Film

Organizer says the Filiberto Ojeda Rios Film Festival 2008 is an initiative of the ProLibertad Freedom Campaign to showcase films that speak to our experience as a colonized people fighting for independence and self-determination.

The film festival is named after assassinated Machetero leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios.

Here's the lineup:
7 p.m., Friday November 7 @ Hunter College, Thomas Hunter Hall, first floor, Room 105, Manhattan
¡Palante Siempre Palante!
From Chicago streets to the barrios of New York City and other urban centers, the Young Lords emerged to demand decent living conditions and raised a militant voice for the empowerment of Puerto Ricans and other Latino/as in the United States and for the independence of Puerto Rico. Through on-camera interviews with former members, archival footage, photographs and music, the documentary surveys Puerto Rican history, the Young Lords' political vision and actions, and the organization's legacy.


7 p.m., Friday November 14 @ John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 889 10th Ave. Room 3305N, Manhattan
The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez Gomez
What happens to the parents, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters of those willing to sacrifice everything for their beliefs? This film uniquely blends forms to tell the singular story of a son of Puerto Rican revolutionaries — his mother in prison, his father in exile — sent as a baby to Mexico to be raised in safety and anonymity. As a teenager Ernesto/Guillermo learns of his past and collaborates with filmmakers Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimberg to magically chronicle his turbulent journey of self-discovery, offering a striking account of the costs of fiercely held convictions and the binding force of a son's love.

7:30 p.m., Friday November 21 @ The Brecht Forum, 451 West Street, Manhattan
La Operacion/The Operation
This documentary brings to the foreground the problem of widespread sterilization among Puerto Rican women through the use of personal testimony, newsreels, and government propaganda excerpts. The procedure is so common that more than one-third of all Puerto Rican women of childbearing age have been sterilized. Begun in the 1930's as a means of curbing the surplus population, it continues to be reinforced politically and socially in the Puerto Rican communities.

Suggested donation for each showing is $5.

For more information, visit http://www.prolibertadweb.com/id5.html.

Paradise Rio Piedras

Paradise Rio Piedras
Originally uploaded by Petite Photography.

Today's featured shot from the Puerto Rico Sun photo group is by Petite Photography.

Obama on Puerto Rico

Obama Commits to Puerto Rican Voters: Growth of Stateside Puerto Ricans Determining Factor in Presidential Race?

Miami, FL -- In letters to Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, as leading presidential candidates, the nonpartisan National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights (NCPRR), has requested a dialogue on issues for stateside Puerto Ricans and those on the island-nation.
Obama’s recent response was welcomed by the NCPRR, while McCain’s reply is still pending. The answer from Obama to the NCPRR’s letter denotes the importance of the Puerto Rican vote in the upcoming presidential elections.
According to the latest US Census figures, the stateside Puerto Rican population has achieved unprecedented growth. For the first time in history, stateside Puerto Ricans outnumber those in Puerto Rico, by roughly 4.2 million over the 3.7 million population on the island. The unprecedented growth of the Puerto Rican population, especially in the battleground state of Florida, presents unique voter challenges to the presidential candidates, in view of traditional Democratic Party loyalties among Puerto Ricans.
Obama’s letter expresses an “understand(ing) firsthand” of the issues in Puerto Rico from being raised in Hawaii, and praise for the contributions Puerto Ricans have made to the United States. On improving economic opportunities for all Puerto Ricans, the letter identified Obama’s economic stimulus plans and tax initiatives, along with his commitment to “work with Puerto Rico to help the island regain its economic footing…” partly via a joint U.S.-Puerto Rico economic task force focused on job creation. The response recommends immediate steps for Puerto Rico, including phasing out the cap on Medicaid funding, phasing in participation in other federal health care assistance programs and providing refundable tax credits to working families.
Finally, the letter provides Senator Obama’s sense that the Puerto Rico status question is “a matter of self-determination for the people of Puerto Rico,” and that he will seek to work with all sides of the debate “to resolve the matter for once and for all in a manner that respects the principle of self-determination.”
“It is critical that the needs of stateside Puerto Ricans and the island’s 3.7 million people be addressed by the person who will occupy the White House,” said Victor Vazquez, president of the NCPRR. “Our letters inviting the presidential candidates to dialogue with the Puerto Rican community comes at a time of significant social and economic challenge. Our families are struggling to make ends meet and our youth dragged into a now unpopular war. Puerto Ricans are part of the US fiber, which cannot continue to be ignored, and which our organization intends to reinforce and leverage to build respect and justice for our people.”
The National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights will continue pursing specific answers from the presidential candidates on their plans to tackle challenges for all Puerto Ricans, and hold the next administration accountable for change, including on the promises of environmental clean up and economic development made to the people of Vieques after the withdrawal of the U.S. Navy. The NCPRR is a civil rights group that addresses racial equality, environmental justice and economic parity.
For more information on NCPRR, go to www.ncprr.us.

source: NCPRR press release

Community calendar

"Brown Hips, Red Lips & Hot Skins," a poetry performance of New Work by Maria Aponte - musical accompaniment by Chacho Ramirez and Dwight Brewster.
7-9 p.m. TONIGHT
Admission $7
Cemi Underground Book Store, 1799 Lexington Avenue (near 112th Street), NYC's El Barrio
For more information, www.cemiunderground.com.

Our Economy

Puerto Rico bank to cut US branches, jobs

Popular Inc, the parent of Banco Popular, said on Wednesday it plans to eliminate more than one-fourth of its 139 US branches and cut its US workforce by 600 to cope with the nation's economic downturn.

Puerto Rico's largest bank also posted a third-quarter loss of $668.5 million, or $2.42 per share.
For the complete Reuters report, go to
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-11647--21-21--.html

'Latino Settlement in the New Century'

Hispanics Account for Half of U.S. Population Growth Since 2000, New Report Finds

WASHINGTON - Hispanics accounted for just over half of the overall population growth in the United States since 2000 - a significant new demographic milestone for the nation's largest minority group, a new Pew Hispanic Center report released today finds.

The report, "Latino Settlement in the New Century," includes a series of web-based interactive maps that illustrate the size and spread of Hispanic population growth since 1980, including easy access to detailed state and county-level data. It also presents a list of the counties with the largest Hispanic populations, as well as a list of those counties with the fastest-growing Hispanic populations.

In the 1990s the Hispanic population also expanded rapidly, but its growth accounted for less than 40% of the nation's total population increase in that decade. From 2000 to 2007, Latinos accounted for 50.5% of the total U.S. population growth, even though, as of mid-2007, they made up just 15.1% of the total population.

In another change from the 1990s, Latino population growth in this new century has been more a product of the natural increase (births minus deaths) of the existing population than it has been of new international migration, according to Pew Hispanic Center analysis.

The report identifies 676 fast-growing Hispanic counties among the nation's total of 3,141 counties. These counties all share two characteristics: a 2007 Latino population of at least 1,000; and an above-average Hispanic growth of at least 41% from 2000 to 2007. The list includes 148 counties that did not experience rapid growth in the 1990s.

There are both continuities and differences in the Hispanic settlement patterns of this decade, compared with the patterns of the 1990s. The dispersion of Latinos in the current decade has tilted more to counties in the West and the Northeast than it had in the 1990s. Despite the new tilt, however, the South still accounted for a greater share of overall Latino population growth than any other region did from 2000 to 2007.

Much of the Latino population growth in this decade has taken place in small and mid-sized cities and in suburbs - many of which had relatively few Latino residents until the past decade or two. A handful of big cities have also played a sizable role in Latino population growth in this decade. For example, the Latino population grew by more than 400,000 from 2000 to 2007 in just three counties: Los Angeles, Maricopa (Phoenix) and Harris (Houston). But because these counties already had a large base of Hispanic residents at the start of the decade, the growth of their Latino population since then has been less dramatic in percentage terms.

Percentage growth in the Hispanic population from 2000 to 2007 exceeded 300% in three counties - Frederick and Culpeper counties in Virginia and Paulding County in Georgia. These two states are home to eight of the 10 counties with the greatest percentage growth in the Hispanic population since 2000. The other two counties are Kendall County in Illinois and Luzerne County in Pennsylvania.

Other major findings include:
Hispanic population growth since 2000 has been widespread. The Hispanic population has grown in almost 3,000 of the nation's 3,141 counties.
At the same time, Hispanic population growth in the new century has been fairly concentrated. Hispanic population growth in just 178 counties accounts for 79% of the nation's entire 10.2 million Hispanic population increase.
In spite of dispersal to new settlements, the Hispanic population continues to be geographically concentrated. In 2007, the 100 largest Hispanic counties were home to 73% of the Latino population.
By this measure, Hispanics are more geographically concentrated than the nation's black population. Nearly six-in-ten (59%) of the non-Hispanic black population live in the nation's 100 largest non-Hispanic black counties.

The report "Latino Settlement in the New Century," is available on the center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.

source: Pew Hispanic Center press release

On the Reading Corner



Book Presentation & Signing:
The Birth of A Rican
by Manuel Hernandez Carmona
6:30 p.m. tomorrow
Free
Cemi Underground, NYC's El Barrio
For more information, www.cemiunderground.com

NEW: PRSUN'S aStore highlights boricuas

PRSUN's aStore @ Amazon showcases Puerto Rican talent in music, books, film and more.

This store will focus primarily on Puerto Rican artists and writers.

Here's the link:
http://astore.amazon.com/puericsun-20

This is another way of supporting the Puerto Rico Sun community media project.

Thanks.

A magic corner

A magic corner
Originally uploaded by Mauricio Ximènez.

Today's featured shot from the Puerto Rico Sun photo group is by Mauricio Ximenez.

Puerto Rican food and rum tasting tour in Old San Juan

Tourism

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - For the first time in the tourism industry of Puerto Rico , it is now possible to experience Puerto Rican food and rum tasting during a narrative and entertaining tour.

Legends of Puerto Rico, Inc.’s, a San Juan based supplier of guided tours, latest offerings is
SAN JUAN NIGHTS - http://www.legendsofpr.com/San_Juan_Night.htm

Puerto Rico is the Rum Capital of the World. In addition to casual conversation among the tour participants, your tour guide will provide narration about Puerto Rico 's historical and cultural background. As the evening progresses, your guide will lead you through a rum-tasting, and explain how to taste and differentiate between 12 types of rum produced on the island. The food is served "family” style with rum cocktails. Enjoy your evening under the Caribbean stars at colonial patios inside the restaurants visited by the locals. A free shot of Puerto Rico ’s national drink and souvenir included.

Reservations are accepted by phone and through the www.legendsofpr.com web site. Customers may also contact Legends of Puerto Rico, Inc. by telephone at +787-605-9060 or by e-mail at info@legendsofpr.com.

source: Legends of PR release

On the Reading Corner

IN OUR LINGO: Luce López-Baralt and Antonio Martorell on Angel Collado Schwarz
6:30 -8:30 p.m. tonight
El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue & 104th Street, Manhattan

Celebrating the publication of the third volume of Voces de la Cultura by Angel Collado Schwarz (Fundacion La Voz del Centro, 2007), the distinguished Puerto Rican author will speak with Luce López-Baralt, Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, Universidad de Puerto Rico and artist Antonio Martorell. The conversation will highlight historical events presented in the book.

Free. For advance registration e-mail public_programs@elmuseo.org. The discussion will be held in El Museo's Teatro Heckscher.



Images from top to bottom:
Book Cover: Voces de la Cultura by author Angel Collado Schwarz

Puerto Rico to launch new English-language daily

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Former employees of the now defunct The San Juan Star have formed a cooperative to publish a new English-language daily.
Director Rafael Matos says the Puerto Rico Daily Sun will be available starting Wednesday by subscription and at newsstands across the island.
For more, go to
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27270164/

Editor's Note: I notice they are planning to use a name very similar to our Puerto Rico Sun. I'm not crazy about that. We had our name first. Our Puerto Rico Sun has been in existence since 2002. It is nice to learn that there is a movement to have a general English newspaper on the island again even though I wonder how successful it will be in today's market. Generally, newspapers are going downhill. Let's see y suerte.

Community calendar

Foundations of Puerto Rican New York: Conversations with

Louis Nunez, past president, the National Puerto Rican Coalition

Yolanda Sanchez, former director, PRACA

Sonia Palacio-Grottola, past president, National Association of Hispanic and Puerto Rican Social Workers

5-7 p.m., Thursday, November 6
Centro Library and Archives Legacy Series

Centro Library and Archives
3rd Floor East, Wexler Library
Hunter College, CUNY
695 Park Avenue, Manhattan

For more information, (212) 772-4197

source: Centro