July 3, 2009

The constitutional crisis in Honduras began weeks before President Manuel Zelaya was overthrown in a military coup on Sunday, June 28.

Originally a moderate conservative, Zelaya has positioned himself as a populist in the vein of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. On the day of his ouster, Zelaya had scheduled a referendum that would allow him to run for re-election later this year. But the country’s supreme court had already declared the referendum illegal. And when the head of the Honduran military refused Zelaya’s orders to provide security for the referendum to take place in defiance of the courts, Zelaya fired him earlier in the week.

We’re joined now by Larry Birns, Director of the Council On Hemispheric Affairs, a non-partisan policy research and monitoring group based in Washington, D.C.

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Special Thanks to Latino USA contributor Lakshmi Singh.

Immigrant Lending Circles

The concept of a lending circle is not unusual among immigrant communities in this country. In the past, groups of immigrants have pooled resources for many projects, often with the goal of providing important, costly improvements in their home communities. Other times, immigrants have pooled resources to start their own businesses, or create jobs in their home countries through micro-lending.

In San Francisco, contributor Emily Wilson brings this story of a local bank that’s helping immigrants with credit using the lending circle concept.

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BMX Competition

Professional motocross – or B-M-X – is actually based on extreme dirt-bike competition. It’s a sport that pays its top athletes at best in the six-figure range. So the great majority of its participants have to pay their own way in competitions and training. And it’s clearly not a sport for everyone.

Jorge Jovel is an immigrant from Honduras who admittedly spends too much time on his bike. He’s passed up decent jobs, relationships and family to endure pain becoming a top BMX competitor.

Special contributor Tesfaye Negussie brings us his story.

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Watch a video clip of Jorge Jovel’s story. This excerpt is from a half-hour video produced by Tesfaye Negussie, Tristan Ahtone, and Jed Kim.

B-M-X Park in the Bronx

Photos by T. Negussie