Global Voices » Michael Castro

Puerto Rico, USA: Reactions to Sotomayor's Nomination

Michael Castro — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:17:40 +0000

The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court of the United States has brought mixed reactions from diverse sectors. Being of Puerto Rican descent, blogger reactions from the island have been mostly full of joy and pride. Traditional press sources have given the issue wide coverage, partly due to the fact that this is the first time a Puerto Rican has achieved this type of status - but while the mainstream media focused their articles on Sotomayor's qualifications for the post, a funny thing happened in the blogosphere.

This image, “Sonia Sotomayor accepts the nomination by President Obama”, is by Jay Tamboli, used under a Creative Commons license. Visit Jay Tamboli's flickr photostream.

Before her nomination, Myrisa, who blogs at En el país de los ciegos… [ES], wrote a post entitled: ¿Una puertorriqueña al Tribunal Supremo de EEUU?

A Puertorican for the Supreme Court?

…in response to which some visitors posted positive comments and Hiram Perez cautiously reminded everyone that she was still a nominee:

Nada, que habrá que esperar y estar pendiente e diversas fuentes. A veces los periódicos en PR están más interesados en presentar la noticia más interesante que la noticia más balanceada.

We have to wait and be alert to diverse sources [of information]. Sometimes the papers in Puerto Rico are more interested in presenting the most interesting story instead of the more balanced one.

Speaking Boricua, in the post Sotomayor!! Sotomayor!!, said:

Anyways, I'm sure we've all heard quite a bit now on Sotomayor, some of it disturbing, and some really inspiring…it's pretty interesting that Sotomayor apparently supported secession, at least back in her undergrad days. I doubt though that anyone will hold that against her now, unlike some of her rulings.

Neffers, a visitor to the blog, commented:

Although I appreciate the way that she holds on to her Puerto Rican identity, the US celebrating the first Hispanic in the Supreme Court in the 21st century is as ridiculous as celebrating their first black president…

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for both of them and it's about damn time the US behaved like they were not in the 19th century.

My fear, just as when Sila [Calderón] became PR's fist woman governor, is that as soon as one of them makes a mistake, or even does nothing bad but nothing good, they will blame it on the fact of their ‘condition' : black, woman, hispanic…

Poder 5 [ES] took a different view:

Obama ha decepcionado a muchos, y las encuestas de aprobación están hundiendo su imágen. Entonces llega la hora de escoger al juez que llenará la vacante en el Tribunal Supremo y de todos los candidatos Obama escoge a una puertorriqueña diabética criada en el bronx.

Obama has disappointed many, and aproval ratings are sinking his image. Then comes the time to nominate someone to fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court and of all the candidates Obama picks a Puerto Rican diabetic raised in the Bronx.

This post generated an intense debate in the comments section. The main issue? Whether or not Sonia Sotomayor is a Puerto Rican, based on her place of birth.

Coloquiando con Don Segundo and Doña Bianca [ES] wrote:

La nacionalidad no se determina en donde naces, sino de donde vienes. Vasta ya con la discriminacion de puertorriqueños contra puertorriqueños.

La seleccion de Sotomayor fue la seleccion de una mujer puertorriqueña, de origen pobre, lo cual realza lo que los americanos tanto nos quieren negar…

Nationality is not determined by your place of birth but from where you come from. Enough with the discrimination of Puerto Ricans against Puerto Ricans. Sotomayor's nomination was the selection of a puertorican woman of humble origins, which highlights what the Americans have denied us…

Digizen [ES] added:

Para mi lo más importante de la nominación de Sotomayor es que es una persona que a pesar de haber crecido en un ambiente poco privilegiado pudo superarse y llegar a donde está en estos momentos. Además, tiene un historial de lucha por los derechos humanos y una vida profesional caracterizada por la integridad.

To me the most important thing about Sotomayor's nomination is that she is a person that despite having been raised in an underprivileged environment she could step up and arrive to where she is now. She also has history of fighting for human rights and a professional life characterized by integrity.

Puerto Rico: License to Kill Trees

Michael Castro — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:20:30 +0000

A recent administrative order by Puerto Rico's Secretary of Agriculture has created a shock wave of reactions in the blogosphere. In the island of Puerto Rico if a person had to cut down a tree he/she had to request permission form the island's Department of Natural Resources - that was until recently, when the Secretary of the Agency, Javier Velez Arocho, issued an administrative order that automatically grants a “fast track” permission to anyone who wishes to cut a tree.

The order, which grants permission to cut up to ten trees, is automatically granted to anyone who hands in a photograph of the tree/s in question. Prior to this administrative order, any potential tree-cutter had to justify the reason for so doing and a technician from the agency would visit the site to determine that: a) the tree was not a protected species, and b) the reasons given by the person requesting the permission were sound.

Blogger Ivonne Acosta from Sin Mordazas was the first to raise the voice of alarm, summarizing the administrative order in this post:

Miren lo que se incluye en este permiso de Vélez Arocho:
• las personas que interesen tumbar los árboles pueden obtener el permiso el mismo día
• la intención es agilizar el procedimiento (o sea: que se tumben árboles más rápido)
• aplica a todos los municipios menos Ponce y Carolina (que emiten los permisos localmente)
• la orden administrativa aplica de inmediato y habrá un “técnico evaluador”
• el “técnico evaluador” firmará la autorización el mismo día siempre y cuando los documentos presentados provean información suficiente
• esta “información suficiente” no incluye el examen por parte del DRNA de los árboles a cortarse, basta con que los que quieren tumbarlos presenten dos fotos de cada árbol
• el peticionario debe presentar evidencia de la tenencia de los terrenos donde ubican los árboles a tumbar (o permiso si son estatales o municipales)

Look at what this permission from Vélez Arocho includes:
-the person who wishes to cut the trees can obtain the permit the same day
-the intention is to speed up the procedure (to cut trees faster)
-it applies to all municipalities except Ponce and Carolina which issue permissions locally
-the administrative order is of immediate application and there will be an evaluating technician
the evaluating technician will sign the authorization the same day if the documents provide sufficient information
- this “sufficient information” does not include the personal examination by the Department of Natural Resources it is sufficient for the person requesting the authorization to present two photos of each tree
-the petitioner has to present evidence that he/she owns the land on which the trees stand (or a permit granted by the municipality if the land is a property of the town or of the state)

Determined to keep her finger on the pulse of the situation, two days after her first entry Acosta republished the island's El Vocero newspaper editorial (ES) and caricature (ES), both of which provided commentary on the latest developments. She also went a step further and published a petition (ES), which at the time of this post has been signed by more than a hundred persons.

Other bloggers have joined Ivonne Acosta in what can be considered the biggest blog wave in Puerto Rico's blogosphere to date. Satirical blog El Ñame (ES) and blogger Edwin Vazques from Cargas y Descargas (ES), who says:

Para los que se estén preguntando por qué el límite de 10 árboles tiene que ver con el sistema métrico. Tiene que ser. Seis árboles suena muy anticristo. Cinco trae cuestionamientos estadísticos. Uno lo tumba cualquiera sin que el vecino se entere. Ocho es un número algo estúpido. Ah, pero diez, he ahí un número redondo.

For those of you that are trying to make sense of why the limit of ten it is associated with the decimal system. It has to be. Six trees sounds like the Antichrist. Five would bring statistical questioning. One can be chopped down by anyone without their neighbor noticing. Eight is a stupid number. Ah, but ten, there you have a rounded number…

Other blogs (all ES) have joined in the call for Javier Velez Arocho to revoke the administrative order, including Elco Lao, Mario Nuñez form DigiZen, Siluz from Escribiendo en Vos Alta, Cesar from La Opinion que Nadie Pidió, who, along with Enfogoná from Clientela furiosa writes a moving plea to “save our trees”, Coloquiando con Don Segundo y Doña Bianca which calls for “urgent action” and Pepe Grillo la Guía Verde, who refers to the order as “treecide”.

Myrisa from En el país de los ciegos… has been very pro-active, e-mailing other bloggers and asking them to put comment sections on their blogs so that more people can join the campaign. Her plea seems to be working - blogger Pegao from Sal Pa' Fuera has already posted a link on his blog directing visitors to Ivonne Acosta's online petition. Two Facebook groups have also been created, here and here.

There is no doubt that the Puerto Rican blogosphere is making its voice heard on this pressing issue.

Photo above is of the People's Forest (Bosque del Pueblo) in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico by “Oquendo” on flickr.

Puerto Rico: Real ID is really intrusive

Michael Castro — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:57:16 +0000

Puerto Rican bloggers are calling attention to the government's latest deed, the application of the Real ID Act to the island's drivers. The Real ID, which has come under fire by many states in the mainland US, is one of the measures implemented by President Bush's administration to “fight terrorism”. According to Wikipedia:

The REAL ID Act of 2005 is U.S. federal law which imposes certain security, authentication and issuance procedures standards for the state driver's licenses and state ID cards, in order for them to be accepted by the federal government for “official purposes”, as defined by the Secretary of Homeland Security. Currently, the Secretary of Homeland Security has defined “official purposes” as presenting state driver's licenses and identification cards for boarding commercially operated airline flights, entering federal buildings and nuclear power plants.

Opponents believe the problem with the Act comes from the fact that the required documentation reveals too much about the person for comfort, although the law says that states are not obliged to issue a Real ID in their territories as long as they issue a clause in their licenses stating that each particular license issued by that state is not valid for federal matters and that passengers of transportation regulated by the federal government will be required to submit to additional screening procedures.

What worries many bloggers in Puerto Rico is that all the data required to get the license is going to be stored in a central database that will be linked to the databases of other states and the Federal Government. This has raised the eyebrows of people concerned about their privacy. Thus, Anthony Romero, the executive director of ACLU, stated:

Real ID is an unfunded mandate that violates the Constitution's 10th Amendment on state powers, destroys states' dual sovereignty and consolidates every American's private information, leaving all of us far more vulnerable to identity thieves.

The act has been rejected by most of the 50 states, from Arkansas to Wyoming, but on July 7 2008, Puerto Rico Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá announced that all 15 Puerto Rico Department of Transportation and Public Works Driver's Services Centers will implement a new system complying with the Real ID Act.

Ivonne Acosta Lespier, a noted Puerto Rican historian, said in her blog (es) Sin Mordazas:

En Puerto Rico bajo este gobierno no se puede siquiera pestañear porque le cuelan a uno cosas increíbles. En contraste con muchos estados que se han opuesto al Real ID y por eso hubo que posponer la puesta en vigor del reglamento, nuestro colonizado Gobernador (que se las da de “soberanista” cuando le conviene), ha aceptado con entusiasmo ser partícipe del espionaje del Homeland Security…

In Puerto Rico under this government you cannot even blink because they stick you with incredible things. Contrary to many other states who have openly opposed the implementation of the Real ID, our colonized governor (who boasts of being a sovereigntist when the need be) has accepted enthusiastically to be a participant of the Homeland Security spying…

The action taken by the governor of Puerto Rico has been seen by many as an act of subservience. According to the satirical blog (es) El Ñame…

Acevedo Vilá Se Lesiona La Espalda Eñangotándose Ante Los EEUU Al Implantar El “Real ID”

Acevedo Víla [Puerto Rico's governor] injured his back while bowing before the US when Implementing the “Real ID”

So far, the bloggers who have written most extensively about the subject have been Myrisa and Z. Teruoc in their blog (es) En el país de los ciegos, where they sum up the surprise of many in the island:

Mientras muchos estados le dicen no al Real ID, el ELA se coloca a la vanguardia del espionaje de Homeland Security. Confieso que ingenuamente creí que por buen tiempo no nos tocaría, confiada en que, dada sus posiciones neonacionalistas, el gobierno PPD dilataría este asalto del poder federal sobre la esfera local.

While many states say no to the Real ID the ELA (Puerto Rico) takes the vanguard of the Homeland Security spying. I naively confess that for a while I believed this was not going to apply to us, hoping that, given the governor's neo-nationalist positions, the PPD [current party leading the island] would stall this assault of the federal powers over our local sphere.

Puerto Rico: Daddy Yankee Endorses John McCain

Michael Castro — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:08:07 +0000

Puerto Rico is in the spotlight due to a recent endorsement by recording artist Daddy Yankee. Even though he is not as well known on the island, than in other parts of Latin America, U.S. presidential candidate capitalized on his fame for campaign purposes at an event in an Arizona high school. Bloggers comment on the fact that Daddy Yankee is a low profile rapper in the island and his example is not one to be emulated. So what is McCain after? Votes obviously, and as far as votes go the Puerto Rican and the Latino communities in the US.

In the words of blogger Edwqin Vazquez of Cargas y Desgargas [es]:

El reggaetonero Raymond Ayala, mejor conocido como Daddy Yankee, hizo el supremo ridículo: endosó a John McCain para presidente en una escuela de Arizona, aún cuando el pobre no tiene derecho a votar en las elecciones presidenciales.

The reggaeton singer Raymond Ayala better known as “Daddy Yankee” was part of something ridiculous: he endorsed John McCain for president in a high school in Arizona even tough the poor guy doesn't have a right to vote in the presidential elections.

According to blogger Elco Lao, he is not sure how much McCain even knows who Daddy Yankee is [es]:

aunque el candidato a presidente por el partido republicano dice que Dadi es uno de sus mejores amigos, antes de que entrara a escena tuvo que leer de una tarjeta alguna información que le hiciera recordar quién carajos era este muchacho… Por lo menos, las muchachitas de la escuela que visitó Maquein supieron anticipadamente de quién se trataba ya que mencionó la palabra “GASOLINA”.

…although the presidential candidate said that Daddy was one of his best friends, before Daddy Yankee entered the stage, McCain had to read from a card with information to remind him who the hell was this guy. At least the girls in the school recognized him when McCain mentioned the title of one of his hits “GASOLINA”…

During the activity the Star Spangled Banner was played but Daddy Yankee didn't knew the lyrics to that tune so he had to bit his lips during the anthem performance. After the ceremony the rapper sang one of his most famous hits “Gasolina” (gasoline). the song is about a girl who likes to ride in cars and in the song is constantly repeating “dame más gasolina” (give me more gasoline). The lyrics of the song contrast with McCain's energy policies and his purported plans to encourage the production of alternative energy and his plan to reward the inventor who rescues the US from its dependency on foreign oil with $300,000,000.

The news did not cause an uproar here in the island since Puerto Ricans can't vote, so none of the local media payed much attention to it. Bloggers from the U.S. consider it an act of political significance since McCain chose to address the Puerto Ricans, and other Latinos living in the states by standing by the side of a well-known recording artist.

Thumbnail photo by Rascolmkp