Cuban exile Amaury Almaguer is leading an international protest against the Cuban government after claiming that he was banned from entering the island because he met with a political dissident, Diario las Américas reports. Almaguer, owner of an exterior design company in South Florida who moved to the U.S. in 1972, says that at least 12 Cubans are denied entry to their country each month. He will protest on Jan. 26 in front of the Cuban embassy in Washington along with other “forbidden Cubans.” Similar protests are planned at Cuban embassies in such countries as Switzerland, England, Canada, Ecuador, Uruguay and Chile. Link to original story →

Wesley Bell, the new prosecuting attorney of St. Louis County, on Jan. 8 offered a plan to expand the the county's diversion programs and alternative courts in order to reduce criminal activity by addressing addiction and mental illness, and he's getting medical facilities, community organizations and businesses on board as well. The St. Louis American notes in an editorial that Bell, who won against incumbent Bob McCulloch by a 14 percent margin, is moving quickly to make communities safer, but that some police officers are spreading lies about his plans, "in fear of reform and (we believe) black leadership." Link to original story →

An op-ed piece in Asbarez discusses the Armenian government's decision to dissolve its Diaspora Ministry, arguing that the ministry's mission was never clear, and that its interactions with representatives of 8 million or so Armenians in the diaspora were often troubling – for instance, "an astute Diaspora minister would never tell Armenians who did not speak Armenian that they weren’t true Armenians." With or without such a ministry, it might be helpful to study the experiences of other countries with large diasporas such as Israel, Italy and Ireland, and perhaps educate people in Armenia about the diaspora and the struggles to remain Armenian in foreign lands. Link to original story →

Jan. 8 was a historic day in the border town of El Paso, as for the first time a majority of the city council representatives (5 of 8) sworn in were women, most of them Latinas, El Diario de El Paso reports. Council members Alexsandra Annello, Cassandra Hernández-Brown, Claudia Ordaz Perez, Cissy Lizarraga and Isabel Salcido are part of an unprecedented number of women entering office at the local, state and national level. Texas also sent its two first Latinas to the U.S. House of Representatives: Verónica Escobar – also from El Paso – and Sylvia García from Houston. Link to original story →