The Virgen Carmen is very important to the culture of Cabanaconde. The Virgen is very important because she offers a type of connection to the culture of Cabanaconde for the many migrants who leave the area. All people from Cabanaconde, weather or not they live in the area, can look to the Virgen and be connected to their native culture. The festival of the Virgen Carmen is very important to the people of Cabanaconde because many migrants return to their home in Cabanaconde which allows them to reconnect with their native culture. This prevents them from loosing touch with their home but it also helps to build social networks that draw new migrants which causes the growth of the international community. The incredible festival for the Virgen Carmen is also important because it draws tourism to the area. Transnational migration has reinforced the importance of the festival as a means to develop social networks because these social networks are critical for migration, especially for poorer families. The festival for the Virgen Carmen has also changed because of transnational migration because the migration has shifted the festival from a festival that was primarily agro-religious to a festival that emphasizes citizens and migrants devotion to the local town and area.

Mexico drug cartel’s grip on politicians and police revealed in Texas court files

Agren, David. “Mexico drug cartel’s grip on politicians and police revealed in Texas court files” The Guardian, 10 November, 2017.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f8/Los_Zeta_logo.jpg/200px-Los_Zeta_logo.jpg

Organized crime in the form of cartels has been found to have deep rooted influence on local politics in the border sate of Coahuila. A recent report released by the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas school of law has released testimony from many Texan courts showing the extent to which cartels like Los Zetas (logo pictured above) have infiltrated border state politics. In addition to bribing local politicians, cartels have paid off local policemen who turn a blind eye to mass murders and disappearances in the state.  Experts were not surprised at the lack of government response to this new study however some said they were disheartened by the apathy of Mexican citizens. It seems like Mexican citizens are becoming accustomed to this type of violence and are ignoring it more and more.

The article went on to describe recent violence by the Zetas cartel. It mentioned that the cartel has carried out hundreds of killings between 2014 and 2016 and that there are probably many more killings that went unreported. The Zetas cartel has also bribed or “purchased” many government leaders, even at the executive level. There are strong allegations that the Zetas have bribed two governors to work for them.

This article portrays the Coahuila region in a negative light. This negative portrayal may be appropriate because of the high levels of cartel violence in this region. As a whole, this article portrays Mexico as violent and cartel ridden however it also covers an under covered area of Mexico and an issue that many people are afraid to write about because of potential retaliation. Also this article portrays the citizens of Mexico as apathetic toward cartel violence. This portrayal is negative and harmful. When the article talks about how Mexican citizens are apathetic toward cartel violence it is also dangerously close to the stereotype of the “lazy Mexican”. Overall, this article does a good job of covering an under covered area of Mexican society however it also could be harmful to the identity of Mexican citizens, especially Mexican activists.

The people who commented on my Wikipedia plans suggested that I add pictures and replace bad sources. They also warned me to remain unbiased because my topic can quickly become biased. As far as pictures go, I will look for good pictures of my topic but I am not sure that they will be available. I will try to at least incorporate a picture of the Autodefensa symbol which is a white dove. In terms of replacing bad sources, I will see what kind of overlap my sources have with the bad ones. If there is overlap I will absolutely replace those sources with better ones. If there is no overlap, I will do some research however it can be hard to find good information on my topic. It seems like the person who wrote my article originally had a lot of knowledge of Autodefensas groups in Mexico before they did any research and just tried to find a few sources to back up what they knew. Hopefully I will be able to find better ones that serve the same purpose. Finally, I will be sure to remain unbiased. This will be hard considering the topic however I think it will be doable as long as I stick to factual information and am very careful with my word choice. For example I will say that some Autodefensas groups began to sell drugs to finance their organization however I will not compare this to cartel activity even though it is similar. If I made that comparison I may be forcing my own conclusions on my readers which is not allowed on Wikipedia. I got a lot of good feedback so now I just have to get started!

Rivera-Rideau’s central argument in this chapter is that Reggaetón has become racialized as Latino in the United States in the same way that Hip-hop has been racialized before it. The racialization of these genres of music are damaging because these genres are portrayed by the media as deviant and criminal. Because of these portrayals in the media, Reggaetón and rap have both come to be known as urban (or hurban in the case of Reggaetón), gangster, and violent. When these genres are portrayed negatively and then associated with an entire race of people, it reduces the people, the music, and the culture to simple negative stereotypes.

Originally, Reggaetón and Latin music in general was not portrayed positively but also was not seen as hoodlum. The first artists to popularize Reggaetón had lighter skin and were portrayed as discoveries and as sexualized, spicy Latinos or Latinas. One example of this is Ricky Martin who is much whiter and was one of the first to bring Latin music to the US. Ricky Martin. Ricky Martin was never portrayed as hoodlum, he was portrayed as sexy and almost white. As Reggaetón evolved and more Afro-Latinos began to get into the genre, it became seen in a more negative light like rap. Another factor that contributed to the negative portrayal of Reggaetón in the US is the fact that many of the artists who performed Reggaetón were immigrants who were usually lower class and lived in poor urban areas. The economic status and living conditions of these artists made it easier for the media to portray the artists and the entire genre as urban and hoodlum.

Reggaetón is an interesting area of study that may help us learn more about cultural exchanges in America. In Reggaetón we can see that some artists have made an attempt at fusing Reggaetón and rap for example N.O.R.E however this has caused push back from African American and Latino communities. This may be indicative of the situation that Latin american immigrants face in the United States. Latin American immigrants may attempt to assimilate into American culture by attempting to connect to African Americans with whom they share some cultural and ethnic identity however when they attempt this there is often a push back from the African American community. These Latin American immigrants seem to face the same problems when they try to connect with White Americans which puts them in a strange place because they are not quite White and not quite Black.

For my Wikipedia Article assignment I would like to build the Autodefensas page on Wikipedia into a real page or look at an existing (more specific) autodefensas page to revise. Currently the page is only a disambiguation page meaning it has no content beyond a definition of autodefensas and a list of links to pages on specific groups. I think it would be interesting to elaborate on what autodefensas groups are and to provide a short history of the formation of the groups in general as well as a brief overview of each of the groups listed on the disambiguation page. This page does not even have a true talk page because it is a disambiguation page however I believe it could be more than that. As far as reputable sources go, I would like to look at the book “Blood and Capital: The Paramilitarization of Colombia” which was published by the Ohio university press and seems reputable. I could also look at THE “SIXTH DIVISION” Military-paramilitary Ties and U.S. Policy in Colombia and this article on Historia del paramilitarismo en Colombia written by a Chilean history professor. If I also wanted to look at autodefensas groups in Mexico the page for that is lacking as well and more resources can be found through the Spanish news source El Pais and even in the movie “Cartel land”. I think that there is a lot of good information and that I could pick the page Autodefensas (general), or Grupos de Autodefensa Comunitaria which is actually an English page about autodefensas groups in Mexico that has several major problems.

For my Wikipedia research project I would be interested in researching vigilante or autodefensas groups in Colombia. People these groups form in response to the formation of cartels and the lack of government response in order to protect themselves and their families. The problem is that these groups often lack order and this can lead to unintended violence. Because of all this, the difference between cartels and vigilante groups are not always clear. This is not necessarily an effective option for dealing with crime but what can people do about all of this? This could be related to culture because this is an increasingly common part of life in rural areas of many Latin American countries where drug crime is common. This could also be related to identity because the people who are part of these groups give up a big part of their identities as citizens of these countries to become vigilantes who are labeled as criminals by the government and often ostracized by others in their areas. Wikipedia does not have an official page for vigilantism in Colombia. Wikipedia does have a few specific pages for specific vigilante groups however most of these are stubs. Luckily I did find more comprehensive Wikipedia articles on the topic in Spanish so I may be able to use some sources from that page and translate them in order to create more comprehensive pages in English. Unfortunately, Credo also does not have a lot of information about these groups so if the sources on the Spanish Wikipedia page do not pan out I may be out of luck.

Another research topic I would be interested in for my project is Jews in Colombia. I am interested in Jewish culture (because I am Jewish) and I am interested in Colombia so I think it would be interesting to learn about Judaism in Colombia, especially because I am considering studying abroad there. This topic would relate to both culture and identity in Latin America and would be interesting to study because Colombia is a predominantly Christian country. Wikipedia already has an article about the history of Jews in Colombia, it is not super long but it is not a stub article either. Credo seems to have a bit more information on the topic, especially about Jewish contributions to Latin American and Colombian arts/culture however it is quite possible that there will be a good bit of overlap in the information that the two sites provide.