Conexión Miami / March by Venezuelan oppositionists

According to Ernesto Ackerman, director of the Venezuelan-American Citizens’ Association, a caravan will leave Miami for Washington on May 8. The “Freedom Ride,” whose main purpose is to mobilize the U.S. government to intervene in Venezuela, will be joined by Venezuelans from other states, among them Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. For his part, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated that his country will not take any measures related to the anti-government protests in Venezuela so long as the Bolivarian Government and the opposition maintain a dialogue. Children tried as adults Univision has just reported that a Florida youth — let’s call him Scott — has been turned down by one of Florida’s fire-fighter academies because he was once arrested and charged as an adult, so he now has a police record. The charges have been dropped and the young man has been found not guilty, so let’s hope that Scott’s story ends in absurdity, i.e., a boy who is innocent is denied a chance to begin training as a fire-fighter. This is not an isolated case. Every year, the state of Florida unjustly tries hundreds of young people as adults, according to the report “Branded for Life,” published by Human Rights Watch. ‘Conducta’ earns a couple of awards Written and directed by Ernesto Daranas, the Cuban feature film “Conducta” was awarded the prize for Best Film at the 15th Havana Film Festival in New York. The news agency EFE also reported that Alina Rodríguez, featured in that film, won the Best Actress prize. How representative of “Conducta’s” true quality are those awards? There’s no reliable way to know. However, we know that this year 45 feature films were shown at the Festival, produced in Latin American and the Caribbean and by Latino filmmakers living in the United States. And nothing spoke louder about the true quality of “Conducta” than the massive, almost supernatural reception given to the film by the Cubans on the island. That should be enough. Fund-raiser in Hialeah to fight cancer To battle cancer, a group of neighbors at the Golden Gates condominium, 440 Twenty-third Street in Hialeah, collected more than $1,500 during the meeting that is traditionally held every second week in April. For the seventh consecutive year, Aurelio Cadahia, 80, organized the campaign, which involved not only the community but also the city’s authorities and some sponsors. “This began with the illness of my brother Miguel, who suffered from colon cancer,” Cadahia said. The proceeds will be delivered in the form of a check to Mayor Carlos Hernández, who will forward it to the League Against Cancer. Latinos plant their flags in L.A. Like the Asians, the Hispanics, the majority ethnic group in California, want their own formal space in Los Angeles, their Latino gathering place. That is why, following the lead of Chinatown, Koreatown and Little Tokyo, the Latino Economic Empowerment Roundtable — formed by Mexicans, Salvadorans, Peruvians, Colombians and Venezuelans — wants to build neighborhoods in the style and proportion of those communities in L.A. The road ahead is not easy. Each of the proposals must be accompanied by 500 signatures and a written explanation of its merits.

Cuban boxer leaves his team National champion Marcos Forestal Caudín, a new star in Cuban pugilism, left his team after arriving in the United States. Forestal, a flyweight and one of the five Cuban Domadores (Tamers), had traveled to the U.S. to fight against the locals the return round of the Fourth World Series of Boxing (WSB). Through a communiqué from the Domadores, delivered to the press hours before the meet at Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H., the news of his defection became known. Nevertheless, on Saturday, Forestal’s teammates defeated the U.S. Knockouts with a score of 3 wins, 2 losses. Seven dead babies in cardboard boxes Megan Huntsman, 39, was arrested in Utah after seven dead newborns were found in cardboard boxes in a house where she once lived in Pleasant Grove. According to the initial investigation, the woman gave birth to six of the babies between 1996 and 2006, so she could be charged with six counts of murder. Reportedly, a new tenant of the house found a “suspicious box” (his description) and called the police. [Photo at top is of Venezuelan activist Ernesto Ackerman in 2011, flanked by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.]