caribbean are child laborers.

* Mexico: Rest in peace Joaquin Capilla; the Mexican diver who won three Olympic medals died yesterday at the age of 81.

* U.S.: A jury is expected to continue deliberations into one of the men accused of the hate crime murder of Jose Sucuzhañay in New York.

* Bolivia: Is the U.S. government complicity aiding a strike by Bolivian labor unions against the Morales regime?

Image – PRESS TV
Online Sources- NY1, AFP, NBC Sports, Reuters

Daily Headlines: April 22, 2010

* Puerto Rico: The University of Puerto Rico will close for at least 48 hours after thousands of students went on strike to protest against academic changes and major budget cuts.

* U.S.: While one hate crime murder trial of an Ecuadorian immigrant ended on Long Island another one started in nearby Brooklyn.

* Brazil: The government awarded building rights to the construction of the controversial Belo Monte dam, which has been vehemently opposed by environmentalists and indigenous groups.

* Guatemala: The head of a U.N. commission on Guatemala has called on authorities to do more to combat widespread impunity.

Image – Claridad
Sources- BusinessWeek, New York Times, The Latin Americanist, United Nations, BBC News

Mixed verdict in Marcelo Lucero case

An eighteen-year-old Long Island teen was found guilty in the 2008 slaying of an Ecuadorian immigrant yet he was absolved of the harshest charge.

Jeffrey Conroy was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime in the death of Marcelo Lucero and could be sentenced next month to between 8 and 25 years in jail. Conroy was also found guilty on lesser charges of going “beaner-jumping” with other teens in order to assault other Latinos. Nevertheless Conroy escaped being convicted for the most serious charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime, which would’ve carried a maximum punishment of life in prison.

Conroy was the only one of seven implicated in the Lucero case to be charged with murder and manslaughter. Though he originally confessed to police that he killed Lucero he took back his admission and proclaimed his innocence at the trial. Conroy’s attorney argued that he took the rap for a teen he met hours before attacking Lucero but prosecutors said that Conroy showed an intent to kill and tried to pin the blame on someone he barely knew.

Suffolk County prosecutors declared the verdict as fair and Conroy’s attorney said that he would appeal the verdict. Yet local Latino activists and members of the Ecuadorian exile community feel that that the conviction was insufficient. “There are no winners”, said one Ecuadorian official according to newsday.com while Lucero’s brother Joselo was disappointed over the verdict in remarks he made to Ecuadorian radio.

Lucero’s death helped galvanize Long Island’s growing Latino community against what they claimed was an attitude of intolerance even among officials. Such an attitude has changed somewhat though not enough to dissuade fears among Latinos:

Many Hispanics attacked in the days before Lucero's killing were afraid to report the crimes to police, fearing questions about their immigration status, prosecutors said...

After the Lucero killing, Suffolk Police assigned an Ecuadorean born officer to work as a liaison between police and the Hispanic community in Patchogue. Some Hispanics in the community say conditions have improved, but advocates have held several press conferences during the trial, contending much work still needs to be done to ease fears.

While one trial nears its close another one involving a slain Ecuadorian immigrant is in its initial stages. Jury selection continued today in the 2008 murder of Jose Sucuzhuñay in Brooklyn.

Image- New York Times (“A vigil in Patchogue, N.Y., in 2008 for Marcelo Lucero, six days after he was killed.”)
Online Sources- newsday.com, New York Times, MSNBC, CNN, AP, NY1

Daily Headlines: August 3, 2009

* U.S.: Family of Jose Sucuzhañay was present at the dedication of the Brooklyn street corner where he was murdered in a suspected hate crime.

* Argentina: Representatives of President Cristina Kirchner’s government will meet with farm leaders threatening to go on strike over Argentina’s weakened economy.

* Cuba: "We are ready to talk about everything, but ... not to negotiate our political and social system," declared Cuban President Raul Castro in a speech to the country’s legislature.

* Colombia: A symbol of Colombia’s continued armed conflict- the roughly 2000 displaced people in Bogota’s Tercer Milenio Park- agreed to leave the site after four months of peaceful occupation.

Image- New York Daily News (“A business card belonging to Jose Oswald Sucuzhanay” who was slain in December 2008.)
Online Sources- AFP, Colombia Reports, NY1, Reuters, The Latin Americanist

NYPD arrest duo in Jose Sucuzhanay murder (includes update)

Update (March 1):

A lawyer for Keith Phoenix claimed that his client acted in self-defense over the murder of Jose Sucuzhanay.

Jay Schwitzman said that Pheonix and co-defendant Hakim Scott attacked Sucuzhanay and his brother when one of them appeared to reach for a gun. Police officials and a lawyer for the Sucuzhanay family rejected those claims. (Links via New York Times and AP).

Update (February 28):

Police yesterday arrested the second suspect wanted in the death of Jose Sucuzhanay.

Keith Phoenix was was arraigned Saturday morning on charges of second degree murder as a hate crime and is currently being held without bail.

"So I killed someone-that makes me a bad guy?...What's the big deal? That guy is dead." These were the chilling and remorseless words reportedly uttered by Pheonix during his interrogation yesterday according to the NYPD. (Links via CNN, NY1, and Gothamist).

Original Post:

New York City police arrested a man suspected in the December murder of Jose Sucuzhanay.

Hakim Scott, was charged with 2nd degree murder as a hate crime in the crime which took place in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. According to police, Scott and a second man- Keith Phoenix- assaulted Sucuzhanay and his brother Romel while shouting homophobic and anti-Latino insults. The attack was absolutely vicous and cruel:

Mr. Scott approached Jose Sucuzhanay and smashed a beer bottle over the back of his head, the police said, and then chased Romel Sucuzhanay.

Mr. Phoenix then took an aluminum baseball bat from the rear of the vehicle and struck Jose repeatedly on his shoulder, ribs and back until he fell, the police said.

“At that point Phoenix struck Jose several more times, full force, with crushing blows to his head,” said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, who announced the arrest at a news conference at Police Headquarters on Wednesday evening with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney. Once in custody, Mr. Scott “made a full confession,” Mr. Kelly said.

Authorities released the following video of Phoenix and Scott paying the toll at the RFK Bridge while laughing it up a mere nineteen minutes after the Sucuzhanay attack.

Police are still searching for Phoenix; anyone with information is asked to call the CrimeStoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.

Sucuzhanay’s murder was condemned not only in New York but also in his native Ecuador. His death came weeks after the killing of Marcelo Lucero on Long Island.

Online Sources- CNN, New York Times, The Latin Americanist, ABC News, New York Daily News

Report: Staten Island assaulters sought minorities

What is it with this rash of Latinos being targeted by young bigots in the New York City area?

First there was the anti-Latino attack and murder of Ecuadorian migrant Marcelo Lucero by a group of Long Island youths. Then there was the heinous assault and killing of Jose Sucuzhanay a few weeks later.

Now there’s this disturbing piece of news:

Two white Staten Island teens already facing hate crime charges for attacking a Muslim teen the night Barack Obama was elected have been linked to another bias attack that left another victim in a coma…

Ronald Forte, 38, the father of five children, was wearing a hooded sweatshirt because it was raining on the morning of Nov. 5 when he was spotted by Nicolleti and Garaventa, according to sources.

The pair was allegedly trolling a predominately black and Hispanic Staten Island neighborhood looking for victims, sources said.

They targeted Forte because with his head covered with the hood, they thought he was a black man. Forte was run down and left in the gutter on Blackfort Ave. around 2:30 a.m. – [ed. emphasis added]

To slightly paraphrase the words of Shakespeare “what fools these mortals be.”

(Hat tip: Gothamist).

Image- Daily Intel (The ubiquitous Staten Island Ferry).
Sources- The Latin Americanist, Gothamist, New York Daily News, Quotations Page

Daily Headlines: December 22, 2008

* Ecuador: Amidst much grief and sadness, the body of hate crime victim Jose Sucuzhanay was buried in his hometown of was buried in his native Cuenca, Ecuador.

* Latin America: What is the world's most southernmost city - Tierra del Fuego, Argentina or Puerto Williams, Chile?

* Mexico: A gruesome discovery was made in the city of Chilpancingo when the decapitated heads of nine men were found in a plastic bag.

* Latin America: "The expansion of ties with Latin America is a priority of Iran’s foreign policy," reportedly declared Iranian First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi.

Image- AP (“Relatives of Jose Oswaldo Sucuzhanay carry his coffin draped with Ecuador's flag during his funeral in Cuenca, Ecuador, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008.”)
Online Sources- New York Daily News, Times Online, Xinhua, Monsters & Critics

Daily Headlines: December 20, 2008

* Ecuador: The body of Jose Sucuzhanay was returned to his native Ecuador from New York nearly two weeks after he was targeted in an anti-Latino, homophobic attack.

* Mexico: Mexico joined Canada in an official World Trade Organization complaint against the U.S.

* Cuba: Pentagon officials said that they are pursuing the death penalty against an accused defendant of the USS Cole bombing who is detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

* Haiti: First lady of France Carla Bruni-Sarkozy will donate about $330,000 in sales of her latest album to Haitian children's charities.

Image- AFP (“Airport workers unload a box containing the body of slain Jose Osvaldo Sucuzhanay which arrived from New York at the Mariscal Sucre airport in Quito, Friday, Dec. 19, 2008.”)
Online Sources- miamiherald.com, washingtonpost.com, AFP, AP, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: December 18, 2008

* Latin America: The Rio Group summit ended with a declaration calling for the end of the U.S. embargo on Cuba and "a change in US policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean".

* U.S: A funeral mass was held in New York for Jose Sucuzhañay, the slain Ecuadorian migrant who was recently killed in a despicable attack.

* El Salvador: Free trade and counternarcotics efforts were two of the main topics discussed during Salvadoran president Tony Saca’s visit to the White House on Tuesday.

* Venezuela: An Uruguayan defendant was sentenced to nearly three years in jail for his role in the “Maletagate” incident.

Image- Voice of America (“Some of the Latin American summit participants at the Costa do Sauipe resort, 16 Dec 2008.”)
Sources- Reuters, The Latin Americanist, AFP, BBC News, NY1, Voice of America, El Universal

Event: Vigil for Jose Sucuzhanay

There will be a vigil for the recently deceased Ecuadorian migrant who was assaulted in Brooklyn. Jose Sucuzhanay passed away a few days ago in what police suspect was a hate crime. He was the blank of an alleged anti-Latino, homophobic attack.

Here are the details of the vigil according to an e-mail and apparently corroborated by a local New York blog:

Vigil for Jose Sucuzhanay
Victim of anti-gay and anti-Latino violence died Tuesday.
Date: Sunday, December 14, 2008
Time: 2:00pm - 4:30pm
Location: Myrtle Ave. and Grove St. to Bushwick Ave. and Kossuth Pl.
City: Brooklyn, NY

Sources- The Latin Americanist, NY1, BuschwickBK.com
Image - New York Daily News

Update: Ecuadorian dies after brutal attack

Yesterday we mentioned how a pair of Ecuadorian brothers was the targets of a cowardly attack in Brooklyn. Sadly, the incident has taken a fatal turn:

One of the two Ecuadorian brothers beaten in Brooklyn while their attackers screamed anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs has died, the New York City Police Department confirmed today.

Investigators say Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, was walking home with his brother Romel at the intersection of Kossuth Place and Bushwick Avenue early Sunday morning…

According to police, that's when four men jumped out of a burgundy Ford Explorer and began attacking the brothers.

Police say the men were beaten with a bottle and a baseball bat while the attackers yelled anti-gay and anti-Latino slurs.

Jose Sucuzhanay’s murder marks the second death of an Ecuadorian in the New York metro area in recent weeks. Last month, Marcelo Lucero was beaten to death by a group of teens on Long Island.

As more information has emerged of what will likely be treated as a hate crime, so have details of the deceased:

The victim…the co-owner of Open Realty International, a real estate agency in Bushwick, was described by family members as a gentle, generous man, a father of two children who live with his parents in Azogues, Ecuador, his native town…

Diego Sucuzhanay said that his brother, one of 12 siblings, came to New York 10 years ago “because there were job opportunities.” He said Jose worked as a restaurant waiter for seven years, and founded his real estate agency several years ago. “He helped this community,” he said. “He loved Bushwick.”

An immigrant; a hard worker; a dreamer; an entrepreneur. And now a dead man in a heinous attack.

Image- New York Daily News
Sources- The Latin Americanist, NY1, New York Times