Latin America: Week in Review, United States
Obama Promises To Address Immigration Reform At Cinco de Mayo Celebration
May 7, 2010 By Staff
President Obama at the Cinco de Mayo celebration, White House.
Today in Latin America
Top Story — President Barack Obama promised to address immigration reform this year during a Cinco de Mayo celebrations at the White House’s Rose Garden. Obama’s pledge comes just a week after Mexican President Felipe Calderón said he would push for immigration reform in the U.S. during his upcoming visit and on the heels of the controversial new immigration law in Arizona.
Obama spoke out against Arizona’s immigration law, which has drawn widespread protests in both the U.S. and Mexico.
“Today reminds us that America’s diversity is America’s strength. That’s why I spoke out against the recently passed law in Arizona,” Obama said, according to the White House. “Make no mistake, our immigration system is broken. And after so many years in which Washington has failed to meet its responsibilities, Americans are right to be frustrated, including folks along border states.”
Obama said the administration is closely monitoring the immigration law, “to examine the civil rights and other implications that it may have.”
Immigration will be one of the main topics of discussion when Obama and Calderón meet during the Mexican president’s May 19 visit. Reforming the U.S. immigration policy has faltered ever since former Mexican President Vicente Fox made it his administration’s leading issue.
However, due to the lack of bipartisan support in the U.S. and his continuing focus on Mexico’s drug war, Calderón has been hesitant to tout the cause.
”It was an issue that both sides were keeping very quiet in their bilateral discussions,” said Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center, according to The New York Times.
During his remarks, Obama also praised Latino members of the government and mentioned the NBA playoff game between the San Antonio “Spurs against ‘Los Suns’ from Phoenix.”
Just Published at the Latin America News Dispatch
- An immigration control program is morphing into a prisoner screening program.
- Thousands rallied to support comprehensive immigration reform and to protest the new Arizona law. Alison Bowen and Paola Reyes report.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- Mexican authorities seized 88 tons of a precursor chemical that is used in the making of methamphetamines at the port of Manzanillo.
- The Department of Homeland Security and the Interior Department are investigating the cause of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
Caribbean
- The Vatican’s foreign minister Dominique Mamberti will visit Cuba next month to discuss the economic situation and relations between Cubans on the island and the diaspora.
- A man in Grenada showed up at a police precinct with a bucket containing two human heads. He has been detained and denied bail.
- A measure that would allow Puerto Ricans to vote to change the territory’s legal status, including becoming a U.S. state or an independent country, has advanced to the Senate.
Central America
- Guatemala’s 2010/11 coffee harvest is predicted to rise 10 percent due to good rainfall and increased fertilization, according to the head of Anacafe, the country’s coffee organization, on Wednesday.
- Honduran President Porfirio Lobo will not attend the E.U.-Latin America summit in Spain. Lobo bowed out of the summit after Latin American leaders who do not recognize Honduras’ post-coup government threatened to pull out.
- The CEO of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) said Nicaragua’s electoral climate has not improved since the MCC cut $61 million in aid in 2008 due to concerns over electoral transparency.
- Supporters of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega are protesting the opposition’s attempt to prevent the re-election of leftist Ortega next year.
- Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez, in his final appearance as president of Costa Rica’s Central Bank, said “the economic recovery in Costa Rica is fully underway.”
Andes
- Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos said the country will focus on building economic and political relationships with Asian countries, since a free-trade deal with the U.S. remains stalled in Congress.
- Ecuador’s central bank president said that the country does not face any risk of running out of U.S. dollars, after it was included on a list of countries with deficiencies in their ability to curb money laundering and terrorist financing.
- A bus accident in Peru left 17 people dead after it plunged into a ravine near the own of Tarica.
Southern Cone
- A bid by two Brazilian congressmen to revoke the licenses of two American pilots involved in a 2006 plane crash in Brazil was rejected by the Federal Aviation Administration.
- On Wednesday, Brazilian archbishop Dadeus Grings said adolescents are “spontaneously homosexual” and in need of guidance, and society in general is pedophile.
- British company Rockhopper Exploration Plc. said Thursday its data indicates an oil discovery in the Falkland Islands, after which Argentina said it “rejects the illegal” offshore oil exploration of the Falkland Islands.
- Julio Alberto Poch, a pilot who allegedly flew death flights for Argentina’s military dictatorship, was extradited from Spain on Thursday. Poch has been accused of involvement in illegal detentions, tortures, disappearances and deaths.
- A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Chile and Peru on Wednesday, but no damage or injuries were reported.
- Paraguay’s record soybean harvest this year is predicted to help revive investment.
Image: Matt Ortega @ Flickr.
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1 Comment
I understand we are illegal here in the Unided States but the reason why we are here is because we want a better life and this is our only way out i am a senior in my high school school i really want to go to college and not been legal makes me feel like i dream too high and i know nothing is imposible and Obama passes this reform it will help a lot of students like me that really want to do good and get a carrer for a better future and to make a difference so i am hoping that this reform happends soon because i am being really hopeful!.
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