Report: 4000+ Yearly Hate Crime Cases in Spain

Thousands of hate crime cases based on factors such as religion, immigration status and racial background occur in Spain each year according to a report released today.

The study from the Movement Against Intolerance (MCI, in Spanish initials) nongovernment organization concluded that at least 4000 hate crimes occur yearly in Spain.  Nevertheless, the group believes that the number of hate crimes could be much more since only 4% of all cases are conveyed to authorities.

The report has identified at least eighty hate-related homicides since 1991 and that racist groups exist in all of the country’s autonomous communities.  Furthermore, the MCI identified the existence of over 1500 “xenophobic” Spanish websites and more than 10,000 neo-Nazis and skinheads in the country.  Additionally, there has been an apparent growth in “protests of intolerance” in Spain such as four events occurring last April celebrating Adolf Hitler’s birthday.

In one case by the MCI highlighted last month that educational officials are investigating the death of a fifteen-year-old girl of Ecuadorian background living near Madrid who committed suicide allegedly after enduring heavy bullying from her classmates. 

“The other students would make her stand on the school bus even if there was an empty seat, and some of them would block her path if she wanted to use the restroom at the school ” claimed the girl’s father.

Among the recommendations made by the MCI are the prohibition of concerts and other public events promoting hatred and intolerance, greater monitoring of websites used to promote xenophobia and stronger punishments against racist sports fans.

Another suggestion made in the report is that the State should provide greater assistance to purported hate crime victims who don’t have the same protections as victims of acts of terrorism or gender-based violence:

Daily Headlines: December 18, 2012

* Mexico: New president Enrique Peña Nieto unveiled a six-point anti-crime plan that includes the creation of a paramilitary police force and combating corruption in law enforcement.

* U.S.: Hate crimes against Latinos dropped by 31% in 2011 according to a new report from the FBI.

* Ecuador: Several thousand villagers were evacuated as a result of increased risk of erupiton of the Tungurahua volcano.

* Argentina: On Monday the Argentine government began the process of breaking up the Clarin media conglomerate.

Video Source – YouTube via Milenio 

Online Sources- UPI, KPBS, ABC Online, Mercopress

Daily Headlines: July 13, 2012

* Chile: President Sebastián Piñera signed an anti-discrimination bill that was rapidly approved by Congress after the March murder of young gay man.

* Venezuela: "The Bolivarian hurricane is back!" boasted President Hugo Chavez during a campaign rally yesterday, while rival Henrique Capriles said that October’s election would be “a choice between a people that want to progress and a government that wants to stay in power.”

* Mexico: A U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee found that Mexican anti-drug efforts are “largely ineffective” and urged for a greater focus on training police and judiciary.

* Brazil: Is Brazil’s stagnant economy on the road to recovery?

Video Source –YouTube via Al Jazeera English (A hate crime bill that had been stalled for years was approved weeks after the killing of Daniel Zamudio nearly four months ago).

Online Sources- Reuters, CNN, Bloomberg, MSNBC

Daily Headlines: August 15, 2011

* Brazil: Gunmen assassinated Patricia Lourival Acioli, a local judge best known for pursuing violent gangs and corrupt cops.

* Argentina: Exit polls indicated that President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner easily won yesterday’s primary election; thus, indicating that she could win outright in October’s presidential election.

* Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez returned from Cuba on Saturday after undergoing second round of radiation treatment and chemotherapy.

* U.S.: According to the California attorney general’s office the number of official hate crimes against Latinos in that state jumped by nearly 50% last year in comparison to 2009.

Image – AP via BBC News (“Patricia Acioli was buried on Friday in her home town of Niceroi.”)
Online Sources- Reuters, BBC News, latimes.com, MSNBC

Daily Headlines: October 15, 2010

* Haiti: The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved extending the presence of the 13,000-plus members “peacekeeping force” in Haiti.

* U.S.: Two Pennsylvania men were found guilty of hate crime charges in the 2008 beating death of an undocumented Mexican.

* Peru: Did President Alan Garcia slap a man who heckled him during a hospital visit last week?

* Guatemala: Ex-interior minister Carlos Vielman could be extradited from Spain in order to serve trial for the extrajudicial murders of seven inmates in 2006.

Image – MSNBC (“A U.N. peacekeeper from Nepal mans a machine gun from atop an armored vehicle as Haitians wait for food in Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince” last January.)
Online Sources- FT.com, Al Jazeera English, CNN, Monsters and Critics

Decades in jail for Jose Sucuzhañay killers

Two men will face several decades in prison in the hate crime death of an Ecuadorian immigrant in New York City.

Keith Phoenix and Hakim Scott were sentenced to 37 years in prison for the December 2008 killing of Jose Sucuzhañay in Brooklyn. Both men were accused of launching a tirade of anti-gay and Latino slurs while Sucuzhañay was walking with his brother Diego before repeatedly hitting him with an aluminum baseball bat.

“I think the system has sent a clear message and whoever acts irresponsibly has to be held accountable," said Diego to the press after the verdict that found Phoenix guilty of murder and hate crimes charges. (Scott was convicted of manslaughter and attempted assault, instead).

Both men apologized to Sucuzhanay's family before being sentenced with Phoenix claiming that he was “not a monster like the prosecutors and the media make me out to be.” Yet Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango found it “beyond…comprehension” that both men took “another human being's life in such a cruel and wanton manner."

Today’s sentencing comes amidst a rash of bias attacks targeting Latinos in the New York borough of Staten Island. According to BBC News there has been at least ten reported cases of attacks against Latinos since April with the latest assault taking place over the weekend. Despite increased community involvement and a greater police presence some Staten Island youth expressed their misgivings to the New York Times:

“It used to be nice,” said Farad Montalvo, 17, a Staten Island native of part-Puerto Rican heritage who will be a senior at Port Richmond High School in the fall. “Now kids are getting scared. They can’t walk down the street now”…

“It’s a war between Mexicans and blacks,” said Dream Rogers, 11, who was walking with her sister, Kim, 10, on Tuesday. “When the cops leave, it’s going to start again.”

Image- New York Daily News (“A business card belonging to Jose Oswald Sucuzhanay.”)
Online Sources- Gothamist, NY1, New York Daily News, New York Times, BBC News

Maximum sentence against Marcelo Lucero killer

The teen convicted in the death of an Ecuadorian immigrant in New York will have 25 years in jail to contemplate his crime.

Nineteen-year-old Jeffrey Conroy gave a tearful apology to the family of Marcelo Lucero- the man Conroy was accused of killing during a November 2008 evening of “beaner-jumping” with several other teens. Nevertheless state Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle declared that "the proof was overwhelming" against Conroy and imposed the maximum sentence weeks after Conroy was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime last month. Though Conroy was acquitted of murder Doyle emphasized that Conroy was guilty of “senseless and brutal crimes” including having assaulted other Latino immigrants on Long Island.

The judge’s decision brought out strong emotions among some of the relatives of both the attacker and the victim:

After the sentence was imposed, Conroy's father, Robert Conroy, shouted an expletive, saying his son was only 17 at the time of the attack. 



The killing shone a national spotlight on race relations on Long Island.



After Conroy was convicted, Lucero's mother, Rosario Lucero, said through a translator that she had forgiven Conroy and would pray for him.

Today’s sentencing comes days after a sixth teen pleaded guilty to hate crime charges related to Lucero’s death. Christopher Overton admitted he accompanied Conroy and five others on the night Lucero was slain and was previously signaled by Conroy as the one who killed Lucero.

In the meantime, police in nearby Peekskill are investigating whether the “brutal beating” of another Ecuadorian represents a hate crime. Much like the community where Lucero was killed, Peekskill has enjoyed a growth in its Latino population in recent years.

Image- New York Times (“Jayson Llivicura, 7, put money into a donation box at a memorial for Marcelo Lucero” back in 2008.)
Online Sources- CNN, The Latin Americanist, Long Island Press, Canadian Press, New York Times, CBS News

Daily Headlines: May 24, 2010

* Dominican Republic: Rest in peace Jose Lima; the Dominican-born former Major League pitcher died of an apparent cardiac arrest yesterday at the age of 37.

* U.S.: Another Ecuadorian migrant has been brutally attacked in New York in what could be classified by police as a hate crime.

* Peru: No major damages or casualties have been reported after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake shook southern Peru yesterday.

* Mexico: Based on his family’s request police have stopped the search for missing ex-presidential candidate Diego Fernandez de Cevallos.

Image – Los Angeles Times (This image of Jose Lima was taken less than 48 hours before he passed away).
Online Sources- CNN, New York times, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC,

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: April 23, 2010

* Haiti: 125,000 tons of counterfeit clothing confiscated in New York City will be donated to Haitian earthquake victims.

* Venezuela: Police confiscated over four tons of cocaine from a series of drug labs near the border with Colombia.

* Brazil: Toyota’s auto safety problems have extended into Brazil where the state of Minas Gerais suspended sales of all Corolla sedans.

* Chile: According to Chilean police a teen was arrested in an alleged hate crime assault of an Afro-Cuban man.

Image – The Telegraph (“Earthquake survivors unload food from a UN helicopter.”)
Sources- Bloomberg, LAHT, CNN, MSNBC

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

Weekend Headlines: April 10-11, 2010

* Mexico: Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez became the first Mexican player to sign with prestigious English soccer side Manchester United.

* U.S.: While the Marcelo Lucero trial nears its end on Long Island four suspects were arrested in an alleged bias attack in nearby Staten Island.

* Cuba: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed that the Cuban government doesn’t want to normalize relations with the U.S. since the Castro regime “would then lose all their excuses for what hasn't happened in Cuba in the last 50 years.”

* Costa Rica: China and Costa Rica signed a free trade pact on Thursday that should provide the Central American economy with greater access to the Asian market.

Image – Sky Sports
Online Sources- AFP, LAHT, New York Times, NY1, The Telegraph

Daily Headlines: March 26, 2010

* Latin America: Chilean José Miguel Insulza was reelected secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS) on Wednesday yet the Christian Science Monitor wonders if “the world’s oldest regional group is still relevant?”

* Argentina: Speaking of the OAS the body may provide a significant role in the dispute between Argentina and Britain over oil drilling near the Falkland Islands.

* U.S.: According to a prosecutor’s witness at the hate crime murder trial of Marcelo Lucero one of the assailants allegedly taunted him by saying “you come to this country to take our money from us.”

* Venezuela: The government’s latest plan to counter the country’s energy woes is to declare all of the upcoming Holy Week as a national holiday.

Image – ABC.es
Online Sources- UPI, LAHT, New York Times, The Latin Americanist, Christian Science Monitor

Prosecutors blast "beaner-jumping" teens in Marcelo Lucero trial

Opening statements were made this week in the trial against one of the teens accused of the 2008 hate crime murder of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero.

Prosecutors started proceedings yesterday by claiming that nineteen-year-old Jeffrey Conroy and six others roamed the streets of Patchogue on Long Island seeking random Latinos to assault. "They were looking for blood, specifically Mexican blood," said one of the prosecutors about the teens that were accused of assaulting Lucero as part of a made-up sport they called "beaner-jumping." Furthermore, prosecutors claimed that Conroy admitted to police that he stabbed Lucero and had kept the murder weapon as a “trophy” when he was arrested.

Four of the defendants have already pled guilty and are expected to testify against Conroy who has declared not guilty of charges including murder and manslaughter. Aside from defending his client’s alleged innocence, Conroy’s lawyer attacked Lucero’s character by pointing out his prior drug use. Conroy faces a maximum sentence of life in jail if convicted of second-degree murder.

The second day of Lucero’s trial coincides with Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy publicly declaring his candidacy for New York Governor. As the New York Times noted in an editorial, Levy’s policies on immigration (including his dismissive reaction to Lucero’s murder) could be a major liability:

It isn’t just that he sometimes repeats xenophobic lies, as when he told a library meeting a few years ago that a flood of illegal immigrants’ babies was swamping the Southampton Hospital maternity ward. It isn’t just that he has allied himself with groups at the far-right edge of the debate. It is that his strategy of trying to make life untenable for Long Islanders he presumes to be illegal is divisive and ineffective. His reaction to tragedies like the killing of the Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero has been heartless and dismissive.

Image- CBS News (Jeffrey Conroy and six other teens have been accused of killing Marcelo Lucero in 2008).
Online Sources- New York Times, NY1, Huffington Post, New York Daily News, CNN, The Latin Americanist, NBC New York

Murder charged in gay Boricua teen's death

Was homophobia behind the murder of a gay Puerto Rican teen days ago? This is what investigators are examining in the gruesome death of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado.

Police arrested a suspect in the killing of Lopez Mercado whose body had been found mutilated, decapitated, and dumped on the side of a local highway. According to local prosecutors, Juan A. Martinez Matos held a “deep-seated rage” against gays and may’ve slain Lopez Mercado after he mistook him for a woman. (Lopez Mercado had been dressed in ladies clothes when he first met Martinez Matos, said police).

Martinez Matos was charged earlier today with several counts including first-degree murder in the slaying of the 19-year-old college student and gay rights activist. Furthermore, Martinez Matos could be the first defendant to be applied a recently-signed bill that makes anti-gay attacks a federal hate crimes offense.

The murder of Lopez Mercado has touched a nerve not only on the island but in other areas of the U.S. As Vivirlatino noted several vigils in his memory are planned for this weekend:

Chicago
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
4-6 pm
Humboldt Park

Los Angeles
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
8pm-9:30 pm
West Hollywood Corner of Santa Monica and San Vicente

New York City
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
7-9 pm
Christopher St. Piers (Tentative)

People are also post vigil information from across the U.S on this facebook page.

Image- dallasvoice.com
Online Sources- Vivirlatino, Facebook, philly.com, CNN, Voice of America

World Watch: African repression

* Guinea: According to Human Rights Watch last month’s massacre of over 150 people in the Guinean capital city of Conakry “was clearly a premeditated attempt to silence opposition voices" by the government.

* Pakistan: What has been described as “the deadliest (bombing) to hit Pakistan this year” occurred today and has claimed the lives of at least 91 people.

* South Korea: Disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk was sentenced to two years in jail for “embezzling money and illegally buying human eggs.”

* U.S.: President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a law expanding hate crime legislation to include assaults motivated by sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

Image- AFP (“Soldiers unload bodies of victims shot dead by Guinea junta forces” as part of a brutal crackdown last month.)
Online Sources- MSNBC, The Latin Americanist, BBC News, NPR, CNN

Yet another anti-Latino incident in Patchogue

The Long Island neighborhood of Patchogue has been rocked by another anti-Latino incident.

Local detectives said that vandals broke into the Iglesia Evangelica Refugio de Salvacion last night and left notes filled with "anti-Hispanic comments." The allegedly hateful scribes have been reported by one parishioner as “in Spanish (and) out of a dictionary” yet boasting that “saying that Hispanics didn't rule but white people ruled here”.

Patchogue has been the site of several biased attacks against the area’s growing Latino population. Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero was killed last November in a suspected hate crime while anther Latino was beaten last month by a trio of teens.

It was this nervous climate that was highlighted by a Southern Poverty Law Center report released yesterday. The study blasted Suffolk County chief executive Steve Levy for engaging in "verbal immigrant-bashing" since taking office; for example, he insensitively compared the fallout from Lucero's murder to "the discomfort of undergoing a colonoscopy." The report also criticized local police for stoking the flames of fear:

Many immigrants told the center’s investigators that the “police did not take their reports of attacks seriously, often blaming the victim,” the report said. “They said there’s little point in going to the police, who are often not interested in their plight and instead demand to know their immigration status”…

The center’s report urged local officials to adopt several measures — including halting “their angry demagoguery” about immigration, promoting educational programs that encourage respect for diversity, and training police officers to take seriously all allegations of hate-motivated crime.

Image- Gothamist (November 2008 Newsday cover of a vigil held after the Marcelo Lucero murder)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, New York Daily News, New York Times, newsday.com, myfoxny.com

Another Latino targeted in Patchogue “hate crime”

Police arrested a pair of suspects accused in an alleged bias attack against a Latino in the Long Island town of Patchogue. If the name of that locaation sounds familiar it’s because it’s the same place were Marcelo Lucero was slain in a hate crime last year.

In the latest case, two teens were charged with assaulting a man who- much like Lucero- was originally from Ecuador. The victim claimed that he was beat up earlier this month while walking on the street around midnight. According to police, the victim was attacked without provocation and the assailants uttered racial slurs like calling him "a *** Mexican".

Last week, authorities arrested another teen suspected of the attack; oddly, that suspect was of Hispanic background.

Lucero’s death along with the latest beating has raised fear and anxiety among Long Island’s growing Latino immigrant population:

Authorities said some of the teens had attacked local Hispanics in a series of incidents stretching back a year, prompting an outcry from Hispanic residents who said police hadn't taken the earlier assaults seriously.

Police have emphasized that since Lucero's death, they have been particularly sensitive to crimes against Hispanic immigrants.

Image- New York Times (A girl at the makeshift memorial for Marcelo Lucero last year.)
Online Sources- AP, Newsday.com, UPI 1010 WINS, The Latin Americanist

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

Daily Headlines: July 20, 2009

* Spain: Cyclist Alberto Contador may’ve clinched the Tour de France after a win in Stage 15 earned him the yellow jersey and a 1:37 lead over teammate Lance Armstrong.

* U.S.: A second suspect was arrested in connection with the assault and bias attack of a Latino man in the New York borough of Staten Island.

* Brazil: According to the local press, an autopsy exam found that former boxing champion Arturo Gatti may've committed suicide but didn’t rule out murder.

* Latin America: The International Court of Justice will hold hearings in two months regarding a tense border dispute between Argentina and Uruguay.

Image- Guardian UK
Online Sources- AP, AFP, BBC Sport, New York Daily News