by Gretchen Livingston, Senior Researcher, Pew Hispanic Center,Susan Minushkin, Deputy Director, Pew Hispanic Center,D’Vera Cohn, Senior Writer, Pew Research Center
More than one-fourth of Hispanic adults in the U.S. lack a usual health care provider, and a similar proportion report obtaining no health care information from medical personnel in the past year. At the same time, more than eight in ten report receiving health information from media sources, such as television and radio, according to a Pew Hispanic Center survey of Latino adults, conducted in conjunction with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Read More

August 21,2008 Miami Herald Andres Oppenheimer Hundreds of thousands of angry Mexicans are planning to take to the streets Aug. 30 to protest a rise in violent kidnappings that is shaking this country, and that is driving growing numbers of well-to-do Mexicans to move to Miami, San Antonio and other U.S. cities.
But there are big questions on whether this outpouring of civic indignation will help make Mexico a safer country. Four years ago, outraged citizens staged a mega-march to press authorities to do something about the kidnappings, only to see the issue fade away when other crises grabbed public attention.Read More

August 17, 2008 Miami Herald By ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
Get this: Latin America’s rich are getting richer than their counterparts in all other regions of the world, and have already amassed $6.2 trillion in financial assets—not counting their homes and art collections.
According to the 2008 World Wealth Report, a new study released by the international consulting firm Capgemini and Merrill Lynch, over the past three years the richest people in Latin America increased their wealth by 20.4 percent.
By comparison, the rich in oil-rich Middle Eastern countries saw their bank accounts grow by 17.5 percent over the same period, in Africa by 15 percent, in Asia by 12.5 percent, in Europe by 5.3 percent, and in the United States and Canada by 4.4 percent.Read More

August 4, 2008. El Pais. El objetivo es operarse para estar más cerca del canon de belleza occidental.
A Orly Cuzco, de 28 años, no le gustaba su nariz: “Me marcaba mucho los rasgos incas”. Por eso, este ecuatoriano de Guayaquil que reside en Madrid no dudó en destinar los 4.200 euros que tenía ahorrados para pasar por el quirófano y así “llamar menos la atención” por la calle. Ahora, está encantado con el resultado. “Me ha quedado muy bien”, comenta Cuzco, que, con la boca pequeña, cita entre los motivos de la intervención a la que se sometió hace cuatro meses un ligero desplazamiento del tabique nasal.
La forma de la nariz es uno de los rasgos que más pistas da del origen étnico de una persona. De ahí que la rinoplastia se haya convertido en la intervención estrella entre los inmigrantes -la mayoría, suramericanos- que, cada vez en mayor número, deciden recurrir al bisturí para occidentalizar su aspecto. Hay casos, como el de Orly, en los que se acude a la consulta para reducir la nariz, aunque lo más normal es lo contrario: ganar volumen, estrechar unas fosas excesivas y aumentar el caballete. Read More

With more blacks, Latinos, island comes to grips with change
By David Abel
Globe Staff / July 28, 2008
NANTUCKET - Hydrangeas still bloom beside cedar-shingle homes, and yachts continue to bob beyond private beaches, but this old preserve of the rich and primped is undergoing a change unlike anything it has witnessed in the centuries since English explorers established the island as a whaling port.
Evidence of the change is at El Rincon Salvadoreño, the island’s first restaurant catering to Latinos, at the newly expanded Star Brazil market off the road to the airport, and at the Island Flair clothing store opened two years ago by a Jamaican couple just off Main Street.Read More

NYT—Editorial—July 5, 2008
How secure is the border? The opinion of government optimists is that it is way secure. So secure you wouldn’t believe it — and not as secure as it will be. Too bad, though, that the results that restrictionists predict from victory — an end to illegal immigration, the expulsion of illegal immigrants, the restoration of jobs to American workers, the protection of American culture and language from a Hispanic invasion — are not coming anytime soon. Read More

Injured veterans are returning home from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in ever greater numbers. This is because the quality of emergency medical care in the field has steadily increased over the past fifty years. In the Second World War 38% of the injured died; in Vietnam 28%; and in Iraq only 6%.

While many more survive, the extent of their injuries has increased significantly, placing a major and steadily increasing burden on the Veterans system and on the taxpayer.

Last week we noted that the percentage of Latinos serving in the armed forces is ~11% and steadily increasing. Do you know Hispanic veterans who need assistance? Here is a helpful website listing many options for returning Veterans: http://www.aarp.org/family/caregiving/articles/iraq_vets_resources.html

Next week: the major problem facing returning Veterans – traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Recent census bureau statistics [1] show Latinos have passed the 45 million mark, representing 15% of the US population. Latinos make up an increasing proportion of the armed forces as well. September 2006 numbers show Latinos represent 11.2% of enlisted personnel and 4.9% of officers [2]. The Marine Corps has the largest percentage of Hispanics, interestingly with Latinos and Latinas represented in about equal numbers [2]. Latinos join up for many reasons, including pride, educational benefits, and fast track immigration potential [3], and their number is expected to grow as the Hispanic population grows and as recruiting efforts which target Hispanics increase [3].

Next Week: returning veterans - where to find help

1 http://www.census.gov
2 http://www.prb.org
3 http://www.imdiversity.com

McClatchy newspapers guardian.co.uk, Tuesday May 27 2008 Article history
Their acceptance into San Jose State university turned Joel Bridgeman and Anwar Estelle into instant neighbourhood heroes.
Few from the bleak Richmond, California, streets make it to university, with its promise of a career. It meant never having to sweep the parking lot of Burger King again.But the reality of university hit hard. Upon arrival, they needed remedial courses. Financial aid fell through. Their families couldn’t help. And hardly anyone on campus looked like them.
“It’s demoralising when you get here and you’re starting off behind,” Bridgeman said. “You think: Maybe I’m not as smart as I thought.”Read More

By JASON DePARLE
Published: June 10, 2008
MADRID — With the United States riven by calls to legalize millions of illegal immigrants, Americans might consider the possible effects by looking at southern Europe, where illegal immigration has abounded and so have forgiveness plans.In the last two decades, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece have run at least 15 legalization programs, including a Spanish effort three years ago that was among the Continent’s largest. With little domestic opposition, Spain legalized nearly 600,000 of the African, Latin American and eastern European workers who helped power its economy and brought this once insular land the strengths and strains of diversity. Read More

International Shortages and Price Increases Prompt Micro-Level Relief
Some immigrants are responding to news of food shortages in their home countries not by sending money but by shipping out food.

By Karin Brulliard. Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, June 9, 2008
Jovy Mark showed up at Manila Oriental, a Falls Church grocery that doubles as an agent for Filipino shipping companies, lugging two hefty boxes destined for relatives in the Philippines.
“They are really short of rice over there,” said Mark, 59, a nanny who lives in Manassas. “My brother said the [price of] rice is going up. So what I did, I said, ‘All right, I’ll look for rice that is cheaper over here.’ “ Read More

06 de junio, 2008 | 10:51 am - El Nacional. Estados Unidos negocia en estos momentos con la Unión Europea la posibilidad de incluir alguna crítica expresa a Cuba y Venezuela en la declaración conjunta con la que los socios transatlánticos cerrarán su Cumbre del próximo martes. Read More

Reuters
Washington, 4 de junio. El desempleo en Estados Unidos aumentó más entre hispanos que en el resto de la población en el primer trimestre de 2008, en el primer trimestre del año, debido principalmente a la crisis en el sector de la construcción, reportó un informe del centro de investigación Pew Hispanic Center.
La tasa de desempleo entre hispanos llegó a 6.5 por ciento en el primer trimestre de 2008, frente a 4.7 por ciento en el resto de la población no hispana, indicó el informe. “Los hispanos fueron especialmente afectados (por la crisis inmobiliaria)”, dijo Rakesh Kochhar, director asociado para investigación del Pew Hispanic Center, un centro de investigación en Washington.Read More

By Stephen Barr
Thursday, May 22, 2008; Page D04

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Social Security Administration are launching a study group to better understand the problems that Hispanics face in getting hired and promoted in the government.
Naomi C. Earp, chairman of the EEOC, and Michael J. Astrue, the Social Security commissioner, announced the formation of the working group yesterday. It will be led by Veronica Villalobos, an adviser to Earp.Read More

Globovisión / AFP Publicado el 08-05-2008
La depresión y otros problemas mentales están aumentando entre las inmigrantes latinoamericanas en Estados Unidos, que luchan contra los problemas económicos y la brecha cultural, indicaron expertos. Read More

New York Times By PETER S. GOODMAN
Published: May 13, 2008

DALTON, Ga. — In his first years in the United States, Carlos B. Jacinto endured the itinerant life of a Guatemalan migrant worker, from picking fruit in Florida to moving logs at a sawmill in Washington. Eventually, he settled here in northern Georgia and erected a middle-class American life. Read More