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Mauricio Funes, the President of El Salvador, and Salvadoran First Lady and Minister of Social Inclusion Vanda Pignato today inaugurated the first “Ciudad Mujer” service center in Lourdes, part of Colón municipality in the department of La Libertad. Also participating in the event were Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Entity for Gender Empowerment and the Equality of Women, and Marta Linares de Martinelli, First Lady of Panamá.

El Salvador’s Ministry of Social Inclusion plans to build several centers throughout the country. In the second quarter of this year, the IDB Board of Directors is expected to consider a proposal for a loan to finance six of the centers.

Ciudad Mujer centers will offer a variety of essential social services for women under a single roof, thereby enabling women to have one-stop access to health, job training, physical abuse and other services. The centers will also provide daycare services for visiting women’s children.

“We think Ciudad Mujer promises to become a model for other countries,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno. “Concentrating public services in ‘one-stop’ centers makes it possible to improve inter-institutional coordination and enhance the quality services.”

Also participating in today’s inauguration were Rodrigo Parot, the IDB’s representative in El Salvador, and Andrew Morrison, chief of the Bank’s Gender and Diversity Unit. “Beyond its benefits in reducing poverty and stimulating growth, promoting women’s rights is an essential element for consolidating democracy,” Morrison said.

Each Ciudad Mujer center will offer women integrated solutions to a range of problems, thereby eliminating the need to visit multiple institutions in different locations. This will save time and travel costs for beneficiaries, reducing barriers to access.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, today released a landmark study, “Map the Meal Gap,” providing insight for the first time about the number of meals missing from the tables of American families struggling with hunger each year – an estimated 8.4 billion nationwide.

The findings of “Map the Meal Gap” are based on statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Census Bureau, and food price data and analysis provided by The Nielsen Company (NYSE: NLSN), a global information and measurement company providing insights into what consumers watch and buy.

According to U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey data, people struggling with hunger estimate they would need about $56 more each month on average during the months that they are food insecure to address the shortages in their food budget.  On a national level, “Map the Meal Gap” shows this shortfall represents an estimated $21.3 billion on an annual basis. 

Of the top 50 counties with the largest number of food insecure people, half are majority-white

counties, one in four are at least one-third Hispanic and one in eight have at least one-third African

American residents. It is well-documented that some racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., including American Indians, African Americans and Latinos, are disproportionately at risk for food insecurity.

Of the 70 counties in the United States that have majority Latino populations, more than one-in-four have food insecurity rates which place them in the group of the highest food insecurity rate counties.

These counties have substantially higher poverty and unemployment rates when compared to the rest
of the nation and slightly higher rates than African American high food insecurity counties. The average

of 2009 poverty rates in these high food insecurity rate, majority Hispanic counties is 32% (compared to 29% for high food insecurity rate, majority African American counties, and 15% for all U.S. counties) and the unemployment rate is 14% (versus 13% for high food insecurity rate, majority African Americancounties, and 9% for all U.S. counties).

Read more at Feeding America →

“Thirty percent of adult Mexicans are hypertensive – that is to say, some 20 million people, of whom some 7 million don’t know or take care of themselves,” said cardiologist Eugenio Ruesga while he presented his book “Cardiopatia.”  In his book he compiled articles on heart disease from 200 Latin American physicians.

In Mexico, Ruesga says, about 70 percent of the of the population is overweight, and 30 percent of the adults are obese.

“The main thing that increases obesity and cholesterol is the diet of Mexicans, the – in Mexico – so-called ‘Vitamin T,’ which consists of tacos, tortas, tamales, (all) products with a high carbohydrate content,” he said.

Obesity is one of the causes of high cholesterol, which effects 18 percent of Mexican adults. Some are also part of the eight percent of Mexican adults who smoke, adding to their cardiovascular problems.

According to Ruesga, the main diseases of the heart involve the obstruction of coronary arteries that supply the heart with blood.

“When the diameter of a coronary artery reduces the blood flow, then we feel a sharp pain that people call ‘angina,’ a pain that is a message to the heart to open the conduits,” he said.

The second most common cause of death due to heart problems in cardiac insufficiency, which means the heart cannot pump the volume of blood required “to satisfy the demands of cellular metabolism.”

Ruesga said his book, is primarily a manual for physicians and medical students, but comprehensible information is available for anyone.

Read more at LAHT →

Getting increasingly random, absurd and obscene, Carlitos Sheen posted on Twitter/Facebook a call of sorts to his followers to “Bombard with Warlock Napalm” the mother of his children: “loser whore #DUH-neese Poor-ards.

These oh so eloquent accusations apparently came after actress Denise Richards decided to retrieve her pugs from the Sheen’s mansion, after allegedly hearing they have been neglected.

One of the dogs apparently died. Sheen is pictured below with the survivor, a puppy with enough tiger blood running through its veins to survive raised by Sheen’s wholesome entourage, Porn-Star ring and the Torpedo of Truth himself.

Read more by HS News Staff →

There have been not one but two incidents in the last weeks where Brazilian soccer players have been taunted by banana wielding xenophobes!

First, former Real Madrid star, and twice world cup winner with the Brazilian Team Roberto Carlos was taunted with a banana by a Russian man, during the opening of a game between Roberto Carlos’ current team, the Russian Premier Club Anzhi Makhackala and St. Petesburg’s Zenit.

“This man [found guilty of racist conduct] has been forbidden from buying tickets to Zenit games. We shall do everything within our power to forbid his entrance to the stadium through other means” said Maxim Mitrofánov, general manager of the Zenit fútbol club.

“This was a provocation from an isolated fan. For us, to clear up this is incident, is a matter of honor. The guilty party will not remain unpunished” added Mitrofánov, while deeply apologizing to Roberto Carlos and the Anzhi team.

A similar incident took place at a Scotland vs Brazil game in London’s Emirate States Stadium, where Brazilian fútboler Neymar, was thrown at least one banana after he scored a penalty kick. “They screamed terrible things at me before I kicked the penalty,” said the player who added he didn’t want to speak about the incident so as to “not give the culprit any protagonism”.  Witnesses say the banana hurler was a man from Glasgow, but no more details were provided.  The term ‘banana’ republic has been used to negatively characterize Latin American nations that predominantly exported bananas or are agriculturally based.  It also refers to countries that are considered less developed and rural. 

Read more by HS News Staff →

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Thursday announced the appointment of members to the Minority Farmer Advisory Committee to advise him on implementation of outreach and assistance efforts to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. The advisory committee also will promote the participation of minority farmers and ranchers in USDA programs and support civil rights activities with USDA, the Department said.

Appointment of the committee is authorized under the 2008 Farm Bill.

“The Obama Administration is committed to ushering in a new era of civil rights at USDA,” said Vilsack. “This advisory committee will provide guidance that will ensure that all eligible applicants for our programs are served in an equal and fair manner and will enable USDA to enhance opportunities for minority farmers and ranchers.”

Members of the committee are appointed for two year terms. The nominees include socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers; representatives of nonprofit organizations that work with minority farmers and ranchers; civil rights professionals; representatives from institutions of higher learning; and other persons the Secretary deems appropriate, the release stated.  Some of the Latinos on the committee are Omar Garza, (U.S. Mexico Border Coalition), Paula Garcia (New Mexico Acequia Association), Richard Molinar (University of California) and Baldemar Velasquez (Farm Labor Organizing Committee).

Under Secretary Vilsack’s leadership, USDA is addressing civil rights concerns that go back decades, and the announcement of the appointment of an advisory committee is another step towards achieving that goal, USDA said.

Read more by HS News Staff →

As the drug war rages in Mexico, and the violence continues, and according to the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring centre, around 230,000 people have been displaced in Mexico.

The Refugee Council, which is based out of Geneva, has said the violence in the south has resulted in a high number of displaced people, but the country’s government has not collected exact figures so the number could be higher.

The northern states of Mexico along the U.S. border saw the most internally displaced people in 2010, since the main trafficking routes are concentrated in the states of Chihuahua and Tamaulipas. The organization’s report said the majority of those displace – about 115,000 – are from the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, and Veracruz.

The report also stated, ““There have been few attempts to define the scale of displacement in small rural towns in Tamaulipas and Chihuahua, even though the violence is believed to be even more intense in those rural areas. Furthermore, forced displacement has taken place alongside strong economic migration flows, making it harder to identify and document.”

Last year, the Municipal Planning Institute in Chihuahua reported that as many as 116,000 homes were empty in Ciudad Juárez due to the constant fighting of turf wars between drug cartels.

Government figures show 15,273 drug-related crimes in Mexico in 2010, with 50 percent of them occurring in the three northern states of Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Chihuahua .

“In 2010, federal authorities did not acknowledge, assess or document the needs of the people displaced, instead focusing their efforts on fighting the drug cartels,” the report added.

Since Felipe Calderon began the war on drugs and cartels, more than 30,000 people have died due to drug-related violence since 2006.

Read more at BNO News →

As the Broadway hit, In the Heights, was getting ready to debut at Tennessee’s Performing Arts Center it was the target of a ‘racist’ tinged review that was accidentally leaked on line.

In the Heights tells the story of a vibrant Latino/minority community in Manhattan’s Washington Heights.  The play began as an original musical conceived by Puerto-Rican American Lin Manuel Mirando.  The play won 4 Tony Awards in 2008 including Best Musical of the year.

The Nashville Scene’s theater critic, Martin Brady wrote what is now being labeled a first draft, questioning why Broadway had to give each ethnic group a musical.  He went on to describe Miranda’s story as “an excuse to employ dynamic youthful minority performers who dance and since and holler to a lot of salsa music and groove on lyrics about Latin loving and partying.” 

The only value Brady saw, in the award winning play, was for an audience that enjoys

“ingenues brown and leggy and your music ‘hot, hot, hot’”. 

The Nashville Scene has since apologized and noted that this first draft was never meant to be published.  The critic has also apologized and changed his review. 

Read more at Mediaite →

The Middle Eastern nation of Israel wants clarifications from Argentina regarding a leaked cable that reports the South American nation offered Iran a deal where it would stop investigating bombings in Jewish centers in 1990’s Argentina, in exchange for better trade ties.

The Argentine newspaper “Perfil” quoted an Iranian cable with details of the offer.

In July of 1994, a car bomb in front of the Argentine Israeli Mutual association killed 85 people and left wounded another 200. This attack took place two years after another explosive device attack leveled the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, in a terrorist attack that killed 29 people.

Argentine, US, and Israeli officials, claim Iran orchestrated these attacks, and the Hezbollah group carried it; the Iranian government denies any involvement.

The “Perfil” article quoted Iran’s Foreign Relations Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in a communication with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that said, “Argentina is no longer interested in solving those two attacks, but in exchange prefers improving its economic relations with Iran.”

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Sunday he is waiting for official Argentine comment. “If this is true, then it would be a display of infinite cynicism and a dishonor to the dead.” he said.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry has not yet provided any comments on the issue.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Federico Jovine, Ivan Gomez and Karim Mella will become the first Dominicans to attempt to scale Mount Everest as part of a project to climb seven of the world’s highest mountains since 2004. The mountaineers will spend a month’s training at the three camps at Mount Everest to acclimatize their body to the extreme temperatures.

The climb is programmed for May 10, 2011. The 8,850-meter mountain is the highest in the world. “Whoever starts the hike using their own feet needs to come down the same way,” they said.

The group, known as the Excelsior, has already climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa’s highest mountain at 5,895 meters or 19,341 ft (2005), Aconcagua in Argentina, the highest mountain in the Americas at 6,962m (22,841 ft (2006) and Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in the Russian Caucasus at 5,642 meters (18,510 ft) (2009).

The budget for the 2011 climb is RD$11,340,000. The registration fee alone for each climber is US$25,000.

Previously, climbers from Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala and Puerto Rico from Latin America and the Caribbean have climbed Mt. Everest.

To follow the extreme adventure and cheer on these Dominican adventurers, go to www.excelsior.com.do.

Read more at DR1 →

Actress and singer Victoria Justice has beat out here teen movie rivals and landed the leading role in an upcoming Halloween movie.

In Fun Size, the half Puerto Rican Justice will play a girl who takes her younger brother trick-or-treating on Halloween and loses him.

Nickelodeon’s “Victorious” star will be the lead in the movie directing debut of “Gossip Girl” and “The O.C.” producer, Josh Schwartz.

Along with being a actress and singer, the 18-year-old is also a dancer and songwriter.

This movie role is more good news for her, as she also just released the video for her song “Begging On Your Knees.”

Read more by HS News Staff →

Tonight, the President will join Jorge Ramos and Univision for a townhall, “Noticias Univision Presenta: Es El Momento –El Presidente, Los Hispanos y la Educacion” speaking directly to the Hispanic community about the state of education.  The townhall will air at 7 pm ET/PT and 6 pm CT.

In anticipation of the airing of the townhall, HS News spoke exclusively with Jose Rico, Deputy Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans to get his thoughts on what all this means for the Latino community. 

Rico sees one of the goals of the town hall as a “way for the White House to communicate what we are trying to do in terms of educational reform, also making sure the Latino community knows what resources are there for them.”

For example, double the number of students are now receiving Pell grants, which means 9 million students are the beneficiaries. Then there is the Income Base Retainment initiative whereby any student that took out student loans and works for 10 years in a high need community will have their loans forgiven.  And of course the ‘Race to the Top’ is an initiative that Rico and the White House wants the community to be a part of.

Rico was emphatic that there are many resources and programs available to the communities that are not being accessed so clearly a better job in communicating to the community must be done.

There will be no new programs or initiatives announced at the town hall nonetheless Rico is confident that the parents and students in attendance as well as the general public will see the President’s sincere commitment to Latino education.

Another goal is to make sure Latino communities that are struggling due to defunding are aware that they can be part of private-public partnerships to get more resources into those communities.  The San Antonio 2020 educational initiative that was just unveiled is a program Rico was critical to and very proud of.

We asked Mr. Rico, a life-long educator and former high school principal, what creates a college bound environment for Latinos and in his opinion what is the biggest obstacle for higher education attainment for Latinos: 

“Personally, as a high school principal it was clear to me that our role was to graduate kids that would be successful in college not just claim to be high school graduates.”

“We need to send a message to everyone that going to college is the best community investment.”  “As far as obstacles, they boil down to three: a) Latinos have the least financial resources; b) lack of knowledge on how the system works, how to file out forms, how to get financial aid, and finally c) they are not prepared for the rigor of college, many Latinos are not in high schools that prepare us for success in college.” 

In closing Jose remains upbeat and hopeful for the state of education in the Latino community, reminding us that “We use to just talk about migrant education or bilingual education which remain important but the academic performance of all Latino children is important for everyone.” 

Indeed that is why the President has deemed the community’s education a ‘national priority’ concluded Rico. 

Read more by HS News Staff →

Seemingly trying to be light-hearted, yet informative, D Magazine released a list of “Things Every Dallasite Must Do” to call themselves a Dallas local. One thing on the list however, stood out. Hire a day-laborer.

Towards the end of the list, past “Get fake boobs” but before attending the state fair of Texas, is the suggestion of hiring a day laborer. Here is what they said:

“They’ll swarm your car,” would lead some to fear the day laborers like they were cockroaches, and saying that not paying them enough would cause them to scatter “as if our vehicle read ‘INS’” is just plain offensive.

Though the intentions of this list were likely meant to be somewhat fun, this “exploit the day laborer” garb is less than comical.

Additionally, recent Census numbers reveal that Dallas is 43.1 percent Hispanic, so to say this list is about being a true Dallas resident ignores the fact that the magazine’s (likely) intended audience of Non-Hispanic whites only makes up 30.1 percent.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Soft drink giant Pepsico has launched a new campaign aimed at promoting their signature product—Pepsi, in a new, fashionable way in Mexico.

The first in a series of ads rebranding their product as “Pecsi” features soccer player Cuauhtemoc Blanco informing viewers that since 38.8% of Mexicans don’t say “Pepsi” but say “Pecsi,” from this day forward everyone can call Pecsi the beverage formerly known as Pepsi.

It is not the first time Pepsi tries this scheme, in Argentina they had these running a few years ago:

What do you think about Pecsi?

Read more by HS News Staff →

Adding to his list of less-than-normal activities, Jose Canseco reportedly didn’t feel like participating in a Celebrity Boxing match. However, rather than completely bailing on the event, he stole an idea from bad television. He sent his twin brother in his place.

The 46-year-old former professional baseball player was scheduled to fight Billy Padden over the weekend, but backed out, and sent his twin, Ozzie Canseco, to don the gloves.

Celebrity Boxing officials said they did realize they had the wrong Cuban Canseco at Friday’s weigh-in. It wasn’t until just before Saturday’s fight, when Ozzie removed his shirt and they noticed the lack of bicep tattoos, that they realized it was not Jose.

Upon the discovery, Ozzie was escorted out of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino by police officers.

And just like any trendy celebrity these days, Jose took to Twitter to not clear things up, and explain why he would think it suitable to send his twin. He claims that Celebrity Boxing promoter Damon Feldman failed to keep up his end of the bargain, though an unnamed source told the Miami Herald Canseco was paid the agreed-upon fee of $10,000 in two payments.

Monday morning, Jose was still tweeting, and said, “Is anyone out there smart enough to figure it out or are you all a bunch of hateful morons.”

We don’t know Mr. Canseco, but maybe you guys should just stick to double mint commercials.

Read more by HS News Staff →

As several finance ministers in the Latin American region gathered for annual meetings they noted the Japanese earthquake as an opportunity to continue their economic growth via a higher demand for raw materials.  Noting the human tragedy they still felt Japan would recovery quickly through an aggressive rebuild plan.

Many Latin American countries are commodity-exporters and expect Japan to engage in a massive rebuild and reconstruction phase after the devastating tsunami. Many Latin American countries are already substantial exporters to Japan and expect that demand to continue and in certain cases to increase.  The finance ministers of the region did not express fear that Japan’s crisis would bring about another global economic crisis or setback the improvement trend the global economy is on. 

Japan accounts for about 10% of Chile’s exports, and represents 5% of Argentina exports mostly raw materials like copper – all that will be needed for a massive rebuild, they noted.

Mexico and other Latin American countries are also counting on Japan to continue to be a major source of investment in their countries.  Early indications are from Japan that they are continuing with their long-term investment plans in the region.

Read more at Wall Street Journal →

Read more by HS News Staff →

A local resident, who stole the identity of his deceased nephew pleaded guilty and was sentenced this week for falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and filing a false Social Security application.

Alvaro Jimenez-Aguilar, 41, was named in a two-count indictment unsealed Friday. He was sentenced to time served and one year of supervised release.

According to the court documents, Jimenez-Aguilar entered the United States on March 11, 2008 as a six-month visitor visa. He failed to depart after six months and has remained in the United States illegally.

Court documents describe how Jimenez-Aguilar assumed the identity of Andres Martin Kellerman, a U.S. citizen who was born in Virginia in 1978. While visiting Costa Rica in 2003, Kellerman drowned in a surfing accident.

In November 2008, Jimenez-Aguilar married Kellerman’s aunt in Alaska, using his true identity. At the time of the marriage, both the defendant and his wife had overstayed their visas and were living illegally in the United States. His wife returned to Costa Rica and lives there.

The defendant obtained Kellerman’s Virginia birth certificate, and in April 2009 he applied in person for a duplicate Social Security card in Kellerman’s name. Within days, he also submitted applications to the Alaska Department of Motor Vehicles, using the name, Social Security account number, and date of birth belonging to his deceased nephew. He falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen.

In March 2010, Jimenez-Aguilar applied for an Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, again using Kellerman’s identity, and again, falsely claiming U.S. citizenship. In addition, he registered to vote in Alaska.

The defendant in this case took advantage of the tragic death of a family member and used that tragic event to commit fraud,” said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of Alaska’s ICE HSI office. “

Jimenez-Aguilar will be processed for deportation.

Read more by HS News Staff →

The U.S. Census Bureau today released more detailed 2010 Census population totals and demographic characteristics to the governor and leadership of the legislature in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. These data provide the first look at population counts for small areas and race, Hispanic origin, voting age and housing unit data released from the 2010 Census.

Data for Puerto Rico show that the five most populous places and their 2010 Census counts are San Juan, 381,931; Bayamón, 185,996; Carolina, 157,832; Ponce, 132,502; and Caguas, 82,243. San Juan decreased by 9.5 percent since the 2000 Census. Bayamón decreased by 8.6 percent, Carolina decreased by 6.1 percent, Ponce decreased by 14.5 percent, and Caguas decreased by 7.3 percent.

The largest municipio is San Juan, with a population of 395,326. Its population decreased by 9.0 percent since 2000. The other municipios in the top five include Bayamón, with a population of 208,116 (decrease of 7.1 percent); Carolina, 176,762 (decrease of 5.0 percent); Ponce, 166,327 (decrease of 10.8 percent); and Caguas, 142,893 (increase of 1.7 percent).  The island’s total population was pegged at 3,725,789

Read more by HS News Staff →