Latest Columns

The Obstacle Course
To Legalization

Has anyone noticed that the so-called "path to legalization" for undocumented immigrants is rapidly becoming an obstacle course? Are we so hungry for immigration reform that we are willing to swallow it without even looking at it? Even if it's spoiled?

We hear the pundits saying that "at least immigration reform is moving forward," and, since Congress has been suffering from paralysis, they seem willing to celebrate any forward movement — never mind the details in hundred of forthcoming amendments that could kill the entire measure.

In fact, the two immigration bills still being drafted (in the House) and amended (in the Senate) are likely to be so far apart that reconciling them might prove to be impossible.

But if they do reach a consensus and pass some form of immigration legislation this year, I fear that it will be so diluted by Republicans and unprotected by Democrats that it will not be worthy of the president's signature.

Of course, just to save face, President Obama probably would sign anything, and he would call it a great accomplishment even if it isn't. But surely it would be nowhere near the pro-immigrant reform most Latino voters envisioned when they heard him say, "Si Se Puede" and when they sent him to the White House twice ... Read more ...

The Conveniently
'Forgotten War'


If you missed CBS's "Sunday Morning" program last week, you missed a report that should be required viewing for all Americans.

And if you are one of those Americans who still question why Latinos in the Southwest are offended when they are treated like foreigners, someone needs to sit you in front of a computer and make you watch this video online.

If there ever was a chapter of American history that needed a refresher course, this was it!

That's because this particular chapter on the Mexican-American War has been so egregiously and conveniently forgotten that many Americans are forming opinions that are based on ignorance.

We still call it the Mexican-American War. But in Mexico, they still call it "The American Invasion."

Some of us forget, and some never learned, that up to 165 years ago, most of the western United States belonged to Mexico, and that this territory was won in a war provoked by the United States to satisfy its thirst for territorial expansion ... Read more ...

Venezuelan Democracy
Is a Farce

You can call Venezuela many things — a political circus, an upcoming dictatorship, the world's most effective government vote-manipulating machine, a melodramatic Latin American telenovela — but please don't call it a democracy.

Whatever trace they had left of their once-democratic system of government was totally lost when the Chavista government of Nicolas Maduro clearly stole the presidential election of April 14.

It's gone. Democracy has left the country — much like so many Venezuelans who have been fleeing their homeland in search of freedom in the United States.

In spite of clearly evident fraud and widespread government manipulation of voters, Venezuela has "elected" Hugo Chavez's handpicked successor by less than 300,000 votes out of more than 14.7 million cast — all with the stamp of approval of the Chavista-controlled election commission, military, courts and legislature.

And in spite of opposition tantrums — calling for recounts, boycotts, Supreme Court appeals and new elections — in spite of the U.S. and other countries' reluctance to recognize the Maduro government, in spite of how many people believe that opposition candidate Henrique Capriles actually won the election, Maduro is staying in power.

You may want to call him "President Maduro."

I say he is a dictator. Read more...

On Immigration Reform,
The Democrats Caved

Just when we thought we were about to see fair and compassionate immigration reform, when we thought the Latino vote in the presidential election had opened a real pathway to U.S. citizenship for some 11 million undocumented immigrants, when at least some Republicans seemed to be retreating from their anti-immigrant offensive, the Democrats caved!

The comprehensive immigration reform legislation drafted in secret and finally unveiled by a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators known as the "Gang of Eight" — including four Democrats — is not the "path to legalization" many of us expected.

It's a minefield!

This road has so many detours, roadblocks and dead ends — so many ways to delay and even prevent undocumented immigrants from ever becoming citizens — that calling it a pathway insults our intelligence. At best, perhaps they could say they have created a "gauntlet" to legalization ... Read more ... 

The Re-Conquest
Of American History

As if he was a field commander rallying his troops, "the dean of Florida historians" was distributing ammunition among those who fight to correct American history, especially those who try to dispel the misconceptions about the Spanish explorers who discovered a land they called "La Florida" in 1513.

While others were preparing picket signs that would accuse the conquistadors of genocide, Dr. Michael Gannon was opening the April 2 celebrations to commemorate the 500th anniversary Juan Ponce de Leon's discovery of North America.

"We are all honored to be alive on an anniversary of this magnitude," Gannon told a crowd of history buffs who had filled the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Melbourne Beach, Fla.

Of course, he was literately preaching to the choir. In the audience, there were people who take their history so seriously that they were dressed as Spanish conquistadors, people who have spent years on a crusade to get Ponce de Leon and his men the recognition they deserve ... Read more

The Fountain of Our
Hispanic Heritage

People were shouting "Viva Espana" and celebrating the great achievements of the Spanish conquistadors in Florida last week. They were dressing up as Spanish explorers, firing muskets and even cannons, listening to history lectures and attending Catholic masses in recognition that Christianity came to America with much more compassion than history tells us.

In two days and two cities, they celebrated the 500th anniversary of the discovery and landing by Juan Ponce de Leon on the flowery land he called "La Florida."

They were showcasing our normally hidden Hispanic heritage, and there I was, in the middle of it all, thanking the Lord for giving me the opportunity to see it with my own eyes. Borrowing a line from baseball, I kept telling myself, "I live for this."

I heard non-Latino politicians, historians and clergy recognizing the contributions of our Spanish ancestors. I heard Spanish government officials expressing gratitude for Florida's "dedication to commemorate and remember the importance of the Spanish contribution to the history of Florida and the United States."

I heard them speaking about the assets of diversity, the importance of history and the unfair and negative effects of the Black Legend, that centuries old campaign by English, French and American writers to minimize the accomplishments of the Spanish explorers and their Latino descendants.

"We celebrate First America, the genesis of the American culture, where Hispanics and African-Americans and Native American mingled together in this area," said Dana Ste. Claire, one of the celebration organizers in St. Augustine.

"We are talking about the birth of the American culture. It happened right here."

Instead of the fountain of youth in the nation's oldest city, I had reached the fountain of our Hispanic heritage ... Read more ...

Can They Revive the GOP
After an Autopsy?

When the Republican National Committee released a report on the health of the GOP and called it an "autopsy" — instead of a prognosis — last week, were they admitting that the Republican Party is dead?

After all, you don't come back from an autopsy!

Yet that's what Republicans were calling their own assessment of how they handled the 2012 presidential election. And this "autopsy" will reportedly become their new playbook for correcting the things that went wrong last year.

Luck would not suffice. They are going to need miracles to resuscitate the GOP cadaver.

Nevertheless, some GOP right-wing extremists already are balking over the report's call for comprehensive immigration reform, claiming that their party should stick to its anti-amnesty principles and should not abide by the will of the American people who say such reform is necessary ... Read more

Latino Pope Evokes
Pride and Questions

At first, all we felt was pride. Learning that the Vatican had selected its first Latin American pope gave Hispanic Catholics a sense of inclusion we had never felt before.

I felt like screaming "gooooal," but I was in a university faculty meeting, and my colleagues would have found it a little strange. Even "Viva el Papa" would have been disruptive, and so some emotions needed to be suppressed.

Nevertheless, the selection of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio — now Pope Francis — was a huge symbolic gesture to embrace the world's Hispanic Catholics, and it was received with tears of joy throughout the Americas.

But then came the questions.

What can the former Bishop of Buenos Aires really do for Latin America? Better yet, what is he willing to do now that he is the pope?

Can he become the driving force that leads to liberation? Can he do for Latin America what Pope John Paul II did for his native Poland and Eastern Europe? ... Read more

Mummified Like a Pharaoh?

When I predicted two months ago that Hugo Chavez would get a pharaoh's funeral, believe me, I was being sarcastic. Nowhere in my wildest imagination did I conceive that the Socialist Venezuelan president would actually be mummified.

When I foretold a pharaoh's funeral, I was referring to the pompous ceremonies that indeed we saw in Caracas last week. It was a convention of the most cynical and shameless people on earth, led by Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who proclaimed that Chavez would be resurrected along with Jesus Christ.

Yet two months ago, had I predicted that Chavez would literally be turned into a mummy and put on display in a museum, I would have probably lost some credibility for taking my sarcasm a little too far.

Nevertheless, here we are: facing the potential that now we will have Chavez for eternity — just like King Tut, Vladimir Lenin and Chiang Kai-sheik ...  Read more


Cabinet-Level (Con) Jobs

Back in November, when an overwhelming majority of Latino voters extended President Barack Obama's lease to remain in the White House four more years, no one would have believed what happened this week. Yet when Obama hosted the first Cabinet meeting of his second administration Monday, for the first time in recent history, a president headed a Cabinet that could soon be left without a single Latino.

Granted, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is still on the job, but he resigned on Jan. 17, his replacement has been named, and he is expected to return home to Colorado next month. And the other Hispanic in Obama's first-term Cabinet, former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who resigned Jan 9., already has been replaced by an acting labor secretary.

This inexcusable underrepresentation of the Latino population and their interests has gone mostly unnoticed by today's highly partial news media because those on the left have been covering for the president and those on the right don't have a single Latino appointment to complain about.

Since the right-wing media demagogues normally claim that Obama panders to Latinos, you are not going to hear them complaining about a Latino-less Cabinet.

And yet following the most recent appointments Obama has made to his second-term Cabinet, some in the so-called mainstream media, as if they were publicists for Obama, claim that the president is "potentially quelling criticism about the lack of diversity among his Cabinet nominations."

Really?  ... Read more

MORE COLUMNS
Dear friends,

In order to begin a dialogue with the readers and followers of my series of articles (and my web site) on America's Hidden Hispanic Heritage, I've launched a new Facebook page to serve as the blog for HiddenHispanicHeritage.com.
The new FB page is: http://www.facebook.com/HiddenHispanicHeritage

My hope is that this page will become a public forum for all of us who believe the time has come to re-conquest American history, so that the contributions of our Hispanic ancestors are properly recognized.
My hope is that this page will become a public forum for all of us who believe the time has come to re-conquest American history, so that the contributions of our Hispanic ancestors are properly recognized.

Although my series already is up to 31 parts, I hope to see your suggestions for the numerous parts that still need to be written, your comments on new articles as they are published and your participation on a new section that will soon be part of HiddenHispanicHeritage.com: An Online Hispanic History Timeline!

I'm hoping to involve my readers in building the mother of all history timelines - recognizing the many moments in American history when Latinos have made huge contributions to North American society, starting from April 2, 1513, when Juan Ponce de Leon discovered and named "La Florida."

Of course, this FB page also will give me an opportunity to share with you my plans for continuing to develop my series. I'll tell you where I plan to go and who I'm planning to interview in my continuing quest to reconnect Americans with their Hispanic roots.

I hope you join my cause by "liking" this page: http://www.facebook.com/HiddenHispanicHeritage
And then I hope you get your friends to like OUR cause.
Mil gracias!
Miguel Pérez
Ok. It's time for a quiz! lol
Who can tell where I shot the photo that became the Hidden Hispanic Heritage logo? Go to http://www.facebook.com/HiddenHispanicHeritage and take a guess!
One of the fringe benefits of being a journalist
is that sometimes you rub shoulders with greatness!
To watch videos, click on these photos:
Picture
Ruben Blades
Picture
Miriam Colon
Picture
Pele
Picture
Tito Puente and Miriam Colon
Picture
Machito
Picture
Mario Vargas Llosa
When I co-hosted "Tiempo" with Anna Carbonell on WABC-NYC in 1983, I had the privilege to interview:
() The great Cuban bandleader Machito, shortly after he won the Grammy for Latin Music at the age of 74.
() Pele, the greatest soccer player of all time. () Tito Puente, the King of Latin Music. () Miriam Colon, the Queen of the NY Hispanic Theatre. () Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa. () Salsa Superstar Ruben Blades.
ON TELEVISION
MY COLLEAGUES
CELEBRITIES
ON ASSIGNMENT
MY STUDENTS

ON THE RADIO

IN THE NEWS:

Cuban journalist vows to reconnect Americans with their Hispanic roots
                      ---------------------------------------------
Lehman College professor digs
into country’s Hispanic roots
                      ---------------------------------------------
Lehman Professor Uncovers
America’s Hidden Hispanic Heritage
                       ----------------------------------------------
Periodista crea una campaña para que se conozca la verdadera historia de EE.UU.

Published in:  FOXMUNDO    MSN LATINO    YAHOO NOTICIAS
INFORMATIVOCR      AGENCIA EFE      IMPACTOUSA

ON THE RADIO:


Discussing America's Hidden Hispanic Heritage (HiddenHispanicHeritage.com) on Radio WADO with my friend and former colleague Ino Gomez, on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012.


To Listen, Click here.
Picture
Ten years after I hosted "Sin Censura" on Radio WADO, this was a great reunion with my former colleagues. L-R: Jaime Cervantes, Miguel Perez, Ino Gomez and Maximo Perez Jimenez.

Election analysis on Telemundo 47, NYC
Nov. 7 - 6 p.m.                          Nov. 7 11 p.m.
To see this entire series of commetaries, CLICK HERE.

My New Web Site:

Dear friends,
     As many of you know, my syndicated column occasionally takes a break from current events and becomes one more chapter of “America’s Hidden Hispanic Heritage,” a history series I’ve been writing since 2007.
     This on-going series, now up to 27 parts, has become my greatest passion. And today I’m launching of a new web site – HiddenHispanicHeritage.com 
(http://www.hiddenhispanicheritage.com/) – where I can put my passion on display.
     You may have read some of these columns when they were distributed by the Creators Syndicate and published in web sites and newspapers, but you didn't see them as you will now, alongside the many photographs I've taken during my travels to many historic landmarks.
     If you liked the video lecture I posted on FB a few days ago, I’m sure you’ll also like this web site, which includes that video and much more.
     My pilgrimage in search for our hidden Hispanic heritage has turned into "a bucket list of places, ideas and historical evidence to help reconnect Americans with their Hispanic roots." I hope you enjoy it and send me some feedback in the site’s blog.
     But most importantly, PLEASE, help me disseminate this information by sharing this web site with your friends. I’m willing to share my passion!
     Mil gracias!
  Miguel Pérez - HiddenHispanicHeritage.com (http://www.hiddenhispanicheritage.com/)
IN THE NEWS:

In the Presidential Debate,
Immigration Stayed in the Shadows

GOP Hopefuls Losing Ground 
To Obama Among Latinos, Poll Says

Spanish-Language News Channel Turns to JCT Chair

ON THE RADIO:

Miguel Perez discussing Mitt Romney’s Immigration Stance -- This morning, June 22, 2012 on The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC

COLUMNS BY TOPICS (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

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Welcome to my site!

    It replaces the previous version of MiguelPerez.com. Although much of the content has been transferred from one program to the other, many pages on this new site still are under construction -- especially since most now are being presented in a completely new design and layout.
    I would love to hear what you think of the new look of MiguelPerez.com. Please click around this site and post your comments in (click:) our new blog!
Check out my nationally syndicated column and then call or write the editor of your local newspaper. Tell him/her you want to see the Miguel Perez column (from the Creators Syndicate) in your newspaper!!!