Patricia Guadalupe

WASHINGTON — Chanting “Ricky renuncia (resign)” and “Ricky corrupto (corrupt),” several hundred demonstrators —some banging pots and pans— gathered outside the offices of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA) in downtown Washington, D.C. on Tuesday evening to demand that embattled Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rosselló immediately resign. PRFAA is the island government’s agency in the United States.
“I have many family members in Puerto Rico that feel abandoned by the island g...

WASHINGTON — Nine institutions of higher learning across the country on Thursday received the first “Seal of Excelencia” for what the group handing out the award says is a commitment to Latino students and a demonstrated ability to serve them.
Deborah Santiago, CEO and co-founder of the group, Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit based in Washington that analyzes and measures institutions' Latino enrollment and graduation rates, said the award was intended to establish "high standards of expe...

WASHINGTON — A female Puerto Rican comic book superhero has landed at the Smithsonian alongside legendary caped crusaders such as Superman, Captain America and Wonder Woman.
"It’s overwhelming. It’s really surreal. When I walked up to the display, I was brought to tears of joy,” said Edgardo Miranda-Rodríguez of his 2016 comic book creation, La Borinqueña.
The costume of the young female superhero, who gets her powers from the Taíno gods of her Puerto Rican ancestors, was added this month to ...

WASHINGTON — To cheers of "Sí, Se Puede," ("Yes, we can") three organizations that work closely with immigrant families at the nation's southern border were honored Thursday with the Robert F. Kennedy 2019 Human Rights Award.
The three recipients are South Texas groups: the Angry Tías and Abuelas of the Río Grande Valley; the Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee in El Paso; and La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), established by United Farm Workers union co-founders César Chávez and Dolores Hu...

Members of a commission tasked to examine the 2020 Census and its impact on the Latino community sounded an alarm on Wednesday, saying next year’s decennial count of the nation’s population runs a grave risk of undercounting Latinos in greater numbers than previous years due to the Trump administration’s proposal to add a citizenship question and the apprehension that would provoke.
“The 2020 Census will take place at a time of heightened fear given the political climate that we find ourselve...

My grandfather was in law enforcement and served as a bodyguard for a governor in Puerto Rico. But it was his sense of humor and unassuming nature that made him a true example to follow.
Luciano Guadalupe Díaz — Papi Chano to his grandkids — grew up in the countryside outside of Caguas, Puerto Rico, leaving school to help support his family after his father died. He spent his days going into town to sell eggs, vegetables, chickens, and other produce from the family farm.
It was on one of thos...

For the first 10 years that Jerome D. Mack Middle School, in Las Vegas, Nev., was open, skin color, religious preferences, gang affiliation, language skills—and…

RIO PIEDRAS, Puerto Rico — Every week for the past months, Raquel Lopez Oliver and her family wonder, “What do we do on Sundays?”
Lopez Oliver remembers a time when most of her family gatherings would take place at the home of her husband's grandmother, known to everyone as Abuela (grandmother) Paulina. On Sundays, that was the place to visit.
That tradition ended exactly a year ago after Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico and took the lives of nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest nat...

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the School of Communication hosted an event titled Latinos and The Midterm Election Panel, discussing how important Latino voices are to the upcoming midterm elections on Oct. 30.
Eric Hershberg, the director of AU’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, moderated the discussion between CNN reporters Antoine Sanfuentes and Boris Sanchez, Telemundo reporter Lori Montenegro, Univision reporter Fernando Pizarro and NBC Latino reporter ...

Chapter hopes to help Hispanic students pursue journalism careers
AU students and faculty launched the first student chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) in Washington this fall, according to the chapter’s faculty advisor and AU professor Bill Gentile.
Gentile, who is a documentary filmmaker, said he has done the “vast majority of (his) most important work as a professional” outside of the country, including in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“It’s nice to be at...

José Urias owns a construction company in suburban Boston, where he has lived since he was a teenager. This year, he and his wife had the “what if” talk: What will they do if they have to say goodbye to the life they’ve built?
Urias, 40, and his wife are among the 195,000 Salvadorans who have lived in the U.S. since 2001 under Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, which granted temporary legal status to immigrants from certain countries fleeing natural disasters and civil wars.
Through almost t...

Charlyn Gaztambide Janer, a Puerto Rico-based public relations specialist, lived for several years in New York City, near Times Square. Though she lived in a bustling part of the city, she avoided the Christmas holidays in New York, and it wasn't just because of the "cold and darkness."
What she really missed when she heard traditional Christmas carols like "Silent Night,” were the Puerto Rican parrandas.
"It’s such a dramatic difference," said Gaztambide Janer. "Everyone is partying and hang...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chanting several slogans, including “up with liberation, down with deportation” and “we are the mighty, mighty immigrants fighting for justice,” a coalition of immigrant rights groups held a small rally today in front of the Capitol building, demanding that Congress consider completely defunding the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies within, such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Last week, Presiden...

WASHINGTON — At a ceremony to usher in a record number of Latino Democrats in Congress, lawmakers exuded more outrage than delight as they recognized their legislative ambitions are contending for now with a standoff over a border wall with Mexico that has partially shut down the government.
"It's because of Trump’s obsession with stirring up anti-immigrant sentiment that we're in this predicament and it is quickly affecting the most vulnerable,” said newly minted Democratic Congressman Jesús...

WASHINGTON — Angela Vásquez, a maintenance worker at the Department of Agriculture and a single mother of six, says she's perpetually worried these days.
"I’m in this situation right now where I have no money coming in," said Vásquez, a native of Guatemala who has lived in the nation's capital for 26 years.
“I have a lot of bills to pay, including tuition for my son in college," she said. "What am I supposed to tell my kids when they open the refrigerator and there’s no food? I can’t afford t...