THIS WEEK ON LATINOPIA: SAL BALDENEGRO ON INDIGENOUS POLITICAL REPRESENTATION, EL ZOCOTROCO ON DISASTERS IN PUERTO RICO AND REMEMBERING GILBERT “MAGU” LUJAN WITH THREE VIDEOS OF HIS WORKS.
Welcome Latinopians to another week full of new blogs and videos. We start with Sal Baldenegro weighing in on Native American political representation in Arizona. For the first time in history, there may be five elected officials of indigenous descent elected to the Arizona legislature. Sal fills us in on the details and also on the decades long struggle for indigenous political empowerment. Don’t miss this insightful blog.
Our San Juan blogger José M. Umpierre, tambien conocido como El Zocotroco, reports on proposals by the Junta that oversees the restructuring of the Puerto Rican debt to cut back on the successful University retirement plan. The Plan de Retiro de la Universidad de Puerto Rico has allowed the 10,000 active members to contribute to a pension fund that has successfully invested the funds for decades. Find out how all of this now threatened in Umpierre’s eye-opening report.
And this week marks the birthday of our dearly departed friend and artistic genius Gilbert “Magu” Lujan who was born on October 16th, 1940. We honor his legacy with Magu speaking about his art (Gilbert “Magu” Lujan), and a look at the world he created (The World of Magulandia) and how he came to create this magical world (From Aztlan to Magulandia). Even if you’ve seen these videos before, they are really worth a second visit!
Enjoy your week on Latinopia!
Tia Tenopia