Hostos at the Ateneo de Madrid

Eugenio María de Hostos, Woodcut, Lorenzo Homar, 1961
Source: Sala Eugenio María de Hostos. Una invitación para visitar la Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 2009

Yesterday was the anniversary of the birth of Eugenio María de Hostos, one of the leading lights of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean during the 19^th Century. (Tomorrow, the Puerto Rican government's offices will be closed in honor of Hostos’ birthday.)  A Puerto Rican by birth, Hostos was an American, in the broadest sense of that word, by choice.  He saw in the countries of the Antilles-especially Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic-islands sharing both cultural bonds and political challenges.  His life was dedicated to the independence of the islands from any foreign power, whether in Madrid or in Washington. 

One of Hostos’ clearest arguments in favor of Cuba and Puerto Rico’s independence from Spain was delivered in 1868 in the heart of Spanish intellectual life, El Ateneo de Madrid.  Only a few months earlier, Puerto Rico’s first significant attempt to achieve independence died in the coffee-producing hills near Lares.  Meanwhile, in Cuba, insurgents had started a long and costly war that would do little to resolve the island’s colonial status.  Hostos’ speech at the Ateneo is a pointed and elegant attack against Spanish colonialism and its impact on the peoples of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.  Spain itself was convulsed by revolution in 1868, and it was Hostos who exposed the hypocrisy of Spaniards who preached liberalism at home but imposed colonialism abroad.

Thanks to the Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College/CUNY, Hostos’ speech at the Ateneo has been translated into English.  This is part of the college’s great work in preserving his legacy and making some of his work available to English-speakers.  The site is a great place to start to learn about this important figure in the history of the Americas and his life's work in favor of freedom.

Marina Ginestá, Spanish Civil War icon, dies.

The subject of one of the most iconic photographs of the Spanish Civil War has died.  Marina Ginestá, who was photographed by the German Hans Guttman Guster (later Juan Guzmán) in 1936, died in Paris today at the age of 94.  The photograph of a young and defiant Ginestá, taken as she stood guard atop the Hotel Colón in Barcelona at the onset of the Spanish Civil War, was one of many photographs taken by Guttman during his time in Spain as a member of the International Brigades.  Ginestá fled from Spain after the war and settled in the Dominican Republic.  By the mid-1940s, she had run afoul of the Trujillo regime and fled back to Europe.  Guttman too fled Spain at the collapse of the Spanish Republic.  Arriving in Mexico, he became one of the nation’s most important photographers producing a series of images of Mexican artists at work including, most notably, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.

Marina Ginestá,  Hans Guttman Giuster (later Juan Guzmán), Barcelona, 1936.  Image courtesy of Revista Ojos Rojos.

Frida Kahlo, Juan Guzmán, Mexico City, 1951.

La Vuelta Podcast: Press Censorship in Latin America, Elections in Chile

This month's episode of La Vuelta Podcast starts with a conversation about public support for press censorship in Latin America.  We spoke with Mariana Rodriguez, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University's Latin American Public Opinion Project, about her research on press censorship in Latin America and the ways in which Internet access affects Latin American attitudes toward censorship.  

Next, we turned to the most recent elections in Chile.  Kenneth Bunker's quantitative research on politics and elections makes him something like the Nate Silver of Chilean politics.  His website, tresquintos.com, is required reading in Chilean political circles.  We spoke to Bunker just after Michelle Bachelet had won the first round of voting in Chile's presidential election and that victory had left her as the presumptive favorite to win the second round of voting which took place this past weekend.  Bachelet won, of course, but as Bunker points out, getting her legislative agenda through the Chilean Congress will be no easy feat.

You can stream or download La Vuelta's most recent episode at https://soundcloud.com/lavueltablog/la-vuelta-episode-2

La Vuelta's success depends on its supporters and audience.  How can you help?  Here are some suggestions:

• Each episode of the show is available for streaming or download at https://soundcloud.com/lavueltablog.  Follow us on Soundcloud and share our episodes with your friends and colleagues.  And let us know what you think about our show, our guests, or share ideas for future interviews.

• Follow us on Twitter at @lavueltablog where we will be posting updates about guests and upcoming shows as well as regular commentary on Latin American and U.S. Latino affairs.

• Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/LA-VUELTA/2154469806

• Have you read an article recently about Latin America or Latinos and the U.S. and would like to hear more from the author? Have you published a book or article recently in Latin American or Latino Studies?  Are you or a client working on project that impacts Latin America or Latinos in the U.S.?  Let us know.

Best,

John

La Vuelta Launches Inaugural Podcast

Today, we are happy to launch La Vuelta's inaugural podcast.  Each month, we'll be featuring conversations with writers, policymakers, artists, and others whose work focuses on some aspect of the history, politics or culture of Latin America or the Latino communities of the United States.  Our hope is that La Vuelta becomes a valuable resource for those who care about Latin America or the U.S. Latino experience.

This month's episode features a conversation with Prof. Andy Baker of the University of Colorado at Boulder about his recent research on the scope and nature of anti-Americanism in Latin America.  We also speak with Liliana Gamboa, coordinator for the Open Society Justice Initiative project on antidiscrimination in the Dominican Republic, about a recent ruling by the island's Constitutional Court that threatens to strip thousands of persons of Haitian descent of their Dominican citizenship.

Of course, La Vuelta's success will depend on its supporters and audience.  How can you help?  Here are some suggestions:

• Each episode of the show is available for streaming or download at https://soundcloud.com/lavueltablog.  Follow us on Soundcloud and share our episodes with your friends and colleagues.  And let us know what you think about our show, our guests, or share ideas for future interviews.
• Follow us on Twitter at @lavueltablog where we will be posting updates about guests and upcoming shows as well as regular commentary on Latin American and U.S. Latino affairs.
• Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/LA-VUELTA/2154469806
• Have you read an article recently about Latin America or Latinos and the U.S. and would like to hear more from the author? Have you published a book or article recently in Latin American or Latino Studies?  Are you or a client working on project that impacts Latin America or Latinos in the U.S.?  Let us know.

We are very excited about the future of La Vuelta and hope that you'll join us and spread the word.

Thanks,

John

PS: La Vuelta is produced by Anoah Levine at the studios of John Jay College/CUNY in New York.

Lo Prometido es Deuda

I know, I know.  It's all about gun control and the debt ceiling right now.  But eventually, as this piece from NPR shows pretty clearly, people are going to tire of an administration that talks about immigration reform but does precious little to actually make it happen.  Hay que ponerse los pantalones, Mr. President.   

Rubio on The Daily Show

It says something about how awful our current political media landscape is that this conversation between Florida Senator Marco Rubio and the Daily Show's Jon Stewart is better than anything I have seen in years on a Sunday morning political talk show.  Even though Rubio is charmless and lacks the easy banter of other politicos who have sat across from Stewart, the conversation was informative and provided one of the best explanations of the philosophical differences between the parties when it comes to the role of the government in creating economic growth.  The interview is cut into three parts and I have put links below.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Ecuador Welcomes Assange But Not A Free Press

Many have been celebrating the decision by President Rafael Correa of Ecuador to offer political asylum to Julian Assange this week by declaring it a victory against British and American imperialism.  I'm not sure about that; but I am sure that by allowing Assange to live under the protection of his government, Correa is attempting to make people forget about his own terrible treatment of the Ecuadorean press.  As the Committee to Protect Journalists reported recently, "President Rafael Correa's press freedom record is among the very worst in the Americas."  That's saying something in a region that is home to other opponents of a free press including Cuba and Venezuela.  Assange may be resting comfortably and safely in the Ecuadorean embassy in London but when it comes to press freedom in Ecuador it's clear the Correa government is sticking to the "do as I say, not as I do" axiom of politics.