Uptown Radio

Cristina Ojeda and Monica Alcota eating dinner at their home in Queens. Photo by Juliana Schatz

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By Juliana Schatz

Cristina Ojeda and Monica Alcota have been married six months and are giggly and affectionate. Ojeda, who is from California, speaks English. Alcota, an Argentina native, speaks mostly in Spanish. They often finish each other’s sentences.  Even when they talk about their wedding.

“I had never seen her so nervous. Nunca. She was shaking. She couldn’t put the ring on,” said Ojeda.

Alcota left Argentina on a tourist visa ten years ago, fleeing what she called daily harassment.

“You couldn’t live a normal life. You had to pretend you were someone you weren’t,” said Alcota.

She says you couldn’t live a normal life there. That you had to pretend you were someone you weren’t.

After the couple met, they commuted by bus between New York and Buffalo, where Ojeda was in graduate school. Alcota, who works in antique restoration, kept a low profile. But on their way back to New York City one night, immigration officers boarded the bus.

They arrested Alcota and took her to a detention center in Niagara Falls. Then, Ojeda was sent home.

“I came back on the bus and we just drove. I had to leave her there. I mean it was so hard because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Ojeda.

Eventually, Alcota was held in a facility in Elizabeth, N.J.

“You had to shower and everyone could see you. You couldn’t go to the bathroom… It was the most horrible thing that has happened to me in my life,” said Alcota.

She calls it was the worst thing that could have happened to her. She and other detainees ate, slept and showered in the same rooms.

Right after she was released, three months later, the couple went to Connecticut, one of five states in the U.S. that permit same sex marriages. After the wedding, Ojeda bid for Alcota’s I-130 form – her green card.

“But it’s going to be denied because DOMA because marriage has to be between a man and a woman,” said Ojeda.

The couple has an attorney who is trying to delay proceedings until the government decides what to do about DOMA.

But legal representation might not help them, says Arthur Leonard, a professor at New York Law School.

“There is a lot of suspicion that attaches to of people who marry under these circumstances, because the might be marriages of conveniences for the purpose of giving the foreign bliss a place to stay,” said Leonard.

Leonard, who founded the Gay and Lesbian Bar Association over thirty years ago says even though Alcota felt persecuted in Argentina, the couple will not have a strong case before an immigration judge.

The only way they would, he says, is if their marriage could be recognized federally.

“If a same sex couple is legally married they should be entitled to the same treatment as different sex couples who is legally married for purposes of the immigration laws,” said Lenoard.

Monica Alcota and Cristina Ojeda know that’s far off, but are optimistic and looking forward to their second deportation hearing in two weeks.



Iranian protestors face off against police in anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 14, 2011. Photo courtesy of Associated Press

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By Alex Alper

A few weeks ago it looked like the green revolution that opposed Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmaninejad’s reelection had revived. Thousands of Iranians gathered illegally in downtown Tehran—shouting “death to the dictator.”

“The wind of protests have reached Iran but the Iranian government has doing I guess a good job of stopping any protests in its tracks,” said Azzedine Layachi, a professor of political science at St. John’s University in New York.

“By stopping the protests,” Layachi means the police have managed to turn well-attended weekly protests into small gatherings, using batons and tear gas.

He says Iranians are not about to overthrow the government.  But authorities are nervous: they’ve kept opposition leaders Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karoubi on house arrest for almost a month.

Reformist former president Hashemi Rafsanjani resigned from the powerful Assembly of Experts. Many say he was forced out.

But Layachi says Iran’s image in the region is strong.

“Iran is a great regional power and is likely to play an increasing role if those who are friendly with the United States come to collapse,” said Layachi.

For example former Egptian president Hosni Mubarak, who supported lots of American policies in the Middle East: He opposed Iran’s nuclear program, kept peace with Israel, and refused passage through the Suez Canal to Iranian ships.

But last month, two Iranian warships pass through the Suez for the first time in over three decades.

“That was unthinkable under Mubarak’s regime and it became possible after Mubarak fell,” said Layachi.

Layachi also points to Bahrain as sign of Iran’s growing Influence. Bahrain’s Shiite majority is protesting decades of rule by its Sunni king. If that king is toppled, Shiite Iran would have an ally in Bahrain.

That would make other Middle Eastern powers with sizeable Shiite minorities nervous, says Forham University Professor John Entelis.

“There’s a genuine fear on the part of the Saudis who obviously feel threatened by the Iranians, that the Shiites in the eastern provinces might get activated, mobilized, reacting to the Shiites in Bahrain,” said Enteils.

Shiite protests in Saudi Arabia today point to this. But Entelis, who studies politics in the Middle East, says its important not to overestimate how much foreign policy plays a role in the protests.

“What the Egyptian, Tunisian and other uprisings are showing is that peoples priorities are domestic,” said Enteils.

Egyptians and Tunisians overthrew their leaders because they wanted more jobs, and more freedom, he says. Not because they supported Iranian foreign policy goals, like crushing Israel.

Entelis says it’s too soon to know how the balance of power will shift in the region. In the meantime some Iranian ships may appear in new harbors.

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Egyptian anti-government protesters march in Assiut, Egypt today. President Hasni Mubarak finally stepped down earlier today. Photo by Mamdouh Thabet/ AP

What a difference a day makes.  President Mubarak’s departure today ends a tense 18 days and a particularly baffling 24 hours. Yesterday, Rumors were flying that Mubarak was stepping down. Then, at nearly 11 pm last night, Mubarak addressed the nation.

“I address you all with a speech from the heart,” he said. “Speech from a  father to his children, to his sons and daughters”

But the aging President angered a jubilant crowd already celebrating his resignation. He said he wasn’t going anywhere.

“I announced that I will adhere to this position and I also announced that I will similarly remain adamant to continue to shoulder my responsibility protecting the constitution, safeguard the interests of the people until the authority and power is handed over to this leader to be elected by the people in September coming,” he said.

Fast forward to today. Vice President Omar Suleiman announced Hosni Mubarak’s resignation just after nightfall in Cairo.

“President Mubarak has decided to wave the office of president of the  republic,” Suleiman said.

The supreme council of the armed forces has officially taken charge.

Washington has been closely monitoring political developments in Egypt. Last night, before Mubarak spoke, President Obama made his own statement.

“We are witnessing history unfold,” he said. “It’s a moment of transformation that is taking place because the people of Egypt are calling for change.”

Now that Mubarak is gone, Steve Sestanovich, a professor of foreign policy at Columbia University, says he may take a cue from one of his predecessors.

“When the Berlin wall fell the first president Bush said he was not goning be dancing in triumph on the wall,” Sestanovich said. “And that caution, that modesty will probably be Obama’s approach as well.”

The U.S. has a lot at stake. Egypt is a key military and political ally in an unstable region. Egypt grants expedited passage through the Suez Canal to U.S. Navy ships. It is one of Israel’s only allies in the region. The U.S. provides roughly 2 billion dollars each year in U.S. assistance.

While protesters are celebrating in the streets, there are still many unanswered questions.

“This may well shake a lot of clients of the United States in the region and force  some reconfigurations,” Lockman said.

Mubarak is expected to speak later tonight. Officials say elections, which had been slated for September won’t take place for another year.