November 14, 2008
Spanish-Language Media Decries Long Island Hate Crime

By Marcelo Ballvé
New America Media

After a group of teenagers stabbed to death Marcelo Lucero, a 37-year-old Ecua-dorean, outside a Long Island commuter train station on Nov. 8, outraged Spanish-language media pointed to the attack as part of an ugly nationwide pattern in which a crackdown and tough rhetoric on illegal immigration contributes to anti-Latino violence.

Over the last two years, a raft of local and state laws seeking to curb illegal immigration, as well as federal immigration raids in neighborhoods and workplaces, have cast a pall over immigrant communities. Advocates say the hard-line atmosphere has emboldened xenophobes and racists to lash out against Latinos.

The lynch mob-style killing of Marcelo Lucero not only triggered concerned editorials and attentive coverage in New York-area English-language newspapers, it also became a lead story in Spanish-language media countrywide. Two days after the murder, Long Island police officials labeled it a hate crime, and the next morning Lucero’s photo dominated the front page of El Diario/La Prensa, with the headline: “Hatred Against Latinos.â€