 Hispanic
American Village News
By The Associated Press
Puerto Rican pride on display at NYC's parade
By KAREN ZRAICK
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - New York City's Fifth
Avenue was awash in the red, white and blue of the Puerto Rican flag on
Sunday as the Puerto Rican Day parade stepped off under gray skies.
The crowds were thinner on many
blocks than in previous years, which some attributed to the
thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon. But the rain held off and
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. insisted the crowd was still "2
million strong, like every year.''
Salsa bands and dancers shimmied up
the avenue on colorful floats as spectators sounded vuvuzelas, the
noisemakers that caught on during the 2010 World Cup.
"We're here because we love to be
with our people and get in touch with our culture,'' said spectator
Vanessa Velez, 22.
Roberto Cruz, 46, arrived at a spot
along the parade route at 7 a.m. to be as close to the marchers as
possible. He said the event is special this year because President
Barack Obama is scheduled to be in Puerto Rico on Tuesday.
"It was about time,'' Cruz said.
"Let's see if the government can give us more jobs and more
education. Unemployment is too high.''
Obama's visit to the island, the
first by a president in decades, is extremely important, said U.S. Rep.
Nydia Velazquez.
"It is important that the president
gets a chance to listen to different sectors in Puerto Rico and see
Puerto Rico's reality,'' said Velazquez, a Brooklyn Democrat. "During
his presidential campaign he said he wanted to be also the president of
the Puerto Ricans in the island. This is a good moment to tackle the
problems that affect Puerto Rico, mostly in the economic and
environmental sectors.''
Entertainer John Leguizamo was named
global ambassador to the arts for the parade, which also included such
elected officials as Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
City Comptroller John Liu said Puerto
Ricans have made great contributions to New York City for generations,
including in the areas of commerce, culture and education. "I myself am
proud to have been nicknamed a Chino-Rican,'' the Taiwan-born Liu joked.
The parade has been an annual event
in New York since 1958 and has grown to be one of the city's largest.
The theme for this year's parade was
"celebrating the natural beauty of Puerto Rico.'' It was also dedicated
to the city of Cabo Rojo, celebrating its 240th birthday.
Noemi Nieves, a 54-year-old retired
secretary, waved the flag of Cabo Rojo, where her brother lives. She has
lived in New York for 35 years but goes back to visit Puerto Rico every
year.
"It's beautiful,'' she said of the
parade as a troupe of young women in colorful dresses danced by.
___
Associated Press Writer Claudia
Torrens contributed to this report.
Obama courting Puerto Ricans
By BEN FOX and LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Cheering
crowds in the steamy tropical heat are expected Tuesday when President
Barack Obama makes a rare presidential visit to Puerto Rico.
But the nearly 4 million U.S.
citizens who live on the island and can't vote in the general election
aren't really the point.
Organizers are hoping this trip, the
first in decades by a president to the U.S. Caribbean territory, will
generate good will on the mainland, particularly in Florida, where the
fast-growing Hispanic population will be essential to Obama's
re-election effort in 2012.
"The past decade has witnessed a
staggering growth in the Puerto Rican community,'' said Andres W. Lopez,
a member of the Democratic Central Committee who helped organize the
visit. "They have become the quintessential battleground community in
the nation's battleground state.''
There are almost a million more
Puerto Ricans on the mainland than on the island. They long had been
concentrated in the Northeast, but the 2010 census shows that Florida is
in second place, with about 841,000, mostly in the Orlando area. These
transplants tend to be younger and more educated than their counterparts
in established communities in places such as Hartford, Conn., and New
York. As more recent arrivals they also tend to have closer ties to
family back home.
Democrats see the Puerto Ricans in
Florida as a potential counterbalance to the larger, traditionally
Republican Cuban-American community in a state Obama needs badly to win
a second term.
That's where this trip comes in.
"I am sure they will be happy about
this,'' said Pedro Pierluisi, the island's nonvoting representative in
Congress, who has been working to generate for support for Obama on the
mainland. "We have lots of Puerto Ricans in central Florida and I know
they keep close eyes on Puerto Rico.''
Reaching out to Puerto Ricans is part
of a broader effort to court Hispanics, who accounted for more than half
the U.S. population increase over the past decade and now number about
50 million. It's hardly a uniform community, but there are "shared
issues'' of concern that include support for education, and social
services, said Louis DeSipio, a professor at the University of
California, Irvine.
The number of people of Puerto Rican
descent, the second largest Hispanic group in the U.S. after Mexicans,
grew by 36 percent over the past decade to 4.6 million, according the
census. The island's population fell by 2 percent during that time as
people fled a dismal economy.
Puerto Ricans tend to be less
interested in immigration overhaul because they are U.S. citizens and
can move freely back and forth between the island and the mainland, but
as migrants who often need to learn to speak English and face other
challenges they have similar experiences, said DeSipio, chairman of
Chicano-Latino Studies at the California school.
"To the extent that the president
talks about issues of bringing Puerto Ricans into the U.S. mainstream
that will certainly resonate with other Latino communities and immigrant
communities generally,'' he said.
George Colon, who moved to the
Orlando area a month ago after losing his job managing memberships at a
country club in Puerto Rico, said he's undecided on the presidential
election and won't be persuaded by Obama's visit. He said he will vote
for the candidate best able to secure statehood for the island or
"resolve its status,'' as most people refer to the issue.
"If he's not interested in resolving
Puerto Rico's status, than it doesn't mean much,'' Colon said about the
trip.
The political aspect of the trip is a
point of pride to Belmaris Santos, a marketing executive from Guaynabo,
a San Juan suburb, who plans to show up at the airport to catch Obama's
arrival.
"It's historic,'' the 33-year-old
said. "That a sitting U.S. president decides to come is a show of the
importance that our island is generating in the American political
system.''
Obama plans to spend only a few hours
on the island. He is expected to commemorate the last official
presidential visit, by John F. Kennedy in December 1961. Obama plans to
meet with Gov. Luis Fortuno, a pro-statehood Republican, and attend a
fundraiser.
Fortuno said in an interview that he
didn't expect the president to weigh in on Puerto Rico's status. That's
a question that Fortuno said will be put to the island's voters before
his term ends in December of next year.
"Any smart political leader in
America nowadays understands the importance of courting the Hispanic
vote, regardless of whether you're a Republican or a Democrat,'' he
said.
Obama is also expected to draw
attention to the $7 billion in stimulus money that went to Puerto Rico,
perhaps visiting one of the schools or government buildings renovated
under the program. Pierluisi, said this aid came at a crucial time, with
the local economy in recession since 2006 and the government slashing
its budget and laying off thousands of public sector workers.
"The people might not know all these
details but they see a president who has been supporting us,'' Pierluisi
said.
Obama is neutral on the status issue,
which has been stalled for decades by conflicting sentiment on the
island. The president supports a plebiscite in which Puerto Ricans would
choose between statehood, independence, the current semiautonomous
commonwealth status or a free association in which the island would be a
sovereign nation that could define its future relationship with the U.S.
through treaties.
The president has supported a
plebiscite in the past.
The trip is a big deal on the island,
where the government has begun a flurry of road and public works
projects in recent days and the Legislature has created a model of an
Obama statue they intended to erect in the Capitol, to go with the ones
of five other presidents who have visited.
The pro-independence movement has
announced plans to protest, but they represent a sliver of public
opinion. The majority of Puerto Ricans have voted consistently to
maintain ties to the U.S., and enthusiasm for the visit is widespread.
Juan Carlos, a 28-year-old bank
teller from the San Juan suburb of Carolina, said he asked his boss for
Tuesday off so he could see the president. "This is a moment that I will
tell my children about when they are old enough,'' he said.
_____
Wides-Munoz reported from Miami
Yuma sees rise in Hispanic Jehovah's Witnesses
By MARA KNAUB
Yuma Sun
YUMA, Ariz. (AP) - Tears well up in
Maria Luisa Garcia's eyes when she recalls how Yuma's thriving community
of Spanish-speaking Jehovah's Witnesses all began with the work of five
women.
"From five people, look at the
growth. There are now many congregations. I cry at conventions when I
see so much growth,'' Garcia said, her voice breaking.
That small group of five women has
now grown to a dozen congregations of 1,300 Jehovah's Witnesses, along
with many more interested people who attend twice-weekly meetings. Today
there are 12 Spanish and four English congregations in Yuma County.
But back when Garcia arrived from
Mexico in 1953, there wasn't even an official Spanish congregation in
the county.
Soon after arriving in town as a
young lady, Garcia, now 77, started studying the Bible with Jehovah's
Witnesses.
However, she didn't set out to become
a Witness. Upon her arrival, she found her mother already studying with
them. Having been born and raised a Catholic, the 20-year-old became
concerned with what the Witnesses were teaching her mother.
"At first I only wanted to know what
my mom was learning. Maybe they're deceiving her. Then I started to read
the magazines (Watchtower and Awake) and I liked them. I thought, this
is very nice,'' Garcia said in Spanish.
In 1954 she and her mother got
baptized, making them official Jehovah's Witnesses. They became two of
five women who were part of an emerging Spanish group.
The women ran the group, conducting
meetings and handling all duties, from accounting to organizing the
house-to-house preaching, the work Witnesses are most known for.
The group met in a small Kingdom
Hall, as their meeting places are called, on 10th Street and 6th Avenue,
where an English congregation already met.
When a new Kingdom Hall was built on
Avenue A in the early `70s to accommodate the English congregation, the
little group moved with them. This hall still houses several
congregations, both English and Spanish.
The Spanish group then received
needed help when Pedro Rojas arrived from California in 1968. He would
become the first elder when the group became an official congregation.
By the time Rojas arrived, the
congregation had grown to 40 people. That congregation grew until it
became two, and the congregations continued to multiply.
"We went through the roof,'' said
Ricardo Rodriguez, who arrived in Yuma in 1974 when there was only one
congregation. "Pioneers of the work here in Yuma include Pedro Rojas,
Enrique Ramos, Eleuterio Ceniceros and Wilfredo Ponce.''
"Their wives supported the
arrangement. Women like Jessie DeAnda and the late Lidia Ponce were
founding women who dedicated their lives to this work,'' said Jaime
Medina, a congregation elder.
Today there are five Kingdom Halls:
three in Yuma, one in Somerton and one in Wellton. In the Yuma and
Wellton area, some 700 Spanish-speaking Witnesses and interested ones
meet in six congregations.
But the quickest growth is taking
place in San Luis and Somerton, where about 600 Spanish-speaking
Witnesses meet in six congregations, not counting people who attend
meetings but who are not Witnesses. (Only members who actively
"witness,'' or preach, known as publishers, are considered active
Jehovah's Witnesses.)
The growth is such that there is no
room for more congregations in the available Kingdom Halls, and they are
looking for property in San Luis for a new hall.
Witnesses are known for sharing their
message from house to house. Garcia explained that the early group spent
entire days preaching from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., covering San Luis,
Somerton, Gadsden, Yuma and Wellton and all the ranches in between.
"We took lunch,'' Garcia recalled.
Why do they preach with such zeal?
"We try to get everywhere,'' she said, then added, "not just because we
want more people. We want people to realize what Jehovah will do in the
future.''
Medina said the growth is due to the
personal interest shown to families.
Rodriguez offered another reason. "We
offer free Bible studies and many accept them. It's a study without
obligation, but over time people will compare what they learn with the
Bible. They reach a point when they decide to become Witnesses. Nobody
pushes them, it is a personal decision.''
Jessie DeAnda said hearing God's name
for the first time made a deep impact on her. She also grew up Catholic
and first became acquainted with the Witnesses when a teenage girl gave
her a Bible-based booklet.
"That's when I saw Jehovah's name for
the first time. I had never heard it before. Mass was in Latin so I
didn't understand anything, and I had never read the Bible before.''
DeAnda started studying with the
Witnesses in 1954 and was baptized in 1958.
Nowadays, "people are so crushed by
economic problems or they're seeking something better, that the thought
of a New World appeals to them,'' Medina said.
Witnesses believe that one day Earth
will become a paradise, according to God's original plan.
Tony Romero, another congregation
elder, said a common misconception is that Jehovah's Witnesses do not
believe in Jesus.
"But we do believe in him. He is our
only means of salvation, he is our King. As Christians we follow Christ
when he said in Matthew 28:19, 20 `Go and make disciples.'''
That's why Jehovah's Witnesses strive
to share what the Bible teaches to all people, Romero pointed out.
Jehovah's Witnesses attend district
convention
During recent weeks Jehovah's
Witnesses may have come knocking on your door. They made a special
effort to invite all Yuma County residents to their three-day
convention.
Approximately 1,300 Spanish-speaking
Witnesses living in the area attended their 2011 District Convention
with the theme "Let God's Kingdom Come!'' in San Diego from May 27-29.
The program was presented in both
English and Spanish with the purpose of "strengthen(ing) confidence that
the Kingdom of God is a reality,'' according to a news release.
The 12 Spanish congregations in Yuma
County joined the more than 33,000 people who attend the Bible-based
program at Qualcomm Stadium.
___
Information from: The Sun, http://www.yumasun.com
Organización ayuda a empresarios hispanos en EEUU
Por LAURA OLENIACZ
DURHAM, Carolina del Norte, EE.UU.
(AP) - Alejandro Sánchez dice que ha conocido a muchos comerciantes
hispanos ingeniosos, que abrieron negocios sin tener una preparación
administrativa y en algunos casos sin haber completado siquiera la
secundaria. Entre ellos, hay quienes han alcanzado algunas metas
importantes.
Pero Sánchez, empleado
del Latino Community Credit Union en Durham y graduado de la Escuela
Fuqua de Administración en la Universidad de Duke, dice que también ha
visto a muchos comercios que no pueden crecer sin más recursos
financieros o capacitación.
"Ellos no pueden crecer porque no
saben cómo administrar el negocio, cómo tener acceso a otras
oportunidades. He visto esto repetidamente'', dijo Sánchez. "Así que me
dije, 'aquí hay un potencial enorme; si alguien les diera a ellos las
herramientas, podríamos hacer que esta gente generara en realidad más
ingresos para sus familias y para sus comunidades'''.
Sánchez está ayudando a crear una
nueva organización en Durham, Carolina del Norte, llamada Acción
Emprendedora USA, la cual apunta al crecimiento de las microempresas en
la comunidad hispana.
La organización no gubernamental no
es un programa de la cooperativa Credit Union, sino que constituye un
esfuerzo que Sánchez ha emprendido junto con Ignacio Torres, quien
estudia la maestría en políticas públicas en la Universidad de Duke.
Torres ayudó a lanzar una
organización con el mismo nombre en Chile hace varios años, inicialmente
en una municipalidad pobre.
La organización comenzó a
proporcionar servicios para gobiernos, pero evolucionó y creció. Ahora
opera en siete centros conectados con varias universidades, incluida la
de Duke. Los estudiantes de las universidades ayudan a dar clases a
microempresarios dentro de este programa.
En cuanto a Sánchez, dijo que trabajó
en Colombia, en una tarea similar, aconsejando a los dueños de pequeñas
empresas en comunidades de escasos ingresos. Llegó a Durham para cursar
la maestría en administración de empresas en Duke y ahora trabaja
en Latino Credit Union, que no tiene relaciones con Acción.
Sánchez dijo que percibió una
necesidad entre la comunidad hispana, donde muchas personas carecían de
los conocimientos o antecedentes educativos para sostener y crear sus
negocios. Consideró que Acción podría tener un impacto social y
económico.
"La mayoría de la gente en la que
concentramos nuestros esfuerzos tiene ingresos bajos y, para ellos, el
obtener un empleo y mejorar su situación económica resulta complicado'',
dijo Sánchez. "Si somos capaces de hacer esa transformación en sus vidas
para darles herramientas a fin de que puedan mejorar sus vidas, habrá un
impacto social muy grande, en términos de financiarlos''.
El grupo busca ayudar a personas
emprendedoras que han abierto o buscan abrir negocios pequeños, donde
emplean a una o dos personas y cuyas ganancias son de hasta 50.000
dólares anuales. Los negocios a los que buscan ayudar van de la
jardinería a la construcción, pasando por los restaurantes y los puestos
comerciales.
Acción finalizó apenas uno de sus
primeros cursos de prueba para microempresarios, a mediados de mayo. Su
primera generación contó con entre seis y 10 personas, quienes
aprendieron los pasos necesarios para formalizar una empresa --incluyendo
qué permisos y licencias se necesitan--, así como información sobre
"marketing'' y matemáticas financieras.
La organización está conectada con
Bull City Forward, un grupo de ayuda a pequeños comerciantes, y fue
también parte de Duke Start-Up Challenge, una competición para personas
con aptitudes comerciales.
Los miembros de Acción se ubicaron
entre los siete finalistas de esa competencia, en la que se inscribieron
110 proyectos de nuevos negocios.
Ahora planifican una nueva ronda de
clases en septiembre. Antes, tendrán tiempo para perfeccionar su modelo
de negocios.
La primera fase de su trabajo incluye
clases introductorias, así como capacitación y asesoría personalizada.
La segunda etapa tiene la misión de dar servicios distintos, incluidos
algunos de índole legal y contable, a los dueños de las empresas, con un
costo módico.
Una tercera fase consta de la
formación de una red para ayudar a que los clientes hagan crecer sus
negocios.
"A fin de que nosotros pasemos de una
etapa a otra, necesitamos tener un grupo de comerciantes que esté listo
para la siguiente etapa'', dijo Sánchez. "Vamos a desarrollar esa
primera etapa en los próximos seis meses o un año, y realmente hemos
mejorado nuestras clases, nuestro programa y nuestra capacitación''.
Los miembros de la primera clase de
prueba ofrecida por Acción incluyeron a personas que quieren abrir una
panadería y a alguien que desea hacer crecer un negocio de artesanías y
piezas de arte entre México y Estados Unidos.
Uno de los asistentes fue Alex
Manning, quien reside en Durham y posee un negocio de construcción, el
cual llegó a emplear a ocho cuadrillas de tres trabajadores cada una.
Sin embargo, Manning dijo que el
negocio creció demasiado rápido para que pudiera sostenerse. Ahora
quiere crecer de nuevo.
"Si aprendes algo nuevo, creces'',
dijo.
Otro asistente a la clase fue Miguel
Chirinos, quien trabaja para un programa comunitario de una agencia de
salud mental, enfocada en la población latina, pero quien quiere hacer
que crezca su trabajo de investigación histórica.
Chirinos es autor de un libro llamado
"Simon Bolivar in the United States'', escrito en inglés y traducido al
español (Simón Bolívar en Estados Unidos). Está terminando la
investigación para su segundo libro, sobre poblados estadounidenses que
recibieron el nombre del líder militar y político venezolano, y además
realiza otras investigaciones y conferencias.
Revela que asiste a la clase para
adquirir conocimientos y consejos sobre la forma de crear un pequeño
negocio.
"Creo que ha llegado el momento en
que tengo que abrir un negocio pequeño'', dijo. "Esto ha sido una
experiencia maravillosa''.
___
Con información de The Herald-Sun, http://www.herald-sun.com
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