(2020-09-09). "Unforgetting": Roberto Lovato's Memoir Links U.S. Military in Central America to Migration Crisis. democracynow.org 
We look at how decades of U.S. military intervention in Central America have led to the ongoing migrant crisis, with Salvadoran American journalist Roberto Lovato, author of the new book "Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas." Lovato recounts his own family's migration from El Salvador to the United States, his return to the country as a young man to fight against the U.S.-backed right-wing government responsible for grave human rights violations, and his embrace of journalism to tell the stories of people on the margins. "I'm unforgetting a history of not just El Sal…
(2020-09-09). ACLU Calls On Tech Companies to End Their Alliance with ICE and CBP. aclu.org Westlaw and Lexis databases are the backbone of every ACLU lawyer's job. Whether we're filing legal briefs in court, lobbying for legislative change, or compiling research, the duo hold information that's vital for our advocacy. Thomson Reuters, which owns Westlaw, and Reed Elsevier (RELX), which runs Lexis, are the two publicly-traded companies behind each of these products. Though they claim to "advance human welfare" and help their customers "move society forward" by providing the necessary knowledge, information, and analytical tools for researchers, lawyers, and government agencies, they are fueling the m…
(2020-09-08). Hunger Strikers Demand Police Reform In Antioch. popularresistance.org Antioch — A handful of young activists have launched a hunger strike to demand local authorities fire a former San Francisco police officer who was one of two officers involved in the fatal shooting of a homeless immigrant. | Five local activists and one San Franciscan, who call themselves the #6Forced2Strike, began their strike Friday evening to protest, among other issues, Antioch Police Department's retention of Officer Michael Mellone. | Mellone left San Francisco Police Department in 2019, resigning just before he was to be disciplined for events that escalated a confrontation that led to the fatal sho…
(2020-09-08). Dozens of abandoned migrants rescued in Sahara. yenisafak.com Drivers abandoned four trucks carrying the migrants from Nigeria, Togo, Mali and Ghana with no food or water about 230 km (143 miles) north of the Sahara crossroad town of Niger's Dirkou after spotting military vehicles.Three days later, an IOM rescue team found the group, which included children, by chance on Sept. 3. Many were dehydrated, injured and in need of immediate medical assistance.Spokesman Paul Dillon told Reuters it was not unusual for smugglers, who tend to take payment upfront from people desperate to reach Europe, to abandon their passengers if they fear they will be intercepted."Sometimes smuggle…
(2020-09-08). Trump Moves to Take Leadership of Regional Development Bank Away From Latin American Nations. counterpunch.org 
Four Latin American countries have called to postpone the election of the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), scheduled for September 12 and 13. Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico proposed suspending the election until March 2021 to prevent Donald Trump's National Security Adviser for Latin America, the Cuban-American Mauricio Claver-Carone, from taking the
(2020-09-08). "The Path of the Shadows" is a Chilling Reminder of El Salvador's Dark Past. counterpunch.org 'The Path of the Shadows' tells the real-life story of Professor Carlos Mauricio and his harrowing experiences during the civil war in El Salvador. Having freshly returned to his home country after studying in Mexico, the film relates Professor Mauricio's increasing harassment by Salvadoran government agents. Events rapidly escalate, culminating in his abduction in the
(2020-09-08). Mexican medical workers, facing highest death toll in the world, protest layoffs and lack of protective gear. wsws.org The most damning indictment of the the López Obrador government's response to the pandemic, are the deaths of 1,410 health care workers, the highest number in the world.
(2020-09-07). Absent Appeals to the Left, Biden Faces Challenge to Win Over Latinx Voters. truthout.org Though she couldn't vote in past elections, Lucia Allain has spent over a decade in direct-action politics, advocating for immigrants and Latinxs. In November, Allain, who was born in Peru, will vote for the first time since becoming a United States citizen. The communications manager for the influential immigrant-rights organization The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), Allain is as passionate about politics as anyone in this country; she's serious about r…
(2020-09-07). "Touted as 'Essential'… Treated as Disposable": Labor Day Anger as Migrant Farm Workers Toil Inside Wildfire Evacuation Zones. commondreams.org "For the workers, their hands were forced by a combination of circumstances as toxic as the ash that falls over the region's famous vineyards." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/farmworkers_3.jpg …
(2020-09-07). Undocumented Grape Pickers Forced to Work in Fire Evacuation Zones. zcomm.org Grape growers in Sonoma County are getting exemptions to send in farm workers who have few alternatives or options for support…
(2020-09-06). U.S. govt-linked PR firm ran fake news networks for right-wing Latin American regimes. thegrayzone.com A Washington, DC-based PR firm linked to the US government and Democratic Party, CLS Strategies, ran a fake news network on Facebook and Instagram, spreading propaganda for Bolivia's coup regime and the right-wing opposition in Venezuela and Mexico. By Ben Norton major US PR firm located just a few blocks from the White House has …
(2020-09-05). [Perspectives] Uché Blackstock: dismantling structural racism in health care. thelancet.com Uché Blackstock's father, a Jamaican immigrant, arrived in New York State, USA, aged just 17 years. "Like many young immigrant men, he had a variety of jobs", she recalls, "he was a mechanic, a refrigerator repair person, [and] he finally went to a Brooklyn college, where he met our mom." Her mother, Dale Blackstock, was a physician who went to Harvard Medical School and practised in Brooklyn, but had to fight her way to college. "She grew up in poverty here in Brooklyn, where I was born, and where I live.