Publisher Agrees to Boost Latinx Representation After Backlash to Whitewashed Novel "American Dirt"
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-02-05
We look at the massive backlash and criticism against the novel "American Dirt" as a movement led by Latinx writers declares victory, demanding more representation in the publishing industry. Dignidad Literaria, or literary dignity, formed in response to the controversial immigration novel "American Dirt." The author, Jeanine Cummins, who is not Mexican, received a seven-figure advance for the book, and it was chosen for Oprah's Book Club. But its critics say "American Dirt" exploits and misrepresents Mexico and the experience of Mexican migrants. Critics also say the novel completely erases the voices of Central…
www.democracynow.org/2020/2/5/american_dirt

Mexico violence: 9 people shot dead in Uruapan
yenisafak.com | 2020-02-05
An armed attack at an amusement arcade in the western Uruapan city of Mexico left nine people, including children, dead on Tuesday, local media reported.Four minors between the ages of 12 and 14 were among the dead, whereas one survived the attack with an injury, according to QS Noticias news site.Investigators said the gun attack in Michoacan state was the result of a conflict between the two drug cartels

1 Dead, 81 Injured Migrant Truck Accident on Its Way to US
telesurenglish.net | 2020-02-04
One person was killed and 81 others were injured Tuesday when a truck full of Central American migrants overturned in southern Mexico on its way to the United States border. | RELATED: | Greece Says It's Accelerating Asylum Applications, Deportations | According to authorities in the Mexican state of Veracruz, the accident occurred near the town of San Andres Tuxtla, about 500 kilometers away from Mexico City, on a road that ends up near the Mexican-Texan border. | The Mexican…
telesurenglish.net/news/one-dead-81-injured-in-mexico-migrants-truck-accident—-20200204-0018.html

Super Bowl Gluttony
Kent Paterson | counterpunch.org | 2020-02-03
In a now established Superbowl ritual, media consumers on both sides of the border are getting another big bite of the avocado. For the sixth year in a row, the Mexican Association of Avocado Producers and Exporters (APEAM) rolled out a pricey Superbowl ad, reportedly costing $5 million for 30 seconds of airtime. To get…
counterpunch.org/2020/02/03/super-bowl-gluttony/

'Horrific': Human Rights Advocates Call for Investigation Into Death of Second Monarch Butterfly Defender in Mexico
Julia Conley, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2020-02-03
Human rights defenders on Monday demanded a full investigation into the death of a second conservation activist in Michoacan state, Mexico, after the body of a tour guide in one of the country's largest butterfly preserves was found several days after the man went missing. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-9674868781.jpg …
commondreams.org/news/2020/02/03/horrific-human-rights-advocates-call-investigation-death-second-monarch-butterfly?cd-origin=rss

Mexico: UNICEF calls for implementation of protocol to protect migrant children
news.un.org | 2020-02-01
Authorities in Mexico are being reminded by the UN children's agency, UNICEF, of the need to protect the rights of migrant children who enter the country.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/02/1056522

Headlines for January 31, 2020
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-01-31
Senate Poised to Acquit President Trump in Impeachment Trial, World Health Organization Declares International Public Health Emergency, U.S. Special Envoy Warns of International Crisis in Idlib, Syria, Britain Formally Withdrawing from European Union Tonight, Pentagon Deploys 1st Low-Yield Nuclear Warhead-Armed Submarine, Trump Admin Poised to Loosen Restrictions on Use of Landmines, Human Rights Groups Condemn Mexico for Crackdown on Central American Migrants, Mexican Butterfly Conservationist Found Dead, Bolivia's Movement for Socialism Candidate Luis Arce Returns to Bolivia, U.S. Pushes EU to End Ban on Chemic…
www.democracynow.org/2020/1/31/headlines

Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy marks one year, leaving tens of thousands of migrants stranded in Mexican border towns
splcenter.org | 2020-01-29
splcenter.org/news/2020/01/29/trumps-remain-mexico-policy-marks-one-year-leaving-tens-thousands-migrants-stranded-mexican

Murder of Mexican Artist Isabel Cabanillas Highlights Endemic Issue of Femicide in Ciudad Juárez
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-01-28
Isabel Cabanillas, a 26-year-old beloved feminist activist and artist, was recently assassinated in Ciudad Juárez, resurfacing the border city's painful legacy of femicides and violence against women. Cabanillas was reported missing on social media by her friends on Saturday, January 18, after she never returned home. On that same day, she was found shot to death on a sidewalk next to her bicycle in downtown Juárez. We speak with Nana Rebell, a feminist activist in Ciudad Juárez and a member of the Juárez feminist collective Hijas de su Maquilera Madre, about Cabanillas's life and the endemic issue of femicide in…
www.democracynow.org/2020/1/28/juarez_mexico_isabel_cabanillas_assassination_femicide

Chinese Artist & Filmmaker Ai Weiwei on State Violence from Mexico to Hong Kong to Xinjiang
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-01-28
In 2014, 43 students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College disappeared after they were abducted in Iguala, Mexico. More than five years after their disappearance, the families of the students are still fighting for justice. The story is the subject of a stunning new documentary by the world-renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. The film, "Vivos," follows the families of the disappeared students in their daily lives as they grapple with the absence of their loved ones and attempt to hold the Mexican government accountable for their disappearance. We sat down with Ai Weiwei earlier this week at the Sund…
www.democracynow.org/2020/1/28/ai_weiwei_vivos_hong_kong_xinjiang

Asylum-Seekers Are Being Abandoned in Guatemala in a New Policy Officials Call a "Total Disaster"
Ashoka Mukpo | aclu.org | 2020-01-28
In late November, U.S. immigration authorities began | deporting some Central American asylum-seekers to Guatemala under a new | policy that makes it nearly impossible for them to seek asylum in the U.S. | But Guatemalan human rights workers say that their country's | asylum system isn't capable of handling even the relatively small numbers that | have been sent there so far, and that asylum seekers' precarious status in the | country has already pushed many to leave. | "They're preferring to move on…
aclu.org/news/human-rights/asylum-seekers-are-being-abandoned-in-guatemala-in-a-new-policy-officials-call-a-total-disaster