Essential Afro-Latino/ Caribbean Current Events
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There's a patois wikipedia link now
http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/jam/Mien_Piej
Official orthography of Jamaican/Jamaican Patois/Creole established by http://www.mona.uwi.edu/dllp/JLu/projects/index.htm
kinda unreadable
http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/jam/Mien_Piej
Official orthography of Jamaican/Jamaican Patois/Creole established by http://www.mona.uwi.edu/dllp/JLu/projects/index.htm
kinda unreadable
Brazil's Latest Star Already Going Abroad
By ROB HUGHESDEC. 30, 2014
Photo
Malcom, left, turned 17 this year, and he has started 16 games and appeared as a substitute in six more in the first team for Corinthians Paulista in São Paulo. CreditAlexandre Schneider/Getty Images
LONDON — The year is about to end, but for Brazilians it ended on July 8.
That was when the Seleção, or rather some timid imitation of the national team, surrendered 7-1 to Germany in Belo Horizonte. In the trauma of that unprecedented humiliation, Zico, a former player known throughout the 1970s and 1980s as the White Pelé, spoke out.
“Our players are saying there was a ‘blackout,”’ Zico told the Indian columnist Shobhan Saxena. “Not true. In this team, we had players who do not even figure in the starting line for their clubs. The biggest problem is that Brazil has become an exporter of football talent. Clubs from Europe take away all the talent. Brazilian boys of 14 and 15 are now based in Europe; they spend their best days in Europe and come back when they are past their prime.
“This,” Zico continued, “has destroyed local clubs and championships. Unless we stop the talent leaving the country in such huge numbers at such a young age, we cannot revive football in Brazil.”
Photo
Brazil lost to Germany, 7-1, at the World Cup on July 8 in Belo Horizonte.CreditMartin Rose/Getty Images
He cited Germany’s example of youth care, its carefully laid structure from kindergarten to the Mannschaft that won the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. And Zico called upon the C.B.F., Brazil’s soccer federation, to hold a summit with the clubs, the coaches and the academies to respond to the Belo Horizonte tremor.
The meeting never happened. The C.B.F. fired Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, rehired the former coach Dunga, and attempted to bury the failure by burying its head.
Come year’s end, a youth called Malcom, branded as the next Pelé, Zico, or Neymar, is already on the move.
Malcom Filipe Silva de Oliveira isn’t 14 or 15. He turned 17 this year, and he has started 16 games and appeared as a substitute in six more in the first team for Corinthians Paulista in São Paulo.
There are videos out there, assuredly on the shelves of leading teams in Europe, of the speed, the sorcery, the swiftness with which young Malcom — said to have been named after Malcolm X — leaves grown men in his wake in senior Brazil league play.
He stands just 5 feet 7 inches and weighs around 143 pounds. But his precocity outwits the attempts of defenders to nail him, and his joy in doing so is reminiscent of the way that Neymar Jr. first appeared to do so with Pelé’s old team, Santos, before Barcelona won the world auction to acquire Neymar.
It is said that Barca also has first refusal on Malcom when his flight to Europe is arranged. Why wouldn’t it? The FIFA ban on Barcelona signing any more foreign youngsters is, like all things FIFA at the moment, subject to arbitration — and if the latest prospect out of Brazil were to go to Catalonia he would join his countrymen Neymar, Rafinha, Adriano, Dani Alves and Douglas there.
Then again, Chelsea is reportedly interested, and Chelsea has Filipe Luís, Ramires, Oscar and Willian to speak Malcom’s native tongue.
Paris Saint-Germain, with Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Lucas, Maxwell and David Luiz, is another moneyed European club with a penchant for Brazilian talent. And on it goes. Manchester City, United, or Shakhtar Donetsk with no home stadium to play in after the Russian incursion, but with 13 Brazilian players, would be another home from home.
Why this speculation?
Because Malcom is on the move. He is somewhere in Europe, on vacation during the Brazil closed season. He is traveling with a businessman, Fernando Garcia, who, apart from showing the protégé the sights of a far-off continent, has a vested interest.
Garcia owns 35 percent of the commercial rights of Malcom. It is what is known as third-party ownership, and FIFA, in any spare moment it might claw back from the machinations of its own shockingly dubious dealings, has promised from time to time to outlaw the practice of multiple ownership of individual stars and starlets.
Malcom has been sighted in Marseille and Milan, places that have their own attractions for a tourist, and coincidentally, have acquisitive soccer clubs when it comes to offering a home to talented young Brazilians.
But is all this just gossip and hearsay, or is Malcom already on the first leg of the journey that has plucked thousands of Brazilians out of their homeland — including Zico.
He, admittedly, was 30 before he left Flamengo in Rio to play for Udinese in Italy, and thereafter to play in and coach in Japan. Indeed, Zico’s journey as a coach has taken in stints in Russia and even Iraq, so he knows the lure of cash abroad.
His point is that Brazil should attempt at least to stem the tide.
There is another concern that comes with this talent drain. Some of the players never come back, or at least not on the side of Brazil. At the last World Cup, Diego Costa, a player who was born in Brazil but had adopted Spanish citizenship, played center-forward for his new nation.
Spain didn’t get very far in the tournament, but without any question, Brazil would have benefited from the menace, the physicality, the ability to stick the ball in the net the way that Costa had done for Atlético Madrid last season, and is now doing for Chelsea in England.
Costa is one of scores of Brazilians who chose to play for other nations. But in the past, Brazil could afford this wastage because it had a surplus of homegrown talents. Last July 8, when Brazil was fixated on the loss of its physically broken talisman Neymar, there was no Costa or anyone like him to lead the attack.
That beautiful night for Germany was horrible to everyone, including me, who came to know Brazil through its wonderful teams. The giftedness is draining away, being willfully lured away.
As Zico said, the homeland should at least be seen as trying to reverse that.
211 YEARS STRONG!!!
: Why Haitians Eat Soup JouMou New Years Day?| Read Full Story On Lunionsuite.com| We do it EVERY JANUARY 1st of every New Year in order to remember our past, our struggle for FREEDOM, and our ongoing fight to remain free. What better way to celebrate the New Year than with the very soup that we were not allowed to drink as slaves?The most important New Year Celebration in Haitians history is New Year’s Day, January 1, 1804. We fought for nearly thirteen years before this day so that we could initiate this symbol of freedom for ALL slaves ALL over the world. Before 1804, A Haitian slave was NOT allowed to touch Joumou, a delicious and aromatic pumpkin that was a favorite for her white French master. Haitian Slave Diet: He/She was to eat one ounce of salted meat or fish and one bottle of lemonade per day. When our ancestors finally kicked the French out of the island, The Party was on! We fought the French and we won! HAPPY HAITIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY! #soupjoumou #haiti #haitians #lunionsuite #ayiti #1804 #haitianindependenceday #zoelife #Teamhaiti #Haitianamerican
Beautiful and Black – See the work of the Bahian photographer that values black beauty
Note from BW of Brazil: Welcome to 2015! Hoped you’ve recovered from the party and you brought in the new year safely! After a great 2014, we at BW of Brazil are back to business as usual and our first post of 2015 is a great start! The photos presented in today’s post represent everything we discuss and what our objective is here: exposing the darker faces that Brazil’s ultra Eurocentric media prefers to hide, the beauty of Brazil’s black women and highlighting the fact that there is a whole people in Latin America’s largest, most populous country who deserve to represent the image of their country as much as those who classify themselves as white. Today’s photo exhibit follows past projects by other photographers who also chose to focus their attention on black women (see here, here, here and here). Hope you enjoy the photos and keep your eye on the blog in 2015! It’s gonna be a great year!
Beautiful and Black – See the work of the Bahian photographer that values black beauty
Courtesy of Maria Preta
Marcus Socco was born in Salvador, Bahia. Since always his eyes have seen moments between light and human facts that only photography could have supported for the materialization. Even before photography came into his life, he thought of the forms of expression and on this path he went a theater meeting and also discovered stage lighting that enchanted him and he decided to study it, also becoming a professional in the art of lighting.
Photography is a support for images, it is the individual look of each one about the world that materializes. The path of expression in the work ‘Linda e Preta’ (Beautiful and Black) (1) was motivated principally by Marcus’s liking of photographing Black Women, whom he finds beautiful and always caught his attention, the other motivation is his activism in the production of content and images of common black women on the internet, escaping from Renaissance legacies, legacies which are used by the advertising and marketing world.
Shot on the streets in Salvador and Feira de Santana (Bahia), in cultural events circulating in cities, where he captures and catches the everyday, where he meets and hears stories and thoughts of these people on what they are and their attitudes towards their own image and ethnicity. “I realized that one comment was repeated over time, in which women said they were not photogenic and so their photos were not pretty, but what I saw was non-recognition of one’s image due to being far this aesthetic. The first person that has to see herself as beautiful in the pictures is the ‘model’. It’s for her and by her that I do this work,” he emphasizes.
Last year, the photographer participated in four collective exhibitions at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Feira de Santana (MAC Feira or Contemporary Art Museum of Feira de Santana), and one of them was ‘Linda e Preta’, the others were works produced for releases of collections of poems (Cidades, meaning cities) a free theme on the work Temporalidade (meaning temporality) to erotic and pornographic photography (Eros Illuminado).
And over the lifetime of this work ‘Linda e Preta’ a good of the photos are from 2013 and 2014. It is noteworthy that some pictures are from when he started shooting in 2012, a period in which Marcus didn’t have a direction of conception for this work.
With information from Marcus Socco and text editing by Emerson Azevedo.
See all of the photos on our Tumblr page here, here and here.
Source: Maria Preta
Note
1. It’s worth mentioning here that both the terms negro/negra and preto/preta means black Portuguese. As a general rule within the Movimento Negro, the preto/preta refer to the actual color black while negro/negra is used in reference to persons of African descent and considered part of the black race, or raça negra. Sometimes people will use the terms interchangeably, while others consider the term preto/preta to refer to Afro-Brazilians of very dark brown or black skin tones. In the 1970s, it became fashionable for people to say Negro É Lindo, meaning ‘black is beautiful’. The phrase was also the title of a popular song in 1971 for well-known singer/musician Jorge Ben.
Note from BW of Brazil: Welcome to 2015! Hoped you’ve recovered from the party and you brought in the new year safely! After a great 2014, we at BW of Brazil are back to business as usual and our first post of 2015 is a great start! The photos presented in today’s post represent everything we discuss and what our objective is here: exposing the darker faces that Brazil’s ultra Eurocentric media prefers to hide, the beauty of Brazil’s black women and highlighting the fact that there is a whole people in Latin America’s largest, most populous country who deserve to represent the image of their country as much as those who classify themselves as white. Today’s photo exhibit follows past projects by other photographers who also chose to focus their attention on black women (see here, here, here and here). Hope you enjoy the photos and keep your eye on the blog in 2015! It’s gonna be a great year!
Beautiful and Black – See the work of the Bahian photographer that values black beauty
Courtesy of Maria Preta
Marcus Socco was born in Salvador, Bahia. Since always his eyes have seen moments between light and human facts that only photography could have supported for the materialization. Even before photography came into his life, he thought of the forms of expression and on this path he went a theater meeting and also discovered stage lighting that enchanted him and he decided to study it, also becoming a professional in the art of lighting.
Photography is a support for images, it is the individual look of each one about the world that materializes. The path of expression in the work ‘Linda e Preta’ (Beautiful and Black) (1) was motivated principally by Marcus’s liking of photographing Black Women, whom he finds beautiful and always caught his attention, the other motivation is his activism in the production of content and images of common black women on the internet, escaping from Renaissance legacies, legacies which are used by the advertising and marketing world.
Shot on the streets in Salvador and Feira de Santana (Bahia), in cultural events circulating in cities, where he captures and catches the everyday, where he meets and hears stories and thoughts of these people on what they are and their attitudes towards their own image and ethnicity. “I realized that one comment was repeated over time, in which women said they were not photogenic and so their photos were not pretty, but what I saw was non-recognition of one’s image due to being far this aesthetic. The first person that has to see herself as beautiful in the pictures is the ‘model’. It’s for her and by her that I do this work,” he emphasizes.
Last year, the photographer participated in four collective exhibitions at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Feira de Santana (MAC Feira or Contemporary Art Museum of Feira de Santana), and one of them was ‘Linda e Preta’, the others were works produced for releases of collections of poems (Cidades, meaning cities) a free theme on the work Temporalidade (meaning temporality) to erotic and pornographic photography (Eros Illuminado).
And over the lifetime of this work ‘Linda e Preta’ a good of the photos are from 2013 and 2014. It is noteworthy that some pictures are from when he started shooting in 2012, a period in which Marcus didn’t have a direction of conception for this work.
With information from Marcus Socco and text editing by Emerson Azevedo.
See all of the photos on our Tumblr page here, here and here.
Source: Maria Preta
Note
1. It’s worth mentioning here that both the terms negro/negra and preto/preta means black Portuguese. As a general rule within the Movimento Negro, the preto/preta refer to the actual color black while negro/negra is used in reference to persons of African descent and considered part of the black race, or raça negra. Sometimes people will use the terms interchangeably, while others consider the term preto/preta to refer to Afro-Brazilians of very dark brown or black skin tones. In the 1970s, it became fashionable for people to say Negro É Lindo, meaning ‘black is beautiful’. The phrase was also the title of a popular song in 1971 for well-known singer/musician Jorge Ben.
DoubleClutch
Superstar
This thread is so quality 
Migrant flow into US from Caribbean spikes
MIAMI (AP) — Just starting a five-year sentence for illegally re-entering the United States, George Lewis stared at the officers staring back at him at Miami's federal detention center and considered whether he'd risk getting on another smuggler's boat — a chance that soaring numbers of Caribbean islanders are taking — once he's deported again.
U.S. authorities deported Lewis following a four-year sentence for a felony drug conviction in May 2013 to the Bahamas, where he was born but lived only briefly. His Haitian mother brought him to Miami as an infant, and though he always considered the U.S. home, he never became a legal resident.
Just five months after he was deported, he got on a Bahamian smuggler's boat with over a dozen other people trying to sneak into Florida. It capsized and four Haitian women drowned. He and the others were rescued.
So would he dare make another attempt?
"Yeah," Lewis, 39, said with a sigh. But, he added, "I would put on a life vest next time."
A recent spike in Cubans attempting to reach the United States by sea has generated headlines. But the numbers of Haitians and other Caribbean islanders making similar journeys are up even more. And while federal law grants legal residency to Cubans reaching U.S. soil, anyone else can be detained and deported.
That law, the so-called wet foot-dry foot policy, and Coast Guard operations related to migrants remain unchanged even as Cuban and U.S. leaders say they are restoring diplomatic relations after more than 50 years.
"The Coast Guard strongly discourages attempts to illegally enter the country by taking to the sea. These trips are extremely dangerous. Individuals located at sea may be returned to Cuba," said Lt. Cmdr. Gabe Somma, spokesman for the Coast Guard's 7th District in Miami.
According to the Coast Guard, in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, U.S. authorities captured, intercepted or chased away at least 5,585 Haitians, 3,940 Cubans and hundreds from the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean countries attempting to sneak into the country.
That's at least 3,000 more migrants intercepted than in the previous fiscal year. It's also the highest number of Haitian migrants documented in five years and the highest number of Cubans recorded in six. It's unknown how many made it to U.S. shores without getting caught, or how many died trying.
More than 1,920 migrants — most of them Cuban or Haitian — have been intercepted so far in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The Coast Guard worries that number will only increase as news spreads about recent changes to the U.S. immigration system, including fast-tracking visas for some Haitians already approved to join family here and an executive order signed by President Barack Obama that would make millions already illegally in the U.S. eligible for work permits and protection from deportation.
"Any perceived changes to U.S. immigration policy can cause a spike in immigration because it gives a glimmer of hope," even to people not eligible under those changes, said Capt. Mark Fedor, chief of response for the Coast Guard's 7th District.
It's unclear why the numbers are jumping. Poverty and political repression have long caused Caribbean islanders to attempt the journey, and the outlook remains dismal for many. Coast Guard and U.S. immigration officials think another calm summer without many tropical storms and a recovering U.S. economy might have encouraged more to take to the sea. They also say the increased captures may reflect better law enforcement.
Smuggling operations in the region range from individual opportunists looking to use their vessels for extra money to sophisticated networks that may add drug shipments to their human cargo, said Carmen Pino, an official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami. Smugglers also lure people, especially in relatively new routes that send Haitians into the neighboring Dominican Republic to board boats bound for Puerto Rico.
Lewis said he easily talked his way onto a smuggler's boat with about a dozen Haitians and Jamaicans hoping to make it to Florida under the cover of darkness. He just struck up a conversation with some locals at a sports bar in Bimini, a small cluster of Bahamian islands 57 miles off Miami, where Lewis figured he could find a boat home.
"It was like getting a number from a girl. I just needed the right line," Lewis said in an interview in November. The failed trip cost $4,000.
After his rescue, U.S. authorities initially accused him of being a smuggler, partly because he was the only person on board with a phone, which he used to call 911 when the boat started taking on water. He scoffed at the allegation. He remembered that on the boat he was talking to a teenage Haitian girl and thinking about his mother's boat trip from Haiti to the Bahamas as a young girl, a crossing he never thought he would emulate. "I said, 'Run behind me when we hit land.'" He said. " I said, 'Follow me, I'll get you there.'"
Now Lewis finds himself back in the U.S. but not at home and facing another forced return to the Bahamas, a homeland he doesn't know and where the government considers Haitians who have migrated illegally and their children an unwanted burden.
Lewis knows he'd try to reach the U.S. again.
"It's not worth losing your life, but what life do you have when you have a whole country against you? I'm completely alienated from a country where I'm supposed to be from," Lewis said.
MIAMI (AP) — Just starting a five-year sentence for illegally re-entering the United States, George Lewis stared at the officers staring back at him at Miami's federal detention center and considered whether he'd risk getting on another smuggler's boat — a chance that soaring numbers of Caribbean islanders are taking — once he's deported again.
U.S. authorities deported Lewis following a four-year sentence for a felony drug conviction in May 2013 to the Bahamas, where he was born but lived only briefly. His Haitian mother brought him to Miami as an infant, and though he always considered the U.S. home, he never became a legal resident.
Just five months after he was deported, he got on a Bahamian smuggler's boat with over a dozen other people trying to sneak into Florida. It capsized and four Haitian women drowned. He and the others were rescued.
So would he dare make another attempt?
"Yeah," Lewis, 39, said with a sigh. But, he added, "I would put on a life vest next time."
A recent spike in Cubans attempting to reach the United States by sea has generated headlines. But the numbers of Haitians and other Caribbean islanders making similar journeys are up even more. And while federal law grants legal residency to Cubans reaching U.S. soil, anyone else can be detained and deported.
That law, the so-called wet foot-dry foot policy, and Coast Guard operations related to migrants remain unchanged even as Cuban and U.S. leaders say they are restoring diplomatic relations after more than 50 years.
"The Coast Guard strongly discourages attempts to illegally enter the country by taking to the sea. These trips are extremely dangerous. Individuals located at sea may be returned to Cuba," said Lt. Cmdr. Gabe Somma, spokesman for the Coast Guard's 7th District in Miami.
According to the Coast Guard, in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, U.S. authorities captured, intercepted or chased away at least 5,585 Haitians, 3,940 Cubans and hundreds from the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean countries attempting to sneak into the country.
That's at least 3,000 more migrants intercepted than in the previous fiscal year. It's also the highest number of Haitian migrants documented in five years and the highest number of Cubans recorded in six. It's unknown how many made it to U.S. shores without getting caught, or how many died trying.
More than 1,920 migrants — most of them Cuban or Haitian — have been intercepted so far in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The Coast Guard worries that number will only increase as news spreads about recent changes to the U.S. immigration system, including fast-tracking visas for some Haitians already approved to join family here and an executive order signed by President Barack Obama that would make millions already illegally in the U.S. eligible for work permits and protection from deportation.
"Any perceived changes to U.S. immigration policy can cause a spike in immigration because it gives a glimmer of hope," even to people not eligible under those changes, said Capt. Mark Fedor, chief of response for the Coast Guard's 7th District.
It's unclear why the numbers are jumping. Poverty and political repression have long caused Caribbean islanders to attempt the journey, and the outlook remains dismal for many. Coast Guard and U.S. immigration officials think another calm summer without many tropical storms and a recovering U.S. economy might have encouraged more to take to the sea. They also say the increased captures may reflect better law enforcement.
Smuggling operations in the region range from individual opportunists looking to use their vessels for extra money to sophisticated networks that may add drug shipments to their human cargo, said Carmen Pino, an official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami. Smugglers also lure people, especially in relatively new routes that send Haitians into the neighboring Dominican Republic to board boats bound for Puerto Rico.
Lewis said he easily talked his way onto a smuggler's boat with about a dozen Haitians and Jamaicans hoping to make it to Florida under the cover of darkness. He just struck up a conversation with some locals at a sports bar in Bimini, a small cluster of Bahamian islands 57 miles off Miami, where Lewis figured he could find a boat home.
"It was like getting a number from a girl. I just needed the right line," Lewis said in an interview in November. The failed trip cost $4,000.
After his rescue, U.S. authorities initially accused him of being a smuggler, partly because he was the only person on board with a phone, which he used to call 911 when the boat started taking on water. He scoffed at the allegation. He remembered that on the boat he was talking to a teenage Haitian girl and thinking about his mother's boat trip from Haiti to the Bahamas as a young girl, a crossing he never thought he would emulate. "I said, 'Run behind me when we hit land.'" He said. " I said, 'Follow me, I'll get you there.'"
Now Lewis finds himself back in the U.S. but not at home and facing another forced return to the Bahamas, a homeland he doesn't know and where the government considers Haitians who have migrated illegally and their children an unwanted burden.
Lewis knows he'd try to reach the U.S. again.
"It's not worth losing your life, but what life do you have when you have a whole country against you? I'm completely alienated from a country where I'm supposed to be from," Lewis said.
The politics of American fugitives in Cuba
Decades ago Cuba gave asylum to dozens on the run - mostly African-Americans - and now the US wants them back.
Tracey EatonLast updated: 03 Jan 2015 12:28
Charles Hill is wanted for his role in the 1971 killing of a policeman in New Mexico [Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
Havana, Cuba - Charles Hill scoffs at the idea of surrender after more than four decades as a fugitive in Cuba.
"I've had my difficulties but this is my home," Hill told Al Jazeera. "What would I do in the United States of America? I mean for me it would be a disaster. Of course, I would love to go back and visit."
The FBI would like that, too. So would police in New Mexico state, where Hill faces a murder charge for his role in the 1971 killing of police officer Robert Rosenbloom.
But Hill, 65, said he can't imagine facing charges in the United States.
"First off, they'd give me 100 years, you know, a life sentence. And what would I look like in jail, 65 years almost, with a life sentence? No man. I'll stay here in Cuba. You know, my son eats every day. I eat every day. I got clean sheets. Hey man, I'll stay here in Cuba."
In the 1960s and '70s, Cuba gave political asylum to dozens of fugitives, most of them African-Americans accused of everything from hijacking to murder.
On December 17, the US and Cuba said they were restoring diplomatic ties, prompting new calls for Cuba to return the aging fugitives.
Charles Hill talks to a neighbourhood boy [Tracey Eaton]
The fugitives include Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, who escaped prison and made her way to Cuba after her conviction in the 1973 killing of a New Jersey state trooper. State and federal officials offer up to $2 million for information leading to her capture.
Brought to justice?
Authorities ought to put a bounty on Hill's head, too, said Rex Sagle, a former New Mexico police academy instructor who was friends with Rosenbloom.
"Personally, I'm not interested in the reward money," said Sagle, 77, of Houston, Texas. "It'd be nice, but at my age I'd rather see Hill brought to justice."
Hill doesn't consider himself a criminal. "As far as I'm concerned, I didn't commit a crime. My thing was totally political."
Hill was born in 1949 to a Cherokee father and an African-American mother in Olney, Illinois. He went to college in Oakland, California, but later dropped out.
In 1966, Hill joined the US Army. He went to Vietnam in 1968 but refused combat, deserted his unit, and was arrested. Once back home, he joined the Republic of New Afrika, a black separatist movement that hoped to
take over five southern states and create an independent nation.
On November 8, 1971, Hill and two other New Afrika members were traveling across New Mexico in a Ford Galaxie loaded with military rifles, bomb-making materials, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Patrolman Rosenbloom was driving a Plymouth Superbird, a car developed for NASCAR racing and had a horn that sounded like the Road Runner cartoon character.
Rosenbloom stopped the Ford. One of the suspects shot the officer in the neck with a .45-calibre handgun. Rosenbloom drew his weapon, but never fired.
Hill compared the officer to the American actor John Wayne, but Sagle said he was no cowboy.
"He was very good natured, very respectful to the violators," Sagle said. "He didn't enforce the speed limits. He just didn't believe in it. If you were just 10 miles [per hour] over, he wouldn't look at you. You had to go 15 miles over the speed limit.
"He said, 'I'm not a highway patrolman. I'm a state policeman. I like to solve crimes. I don't like to be out there wasting time.' So he didn't write very many tickets. And when he did, he would say, 'This is the Land of Enchantment. Slow down. Enjoy the scenery.' He was that kind of a person."
Charles Hill spends some days drinking rum with friends in the neighbourhood [Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
The getaway
After shooting Rosenbloom, the men hid out for nearly three weeks. Then they stole a wrecker, crashed through a fence at the Albuquerque airport, and hijacked a Trans World Airlines plane bound for Philadelphia.
Former flight attendant Elizabeth Walthall was working Flight 106 when Hill and the other men - Michael Finney and Ralph Goodwin - came aboard.
"Charles grabbed me. He had a little tiny penknife. He said, 'This ain't no butter knife.' I looked up over my shoulder and I said, 'And I'm no piece of bread,'" said Walthall, now 71.
The hijackers wanted to go to Africa. Walthall said the plane didn't have enough fuel and suggested Cuba instead. She said Finney had a gun and seemed "really high strung".
"Finney admitted to me that he had already killed a police officer," she said. "He had nothing to lose."
Goodwin seemed more educated and less threatening. Walthall didn't know who the hijackers were, so she gave them nicknames: Finney was "the Murderer", Goodwin was "the Academic", and Hill "the Comedian".
When Hill came aboard, his jeans were torn "in a very critical area", she recalled.
"I wore a size 30 waist, 29 inseam jeans and so did he. I said, 'You can't go around like that. Let me give you some jeans. And he took them and wore them. He said, 'Don't tell anyone I'm wearing girls' jeans.' I said, 'I bought them in the boys' department.'
"He was very handsome. Very nice looking."
Walthall sat with the hijackers in first class while Finney held a gun to another flight attendant.
"I lit a cigarette and Goodwin said, 'You can't smoke on take-off.' I said, 'Honey, when I'm hijacked, I can smoke anywhere I want.' I said, 'Do you want one?' He said, 'Sure.' So we smoked, knocking the ashes on the floor, and he relaxed and we got in the air.
"And this was a time when the airline was carrying glass bottles of Michelob, and so I dragged the bottles down and I said, 'Would you guys like a beer?' Charlie said, 'Yeah!'"
Beer-bottle evidence
Once the hijackers finished their beverages, Walthall said she quietly marked the bottles - C for Comedian, A for Academic, and M for Murderer - slipped them into air sickness bags and stowed them in an overhead rack. The FBI later thanked her for getting the suspects' fingerprints.
The plane landed in Havana and authorities granted aslyum to the hijackers.
Hill said the Cuban government sent him to college for three years and gave him work doing construction and cutting sugarcane. Finney died of throat cancer in 2005. Goodwin - who called himself Antar, for an African warrior-poet - died in a drowning accident in 1973.
Hill said his favourite book is The African Origin of Civilization by Cheikh Anta Diop [Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
Hill named one of his children after Antar. The boy is now 8. He lives with his father in a neighbourhood about 10 kilometres south of Havana's famed seawall, the Malecón.
On a recent day, Hill greeted a neighbour who was hanging clothes, then walked past a staircase and opened his front door. He stepped into a sparsely decorated living room and turned on the television.
A bookcase held such works as Ready for Revolutionby Stokely Carmichael and Jazz by Toni Morrison.
"This book, for me, is the most important," said Hill, holding a copy of The African Origin of Civilization by Cheikh Anta Diop.
Asked if he's a Muslim Hill said "no". But he said he had read the Quran.
"The Quran is there somewhere," said Hill, rummaging through his books. "I'm an old man and my memory's …" His voice trailed off.
Life in exile
His home had three rooms: the living room, a bedroom and a kitchen.
"Things are difficult," Hill said. "But I feel comfortable. Everybody in my neighbourhood loves me, just like I love everyone else. This is my first home."
Generoso Rodriguez [Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
Hill sometimes works as a translator for American tourists, but he says jobs are hard to find. He spends some days drinking cheap rum with neighbours.
"Charlie, I've known him since 1987. He's a beautiful person," said Generoso Rodriguez, 49, a labourer. "When he has something, he shares. When he doesn't, he gives you love and happiness."
Unimpressed, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez calls Hill a "cop killer" and asked for his return in a December 18 letter to Secretary of State John Kerry.
Days later, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie demanded that President Barack Obama press for Chesimard's return "before any further consideration of restoration of diplomatic relations with the Cuban government".
For now, Cuban authorities aren't likely to extradite the fugitives.
"We've explained to the US government in the past that there are some people living in Cuba to whom Cuba has legitimately granted political asylum," Cuban official Josefina Vidal told the Associated Press recently.
James Early is a Smithsonian Institution researcher who has led delegations to Cuba.
"The Cuban government at this point has put on the table what they feel they can negotiate with the United States," said Early."The Cubans have made it very clear there are issues they are not going to entertain."
Black persecution
American officials lack a certain degree of moral authority in demanding the fugitives' given their "historic horrific treatment of black Americans", said Gerald Horne, a historian at the University of Houston.
It's a shame when a life is taken, no matter what the reason is. Nobody has the right to take another life - only in self defence.
- Charles Hill, American fugitive
"I agree with those Cuban authorities who said it's the sovereign right of any government to decide to grant political refuge or political asylum," said Horne, author of Race to Revolution: The U.S. and Cuba During Slavery and Jim Crow.
Recent police shootings in the United States "have led to thousands of people demonstrating under the banner, 'Black Lives Matter,' which at once shows you how difficult and powerless the situation is for black people in North America", he said.
"I would hope that the Cuban authorities would keep faith with the fugitives who sought asylum there."
Undeterred, police, politicians and others say they'll continue pushing for the fugitives' return.
Sagle said he fears Hill will never be brought to justice. "There's a chance he'll die over there and never stand trial," he said.
Hill denied shooting Sagle's friend Rosenbloom.
"It's a shame when a life is taken, no matter what the reason is," Hill said. "Nobody has the right to take another life - only in self defence. And that I do regret. But what can I say? If a cop pulled a gun on me, I shoot first."
Asked what he would tell the slain officer's family, Hill said: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Decades ago Cuba gave asylum to dozens on the run - mostly African-Americans - and now the US wants them back.
Tracey EatonLast updated: 03 Jan 2015 12:28
Charles Hill is wanted for his role in the 1971 killing of a policeman in New Mexico [Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
Havana, Cuba - Charles Hill scoffs at the idea of surrender after more than four decades as a fugitive in Cuba.
"I've had my difficulties but this is my home," Hill told Al Jazeera. "What would I do in the United States of America? I mean for me it would be a disaster. Of course, I would love to go back and visit."
The FBI would like that, too. So would police in New Mexico state, where Hill faces a murder charge for his role in the 1971 killing of police officer Robert Rosenbloom.
But Hill, 65, said he can't imagine facing charges in the United States.
"First off, they'd give me 100 years, you know, a life sentence. And what would I look like in jail, 65 years almost, with a life sentence? No man. I'll stay here in Cuba. You know, my son eats every day. I eat every day. I got clean sheets. Hey man, I'll stay here in Cuba."
In the 1960s and '70s, Cuba gave political asylum to dozens of fugitives, most of them African-Americans accused of everything from hijacking to murder.
On December 17, the US and Cuba said they were restoring diplomatic ties, prompting new calls for Cuba to return the aging fugitives.
Charles Hill talks to a neighbourhood boy [Tracey Eaton]
The fugitives include Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, who escaped prison and made her way to Cuba after her conviction in the 1973 killing of a New Jersey state trooper. State and federal officials offer up to $2 million for information leading to her capture.
Brought to justice?
Authorities ought to put a bounty on Hill's head, too, said Rex Sagle, a former New Mexico police academy instructor who was friends with Rosenbloom.
"Personally, I'm not interested in the reward money," said Sagle, 77, of Houston, Texas. "It'd be nice, but at my age I'd rather see Hill brought to justice."
Hill doesn't consider himself a criminal. "As far as I'm concerned, I didn't commit a crime. My thing was totally political."
Hill was born in 1949 to a Cherokee father and an African-American mother in Olney, Illinois. He went to college in Oakland, California, but later dropped out.
In 1966, Hill joined the US Army. He went to Vietnam in 1968 but refused combat, deserted his unit, and was arrested. Once back home, he joined the Republic of New Afrika, a black separatist movement that hoped to
take over five southern states and create an independent nation.
On November 8, 1971, Hill and two other New Afrika members were traveling across New Mexico in a Ford Galaxie loaded with military rifles, bomb-making materials, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Patrolman Rosenbloom was driving a Plymouth Superbird, a car developed for NASCAR racing and had a horn that sounded like the Road Runner cartoon character.
Rosenbloom stopped the Ford. One of the suspects shot the officer in the neck with a .45-calibre handgun. Rosenbloom drew his weapon, but never fired.
Hill compared the officer to the American actor John Wayne, but Sagle said he was no cowboy.
"He was very good natured, very respectful to the violators," Sagle said. "He didn't enforce the speed limits. He just didn't believe in it. If you were just 10 miles [per hour] over, he wouldn't look at you. You had to go 15 miles over the speed limit.
"He said, 'I'm not a highway patrolman. I'm a state policeman. I like to solve crimes. I don't like to be out there wasting time.' So he didn't write very many tickets. And when he did, he would say, 'This is the Land of Enchantment. Slow down. Enjoy the scenery.' He was that kind of a person."
Charles Hill spends some days drinking rum with friends in the neighbourhood [Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
The getaway
After shooting Rosenbloom, the men hid out for nearly three weeks. Then they stole a wrecker, crashed through a fence at the Albuquerque airport, and hijacked a Trans World Airlines plane bound for Philadelphia.
Former flight attendant Elizabeth Walthall was working Flight 106 when Hill and the other men - Michael Finney and Ralph Goodwin - came aboard.
"Charles grabbed me. He had a little tiny penknife. He said, 'This ain't no butter knife.' I looked up over my shoulder and I said, 'And I'm no piece of bread,'" said Walthall, now 71.
The hijackers wanted to go to Africa. Walthall said the plane didn't have enough fuel and suggested Cuba instead. She said Finney had a gun and seemed "really high strung".
"Finney admitted to me that he had already killed a police officer," she said. "He had nothing to lose."
Goodwin seemed more educated and less threatening. Walthall didn't know who the hijackers were, so she gave them nicknames: Finney was "the Murderer", Goodwin was "the Academic", and Hill "the Comedian".
When Hill came aboard, his jeans were torn "in a very critical area", she recalled.
"I wore a size 30 waist, 29 inseam jeans and so did he. I said, 'You can't go around like that. Let me give you some jeans. And he took them and wore them. He said, 'Don't tell anyone I'm wearing girls' jeans.' I said, 'I bought them in the boys' department.'
"He was very handsome. Very nice looking."
Walthall sat with the hijackers in first class while Finney held a gun to another flight attendant.
"I lit a cigarette and Goodwin said, 'You can't smoke on take-off.' I said, 'Honey, when I'm hijacked, I can smoke anywhere I want.' I said, 'Do you want one?' He said, 'Sure.' So we smoked, knocking the ashes on the floor, and he relaxed and we got in the air.
"And this was a time when the airline was carrying glass bottles of Michelob, and so I dragged the bottles down and I said, 'Would you guys like a beer?' Charlie said, 'Yeah!'"
Beer-bottle evidence
Once the hijackers finished their beverages, Walthall said she quietly marked the bottles - C for Comedian, A for Academic, and M for Murderer - slipped them into air sickness bags and stowed them in an overhead rack. The FBI later thanked her for getting the suspects' fingerprints.
The plane landed in Havana and authorities granted aslyum to the hijackers.
Hill said the Cuban government sent him to college for three years and gave him work doing construction and cutting sugarcane. Finney died of throat cancer in 2005. Goodwin - who called himself Antar, for an African warrior-poet - died in a drowning accident in 1973.
Hill said his favourite book is The African Origin of Civilization by Cheikh Anta Diop [Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
Hill named one of his children after Antar. The boy is now 8. He lives with his father in a neighbourhood about 10 kilometres south of Havana's famed seawall, the Malecón.
On a recent day, Hill greeted a neighbour who was hanging clothes, then walked past a staircase and opened his front door. He stepped into a sparsely decorated living room and turned on the television.
A bookcase held such works as Ready for Revolutionby Stokely Carmichael and Jazz by Toni Morrison.
"This book, for me, is the most important," said Hill, holding a copy of The African Origin of Civilization by Cheikh Anta Diop.
Asked if he's a Muslim Hill said "no". But he said he had read the Quran.
"The Quran is there somewhere," said Hill, rummaging through his books. "I'm an old man and my memory's …" His voice trailed off.
Life in exile
His home had three rooms: the living room, a bedroom and a kitchen.
"Things are difficult," Hill said. "But I feel comfortable. Everybody in my neighbourhood loves me, just like I love everyone else. This is my first home."
Generoso Rodriguez [Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
Hill sometimes works as a translator for American tourists, but he says jobs are hard to find. He spends some days drinking cheap rum with neighbours.
"Charlie, I've known him since 1987. He's a beautiful person," said Generoso Rodriguez, 49, a labourer. "When he has something, he shares. When he doesn't, he gives you love and happiness."
Unimpressed, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez calls Hill a "cop killer" and asked for his return in a December 18 letter to Secretary of State John Kerry.
Days later, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie demanded that President Barack Obama press for Chesimard's return "before any further consideration of restoration of diplomatic relations with the Cuban government".
For now, Cuban authorities aren't likely to extradite the fugitives.
"We've explained to the US government in the past that there are some people living in Cuba to whom Cuba has legitimately granted political asylum," Cuban official Josefina Vidal told the Associated Press recently.
James Early is a Smithsonian Institution researcher who has led delegations to Cuba.
"The Cuban government at this point has put on the table what they feel they can negotiate with the United States," said Early."The Cubans have made it very clear there are issues they are not going to entertain."
Black persecution
American officials lack a certain degree of moral authority in demanding the fugitives' given their "historic horrific treatment of black Americans", said Gerald Horne, a historian at the University of Houston.
It's a shame when a life is taken, no matter what the reason is. Nobody has the right to take another life - only in self defence.
- Charles Hill, American fugitive
"I agree with those Cuban authorities who said it's the sovereign right of any government to decide to grant political refuge or political asylum," said Horne, author of Race to Revolution: The U.S. and Cuba During Slavery and Jim Crow.
Recent police shootings in the United States "have led to thousands of people demonstrating under the banner, 'Black Lives Matter,' which at once shows you how difficult and powerless the situation is for black people in North America", he said.
"I would hope that the Cuban authorities would keep faith with the fugitives who sought asylum there."
Undeterred, police, politicians and others say they'll continue pushing for the fugitives' return.
Sagle said he fears Hill will never be brought to justice. "There's a chance he'll die over there and never stand trial," he said.
Hill denied shooting Sagle's friend Rosenbloom.
"It's a shame when a life is taken, no matter what the reason is," Hill said. "Nobody has the right to take another life - only in self defence. And that I do regret. But what can I say? If a cop pulled a gun on me, I shoot first."
Asked what he would tell the slain officer's family, Hill said: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
What Is Brazil Really Doing in Africa?
Posted: 01/04/2015 3:22 pm EST Updated: 01/04/2015 3:59 pm EST
This post was co-authored with Nathan Thompson.
Brazil's foreign policy elite like to talk up their political solidarity and cultural affinity with Africa. Sympathetic observers note that Brazilians are more involved there than at any time since the 1960s. There is some truth to these claims. In the past decade, Africa became one of Brazil´s fastest growing trade partners. Brazilian trade to the continent expanded from $4.3 billion in 2000 to $28.5 billion in 2013. But what is really driving Brazilian engagement in the region?
Hardly surprising, there are some hard geopolitical and commercial calculations motivating Brazil´s rapprochement with Africa. While publicly advocating a selfless developmental -- or south-south -- project, Brazilian companies have business interests in most of Africa's faster growing economies. And tighter relations with African counterparts also allows Brazil to secure its maritime control and influence over the South Atlantic.
The dramatic surge in Brazilian engagement in Africa was propelled by President Lula (2003-2010), who traveled on 12 separate occasions to 29 states. No fewer than 19 of the 37 Brazilian embassies operating in Africa opened their doors during the past decade. Likewise, 18 of the 34 African embassies in Brasilia were inaugurated during the same period. And while his successor, President Dilma Rousseff, significantly reduced Brazil's global engagements since 2011, Africa still matters to some in the foreign policy establishment.
Brazil backed these diplomatic gestures with development muscle. The national development bank, the BNDES, has disbursed roughly $ 2.9 billion to underwrite projects in Africa since 2007. The Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) are also invested in African countries. ABC grew under Lula and EMBRAPA opened a new office in Ghana in 2006. The creation of a BNDES office in South Africa in late 2013 underlines the importance Brazil attaches to its partnerships there.
Brazil's tropical agriculture know-how and bio-ethanol expertise have found willing partners in parts of Africa. EMBRAPA fielded major initiatives in the so-called "cotton 4+Togo" which includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad Mali and Togo. Meanwhile, Brazilian companies entered into significant bio-fuel deals in Mozambique, Angola and Nigeria with the idea of also investing in local technical expertise, infrastructure and technology.
Notwithstanding enthusiasm about Brazil-African relations, the partnership has been rocky. At the diplomatic level, Rousseff's decision in 2013 to cancel (or restructure) $900 million worth of debt with 12 African countries did not get the reception she had hoped. Timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the African Union and intended to burnish Brazilian credentials and expand trade opportunities (since Brazilian law does not allow new loans or financial assistance with indebted countries), the move was roundly criticized by the left and right for favoringauthoritarian and corrupt African economies. The President has since distanced herself from the deal.
Meanwhile, some major Brazilian corporations have come under fire for circumventing local laws and other forms of malfeasance. The multinational mining company Vale, already heavily invested in Africa, suffered financial and public relations setbacks over a suspect deal to acquire rights to the Simandou mining concession in Guinea. Other large oil, mining and infrastructure firms are also coming under extra scrutiny. This is likely to continue given the many corruption scandalsrocking the government on the home-front.
Despite professions of brotherly love, Brazilian companies are finding it harder to do business in Africa than initially anticipated. Managing and mitigating risk in some states regularly translates into higher costs of entry for prospective investors. Despite remarkable progress in poverty reduction and improving living standards, the continent suffers from political instability, weakly enshrined property rights, poor communications infrastructure, limited transparency and real personal risks on the ground.
This is not to say that opportunities do not exist. To the contrary: foreign investment in Africa is clearly on the rise. According to a recent African Development Bank report, combined public and private financial flows to Africa rose 400% since 2000 and are projected to exceed $200 billion in 2014. Although countries such as France, the UK and US are still the top foreign investors in Africa, China, Brazil, South Africa and others are closing the gap. China alone has invested some $27.7 billion -- almost half of what the BRICS are spending combined.
If Brazil is to make a dent in Africa, it needs to get ahead of the curve. Future economic and demographic projections indicate that African investment opportunities are changing. In the coming decades there will be less emphasis on resource-intensive extractive industries -- which are already crowded markets -- and greater opportunities for construction and consumer goods and services, especially in finance, retail and new information technologies. Foreign policy experts and investors should take note, and plan accordingly.
Brazil's engagement with Africa has historically been driven by oil and gas, mining and infrastructure interests. Companies such as Andrade Gutierrez, Odebrecht, Petrobras and Vale have a sustained presence on the continent. And while these and other firms will loom certainly large in future Brazilian calculations, forward-looking policy makers and investors would do well to explore fast-growing sectors in which Brazil exhibits a comparative advantage. This is not just about enlightened politics toward Africa, but also about sustaining growth and development at home.
*The Igarapé Institute is reviewing peace, security, trade and development policies between Brazil and Africa in 2015. This is the first post of the series.
MORE:
Posted: 01/04/2015 3:22 pm EST Updated: 01/04/2015 3:59 pm EST
This post was co-authored with Nathan Thompson.
Brazil's foreign policy elite like to talk up their political solidarity and cultural affinity with Africa. Sympathetic observers note that Brazilians are more involved there than at any time since the 1960s. There is some truth to these claims. In the past decade, Africa became one of Brazil´s fastest growing trade partners. Brazilian trade to the continent expanded from $4.3 billion in 2000 to $28.5 billion in 2013. But what is really driving Brazilian engagement in the region?
Hardly surprising, there are some hard geopolitical and commercial calculations motivating Brazil´s rapprochement with Africa. While publicly advocating a selfless developmental -- or south-south -- project, Brazilian companies have business interests in most of Africa's faster growing economies. And tighter relations with African counterparts also allows Brazil to secure its maritime control and influence over the South Atlantic.
The dramatic surge in Brazilian engagement in Africa was propelled by President Lula (2003-2010), who traveled on 12 separate occasions to 29 states. No fewer than 19 of the 37 Brazilian embassies operating in Africa opened their doors during the past decade. Likewise, 18 of the 34 African embassies in Brasilia were inaugurated during the same period. And while his successor, President Dilma Rousseff, significantly reduced Brazil's global engagements since 2011, Africa still matters to some in the foreign policy establishment.
Brazil backed these diplomatic gestures with development muscle. The national development bank, the BNDES, has disbursed roughly $ 2.9 billion to underwrite projects in Africa since 2007. The Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) are also invested in African countries. ABC grew under Lula and EMBRAPA opened a new office in Ghana in 2006. The creation of a BNDES office in South Africa in late 2013 underlines the importance Brazil attaches to its partnerships there.
Brazil's tropical agriculture know-how and bio-ethanol expertise have found willing partners in parts of Africa. EMBRAPA fielded major initiatives in the so-called "cotton 4+Togo" which includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad Mali and Togo. Meanwhile, Brazilian companies entered into significant bio-fuel deals in Mozambique, Angola and Nigeria with the idea of also investing in local technical expertise, infrastructure and technology.
Notwithstanding enthusiasm about Brazil-African relations, the partnership has been rocky. At the diplomatic level, Rousseff's decision in 2013 to cancel (or restructure) $900 million worth of debt with 12 African countries did not get the reception she had hoped. Timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the African Union and intended to burnish Brazilian credentials and expand trade opportunities (since Brazilian law does not allow new loans or financial assistance with indebted countries), the move was roundly criticized by the left and right for favoringauthoritarian and corrupt African economies. The President has since distanced herself from the deal.
Meanwhile, some major Brazilian corporations have come under fire for circumventing local laws and other forms of malfeasance. The multinational mining company Vale, already heavily invested in Africa, suffered financial and public relations setbacks over a suspect deal to acquire rights to the Simandou mining concession in Guinea. Other large oil, mining and infrastructure firms are also coming under extra scrutiny. This is likely to continue given the many corruption scandalsrocking the government on the home-front.
Despite professions of brotherly love, Brazilian companies are finding it harder to do business in Africa than initially anticipated. Managing and mitigating risk in some states regularly translates into higher costs of entry for prospective investors. Despite remarkable progress in poverty reduction and improving living standards, the continent suffers from political instability, weakly enshrined property rights, poor communications infrastructure, limited transparency and real personal risks on the ground.
This is not to say that opportunities do not exist. To the contrary: foreign investment in Africa is clearly on the rise. According to a recent African Development Bank report, combined public and private financial flows to Africa rose 400% since 2000 and are projected to exceed $200 billion in 2014. Although countries such as France, the UK and US are still the top foreign investors in Africa, China, Brazil, South Africa and others are closing the gap. China alone has invested some $27.7 billion -- almost half of what the BRICS are spending combined.
If Brazil is to make a dent in Africa, it needs to get ahead of the curve. Future economic and demographic projections indicate that African investment opportunities are changing. In the coming decades there will be less emphasis on resource-intensive extractive industries -- which are already crowded markets -- and greater opportunities for construction and consumer goods and services, especially in finance, retail and new information technologies. Foreign policy experts and investors should take note, and plan accordingly.
Brazil's engagement with Africa has historically been driven by oil and gas, mining and infrastructure interests. Companies such as Andrade Gutierrez, Odebrecht, Petrobras and Vale have a sustained presence on the continent. And while these and other firms will loom certainly large in future Brazilian calculations, forward-looking policy makers and investors would do well to explore fast-growing sectors in which Brazil exhibits a comparative advantage. This is not just about enlightened politics toward Africa, but also about sustaining growth and development at home.
*The Igarapé Institute is reviewing peace, security, trade and development policies between Brazil and Africa in 2015. This is the first post of the series.
MORE:
Havana and Washington: On African Time?
January 7, 2015
Was it ever in doubt that the first African American president of the United States would wish to crown his legacy by normalizing relations with the most African island in the Americas? Few among us Cuba-watchers doubted that, should Barack Obama secure a second term, it would only be a matter of time before moves to repair the rift between Havana and Washington began in earnest. Blood-ties aside, US business interests have watched in frustration as economic rivals such as China made increasing inroads into the Cuban economy. But given the prime position that Africa has held in Cuba’s foreign policy ever since Che Guevara’s first visits to newly-independent countries in 1959 and 1965, what does the latest thaw in diplomatic ties between Havana and Washington mean for the continent?
It all depends on how extensive and far-reaching the changes become. For instance, should the economic embargo or Helms-Burton Act be dismantled, this would open the way for countries such as South Africa, which have long provided economic assistance to Cuba under the umbrella of development, to pursue more direct trade and investment agreements. And since South Africa and, old Cuban ally, Angola are joined in a friendly economic and cultural rivalry, it surely wouldn’t be long before the MPLA would appeal to the ties of history to lay claim to most-favoured nation status.
As for whether the countless urban and rural communities in Africa would continue to benefit from the thousands of Cuban doctors providing sorely needed medical services, much depends on the rival opportunities that might be created. Under current conditions, there are important perks and benefits that accrue to Cuban healthcare workers who opt to take up service posts overseas. At the same time, there have been accusations that medical internationalism has undermined the formally high standards of healthcare provision at home, as highly trained personnel seek out the greater compensation attached to, say, staffing a clinic in Luanda or fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone. Prior to the round of salary increases for medical personnel in 2014, the average salary for doctors working domestically was $30, compared to the $200 to $1000 earned by their counterparts stationed outside the country. However, an increase in economic opportunities on the island could change all of that, if increasing investment were to lead to higher salaries and a wider range of opportunities linked, for instance, to the almost certain development of the medical tourism industry in Cuba.
Any initial shortfall in the number of internationalist doctors, on the other hand, could eventually be remedied so long as Cuba continued, or even ramped up, its medical training programme for overseas students. This is perhaps the most important aspect of Cuba’s medical diplomacy, and the one that African nations should be most motivated to safeguard.
For the African diaspora, especially African Americans, the thaw in relations could see a rekindling and even a strengthening of the pre-Cold War relationship that Lisa Brock and Digna Casteñada Fuertes portrayed in their 1998 book Between Race and Empire: African-Americans and Cubans before the Cuban Revolution. And, at the very least, Afro-Cubans could hope for easy access to affordable beauty products tailored to their needs, and bid farewell to the demeaning practice of begging for Dark and Lovely and so on from friends and relatives living abroad.
Of course, courting the support of black Americans was an important ideological strategy in the early days of the Cuban Revolution. It backfired with some (Eldridge Cleaver wasn’t won round, to put it mildly); but Assata Shakur, the first woman on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists, has been quietly living as a political exile on the island for the past thirty years. It is hard to imagine that any meaningful process of repairing diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States in these post-911 times could proceed without Shakur’s extradition. But what would the handing over by Havana of this famous ‘cause celebre’ of Black Nationalism to the U.S. authorities mean for the Obama legacy? There is always a heavy price to pay for peace. The question that all of us need to ask ourselves, in the wake of Ferguson, is whether this sixty-seven year old black woman, wanted for murder, is likely to get a fair hearing.
In his announcement of the major shift in Washington’s policy for Cuba, Obama referred to the “unique relationship, at once family and foe,” and this is a dynamic that African nations, with their colonial histories and concomitant legacies, know only too well. In that regard, Havana and Washington are finally operating on African time.
January 7, 2015
Was it ever in doubt that the first African American president of the United States would wish to crown his legacy by normalizing relations with the most African island in the Americas? Few among us Cuba-watchers doubted that, should Barack Obama secure a second term, it would only be a matter of time before moves to repair the rift between Havana and Washington began in earnest. Blood-ties aside, US business interests have watched in frustration as economic rivals such as China made increasing inroads into the Cuban economy. But given the prime position that Africa has held in Cuba’s foreign policy ever since Che Guevara’s first visits to newly-independent countries in 1959 and 1965, what does the latest thaw in diplomatic ties between Havana and Washington mean for the continent?
It all depends on how extensive and far-reaching the changes become. For instance, should the economic embargo or Helms-Burton Act be dismantled, this would open the way for countries such as South Africa, which have long provided economic assistance to Cuba under the umbrella of development, to pursue more direct trade and investment agreements. And since South Africa and, old Cuban ally, Angola are joined in a friendly economic and cultural rivalry, it surely wouldn’t be long before the MPLA would appeal to the ties of history to lay claim to most-favoured nation status.
As for whether the countless urban and rural communities in Africa would continue to benefit from the thousands of Cuban doctors providing sorely needed medical services, much depends on the rival opportunities that might be created. Under current conditions, there are important perks and benefits that accrue to Cuban healthcare workers who opt to take up service posts overseas. At the same time, there have been accusations that medical internationalism has undermined the formally high standards of healthcare provision at home, as highly trained personnel seek out the greater compensation attached to, say, staffing a clinic in Luanda or fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone. Prior to the round of salary increases for medical personnel in 2014, the average salary for doctors working domestically was $30, compared to the $200 to $1000 earned by their counterparts stationed outside the country. However, an increase in economic opportunities on the island could change all of that, if increasing investment were to lead to higher salaries and a wider range of opportunities linked, for instance, to the almost certain development of the medical tourism industry in Cuba.
Any initial shortfall in the number of internationalist doctors, on the other hand, could eventually be remedied so long as Cuba continued, or even ramped up, its medical training programme for overseas students. This is perhaps the most important aspect of Cuba’s medical diplomacy, and the one that African nations should be most motivated to safeguard.
For the African diaspora, especially African Americans, the thaw in relations could see a rekindling and even a strengthening of the pre-Cold War relationship that Lisa Brock and Digna Casteñada Fuertes portrayed in their 1998 book Between Race and Empire: African-Americans and Cubans before the Cuban Revolution. And, at the very least, Afro-Cubans could hope for easy access to affordable beauty products tailored to their needs, and bid farewell to the demeaning practice of begging for Dark and Lovely and so on from friends and relatives living abroad.
Of course, courting the support of black Americans was an important ideological strategy in the early days of the Cuban Revolution. It backfired with some (Eldridge Cleaver wasn’t won round, to put it mildly); but Assata Shakur, the first woman on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists, has been quietly living as a political exile on the island for the past thirty years. It is hard to imagine that any meaningful process of repairing diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States in these post-911 times could proceed without Shakur’s extradition. But what would the handing over by Havana of this famous ‘cause celebre’ of Black Nationalism to the U.S. authorities mean for the Obama legacy? There is always a heavy price to pay for peace. The question that all of us need to ask ourselves, in the wake of Ferguson, is whether this sixty-seven year old black woman, wanted for murder, is likely to get a fair hearing.
In his announcement of the major shift in Washington’s policy for Cuba, Obama referred to the “unique relationship, at once family and foe,” and this is a dynamic that African nations, with their colonial histories and concomitant legacies, know only too well. In that regard, Havana and Washington are finally operating on African time.
Hipsters Don’ t Dance’s Top 10 African/Caribbean Collaborations of 2014
January 7, 2015
Busy Signal
2014 was a year when our musical worlds began to collide and we saw an increase in African artists working with artists from the Caribbean. This is a really big development as some DJs have seen similarities between the musical styles for some time, now artists are jumping on board and helping the sound to develop and grow. Although we still can’t figure out the government endorsed cultural link between Trinidad and Nigeria (Calabar in particular.) We have seen a sudden explosion of these 2 cultures colliding, with the most successful collaboration being Timaya and Machel Montano’s Shake Yuh Bum Bum. Similar artists teaming up together created something magical and we hope that they do it again. M.I. featured Jamiaca’s Beenie Man on his LP and Samini had Popcaan on a single as well. Busy Signal lead the way merging dancehall and afropop with his versions of P Square’s Personally and Mafikizolo’s Khona. We are glad that these artists are working together, not only does it broaden their appeal but selfishly it provides us with more ammunition for the clubs! Here are our top picks for 2014:
Timaya feat Machel Montano – Shake Yuh Bum Bum (Official Soca Remix)
January 7, 2015
Busy Signal
2014 was a year when our musical worlds began to collide and we saw an increase in African artists working with artists from the Caribbean. This is a really big development as some DJs have seen similarities between the musical styles for some time, now artists are jumping on board and helping the sound to develop and grow. Although we still can’t figure out the government endorsed cultural link between Trinidad and Nigeria (Calabar in particular.) We have seen a sudden explosion of these 2 cultures colliding, with the most successful collaboration being Timaya and Machel Montano’s Shake Yuh Bum Bum. Similar artists teaming up together created something magical and we hope that they do it again. M.I. featured Jamiaca’s Beenie Man on his LP and Samini had Popcaan on a single as well. Busy Signal lead the way merging dancehall and afropop with his versions of P Square’s Personally and Mafikizolo’s Khona. We are glad that these artists are working together, not only does it broaden their appeal but selfishly it provides us with more ammunition for the clubs! Here are our top picks for 2014:
Timaya feat Machel Montano – Shake Yuh Bum Bum (Official Soca Remix)