๐ธ๐ช๐พMoneda Moves (09): Independence Day ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐จ๐ท๐ญ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐น๐ธ๐ป
Buen dia y felicidades to all celebrating an independence day this month.
On September 15 and 16, several Latin American countries celebrate El Dรญa de la Independencia, meaning Hispanic Heritage Month has officially kicked into full gear. Among these countries? Mexico ๐ฒ๐ฝ, Costa Rica ๐จ๐ท, Honduras ๐ญ๐ณ, Nicaragua ๐ณ๐ฎ, Guatemala ๐ฌ๐นand El Salvador ๐ธ๐ป.
And while I appreciate el grito celebrations (historical event that triggered the Mexican War of Independence) as much anyone else, let's take a pause to talk about the U.S. celebrations around the Latinx community at large: Hispanic Heritage Month. It's no secret there are mixed feelings around celebrations.
The chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, New Mexico Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham sent a letter to President Trump last week declining his invitation to Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, per The Associated Press, citing his policies as harmful to the Hispanic community. Yesterday evening, he said at the event: "America is winning again and Hispanic-owned businesses are leading the way."
Remezcla's Yara Simรณn did a great job at surveying how Latinx across the spectrum feel about U.S. celebrations this month. Simรณn also points out how in this month, celebrations are often seen as a "marketing opportunity" while focusing on explicitly buying power. She also pulls a revealing quote from Latino USA:
For the full list of quotes pulled from the likes of Julio Ricardo Varela, Raquel Reichard and Shea Serrano, check out her full piece here.
I'm curious to hear -- how do Moneda Moves readers feel about Hispanic Heritage Month? Does it do a service to the Latinx community? If you are Latinx, what do the celebrations mean to you? Hit that reply button and drop me a message. I'd like to include your responses in our next edition!
And if you received this email by way of a socio, don't for get to subscribe here. Onto this week's features.
Con poder โ๐พ,
Lyanne
Race to a NAFTA revision ๐บ๐ธ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฝ: Trump has reached a new trade deal with Mexico, and is now pressuring Canada to sign on to new terms. In agreements between Mexico and the U.S., here's a bit of what the overhaul means so far:
Creating rules with the end goal to take more car production from Mexico back to the United States (CNN Money)
40% to 45% of a car or truck's content must be made by workers earning more than $16 an hour -- also a move to help US retain more auto work (BI)
A push for restrictions on Mexican agricultural exports appear to be dropped by the U.S. trade negotiators (Reuters)
Mexico and U.S. agreed to tougher protections around intellectual property (BI)
The agreement is intended to run 16 years, with a check in at the six year mark (Reuters)
The North American Free Trade Agreement is a historic deal that was negotiated between North American countries: Canada, Mexico and the U.S. in the early 1990s that reduced tariffs between the three countries. It was meant to tie the economies together. The Washington's Post's Ana Swanson did an explainer on the basics.
๐ตAdded note: You wouldn't think a free trade agreement would be a spring of inspiration, but plenty of musicians in Mexico, Canada and U.S. felt strongly about it. Billboard's Adam Williams put together a list of anti-NAFTA songs.
Duolingo Guatemalan co-founder Luis von Ahn wins prestigious Lemelson-MIT prize๐: The co-founder of the language learning platform who also founded the program to distinguish human from machine input, CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA received this latest award. The 2018 Lemelson-MIT prize recognizes a mid-career inventor whose patented product has advanced society. Pa'lante! NBC Latino's story is penned by Carmen Sesin.
New California pop-up market Mercado Vida puts Latinx creators front-and-center๐: Mercado Vida debuted last weekend in Mercado, California and is making waves featuring art, baked goods and accessories all made by the local Latinx community. The article comes from Marijke Rowland at The Modesto Bee.
Learn something new via Moneda Moves? Do me a favor and forward to your friends, family and partners with the following link: tinyletter.com/MonedaMoves. That's all for this week! As Walter Mercado would say, wishing you all mucha paz and mucho mucho amor...