Un Periódico Diferente / A Different Kind of Newspaper
Un Periódico Diferente / A Different Kind of Newspaper
Un Periódico Diferente / A Different Kind of Newspaper
Un Periódico Diferente / A Different Kind of Newspaper
Credit: Kavitha Cardoza for The Hechinger Report
Foto del Mes /Photo of the Month Remembering our May 2006 Edition
Un podcast sobre la historia del archipiélago de Puerto Rico y el Caribe
Conversaciones con expertos sobre el tema y personalidades de interés. Con el historiador público Ramón A. González-Arango López.
¡Nuevo episodio todos los jueves! ¡Comparte y disfrútalo!
contents
2 Foto del Mes /Photo of the Month Remembering our May 2006 Edition
3 In Puerto Rico, Trump’s Campaign to Dismantle the Department of Education has a Particular Bite
6 Missing from the Map: LHC Launches National Equity Study on Latinx Historic Sites
7 Opinión / Opinion
A Call to Peaceful Resistance
8 El futuro de la educación en Holyoke
9 Federal Nutrition Budget Cuts Will Devastate Western Massachusetts— Congress Must Act
10 A Mother’s Legacy of Love
11 Literatura / Literature En la plaza San José
13 STCC Hosted Award-Winning Poet Martín Espada
14 Libros / Books De huelga a pandemia en Puerto Rico: una década de intervenciones periodísticas internacionales
San Mateo de Cangrejos: Cultura, Resistencia y Comunidad
15 Ciencias / Science
Los Microplásticos hacen que las Bacterias Desarrollen Resistencia a los Antibióticos
Editor Manuel Frau Ramos manuelfrau@gmail.com 413-320-3826
Assistant Editor Ingrid Estrany-Frau
Art Director Tennessee Media Design
Business Address El Sol Latino P.O Box 572 Amherst, MA 01004-0572
Editorial Policy
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El Sol Latino is published monthly by Coquí Media Group. El Sol Latino es publicado mensualmente por Coquí Media Group, P.O Box 572, Amherst, MA 01004-0572.
In Puerto Rico, Trump’s Campaign to Dismantle the Department
of Education has a Particular Bite
Editor’s note: This story about Puerto Rican schools was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter (https://hechingerreport.org/k12/)
Maraida Caraballo Martínez has been an educator in Puerto Rico for 28 years and the principal of the elementary school Escuela de la Communidad Jaime C. Rodríguez for the past seven. She never knows how much money her school in Yabucoa will receive from the government each year because it isn’t based on the number of children enrolled. One year she got $36,000; another year, it was $12,000.
But for the first time as an educator, Caraballo noticed a big difference during the Biden administration. Because of an infusion of federal dollars into the island’s education system, Caraballo received a $250,000 grant, an unprecedented amount of money. She used it to buy books and computers for the library, white boards and printers for classrooms, to beef up a robotics program and build a multipurpose sports court for her students. “It meant a huge difference for the school,” Caraballo said.
Yabucoa, a small town in southeast Puerto Rico, was one of the regions hardest hit by Hurricane Maria in 2017. And this school community, like hundreds of others in Puerto Rico, has experienced near constant disruption since then. A series of natural disasters, including hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and landslides, followed by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, has pounded the island and interrupted learning. There has also been constant churn of local education secretaries — seven in the past eight years. The Puerto Rican education system — the seventh-largest school district in the United States — has been made more vulnerable by the island’s overwhelming debt, mass emigration and a crippled power grid.
by KAVITHA CARDOZA
| March 28, 2025
of dollars in federal aid after Hurricane Maria and has suggested selling the island or swapping it for Greenland.
A recent executive order to make English the official language has worried people on the island, where only 1 in 5 people speak fluent English, and Spanish is the medium of instruction in schools. Trump is seeking to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and has already made sweeping cuts to the agency, which will have widespread implications across the island. Even if federal funds — which last year made up more than two-thirds of funding for the Puerto Rican Department of Education, or PRDE — were transferred directly to the local government, it would likely lead to worse outcomes for the most vulnerable children, say educators and policymakers. The PRDE has historically been plagued by political interference, widespread bureaucracy and a lack of transparency. And the local education department is not as technologically advanced as other state education departments, nor as able to disseminate best practices. For example, Puerto Rico does not have a “per pupil formula,” a calculation commonly used on the mainland to determine the amount of money each student receives for their education.
Robert Mujica is the executive director of the Puerto Rico Financial Oversight and Management Board, first convened under President Barack Obama in 2016 to deal with the island’s financial morass. Mujica said Puerto Rico’s current allocation of education funds is opaque. “How the funds are distributed is perceived as a political process,” he said. “There’s no transparency and there’s no clarity.”
In 2021, Miguel Cardona, Biden’s secretary of education, promised “a new day” for Puerto Rico. “For too long, Puerto Rico’s students and educators were abandoned,” he said. During his tenure, Cardona signed off on almost $6 billion in federal dollars for the island’s educational system, leading to a historic pay increase for teachers, funding for after-school tutoring programs, hiring of hundreds of school mental health professionals and the creation of a pilot program to decentralize the PRDE.
Cardona designated a senior adviser, Chris Soto, to be his point person for the island’s education system to underscore the federal commitment. During nearly four years in office, he made more than 50 trips to the island. Carlos Rodriguez Silvestre, the executive director of the Flamboyan Foundation, a nonprofit in Puerto Rico that has led children’s literacy efforts on the island, said the level of respect and sustained interest felt like a partnership, not a top-down mandate. “I’ve never seen that kind of attention to education in Puerto Rico,” he said. “Soto practically lived on the island.”
Under President Joe Biden, there were tentative gains, buttressed by billions of dollars and sustained personal attention from top federal education officials, many experts and educators on the island said. Now they worry that it will all be dismantled with the change in the White House. President Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the U.S. territory, having reportedly said that it was “dirty and the people were poor.” During his first term, he withheld billions
Soto also worked closely with Victor Manuel Bonilla Sánchez, the president of the teachers union, Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico, or AMPR, which resulted in a deal in which educators received $1,000 more a month to their base salary, a nearly 30 percent increase for the average teacher. “It was the largest salary increase in the history of teachers in Puerto Rico,” Bonilla said, though even with the increase, teachers here still make far less money than teachers on the mainland.
One of the biggest complaints Soto said he heard was how rigid and bureaucratic the Puerto Rico Department of Education was, despite continued on next page
Maraida Caraballo Martínez has been an educator in Puerto Rico for 28 years and is now the principal of an elementary school. Her school has been slated for closure three times because of mass emigration from the island. Credit: Kavitha Cardoza for The Hechinger Report.
In Puerto Rico, Trump’s Campaign to Dismantle the Department of Education has a Particular Bite
continued from page 3
a 2018 education reform law that allows for more local control. The education agency — the largest unit of government on the island, with the most employees and the biggest budget — was set up so that the central office had to sign off on everything. So Soto created and oversaw a pilot program in Ponce, a region on the island’s southern coast, focusing on decentralization.
For the first time, the local community elected an advisory board of education, and superintendent candidates had to apply rather than be appointed, Soto said. The superintendent was given the authority to sign off on budget requests directly rather than sending them through officials in San Juan, as well as the flexibility to spend money in his region based on individual schools’ needs.
In the past, that wasn’t a consideration: For example, Yadira Sanchez, a psychologist who has worked in Puerto Rican education for more than 20 years, remembers when a school got dozens of new air conditioners even though it didn’t need it. “They already had functioning air conditioners,” she said, “so that money was lost.”
The pilot project also focused on increasing efficiency. For example, children with disabilities are now evaluated at their schools rather than having to visit a special center. And Soto says he tried to remove politics and increase transparency around spending in the PRDE as well. “You can improve invoices, but if your political friends are getting the work, then you don’t have a good school system,” he said.
Under Biden, Puerto Rico also received a competitive U.S. Department of Education grant for $10.5 million for community schools, another milestone. And the federal department started including data on the territory in some education statistics collected.
“Puerto Rico wasn’t even on these trackers, so we started to dig into how do we improve the data systems? Unraveling the data issue meant that Puerto Rico can properly get recognized,” Soto said.
But already there are plans to undo Cardona’s signature effort in Ponce.
The island’s newly elected governor, Jenniffer González Colón, is a Republican and a Trump supporter. The popular secretary of education, Eliezer Ramos Parés, returned earlier this year to head the department after leading it from April 2021 to July 2023 when the governor unexpectedly asked him to resign — not an unusual occurrence within the island’s government, where political appointments can end suddenly and with little public debate. He told The Hechinger Report that the program won’t continue in its current form, calling it “inefficient.”
“The pilot isn’t really effective,” he said, noting that politics can influence spending decisions not only at the central level but at the regional level as well. “We want to have some controls.” He also said expanding the effort across the island would cost tens of millions of dollars. Instead, Ramos said he was looking at more limited approaches to decentralization, around some human resource and procurement functions. He said he was also exploring a per pupil funding formula for Puerto Rico and looking at lessons from other large school districts such as New York City and Hawaii. While education has been the largest budget item on the island for years, it’s still far less than any of the 50 states spend on each student. Puerto Rico spends $9,500 per student, compared with an average of $18,600 in the states.
The U.S. Department of Education, which supplements local and state funding for students in poverty and with disabilities, has an outsized role in Puerto Rico schools. On the island, 55 percent of children live below the poverty line, compared with 17 percent in the 50 states; for students in special education, the figures are 35 percent and 15 percent, respectively. In total, during fiscal year 2024, more than 68 percent of the education budget on the island comes from federal funding, compared to 11 percent in U.S. states. The department also administers Pell Grants for low-income students — some 72 percent of Puerto Rican students apply — and supports professional development efforts and initiatives for Puerto Rican children who move back and forth between the mainland and territory.
Linda McMahon, Trump’s new education secretary, has reportedly said that the government will continue to meet its “statutory obligations” to students even as the department shuts down or transfers some operations and lays off staff. The U.S. Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment.
Some say the Biden administration’s pouring billions of dollars into a troubled education system with little accountability has created unrealistic expectations and there’s no plan for what happens after money is spent. Mujica, the executive director of the oversight board, said the infusion of funds postponed tough decisions by the Puerto Rican government. “When you have so much money, it papers over a lot of problems. You didn’t have to deal with some of the challenges that are fundamental to the system.” And he said there is little discussion of what happens when that money runs out. “How are you going to bridge that gap? Either those programs go away or we’re going to have to find the funding for them,” Mujica said.
He said efforts like the one in Ponce to bring decision making closer to where the students’ needs are is “vitally important.” Still, he said he’s not sure the money improved student outcomes. “This was a huge opportunity to make fundamental changes and investments that will yield long-term results. I’m not sure that we’ve seen the metrics to support that.”
Puerto Rico is one of the most educationally impoverished regions, with academic outcomes well below the mainland. On the math portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, a test that students across the U.S. take, just 2 percent of fourth graders in Puerto Rico were proficient, the highest score ever recorded for the island, and zero percent of eighth graders were. Puerto Rican students don’t take the NAEP for reading because they learn in Spanish, not English, though results shared by Ramos at a press conference in 2022 showed only 1 percent of third graders were reading at grade level.
There are some encouraging efforts. Flamboyán Foundation, the nonprofit in Puerto Rico, has been leading an island-wide coalition of 70 partners to improve K-3 literacy, including through professional development. Teacher training through the territory’s education department has often been spotty or optional.
The organization now works closely with the University of Puerto Rico and, as part of that effort, oversees spending of $3 million in literacy training. Approximately 1,500 or a third of Puerto Rico’s K-5 teachers
continued on next page
In Puerto Rico, Trump’s Campaign to Dismantle the Department of Education has a Particular Bite continued from page 4
have undergone the rigorous training. Educators were given $500 as an incentive for participating, along with books for their classrooms and three credit hours in continuing education. “It was a lot of quality hours. This was not the ‘spray and pray’ approach,” said Silvestre. That effort will continue, according to Ramos, who called it “very effective.”
A new reading test for first through third graders the nonprofit helped design showed that between the 2023 and 2024 school years, most children were below grade level but made growth in every grade. “But we still have a long way to go so that this data can get to teachers in a timely manner and in a way that they can actually act on it,” Silvestre said.
Kristin Ehrgood, Flamboyán Foundation’s CEO, said it’s too soon to see dramatic gains. “It’s really hard to see a ton of positive outcomes in such a short period of time with significant distrust that has been built over years,” she said. She said they weren’t sure how the Trump administration may work with or fund Puerto Rico’s education system but that the Biden administration had built a lot of goodwill. “There is a lot of opportunity that could be built on, if a new administration chooses to do that.”
Another hopeful sign is that the oversight board, which was widely protested when it was formed, has cut the island’s debt from $73 billion to $31 billion. And last year board members increased education spending by 3 percent. Mujica said the board is focused on making sure that any investment translates into improved outcomes for students: “Our view is resources have to go into the classroom.”
Betty A. Rosa, education commissioner and president of the University of the State of New York and a member of the oversight board, said leadership churn in Puerto Rico drives its educational instability. Every new leader is invested in “rebuilding, restructuring, reimagining, pick your word,” she said. “There is no consistency.” Unlike her New York state position, the Puerto Rican education secretary and other positions are political appointments. “If you have permanent governance, then even when the leadership changes, the work continues.”
Ramos, who experienced this instability when the previous governor unexpectedly asked to resign in 2023, said he met McMahon, the new U.S. secretary of education, in Washington, D.C., and that they had a “pleasant conversation.” “She knows about Puerto Rico, she’s concerned about Puerto Rico, and she demonstrated full support in the Puerto Rico mission,” he said. He said McMahon wanted PRDE to offer more bilingual classes, to expose more students to English. Whether there will be changes in funding or anything else remains to be seen. “We have to look at what happens in the next few weeks and months and how that vision and policy could affect Puerto Rico,” Ramos said.
Ramos was well-liked by educators during his first stint as education secretary. He will also have a lot of decisions to make, including whether to expand public charter schools and close down traditional public schools as the island’s public school enrollment continues to decline precipitously. In the past, both those issues led to fierce and widespread protests.
Soto says he’s realistic about the incoming administration having “different views, both ideologically and policywise,” but he’s hopeful the people of Puerto Rico won’t want to go back to the old way of
doing things. “Somebody said, ‘You guys took the genie out of the bottle and it’s going to be hard to put that back’ as it relates to a student-centered school system,” Soto said.
Cardona, whose grandparents are from the island, said Puerto Rico had seen “academic flatlining” for years. “We cannot accept that the students are performing less than we know they are capable of,” he told The Hechinger Report, just before he signed off as the nation’s top education official. “We started change; it needs to continue.”
Kavitha Cardoza for The Hechinger Report
Principal Caraballo’s small school of 150 students and 14 teachers has been slated for closure three times already, though each time it has been spared in part because of community support. She’s hopeful that Ramos, with whom she’s worked previously, will turn things around. “He knows the education system,” she said. “He’s a brilliant person, open to listen.”
But the long hours of the past several years have taken a toll on her. She is routinely in school from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. “You come in when it’s dark and you leave when it’s dark,” she said. There have been many new platforms to learn and new projects to implement. She wants to retire but can’t afford to. After decades of the local government underfunding the pension system, allowances that offset the high price of goods and services on the island were cut and pension plans were frozen.
Now instead of retiring with 75 percent of her salary, Caraballo will receive only 50 percent, $2,195 a month. She is entitled to Social Security benefits, but it isn’t enough to make up for the lost pension.
“Who can live with $2,000 in one month? Nobody. It’s too hard. And my house still needs 12 years more to pay.”
Caraballo, who is always so strong and so optimistic around her students, teared up. But it’s rare that she allows herself time to think about herself. “I have a great community. I have great teachers and I feel happy with what I do,” she said.
She’s just very, very tired.
KAVITHA CARDOZA is a freelance journalist and has covered education and poverty for almost 20 years. She has served as Public Editor for the Education Writers Association. Cardoza was awarded a Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship in 2021-2022. She is a frequent contributor to NPR and the Hechinger Report. Most recently, she worked as a correspondent for Education Week/PBS Newshour, WAMU in Washington, D.C., and Illinois Public Radio in Springfield, Illinois. Cardoza has received multiple national awards for her work. @KavithaCardoza
Escuela de la Comunidad Jaime C. Rodríguez is a Montessori school in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, that did not have any sports facilities for its students. It recently began work on a multipurpose sports center, made possible by federal funds under former President Joe Biden. Credit:
Missing from the Map: LHC Launches National Equity Study on Latinx Historic Sites
AUSTIN, TX | LATINOS IN HERITAGE CONSERVATION | April 10, 2025 — Latinos in Heritage Conservation (LHC) has published the results of Phase I of its Equity Study, a nationwide effort to examine how Latinx heritage sites remain largely invisible in the National Register of Historic Places and related efforts to formally recognize and preserve historic sites. This study launches a three-phase effort to document disparities in the field and inform more equitable approaches to conservation.
the National Register process, and exploring additional sources of funding. Phase III, expected to conclude by early 2026, will expand outreach to State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs), nonprofits, architectural firms, contractors, and community organizations to examine how “integrity” is defined and applied in preservation. Final findings will inform policy recommendations to make the nomination process more inclusive and ensure the inclusion of Latinx heritage sites.
About Latinos in Heritage Conservation
Latinos in Heritage Conservation is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting historic preservation within Latinx communities. Through education, advocacy, and storytelling, LHC works to ensure that Latinx histories are preserved and celebrated across the United States.
The first phase examined federal designations and funding patterns over the past decade. Nearly one in five Americans identify as Latinx, yet their histories remain largely absent from the nation’s preservation priorities. Of approximately 99,000 sites on the National Register, only 647 — just 0.65% — are tied to Latinx heritage. Between 2014 and 2025, only $696,507 of nearly $10 million in federal National Park Service’s Underrepresented Communities Grant (URC) supported Latinx-focused projects, accounting for less than 7% of total allocations.
“We continue to be treated as an afterthought in the historical record. This study is a call to action: to correct the erasure, to invest in our legacy, and to ensure Latinx history is not just preserved, but honored,” says Sehila Mota Casper, Executive Director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation.
Few states fund Latinx preservation
Phase I of the study surveyed State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) and identified consistent barriers to Latinx representation in preservation efforts:
o 63% of states reported having no dedicated diversity programming;
o 57.9% had never conducted outreach to Latinx communities;
o 89.5% allocated no funding specifically for Latinx-focused initiatives;
o Many described a passive approach to nominations and restrictive guidelines, such as “integrity.”
Next steps: Phase II and III
Phase II will focus on identifying effective outreach strategies, supporting engagement with communities historically excluded from
A Call to Peaceful Resistance
MIGUEL L. ARCE and JOSÉ P. ARCE
“Freedoms and human rights must be defended” (statement by Holocaust survivor on a Day of Remembrance—Yom HaShoah—April 24, 2025)
This editorial explores various dimensions of what is known as peaceful resistance, including political resistance, personal resistance, and concludes with the reasons why opposition is essential. Peaceful resistance (i.e., non-violent protest) is a powerful and effective method for advocating change without resorting to violence. It is knowing that something needs to change. It involves various forms of nonviolent actions that aim to address and rectify social, political, and personal concerns. “Nonviolent resistance is a method of protest and social change that seeks to achieve goals without using physical violence. It is based on the belief that moral power and public support can effectively challenge injustice and oppressive systems” (“Non-Violent Resistance,’ Wikipedia).
Chaos because of Trump
Active resistance is essential to protect democracy. Given what has taken place since the 2025 presidential inauguration: Trump’s executive orders, his interference with the workings of the three branches of the federal government—Executive, Legislative, Judicial—informed action is required. His policies and aggressive efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, his interference with institutions of higher college governance, education, the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, attempts to redefine questions of birth citizenship must be opposed. Elon Musk and the creation of DOGE (Department of Governmental Efficiency) must be checked. The crippling tariffs disrupting the world markets, have been chaotic and have created more uncertainty in the lives of citizens. Robert Reich declares, “I still have faith in America. But right now, that’s little comfort to the people who are most at risk. . . .Millions of people must now live in fear of being swept up by Trump’s cruel mass deportation plan – documented immigrants, as he has threatened before, as well as undocumented, and millions of American citizens with undocumented parents or spouses” (“The Resistance Starts Now,” robertreich.substack.com, November 6, 2024).
Methods of non-violence
Various activities associated with non-violent resistance against senseless violence, discrimination, unjust governmental policies are demonstrations, protests, marches, picketing, boycotts, writing letters to legislators, signing petitions of protest, community organizing, supporting progressive candidates, running for office, persuasion, noncooperation, sit-ins. Clearly, citizens and organizations have a vast array of methods to respond nonviolently; thereby, opposing arbitrary actions and thoughtless policies. We can participate in a variety of resistance activities that will have a significant impact on the corrosive effects of mean-spirited politics. Even David Brooks (a conservative Opinion Columnist for The New York Times) uses strong language to underscore the urgency for protest: “It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power” (“What
we must do now,” Robert Reich, April 18, 2025). Another writer states Democracy is not merely a political system—it is a shared endeavor, dependent on the common recognition of its fragility and the will to protect it (Center for American Progress, April 9, 2025).
April 5th was called a “National Day of Action.” Demonstrators gathered across the country on that Saturday, animated by differing issues, but united in opposition to the Trump administration with the single message: ‘Hands off!’”. The organizers declared that 1,300 “Hands Off!” rallies took place across the country. Since April 5th, there have been thousands of large and small gatherings throughout the country on different days and at different times in small towns and large urban areas. These are visible manifestations that there is growing dissatisfaction with the Trump administration that is real and growing. More and more citizens are united making every effort to stop the spiraling economy and the undoing of basic and essential constitutional rights. “Since President Trump took office in January, various protests have taken place against his administration’s plans and policies — from the mass firing of federal workers to immigration raids” (“Nationwide ‘Hands Off!’”, April 5, 2025, NPR).
Personal Resistance
Personal resistance is a single citizen’s actions contributing to the larger movement of peaceful resistance. Protest does not need to reach the level of national notice; however, it remains the firm foundation of community and national responses. To share a meal with neighbors and friends, who do not necessarily share the same political views or who do not share comparable family backgrounds, is a meaningful action initiated by one citizen or one family. Sitting across the table with other people inevitably fosters important conversations. It is difficult to share a meal with another person and not begin to empathize with their struggles and concerns. By breaking bread with neighbors, we cannot help but see them, and their families as important; thus, their doubtless value increases in our estimation.
Fostering conversations in such settings are simple but, nonetheless, impactful means to resist narrow mindedness and indifference to the plight of others. Stepping up and speaking up, being present, and setting an example are vital aspects of personal resistance. Witnessing and confronting injustices being perpetrated by others on innocent victims is an invaluable step forward. We may come to realize that their lives are priceless, they have inestimable value. We cannot afford to ignore the suffering of others. Paying attention to the man or woman who is asking for our help and responding to their needs become the social glue holding together national resistance movements. Becoming personally involved in the lives of others allows us to belong, contribute, and make a difference. It’s in our opposition to unconstitutional policies, which are currently bludgeoning the American people, that we exercise the value of our citizenship and demonstrate our worth in the “American Experiment of Democracy.” By advocating for positive change, uniting with others, we shape the future of the United States. Peaceful resistance is not just a random choice; it is a necessity to create a better world and to defend the security of all people. Remember, not everyone is able to protest without putting their security and livelihoods at risk, and now that is true even in the United States. The rest of us need to step up and speak out for those who are unable to do so.
continued on next page
El futuro de la educación en Holyoke
por LUIS MIGUEL PAGÁN, MSW, LCSW
Después de una década de invasión estatal en la ciudad de Holyoke, las escuelas públicas de Holyoke están a punto de hacer historia. La posibilidad de control local de las escuelas públicas está a nuestro alcance. Eso es lo que nos dice el estado pero en realidad solo quieren ceder un porcentaje. Queremos declarar públicamente que estamos listos para tomar las riendas de nuestro futuro. No queremos la dictadura.
Sabemos que tenemos bajo rendimiento educacional, también sabemos que en diez años, el estado no ha podido cambiar esta triste realidad. Es mi opinión que Holyoke no se adaptó al cambio de población y por esa razón el rendimiento estudiantil es tan bajo. En conjunto con la falta de adaptación para ayudar a la población latina tenemos crisis de un sin número de desigualdades. Y el estado piensa que puede criar y educar a nuestros estudiantes mejor que nosotros. Sin embargo, se que si trabajamos en las desigualdades que abruman a nuestros estudiantes el futuro será resplandescente. Durante años padres, maestros, estudiantes y líderes comunitarios han sido amordazados y subestimados. Personas ajenas a nuestra comunidad piensan que saben más sobre nosotros que nosotros mismos. Ejerceremos transformación y transmutación y mostraremos que nuestro brillo iguala al brillo del oro. Diseñaremos y desarrollaremos un distrito escolar que promueve cultura, equidad, pertinencia y excelencia.
Queremos que nuestros estudiantes tengan justicia social y pedagogía culturalmente relevante. Aproximadamente 80% del estudiantado es hispano pero no saben historia hispana. Hasta los almuerzos escolares son contraculturales y contra nutritivos. Queremos apoyo para nuestros maestros, nuestras condiciones de empleo son las condiciones académicas de los estudiantes de Holyoke. Queremos que los espacios de decisión sean abiertos a la población, diversos e inclusivos. Queremos que la recuperación del control educativo local sea completa, democrática y efectiva. Estamos listos para demostrar que tenemos poder en números, inteligencia, creatividad, coraje amor y resiliencia. La salida de “el receivership” será el comienzo de una etapa libre y progresiva. Contamos con la colaboración de nuestra gente bella y buena de Holyoke. ¡Despierten mi gente defendamos lo nuestro!
A Call
to Peaceful
Resistance continued from page 7
Impact of participation
The threat is real. Authoritarian movements reject the foundational principles of constitutional democracy, such as separation of powers and equality before the law. Far-right politicians often play a double game when extremists act on these incitements. They publicly distance themselves from the violence while privately benefiting from the atmosphere of fear and division it fosters. “Democracy does not collapse overnight. It erodes gradually––and then suddenly––with the normalization of undemocratic practices that are cloaked in legality.” Nonetheless, such undemocratic practices are corrosive to constitutional governance. “Authoritarian actors (are exploiting) institutional vulnerabilities to consolidate power, obstruct legislative processes, weaken judicial independence, and erode electoral
The Future of Education in Holyoke
After a decade of state takeover in the city of Holyoke, the public schools of Holyoke are on the verge of making history. The possibility of local control of the public schools is within our reach. That’s what the state tells us, but in reality, they only want to give up a percentage. We want to publicly declare that we are ready to take the reins of our future. We do not want a dictatorship.
We know that we have low educational performance, and we also know that in ten years, the state has not been able to change this sad reality. In my opinion, Holyoke did not adapt to the changing population, and for that reason, student performance is so low. Alongside the lack of adaptation to support the Latino population, we have a crisis involving countless inequalities. And the state thinks it can raise and educate our students better than we can. However, I know that if we work on the inequalities that overwhelm our students, the future will be bright.
For years, parents, teachers, students, and community leaders have been silenced and underestimated. Outsiders to our community think they know more about us than we do. We will bring about transformation and transmutation and show that our brilliance equals that of gold. We will design and develop a school district that promotes culture, equity, relevance, and excellence.
We want our students to have social justice and culturally relevant pedagogy. Approximately 80% of the student body is Hispanic, but they don’t know Hispanic history. Even the school lunches are counter cultural and lacking in nutrition. We want support for our teachers—our working conditions are the academic conditions of Holyoke’s students.
We want decision-making spaces to be open to the public, diverse, and inclusive. We want the recovery of local educational control to be complete, democratic, and effective. We are ready to show that we have strength in numbers, intelligence, creativity, courage, love, and resilience. Exiting the “receivership” will be the beginning of a free and progressive new phase. We count on the collaboration of our beautiful and good people of Holyoke. Wake up, my people—let’s defend what is ours!
integrity. The United States is not immune to these tactics” (Center for American Progress, April 9, 2025).
We have an ethical duty of care, to speak out. One person can make a difference even when the odds seem enormous. “Democracy is not a spectator sport”, Marian Edelman Wright reminds us in State of Children. Anyone can attend a protest and oppose an unjust order. We can challenge by writing a letter to a congressperson. Concerned citizens can host a community gathering that challenges, thwarts, counters illegal orders; thereby promoting self-governance, equality, and justice. Resistance to unjust government action is the duty of all people who care about human rights. As Dr. King reminded us in his letter from a Birmingham jail, “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.”
Federal Nutrition Budget Cuts Will Devastate Western Massachusetts—Congress Must Act
by ANDREW MOREHOUSE and CHARLOTTE BONEY
unable to afford food—especially as grocery prices continue to rise.
Funding cuts to SNAP and further cuts to USDA food directly to food banks would be catastrophic. The high cost of living, unpredictable policy changes, and diminished federal support pose a significant threat to the well-being of people in every town and city in Western Massachusetts.
April, 3, 2025
Andrew Morehouse has been the Executive Director of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts since 2005. Charlotte Boney is the Board President of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts
The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts recently received troubling news: the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has canceled a portion of its food deliveries through August—an estimated $440,000 worth of food we were counting on. While this represents only 1% of our total distribution last year, it’s a serious shortfall that will force us to draw on emergency reserves to purchase food.
Even more concerning are the proposed federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These cuts would deepen food insecurity across Western Massachusetts and further strain our already overburdened food assistance network. Based in Chicopee, the Food Bank supplies nutritious food to 194 local pantries and meal sites across all four counties of Western Massachusetts. When families can’t afford enough groceries, they turn to this network—already pushed to its limits.
SNAP is more than a safety net—it’s the front line against hunger. Each month, SNAP supports 194,000 people in our region and injects $35 million into the local economy. With an average benefit of just $6.20 per person per day, any cut would leave even more families
What does this mean for our community?
The Food Bank remains committed to providing nutritious food to people when and where they need it across our region.
The Food Bank will:
• Continue to provide nutritious food without interruption
• Raise additional funds to purchase food
• Work with our federal and state legislators to defend critical federal nutrition programs
Without adequate government and private sector support and investment, not only will individuals go hungry, but the entire food economy — from food banks to grocers to farms — will be severely impacted. It is both shortsighted and unjust to slash food assistance while so many working families, seniors, children, and others on fixed incomes are struggling to meet their basic needs.
This is a moment for us to come together—as we always do in Western Massachusetts. We urge our congressional delegation to continue standing up against these cuts and protecting the programs that keep nutritious food on people’s tables and money flowing into local businesses. Visit foodbankwma.org/get-involved/advocate/ take-action to contact your legislators.
Thank you for standing with us—and for one another. Together, we end hunger.
A Mother’s Legacy of Love
by Dr. SONIA E. DINNALL Superintendent of Springfield Public Schools
This Mother’s Day will be different for me. It will be my first without my mother, who passed away in March, just days before her 100th birthday. As I navigate this profound loss, I find solace in the lessons she left behind—lessons of resilience, sacrifice, and boundless love.
My mother’s journey was one of determination. Born in Jamaica, she came to the United States with dreams that far exceeded the opportunities initially available. Undeterred, she started over, retaking exams, attending school, and working tirelessly to create a better future for her family. She was one of the first four Black women admitted to STCC’s nursing program, later breaking barriers as one of the first Black charge nurses at Municipal Hospital. She was a trailblazer, but more than that, she was a mother whose love was steadfast, whose sacrifices were immeasurable, and whose belief in the power of education shaped not only my path but the paths of so many others. Now, as I grieve, I also reflect on the countless mothers and grandmothers in our community who embody this same spirit. I see it in the mother working multiple jobs to ensure her child’s success. I see it in the grandmother stepping in to raise a new generation. I see it in the families who, despite hardships, prioritize education as the key to a brighter future. Their love—like my mother’s—is unbreakable.
Education was one of the many values my mother held dear, and it’s a part of her legacy that I am honored to carry forward. Every child in Springfield deserves the chance to dream big, work hard, and achieve their fullest potential. That’s why we must continue building schools that uplift, empower, and open doors to boundless opportunities.
This May, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, let us honor the women whose love shapes our lives. For those who, like me, are facing this day without their mother, may we find comfort in the knowledge that their love lives on—in the lessons they taught us, in the values they instilled, and in the future they helped us build. Versión en español
El legado de amor de una madre
Este Día de la Madre será diferente para mí. Será el primero sin mi madre, que falleció en marzo, pocos días antes de cumplir 100 años. Mientras atravieso esta profunda pérdida, encuentro consuelo en las lecciones que me dejó: lecciones de resistencia, sacrificio y amor sin límites.
El viaje de mi madre fue un viaje de determinación. Nacida en Jamaica, llegó a Estados Unidos con sueños que superaban con creces las oportunidades disponibles en un principio. Sin inmutarse, empezó de nuevo, volviendo a examinarse, asistiendo a la escuela y trabajando incansablemente para crear un futuro mejor para su familia. Fue una de las cuatro primeras mujeres negras admitidas en el programa de enfermería del STCC, y más tarde rompió barreras como una de las primeras enfermeras encargadas negras del Hospital Municipal. Fue una pionera, pero más que eso, fue una madre cuyo amor fue inquebrantable, cuyos sacrificios fueron
inconmensurables y cuya creencia en el poder de la educación forjó no sólo mi camino, sino el de tantos otros.
Ahora, mientras me aflijo, también reflexiono sobre las innumerables madres y abuelas de nuestra comunidad que encarnan este mismo espíritu. Lo veo en la madre que tiene varios trabajos para garantizar el éxito de su hijo. Lo veo en la abuela que interviene para criar a una nueva generación. Lo veo en las familias que, a pesar de las dificultades, dan prioridad a la educación como clave para un futuro mejor. Su amor, como el de mi madre, es inquebrantable.
La educación era uno de los muchos valores que mi madre apreciaba, y es una parte de su legado que tengo el honor de continuar. Todos los niños de Springfield merecen la oportunidad de soñar a lo grande, trabajar duro y alcanzar su máximo potencial. Por eso debemos seguir construyendo escuelas que eleven, capaciten y abran las puertas a oportunidades ilimitadas.
Este mes de mayo, al celebrar el Día de la Madre, honremos a las mujeres cuyo amor da forma a nuestras vidas. Para quienes, como yo, afrontan este día sin su madre, que nos consuele saber que su amor sigue vivo, en las lecciones que nos enseñaron, en los valores que nos inculcaron y en el futuro que nos ayudaron a construir.
Dr. SONIA E. DINNALL, Springfield Public Schools
Literatura / Literature
En la plaza San José
por JOSÉ EDGARDO CRUZ FIGUEROA
No podía creerlo pero era cierto: me había vuelto a enamorar y estaba con alguien que igual que yo estaba enamorada de mi. Tuve la certeza de ello mientras leía una novela. La cerré justo en el instante en que llegué a esa conclusión inesperada. Estaba rodeado de gente en la Plaza San José con la novela en la mano y me detuve a mirar la gente pasar. El sol estaba en su cenit y no había ni una nube que me protegiera de sus rayos. Una señora tiró un papel en la plaza y siguió caminando. Me encogí de hombros y la maldije en voz baja. Eran las tres de la tarde en San Juan. ¿Cómo fue? No se preocupen, no voy a entonar la canción de Beny Moré. Pero es que dada mi última experiencia amorosa, la pregunta es pertinente. ¿Cómo rayos me he dispuesto a repetir una historia que podría acabar igual que la anterior, es decir, mal, muy mal? Pero eso es un prejuicio. ¿Por qué asumir que esta vez el desenlace sería el mismo? La misma noción de desenlace podría estar fuera de lugar. ¿No sería mejor asumir desarrollo? ¿Continuidad, permanencia? Desenlace implica que inevitablemente acabaría, que llegaría a un punto donde no podría dar más. Pero puede que también le esté buscando cuatro patas al gato cuando que a lo mejor tiene cinco o seis, es decir, que este nuevo romance podría ofrecer más de lo que espero.
Esto último lo pensé mirando la estatua de Juan Ponce de León, visualizando la noche en que unos vándalos la tumbaron. Fue una protesta pusilánime a la presencia en Puerto Rico del Rey de España. El gobierno la restauró de inmediato y el Rey no se enteró.
Debo regresar a la pregunta. No es fácil contestarla pues el principio de las cosas muchas veces no me queda claro. Bueno, puedo establecer algunas con precisión y en lo que respecta a mi enamorada puedo decir: que la conocí en un bar, que le di mi número de teléfono, que para mi sorpresa me llamó y quedamos, que después de una cena interesante—ambos pedimos arroz con calamares en su tinta—ella me invitó a su casa y allí terminamos besándonos.
Así empezó el romance aunque esa noche no acabó con la certeza de que alguna vez nos volveríamos a ver. O sea que el momento exacto en que me enamoré no me queda claro, pero saber que era así fue una revelación instantánea después de leer el siguiente pasaje de El Tercer Reich: El rostro de Frau Else brillaba, después de escuchar su propia pregunta y mi respuesta, como si la acabara de besar. Eso fue exactamente lo que a continuación hice; la besé. Pero cuando intentaba meter mi lengua entre sus labios ella retiró la cabeza. Conmigo no fue así y por eso es un poco extraño que ese pasaje, donde hay disposición y reticencia, fuese el que me llevara a pensar que con mi amiga había alcanzado un estado de absoluta y común disposición. Mi enamoramiento era correspondido excepto que entre el hecho y la conciencia cabal de su realidad hubo un espacio que para mí se cerró esa tarde en San Juan; mi amiga nunca retiraba la cabeza y eso era muestra de lo que hasta el momento de leer la novela yo no había comprendido. Después lo hablamos y supe que ella estaba en la misma onda. Que suspirábamos al unísono como los violines de una charanga.
Lo había sentido, eso sí; en el modo en que nos besábamos, en la forma en que yo correspondía sus miradas, en la manera natural en que cruzábamos las calles, ella agarrada de mí o cogidos de manos. Lo había intuído por el tono de nuestras conversaciones, por la admiración que sentía hacia ella, por mi gentileza ante sus vaivenes y caprichos. Con ella me sentía a gusto cogiéndolo suave.
¿Se repetía la historia? Sin duda, pero con una variante importante que a fin de cuentas era diversa respecto a ella pero lo mismo respecto a mi aventura anterior.
Antes de saber que con ella la repetición no era exacta supe que éramos muy compatibles. Gozamos mucho antes de que nuestro idilio dejara de ser rapsodia en su sentido filosófico (la unión libre de unidades temáticas y rítmicas distintas sin vínculo anterior) para tornarse en aporia (una contradicción interna, una disyunción lógica irresoluble).
Tal y como me había pasado antes, con ella compartía gustos y perversiones. Sentía que podía ser yo. Teníamos la misma sensibilidad hacia la música, la literatura y el arte. A ambos nos gustaba la calle, el ambiente urbano. Nuestros egos eran robustos pero sentíamos empatía por amigos y colegas cuando pasaban por dificultades. Éramos buenos hijos, yo buen padre y ella buena madre. En otro tiempo habíamos pasado las de Caín, pero ahora mayormente sentíamos gozo y felicidad.
Entonces, ¿cuál fue la nota discordante? ¿Qué me hizo comprender que nuestro contrapunto era insostenible? Lo supe esa misma tarde en San Juan mientras recordaba, al mirar la estatua de Ponce de León, que en una función un escritor le había reprochado al Rey de España que puertorriqueñidad no era un vocablo reconocido por la Real Academia. Ese escritor creía que el reconocimiento era importante pero a mí me dio pena pues eso era como buscar nuestra legitimidad fuera de nosotros mismos mediante una dádiva del imperio de antaño. Pensé que el escritor era como un niño que por 500 años le hala el pantalón a su padre diciendo perdón, perdón, y cuando al fin el padre pregunta con exasperación ¿perdón por qué?, el niño dice que eructó. Y entonces el padre responde con una sonrisa condescendiente—como la de Felipe VI el día de aquella función— y sigue caminando. Si en el Siglo 21 España no reconocía la existencia de Puerto Rico, qué carajo hacía en la isla el Rey de España? ¿Para qué era necesario el reconocimiento que pedía el escritor si la puertorriqueñidad ya tenía visado ontológico pues la vivíamos a diario?
Mi amiga y yo no. Lo que nosotros vivíamos a diario era otra cosa. Nuestra cotidianeidad era desigual. Estábamos en dos continentes aparte. Yo tenía pareja y ella no y yo ya una vez lo había dejado todo, había arrasado con todo lo que tenía por haberme enamorado. Yo no iba a repetir esa experiencia y ella jamás me iba a pedir que quemara mis naves. Además, no le convenía hacerlo. Yo quería pensar en nosotros usando la palabra desarrollo pero la que me quemaba la mente era la palabra desenlace. Entre nosotros había armonía, melodía y ritmo pero era imposible plasmar esas partes en un todo coherente en un pentagrama. Lo nuestro no iba a terminar mal, pero tampoco iba a llegar a ninguna parte.
continued on next page
Literatura / Literature En la plaza San José continued from page 11
Así terminó mi desvarío en la Plaza San José, después de leer un pasaje en una novela y comprender que estaba enamorado; después de hablar con mi amiga y saber que era correspondido. Fue una conversación dulce y triste. Ambos estábamos claros. La casa que habíamos construido para los dos era sólida pero su fundación estaba en un pantano. Pensé en lo que sucedería la próxima vez que la viera. Imaginé que le diría Amor Vincit Omnia en un cuarto semi-oscuro, rodeado de objetos humanos que echaba a un lado: un violín y un laud, una partitura, una armadura, una escuadra de carpintero y un compás, y yo sonriente, desnudo y con una flecha en la mano.
Era una ilusión agradable digna de ser una pintura hecha por las manos de un delincuente. Pero ilusión al fin se desvaneció rápidamente y como si estuviera mirándome por dentro pensé que la palabra que definía mi estado actual era ecuanimidad
Miré la estatua de Ponce de León imaginándola destrozada y pensando que en vez de reclamarle nuestra puertorriqueñidad al Rey De España alguien debió llevarlo a la Plaza San José para mostrarle la estatua derribada. Volví a maldecir en voz baja a la señora que había tirado su basura en la plaza. Quize decirle: ¿está ciega vieja cabrona, no vio el zafacón cercano? Me levanté y en un acto obsesivo-compulsivo me pasé la mano por las nalgas para quitarle al pantalón el polvo invisible que se le había pegado del banco. Me agradaba otra vez sentirme enamorado y me sentí mejor
al saber que esta vez no tenía que hacer nada. Abrí la novela en la página donde estaba el pasaje que me había inspirado, la volví a cerrar y me dirigí hacia el bar más cercano.
JOSÉ EDGARDO CRUZ FIGUEROA (cruzjose5319@gmail.com) es natural de San Juan y criado en El Fanguito y Barrio Obrero en Santurce, Puerto Rico. Es profesor emérito de ciencias políticas en la Universidad del Estado de Nueva York en Albany.
JOSÉ EDGARDO CRUZ FIGUEROA
Literatura / Literature
STCC Hosted Award-Winning Poet Martín Espada
by MANUEL FRAU-RAMOS
Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) hosted awardwinning poet Martín Espada for a special poetry reading and discussion as part of National Poetry Month. Espada read selections from his latest book, “Jailbreak of Sparrows” published by Knopf in 2025, and engaged in a conversation with the audience.
The event occurred on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in the Ira H. Rubenzahl Student Learning Commons.
Kat Good-Schiff, a librarian at STCC and event organizer, highlighted that the event was part of this school year’s library project, where the library created a display called “Classics Reimagined: Find Belonging in Literature.” Good-Schiff stated that the basis of this project is “Everyone deserves to belong in a story, to see themselves reflected and to gain a window into others’ experiences.” She added, “Classic texts are work people turn to for inspiration, instruction, and entertainment time and again–but what is considered classic literature also changes over time, and contemporary writers create out of this living tradition.”
Erica Eynouf, dean of the library, said that “his (Espada’s) poetry is powerful and thought-provoking, and his visit aligns perfectly with our ‘Classics Reimagined’ exhibit, which highlights literature’s ability to foster belonging and connection.”
“Jailbreak of Sparrows” is a collection of arresting poems that roots itself in the image, the musicality of language, and the depth of human experience. “Look at this was all he said, and all he had to say,” the poet says about his father, a photographer who documented his Puerto Rican community in Brooklyn and beyond. The poems of Martín Espada tell us: Look.
Espada has published over 20 books as a poet, essayist, editor, and translator. Other collections of his poems include “Vivas to Those Who Have Failed,” “The Trouble Ball,” and “Alabanza.” His honors include the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, a Robert Creeley Award, a National Hispanic Cultural Center Literary Award, a PEN/Revson Fellowship, an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Earlier this week, Espada was also named in the inaugural cohort of the Letras Boricuas Fellowship, a new award created by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyán Foundation’s Arts Fund. It aims to enrich and sustain literary tradition in Puerto Rico and the U.S. diaspora.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1957, Espada earned a B.A. in history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a J.D. from Northeastern University. As an attorney, he supervised Su Clínica Legal, a legal services program for low-income, Spanish-speaking tenants in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
Espada has dedicated himself to pursuing social justice and fighting for the rights of Latino communities. He cites his most significant influence as his father, Frank Espada, a community organizer, civil rights activist, and documentary photographer who created the Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project.
Left to Right: Kat Good-Schiff, a librarian at STCC and event organizer, Ana Rodríguez, Erica Eynouf, dean of the library, and Martín Espada
Libros / Books
De huelga a pandemia en Puerto Rico: una década de intervenciones periodísticas
internacionales
por MARITZA STANCHICH | traducciones de ZINNIA M. CINTRÓN-MARRERO TOA BAJA, PR | EDITORA EDUCACIÓN EMERGENTE | 2024
En medio del fragor de la acción civil para retener o rescatar lo que es nuestro, sabemos que contamos con el apoyo de las columnas que escribe Maritza Stanchich para la prensa estadounidense. Cuando las estrategias de pauperización neoliberal impulsadas por los líderes locales siguen libretos establecidos por el gobierno estadounidense, hace falta que el grito llegue hasta los oídos de quienes mueven los muñequitos, en gran medida con un desconocimiento craso de las específicas realidades y complejidades del archipiélago que colonizan sin pudor. Con veinticinco años de respetuosa y solidaria residencia en Puerto Rico, Stanchich ha sido desde siempre una de las nuestras.
Como lo hacen los buenos periodistas, estas columnas hablan con datos para refutar los lugares comunes y las presunciones desde las que la metrópolis nos lee. Escritos en medio de las principales controversias que hemos sufrido y gozado en los últimos años (porque los puertorriqueños protestamos bailando y con panderos), los artículos de Stanchich nos recuerdan que tenemos una historia coherente, digna, inteligente, tenaz de lucha, que ha ganado batallas y que no se rinde. Gracias Maritza por el lujo que es tu amistad y compañía/ Melanie Pérez Ortiz (Catedrática del Departamento de Estudios Hispánicos, UPR, Río Piedras)
Con este libro, que recoge un periodismo a la vez íntimo y comprometido en nuestra serie Crónica otra, Editora Educación Emergente afianza su empeño en recordarnos y celebrarnos los otros, libres países que somos y nos hacemos, incluso en los tiempos más aciagos.
About the Author
MARITZA STANCHICH, Ph.D., is a Professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, where she teaches Puerto Rican diaspora, Latinx, Caribbean, and US American literature at the BA, MA, and doctoral levels. Her essays on Faulkner in a circum-Caribbean context, Puerto Rican diaspora literature, and the crisis in Puerto Rico have been published in peer-reviewed journals and books.
In 2020, she and co-author Hilda Lloréns won the LASA-Puerto Rico Section Blanca G. Silvestrini Prize for Outstanding Article in Puerto Rican Studies for “Water is Life, but the Colony is a Necropolis: Environmental Terrains of Struggle in Puerto Rico” (Cultural Dynamics vol. 31. no. 1-2. Feb.-May 2019, 81-101). An awardwinning journalist, her columns for The Huffington Post, The New York Times and The Guardian helped bring international attention to Puerto Rico’s crisis, starting in 2010. Her most recent poems have been published in Sargasso (2021-2022) and ZiN Daily (2024). She was raised in New Jersey and is of Croatian and Peruvian descent. She has lived and worked in Puerto Rico for more than two decades.
San Mateo de Cangrejos: Cultura, Resistencia y Comunidad
El libro San Mateo de Cangrejos: cultura, resistencia y comunidad, una obra que resalta el legado del primer poblado negro y cimarrón de Puerto Rico en su desarrollo histórico, social y cultural. El libro, publicado por la Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, conmemora los 250 años del primer poblado negro y cimarrón de Puerto Rico. Esta publicación resalta el legado cultural de las comunidades de Santurce.
Este proyecto busca preservar y comprender la historia, la cultura y la resistencia del pueblo de San Mateo de Cangrejos. Esta forma parte de las iniciativas de Enlace Comunitario y el proyecto Nuestro Barrio, que buscan impulsar oportunidades de colaboración y desarrollo cultural y social.
El libro, compuesto por cinco ensayos, recoge la memoria histórica de Cangrejos a través del análisis y la ilustración de símbolos, significados, experiencias e hitos que marcaron la historia y el tejido común de sus habitantes y descendientes.
Los autores que la colaboraron en esta publicación están destacados expertos en historia, antropología, arquitectura y música: Jesús M. Cepeda Brenes – Folklorólogo y folklorista, Juan A. Giusti Cordero – Historiador y catedrático, Jaime M. Pérez Rivera – Antropólogo social e historiador, Edwin R. Quiles Rodríguez – Arquitecto y urbanista, Dimas Sánchez – Percusionista y Amílcar Tirado Avilés – Historiador.
La publicación del libro fue posible gracias a la colaboración de la Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades, la National Endowment for the Humanities, la Sociedad Histórica de Villa Palmeras, la Editorial Santillana, los autores invitados y todas las personas que contribuyeron a la gestión editorial.
Los Microplásticos hacen que las Bacterias Desarrollen Resistencia a los Antibióticos
por HUELLA ZERO
Los microplásticos—partículas minúsculas de plástico—están presentes en todo el planeta. Pasaron del mar a las cadenas alimentarias, están en las montañas y en las nubes, e incluso en nuestros cuerpos, aumentando a un ritmo alarmante.
Científicos de la Universidad de Boston estudian las consecuencias de la contaminación de microplásticos y presentaron un estudio con un hallazgo inquietante: en el cuerpo humano los microplásticos pueden propiciar el desarrollo de bacterias resistentes a los medicamentos. Se encontró que las bacterias expuestas a microplásticos se volvieron resistentes a varios tipos de antibióticos utilizados habitualmente para tratar infecciones.
Ingeniería de la Universidad de Boston, quien estudia la resistencia a los antimicrobianos y la salud de refugiados y migrantes.
Zaman, director del Centro de Desplazamientos Forzosos de la Universidad de Boston, expreso que este fenómeno puede poner en riesgo a las comunidades más desfavorecidas y evidencia la necesidad de mayor vigilancia y una comprensión más profunda sobre la interacción entre los microplásticos y las bacterias.
¿Cómo los microplásticos aumentan la resistencia de las bacterias a los antibióticos?
El estudio, publicado en la Applied and Environmental Microbiology, resalta que los plásticos proporcionan una superficie en la que las bacterias se adhieren y después colonizan, explicó Neila Gross, candidata a doctora en Ciencias e Ingeniería de Materiales y autora principal del estudio.
El panorama, nada alentador, resulta aún más preocupante en zonas densamente pobladas y empobrecidas, como los asentamientos de refugiados, donde los plásticos desechados se amontonan y las infecciones bacterianas se propagan con facilidad.
“El hecho de que haya microplásticos a nuestro alrededor, y más aun en lugares empobrecidos donde el saneamiento puede ser limitado, es una parte sorprendente de esta observación”, afirmó Muhammad Zaman, profesor de ingeniería biomédica de la Facultad de
Una vez adheridas a la superficie, las bacterias crean una biopelícula, una sustancia pegajosa que actúa como un escudo y las protege de los invasores manteniéndolas fijas.
Aunque las bacterias pueden crear esta biopelícula en cualquier superficie, la doctora Gross observó cómo los microplásticos refuerzan tanto las biopelículas bacterianas que, al añadir antibióticos a la mezcla, el medicamento es incapaz de penetrar el escudo
“Descubrimos que las biopelículas sobre microplásticos, en comparación con otras superficies como el vidrio, son mucho más fuertes y gruesas, como una casa con una tonelada de aislamiento (...) Fue asombroso de ver”, afirma Gross.
La tasa de resistencia a los antibióticos era tan alta en comparación con otros materiales, que se realizaron los experimentos varias veces, probando diferentes combinaciones de antibióticos y tipos de material plástico. Los resultados fueron siempre los mismos. “Demostramos que la presencia de plásticos hace mucho más que proporcionar una superficie para que se adhieran las bacterias: en realidad, favorece el desarrollo de organismos resistentes”, afirmó Zaman.
Gross y Zaman señalaron que el siguiente paso en su investigación es averiguar si sus hallazgos en el laboratorio se trasladan al mundo exterior. Esperan iniciar estudios con socios investigadores en el extranjero para vigilar los campos de refugiados en busca de bacterias y virus resistentes a los antibióticos relacionados con los microplásticos. También intentan determinar los mecanismos exactos que permiten a las bacterias aferrarse con tanta fuerza al plástico.
HUELLA ZERO trabaja para aumentar las comunicaciones sobre el clima y el medio ambiente en las comunidades latinas.
