Environmental activist Aura Vasquez is the first immigrant ever to be a Los Angeles Board of Water and Power commissioner, La Opinión reports. Vasquez, 40, was appointed in May 2017, and is also the only Latina on the five-member panel. She moved to the U.S. in 1996, fleeing violence in her native Colombia. She lived and studied in New York where she worked as a community organizer for United Way. In California, she worked for the organizations PICO and Sierra Club before Mayor Eric Garcetti invited her to join the Department of Water and Power. Link to original story →

A festival in memory of Mexican poet Octavio Paz celebrated Hispanic culture in Los Angeles last weekend, La Opinión reports. “Octavio Paz and the Postpachucos” was organized by the Mexican Consulate and featured literary events, music and exhibitions. Most events focused on how the Nobel prize-winning poet’s stay in California in the 1920s shaped his views on Mexican identity, which he expressed in his groundbreaking essay “The Labyrinth of Solitude.” Said Enrique Márquez, of Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Office: “This is a pretext to promote Spanish literature and language; indigenous languages and the migrant’s culture.” Link to original story →

At least six Cuban immigrants, ages 25 to 35, in process of being deported started a hunger strike in Atlanta’s Stewart Detention Center, Mundo Hispánico reports. According to family members, they have been held for more than six months without getting any information about their case by ICE, and complain of lack of medical assistance. “They say that if they are going to be sent to Cuba, they will have to be carried out feet first,” said Yamilé Echemendía, mother of Randy Yahir Torres Echemendía, who applied for political asylum in the U.S. in January 2018. Link to original story →

According to a new study, young Puerto Ricans have higher cancer rates than other ethnic groups in the U.S., El Nuevo Día reports. The report, by the University of Puerto Rico’s Central Cancer Registry, found that from 2000 to 2015 there were 4,327 new cancer diagnoses in people between 15 and 39 years of age on the island, affecting many more women (67.6 percent) than men (32.4 percent). This higher incidence of cancer among young people – although no comparative numbers are provided – is mainly associated to lifestyle (obesity in particular), genetics, inequality and environmental factors. Link to original story →