Author: y.barrios

Venezuela, a Failing State

The way this article opens up automatically gives the reader an idea of what the author will be speaking and it also gives it the “feature” aspect of it since it speaks about a medical students, and then moves on to quote him and his feelings about Venezuela’s political situation and how that is affecting him.

I think the author was very effective in transitioning to different stories and through this, show the reader the critical state Venezuela is in.

Throughout the article, he also gave a long and detailed summary of Venezuela and everything that contributed to their current situation.

He was also very effective in offering different perspectives from different people and their attitude towards the government. It gave the article more objectivity in an issue that is hard to not show bias towards.

Overall, there was a lot of emotional appeal throughout the article and the personal stories told but, the author also did a great job in explaining the situation, the causes and the possible outcomes in the future. The end was also very effective and has the potential to cause many reactions at once from the

reader. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/14/venezuela-a-failing-state

For this magazine feature article, I would like to write about the profession of Journalism. I would mainly like to focus on investigative journalism, where many journalists have put their lives at risk. There are many ways in which journalists are threatened by powerful people to manipulate the information they aim to publish. In other countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba and Afghanistan, things are more critical in the media and journalism is no longer serving the citizens as it should be. Many journalists have been murdered and threatened, others have been tortured and kidnapped because they have published information that exposed powerful people including the government. In this article I would like to focus in countries such as the ones mentioned above where freedom of press has disappeared and where crimes against journalists go unpunished. I hope to speak to some journalist who can speak about their personal experiences.

Venezuela’s Emergency 

 

Venezuela was once one of the most prosperous nation due to its valuable natural resource: oil but, it is now struggling from a myriad of issues. It has one of the world’s highest violent crime rates, and is suffering of tremendous poverty due to inflation. The poor decisions taken by ex- president, Hugo Chavez are having a domino effect in Venezuela and things are only getting worse. Coming from a humble background of farmers, Chavez made many promises to the people of Venezuela to bring equality to their nation. However, his strategies and decisions have only done the opposite for the country and its people.

With Chavez’s death in March 2013, Nicolas Maduro became the new president and terror grew more amongst the people. Maduro’s background in politics has proven to be very limited, his education is also limited to only a few years of high school. Venezuela has a scarce amount of resources that has lead many people to buy basic necessities such as food and medicine from the black market, which is considered to be illegal by the government. If it was not for the private food and beer company, Empresas Polar, obtaining food would be almost impossible and things would be more critical. People wait in line the entire day in hopes to buy basic things, and even waiting does not guarantee they will find anything in stock.

President Maduro and those working under his power are aware of the situation that is affecting the entire nation of Venezuela and nothing is being done to improve the situation. Records and statistics of the reality are being hidden and manipulated by the government. Disease outbreaks are increasing everyday. In 1961, Venezuela was the first country to be declared free of Malaria. Today, it has over 100, 000 cases per year, amongst many cases of malnutrition, diphtheria and plagues. The people of Venezuela have the right to have access to these records, and the government has the duty to provide them.

Not only is the government hiding these records, but they are also doing anything in their power to make sure they stay hidden. There are only very few independent dailies in Venezuela because the government has put many roadblocks that has lead many to end business. It is more than evident that the government has taken away many rights from the people of Venezuela and it is not doing its job to serve the people. It has been almost two decades of a violation of rights, poor leadership that had lead to extreme poverty, very limited medical assistance, and an immense increase in violence.

Chavez declined international help multiple times and has strictly kept Cuba with similar political socialist ideas, as a great ally. However, this alliance was not a very strategic one since he provided oil for this nation for a very low price and in return, Cuba sent doctors to improve Venezuela’s health care system. The United States offered to help Venezuela from turning into a complete political and social disaster, however, all forms of help were declined by Chavez and he even expressed great dislike against American referring to it as “an assassin” and “a violent invader”. As much as international help was declined, many Venezuelans are fleeing the country and coming to the the United States. Venezuela must accept international help in order to save its nation and its people. The current strategies have proven to only be failing the country, and if intervention does not occur, it will only keep going downhill. Not only is international intervention needed to stop this but, to rebuild this nation who has proven to be capable of great success.

According to Pew Research Center, the population of Venezuelans in the United States has quadrupled in the last two decades.

“I graduated as an engineer in Venezuela, but when Chavez came into power, having a college education even from the best Universities was useless,” Marcos Diaz, 45 says. “We gave up everything we had so I can come to New York and try to get my family out of that misery they are living in.”

Diaz migrated to the United States a year ago, and experienced first hand Venezuela’s tremendous collapse. He also believes that Venezuela has an emergency and Maduro needs to go. Diaz as well as most of Venezuela hope to elect a new president through the recall referendum which requires more than the amount Maduro received to be elected president in 2013.

“One thing is to hear about it in the news, and the other is to actually see people dying of starvation or lack of medical assistance. Or waking up at 5 a.m. to be the first in line so you can get food, only to get robbed by the criminals who took the wrong path trying to survive. I work hard everyday because I need to get my family out of Venezuela but, it gets harder every time I call and all your children tell you is how hungry and afraid of their country they are,” Diaz says as he quickly wipes a tear falling down his eye.

 

The Trump Effect: A future of Uncertainty

Rushing through the crowded hallways of Lehman college to catch the four train that leaves at 3:30, Angela Martinez suddenly realizes that she forgot to ask her Biology professor about the next assignment.

She lets out a big sight.

“I won’t make it to work on time,” she says. “Just give me a second, I have to call my job to let them know I will be late, again.”

Martinez, 20 is a student at Lehman College pursing a nursing degree. She is also a DREAMER, an undocumented immigrant who migrated with her parents when she was seven years old from Puebla, Mexico. DREAMERs were brought to this country, were raised here, attended school in the United States and identify as Americans.

The executive order, DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), implemented the summer of 2012 from President Barack Obama, to Martinez, is “a blessing”. DACA is meant to protect undocumented immigrants who entered the country before the age of sixteen from deportation and allowing them to work in the United States legally. This executive order also gives those who qualify other benefits, such as a temporary Social Security, access to obtaining a driving license, and paying in-state college tuition.

Trump has made it very clear that if he gets elected president, he would do everything in his power to deport all undocumented immigrants back to their country. He has also said that the executive order DACA would not continue under his power.

“Before DACA, I was constantly worried about my future,” Martinez says. “I mean, how was I supposed to pay for my education when I was not even allowed to work in this country without running the risk of breaking the law, all because you wanted to earn some money?”

Martinez’s mother, Maria Asuncion is a housekeeper on the Upper West side who works only two days a week, and her father, Mario Martinez, is a cook at a steak house who works full-time. With their salary, they have just enough to support Martinez and her three siblings, ages 17, 15 and 8.

“All my life I have seen my parents working, they have been working to survive, but they are not living life like they deserve to. As soon as I heard about DACA, I knew that was my opportunity to work towards my future, and through that give my parents a break.”

Martinez was entering her senior year of high school when DACA was passed, but she wasted no time. After receiving her card and temporary Social Security, she started looking for a job, and soon she began working as a server on the Upper East Side.

“I had one year to save up enough money to pay my first year of tuition at a community college, because I was obviously not going to afford a four-year college, let alone a private university.” Martinez says, shaking her head.

And Martinez did just that. She was able to save up to pay her first year at LaGuardia Community College. But the real struggle was in her sophomore year of college, when she had to keep working in order to continue her education while balancing her time to do her homework in order to maintain good grades.

“That was the hardest year of my life. I thought senior year was hard but, that was only a taste. I was running up and down all the time from work to school and vice versa. There were many nights when I would only sleep four or five hours and in many days, I skipped a meal due to the lack of time I had. Whenever I had any free time, I would go to the library and finish all of my assignments,” Martinez says.

All of the stress Martinez was under started taking a toll on her health. She had constant back pains and unbearable headaches. It was also affecting her relationship with her family and friends. They became more distant and the communication between them was very limited.

It was then that Martinez began looking for scholarships to help her with tuition. After a long process and much dedication, Martinez was awarded the DREAM U.S scholarship, a national scholarship granted to students who qualified for DACA. The scholarship would cover her full tuition for junior and senior year.

While this scholarship was a great “blessing,” many concerns remain for Martinez and her family. With the upcoming elections, their future is uncertain.

“We always thought that he [Donald Trump] was just a joke, and he would not get as far as he has. But now, we are preparing for the worst,” Martinez says.

Trump has targeted many groups of people through his very offensive and discriminatory comments, and Mexicans were no exception for him. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” said Trump on June 2016 as he announced that he would be running for presidency.

“Realistically speaking, I know that if he gets elected president, he does not have the power to remove all undocumented immigrants from the U.S. but I am sure that he can do a lot of damage, and all of these benefits from DACA will be gone, especially my scholarship,” she says.

Well aware of what can possibly happen if Trump wins’ presidency, Martinez’s schedule is a busy one again. Afraid that she will be loosing her scholarship, she is determined to finish her education even if that means many more sleepless nights

“I don’t celebrate Halloween,” Harjap Kaur said. “I just don’t like it. You have to buy candy, and that is expensive.”

Angel Mendieta will be celebrating Halloween with his four-month old niece. “My little niece is dressing up as a miniature pumpkin. I don’t know if my sister will be dressing up, but I am definitely not going to dress up,” he said.

The historical conflict between the U.S government and Native Americans seems to be repeating itself. The birth of this nation was obtained with the argument of manifest destiny which was then put into action by taking Native American’s land in a violent and inhumane way. Recently, the proposition to build a 1,172-mile pipeline through North Dakota has caused a lot of conflict due to effects this will have on the Native American tribe, Standing Rock Lakota Sioux Nation. The pipe will pass through land marks, including burial ground as well as having the potential to contaminate the water this tribe uses as pivotal source of their living.

Legal agreements that protect Native American and their land have constantly been violated by the U.S government such as, the building of the Dalles Dam in 1950 amongst others. A U.S federal judge gave the order to build the North Dakota pipeline, regardless of the cultural value it holds for Native Americans because the construction of this pipeline will bring significant financial benefits for the Energy Transfer Partners, parent company Dakota Access, and it will also decrease the dependency the U.S has on crude oil. The path to a better future should be to learn from our past mistakes. Native American people should have a sovereignty over their land and their culture should be respected. Instead of investing 3.8 billion dollars in the ongoing destruction of Native American culture, Dakota Access should invest that money in finding new sources of energy. The protesters who have gathered in North Dakota to show their support for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline are being arrested en masse by police. This has brought into question citizens’ right to protest causes with which they disagree in the United States.

If 300,000 people had not participated in a March on Washington, D.C. in 1963, the United States would not have the civil rights that its citizens enjoy today. Protesting is a vital part of U.S. democracy and it is protected by the First Amendment. If citizens could not protest, they would not have this powerful opportunity to create a dialogue with the government. By arresting over 100 people, the executive branch of the U.S. government is telling its citizens that their voice and actions do not matter. Arresting innocent people sets a dangerous precedent for which the police do not want to be known. Citizens have the right to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline and should be allowed to do so without repercussion.

Written by:

Maria Markowics, Rebecca Simons, Angel Mendieta, Yesenia Barrios

In this profile article “Finding His Place, Reluctantly, in the Tribe of Judaism”, Steve Erlanger writes about Philippe Sands, a Jewish lawyer whose history he did not fully understand because his parents always avoided the subject. This lack of knowledge always gave him a sense of insecurity. He then began to do his research about the horrible history of his ancestors and the many ways in which they were suppressed.

The angle of the story was to understand the importance of an individual’s personal identity, separated from the association others give us with a larger group.

In terms of the way the profile article was written, I believe the author was very effective giving us a brief summary of Sand’s life. Erlanger not only described who his parents and grandparents were but, he also connected it to the angle of the story. He also gave us a few details about his personal life. In several occasions the author quoted Sands and described his physical reactions as Sands spoke. This gave the profile article a more intimate feel and more color.

 

Yesenia Barrios

JRN 3060

Professor Johnson

September 19, 2016

 

“You decided to marry him and made the mistake to get pregnant. Now, it is your issue to make sure he stays with you because I will not help you.” Those were the words Antonieta Morales, 49, heard from her mother as she decided to tell her that her husband was constantly abusing her physically and mentally. It all started in Mexico City, where she lived with her family. She was nineteen years old when a charming man, dressed in his military uniform showed great interest in her.

“He was very romantic. He would show up at my job with flowers and always made sure that I was okay.” Antonieta said.

It was until she turned twenty that he told her they were going to go on a trip, and she never came back home.

“It was very romantic at first, he was always very attentive and although he did not tell me that he wanted us to live together, I liked the idea of creating a home with him.”

But the sweet and romantic moments became less frequent, and the red flags were in Antonieta’s face that she could no longer find any more excuses for him and his hurtful behavior.

Antonieta had her first child with her husband a year after she first moved in with him and it was at this point that he expected her to only be a housewife and a mother. He had a list of expectations from her. If she did not meet these expectations, he would start to verbally attack her by making her feel guilty, bringing her self-esteem down and degrading her in many forms. Many times, Antonieta tried to defend herself but Mario would physically start abusing her.

 

“He was constantly cheating on me, and he would do it in my face too. At some point, a woman came to our house while my children were there and she asked for him. She started telling him to leave us behind and go live with her.”

 

I was soon expecting her to tell me that he declined this woman’s offer and gave his wife the place she deserved. That was not the answer I got. Mario stood there as this woman humiliated his wife and let his children witness it all.

 

You would ask yourself “why did she not just walk away if this was a broken marriage that was tearing her and her children apart?” Psychologytoday.com explains that a victim of domestic violence finds it very difficult to walk away for various emotional and situational reasons. For Antonieta this proved to be right. Mario would show remorse and ask her to forgive him. She kept holding on to that little bit of hope, hope that some day he would change. She knew that he was once a loving man and she always thought that if she was just patient enough, he would go back to that man she fell in love with. The economic dependence, lack of support from her family and her children made her feel that she had no other option but to stay.

 

In many cases, culture is a pivotal factor for staying in an abusive relationship. Mexico is a very patriarchal society and many women agree that men are superior to women and that the female is meant to serve her husband. Antonieta is very familiar to this way of thinking because her own mother showed no compassion towards her suffering.

“The only advice she gave me was to stay and try to please him because it was now too late to walk away, because I had children with him and he was the only one who could financially support us.”

 

Domestic violence is an issue all around the world. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 out of 3 women are victims of domestic violence in the United States, and every nine seconds a woman is assaulted or physically beaten by her significant other. More than fifty percent of domestic violence victims do not take any action against the situation, and many end in tragedies.

 

The laws regarding domestic violence vary from state to state in the United States. However, in 1944, congress passes the Violence Against Women Act which states that domestic violence is a crime that can be punished by federal laws. Through this act, all citizens are protected against domestic violence but, each state handles every case differently.

 

For Antonieta, a new life in the United States is what helped her get away from her abusive husband.