Does Anyone Know Enrique Emmanuelli?

To all my readers especially in the New York area:

A relative of mine asked if I could help her make contact with her brother with whom she has lost contact. They lost contact due to the various moves they had both undergone. Enrique would be 67 years old now. He worked as a Diesel Mechanic in Long Island City, New York and built motorcycles. He has two daughters and a son. He had moved to Puerto Rico at one time but my sister-and-law is not sure if he is still on the island or has moved back to the states.

Should you know Enrique Emmanuelli or know of him please leave a comment below ( do not include your email in the comment body, only where it ask you when posting the comment ) or pass on the information so that he may initiate contact. Let him know that his sister, Yolanda is trying to re-establish contact with him.

Tags Lost Family Member, Lost Relative

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CNN Web site targeted

Well it would seem that a battle has been raging between CNN and China over a commentary made on April 9, 2008 by Jack Cafferty regarding China or more correctly put, the words Cafferty used.
It would seem that the incident came to a head yesterday when: More...

Puerto Rican Cop Gets 109 years for killing Civilian

This case has been watched very closely by the Puerto Ricans on the island and in the states. Today the final chapter was closed when the judge sentenced Javier Pagán Cruz to 99 years on charges of murder and 10 years on weapons charges. Read more here: The Last Caribbean Bohemian Artist.
Many will remember this case since it was flashed across the internet because the cop was caught in the act by a bystander on video. This video ended up on YouTube and was seen worldwide.

Puerto Rican Poet/Writer Piri Thomas Suffers Stroke

Puerto Rican poet and writer, Piri Thomas, best known for his depiction of barrio survival in Down These Mean Streets, suffered a stroke.

The 79 year old author is recovering in his now home of California.
Capicu Poetry is compiling email and audio messages to send to the poet, to serve as a source of strength for Piri, since he has been a source of strength to countless Latinos (and others).
If you want to send Piri Thomas a get well message please email CapicuPoetry@gmail.com or call their community hotline (208) 723-5966.

Down These Mean Streets is the autobiography of Piri Thomas, a Latino of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent who grew up in El Barrio (aka Spanish Harlem), a section of Harlem that has a large Puerto Rican population. In the book, we watch Piri as he goes through the first few decades of his life, lives in poverty, joins and fights with street gangs, faces racism (in both New York and the South), suffers through heroin addiction, gets involved in crime, and ends up in prison.
Down These Mean Streets reads similarly to The Autobiography of Malcolm X in that both books are vivid, brutally honest memoirs of experiences of racial prejudice and discrimination, identity formation, and youthful involvement with crime that leads to life-altering prison experiences. One of the major themes of Down These Mean Streets centers on Piri Thomas's identity as a dark-complected Afro-Latino. Although he is of Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage, the larger American society takes him for African-American and fails to recognize him as Latino. His own family rejects the African aspect of their Latin-Caribbean ancestry, causing Piri to spend much of his adolescent and early adult life contemplating his racial and ethnic identity.
Down These Mean Streets has either been banned or has risked banning attempts in Salinas, CA; Teaneck, NJ; Darien, CT; District 25 in Queens, NYC, NY; and in Long Island, NY.
The book was originally published in 1967, and later republished in a special Thirtieth Anniversary Edition in 1997, with a new afterword from the author. A sequel was made, called 7 Long Times, which gives more depth to his prison years.
You can view two videos of Piri Thomas at The Last Caribbean, Bohemian Artist
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_These_Mean_Streets

Hispanic deaths in the War/ Iraq

This is always a sad post for me to compile and so as not to do double work I provide the link to my other blog where the post is actually located. Click here for the list.

May they rest in Peace

The Issues Surrounding The Indictment of Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila

You can go over to El Bohemio to see what is being written.
Click here.

Dodging Snipers in Bosnia?

Has anyone given any attention to Hillary’s claims of Dodging Snipers in Bosnia, as a way of emphasizing her experience to be the president and manage military affairs? You might want to check around on the net today in particularly the Fact Checker at the Washington Post.

Here is what she said:

"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."
March 17, 2008
IRAQ: Hillary's Remarks at The George Washingon University

Well, if you do some checking you will find something very peculiar about her account! Take a look at this video and remember these words:

"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

Hillary Clinton at Tuzla in Bosnia

Was this the same trip that she talked about? Was there more than one trip to Tuzla, Bosnia?
If this is indeed the trip she referred to I certainly don’t see anyone running for cover! Maybe my audio is off also because I have a hard time hearing the sniper fire!

If you ask me something doesn’t jibe in this whole account.

Quimbara

My wife and I were at our favorite restaurant, Titos in Vega Alta yesterday where one of the customers played the Celia Cruz hit Quimbara on the jukebox. It instantly propelled me back down memory lane to the days I hung out in Spanish Harlem during the 60's! I thought I would share it here for those who want to feel nostalgic for the old days.

Celia Cruz Ft Tito Puente - Quimbara



While looking for the video on YouTube I came across another version that I found to be interesting. Here it is:

QUIMBARA

Pelea de Gallos en Puerto Rico

This is a treat for those who grew up here on the island and are fans of the Traditional Cockfights.
You can view this and other videos at: Videos Boricuas expresate al mundo

Enjoy!

Pelea de Gallos en Puerto Rico

Nuestra gente le encantan las peleas de gallos. Existen las famosas galleras donde la gente va y lleva sus gallos. Me acuerdo de un vecino que le amolaba las espuelas y le ponia botines para practicar.

Obama, You Blew IT!

Jeremiah Wright - Hillary Clinton ain't never been called...

Up to this time I have been in favor of Barack Obama. Up to this time then last night I saw the interview conducted by Anderson Cooper where Obama was trying to distance himself from the frenzy over the sermon of Jeremiah Wright. Everybody has seen the edited version of that video. I am certain that it has probably been viewed world wide.

Now, here is the thing. I saw that video, as have the majority of those living in the U.S. and I could not find it to be offensive or untruthful ( except for the 911 comment that does not appear in the video ). Any ethnic, especially blacks know that everything that Jeremiah Wright said about the black mans plight was true! Deep down inside Obama knows that this is true. But what does he do? He now tries to distance himself from all of it!
Well, when I saw that on Anderson Cooper last night my views on Obama changed. Jeremiah Wright spoke the truth of the black mans ( and other ethnics ) plight in the U.S. not the ideological rhetoric of a politician! He spoke the Reality of the ethnic experience in the U.S. not the ideological American Dream story!

The more I heard Obama speak the more I realized that this is a man I cannot back or trust. Up until last night he had my vote but now, that has changed. How can anyone trust an individual who tries to distance himself from something that every ethnic living in the U.S. knows is true! Political rhetoric to save his butt during a presidential campaign? Even less reason to be trusted.

Obama, if you ask me you blew it Kiddo! There are a lot of blacks and ethnics out there that are probably thinking the same thing I just expressed. I suspect that the Anderson Cooper interview ( aired March 14, 2008 ) is going to cost Obama dearly!

Note: I tried finding the video of that interview but was unable to find it anywhere. Does anyone know where I can find it?

Barack Obama Speech on Race

About this video
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Barack Obama confronted the nation's racial divide head-on Tuesday, tackling both black grievance and white resentment in a bold effort to quiet a campaign uproar over race and his former pastor's incendiary statements.

Now lets listen to the Obama speech on Race. It is a 4 part video.

Barack Obama Speech on Race - Part 1 of 4

Barack Obama Speech on Race - Part 2 of 4

Barack Obama Speech on Race - Part 3 of 4

Barack Obama Speech on Race - Part 4 of 4

I listened to the speech and all of the eloquent words and the little story and I come away asking this," Is he talking truth and reality or is this more Political, patriotic idealism, that has been spewed out for the past 300 years at election time? "

Don't get me wrong, I am not an advocate of hate but neither am I some naive idiot as to what we must confront on a regular basis in the" Mean " streets of our cities.
Jeremiah Wright spoke truthfully of the black mans plight, which in essence is the reality of all ethnics in the U.S.

My wife told me that Obama has to say these things in order to continue his race for the presidency. Well, if that is the case then it's politics not truth and reality. I would rather deal with a man who will call me Spik to my face than one with eloquent speech's and pat's on the back. At least I know where the first one is coming from, I would not be able to trust the second!

But who am I except a lowly man on the streets in a pre-depression era!

War between Venezuela and Colombia? (4 March 2008)

I came across these 2 MUST SEE videos of the current situation between Venezuela and Colombia over at YouTube during my nightly hunts across the Net.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Hundreds of Venezuelan troops moved Tuesday toward the border with Colombia, where trade was slowing amid heightening tension over Colombia's cross-border strike on a rebel base in Ecuador. More…



Venezuela Closes Trade Border with Columbia
Tensions are increasing between Venezuela and Columbia. Venezuela has closed its trade border with Colombia and the Columbian President wants to put Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez put on trial for financing a terrorist group. More…

Fidel Castro Calls it Quits!

Castro Resigns as President, Cuban Commander-in-Chief (Update1)

By Michael Smith and Andrew Davis
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Fidel Castro resigned as president and commander-in-chief of Cuba, after almost 50 years as the country's leader, the official daily Granma said. More…
For other articles about this story go here: Google News

Mr Big Stick in Latin America

Meet John McCain

Found this article over at Counter Punch.com which I thought would be of extreme interest to my Latin readers. It is scary to think that we might end up with yet another Hawk in the White House.
It's a MUST READ article.

February 13, 2008
By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF

Now that John McCain has presumably wrapped up the Republican nomination, it's natural to wonder what kind of foreign policy he might pursue towards the rest of the world if he were elected President. For example, how would the "maverick" McCain deal with Latin America? More…

FBI Witch Hunt Stokes Puerto Rican Independence Movement

By Jessica Pupovac, AlterNet. Posted January 31, 2008.

As an anti-terror task force targets three young Puerto Ricans in New York, people take to the streets.
They say that when Filiberto Ojeda Rios was killed, all of Puerto Rico stood still.
"The financial district shut down," José Lopez, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, explained recently in a small café along Paseo Boricua, the heart of Chicago's vibrant Puerto Rican neighborhood. More…

Blogging from Havana, secretly

By Esteban Israel Reuters
Published: October 10, 2007

HAVANA: When Yoani Sanchez, 32, wants to update her blog about daily life in Cuba, she dresses like a tourist and strides confidently into a Havana hotel, greeting the staff in German.
That is because Cubans like Sanchez are not authorized to use hotel Internet connections, which are reserved for foreigners. More…

How bloggers blog in Cuba

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder,
October 15, 2007 9:35 AM

Michael Orbach says: Here's an International Tribune article about blogging in Cuba, which I believe is somewhat illegal. Bloggers dress up as tourists, speak foreign languages and secretly use hotel Internet lines (natives Cubans aren't allowed). More…

See and read her blog:
Cuban Blogger
Generación Y

Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián, San Juan, Puerto Rico

,For information on this years
Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián
please go to my other site:

El Bohemio The Last Caribbean, Bohemian Artist
There you will find various links and information.

Kayakea con Puertorriqueños por Puerto Rico

Here is an upcoming event that speaks for itself.
Interested parties can call and make their reservations.

Does Anyone Know Oscar Santiago?

Oscar Santiago ( Santiago ) was last seen on November 4, 1986. He would be 52 years old by now. He served in the Navy from 1973-1978. Last known residence was Hanson Place # 62, Brooklyn , New York.
His mother is desperately seeking news of his whereabouts. Should you know Oscar Santiago or know of him please leave a comment below or pass on the information so that he may initiate contact.

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Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay Trailer

OK people, lets start the New Year off with some laughs. Check out this Harold and Kumar trailer from their upcoming movie ( this Spring ) Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo. Hope everyone enjoys it.

And here is another sent to me by J.J.

Does Anyone Know Norca Torres?

When I knew her Norca Torres lived on Rockaway Ave just off the corner of Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, New York. This was back around the mid 60’s. She had 2 brothers, one was Raymond and the other was Walter. Her step-father was partners with a Jewish fellow in a clothing store on Broadway just a bit west of Rockaway under the J train.

Norca had married a guy named Winston, don’t recall the last name, which is the guy the family felt she should marry.

Sometime around the late 60’s the family had moved to a large house just south west of Highland Park. I remember having been there once or twice before I went to the service. Upon my return I married and lost track of Norca and her family as well as a number of other friends.

A number of years ago my brother ran into her, don’t remember if it was in Brooklyn or Queens. He found out that she had been divorced from Winston. That was the last I ever heard of her.

If anyone reading this post knows of her or knows her please direct her to this blog so we may re-establish contact. Tell her Robert, Walter’s old friend is trying to re-establish contact with her.