Essential Afro-Latino/ Caribbean Current Events

[Poitier]

EXCLUSIVE: MEET LA YEGROS, THE AFRO-ARGENTINIAN ELECTRO-CUMBIA BADASS
BY VERÓNICA BAYETT... • MARCH 13, 2016 • 10:00AM

Nora Lezano
Cumbia and chamamé were the music of Mariana Yegros’ childhood. She remembers fondly the chamamés her father listened to at home and the cumbias that played all around her. The music she’s creating now is as much an outgrowth of her soul as it is the creation of something new.

MORE: Meet Hip-Hop's Next Big Thing, Nitty Scott MC

Yegros is the singer-songwriter behind La Yegros, the amazingly talented Afro-Argentinianmujer quickly becoming a powerful force in a new wave of musicians re-imagining cumbias and other Latin American rhythms.

Part of a larger movement of underground musicians who are weaving rhythms traditional to their regions with electronic genres, La Yegros is giving classic Argentinian folk music a makeover. “We’re working on the music of our continent, things that have to do with our origins,” said Yegros in an interview with Latina. “It’s an honor to be part of this movement. It’s a very revolutionary moment, to be part of this.”

Argentinian cumbias and chamamés are full of horns, accordions and drums – sonic evidence of the indigenous life, European colonization, slave trade and migrations that have shaped South America. Now, this music that has lived in folk and traditional spaces – music that has been primarily held and nurtured by Argentina’s lower socioeconomic classes – is mixing with elements of hip-hop and electronic beats, and making its way to dance floors across the world.

With her new take on Argentinian folk, La Yegros is providing young people all across the globe a connection to the cultural richness of these rhythms, all while reinventing and growing tradicion. “The traditional takes another form to reach young people. Reviving it in one way or another, but keeping it as something from our roots.”

Of course, La Yegros is one in a long line of young people re-inventing cumbia for their generation – some of us have been bailando esta cumbia with Selena for years, after all. But the last decade has brought a veritable explosion of artists from all over Latin America, putting new spins on the originally Colombian genre. From colombianos Bomba Estéreo, whom Yegros names frequently as inspirations, to mexicanos 3Ball MTY, nu-cumbia has exploded.

Adding to the phenomenon is "Magnetismo," La Yegros’ second album. She’s genuinely enthralled about her new work. “I love all these songs,” she says. “Every song has different condiments. Each song tells a different story.”

Once you take a listen, it’ll be obvious why. Infectious party jams, sentimental ballads, and everything in between pepper her sophomore effort, giving us a bit of something for any occasion.

She’s got jams for when you’re feeling particularly good about dumping your trifling boo (she sings “Ya amanecí de pié / no me arrepentiré / podría pasar la vida entera sola y sin mirar atrás” in "Hoy"). It’s the perfect thing to put on for your social justice reading club homies (“Dejate llevar y la rebellion nos va a iluminar,” she says in "Déjate"). She gives us songs for when you’re losing your mind with lust (“Atormentada estoy con tu mirada / como se apaga el fuego cuando hay llamas / como se apagan dios / como se apagan?” - "Atormentada"), or for when you’re short on cash but all you want in life is a drink, so you ask the señora to front you some (“señora chichera deme un trago de su veneno / despues le pago” – "Chicha Roja").

With her first album, "Viene de Mi," La Yegros established herself as a natural talent, the kind of artist who has the raw energy needed to make it. With her second, she shows us she’s willing to put in the hard work to create beautiful music for the long run. Written in between an impressive fifteen international tours over the last two years, "Magnetismo" not only solidifies her place in the genre, but also places her as a critical voice in the newest generation of Latin American underground musicians to grow and expand on Latino musical traditions.

Most importantly, La Yegros’ music shows us a multi-faceted representation of a badass Latina. Her songs give us a full picture of a woman who’s fundamentally human: she wants to party and she’s sexual, she’s tender and she’s humble, she’s thinking about a revolution for the world around her and she’s being introspective. And the woman’s not messing around. In "Frágil," she confronts sexist stereotypes head on, and clarifies very quickly for anyone who might be confused about her strength (“Piensas que soy fragil? Que no tengo agallas para soportar el dolor? / Cada vez que caigo me levanto / Soy un gato de madera que no entrega ni su alma ni su vida ni sus penas”).

When I asked her about the song, she doesn’t have to think twice. “Women are seen as tender and sensitive, and sometimes that makes me mad,” she said. “I needed to express that you can present yourself as tender and be strong nonetheless.”

If you’ve ever seen her perform, you’ll recognize this strength in the fire she brings to the stage.

PLUS: 'The Queen of Twerk' Amara La Negra Talks Being Afro-Latina in Music

“That’s how we women are – mothers, grandmothers – we’re willing to give everything to what we love, and we have an interior strength that’s incredible. Don’t think we’re fragile. There’s a little warrior in there always,” she says.


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EXCLUSIVE: Meet La Yegros, the Afro-Argentinian Electro-Cumbia Badass

 

[Yehuda]

For Black Cubans, Obama Visit a Source of Pride, Inspiration

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
HAVANA — Mar 20, 2016, 12:46 PM ET

A musician performs wearing a T-shirt designed with an image of President Barack Obama at a weekly rumba dance gathering in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, March 19, 2016. For hundreds of thousands of black Cubans, Obama isn’t just the first U.S. leader to visit their country in nearly nine decades. He’s a black man whose rise to the world’s most powerful job is a source of pride and inspiration for a community that still struggles with informal racism and economic disadvantage despite the revolutionary government’s attempt to end racial prejudice in Cuba. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)

Yolanda Mauri's ancestors almost certainly came to Cuba in chains, laboring as slaves on an island of French coffee plantations and fields of Spanish sugarcane.

Her parents became their family's first professionals, graduating with engineering degrees after Cuba's 1959 revolution ended segregation. Mauri, 26, graduated from an elite technical university with a degree in computer programming. Today, she struggles to patch together a living from poorly paid government work and freelance jobs like building websites. She feels the sting of racism in casual derogatory comments or a maître d's refusal to seat her in an expensive restaurant.

For Mauri and hundreds of thousands of black Cubans, Barack Obama isn't just the first U.S. leader to visit their country in nearly nine decades. He's a black man whose rise to the world's most powerful job is a source of pride and inspiration.

Obama's March 20-22 visit has raised Cubans' hopes that a new era in relations with the United States will bring an end to the U.S. trade embargo and improve life for everyone on the island. For Afro-Cubans in particular, the presidential trip carries a special charge, a hope that an African-American leader's near-universal popularity among Cubans of all races will help end lingering prejudice and inequality.

"He's black and in some moment of his life he must have realized that as an African-American he had to elevate his performance level because as a black person you have to work twice as hard to get the same result as a white," Mauri said. "I identity a lot with him because of that."

Cuba's culture is a blend of African and Spanish influence. The island's world-renowned music and dance traditions draw deeply from the cultures of the West Africans brought to the island as slaves. Its Santeria religion is a blend of Catholicism and the Yoruba practices of western Africa.

One of Fidel Castro's first acts after overthrowing Cuba's government was to declare an end to a regimen of segregation that mirrored unequal conditions for blacks in the United States. Afro-Cubans praise the country's incorporation of anti-racism into its official ideology, and acknowledge that black Cubans have made dramatic advances thanks to the revolution.

But nearly 60 years later, Afro-Cubans are underrepresented in the ranks of Cuba's political and economic elites and make up a disproportionate number of the urban and rural poor. Black Cubans have benefited less than their white counterparts from closer relations with the United States. Relatively few hold coveted, lucrative jobs serving foreign visitors.

Discriminatory hiring is particularly egregious in the elegant private restaurants where Cubans can earn more in a night in tips from tourists than the average monthly salary. There, as with many jobs in hospitality and tourism in Cuba, waiters, waitresses and bartenders are overwhelmingly white or light-skinned, mixed-race Cubans.

Cuba's state ideology of race-blindness means there's little official discussion of race, and few programs to help black Cubans overcome the legacy of slavery and segregation.

"People here look at blacks like they're the worst, and since Obama's black it's like we have a bit more status, here and over there," said Rosa Lopez, who sells snacks in a public market in a working-class Havana neighborhood of La Lisa. "Having a black president of the United States gives us just a little more pride."

Some black Cubans have taken to affectionately referring to Obama as "el negro," ''the black guy," in enthusiastic conversation about the president's pending arrival, and some of the most popular memorabilia for sale ahead of the trip are images of the president and first lady shown talking to each other with distinctively Afro-Cuban Spanish dialogue jokingly superimposed.

According to official figures, 10 percent of the population of 11 million identify as black. Another quarter identify themselves to census-takers as mixed-race, a racial class that also suffers social discrimination in Cuba, although often to lesser degrees.

In remarkably warm descriptions of his regard for the American president, Cuban President Raul Castro has specifically cited Obama's personal background as a factor in the new U.S.-Cuban relationship, without talking directly about race.

"I admire his humble origins and I think that his way of thinking stems from those humble origins," Castro said before holding a meeting with Obama at the Summit of the Americas in Panama in April 11.

For many in Cuba, of all races, Obama's historic status as America's first black president is inextricable from his history-making role in restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba and moving toward normalization.

"It was only an African-American man who's been able to loosen things up," said Orlando Vila, the 50-year-old chief of a self-employed crew of workman repairing a state-run warehouse in Old Havana. "He's faced the realities of life and now people here are expecting a change, too."

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Correspondent Andrea Rodriguez contributed to this report.

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Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: Michael Weissenstein (@mweissenstein) on Twitter

For Black Cubans, Obama Visit a Source of Pride, Inspiration

 

[Yehuda]

Comparing Cuba and the USA through Obama

March 23, 2016

By Yusimi Rodriguez

Alberto Gonzalez (r) was one the Cuban small business owners invited to a meeting with Barack Obama on March 21, 2016. File Photo/ Juan Suarez

HAVANA TIMES — On Monday afternoon, President Barack Obama, who visited our country from March 20 to 22, met with Cuban private sector entrepreneurs at Havana’s Fabrica de Arte Cubano. Someone that the readers of Havana Times know by now, who has also been interviewed by other Cuban and foreign media, international chef Alberto Gonzalez, was present at this gathering, attended by nearly two hundred people.

Alberto isn’t certain whether he was chosen to take part in this meeting because of the wide coverage he’s enjoyed on the Internet or because the wife of the US ambassador is one of his customers and an admirer of his homemade breads.

On Tuesday, I visited him at his bakery, Salchipizza, located at the intersection of Infanta and Zanja streets, Centro Habana. On this occasion, he was conversing with a renowned master baker from Austria who was interested in getting to know his business. When his visitor left, I was able to chat with Alberto about his impressions regarding the get-together with Barack Obama. As usual, I conversed with him informally, while he kneaded some dough (in this case, a peanut-based dough).

Alberto: There was much emotion. Obama gave everyone an opportunity to speak freely, and we’re not used to that.

HT: The immense majority of private business owners I’ve seen in Cuba are white people. This is also what a research paper by historian Fidel Guillermo Duarte, based on official statistics, reveals. Most Afro-Cubans work as street vendors, house employees and security personnel at bars and other establishments.

Alberto: The only black people who owned a business there were Carlos Cristobal, the owner of the San Cristobal restaurant, where Obama dined on Sunday, and me. We’re friends. He wasn’t directly my teacher, but he was the head of the food department at the Hotel Comodoro, when I was studying there.

In the photos and videos he took with his cell phone, I see a man of mixed race. Alberto also tells me that Yotuel, the lead singer of the Cuban band Orishas, who lives in Miami, was there as well. It’s possible that an additional three or four Afro-Cubans were there but, at first glance, it is evident the immense majority of those who attended the meeting where white people.

Alberto: The girl from Clandestinas, the one who has the Isladentro.com domain, for a farm and livestock cooperative that works with the State, spoke. Then, we were seated at different tables organized on the basis of the different sectors that the people there worked in: the food and hotel industries, people working in the computer sciences, etc. You’d sit at a table and debate with others, and you could say what you needed for your business. At the food table, there was a Spaniard who came with Obama’s delegation and had very good ideas.

I realized, however, that people need to come together. The message I walked away with is that exchange leads to development, but we didn’t exactly take this message to heart. The self-employed have to come together. You may have your interests, this other fellow could have others, you may not agree with someone, all of this contributes to thinking about what we need to meet the needs of the self-employed, which are the same needs. Where are we going to buy our materials? That’s the big problem, it has nothing to do with politics.

Alberto Gonzalez. Photo: Juan Suarez

HT: Shortly after Barack Obama’s meeting with the Cuban small businesspeople, journalist Cristina Escobar said on the television that she considered the gathering discrimination against the State sector and that the US government sought to strengthen Cuba’s private sector to undermine the Cuban State and government. What’s your opinion about this?

Alberto: Has the State come to us and said “come, we’re going to help you”, “come, you can buy your products here”? Yesterday, the man who has to do with everything related to rum in the country was asked if the owners of private restaurants and coffee shops could purchase rum at wholesale prices [since under the current situation they have to buy by the bottle at retail prices]. You have to sell drinks at 6 CUC. That’s totally disrespectful, considering State establishments sell it at 2 CUC. He said they were trying and, since they always say that, that’s why we spoke with Obama. I think and I’ve always said to you that we have to solve Cuba’s problems ourselves. We’re grateful to Obama and I’m grateful for the opportunity of being there. You’ll see the private and State sectors will be able to work together when there’s a wholesale market. Now, everyone says the private sector is better than the State sector. Draw your own conclusions.

HT: What did you expect out of this meeting, how was it useful to you?

Alberto: I was hoping to have an opportunity to see Obama, one of the world’s most important personalities today. Through him, I was able to compare Cuba and the United States. We have to open up to the world, interact with others. Raul Castro said it. We’re way behind, outside the world’s logic. What the different sectors suggested there has nothing to do with what the government has always said. They liberalized the private sector, but they didn’t conduct a profound analysis of the situation first. The result is what everyone said yesterday: we have problems getting raw materials for our businesses. Obama said it himself: you have problems with raw materials because you’re buying them where everyone else is buying it.

While we talk, he asks me to go with him to a nearby store, to buy some gouda cheese for some of his products.

Alberto: Now you realize what it’s like? I have to buy things where everyone buys these things and at exorbitant prices. We still don’t have a wholesale market to go to.

I was very nervous yesterday, very excited, and I wasn’t able to speak and ask a question, but I would have liked to ask Obama if they wanted to help us and, if so, if someone could go to the US Embassy to make a request.

Alberto Gonzalez during our first interview. Photo: Juan Suarez

HT: How do you believe this visit by President Barack Obama could help you and all other Cubans?

Alberto: The fact he came and was willing to put the past behind him is already a positive step. He himself said things don’t change overnight. Now, we have to wait and see, and stay positive.

Alberto tells me that now, next to the pictures of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X (when I interviewed him for the first time last year, he told me he had taken down the photo of Malcolm X because it contained phrases that a gentleman considered somewhat controversial, asking him whether he was involved in bread-making or politics), he will put up a portrait of US President Barack Obama.

Comparing Cuba and the USA through Obama

 

[Yehuda]

$730M Chinese-Built Toll Road Opens in Jamaica

March 25, 2016 | Posted by Jasmine Nelson

Tagged With: China Harbour Engineering Company, chinese investment, Chinese workers, Jamaica, Jamaica's economy

After three years of construction, a Chinese-built toll road has opened on the island country of Jamaica. The project marks the biggest Chinese investment in the Caribbean to date, and officials said there’s more to come.

The new toll road known as the North-South Highway will directly connect the Jamaican capital Kingston, in the south, with the resort beach city of Ocho Rios, in the north, reducing a two-hour drive by less than half.

The project included $730 million from China, and more than 1,000 Chinese workers and 1,000 local Jamaicans spent three years building it.

The difficult terrain required creative engineering solutions.

The highway, it’s hoped, will play a crucial role in helping resuscitate Jamaica’s economy that has been burdened by large interest payments to international creditors that have left little room for domestic government spending.

Jamaica gave the China Harbor Engineering Company, which built the highway, a 50-year concession to recover its costs.

The company also received land alongside the highway to develop for residential and commercial use, which could mean more jobs and more growth in the near future.

And there are plans for more, including a new deep-water shipping port with an investment amount that could be double the cost of the highway.

Read more at www.cctv-america.com


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$730M Chinese-Built Toll Road Opens in Jamaica - Atlanta Black Star

 

[Poitier]

Brasília-based photographer celebrates the power and beauty of Afro-Brazilian women in the photo layout ‘Superafro: The Power of the Black Woman’

Note from BW of Brazil: Yet another example of “do-it-yourself” representation. These are the faces that we need to see more of and as about 90% of the faces featured in Brazil’s mainstream media look much more European than the actual Brazilian population, we always like to support alternative media that allow black Brazilians to shine. We are happy to feature this latest photo layout featuring everyday black Brazilian women. We hope to see more of this photographer’s work in the future. Representation, representation, REPRESENTATION!

Brasília-based photographer celebrates the power and beauty of black Brazilian women in the photo layout Superafro: The Power of the Black Woman

By Zeba Blay, Carolina Samoran and Hattie Collins

In the past two years the Brazilian journalist Weudson Ribeiro has documented the beauty of afro-brasileiras (Afro-Brazilian women), making spontaneous portraits of them within a project that is still ongoing. The result was published this month in the photo layout Superafro: O poder da mulher negra (Superafro: The power of the black woman).

The project, made with portraits of black Brazilian women, highlights women who affirm their blackness with pride, as a declaration of a political posture. “The goal was to document the beauty and diversity of women who carry negritude as an act of resistance,” said Ribeiro.

“Black people here face the same problems faced in the United States: police brutality,pigmentocracy, higher rates of poverty, social marginalization and derision,” says Ribeiro.

“But Afro-Brazilian women are gaining political voice. Social media helps to give minorities a platform to denounce the prejudice and to articulate and strengthen the resistance.”

Ribeiro, 24, is one of those creative souls capable of doing politics with art – or vice versa. Black and gay, he saw prejudice up close. To combat the problem, he went out to the streets of Brasília two years ago. He said he chatted with Afro-Brazilian women and asked to photograph them. “I approached anyone who seemed friendly to me. When she was interested, I sent her copies of the material. If not, I would move on. The photos of the blog are mostly people I had just met.”

In the beginning, the journalist photographed only lesbians. But a conversation with the ethnographer Yaba Blay inspired him to expand the project. The women are from Brasília, Goiás, Rio and São Paulo, in their majority. He approached almost all in the street, without much advanced notice. “I wanted to know how their experience of living in a sexist and racist society was,” says the photographer.

In most cases, the answer was something that, unfortunately, we are tired of knowing:the photos reproduced at length in magazines don’t reflect the beauty of these women. “They told me that they didn’t feel free in a society where they couldn’t fit the standard of beauty. Accepting their hair was the first step of their empowerment. Assuming negritude is a political act,” he says.

The consolidation of the layout also involves a process of self-acceptance and, especially, the deconstruction of prejudices that he himself was carrying.

My biggest objective is to document the beauty and diversity of women who carry negritude as an act of resistance. Layouts such as Superafro are able to open the eyes of society on issues that are often overlooked. If we can educate someone through this project, I’ll be happy. Thanks to works like this, I managed to undo prejudices, some internalized, which also cultivated.”

He has already photographed about 50 women for the project. But he still hasn’t stopped. “Superafro” continues to grow, fueled by beautiful women with whom the photographer meets around there.

Ribeiro is known for his images celebrating tupiniquim (Brazilian) queer culture. But with this latest project, he documents Brazilian women expressing sexuality and blackness as a political act.

Below is an interview with the photographer courtesy of the Vice website

VICE: Tell us a little about the project “Superafro” and what you wanted to document not only about black identity, but also Afro-LGBT women.

Weudson Ribeiro: With Superafro, I intend to show the diversity that exists within the Afro-Brazilian spectrum, celebrate the beauty of these women and, with any luck, contribute to the fight for freedom and equality through awareness of issues that affect the reality of black people in Brazil, since we live in a society shaped by racism, pigmentocracy, deprivation of rights and sexism. With the phenomenal rise of feminism among young women and greater access to information, thanks to digital inclusion, I see that women feel more encouraged to wear natural hair, to express one’s own sexuality and reject euphemisms used to treat African features as if negroid was a burden.

How did you find women for this layout?

It all starts with a good conversation. I go to the street every weekend and I approach anyone who seems friendly.

Where and how long were the photos were taken?

I live in Brasília – most of the personalities were photographed here. I met some of them during a trip to Rio de Janeiro. I started taking these pictures two years ago, but the idea of making them a portfolio came after a conversation I had with the American ethnographer Yaba Blay, whom I interviewed last year, when I worked in a local paper.

What do the women of your photos represent?

The women represent the resistance against the probabilities of a society of judgment. Personally I have known so many beautiful and intelligent black women it was a watershed. Being the only child of pais mestiços (parents of mixed race), I myself had difficulty understanding and accepting my own blackness. It is a problem that affects the vast majority of Brazilians, since our ethnic origins are quite mixed.

You say that these women assume blackness as a political act. Tell me more about that.

Caucasian features are the universal synthesis of beauty – this is what we learn from an early age. This notion impacts how blacks and whites perceive each other. Two years ago, I asked myself “How does this context affect the self perception of women?”. Since then, I met people who told me they feel harmed by an aesthetic standard that rejects them. Assuming their roots was the exit. I believe that the courage and confidence of these women can show others that ser negro é bonito (being black is beautiful), despite what the world has taught.

How has history fed some of the issues faced by black Brazilian women?

Brazil was the largest importer of slaves during the 1500s, the history of the country is well rooted in this experience. After El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala and Russia,Brazil is the country where most murders are committed against women. But the debate on violence against women cannot focus solely on domestic assault. There is also the question of the violation of the gender. Cases of corrective rape show one of the worst faces of violence against women in Brazil. Unfortunately, since the victims are blamed first, most known cases of sexual assault against lesbians are those in which they were exposed to HIV by their aggressors. Besides this, this is also has the experience of transgender women, who are not even recognized by the statistics – are minorities within a macro-minority. The good news is that the LGBT and black communities have increasingly unified themselves more lately.

Despite being a growing economic strength, the country is still plagued by a series of social and political problems; poverty, homelessness, corrupt police, etc. How does this affect the black gay community, and women, specifically?

The wage gap between white men and black women is huge in Brazil. Female workers are paid much less than white men of the same age and education level. Unemployment rates among white women are around 9%, while black women account for over 12% of the unemployed population. That says enough.

How do you expect that things can change and improve for young black Brazilian women and gays in the next decade, and how can these changes occur?

The Day of Black Consciousness has become increasingly popular in the last decade. In addition, a radical change took place in the Brazilian university system: a law passed in 2012 reserved 50% of vacancies in federal universities in Brazil for public school students, low-income families that are descendants of blacks or indigenous – which means more access to higher education. Women have become active in politics. There was a new wave of Afro-Brazilian pride. Homosexual couples can now marry and adopt children legally. There are a lot of political a$$holes who wants to fukk with the rights of these minorities, but after years of military dictatorship, I’m sure that the active work of feminists, artists, photographers and ordinary people will contribute to the struggle to end this history of oppression.

See more of Ribeiro’s work here.

Source: Vice, Metropoles, Brasil Post

Brasília-based photographer celebrates the power and beauty of Afro-Brazilian women in the photo layout ‘Superafro: The Power of the Black Woman’

 

[Poitier]

Couple in Rio are denied registering their new-born with an African name

Note from BW of Brazil: Sometimes it seems that it would be more difficult to simply make up these types of stories, and the absurdity of today’s feature definitely fits into that category. First, let’s take a look at the story and later in this post I’ll offer my comments…

Couple not able to register with daughter with African name and believes it’s due to racism

The couple failed to register her daughter with the name you chose

By Cíntia Cruz of Extra with additional information from R7

With just one week of life, little Makeda is already facing the first fight of her life: having a civil registry. The name Makeda Foluke means Grandiose that is at the care of God, but even so, the girl, who was born on the 16th in the Casa de Parto David Capistrano Filho (House of Labor David Capistrano Filho, in Realengo, in the West Zone of Rio, still can’t be placed on her birth certificate. All because the registration office of the 2nd district of São João de Meriti, in the Baixada Fluminense region, understood, according to the girl’s parents, that the name would cause embarrassment for the child in the future. Makeda’s family believed they were the victim of racism.

“It’s a form of racism that takes place in Brazil: the racism of subtleties. It should be very natural a man and a black woman adopting an African name, as the country is made up of three races. It is difficult to prove. Only those in this skin is knows,” lamented the child’s father, Cizinho Afreeka, 44.

Cizinho, which is a public servant and is depending on the registration to have a maternity leave, also said that he and his wife, the Physical Education teacher Jéssica Juliana, 27, thought about the issue of name pronunciation before choosing it:

“It’s not a name phonetically alien to Portuguese, we thought about it. There are African names that change the pronunciation and cause greater estrangement.”

Makeda was what the Ethiopians called the rainha de Sabá (Queen of Sheba). Foluke is a Yoruba name. The girl’s name was decided early in the pregnancy.

The girl is still has no official registration

“We decided together quite in early in the pregnancy and we came to call her Makeda. Family and friends already speak naturally because we were inserting this. What’s the problem with naming her Makeda if they register so many European names,” asked Jéssica.

Cizinho came to speak to a civil registration official, Luiz Fernando, by telephone, but a petition was necessary so the name could be analyzed:

“He said he thought the name was beautiful. They already knew that the name was African. They searched the internet before giving a negative. I made a petition and took a statement from my wife authorizing, but it was denied. The notary suggested I put a name in Portuguese in front. But I will keep on until the end. Either it will be Makeda Foluke or she’ll be with no registration.

“The procedure is necessary with any name that can be used to leave the child in a vexatious situation or bullying. You have to filter. These procedures are normal, no one refused to do the registration,” said Luiz Fernando. “It is not the name, not the meaning. It’s pronunciation, diction. Racism is really in people’s minds,” he finalized.

According to the Internal Affairs Division of the Court of Rio, the registration office submitted to the judge in charge a procedure of doubt. The prosecutor’s office issued an opinion against the use of the name because they considered it likely to cause future problems for the child, suggesting that a pre-name be added to the other names such as Ana Maria Makeda, for example. If the judge does not authorize, it will be up to the party to appeal the decision in the procedure in the proper registry office that will forwarded to the Council of the Magistracy.

Parents want their daughter to be named Makeda

Also according to internal affairs, “when pronouncing the name in Portuguese it makes no sense at all, except for coming out wrong, which could provide possible future suffering for the person in social life.” The criterion used is “the analysis of the magistrate and the Ministério Público (public prosecutors) who act to protect the child. Law 6.015/73 gives that power to avoid registrations with names that may affect the social life.”

Read the response of internal affairs in full:

“The prosecutor’s office issued an opinion against the use of the name because they considered it likely to cause future problems for the child, suggesting a pre-name was added to the other names…such as Ana Maria Makeda or something like this.

If the judge does not authorize, it will be up to the party to appeal the decision in the procedure in the proper registry office that will be forward to the Council of the Magistracy.

When you pronounce the name in Portuguese it makes no sense at all, except for coming out wrong, which could provide possible future suffering for the person in social life.

The criterion is the analysis of the magistrate and prosecutors who act to protect the child. Law 6.015/ 73 gives this power to avoid registrations with names that may affect the social life. The criteria are the social and historical phonetics of Portuguese, verifying the sense that the name may have to be spoken or read, must meet in these criteria elements that can classify it as vexatious. Thus are considered vexatious historical names of bloodthirsty dictators or persecuted characters or execrated over time, the objectification of the name or the phonetic pronunciation, which seems to be the case, because it will not make any sense to those who do not know its origin and its translation, favoring acts as “bullying” or discrimination. Several cases where the lack of care of the registers and deeper analysis produced cases that later forced people to go to court to change the first names are notorious due to the embarrassment caused in childhood. One of the most famous was that of the daughters of Baby and Pepeu (1).

The request is being examined by the responsible judge, but it is an analysis at the administrative level that provides for its consideration on appeal to the Judicial Council through a specific procedure.”

Note from BW of Brazil: As I wrote in the intro, absurd! Is it racism or does the registration office have a point? It is true that we cannot define this case as absolute racism, but we also cannot dismiss the possibility. Why? Brazil has a long history of anti-Africanism. We’ve seen it in how it treats African immigrants. We’ve seen how at one time the government actually banned the entrance of more Africans into countryafter nearly four centuries of slavery and an official ideology of whitening the country through massive European immigration and the promotion of miscegenation. We’ve seen it in how remains of African slaves are dealt with. We’ve seen it in the way followers of African-origin religions are treated. Need we say more? There’s more…

Any Brazilian or anyone who has lived in Brazil for some time knows how common first, middle and last names are in the country. As the country literally has millions of Pedro Paulos, Marcos Antônios, Júlio Césars, Maria Aparecidas, Ana Maria and Ana Rosas, it’s shameful that a couple that sought to give their child a more original name is made to endure so much bureaucracy. As we’ve seen, anything that connects Brazil to its European heritage (in this case, names) is admired while anything re-connecting it to Africa is frowned upon. Although we cannot define this case as definitely racism, notice the attempt to steer the couple into naming the child Ana Maria with Makeda being pushed into third. If it isn’t anti-African bias, why not suggest another African name? Why suggest the couple simply introduce the ten millionth Brazilian Ana Maria?

Let us also remind you that there is at least one man in the country named after Germany’s National Socialist leader Adolph Hitler. YES! In a story featured here in February of 2014, a judge in the state of Minas Gerais named Hitler Eustásio Machado Oliveira presided over a case of racial discrimination. So apparently, having an African name is even worse than a “vexatious historical name of a blood thirsty dictator or persecuted character” as the registration center itself put it. Even with much of what people actually know about the German chancellor being minimal, Hitler Eustásio Machado Oliveira hasn’t felt the need to change his name, so why the need to force this couple to Europeanize their child’s name? Neither Makeda nor Foluke are even difficult to pronounce (as if that really matters)! Also note how the registrar tried to minimize the possibility of racism in this case with a typical comment such as “Racism is really in people’s minds”. Not that we need any more evidence, but Professor Kabegele Munanga was clearly right when he said that the “myth of racial democracy is part of the education of the Brazilian.”

Brazil Brazil…you really go out of your way to prove how much you dislike Africa!

Source: Extra, R7

Note

1. Successful pop duo who named their children Pedro Baby, Krishna, Kriptus, Sarah Sheeva, Nãna Shara and Zabelê.

Couple in Rio are denied registering their new-born with an African name

 

[Yehuda]

News > Latin America

Another Activist Killed in Colombia Ahead of National Strike

Black Rights activist James Balanta was killed in the Colombian department of Cauca March 15, 2016. | Photo: Archive

Published 17 March 2016

Colombia has recently seen a wave of violence against human rights activists, with 12 being killed since the beginning of March.

Colombian social movement leader James Balanta was killed Tuesday in front of a military base in the southeastern department of Cauca.

Balanta's death comes just days before a planned National Strike Thursday, where people across the country will protest against the ongoing violence in Colombia, particularly against human rights activists, as well as the government's failed social and economic policies.

Balanta was a human rights activist who fought for the rights of Black communities in the country.

He is the latest in a string of attacks against activists in the country, where so far 12 human rights workers have been killed since the beginning of the month. Six of these were in the department of Cauca.

According to Colombian authorities, Balanta was in the vicinity of the military zone when he was intercepted by two men on a motorcycle.

IN DEPTH: The Colombian Peace Process Explained

The people of northern Cauca expressed concern about the recent string of killings of community leaders. But local authorities have warned citizens to wait for the results of the investigation, saying it was not yet confirmed if Balanta's death was a targeted killing.

The European Union on Wednesday expressed concern over the recent deaths and demanded “that all the killings be investigated and those responsible brought to justice.”

Rights workers have long condemned the ongoing violence against activists in the country, demanding that the issue be part of the ongoing peace talks in Havana, Cuba between the Colombian government and the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) guerrillas.

Tags

Colombia South America War & conflict Poverty inequality and development

by teleSUR / kb-CM

Another Activist Killed in Colombia Ahead of National Strike

 

[Yehuda]

BMC Genomics. 2016; 17: 207.
Published online 2016 Mar 9. doi: 10.1186/s12864-016-2520-x

Mapping the genomic mosaic of two ‘Afro-Bolivians’ from the isolated Yungas valleys

Jacobo Pardo-Seco, Tanja Heinz, Patricia Taboada-Echalar, Federico Martinón-Torres, and Antonio Salas

Author information ► Article notes ► Copyright and License information ►

Abstract

Background

Unraveling the ancestry of ‘Afro-American’ communities is hampered by the complex demographic processes that took place during the Transatlantic Slave Trade (TAST) and the (post-)colonization periods. ‘Afro-Bolivians’ from the subtropical Yungas valleys constitute small and isolated communities that live surrounded by the predominant Native American community of Bolivia. By genotyping >580,000 SNPs in two ‘Afro-Bolivians’, and comparing these genomic profiles with data compiled from more than 57 African groups and other reference ancestral populations (n = 1,161 in total), we aimed to disentangle the complex admixture processes undergone by ‘Afro-Bolivians’.

Results

The data indicate that these two genomes constitute a complex mosaic of ancestries that is approximately 80 % of recent African origin; the remaining ~20 % being European and Native American. West-Central Africa contributed most of the African ancestry to ‘Afro-Bolivians’, and this component is related to populations living along the Atlantic coast (i.e. Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria). Using tract length distribution of genomic segments attributable to distinct ancestries, we could date the time of admixture in about 400 years ago. This time coincides with the maximum importation of slaves to Bolivia to compensate the diminishing indigenous labor force needed for the development of the National Mint of Potosí.

Conclusions

Overall, the data indicate that the genome of ‘Afro-Bolivians’ was shaped by a complex process of admixture occurring in America among individuals originating in different West-Central African populations; their genomic mosaics received additional contributions of Europeans and local Native Americans (e.g. Aymaras).

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-016-2520-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Keywords: Transatlantic slave trade, Afro-Bolivians, Ancestry, Genome, SNP

Background

During the Transatlantic Slave Trade (TAST) from the fifteenth to the end of the nineteenth century, more than 12.5 million enslaved Africans boarded ships that were destined to the Americas. Most African slaves brought to the Americas came from West-Central Africa (~5.6 million) [1]. African slaves were not distributed uniformly in the American regions of interest. In Brazil, for example, most Africans were forced to migrate to the Northeastern part of the country, that is, to Pernambuco and Bahia, because this region developed to become one of the most important sugar production zones during the TAST period [2]. Similarly, in Colombia there was high demand for experienced gold miners especially in the department of Chocó [3].

During the last decade, geneticists have aimed to unravel the complex patterns of admixture occurring in America as a consequence of the European colonization and the TAST. In particular, the analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been widely used in the literature [4–10]. For instance, it is now known that African mtDNA lineages in America prevailed in the Northeast of Brazil [11], and are also widely distributed in ‘Afro-Colombians’ of Chocó [12–14]. According to autosomal DNA, many populations in Brazil are principally of European ancestry, but there exists a North–South gradient towards an increased African ancestry in the North, Northeast, and Centre-West [15]. Similarly, in Colombia, a pronounced autosomal African admixture was observed in individuals from Chocó [16]. Moreno-Estrada et al. [17] investigated the population genetic history of the Caribbean by characterizing patterns of genome-wide variation. These authors found that admixed genomes can be traced back to distinct sub-continental source populations, even in situations where limited pre-Columbian Caribbean haplotypes survived.

Very little attention has so far been given to historically isolated populations whose history can also be traced back to the TAST, as is the case of the ‘Afro-Bolivian’ community of Tocaña, located in the Nor (North) and the Sud (South) Yungas valleys of Bolivia. The Yungas are located in the Department of La Paz, in the passageway that connects the Bolivian highlands and the tropics. During the colonial period, Spaniards initially used indigenous people as a workforce to exploit the region’s mineral wealth at the mines and Mint of Potosí, but soon they began to enslave Africans. Mortality rate of slaves was high in the region mainly due to the fact that they were forced to work in a region over 4,000 m above sea level and in very hard conditions [18]. The first African slaves in Potosí were recorded beginning in 1549 [19]. Upper Peru, nowadays Bolivia, received a considerably number of African enslaved people at the beginning of the TAST from Senegambia; however, West-Central Africa became increasingly important at the end of the sixteenth century. Rodriguez [18] also mentions that at least 1,536 people were brought to Bolivia from the Congo-Angola area and Mozambique. The region around present-day Angola might also have been an important source of enslaved people for Spanish traders, because when the Spanish and Portuguese crown merged between 1580 and 1640, many enslaved Africans from the hinterlands of Luanda in Angola, which was kept by Portugal, were forced to migrate to Spanish America [2, 20].

African enslaved people from West-Central Africa principally arrived in Upper Peru via Río de la Plata, and at least between 1,500 and 3,000 Angolan enslaved people arrived at Río de la Plata every year during the first half of the seventeenth century [20]. It is also documented that in 1807, there were 458 Africans in Potosí to work in the mint [21]. Later, Spanish colonists began to use slaves in agricultural work in the tropical valleys. Rodriguez [18] reported that, in 1883, the enslaved ‘black’ population in the region consisted of more than 6,000 people.

Although ‘Afro-Bolivians’ were not included in the official National Census of 1996, it was estimated at that time that about 10,000 ‘Afro-Bolivians’ were mostly concentrated in the Yungas provinces, mainly in rural towns and villages such as Coroico, Irupana, Tocaña, etc. This small community adopted much of the technological and economic organization and cultural norms of the local indigenous Aymara [18]. Only very recently, the reclaiming of a ‘Afro-Bolivian’ culture has begun to emerge in the region by the creation of cultural organizations aimed to recover their lost cultural identities.

Some inferences on their origins have been made based on linguistics [22]. There are unique words that probably derived from Kikongo, a language spoken in Congo. Furthermore, there exist two common African surnames in ‘Afro-Bolivian’ communities, Angola and Maconde, the latter of which might also be of Congolese origin [22].

‘Afro-Bolivian’ groups have hitherto received very little attention within the scientific community that investigates the history of the TAST; probably because they constitute a relatively small community surrounded by a numerous Aymara-speaking population, and because they live in a geographically remote region. Similarly, genetics research on Bolivian populations has primarily focused on the Native American indigenous population excluding people of African ancestry. So far, mtDNA lineages in the departments of Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Pando, and Santa Cruz, which are distributed across three eco-geographically distinct regions (Andean, Sub-Andean, Llanos), have been shown to be mainly of Native American ancestry [23–28]. In contrast, the Y-chromosome shows an important contribution of European colonizers [28–31]. Likewise, autosomal DNA analysis (mainly carried out using small panels of autosomal SNPs) shows a main Native American ancestry, although with an increased European introgression [23, 24]. In contrast, African ancestry was observed to be marginal in both mtDNA and autosomal DNA, respectively [23, 24, 32]. Only the community of Tocaña (Nor Yungas) still preserves the African genetic legacy of the TAST [33] as inferred from the uniparental markers and a few ancestry informative (autosomal) markers (AIMs).

The aim of the present study is to provide a first insight into the complex admixture processes experienced by individuals belonging to the geographically isolated ‘Afro-Bolivian’ community. In contrast to other ‘Afro-American’ communities that admixed in complex demographic circumstances (e.g. in the USA, Caribbean, Colombia, Brazil, etc.), ‘Afro-Bolivians’ from the Yungas valleys constitute very isolated communities since their initial formation, and have remained surrounded by peoples of main Native American ancestry. These ‘Afro-Bolivians’ therefore constitute a sort of ‘genetic laboratory’ to gain new insight into the TAST.

Mapping the genomic mosaic of two ‘Afro-Bolivians’ from the isolated Yungas valleys

 

[Poitier]

Faces of Afro Brazil 37

Wow, it’s been a while since we’ve updated our photo series Faces of Afro Brazil. December 20th of last year was the last time a new photo was presented for the series, number 36. Well, the series continues today with number 37 in the series featuring Nátaly Neri, a “social scientist in the making and black feminist” who has gained quite a following in her various social media profiles.

You can find her on You Tube as well as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram among others discussing an array of topics, many of which are regular topics on this blog (colorism,cultural appropriation, black identity and feminism), which is why she is a perfect choice to be featured here.

Nátaly in a video speaking on the issue of colorism

Nátaly is yet another black Brazilian who has been able to use the internet and specifically social media outlets to address issues and bring visibility to a black community that remains for the most part under-represented, stereotyped and ignored in Brazil’s mainstream media (see a few others here, here, here and here). If you understand Portuguese be sure to check out her You Tube page here. If not, oh well, you can still check out some of the photos in today’s post as well as others over on our Tumblr page.

Video discussing cultural appropriation

Video: “Empowerment, feminists of makeup, black women with straightened hair”

Discussion on “Self-esteem, identity and black feminism”

Video about hairstyles with box braids inspired by black divas of the 1990s

https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/2016/03/29/faces-of-afro-brazil-37/

 

[Yehuda]

Dominican Republic inaugurates its 1st solar energy plant

Published March 29, 2016 / EFE

President Danilo Medina on Tuesday inaugurated the Dominican Republic's first solar power plant, a $110 million facility in the eastern town of Monte Plata.

The plant was built by the Taiwanese firm General Energy Solutions.

At the inauguration ceremony, Jean A. Rodriguez, the executive director of the Dominican Republic's Export and Investment Center, said that it is "evident with this significant investment that practically ... the entire world has its eye fixed on the Dominican Republic as an investment destination."

The plant will create 300 direct jobs and 1,000 indirect ones and is Taiwan's biggest investment in the Caribbean country.

"We're adding so much value to the Dominican Republic as a destination for investment that investors ... are crossing the globe ... to invest here," Rodriguez said.

On the other hand, he said that the country is among the 10 top countries in Latin America for foreign investment in renewable energy and is the No. 1 country in the Caribbean.

"Here, all good things have converged for the alternative energy sector, including solar, wind and hydraulic energy," he emphasized.

Meanwhile, General Electric Solutions president Quincy Lin said that the plant's construction has been a "great opportunity" for Taiwan and "brings prosperity to our people." EFE

Dominican Republic inaugurates its 1st solar energy plant

 

[Poitier]

Jamaica, Beyond the Beach

The nation is recasting itself as a glamour and eco-tourism
destination, but its African-inflected culture is what lulls you.

By LUISITA LOPEZ TORREGROSAMARCH 31, 2016

I was trying not to slip as I traipsed over the stone pavement in the drizzle at the old fort at Port Royal in Kingston, the “wickedest city in Christendom,” a warren of iniquity and plunder, a den of pirates and buccaneers and the core of British naval power in the Antilles for 200 years.

As a retired coast guard captain who was born there and lived nowhere else in his 60 years led me around, conjuring up scenes of mayhem, killers, whores and smugglers, I scanned the remains of the fort, nearly deserted that morning, and saw nothing that remained of the glories past. Ruminating about the eerily quiet grounds, the captain sighed and recalled the historic turning point of the Port Royal story, the midday hour on June 7, 1692, when an earthquake toppled most of the city and 2,000 people into the sea, the day Port Royal became a ghost town.

On some islands, the tale would be a defining one, but here, it was just a slim chapter in a dramatic history. Jamaica was born out of conflagration. Fire and brimstone, slave rebellions and insurrections, pirates and buccaneers, hurricanes and earthquakes. It was inhabited by Taino Indians, who named it Xaymaca, and shaped by European conquerors, first the Spanish, then the English.

The British turned the island into a huge sugar plantation, its wealthiest colony in the Caribbean and the hub of slave trade in the Americas. Planters built magnificent houses high above their sugar cane fields, and lived lives of idleness, gorging on drink and wanton sex with slaves.

At the center of Jamaica’s ethnic and political complexity is race. As in Antigua and on other Caribbean islands, the social and economic division between mostly white “haves” and mostly black “have-nots” runs deep. Like other Caribbean countries, Jamaica is demanding reparations for slavery. Old grievances and injustices drive much of the political violence, gang crime and economic problems that have bedeviled the island.

But it seems something is changing. The government is stable after long periods of tumult, and it is pushing to rein in crimes against foreigners, gang-and-drugs shootings, and evangelist-reinforced homophobia. The economy is still wobbly but showing some signs of health, and tourism, the island’s No. 1 industry, on which many Jamaicans depend for a living, has risen to at least 1.5 million visitors a year.

With such high stakes in tourism, the island has begun looking beyond its traditional market, the sand-and-sun visitors and the stable of honeymooners who reliably fill the giant middlebrow Jamaican-owned Sandals and Couples resorts. Jamaica has been promoting celebrity and Hollywood, like the seaside villa “GoldenEye,” onetime retreat of the James Bond creator Ian Fleming and now a resort where one night in the least expensive cottage can set you back $1,400 in the high season.

Glossy videos and magazine advertising showcase a paradise island of multiple attractions including eco-tourism, bohemian tourism, spa and wellness tourism, even small-bore niche tourism like Jewish Jamaican Journeys. It’s an all-out campaign to drum up travelers to Jamaica’s alchemy of nature, adventure, night life and sensuality.

Jamaica has, of course, been a player in the Caribbean tourist game, but competition is stiffer and so are the stakes now that Cuba has opened up and inched ahead of Jamaica in the number of visitors in 2015. Jamaica already lags well behind the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, but it hopes that new mega-resorts and other investments will create badly needed jobs and energize the private sector.

With a per-capita income estimated at $9,000 (it’s $15,200 in Puerto Rico and $9,700 in the Dominican Republic) and an approximate 16 percent unemployment rate, Jamaica is grappling with the steady exodus of thousands of its 2.9 million people to New York, Miami and London.

With few options but to expand tourism, which makes up about 27 percent of the nation’s revenues, the government passed development and casino legislation that will bring the first casino-hotel resort to the island,Celebration Jamaica Hotel and Resort, a 2,000-room, 90-acre project set to open in a year or two in Montego Bay. The resort has a Canadian company behind it, but much of the new tourism investment comes from Spain and Mexico, posing a challenge to longtime Anglo-American dominance.

For all the three centuries that Britain ruled Jamaica, though, the island’s deepest influence is not English. It is African. It is folk magic, spiritual and superstitious. It is musical, the poetry of the hills and the streets, the rhythms you hear in the way Jamaicans speak, the imploding pulse that runs from east to west, from the resort-strewn north coast to the rougher south, through bamboo-shaded foothills and cloud-covered peaks and the wind-driven tides that roll up on this island of old myths and spiritual power.

The “jumping bridge” at Rockhouse.CreditRobert Rausch for The New York Times

Folk magic out of West Africa, not unlike Haiti’s voodoo and Cuba’s Santeria, feeds the Jamaican belief in superstition, witches and ghosts. Magic runs through a pervasive fundamentalist and evangelical Christian society that breeds revivalist cults that speak in tongues and believe in spirit possession. Rastafarians are something else. Born out of poor and black Jamaicans, they worship inner divinity, hold ganja smoking as a sacrament, and are as essentially Jamaican as reggae.

“Reggae is synonymous with social consciousness,” a young Jamaican woman told me. “It means black empowerment. It means Marcus Garvey (the father of the black power movement). It means Rastafarianism.”

This was the Jamaica that I wanted to get to know better.

So after lunch at the historic Devon House in Kingston, the former estate of Jamaica’s first black millionaire, I made the rounds of several history museums with the chairman of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, Ainsley Henriques. As we browsed through rooms of ancient artifacts, pictures and other paraphernalia, Jamaica’s heroes came to life. There wasPaul Bogle, hanged after the Morant Bay rebellion of 1865, and Nanny of the Maroons, who led slaves to freedom in the Blue Mountains, and Sam Sharpe, hanged after the Christmas Rebellion of 1831. More recently, there was Norman Manley, the Oxford-educated nationalist who helped bring about independence in 1962. His face on wall-size posters in airport corridors greets Jamaica visitors.

And there’s Bob Marley. There’s a museum outside Kingston for the reggae icon. He’s the myth, the mystic, who spoke to God, they say, who conquered the world. But I didn’t have to go look at the museum. All of Jamaica is a Bob Marley museum. A stream of gifted Jamaican musicians cycled through mento to calypso, jazz, rhythm and blues, and ska. Then came Marley, son of a white British officer named Norval Marley and a black woman, Cedella Malcolm Booker, and with Bob Marley came reggae, and reggae took everything in its path.

So that night I avoided the mobbed dance hall parties like Weddy Weddy Wednesdays and went to Redbones Blues Cafe, the highly acclaimed venue for Bob Marley’s musical heirs and a beehive of culture, art exhibitions, foreign films and poetry nights.

I hit it on a poetry night. It was raining off and on. The stage was soaked, and managers were fussing around, clipboards in hand. The bar was buzzing. Next to me, a graying ponytailed foreigner in a white seersucker suit was whispering to his blond girlfriend. Dressy couples held up cocktails and clustered under the bar’s roof. Eavesdropping while sipping a Jamaican-style caipirinha, I ran my eyes over bar walls papered with photos of jazz and blues greats, while, oddly enough, American lounge music played in the background.

 

[Poitier]

The next day, after a three-hour, stomach-churning ride through the mountains, Jamaica’s limpid blue skies and gorgeous seashore came to view. The resort city of Ocho Rios and the smaller coastal towns were bustling. People mingled on sidewalks and plazas, storefronts and markets, food stalls and at the Juici Patties, the local fast-food joints. I wanted to walk around, have a bite, but time was short. I had to get to Montego Bay.

Coyaba hotel beach, Joni from the Netherlands was reading a paperback in German. She and her husband, Jos, a professor with the graying, thinning hair and serious mien of academia, had been there a week and had five more days to go. They were running out of things to do, had gone to the Blue Mountains and to Port Antonio’s Blue Lagoon (site of the namesake movie starring Brooke Shields) and to Dunn’s River Falls and Mystic Mountain near Ocho Rios. Now they were wondering if they should make the long trek to the Appleton Rum estate in the distant inland southwest. I had no answers for them. I hadn’t seen half as much as they had.

I had imagined Montego Bay would glitter with opulent hotels and restaurants, clubs and shops — and it did, in the resorts — but the town’s Hip Strip (Gloucester Avenue) was a letdown, lined with midrange hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, hostels, souvenir shops, jerk food stands, hustlers, and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, maybe MoBay’s most popular club. It was the version of Jamaica that its tourism folks wanted to rethink.

I hit the city on the last Friday of the month, when folks get paid and go downtown to spend their money. St. James Street was a clogged artery of cars, trucks and buses, a revolving elbow-to-elbow mass of people going through food stalls, bars, clothing stores, haberdasheries, computer depots, supermarkets, carwashes and plazas reverberating with the earsplitting sounds of hawking vendors, chattering voices and full-volume music. I wanted to step down and join in, but I also wanted to get out of there.

After fumes and crowds, I was hoping for a drink and fabulous food. Friends had talked up Scotchies, the island’s best known jerk emporium. I had expected one of those smoky places with picnic tables and paper tablecloths. I found a quaint roadside joint with an open-air bar and a few outdoor tables for large groups. A dozen customers, foreigners mostly, were knocking back Red Stripe and digging into servings of jerk pork. I ordered the same. The beer was ice-cold, but the pork was tough and tasteless. I kept pouring a spicy goop over it but it didn’t help.

Vivid paintings in Life Yard in Kingston.CreditRobert Rausch for The New York Times
A day later, on my way to Negril’s West End — after my debit card was “eaten” by a Scotiabank A.T.M. at a Kingston shopping mall and after putting up with unreliable land transport — I wasn’t sure I would ever have a great day in Jamaica, or worse, that I would ever feel that inexplicable connection to the island that I had felt in Antigua and San Juan and Havana.

Two hours down the Norman Manley Highway south to Negril, flashing by speeding bicyclists and motorcyclists, herds of baby goats, bold-paint wood-and-tin homes and the open sea, Jamaica began to work its charms on me.

Then, there was Negril’s West End and the Rockhouse Hotel. Magic!

It was visually fabulous with flowers in bloom, bougainvillea vines and almond trees, and shaded winding paths that led to hexagonal thatched-roofed villas of timber and stone looking out to the sea. At a glance, Rockhouse lived up to its reputation, one of the loveliest boutique hotels in the Caribbean.

But extreme contrasts are inevitable in Jamaica. Across the road from Rockhouse’s fancy gift shop, several ramshackle souvenir shops sold typical tourist wares — T-shirts, flimsy dresses, scarfs, hats and trinkets — and a short ride from the eco-centric serenity of Rockhouse, hundreds of tourists flocked to Rick’s Café, a boisterous bar-restaurant-music hangout with a cliff-diving show, super bars and sensational sunsets.

I checked out the scene one afternoon, tried to get a bar stool but gave up fighting the crowd. A singer was dancing on the stage, and people swilling from paper cups clapped to the rhythm. Soon, rather suddenly, as it does in the tropics, the sun went down, and with that the party broke up. The crowd streamed out, pushing and shoving. Tour buses, vans and taxis packed with riders lumbered out of the parking lot. It was a crazy scene, as crazy as Negril’s infamous boat parties and bar shuttles.

An “On the Spot,” whose colors change as you drink it, at the Cedar Bar at the Half Moon resort.CreditRobert Rausch for The New York Times

That evening at the Rockhouse, I was having a drink and chatting with an American couple who came back every year, had married and honeymooned there. Even with its high occupancy rate, the hotel opens its restaurants to the public. Expats living in Negril make it their club, where you might meet old-time hippies in sandals like Janet, a blustery San Franciscan who married a local 27 years ago and is building a house with a swimming pool on a hill.

At the bar of the main restaurant, which doubles as a community center with easy chairs and sofas, books and the only TV in the resort, a small group of women was cracking jokes about the risqué show at the Jungle nightclub on Ladies Night Out. They’d come from Alberta, Canada, and were letting loose and splurging on cocktails, crispy fried snapper and crème brûlée.

Early morning, I was on a sleep cloud, tucked in on a pillowed four-poster bed, a slow ceiling fan ruffling a pinned-up muslin mosquito net. Jumping off the bed, I opened the shuttered doors to my private deck. The roiling sea melded with the distant blurry horizon, and I watched as a small boat with a single passenger, man or woman I couldn’t tell, heaved and tossed in the rough sea. Waves leapt, crashed and spat foam maybe 50 feet high against the Rockhouse cliffs. From somewhere on the nearby road drifted the lilting music you hear everywhere you go in Jamaica, the soundtrack of the island.

Later, only a 15-minute drive away, I was dipping my feet in the sea, strolling along the popular (and overbuilt) Seven-Mile Beach. The fluffy white-sand strip was crowded already. Tourists were ensconced in lounge chairs, their bodies laid out to toast. A rangy vendor with dreadlocks, hollow cheeks and bony legs followed me, dangling a bunch of bananas in one hand and clutching a plastic sack containing who knows what. Peddlers and hustlers are a plague all over Jamaica, but this guy didn’t push it. When I said “no” politely, he backed off.

Grateful, I picked up my walk on the lumpy wet sand. The sea sloshed around my feet, splashing my legs. Glass-bottom boats and fishing charters swayed in shallow waters, waiting to take divers and snorkelers to the coral reefs and grottoes that make this Jamaica’s dreamiest coast.

I had been in Jamaica five days, and finally I was steeping myself in the singsong and blithe spirit of the island.

My trip was now winding down, and I returned to Montego Bay to the Half Moon resort. Half Moon was a palace, elegant, serene, welcoming. Queen Elizabeth II has stayed there and Prince Philip and the Prince of Wales and John and Jackie Kennedy, and countless movie stars and celebrities, honeymooners and lovers on a fling. It is a once-in-a-lifetime place.

Gloucester Beach in Montego Bay. CreditRobert Rausch for The New York Times

I had a few hours left, so I went out to the sun, ordered a gin and tonic at the beachside Cedar Bar, and found a lounge chair near a gaggle of young Brits, Virgin Atlantic crew members on a two-day layover. That evening they had a party and wanted me to go along. I had other plans. I had a predawn wake-up call to catch my flight out.

After a wonderful dinner outdoors at the hotel, I took my time going through Seagrape Terrace, where guests had gathered for a musical nightcap with a Jamaican singer. I listened for a while and walked down the beach. In the distance I thought I heard the familiar words, “One love, one heart, let’s get together and be all right.”

IF YOU GO

Where to Stay
Daily rates, shown in U.S. dollars, may change seasonally and do not include taxes and fees. Ask about all-inclusive rates when you book.

The Half Moon, host to royalty and celebrities over its 60-year history, lives up to its reputation as one of the Caribbean’s most prestigious resorts with a pristine beach, plantation-style cottages, shops and a golf course. Rooms start at $299 in peak season; suites at $524; villas go up to $3,000. Rose Hall, Montego Bay; 1-876-953-2211; halfmoon.rockresorts.com.

Rockhouse Hotel, one of the loveliest boutique hotels in the Caribbean, stretches across the rocky cliffs of Negril’s West End. Stone and timber rooms have thatched roofs, private decks and lush gardens. Rooms from $180 in peak season; villas at $450. West End Road, Negril; 1-876-957-4373; rockhousehotel.com.

GoldenEye has one- and two-story huts. Near Ocho Rios; one-bedroom from $1,400 in peak season; 1-876-622-9007; goldeneye.com.

Diving from a platform at Rick’s Café in Negril.CreditRobert Rausch for The New York Times

Spanish Court in Kingston attracts a business clientele and tourists. Rooms from $179. 1 St. Lucia Avenue; 1-876-926-0000;spanishcourthotel.com.

Where to Eat
Rockhouse Restaurant & Bar, which serves fusion Euro-American-Jamaican dishes, has some of the best food on the island.Pushcart, also at the Rockhouse Hotel, specializes in jerk dishes, grilled spice-rubbed meats, fish and poultry cooked over an outdoor grill.

Il Giardino, at Half Moon resort, mixes the flavors of Italy with Jamaican tastes; 1-888-830-5974.

Redbones Blues Cafe, a restaurant, bar and live-music venue, is a Kingston fixture. 1 Argyle Road; 1-876-978-6091; redbonesbluescafe.com.

Grog Shoppe, a onetime servants’ quarters at Devon House, serves Jamaican specialties and American staples. 26 Hope Road; 1-876-929-6602; devonhousejamaica.com.

Where to Drink and Dance
KINGSTON

Weddy Weddy Wednesdays and other nightly free outdoor sound system parties, a mix of block party, dance-offs, fashion shows and stereo wars. Parties start around 11 p.m. For listings, check with the front desk at your hotel or the Friday issue of The Observer.

Tracks & Records, sports-music bar owned by the Olympics champion Usain Bolt. 67 Constant Spring Road; 1-876-906-3903.

Famous, mecca of dance hall culture. Gerbera Avenue, Portmore; 1-876-988-8801; www.facebook.com/FamousNightclubJa.

MONTEGO BAY

Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest is the island’s premier reggae festival, held every year in late July; reggaesumfest.com.

Pier One, an open-air restaurant and music venue on a dock, is a favorite of stylish locals and foreigners. Howard Cooke Boulevard; 1-876-286-7208;www.pieronejamaica.com.

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville is one of the most popular clubs in MoBay. Gloucester Avenue; margaritavillecaribbean.com.

NEGRIL

Sandals is Negril’s night-life emporium with theme nights and shows. Norman Manley Boulevard; sandals.com.

Jungle,Negril’s one big nightclub outside the all-inclusive resorts, has top D.J.s and two large dance floors. Norman Manley Boulevard.

Luisita Lopez Torregrosa, a journalist and author, is a professor at Fordham University and a former editor at The New York Times. She last wrote about Puerto Rico in the Travel section.

A version of this article appears in print on April 3, 2016, on page TR1 of the New York edition with the headline: Searching for the Soul of Jamaica. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/travel/jamaica-beyond-the-beach.html?_r=1

 

[Yehuda]

Markets | Fri Apr 1, 2016 10:35am EDT

Citgo, Aruba government postpone deadline to restart idled refinery

Aruba and Venezuelan PDVSA's refining unit Citgo Petroleum postponed a deadline to reach a final agreement to lease and restart an idled 235,000-barrel-per-day refinery, the government of the Caribbean island said late on Thursday.

The parties have, since 2015, been negotiating a 25-year lease that would allow Citgo to operate the refinery after investing in an overhaul.

The facility, which was operated by U.S. firm Valero Energy until 2012, was later classified as "abandoned."

The deadline to reach a deal, originally set for March 31, was extended for six more weeks following talks between Aruba's Energy ministry and Citgo executives in Houston, the government said.

Citgo also agreed to continue with a technical and financial analysis relating to the restart of the refinery's operational units.

Citgo had planned to start a staff-hiring process in April, according to a source. It is not clear if a new schedule was agreed by the parties as part of the postponement deal. (Reporting by Sailu Urribarri; Writing by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Citgo, Aruba government postpone deadline to restart idled refinery

 

[BigMan]

Markets | Fri Apr 1, 2016 10:35am EDT

Citgo, Aruba government postpone deadline to restart idled refinery

Aruba and Venezuelan PDVSA's refining unit Citgo Petroleum postponed a deadline to reach a final agreement to lease and restart an idled 235,000-barrel-per-day refinery, the government of the Caribbean island said late on Thursday.

The parties have, since 2015, been negotiating a 25-year lease that would allow Citgo to operate the refinery after investing in an overhaul.

The facility, which was operated by U.S. firm Valero Energy until 2012, was later classified as "abandoned."

The deadline to reach a deal, originally set for March 31, was extended for six more weeks following talks between Aruba's Energy ministry and Citgo executives in Houston, the government said.

Citgo also agreed to continue with a technical and financial analysis relating to the restart of the refinery's operational units.

Citgo had planned to start a staff-hiring process in April, according to a source. It is not clear if a new schedule was agreed by the parties as part of the postponement deal. (Reporting by Sailu Urribarri; Writing by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Citgo, Aruba government postpone deadline to restart idled refinery

mixed feelings about this

 

[godkiller]

Why are Carribeans matched with Hispanics here, @Poitier ? You know Carribeans and Hispanic aren't necessarily the same, right? The only Spanish speaking country Carribean countries even affiliate with is Venezuela and to an extent the Dominican Republican.