Daily Headlines: August 31, 2015

* U.S.: In the decade since Hurricane Katrina ravaged through New Orleans, the booming Latino community has been instrumental in the city’s often-arduous reconstruction efforts.

* Caribbean: Could the tropical storm that recently ravaged the island if Hispaniola affect the hundreds of thousand of former Dominicans of Haitian background who are currently stateless?

* South America: More than 7000 Colombian nationals residing in Venezuela have fled across the border after President Nicolas Maduro on August 19th ordered the closure of several border posts in Táchira state.

* Brazil: The brother of an indigenous Guarani leader became the latest fatality in the bloody and violent land disputes involving small communities and large, wealthy landowners.

YouTube Source – WDSU News (“The Hispanic population in New Orleans took off after the storm and the boom has carried over to neighboring parishes, too.”)
 
Online Sources – BBC News, Fox News Latino, NBC News, USA TODAY, CBS News

Tropical Storm Hits Hispaniola Hard

Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to become a hurricane by the time it reaches residents of several Gulf Coast states in the U.S. Before hitting landfall and affecting areas such as New Orleans, Isaac left behind a path of destruction over the weekend in parts of the Caribbean.

At least twenty-five people died in Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Most of these fatalities occurred in Haiti where civil defense officials claimed that nineteen people died as a result of the storm. The death toll could increase, according to officials, since six people are reported as missing.

Furthermore, rescue workers have not reached parts of the country vulnerable to mudslides and flooding such as “mountain hamlets” in the south. “We are still collecting information,” said George Ngwa, communications chief for the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to the Miami Herald.

The storm affected thousands of Haitians who survived a major 2010 earthquake and are living in tent settlements. As seen in the video below, residents of tent cities in Port-au-Prince tried as best as possible to assess the damage from Isaac:

Weekend Headlines: October 17-18, 2009

* Honduras: Representatives of ousted president Manuel Zelaya and de facto leader Roberto Micheletti continue to negotiate despite looming deadlines.

* Latin America: Here we go again – in a move likely to peeve South American states FIFA may try to impose a ban on high altitude soccer matches.

* Mexico: The mutilated bodies of ten people were found in the Mexican state of Guerrero along with a note from the La Familia drug gang claiming that they “deserved to die.”

* Cuba: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin traveled to Cuba on a visit “to study the island's respected disaster preparedness methods.”

* Venezuela: Spain’s Repsol confirmed the finding of a massive offshore natural gas deposit that would make it the biggest in Venezuela.

* Brazil: Two policemen were killed when drug gangs shot down a police helicopter flying near a Rio de Janeiro favela.

Online Sources- Al Jazeera English, LAHT, Canadian Press, New York Times, AFP, The Latin Americanist, The Telegraph

Image- AP (The sign from a Zelaya supporter hints at Honduras’ qualification to next year’s soccer World Cup.)

Illegal immigrants stayed during Hurricane Gustav

Below, a reminder of how enredado the contradictory interplay of US immigration policies, on-the-ground enforcement, and resulting human incentives are.

From the AP:

Many of the illegal immigrants who have been rebuilding New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina stayed behind when Gustav struck because they were afraid of being arrested if they boarded the buses and trains arranged by emergency officials.

"We know that people died during Katrina, but we had no choice but to stay here," said Carlos Mendoza, a 21-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras who rode out the storm with seven other people. They took shelter in an apartment that is close to a street corner where day laborers congregate.

"Many stayed because of fear," Mendoza said. "I would say at least 50 percent of us."

Adding to the difficulties, Gonzalez said, were problems with the 311 service. Several day laborers complained of being on hold for more than 30 minutes before getting connected with a Spanish-speaking operator.

And when illegal immigrants realized they would be asked to register to be evacuated, the situation became even more untenable, she said. Part of the evacuation plan included giving evacuees wristbands with identifying information that could be entered into a computer database to track where people were.

The Department of Homeland Security made attempts to reassure area residents that there would be no enforcement during the evacuation, but to little avail. I can't help but think of a chronically abused stray dog who is finally offered a friendly pet on the head - and, of course, flinches.

ICE: No detentions during Gustav evacuations

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials claimed that they will not conduct any arrests of illegal immigrants trying to evacuate due to Hurricane Gustav. “There are no immigration enforcement operations,” said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson Kelly Nantel to ABC News as Latinos in the New Orleans area are worried of ICE authorities:

A dearth of Latinos through the day at a train and bus depot dubbed "The Gate" because it is the New Orleans staging spot for evacuees worried volunteer Lucas Diaz.

"Latinos are fearful that by being taken to shelters they will be turned over to immigration officials," said Diaz, a member of a nonprofit group that works with the Latino community in New Orleans.

"They don't trust," Diaz told AFP. "Often people along the way, like shelter workers, take to being ICE agents and turn people in."

New Orleans has received an influx of Latino laborers and businesses that have assisted in the post-Katrina reconstruction. Their presence has not always been welcomed, however, and recent mass raids in Iowa and Mississippi have provoked fears in the community.

The category 3 hurricane with possible 130 mile-per-hour winds is expected to hit the Gulf coast around midday on Monday. Analysts believe that Gustav will cause as much or more damage than Katrina did three years ago.

Gustav ravaged through the Caribbean over the past week and killed at least sixty people on Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Image- Newsweek.com (“Residents of New Orleans carry their belongings while evacuating at the city's Greyhound Bus and Amtrak station.”)

Sources- AFP, sunherald.com, Associated Press, The Latin Americanist, ABC News, Reuters, China Daily, IHT

Quote of the Day: The aftermath of Katrina and immigration

“We were like the first to be cleaning all of the destruction up and all of the debris and all of the junk and all of the dirt and all of the mud…Now that there's hardly any work left, now they're arresting us all.”

--Isabel Aredo- a Peruvian immigrant in Biloxi, Mississippi- comments on the Latino immigrant influx to the Gulf States in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Two years after the storm ravaged New Orleans and several southeastern states, those areas are dealing with the consequences of thousands of immigrants that migrated to assist the reconstruction process.

(One recent QOTD looked at the impact of Latino immigrants on the cuisine in New Orleans).

Sources- The Clarion Ledger, Reuters, The Latin Americanist

Image- NPR (2005 image of “Jose Gandara and his partner (who) haul discarded refrigerators to the Jefferson Parrish landfill for $200 a day.”)

Quote of the Day: From beignets to chilaquiles

“It's better than Taco Bell. I can tell you that.”

--New Orleans resident Michael Gould.

Since being hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans has seen a massive influx of Hispanics who bring several changes to the area like lunch trucks serving Mexican and Central American cuisine.

Sources- Yahoo! News

Image- In These Times (A pair of immigrants work on a construction project in New Orleans)