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Harvest of Empire – Harvest of Empire
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"The Untold Story of Latinos in America

Juan González, Harvest of Empire




As Juan González says at the beginning of the film “They never teach us in school that the huge Latino presence here is a direct result of our own government’s actions in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America over many decades — actions that forced millions from that region to leave their homeland and journey north.”

film  documentary  us  history  immigration  latinamerica  puertorico  mexico  guatemala  honduras  juangonzález  cuba  nicaragua  elsalvador  rigobertamenchú  jessejackson  anthonyromero  junotdíaz  lorenzomeyer  maríahinojosa  geraldorivera  2011  martínespada  luisenrique  dominicanrepublic  latinos  imperialism  politics  policy  foreignpolicy  braceros  wwii  ww2  civilrights  race  racism  migration  communism  redscare  centralamerica  caribbean  colonialism  socialism  capitalism  fidelcastro  rafaeltrujillo  spanish-americanwar  inequality  exploitation  sugar  cotton  revolution  resistance  fulgenciobatista  dictatorships  oppression  deportation  texas  california  newmexico  arizona  mexican-americanwar  nevada  colorado  florida  nyc  óscarromero  harrytruman  democracy  jacoboárbenz  unitedfruitcompany  eisenhower  cia  intervention  maya  ethniccleansing  land  ownership  civilwar  iran-contraaffair  ronaldreagan  sandinistas  contras  war  bayofpigs  refugees  marielboatlift  1980  jimmycarter  language  spanish  español  miami  joaquínbalaguer  hectortruji 
july 2018 by robertogreco
Inside MS-13 - Latino USA
"President Trump has been talking a lot lately about MS-13, a street gang that started in California and spread to Central America. But what is the real story behind the gang? Latino USA takes a deep dive into MS-13, from the gang’s origins in Los Angeles, to the economic motor that powers them in Central America, to a string of brutal murders in Long Island, New York. Plus, the other reason why the administration is talking about MS-13 these days: politics."

"Where Is MS-13 Really From? Hint: Not Central America"

"In recent weeks, President Trump and his administration have been talking a lot about the MS-13 gang, often linking its criminal activities with illegal immigration from Central America.

Indeed, over the last two decades, warring between MS-13 and the 18th Street gang has risen to out-of-control levels of violence in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

Yet the roots of Central America’s gang problem lie far away, in Los Angeles, where both MS-13 and 18th Street were born. The gangs were formed by young, alienated immigrants who struggled to adapt to hostile neighborhoods in L.A. In the ‘90s, the LAPD worked with immigration authorities to deport undocumented gang members, eventually deporting tens of thousands of criminals to Central America.

Once the gangs were installed in Central America, repressive policing policies known as the mano dura unintentionally worsened the problem. Mass incarceration of young kids from street cliques alongside hardened criminals turned prison into a finishing school for gang members.

In this segment, we explore the history of the Central American gang problem through a man who lived it firsthand. Alex Sanchez is a former MS-13 member who leads the Los Angeles office of Homies Unidos, a non-profit that helps gang members integrate into society."

"MS-13: Why Long Island, Why Now?"

"MS-13 has been making headlines recently, and attracting the Trump Administration’s attention, largely because of a string of youth murders in Suffolk County, New York. Since January 2016, MS-13 is suspected to be involved in 17 murders in Suffolk County—approximately 38% of all homicides during that time period.

Part of the tragedy is that migrants from Central America come to places like Suffolk County to flee exactly the kind of violence they are now facing. Law enforcement is stuck between trying to work with the community to prevent violence and the Trump administration’s deportation rhetoric which keeps undocumented people from coming forward with information.

Liz Robbins, an immigration reporter for The New York Times, joins us to talk about the gangs murders in Suffolk County, why the area is a hot bed for MS-13 violence, and how law enforcement has responded."

"What Does It Feel Like to Be Called an ‘Animal’? A Former MS-13 Member Speaks Out"

"Gerardo Lopez was born in Los Angeles to Argentinean and Mexican parents, and he joined MS-13 when he was 14 years old. He has since left MS-13, and now serves as Director of the Denver chapter of Homies Unidos, an anti-gang violence organization.

Lopez discusses what the constant news coverage of MS-13 feels like to someone with deep connections to the gang, and how this seems particularly different in President Trump’s America.

An extended version of this conversation is available on our sister podcast, In The Thick, a show about race, culture, and politics from a POC perspective. You can find it in your podcast feed or at"

"How MS-13 Makes Money"

"The economic motor that supports gangs in Honduras isn’t drug trafficking, kidnappings or prostitution rings, it’s something much more simple and insidious: extortion.

No sector of the economy suffers from gang extortion quite like bus and taxi drivers. If you are a bus driver, there’s something that will happen every so often where you are stopped at an intersection. A kid will come up to you and hand you a cell phone. Then, the guy on the other end of the line will say, “Hi, I’m calling from such-and-such a gang. And if you want to keep driving this route, you have to pay me money every single week. Or else we will kill you.”

Every month in Honduras, there are probably a few million dollars that come out of hardworking people’s paychecks and into the pockets of gang members. Over 40 bus drivers were murdered by gangs this year alone for not paying up.

On top of the terrible human toll, extortion is a major drag on the Honduran economy. And it’s getting worse and worse. Latino USA’s Marlon Bishop reports on this bloody industry from Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital."
ms-13  california  losangeles  centralmerica  elsalvador  gangs  longisland  newyork  donaldtrump  politics  policy  immigration  via:felipemartinez  youth  isolation  violence  restortativejustice  prisons  2017  honduras 
august 2017 by robertogreco
Why asking for a lime isn't so easy in Spanish-speaking countries | Public Radio International
"Almost every Spanish-speaking country has a different set of definitions. In Spain, historically people have called limes limones verdes, or green lemons; in Mexico the term is limon or lima, depending on the person.

In Chile there is no word for lime: "The word for lemon is limon, as it is in most other varieties of Spanish. The word for lime doesn't exist really," said Scott Sadowsky, a professor of Chilean linguistics at Universidad de La Frontera, in Temuco, Chile. "That's due to the fact that there really is nothing like a lime here. Every once in a while, someone will download a recipe from the Internet and you will see it translated as lima, which is more or less a literal translation from English, and people will normally shrug and just use lemons."

Some Spanish speakers even flip the English definitions of lemon and lime: "A Bolivian and an Ecuadorian and a Venezualan and a Salvidoran all said to me that in their experience limones are sour and green and smaller than our lemons. And that lima for them is a larger fruit that is sweet and yellow." explained Terrell Morgan, a professor of Hispanic linguistics at Ohio State University. "And so it's as if the colors are completely opposite from what they are in English."

And what about the famous capital of Peru, Lima? In fact the name has nothing to do with limes, but comes from an oracle or limaq that used to live in the area.

This all makes sense, considering that lemons and limes are not native to any Spanish-speaking country, or even their own species of fruit.

"Citrus appears to have originated in southeast Asia — China and northern India — and then citrus has been moved around the world." explained Tracy Kahn, a specialist in citrus at the University of California, Riverside. Originally there were four basic species that were cross-bred, creating the many kinds of lemons and limes that exist today.

"Lemons and limes are actually hybrids. So a citron, which is one of the basic species, was crossed with a small flowered pepita, and that generated what we think of now as small fruited limes, things like the Mexican lime or key lime."

The variety called the Mexican lime, that is now an intergral part of South American cuisine, was brought from southeast Asia to Spain by the crusaders, and then to South America by the conquistadors.

Though they traveled far, historically, these citrus varieties weren't all sold in the same place, so Spanish-speakers didn't need different words. Today they do. When Spanish-speakers go to the grocery store there are a host of citrus options and American-based brands that boast lima-limon flavors, and it seems more and more speakers are shifting to lima.

"I think it's a recent phenomenon in the Spanish-speaking world that now there are both green and yellow fruits. And so in some places they have given it the name lima even though it may not have existed a while back," explained Morgan.

There's now even a song about limas y limones that is popular in Mexico:"
fruit  citrus  language  spanish  español  2015  limes  lemons  chile  venezuela  elsalvador  ecuador  spain  españa 
december 2015 by robertogreco
Cincopatasalgato: Arquitectura El Salvador
"Somos Cincopatasalgato, un estudio de Arquitectura, diseño de interiores y mobiliario en EL SALVADOR, bajo la visión de José Roberto Paredes, fundador de Cincopatasalgato: darle más vueltas a las “cosas”, explorar hasta romper con lo tradicional y plasmar la personalidad, necesidades y deseos de cada uno de nuestros clientes. Creemos que Cada persona es única y merece ser libre de expresar su personalidad. De una personalidad única resulta un proyecto singular."

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cincopatasalgato  architecture  elsalvador  sansalvador  design 
march 2014 by robertogreco
Memory in Latin America
"...the news headlines include a number of stories that reflect the persistence of a past that is everlasting and does not wish to pass... (Jelin, State Repression and the Struggles for Memory, 2003)"
chile  colombia  argentina  perú  brasil  brazil  guatemala  haiti  bolivia  paraguay  uruguay  venezuela  suriname  nicaragua  mexico  latinamerica  elsalvador  domincanrepublic  history  place  memory  blogs 
december 2013 by robertogreco
Americas South and North
"We are a collective of historians who study, analyze, and think about Latin America from a variety of time periods, countries, and topics. Out interests range from the borderlands region of Mexico to the southern part of Chile; from indigenous peoples and religion in colonial Latin America to middle-class cultures in the late-20th century; from gender history to human rights struggles; and much, much more. We started this blog to provide a forum to write, think about, and generally discuss Latin American history, culture, peoples, politics, and the place of Latin America in the region and the world. Here’s who we are, and you can contact us at and follow us on twitter @AmSouthandNorth."
panamá  honduras  elsalvador  costarica  guatemala  ecuador  bolivia  venezuela  colombia  uruguay  paraguay  argentina  brasil  brazil  chile  mexico  blogs  latinamerica  perú 
december 2012 by robertogreco
Un Techo para mi País
"MISIÓN: Mejorar la calidad de vida de las familias que viven en situación de pobreza a través de la construcción de viviendas de emergencia y la ejecución de planes de habilitación social, en un trabajo conjunto entre jóvenes voluntarios universitarios y estas comunidades. Queremos denunciar la realidad de los asentamientos precarios en que viven millones de personas en Latinoamérica e involucrar a la sociedad en su conjunto, logrando que se comprometa con la tarea de construir un continente más solidario, justo y sin exclusión."
activism  architecture  argentina  chile  haiti  perú  bolivia  brasil  latinamerica  colombia  costarica  ecuador  elsalvador  guatemala  honduras  mexico  nicaragua  panamá  paraguay  dominicanrepublic  uruguay  social  housing  volunteerism  glvo  yearoff  charity  community  untechoparamipaís  brazil 
november 2010 by robertogreco
Global Voices in English » Getting to Know the Global Voices Latin America Team
"As outgoing Editor for Latin America, I have seen the Global Voices team from Latin America grow tremendously over the past three years. Each of the volunteer authors has dedicated time and energy to serve the mission of Global Voices, and to share their part of the world with a global audience. At any given time, each of the countries that make up the Latin American region has been represented by a talented blogger tasked with the challenge of presenting a wide range of issues in a balanced and fair manner. Now that I am moving on to take the helm at Rising Voices, I am eager to see how the team will take the coverage of such a diverse region to greater heights under the leadership of the new Latin America Editor, Silvia Viñas. Continuing a recent tradition, let's meet some of these amazing people that have been part of the Latin American team (in alphabetical order by first name)."
globalvoices  blogs  blogging  chile  argentina  mexico  uruguay  colombia  perú  paraguay  costarica  guatemala  venezuela  latinamerica  dominicanrepublic  ecuador  honduras  panamá  nicaragua  bolivia  elsalvador  cuba  spanish  español  portuguese 
september 2010 by robertogreco

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