The Unlikely New Migrant Gateway to the Americas

www.ozy.com [OZY.COM]( [VIEW ONLINE]( 10 MUST READS TODAY [Daily Dose]( Monday Jul 15, 2019 1 [Fast Forward]( [Fast Forward]( [The Unlikely New Gateway for African Migrants to the Americas: Ecuador]( Thousands of African migrants are making Ecuador their port of entry into the Americas. But how long can the small nation keep its doors open? Peter Atempke, a 25-year-old student, has been coming to the San Ysidro border crossing in the Mexican city of Tijuana for two months now. He currently spends his mornings hanging around the gate with other migrants from his home country of Cameroon and a plethora of other African nations, waiting for his number to come up on an improvised list system that will let him go through to ask for asylum at the door of the United States. Unlike the Central Americans and Mexicans standing in line who can get to the U.S.-Mexico border in a matter of weeks, if not days, Atempke has been traveling since late January. He started much further south than Honduras or El Salvador: in Quito, Ecuador, which is where he entered the Americas. At a time when the U.S. and Mexico are increasingly working to keep migrants — mostly from poor, violence-struck Central American nations — out or send them home, Ecuador is building a reputation as a little-known gateway into the region for those fleeing African nations. But that pro-migrant approach is increasingly under stress, say experts, as Ecuador’s own resources are stretched, and regional powers frown upon open borders. [READ MORE]( 2 [Rising Stars]( [Rising Stars]( [Can a 25-Year-Old MP Lift One of India's Poorest Regions?]( Chandrani Murmu, India’s youngest parliamentarian, is fighting for her rural mining constituency. Taking a swig of water while attending to the sea of people who have thronged her home since the morning, Chandrani Murmu turns around and lets out a little squeal. “You know, it still hasn’t sunk in,” she chirps. Two months ago, Murmu was hunting for a job after earning a mechanical engineering degree. She is now the youngest member of India’s Parliament. While preparing for a competitive examination for a government job, Murmu had received a call from her uncle Harmohan Soren, a social worker familiar with local politicians. He asked whether she would be interested in joining Biju Janata Dal (BJD), a regional party that wanted to field her as a candidate. “It was April 1. I thought my uncle was playing a prank on me,” says the young Lok Sabha (lower house) parliamentarian for the tribal-dominated Keonjhar constituency, whose preferred language is a mix of Hindi and English. Within hours, she had joined the party; the next day, she received a candidature ticket. At 25 years old, she barely met the minimum age requirement. [READ MORE]( 3 [Need to Know]( [Need to Know]( [The Mighty Megan Rapinoe Is Coming to OZY Fest]( Greatness has never introduced itself so unabashedly, and this soccer star is coming to OZY Fest 2019. U.S. women’s national team star Megan Rapinoe scares the bejesus out of a lot of people, and she couldn’t care less. She’s taken on World Cup opponents as well as the White House in recent weeks, clearly unafraid to speak her mind to power. And she’ll have plenty to say at OZY Fest 2019 too. That’s right, folks, the World Cup–winning captain is hitting the OZY Fest 2019 stage in New York City’s Central Park ([get your tickets here](). “She really doesn’t care,” laughs Shaun Singletary, a former soccer coach and player. “Stars like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain were very aware of the impact they had and were almost molds of your traditional cookie-cutter, well-behaved athlete. Rapinoe doesn’t care what people think about her and seems to have fully embraced being who she is.” [READ MORE]( [Sponsored by Bright Cellars]( [How to Pick the Right Wine (According to Science)]( Bright Cellars takes the mystery out of discovering new wines thanks to an algorithm developed by two MIT grads. Answer a few simple questions and get wines paired specifically for your palate delivered straight to your doorstep. It’s freakishly accurate — find out for yourself with 50% off your first order. [TAKE QUIZ]( 4 [Flashback]( [The National Team With a History of Fighting Back]( Throughout its history, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team has been as willing to take a stand off the field as on. The Thread tells its story. 5 [Fast Forward]( [Swine Fever Hits Chinese Villages Hard]( African swine fever is ravaging rural Chinese communities that have for decades depended on raising pigs.  6 [Flashback]( [How a Tiny Spanish Suburb Helped Put Neil Armstrong on the Moon]( In 1969, Fresnedillas was a small village in Spain, but it helped make a giant leap. 7 [Wildcard]( [The Creepy Crawl of the Commodification of Coitus]( OZY’s Eugene S. Robinson addresses queries from the love-weary in “Sex With Eugene.” 8 [Fast Forward]( [Afghanistan's Stunning New Success Story: Sports]( From cricket and soccer to martial arts and wrestling, sports are allowing the country to dream of a new identity. 9 [Flashback]( [First Native American Novelist Was a Killer Newspaper Editor]( The first Native American to write a novel in English lived a life chock-full of contradictions. 10 [Provocateurs]( [Iran's Cleric Spymaster Is Caught in the Middle]( Mahmoud Alavi, the unlikely intelligence chief, finds himself at the heart of escalating geopolitical tensions. You Should Know This [Love Thy Neighbor: The Bible Belt Is Becoming a Dumping Ground]( OZY Media Mountain View, California 94040 This email was sent to {EMAIL} [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Read Online](