2013

Last year I visited Bajo Aguán, a land torn by a terrible land conflict.  You can see in this video many of the vivid realities I saw on that trip: the immense, silent, hundreds of miles of African palm plantations, used for biofuel, which wealthy landowners are seeking to expand, setting the stage for the struggle over land; the brutal and overwhelming presence of police and soldiers, with anti-riot gear and guns, up against poor peasants; the testimony of a young man who was doused with gasoline by security forces and threatened with being burned alive; the heartless and violent evictions of communities; the determination and bravery of campesino women and men who take over farms they claim as agrarian reform land, and the cooperative ways in which they eke out a living—until the next eviction or assassination. 

With passions running high on immigration and pitched defenses mounting on both sides of the question, the actual stories of immigrants get lost in the broader debate or simply become a backdrop to fierce ideological battles and arguments. That’s why we thought that you might like to hear about a new book by H. B. Cavalcanti, Almost Home: A Brazilian American’s Reflections on Faith, Culture and Immigration.  It is a reflection on migration by someone who lived it for 30 years, first as an immigrant, now as a citizen. Here’s what the author has to say: