Google Cecilia Velazquez, and the first result that turns up is The Riverfront Times’ 2010 cover story on Velazquez’s allegedly torrid relationship with members of St. Louis’ Hispanic community. Published on Cinco de Mayo, the cover featured a portrait of Velazquez in bright red tones, a double entendre for her newspaper title, Red Latina, as well as an allusion to the “fiery and passionate” stereotype that’s often applied to Hispanics.
“Sensacionalismo,” she says of the article. “Ah no, I didn’t like that one. Even the picture, it was red. Red means network, it’s not a color. They completely misunderstood everything.”
But that comes with the territory as publisher of St. Louis’ largest Hispanic newspaper. The free bi-monthly paper has a circulation of 15,000, and also is distributed to Jefferson City, Columbia, Mo., Beardstown, Ill., and parts of Kansas City.
St. Louis isn’t a bastion of Hispanic culture, and a 2009 American Community Survey proves that. It estimated the population to be about 32,000 for both the city and county. “There are pockets—Cherokee Street, Overland, Woodson Terrance—but you can’t say one is the heartbeat or the backbone of the Hispanic community, as you can in some cities where it’s very well known. It’s still forming,” says Gilbert Bailon, editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s editorial page and an acquaintance of Velazquez.
There also isn’t a dominant group within the community, either. Not all are immigrants, some have lived here for generations, and not all are Mexican. The same American Community Survey listed people from almost every country in Latin America.
It’s a fairly disparate and hidden community, Bailon says, which is why he thinks mass media in St. Louis hasn’t produced more stories on Hispanics. “Their audience is not as focused on Hispanic issues for logical reasons—that’s not their target audience,” he says. “It’s just that the numbers aren’t big enough to really demand a huge amount of attention from the broader audience.”
That gap in news is why Velazquez, 41, launched Red Latina in 2000 shortly after moving to the United States. Her paper’s mission is to “let each other know we are here. Red Latina means 'Latin Network.' We are a network. The people want to know where they can buy their groceries, go to restaurants, or go see a movie. It’s easier when you see it in your own language,” she says. Eleven years later and Velazquez more or less has a media empire with the addition of her daily radio program, Radio Cucui on 770 AM.
Velazquez studied psychology and mass communication in Mexico City and worked 10 years in human resources for an American company. She came to St. Louis in 1998 to work as a translator and manager for a company that buys, sells, and remodels buildings. Almost immediately, she noticed a lack of communication among Hispanics as a well as a lack of information about city and county regulations and laws, and general news from politicians. Her paper has a bit of everything from news and analysis to a recent spread on the Mayan’s 2012 prediction. Immigration, a topic that has become synonymous with Hispanics, is covered but only when warranted.
Her own issues with immigration have mirrored the community’s struggles. After overstaying her visa when she first arrived, she went back and forth with Immigration on a series of appeals before actually being deported in 2006. She returned in 2008 after an immigration judge granted her a waiver with an understanding that she would apply to be a permanent U.S. resident, according to the Post-Dispatch.
Velazquez attributes the legal mess to a misunderstanding from her lawyer who was called away for Naval duties after September 11. “At the end, the only ones who know what really happened is me and my lawyers”—she says laughing—“And Immigration, of course.”
Despite her own troubles, she doesn’t want to create an ‘us versus them’ attitude between Hispanic immigrants and native-born Americans. “We need to inform, not use the news in our favor,” she says. “That is what the news is all about. When you have your own opinion, you need to be really specific that it is your own opinion. That’s not what all the Hispanics think or the Americans because it’s easy for people to say, ‘all the Americans don’t like Hispanics.’ That’s not true.”
This is the final installment of our three-part series on ethnic newspapers in St. Louis. Click here to read part one, which goes behind the scenes at the St. Louis Chinese American News, and click here to read part two, a look at SabaH, which serves the Bosnian community in St. Louis and beyond.
