Members of the Chicago Latino Community, particularly the Puerto Rican and Mexican communities, held a service at Adalberto United Methodist Church on Paseo Boricua on Sunday, March 10th to honor the deceased President Hugo Chavez. The program opened with a welcoming statement by Emma Lozano from Centro Sin Fronteras and Jose López of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center with an invocation by Rev. Slim Coleman. This was followed by a cultural presentation of a song from one of the young members of Adalberto Church and a poetry reading by Judy Diaz of Pedro Albizu Campos High School. The Consul General of Venezuela, Jesús Rodríguez Espinoza, delivered a moving and powerful message. He recounted the achievements of the Bolivarian revolution, including the reduction of poverty from 60% to 20%. He also pointed to the successful literacy and health campaigns and the level of engagement of the participatory democracy projects they have developed throughout the country, where the citizens are even able to articulate the local budgets. Additionally, another great achievement was the implementation of the 6-hour workweek. The Consul General of the Republic of Haiti of Chicago, Lesly Condé and the Consul General of the Comorros Islands, Sultan Shafiq Hakim also expressed their condolences to the Venezuelan people and their admiration for President Hugo Chavez. A group of young people who had attended the World Youth Congress in Caracas in 2005 mounted a symbolic honor guard in front of the registry book with a picture of Hugo Chavez. All who attended the event signed the registry book. Minister Abel Muhammad from the nation of Islam and Pastor Pedro Windsor of La Capilla del Barrio delivered a closing prayer.

Below is an excerpt of an interview with Billy Ocasio, CEO of the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. Billy was elected as Chair of the Board of the Trustees at Norwegian American Hospital last October. Billy was born in Norwegian American Hospital and is a life long resident of the Humboldt Park community. He most recently served as a senior advisor to Governor Pat Quinn. Previous to that he served as alderman of the 26th ward in Chicago. In the interview Billy discusses the further development of Norwegian America Hospital.

What role do you think the Norwegian American Hospital plays in the Humboldt Park community?

Along with providing the highest level of care in the Humboldt Park community, one of the major roles the hospital plays is that it’s an employment engine. It employs 800 community residents. The hospital employs more people than any other organization in community. The hospital also meets the health care needs of the community. We see many people with diabetes and other health needs. Yet it’s more about what the hospital can become. It is a place that employs the most community residents and now it is in line to become a place that can meet all the different health needs of the community, including diabetes, behavioral health, heart issues and asthma.

What is your vision for the hospital?

We need to reinvent ourselves. First, we need to find out what are the health needs of the community. Second, let’s recruit those doctors that can provide those resources for the community. José Sanchez, the CEO and President of Norwegian American Hospital and the Board of Trustees are making great strides to bring in the best doctors to Norwegian. We have spent the last 6-8 months talking to doctors. We have recruited a couple hundred new accredited doctors to join the Norwegian American Hospital staff. We have also just opened a new 15-bed psych unit to deal with the mental health needs of the community. Third, we need to align ourselves with well-established institutions that can provide resources that we cannot meet on our own. We have a new partnership with the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Hospital to further meet the community’s needs. Fourth, how do we utilize our vacant land to bring in resources? We are working with the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation to provide Latino veterans and their families with affordable housing. The new building, which will include 1, 2, and 3 bedrooms units, will bring a new holistic approach to meeting the needs of these families. There is no place that targets Latino veterans and their families and we want to ensure that those families are properly served.

Carnal Masquerade @ IPRAC
Paintings by Santiago Flores-Charneco 

The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture is opening a new art exhibitMascarada Carnal/Carnal Masquerade, featuring ten large scale paintings by Puerto Rican artist Santiago Flores-Charneco, a recent grant recipient from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, in New York, as part of their program for support and recognition of artists whose creative production is of exceptional quality. The work of Flores-Charneco is characterized by the fragmentation of the canvas, manually sewing pieces of paintings over which, on occasions he also integrates the glossy element of the sequin. The subject matter of these paintings is the carnival, which is manifested not only in the paintings’ display of vivid colors and throbbing flesh, but also in the disarticulation of stances that music and dance provoke, in unison, a sensual unleashing of rhythmic orgies. The exhibition will be open until August 23, 2013 at the main gallery of IPRAC, located in Humboldt Park, at 3015 W. Division Street, in Chicago. For more information please call (773) 486-8345, or fax: (773) 486-8806.

Carnal Masquerade

Flesh and color burst in abundance out of these ten paintings by Santiago Flores-Charneco. Both elements are paramount and not by mere coincidence to the celebration of carnival, to which this Puerto Rican artist has decided to pay a vibrant visual tribute through this recent series of works. For, in these works, such an outburst is not a simple, casual metaphor. It becomes manifest not only in the paintings’ display of vivid color and throbbing flesh, but also in the disarticulation of stances that music and dance provoke, and which generate, in unison, a sensual unleashing of rhythmic orgies. Such outburst also permeates the materials and the composition that form these works; created and recreated by the untiring artist, the paintings are made up of cut-out fragments from other paintings, which Flores joins by means of sewing, as if putting together a pictorial jigsaw puzzle. The streams of paint, the circles of impasto and the glitter of the sequins build the work upon itself in a continuous process, thus erasing the antagonistic essence between the fragments and the finished work.

Through the paintings that make up this series, Santiago Flores-Charneco once again takes up and culminates a creative process and the formulation of a visual lexicon that span a few decades. Painting and sewing be it of pieces of fabric or beads a practice that links him to the tradition of popular arts and crafts) furnish his production with an enormously tactile richness and a lavishness that Puerto Rican art often lacks. In regard to Flores-Charneco, the delayed abstractionism he has practiced thus far begins to fade as he now introduces his work to latent, figurative references, with traces of masks of traditional Puerto Rican cabezudos and vejigantes, and with a true display of playful eroticism through the use of the human figure. Appearance and delusion take on a vital role in this pictorial masquerade, as well. Imbued with the liberty that carnival festivities grant, the figures that stir their bodies to the rhythm of the son in carnival parades unleash their unbridled passions, shielded in the anonymity of their sketched faces.

The life force that these paintings radiate, along with the apparent creative swiftness of the artist, conceal the technical scrupulousness and determination of someone who works with the outmost precision and care. Nothing in these works by Flores-Charneco is the product of randomness; not the feverish motion, nor the dislodged figures or the exuberant chaos of color in which they bathe. They are all inescapable elements of carnival, that carnival that stems from ancient African and Caribbean tradition, and which now flows into this Puerto Rican dance troupe. / Laura Bravo, Ph.D.

El grupo cibernético  Boicot La Comay se desarrolló en  la red social  Facebook y logró la caída del imperio de la marioneta La Comay y su titiritero, Kobbo Santarrosa. Este es el triunfo mediático puertorriqueño más celebrado en nuestros tiempos. La Comay fue una terrorista de los medios.  Un imperio  totalitario que usaba su popularidad para fomentar  la marginación, el acoso y la burla como herramientas para mancillar reputaciones y crear  “un bochinche”.

La debacle  de SuperXclusivo comenzó el 14 de septiembre de 2011 cuando  Kobbo Santarrosa mostró las fotos de un hombre decapitado en San Sebastián.  Ese acto, donde se hacía  un espectáculo morboso de la muerte de un ser humano, no contribuía a la salud mental del pueblo. Nos dimos cuenta entonces  de que La Comay se había pasado de la raya. Vimos la realidad: era una muñeca malévola. Ese día comenzaba la caída de su imperio.  Forzada  por la gerencia de WAPA, la muñeca del terror reculó y pidió disculpas por sus acciones en el programa.  La avalancha de lodo  que producía a diario continuó el 21 de septiembre de 2011 cuando  Santarrosa  explicó el  uso del epíteto “pato” en su programa. En ese momento parecía  que se fumaba la pipa de la paz con la comunidad homosexual, LGBT y con la personas que viven con el flagelo del SIDA, a quienes había criticado y de quienes se había burlado muchas veces.  Dijo: “No volveremos a usar la palabra pato en nuestro programa”. Su rama de olivo resultó falsa, un momento mediático para buscar lo que movía al titiritero, los “ratings”. También el mismo día,  su compinche en el show, Héctor Travieso  declaraba: “En cuarenta años de televisión en Puerto Rico, siempre hemos usado el adjetivo o palabra pato en forma  cómica y a nadie le molestaba”. Esto no es cierto. Era otra artimaña de la muñeca y su socio para continuar el imperio del terror, la opresión y la humillación.

El golpe mortal del show de La Comay ocurrió el 4 de diciembre de 2012. De  forma maquiavélica la muñeca parlante insinuó que la muerte del publicista José Enrique López Saladín había sido auto infligida. En ese momento La Comay cruzó una línea de insensibilidad que no concuerda con la idiosincrasia puertorriqueña. El ser cruel, no es un valor boricua. Nosotros como pueblo somos solidarios con el dolor de otros. Este fue el inicio del fin del imperio. El grupo Boicot a La Comay comenzó a tomar fuerzas huracanadas a finales de noviembre aunque había nacido mucho tiempo antes. Las primeras dos semanas  de diciembre del 2012  fueron el  calvario del titiritero. El día 16 de diciembre, el rotativo NEW YORK TIMES cubría la noticia con un artículo titulado “Por haber comentado sobre una muerte se ha metido en problemas una marioneta”.  Ese día todo estaba consumado para la trilogía del racismo, la homofobia, la xenofobia, la burla, “del bochinche” y  la maldad: La Comay, Kobbo Santarosa y Héctor Travieso.  En el  último párrafo de su cobertura, el afamado periódico dejaba claro que el presidente de WAPA, Joe Ramos, estaba considerando los beneficios y los inconvenientes  de seguir con el show de La Comay.

El éxito del grupo cibernético se debe a que se dedicó a  quitarle uno por uno los auspiciadores al programa. Eran cerca de 50 empresas como Walmart, ATT y Ford. Se les solicitaba formal y respetuosamente que eliminaran sus anuncios en La Comay. El grupo, una simple red social, consiguió 75, 000 miembros en su punto más alto y logró algo sin precedentes: eliminar el primer programa en la televisión puertorriqueña.  El día 8 de enero del 2013, EL NUEVO DÍA amanecía con un titular para la historia, “Renuncia Kobbo Santarosa a WAPA TV”. Ese día los puertorriqueños ganaron. La chabacanería, el odio y la intolerancia engendrado por el trío del terror  dio su  último aletazo.

Joelle Gonzalez-Laguer, MFA

From February 1 to 2, 2013, Academy Award director Oliver Stone and American University history professor Peter Kuznick participated in a series of events in the Puerto Rican community in Chicago.  They came to Chicago to screen and discuss The Untold History of the United States, which is the title of the book they co-authored and the ten-part documentary series they produced that was most recently shown on Showtime.

On February 1, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) and the Illinois Coalition against Torture (ICAT) jointly sponsored a program, “Empire, Colonialism, and Torture” at Roberto Clemente High School.  Marcey Sorenson, the principal, welcomed the overflow crowd of more than 700 people to the school.  Margaret Power, the m.c., introduced the program and the speakers.  Peter Kuznick introduced the film that was shown, Vietnam, LBJ, and the Third World by explaining what had transpired in the previous episodes of the series.  The powerful film offered both a coherent overview of U.S. aggression in Vietnam and telling details of its brutality.  It also, however, placed the U.S. war in Vietnam in the context of U.S. intervention in Indonesia, Brazil, and Chile to illustrate the global reach and impact of U.S. imperialism in the 1960s and early 1970s.  Following the film, Oliver Stone, Peter Kuznick, and historian José López discussed the film and responded to questions from the audience. Stone and Kuznick also sold and signed copies of their book, and generously donated all profits to the PRCC and ICAT. Saturday, February 2, Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick spoke at a press conference held at the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC).  They then attended a luncheon hosted by IPRAC and the PRCC.  When Peter Kuznick spoke at the luncheon, he thanked the Puerto Rican community for its warm welcome and said he now felt himself to be part of the community and looked forward to future activities together.

Margrett Power

Recently, we talked with Alderman Roberto Maldonado of the 26th Ward about his passionate desire to bring Marine Math & Science Academy to our community.

Q:  Why do you want to bring Marine Math & Science to the 26th Ward?

RM:  As the Alderman and a parent, I feel it is my duty to provide our children with a real option to get a quality education in the 26th Ward.  That is why I have been strongly lobbying to bring Marine Math & Science Academy to our community, at the site of the Ames Middle School located at 1920 N. Hamlin. One of the main misconceptions among those who oppose Marine Math & Science is that this is like a training camp to send our children to serve in the military after graduation.  That is absolutely not true.  In fact, Marine Math & Science’s main goal is to prepare students for college and professional careers by providing an environment of structure, discipline, and a high expectation of academic performance.  I believe our youth deserve this opportunity to succeed and their futures should not be compromised by misconceptions. No one who opposes bringing Marine Math & Science to the 26th Ward has the track record of protesting military actions that I have.  I actively demonstrated in Vieques, Puerto Rico against the U.S. Navy’s military exercises and its presence in this town island of Puerto Rico, which, I am proud to say, successfully closed that military base.   Clearly, I would never promote anything that would ultimately result in putting our youth in harm’s way.  It is discouraging that despite its state-of-the-art facility, Ames has demonstrated chronic under-performance, under-enrollment, and instability with its leadership team since its inception in 1997.  The persistent underutilization of this school clearly shows that if parents have a choice they won’t send their kids to Ames for their middle school education.  As Alderman, I am fighting for a better educational opportunity for our youth.  That is why I strongly support providing our students with the option of attending Marine Math & Science—a high school with a proven track record of graduating students who attend college.

Q: Are students obligated to serve in the military after graduation?

RM:    No.  Marine Math & Science focuses on delivering a high-quality education with an emphasis in service, leadership development, and personal responsibility, with the principal goal of preparing all students to attend the 4-year college of their choice.

Q: What is the college acceptance rate for Marine Math & Science students?

RM:    95% of the class of 2012 went to college.  Together the class earned $4 million in scholarships.

Q: Is Marine Math & Science a charter school?

RM: No.  It’s part of the Chicago Public Schools.

Q:  Are the teachers former service members?

RM:    The majority of Marine Math & Science teachers have not served in the military and they are all members of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Q:  What makes Marine Math & Science a “math and science” school?

RM:    Marine Math & Science puts an emphasis on math and science to provide ideal preparation for college courses and the future job market, which increasingly requires a highly skilled technical workforce.

Q:  What about other classes and extracurricular activities?

RM: Marine Math & Science offers college credit classes and electives, including Finance, Journalism, Sociology, Art, and Band.  All team sports are offered including soccer, football, basketball, and cheerleading.  Students also take JROTC as one of their courses every year, where students learn about history, government, citizenship, leadership, personal finances and responsibility, and physical fitness.   Moreover, students are required to engage in extracurricular activities giving parents peace of mind while they are at work.

Q: Are bilingual and special education classes offered?

RM:    Yes.  Marine Math & Science currently serves a student population that is predominantly Hispanic and over 95% low income.  About 10% of students receive special education.

Q: How are students chosen to attend Marine Math & Science?

RM:    For students for which Ames would be their neighborhood middle school, 7th graders will be automatically accepted if parents so choose.  There is no minimum grade point average for acceptance.  Students can also apply for High School enrollment directly to 9th grade.

Q: Who is the Marine Math & Science Principal?

RM:    The Principal is Fred Aguirre, who has a strong relationship with the Humboldt Park and Logan Square communities, as well as other Hispanic communities, and who is, himself, a graduate of Benito Juarez High School where he did Marine JROTC.

Q: How does the learning environment of Marine Math & Science compare with that of Ames?

RM:    Marine Math & Science and Ames show major differences in terms of discipline and behavior, as measured by the number of misconducts resulting in suspension (86.2% at Ames v. 37.3% at Marine Math & Science).  Marine Math & Science provides a safe environment for our students to learn with an emphasis on discipline and structure.

Q: Can interested parents discuss this proposal further with you?

RM:    Absolutely.  I welcome their input.  They can call me at my 26th Ward Office at 773.395.0143; visit me at Ward Nite any Monday, 3-6 p.m.; send me an email at Roberto.maldonado@yahoo.com; or visit me on Facebook.  Together, we can provide our children the best educational options for their future.

The Puerto Rican Community in Humboldt Park celebrated its 19th Annual Three Kings parade on Paseo Boricua (Division St). Thousands of parents and children braved the cold to participate in the first parade of the year in Chicago. Alderman Roberto Maldonado (26th Ward) and his family were present as well as the Latin American Motorcycle Association (LAMA). In a surprise visit Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel paid a visit to the parents and children lining up for the parade. The parade began at Roberto Clemente High School with various buses, trolleys, horse drawn carriage and other vehicles and marched along Division Street to the Humboldt Park Field House. LAMA was able to distribute thousands of toys that were donated by their members, as well as, Toys for Tots. The Parade was sponsored by the Division Street Business Development Association (DSBDA), the Puerto Rican Cultural Center of Chicago and COMCAST. The organizers of the Parade promise that next year the parade will be bigger and will have an even more festive and cultural atmosphere.

Eduardo Arocho

On Wednesday September 26, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), held a luncheon meeting with several community leaders including Paul Roldan (Hispanic Housing), Jose Sanchez (Norwegian American Hospital), Ofelia Navarro (Spanish Coalition for Housing, Sol Flores (Casa Norte), Tim Eagin (Norwegian Foundation), Rev. Wilfredo DeJesus (New Life Covenant Ministries), Ray Vazquez (IPRAC), Billy Ocasio (IPRAC), Velia Soto (Erie Charter School) and Marcey Sorensen (Roberto Clemente High School). Alderman Roberto Maldonado welcomed the Senator to the 26th ward and State Representative Cynthia Soto welcomed him to the 4th District. Ray Vazquez, President of the Board of Directors of IPRAC, not only welcomed the Senator to IPRAC, but thanked him for his support and noted that this was the second visit that the Senator had made to the Institute. On behalf of IPRAC, Jose E. Lopez, Executive Director, presented the Senator with a poster of the Institute as well as a commemorative piece of IPRAC’s permanent installation Veveviejo by artist Antonio Martorell.

The Senator engaged the community leaders in a lively dialogue about many issues including housing, particularly the question of foreclosures, health, community services and education.
Nellies Restaurant donated the excellent Puerto Rican food that was eaten during the luncheon.

Uno de los líderes de la agrupación Calle 13, Eduardo Cabra,  asistió al evento en que se presentó el medallón con el nombre de la banda, que formará parte del Paseo de la Fama de la comunidad puertorriqueña de Humboldt Park, en Chicago.

El músico estuvo acompañado de su hermana Milena Pérez Joglar, pues su hermano René Pérez no pudo asistir a la actividad del pasado domingo por compromisos previos en Argentina. Visitante y Milena recibieron la distinción ante miles de boricuas radicados en esta ciudad, donde se celebró la décimanovena edición de la “Fiesta boricua”. La placa con el nombre de Calle 13 se colocará en la acera de la Calle División. En el paseo existen más de 12 placas que resaltan a figuras como Roberto Clemente y Willie Colón. Eduardo Cabra dijo que se sentía “dichoso de ser honrado” en la ciudad y, precisamente, en el barrio puertorriqueño de Humboldt Park, sitio de la mayor concentración de residentes boricuas.

“Vamos a compartir el espacio con muchas personas súper importantes. Es un honor demasiado grande que al nombre de Calle 13 se le hayan abierto las puertas en este barrio puertorriqueño, y que los puertorriqueños le den la bienvenida a la propuesta de Calle 13”,  dijo el músico en entrevista con EFE. “Es súper importante y súper emocionante para la familia completa”, afirmó el artista. “Es demasiado para nosotros y no me lo esperaba y que sea reconocido por puertorriqueños que llevan mucho tiempo acá”, agregó Visitante. El diseño de lo que será una placa permanente fue entregado a Visitante por José López, el director ejecutivo del Centro Cultural Puertorriqueño Corretjer, el Consejal Roberto Maldonado y la Rep. Estatal Cynthia Soto.

En la ceremonia también estuvieron el alcalde de Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, y el representante demócrata Luis Gutiérrez.

San Juan – “Hay momentos para defenderse y protestar ante las amenazas. Pero también hay momentos para reconocer cuando el poder del pueblo triunfa. Esta la ganamos con dignidad”.
Así reaccionó Arturo Massol Deyá luego de que el ingeniero Josué Colón, director interino de la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE), firmara públicamente una carta en la que se le notifica el retiro de la solicitud depermiso de construcción de Vía Verde que aun se encuentra bajo laconsideración del Cuerpo de Ingenieros del Ejército de los Estados Unidos.
“Estamos solicitando formalmente hoy (jueves) que retire todo análisis y todo esfuerzo en el desarrollo y permisología del uso de tubería para llevar gas”,informó el también ingeniero José Ortiz, presidente de la Junta de Gobiernode la AEE.

Por su parte, Alexis Massol González, co fundador de Casa Pueblo, expresó desde Adjuntas su sentir ante lo que se considera como la estocada final del proyecto de tubería que abarcaría 92 millas, impactando 13 municipios de la Isla. “Es una victoria que trasciende porque el proceso fue uno de educación y de aprendizaje para el pueblo de Puerto Rico y sus sectores. La victoria nos enseña que podemos transformar la realidad por más poderoso que sea el adversario”, compartió. “Otra lección es para el gobierno. Se acabó el manejo de un gobierno dictatorial y opresor contra el pueblo. Es lección de que tiene que contar con la democracia participativa. La democracia de promesas de cada 4 años se acabó. Este es el poder revocatorio que tiene el pueblo y hoy tenemos un ejemplo. La democracia es de todos los días”, advirtió.

En agosto de 2010 el Gobernador Luis Fortuño dió a conocer la intención de construir el gasoducto del norte a un costo que más tarde llegaría hasta los $800 millones, según cifras oficiales.
“De los $800 millones, se botaron unos $80 en diseño, expropiaciones, publicidad y cabilderos. Sin embargo la lucha que dimos las comunidades impidió que muchos millones más se fueran por el abismo. Recordemos que no había gas para operar el tubo, que era el absurdo en todo”, finalizó Massol Deyá.