4 June 1-7, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ FLORIDA BLACKLISTED DESANTIS TEAM SPARS WITH NAACP AFTER GROUP’S FLORIDA TRAVEL ADVISORY. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN T he National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) issued a formal travel advisory for Florida over the weekend, alleging Gov. Ron De- Santis has created an environment that is “openly hostile to African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals.” “On a seeming quest to silence African- American voices, the governor and the state of Florida have shown that African Ameri- cans are not welcome in the state of Flor- ida,” the advisory reads. “Due to this sustained, blatant, relentless, and systemic attack on democracy and civil rights, the NAACP hereby issues a travel advisory to African Americans, and other people of color regarding the hostility towards African Americans in Florida.” The civil rights organization’s advisory comes in response to the DeSantis adminis- tration blocking an AP African American studies course, a wave of book banning across the state, and the recently signed legislation that defunds diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at public universities. “Once again, hate-inspired state leaders have chosen to put politics over people,” Leon Russell, chair of the NAACP Board of Directors, said in a statement released along- side the May 20 advisory. The DeSantis media team bit back, with the governor’s press secretary Jeremy Red- fern posting images of DeSantis calling the NAACP’s move a political stunt when it was proposed this past March. Press secretary Bryan Griffin meanwhile called the advisory “noise,” claiming that De- Santis helped usher in “unprecedented suc- cess (borne out in tourism, domestic in-migration, job numbers), deep red elec- toral shift, and the most significant conserva- tive legislative reform package ever.” After Christian Ziegler, chairman of the Florida Republican Party, sarcastically offered to help the NAACP chair with moving costs to leave the state, Florida Senate hopeful and former State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith retorted that Ziegler was proving the NAACP’s claim that Florida is openly hostile to Black people. In March, the NAACP’s Florida chapter had called on the national board to caution people about traveling to Florida. “We will not allow our rights and history to be held hostage for political grandstand- ing,” Russell said in the May statement. “The NAACP proudly fights against the mali- cious attacks in Florida, against Black Ameri- cans. I encourage my fellow Floridians to join in this fight to protect ourselves and our de- mocracy.” The NAACP is the latest civil rights group to warn against travel to the Sunshine State. On May 17, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) issued a similar warning for His- panic visitors after DeSantis signed a bill that requires private businesses in the state with 25 or more employees to verify new work- ers’ employment eligibility through E-Verify, a system that checks whether an employee is eligible to work in the United States. The law also requires hospitals that accept Medicaid to ask patients if they are U.S. citizens or “lawfully” in the country. “The actions taken by Gov. DeSantis have created a shadow of fear within communities across the state,” said Lydia Medrano, LU- LAC vice president for the southeast region. LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida issued a travel advisory in April, “warning of the risks posed to the health, safety, and free- dom of those” traveling or relocating to Flor- ida. The advisory came as several bills that the group deemed to be bigoted and anti-LG- BTQ moved through the state legislature on their way to DeSantis’ desk. Florida’s tourism industry brought in an estimated 137 million visitors in 2022, mak- ing it one of the state’s primary economic drivers. In 2021, visitors to Florida were esti- mated to have generated more than $100 bil- lion for Florida’s economy. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking with attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit in Tampa. Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr ▼ MIAMI-DADE BEAK NEWS PARROT HATCHLINGS RESCUED FROM SMUGGLER’S SUITCASE ARE THRIVING. BY IZZY KAPNICK M ore than 20 critically endangered yel- low-naped Amazon parrots that were intercepted in a bird-smuggling bust at Miami International Airport are receiving some TLC at a South Florida conservation facility. The chicks, now about two months old, were discovered in a smuggler’s suitcase at Miami In- ternational Airport on March 23 after customs officials heard a chirping sound coming from the luggage of a Taiwanese man who’d arrived on a flight from Nicaragua. Agents found 29 eggs in the man’s bag, eight of which were either hatched or in the process of hatching. Following a 45-day quarantine period, the chicks were transferred to the Rare Species Con- servatory Foundation’s facility in Loxahatchee under the supervision of the group’s founding director, Florida International University (FIU) professor Paul Reillo. Twenty-four chicks survived the ordeal. Fed- eral officials initially had trouble identifying the bird species, but through DNA sequencing and researchers’ visual examination, it was deter- mined that 21 are yellow-naped amazons and three are red-lored amazons. The smuggler, Szu Ta Wu, pleaded guilty to a smuggling charge on May 5 as part of a deal with federal prosecutors. New Times broke news of the smuggling operation in March, detailing how Wu flew from Taiwan for a rendezvous at a hotel in Ni- caragua, where he picked up the eggs from an as- sociate before making his way to Miami. Once in custody, Wu admitted he was transporting the birds for profit, according to court documents. In transit to Miami, Wu stored the eggs in a lunchbox-style bag rigged with a thermometer and fan to keep them viable. Native to the Pacific coast of Central America and Mexico, yellow-naped amazons were listed in 2021 as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. According to FIU, they are among the most trafficked Central American parrot species, owing to their “beauty, temperament, and mimicking ability.” Listings on a bird-trading website show yellow-naped amazons advertised for sale at prices in ex- cess of $2,000 each as of May 25. “In high demand as pets with high price tags on their heads, parrots have become innocent vic- tims of human greed. Aside from the sheer num- ber of eggs, what makes this case unusual is that most of the intercepted eggs were viable, and the chicks survived,” Reillo said in a statement. The federal agents who intercepted the par- rots didn’t have the specialized equipment or ex- pertise to properly hatch and care for the birds, so they reached out to Reillo for assistance. The professor and his team have 30 years’ worth of experience in caring for rare bird species. “It’s clear this was part of a very sophisticated trafficking operation,” Reillo said. “It’s not easy to assemble a group of this many eggs synchronized to all hatch around the same time. The total elapsed time from the first to last hatching was just ten days.” Under the care of the Rare Species Con- servatory Foundation, most of the birds are thriv- ing and nearly fully feathered. “Now, the parrot chicks fill their days with de- manding chirps and playful movements that will soon transition to flight,” FIU said in a press release. Owing to “political issues and because the birds are being hand-reared,” they likely will not be released into the wild, according to FIU. Reillo and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hope to find homes for the parrots at South Florida zoos and wildlife centers, where they can help edu- cate visitors about wildlife smuggling. [email protected] “HATE-INSPIRED STATE LEADERS HAVE CHOSEN TO PUT POLITICS OVER PEOPLE.” Parrots are one of the most heavily trafficked pets in the illegal wildlife trade in North America. Florida International University photo
