IS CUBA IMPLEMENTING MIGRATORY REFORM IN A FEW MONTHS?

April 14, 2012 by Jessica Marie Gutierrez 2 Comments

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro accused Barack Obama of looking down on Latin America.

Cuba will implement migratory reform in the next months to eliminate the old restrictions impeding Cubans from traveling abroad

Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon

“One of the issues currently under discussion at the highest level of the Cuban State is the issue of migration. We will carry out a radical and deep immigration reform in the coming months, in order to eliminate this type of restriction,” said Alarcon, president of the National Assembly of the People’s Power. Alarcon said the migratory control in the last five decades was one of the resources used by the revolution that began in 1959 to defend itself from “the long terrorist campaign,” for which some Cuban immigrants were responsible. “Now things have changed a lot,” Alarcon said, adding that “nearly half a million Cubans living abroad visit us each year. The vast majority of Cuban emigrants have normal relations with their country of origin.” “Currently it is an economic emigration, whose fundamental interest is to keep peaceful links with its country of origin, they have family and friends on the island, and they wish above all stability,” he said. “This new reality leads us to a ‘substantial’ reform of our migratory policy. Some rules must be changed and others eliminated,” Alarcon said. Alarcon also recalled that the migration issue has been always a “weapon used by the U.S. government to destabilize the revolution.” Cubans are the only foreign immigrants who may automatically gain residence after a year in U.S. territory according to the Cuban Adjustment Act, established in 1966 to encourage illegal Cuban immigration by crossing the Florida Strait in unsteady boats, he said.

The first announcement on a migratory reform in Cuba was made in August 2011 by President Raul Castro at the parliament and was ratified in December

HAVANA – People walk through the streets December 3, 2006 in Havana, Cuba. The island nation continues to wait for a glimpse of President Fidel Castro, who has ruled Cuba since 1959, he temporarily transferred his powers as president to his younger brother Raul Castro, the defense minister, due to his ailing health on July 31. Since that time he has been seen by the public only in videos and photographs released by the government. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Castro’s government has removed several restrictions observed in the country for half a century, but Cubans still can travel into and out of the country freely. To travel abroad, a Cuban citizen must suffer a winding net of limitations and expensive permits that cost nearly 1,000 dollars. If successful, the travel permission is granted for 30 days and may be extended ten times. People must return within the time limit, otherwise they will lose the right to reside on the island.

PRESIDENT OBAMA JOINS THE MEETING OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICAN LEADERS AT THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

April 14, 2012 by Jessica Marie Gutierrez Leave a Comment

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

President Barack Obama leaves today for a trip to a summit in Latin America that may have as much resonance in domestic politics as in hemispheric economics. Discussions at the meeting of North and South American leaders in the resort city of Cartagena, Colombia, will cover trade, economic growth and the battle against drug trafficking. Yet the White House is mindful that about 16 percent of U.S. residents trace their roots to the region, and that group may play an outsized role in the November presidential election.

photo source AP

“The president desperately needs high voter turnout among Hispanic Americans,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University in Houston. “It doesn’t hurt for him to be in Colombia, and being seen with Latino leaders of the hemisphere is not a bad photo-op in an election year.”

Obama’s campaign is gearing up for a close election fight against Republican Mitt Romney, putting a premium on gaining an edge with any voting group. Obama is actively courting Hispanics — who gave him 67 percent of their votes in 2008 — with a Spanish-language website and by recruiting Spanish-speaking volunteers and using Spanish-language voter registration forms and phone banks.

President Barack Obama addresses the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 34th Annual Awards Gala in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

“Key swing states that have large Hispanic populations will be extremely attentive” to the trip, said Susan MacManus, professor of political science at the University of South Florida in Tampa. “Many feel that Latin and South America has been ignored.”

Swing State

One of those states is Florida, with 29 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency and where Hispanics make up 22.5 percent of the population. Before Obama meets with the other 32 leaders at the Summit of the Americas he’s scheduled to stop at the Port of Tampa.The theme for that visit, as at the summit, will be expanding U.S. exports and gaining greater access to Latin markets for small businesses. About 40 percent of all exports from Tampa go to Latin America, and the port means 100,000 jobs and generates almost $8 billion in annual economic impact, according to its website.

President Obama waves as he arrives to speak at the Port of Tampa in Tampa, Fla., Friday April 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara) CHRIS O’MEARA — AP

Total U.S. exports in the Americas amount to $700 billion a year out of $1.5 trillion worldwide, according to Commerce Department figures. Among the summit participants, Canada is the biggest U.S. trading partner, Mexico is the third largest and Brazil ranks ninth.

Hemispheric Trade

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a visit to the Port of Tampa on April 13, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. The President, on his way to the Summit of the Americas in Colombia, used the visit to emphasis small business trade with countries in Latin America.
(April 12, 2012 – Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America)

“The U.S. economy benefits substantially from our trade in the Americas, and over 40 percent of our exports currently go to the Americas,” Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told reporters in an April 11 briefing. “Those exports are growing faster than our trade with the rest of the world.”

US President Barack Obama with Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff Photo: Reuters

Latin America managed to largely escape the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Brazil (BZGDYOY%) is the world’s sixth largest economy, and the ranks of the middle class have swelled. The World Bank classifies most countries in the region as middle- income or higher. As countries in the region have grown more prosperous, they are less reliant on the U.S., the world’s biggest economy. That growth also comes as the Obama administration has made a deliberate pivot to focus more on Asia.

Diminished Role

Obama is “quite comfortable with the diminished role of the United States in the hemisphere” and that it’s “the natural order of things,” said Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center. “The U.S. is going to continue to be engaged but no longer has the domineering authority it once did.”

President Obama arrives in Cartagena, Colombia, on April 13 for the Summit of the Americas

The summit host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, has an agenda focusing on boosting advances in technology, finalizing the free-trade deal between the U.S. and Colombia, lessening income inequality and improving responses to natural disasters, such as earthquakes.

Obama remains popular in Central and South America, though promises to rebuild cooperation at the last summit, in 2009 in Trinidad, may have fallen short, according to the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based policy group that focuses on the Western Hemisphere.

“The U.S. must regain its credibility in the region by dealing seriously with an unfinished agenda of problems — including immigration, drugs and Cuba — that stands in the way of a real partnership,” according to a policy report issued yesterday.

Illicit Drugs

Bigger issues that aren’t on the official agenda are legalization or decriminalization of illicit drugs and whether Cuba should be allowed at the next summit. Selee said that while he doesn’t expect “dramatic outcomes” from the summit, one area where “sparks” might fly would be the debate raging in Latin America over drugs. The presidents of Colombia and Mexico have called for a discussion about easing penalties for drug use. Obama’s aides say the U.S. will resist such proposals.

Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon (R) speaks to journalists as Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe listens during a news conference at the presidential residence Los Pinos, in Mexico City November 10, 2008. REUTERS/Henry Romero (MEXICO)

“The president doesn’t support decriminalization,” Dan Restrepo, Obama’s senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, told reporters.

There is friction between the U.S. and some summit leaders over restrictive U.S. policies toward Cuba. Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa is boycotting the summit because of Cuba’s absence. The region’s sole dictatorship is the only nation excluded from the gathering of heads of state from the Western Hemisphere.

Brazilian President

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told Obama during a White House meeting April 9 that this should be the last such regional meeting without Cuba in attendance. In an e-mail interview with a group of Latin American newspapers, Obama said his administration has done more than any in decades to improve U.S. relations with Cuba and blamed the communist regime for the nation’s exclusion from the summit.

SOURCE: AP/ Pablo Martinez Monsivais
President Barack Obama meets with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at the United Nations in September 2011.

“We’re looking for a new era in the relationship between our two countries,” Obama said, according to a transcript of the interview published in Spanish by Bogota’s El Tiempo newspaper. “History shows that the longing for liberty and human dignity can’t be ignored forever. No authoritarian regime lasts forever. The day will arrive when the Cuban people will be free to determine their own destiny.”

While Obama moved to ease travel restrictions earlier in his presidency, the U.S. wants Cuba to release political prisoners, increase political freedoms and adopt democratic principles.

File: Barack Obama attends Cuban Independence Day celebrations in Miami in May during his run for president.
Read more: FOX NEWS

“Cuba authorities continue to deny the Cuban people their universal rights and the president will continue to stand up for those rights,” Restrepo said.

The policy is in keeping with those of past U.S. presidents from both parties, said MacManus, the Florida professor. As with other issues at the summit, Obama’s position on Cuba has political implications.

“If Obama can keep some of the Cubans who voted for him last time, appease them with that kind of stance, then that could be the difference” in winning Florida, MacManus said.

DID OBAMA DECLARE HE WILL PUSH IMMIGRATION THE FIRST YEAR OF HIS NEXT TERM?

April 14, 2012 by Jessica Marie Gutierrez Leave a Comment

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

Univision interviewed Obama in connection with this weekend’s Summit of the Americas

Topics included democracy promotion, drug trafficking, and race relations.

A protester in Los Angeles, May 1, 2011. photo source Eric Thayer/Getty Images

President Obama says he will push for major immigration legislation if he is re-elected. Obama told Univision he would like to do immigration this year, but Republican opposition is too intense.

“I can promise that I will try to do it in the first year of my second term,” Obama said. “I want to try this year,” he added. “The challenge we’ve got on immigration reform is very simple. I’ve got a majority of Democrats who are prepared to vote for it, and I’ve got no Republicans who are prepared to vote for it.”

By SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images

Obama supports what he calls a “comprehensive” immigration bill. It involves both tougher border security as well as a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are already in the U.S. Republicans say the emphasis should be on border protection, and liken citizenship plans to amnesty for lawbreakers. In the Univision interview, Obama took a swipe at one of those Republicans, likely election opponent Mitt Romney.

Said Obama: “We now have a Republican nominee who said that the Arizona laws are a model for the country … these are laws that potentially would allow someone to be stopped and picked up and asked where their citizenship papers are based on an assumption.”

President Barack Obama gestures during an interview with Mario “Don Francisco” Kreutzberger for Univision’s Sabado Gigante in the Rose Garden of the White House, Sept. 21, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Republican Party spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski said Obama “promised to tackle immigration reform in his first year and failed.””From immigration to creating jobs and cutting the deficit, President Obama has failed to follow through on his promises to the American people showing his words are more about winning elections than anything else,” she said.

ARE YOU A LATINO LEADER WHO WOULD LIKE TO HOST A GRASSROOTS FUNDRAISING PARTY FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA?

April 12, 2012 by Jessica Marie Gutierrez 5 Comments

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

In October of 2011, Obama for America launched the Futuro Fund so that supporters like you could make an investment our community’s future and own a piece of this campaign. You have stepped up in a VERY big way. With your leadership and generous contributions we have raised an unprecedented amount and proven that Latinos stand with President Obama.

Over the course of the last few months, we have worked with you to expand our movement. As we launch Latinos for Obama nationwide this month, the Futuro Fund is asking you to take the next step and bring the conversation into your living room.

“On Thursday April 26^th, supporters across the country are hosting Futuro Fund House Parties to talk with their friends and neighbors about what’s at stake for our community between now and November.”

Hosting a house party is as simple as inviting folks to your home, chatting about why you decided to get involved and asking them to step up and own a piece of the campaign too.

As a leader of the Futuro Fund, can you host a grassroots fundraising party on Thursday April 26^th? Sign up here to get started.

If you don’t normally do this sort of thing, don’t worry. We’ll help you every step of the way and provide you with all of the information and materials to make your party a success. During your party, you and your guests will join campaign leadership for an exciting National Call.

This effort is historic. This campaign will be won or lost in our community and you can make all the difference. Please help us build the best grassroots organization in American history!

Sign up today to host a grassroots fundraising party.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE HISPANIC BLOG POSTS RESOURCES FOR HISPANICS, AND IN THIS CASE I RECEIVED THIS INFORMATION FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA’S FUTURO FUND. THEREFORE IF THE REPUBLICANS SEND ME INFORMATION REGARDING ANYTHING THEY MAY BE DOING FOR LATINOS, I WOULD GLADLY POST FOR THEM AS WELL!!! THE IMPORTANT THING I WANT HISPANICS TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT MY BLOG IS THAT I’M NOT HERE TO TELL YOU WHO TO VOTE FOR, I’M SIMPLY HERE TO DO WHAT I CAN TO GET YOU INVOLVED IN OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM WHETHER REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT. GOD BLESS!

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Filed Under: LATINO POLITICS Tagged With: Barack Obama, Barack Obama presidential campaign 2008, Futuro Fund, Hispanic and Latino Americans, latino, Obama, Political campaign, Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, United States

ARE LATINOS THE CONSUMER POWERHOUSE RESHAPING AMERICA?

April 12, 2012 by Jessica Marie Gutierrez 9 Comments

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

Studio Gang Architects + Joseph Lekas Photography

This Easter weekend I went to an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York called “Foreclosure: Rehousing The American Dream,” a fascinating view into what the future of urban and suburban housing in America could look like. For this exhibit, five architectural teams proposed how they would re-invest the TARP money of 2008 to revitalize foreclosure-ravaged suburbs near five major cities in the United States.

I came away feeling most impressed about the transformational impact that Latinos are already having on this country and wondering if most companies are really prepared for what is around the corner. I was most impressed with how clearly they understood the demographic impact of both the rise of Hispanics as a mega buying force in the home-buyer market.

Photographs by Don Pollard.

While Hispanics were certainly not the focus of this exhibit, their impact on four of the five places featured could not be denied. From Rialto, Calif., to Cicero, Ill., where 88% of the population is Hispanic, Latino attitudes about homeownership were not only prominently featured and discussed by architects, but also helped frame the developing of what the exhibit calls the “national conversation on issues of housing, transportation, and public space.”

When I got home, I remembered that I had recently downloaded the latest report on the State of Hispanic Homeownership, published in March by The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and found that, in spite of also being hit by the housing crisis between 2007 and 2010, they too were predicting a new Latino housing mega trend.

“Over the next 10 years, Hispanics are expected to account for 40 percent of the estimated 12 million net new households, with minorities comprising 70 percent of total growth,” says Alejandro Becerra, author of the report. Unlike other groups, Latinos have not been big on saving for retirement. This is partly due to a cultural legacy that, hopefully, should change over the next few decades. Our American Dream has always mainly revolved around buying a home and depending on family to take care of us.

“An unrelenting drive to succeed combined with strong family values and larger family sizes fuel their yearning for a place to call home,” says Becerra. “This strong work ethic, often combined with a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit, adds up to major consumerism. The Hispanic market made up over 50 percent of real growth in the U.S. consumer economy from 2005 to 2008, with $52 billion in new spending.”

According to the Census, Hispanics are already a significant segment of the workforce. “The role of Latinos in the nation’s labor force in the manufacturing, construction, real estate and service industries is both monumental and crucial. For well over a decade, Hispanics have also had the highest labor force participation in the nation. Currently, 66.7% of all working-age Latinos are employed, nearly three percentage points higher than the rest of the U.S. population,” adds Becerra.

And while many Baby Boomers are expected to age in place, the NAHREP report says that “current mobility rates suggest that 3.8 million baby boomers could downsize over the coming decade, adding further to the demand for compact, lower-cost homes.” As a result, smart start-ups like Boomerator,Southeast Discovery and GetawayStyle are all setting up to cater to the needs of this huge demographic shift.

But I don’t see the same kind of focus and innovation reaching and catering to Hispanics. In spite of the Hispanic demographic tsunami that everyone agrees is upon us, many companies still dedicate only 3% to 5% of their budgets to marketing to Latinos. If that’s your strategy to win in this economy.

IS CUBA IMPLEMENTING MIGRATORY REFORM IN A FEW MONTHS?

Cuba will implement migratory reform in the next months to eliminate the old restrictions impeding Cubans from traveling abroad

The first announcement on a migratory reform in Cuba was made in August 2011 by President Raul Castro at the parliament and was ratified in December

PRESIDENT OBAMA JOINS THE MEETING OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICAN LEADERS AT THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

“Key swing states that have large Hispanic populations will be extremely attentive” to the trip, said Susan MacManus, professor of political science at the University of South Florida in Tampa. “Many feel that Latin and South America has been ignored.”

Swing State

Total U.S. exports in the Americas amount to $700 billion a year out of $1.5 trillion worldwide, according to Commerce Department figures. Among the summit participants, Canada is the biggest U.S. trading partner, Mexico is the third largest and Brazil ranks ninth.

Hemispheric Trade

Diminished Role

The summit host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, has an agenda focusing on boosting advances in technology, finalizing the free-trade deal between the U.S. and Colombia, lessening income inequality and improving responses to natural disasters, such as earthquakes.

“The U.S. must regain its credibility in the region by dealing seriously with an unfinished agenda of problems — including immigration, drugs and Cuba — that stands in the way of a real partnership,” according to a policy report issued yesterday.

Illicit Drugs

“The president doesn’t support decriminalization,” Dan Restrepo, Obama’s senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, told reporters.

Brazilian President

“Cuba authorities continue to deny the Cuban people their universal rights and the president will continue to stand up for those rights,” Restrepo said.

“If Obama can keep some of the Cubans who voted for him last time, appease them with that kind of stance, then that could be the difference” in winning Florida, MacManus said.

DID OBAMA DECLARE HE WILL PUSH IMMIGRATION THE FIRST YEAR OF HIS NEXT TERM?

Univision interviewed Obama in connection with this weekend’s Summit of the Americas

Said Obama: “We now have a Republican nominee who said that the Arizona laws are a model for the country … these are laws that potentially would allow someone to be stopped and picked up and asked where their citizenship papers are based on an assumption.”

ARE YOU A LATINO LEADER WHO WOULD LIKE TO HOST A GRASSROOTS FUNDRAISING PARTY FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA?

“On Thursday April 26^th, supporters across the country are hosting Futuro Fund House Parties to talk with their friends and neighbors about what’s at stake for our community between now and November.”

As a leader of the Futuro Fund, can you host a grassroots fundraising party on Thursday April 26^th? Sign up here to get started.

Sign up today to host a grassroots fundraising party.

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IS CUBA IMPLEMENTING MIGRATORY REFORM IN A FEW MONTHS?

Cuba will implement migratory reform in the next months to eliminate the old restrictions impeding Cubans from traveling abroad

The first announcement on a migratory reform in Cuba was made in August 2011 by President Raul Castro at the parliament and was ratified in December

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PRESIDENT OBAMA JOINS THE MEETING OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICAN LEADERS AT THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

“Key swing states that have large Hispanic populations will be extremely attentive” to the trip, said Susan MacManus, professor of political science at the University of South Florida in Tampa. “Many feel that Latin and South America has been ignored.”

Swing State

Total U.S. exports in the Americas amount to $700 billion a year out of $1.5 trillion worldwide, according to Commerce Department figures. Among the summit participants, Canada is the biggest U.S. trading partner, Mexico is the third largest and Brazil ranks ninth.

Hemispheric Trade

Diminished Role

The summit host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, has an agenda focusing on boosting advances in technology, finalizing the free-trade deal between the U.S. and Colombia, lessening income inequality and improving responses to natural disasters, such as earthquakes.

“The U.S. must regain its credibility in the region by dealing seriously with an unfinished agenda of problems — including immigration, drugs and Cuba — that stands in the way of a real partnership,” according to a policy report issued yesterday.

Illicit Drugs

“The president doesn’t support decriminalization,” Dan Restrepo, Obama’s senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, told reporters.

Brazilian President

“Cuba authorities continue to deny the Cuban people their universal rights and the president will continue to stand up for those rights,” Restrepo said.

“If Obama can keep some of the Cubans who voted for him last time, appease them with that kind of stance, then that could be the difference” in winning Florida, MacManus said.

Share this:

DID OBAMA DECLARE HE WILL PUSH IMMIGRATION THE FIRST YEAR OF HIS NEXT TERM?

Univision interviewed Obama in connection with this weekend’s Summit of the Americas

Said Obama: “We now have a Republican nominee who said that the Arizona laws are a model for the country … these are laws that potentially would allow someone to be stopped and picked up and asked where their citizenship papers are based on an assumption.”

Share this:

ARE YOU A LATINO LEADER WHO WOULD LIKE TO HOST A GRASSROOTS FUNDRAISING PARTY FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA?

“On Thursday April 26th, supporters across the country are hosting Futuro Fund House Parties to talk with their friends and neighbors about what’s at stake for our community between now and November.”

As a leader of the Futuro Fund, can you host a grassroots fundraising party on Thursday April 26th? Sign up here to get started.

Sign up today to host a grassroots fundraising party.

Share this:

ARE LATINOS THE CONSUMER POWERHOUSE RESHAPING AMERICA?

Share this:

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

FWD.US

FIND OUT IF YOU ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE

REGISTER TO VOTE

STATE RESOURCES TO VOTE

INSCRIBASE A VOTAR

“On Thursday April 26^th, supporters across the country are hosting Futuro Fund House Parties to talk with their friends and neighbors about what’s at stake for our community between now and November.”

As a leader of the Futuro Fund, can you host a grassroots fundraising party on Thursday April 26^th? Sign up here to get started.