April 26, 2025

When the Mara Salvatrucha Defeated Trump on Long Island

Monday, April 21, 2025
Óscar Martínez

El Faro English has translated this photo essay, published in Spanish in November 2017, as MS-13 returns to the forefront of U.S. politics in Donald Trump’s second term. Read the accompanying photo essay: A Funeral March from El Salvador to Long Island.


“Why did you come to Long Island?”

It’s June 4, 2017. We are at a Subway restaurant, far from the center of any of these small towns inhabited mostly by migrants of Latin American origin, many of them undocumented. Forty minutes away is the capital of the world, New York City, but these are the suburbs, the outskirts, the periphery. We are on the border between North Merrick and Uniondale, commuter towns where the main attractions are shopping malls and traveling fairs.

The person who answers my question is an 18-year-old Salvadoran boy, the son of a tortilla maker. He was born in a canton called El Niño, in a hamlet called La Ceiba, on the slopes of the Chaparrastique volcano, in the scorching-hot department of San Miguel.

“My mom and sister were already here. My dad died when I was in El Salvador. He was drinking when a car ran him over. I didn’t live with him, but with an aunt. They hit us all the same; my aunt had four other daughters who lived in the same house. They beat us all.”

He is a wiry young man. He still has the body of a campesino: bony, with knotted muscles, forged in the milpa, cropfields. He wears a New York Yankees cap and has two gold implants in his upper front teeth.

“What was it like arriving here at the age of 11?”

“Life here is just being locked up like a dog when you’re an immigrant with no papers, no car, and no one to make space for you and show you around. You feel lost. My mom already has a husband, a Salvadoran. They came here together. We rented a basement. The three of us lived there: a single room with a kitchen and bathroom for $900. I had my bed and my wardrobe in a small corner. My mom went to work at 4 in the morning and got out at 3 in the afternoon. Sometimes she worked double shifts and stayed until 11 at night. She only came home to sleep, and then it was back to work at 4 in the morning again.”

More:
https://elfaro.net/en/202505/centroamerica/27817/when-the-mara-salvatrucha-defeated-trump-on-long-island

April 25, 2025

Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello, Champion of privatization.

"President" Collor de Mello

Wikipedia

- snip -

Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (Brazilian Portuguese: [feʁˈnɐ̃dwaˈfõsu ˈkɔloʁ dʒi ˈmɛlu]; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Collor was the first president democratically elected after the end of the Brazilian military dictatorship. He became the youngest president in Brazilian history, taking office at the age of 40. After he resigned from the presidency, the impeachment trial on charges of corruption continued. Collor was found guilty by the Senate and disqualified from holding elected office for eight years (1992–2000). He was later acquitted of ordinary criminal charges in his judicial trial before Brazil's Supreme Federal Court, for lack of valid evidence.

Fernando Collor was born into a political family. He is the son of the former Senator Arnon Affonso de Farias Mello and Leda Collor (daughter of former Labour Minister Lindolfo Collor, led by his father, former governor of Alagoas and proprietor of the Arnon de Mello Organization, a media conglomerate which manages the state-wide television station TV Gazeta de Alagoas, the affiliate of TV Globo in the state.) "Collor" is a Portuguese adaptation of the German surname Köhler, from his maternal grandfather Lindolfo Leopoldo Boeckel Collor.

His time as president was marked by the implementation of the "Collor Plan", the launch of a national privatization program, and the opening of the domestic market to imports, which had a significant impact on the growth of the consumer car market. The plan, initially well-received, ultimately deepened the economic recession, exacerbated by the elimination of over 920,000 jobs in 1990; in addition, allegations of political corruption involving Collor's treasurer, Paulo César Farias, made by his brother Pedro Collor de Mello, led to an impeachment process against him. Before the process could be finalized, the president resigned on December 29, 1992, handing over the position to his vice president, Itamar Franco, just hours before being convicted by the Federal Senate for crimes of responsibility, resulting in the loss of his political rights for eight years. During his presidency, he signed the Treaty of Asunción in 1991, the founding document of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). He merged IAPAS and INPS, creating the current federal agency, the National Social Security Institute (INSS). He led the proceedings of the "Earth Summit" at ECO-92. He also officially approved the demarcation of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory.

Later, after some time living in obscurity, Collor served as Senator for Alagoas from February 2007 to February 2023. He first won election in 2006 and was reelected in 2014. In August 2017, Collor was accused by Brazil's Supreme Federal Court of receiving around US$9 million in bribes between 2010 and 2014 from Petrobras subsidiary BR Distributor.

More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Collor_de_Mello




Parade of dweebs





Collor de Mello sitting with a BFF, Jair Bolsonaro, AKA "Trump of the Tropics"

April 25, 2025

Japan-Costa Rica Foreign Ministers' Meeting (Press release)

April 24, 2025

On April 24, commencing at 6:00 p.m. for approximately 45 minutes, Mr. IWAYA Takeshi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, held a meeting with H.E. Dr. Arnoldo ANDRÉ, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship of the Republic of Costa Rica, who is visiting Japan. The overview of the meeting is as follows. H.E. Dr. Manuel TOVAR Minister of Foreign Trade of the Republic of Costa Rica also joined the meeting. Prior to the meeting, the two foreign ministers conducted a signing ceremony for the Memorandum of Cooperation on the Establishment of a Political Consultation Mechanism between Japan and Costa Rica.

1. At the outset, Minister Iwaya stated that this year marks the 90th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the Japan- SICA (Central American Integration System) Friendship Year, and expressed his intention to promote dialogue at various levels with Costa Rica, which holds the presidency of SICA, considering that the Japan-Central America Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation will be held in the country in May.
   
   
2. Now, with the help of the above-mentioned mechanism, already signed by both ministers, Minister Iwaya expressed his will to foster relations with Costa Rica, an important partner with shared values and principles with Japan, by continuing dialogue at various level, amid the increasingly severe international environment.
   
   
3. In response, Minister André, reminding that this was his third visit to Japan, offered his congratulations on the 90th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and expressed gratitude for Japan’s continued support and cooperation in the arena of development and the international arena. Minister André also stated that he intends to further strengthen relations with Japan on the occasion of the 90th anniversary. Minister Tovar asked for Japan’s cooperation for Costa Rica’s early accession to the CPTPP and its chairmanship in the Ministerial Council Meeting of the OECD. The tree ministers confirmed that they would work closely together in these frameworks.
   
   
4. The three Ministers also exchanged views on regional and international situations. Minister Iwaya raised the issue of nuclear weapons and missiles of North Korea and asked for understanding and cooperation for the immediate resolution of the abductions issue by North Korea.

https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/pressite_000001_01206.html

(My bolding)

April 12, 2025

Tennessee Senate Advances Bill to Deny Public Education to Undocumented Students Despite Opposition: 'They Didn't Ask to

Tennessee Senate Advances Bill to Deny Public Education to Undocumented Students Despite Opposition: 'They Didn't Ask to Be Brought Here'

Democratic lawmakers warned that the bill will not only harm vulnerable children but also place heavy administrative burdens on school districts

Pedro Camacho / Published Apr 11 2025, 3:38 PM EDT

Tennessee is moving forward with legislation that would allow public schools to deny enrollment or charge tuition to undocumented students following a 19-13 vote in the state Senate.

The bill instructs public and charter schools to verify the immigration status of incoming students, a move that lawmakers acknowledge could trigger a legal challenge based on c Plyler v. Doe, the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision guaranteeing undocumented children access to free public education.

Opposition to the bill was voiced from both sides of the aisle, most notably by Sen. Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin), who argued it unfairly targets children, as The Tennessean points out. Quoting scripture, Haile said: "The child will not share the guilt of the parent... I believe that we are punishing children for the wrongdoing of their parents."

Sen. Ferrell Haile, a senior Republican, also opposed the measure on moral and practical grounds, saying she believed "that we are punishing children for the wrongdoing of their parents." Similarly, Sen. Page Walley, also a Republican and a former head of the state's Department of Children's Services, claimed that "children should not be part of these kind of policy debates" and that "they should not be caught in the crossfire."

More:
https://www.latintimes.com/tennessee-senate-advances-bill-deny-public-education-undocumented-students-despite-opposition-580515

April 12, 2025

DOJ Said Arrested Salvadoran Was The MS-13 Leader For The East Coast; Days Later It's Dropping Its Case

The DOJ justified its decision saying that Josue Villatoro Santos "won't be in this country much longer"

Demian Bio @bio_demian / Published Apr 10 2025, 11:14 AM EDT

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in a nationally televised press conference in late March the arrest of Josue Villatoro Santos, a Virginia man who she claimed was the MS-13 leader for the East Coast. Two weeks later, the Department of Justice is moving to drop its criminal case against him.

Bondi said Villatoro Santos was responsible for "very violent crimes, anything you can associate with MS-13." "He was the leader over it, all of the violent crimes," added Bondi, who also claimed the man had been "recruited in middle school."

. . .

The development follows a report by Drop Site News, which claimed another MS-13 leader was likely deported so he wouldn't reveal shady deals between Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and local gangs.

The outlet cited the case of gang leader Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, known as "Greñas," who had been in U.S. custody after being arrested in Mexico in 2023 and was considered a key figure in the U.S. case against MS-13 leadership.

According to U.S. Justice Department record cited by the outlet, "Greñas" was allegedly involved in secret negotiations between MS-13 and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's government, in which gang leaders were offered incentives in exchange for reducing violence and providing political support. Bukele has long denied these negotiations, but his administration has resisted extraditing MS-13 leaders to the U.S., raising speculation about his desire to keep their testimony out of American courts.

More:
https://www.latintimes.com/doj-said-arrested-salvadoran-was-ms-13-leader-east-coast-days-later-its-dropping-its-case-580392

March 28, 2025

Brazil ex-President Bolsonaro will stand trial over an alleged coup plan. Here's what happens next

By GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA
Updated 12:18 AM CDT, March 27, 2025

SAO PAULO (AP) — A panel of Brazil Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled that former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven of his associates will stand trial on five counts, including attempting to stage a coup after the far-right leader lost the 2022 election.

The panel will review existing evidence, potentially gather new evidence and hear testimonies. Legal experts estimate that Bolsonaro could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison, though his actual jail time — if convicted — would be less than that due to procedural considerations.

Here’s what to know about what will happen after Wednesday’s ruling:

What charges does Bolsonaro face?

Bolsonaro will stand trial on the counts of attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, damage characterized by violence and a serious threat against the state’s assets, and deterioration of listed heritage.

The five-justices panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled based on the indictment by Prosecutor-General, Paulo Gonet. His formal accusation came from a federal police investigation that placed Bolsonaro on the top of a criminal organization that had been active since at least 2021.

Gonet also accused Bolsonaro of supporting a plan that allegedly included poisoning his successor, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and killing Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

More:
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-jair-bolsonaro-supreme-court-trial-80e98eba0b7868580f78916850200c8d






Is Bolsonaro the Trump of the Tropics or is Trump the Bolsonaro of the States?

https://grist.org/article/is-bolsonaro-the-trump-of-the-tropics-or-is-trump-the-bolsonaro-of-the-states/






sons of racist fascist Presidents




Inspired by Trump, Bolsonaro is far worse

By Maxine L. Margolis
Post date
April 20, 2021

U.S. anthropologist Maxine L. Margolis looks at the similarities between the far right leaders Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, and how the Brazilian has gone beyond the chaos wrought by his North American idol.

By Maxine L. Margolis

—Naomi Klein, 2019

Jair Bolsonaro, elected President of Brazil in January 2019, has often been called “the Tropical Trump,” an apt depiction of the authoritarian leader of the world’s sixth most populace nation. As a long-time student of Brazil and a politically engaged American I have been struck by the remarkable parallels between President Bolsonaro and former U.S. President Donald Trump in their policies, personalities, and ideology. Their mutual incompetence in dealing with the Covid pandemic is just one glaring example of this.

The backgrounds of the two men are markedly different. Bolsonaro is the son of an itinerant dentist in rural Brazil, a retired captain in the Brazilian military, and a multi-year member of Brazil’s National Chamber of Deputies. Trump? We all know that Trump is what Brazilians call a “filho de papai,” a spoiled rich kid.

Bolsonaro and Trump have promoted similar policies towards the natural environment. In this Trump is to coal mining and offshore oil exploration, what Bolsonaro is to gold mining and cattle ranching in the Amazon. Bolsonaro supports the miners regardless of the environmental damage their exploits may cause, just as Trump supported his embattled coal miners despite the costs to the natural world.

Both loosened environmental regulations and partially gutted agencies charged with environmental oversight, leading to drastic reductions in enforcement. In the Amazon, raids by wildcat loggers and miners who no longer fear government fines or retribution have resulted in the murder of several indigenous leaders attempting to defend their lands. In Bolsonaro’s first year as president, killings of indigenous Brazilians reached their highest levels in more than two decades.

More:
https://www.brasilwire.com/inspired-by-trump-bolsonaro-is-far-worse/

As you can see, too much has happened since the 2nd article was written, and all of it is hideous.

March 27, 2025

Students from the entire world, inchuding the US, have been educated in Cuba

The agreement calls for them to work for a period of time when they get home among the poor with people who couldn't have otherwise afford medical treatment.

Have been posting this information here, along with some DU'ers who have personal knowledge of this arrangement, since at least as far back as 2002.

The charge of "slavery" has been thrown against the Cuban government by the radical right-wing racist Cuban "exiles" who populated South Florida and New Jersey for many years, in an attempt to create hatred of the revolution, and Cuban doctors who have been doing medicine for the right reason from the first. Cuban doctors have been loved and celebrated all over the world, often being the first to areas hit by hurricanes, earthquakes, disease, serving in the areas conventional money-motivated doctors would refuse to visit, among the poor.

Here's one reference. You can find more information by simply looking for it on the "system of tubes", the "Internets", as the late Senator/idiot from Alaska once defined it, Senator Ted Stevens, proud Republican and major grifter.

~ ~ ~

Who are the Americans who are going to study medicine in Cuba?
Thursday, June 28, 2018

American Sarpoma Sefa-Boakye discovered that she wanted to be a doctor at the age of nine. Born in southern California, the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, she says that on her first trip to Africa for a funeral in her parents' homeland she was moved by poverty.

"I thought one way to help would be to become a doctor," Sarpoma, 39, tells BBC News Brazil.

When it came time to enter the medical school - which is offered in the United States as a graduate student - Sarpoma enrolled in American universities, but instead chose a less usual destination: the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in the capital Cuban, Havana.

According to her, what weighed in the decision was the possibility to finish the course without debts, since the Cuban government offers scholarships to the American students.

"I thought, 'Am I going to be able to afford a course in medicine in the United States, which costs between $ 200,000 and $ 300,000?'" He recalls.

Sarpoma is part of a group of 170 American doctors trained by ELAM, most of them black or Latino.

It may sound strange that citizens of a rich country like the United States participate in a program aimed at young people from low-income communities. But in American, Black and Latino colleges account for less than 6% of medical graduates.

"Most black and Latino students can not afford to pay for the medical course in the United States," says Melissa Barber, a graduate of ELAM in 2007 and the coordinator of the program that selects American students for Cuban school to IFCO (Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, in Portuguese), in New York.

In contrast, 47% of Americans trained by ELAM are black and 29% are Latino. In exchange for the free course, they undertake to work in areas lacking medical services when they return to their country.

Founded in 1999 to provide free education to young people from poor nations in Central America and the Caribbean affected by hurricanes Mitch and Georges, ELAM today brings together students from 124 countries.

The first Americans arrived in 2001 after leaders of Congressional Black Caucus, the group of black congressmen from the United States, visited the island and reported the shortage of doctors in some minority areas in their country. The Cuban leader at the time, Fidel Castro, offered scholarships to low-income Americans.

The selection of candidates is the responsibility of the IFCO, an institution that opposes the economic embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba. The final decision lies with ELAM.

"Every year, we receive 150 applications on average, of which about 30 actually enroll, and 10 are sent to Cuba," says Barber.

The course lasts six years, two more than in the United States. There is also an additional year, at the beginning of the course, dedicated to preparatory classes focusing on science and Spanish.

Despite the tension in relations between the two countries, the ELAM-trained Americans guarantee that the program leaves politics out. "Some people think that students are going to be used as a political tool on both sides, but that's not true, we're only there to study medicine," says Sarpoma.

Injections on the first day

The scholarship includes dormitory accommodation, three meals a day in the campus cafeteria, books in Spanish, a uniform and a small monthly financial aid.

Students are warned about "Spartan" accommodations, unlike what they are accustomed to in their country, and difficulties such as an occasional lack of energy and little access to the internet. But what most surprised Sarpoma was the method of education, focused on prevention and interactions with patients from the outset.

"In the United States, schools use actors to play the role of patients, not in Cuba, you learn in the clinic."

Barber highlights the community aspect of the Cuban system. "Teams formed by a doctor and a nurse are responsible for a small geographic area, they know that community. Patients go to the clinic, and the professionals also go from house to house."

In making the diagnosis, doctors are encouraged to consider biological, psychological, and social elements. "You are looking at the full picture, what is happening in the life of this patient, including social and environmental factors, that can cause these symptoms," he says.

More:
https://members.nmanet.org/news/407131/Who-are-the-Americans-who-are-going-to-study-medicine-in-Cuba.htm

March 22, 2025

Stories of Resistance: Monsignor Oscar Romero, El Salvador's Bishop of the Poor

Assassinated by El Salvador’s military dictatorship 45 years ago in 1980, Óscar Romero remains an icon of the country’s working class.

by Michael Fox
March 21, 2025

His was a voice people waited for all week long. A voice of love. A voice of reason. A voice against the violence that had descended on the region and spread like the plague.

This was late 1970s El Salvador. A country on the brink of civil war, ruled by a brutal, authoritarian government.

US-trained death squads were killing roughly 800 people a month.

And Monsignor Óscar Romero — Archbishop of San Salvador, the bishop of the poor — would not shy from denouncing the violence.

He preached every Sunday. His words were carried over the airwaves. People across Central America tuned in.

But he wasn’t always so outspoken. He was moved by what he saw around him. By the killings and the violence at the hands of state forces.

In 1977, just a month after Óscar Romero became archbishop of San Salvador, his close friend Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande was killed alongside a boy and an elderly peasant.

Grande had preached liberation theology and helped to establish Christian base communities that worked for social change. He had spoken out against the injustices and the repressive government.

“I, too, have to walk the same path,” Óscar Romero would later say, when he saw his friend’s body laying in state at San Salvador’s cathedral.

More:
https://therealnews.com/stories-of-resistance-monsignor-oscar-romero-el-salvadors-bishop-of-the-poor

February 27, 2025

Political Violence Informing Trump's Grip on Congress

With the president smashing norm after norm, even lawmakers within his party have feared for their personal safety, and at least one has told confidants that it has swayed his decision-making.

By Gabriel Sherman
February 19, 2025

Germany’s extreme-right AfD party. On Saturday, Trump declared on social media: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” This Tuesday, Trump blamed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the brutal war that was launched by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. “You should have never started it,” Trump falsely said of Zelenskyy, when in fact Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The US president then doubled down on the feud Wednesday, calling Zelenskyy a “dictator.”

Democrats are in the minority in both the House and Senate, which means the federal courts and congressional Republicans are the only guardrails on Trump’s second term. So far the judicial system seems to be holding—though a Trump-packed Supreme Court is now destined to rule on all manner of alleged overreach in the coming months. (And it’s an open question as to whether Trump will actually abide by rulings that go against him.)

Republicans in Congress, however, have consistently folded—approving all of Trump’s Cabinet picks, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, with only a faint whiff of pushback on some of their boundary-scorching backgrounds. The confirmations predictably short-circuited many Democratic observers, but the rolling headlines of late have even some Republicans decrying the seeming erosion of checks and balances in recent weeks.

“These are the heirs of the Greatest Generation, and they turned out to be the worst generation,” says Stuart Stevens, who served as a chief strategist on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and has since left the GOP, joining the anti-Trump Lincoln Project as a senior adviser. “It’s tempting to compare Republicans to Prussian aristocrats in 1930s Germany. But Prussian aristocrats were more responsible. They were dealing with civil unrest and the threat of a communist takeover. Republicans today have historically low unemployment, a record stock market. What’s their excuse?”

More:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-congress-political-violence

February 26, 2025

Laser Mapping Uncovers a 2,500-Year-Old Lost Amazonian Cities--Older Than the Roman Empire!

Buried beneath the dense Amazon rainforest, an ancient secret has just been uncovered. Using laser mapping, researchers have revealed something far older and more complex than expected. The discovery is reshaping everything we thought we knew about early civilizations in the Americas.

Arezki Amiri
Published on February 25, 2025
Read : 3 min



Laser Mapping Uncovers a 2,500-Year-Old Lost Amazonian Cities—Older Than the Roman Empire! | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel


For centuries, the Amazon rainforest was thought to be a vast, untouched wilderness, inhabited only by scattered hunter-gatherer societies. But cutting-edge Lidar technology has just shattered that idea—revealing an ancient network of massive Amazonian cities that existed more than 2,500 years ago.

These lost settlements, buried beneath thick jungle in Ecuador’s Upano Valley, were home to tens of thousands of people, boasting wide roads, ceremonial centers, and sophisticated agricultural systems. The findings rewrite pre-Columbian history and prove that the Amazon was once the heart of a thriving civilization.

A Lost Urban World Beneath the Jungle

Using laser pulses that penetrate dense vegetation, archaeologists discovered an intricate network of ancient cities spanning 300 square kilometers. The settlements, described today in Science, which predate even Roman London, included five major cities and ten smaller settlements.

The roads that connected them stretched for over 12 miles, some as wide as 33 feet, showing a high level of urban planning. At the heart of these cities stood massive earthen mounds, likely used for ceremonial or communal gatherings, demonstrating an advanced level of societal organization.

. . .



A lidar map of the city of Kunguints in the Ecuadorian Amazon reveals ancient streets lined with houses. Antoine Dorison and Stéphen Rostain

More:
https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/02/laser-mapping-uncovers-a-2500-year-old-lost-amazonian-cities-older-than-the-roman-empire/