US Latinas rally around 'Roma' actress Yalitza Aparicio

Yalitza Aparicio, the Oscar-nominated, first-time actress in "Roma," is finding strong support among Mexican-American women who identify with her indigenous roots despite backlash she is receiving in Mexico.

Some Mexican-American women say they are glad Aparicio's high-profile role is challenging typical images of light-skinned Latinas in Spanish-language films and TV shows, and they are expressing pride that she's the first indigenous woman to be nominated for best actress at the Oscars.

U.S. Latina Aparicio fans are holding Oscar watch parties, commenting to each other online with excitement and sharing on social media every move Aparicio makes.

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2019 file photo, Yalitza Aparicio, nominated for an Oscar for best actress for her role in "Roma," poses for a portrait at the 91st Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Oscars will be held on Sunday. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP, File)

"She's brown girl magic," said Jennie Luna, a Chicana/o Studies professor at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, California. "My students can't stop talking about her."

The praise north of the U.S.-Mexico border among fans of Mexican descent comes as Aparicio, who is from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, faces racist attacks online in her homeland and scorn from some Mexican actors. More recently, Mexican actor Sergio Goyri was caught on video criticizing Aparicio's nomination and using a racial slur to describe her. He later apologized.

After she appeared on the cover of Vogue México last year, Aparicio was hit with a tirade of online racist comments that criticize her physical appearance.

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2019 file photo, Yalitza Aparicio, nominated for an Oscar for best actress for her role in "Roma," poses for a portrait at the 91st Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Oscars will be held on Sunday. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP, File)

"I am proud to be an Oaxacan indigenous woman and it saddens me that there are people who do not know the correct meaning of words," Aparicio, who is of Mixtec descent, said in a statement earlier this month.

In "Roma," Aparicio plays Cleo, a domestic worker for a Mexico City middle-class family in the turbulent early 1970s. She speaks in an indigenous dialect and in Spanish and works to navigate the different worlds for her own survival.

Aparicio, a 25-year-old primary school teacher, is nominated alongside Glenn Close, Lady Gaga, Olivia Colman and Melissa McCarthy at Sunday's Oscars.

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2019 file photo, Yalitza Aparicio, nominated for an Oscar for best actress for her role in "Roma," poses for a portrait at the 91st Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Oscars will be held on Sunday. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP, File)

Astrid Silva, an immigrant rights activist in Las Vegas whose parents are from Mexico, said many Mexican-American women and Mexican immigrants in the U.S. see themselves in Aparicio for many reasons.

"She's a dark-skinned woman (who) comes from a poor region in Mexico like many of our families," Silva said. "She's not only challenging old notions of beauty that always involved blond hair and light skin. She's threatening them."

Aparicio's popularity is especially strong in California where many Mexican-Americans can trace their roots to migrants from the southern Mexican states of Oaxaca, Michoacán and Guerrero. Those states have vibrant, diverse indigenous populations that historically faced discrimination in Mexico.

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2019 file photo, Yalitza Aparicio, nominated for an Oscar for best actress for her role in "Roma," poses for a portrait at the 91st Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Oscars will be held on Sunday. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP, File)

"We've been working to rediscover our indigenous roots and Aparicio's presence is showing that we matter," said Lilia Soto, an American Studies professor at the University of Wyoming, who grew up in Napa, California. "The racism she's facing in Mexico also is an attack against us."

Soto said Aparicio also is popular among Mexican immigrants in New York City who largely come from the Mexican state of Pueblo — another region with an indigenous population.

When Aparicio visited New York City last year, she was treated to a hero's welcome among the Mexican immigrants she encountered.

This image released by Netflix shows Yalitza Aparicio, center, in a scene from the film "Roma," by filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron. The film is nominated for an Oscar for both best foreign language film and best picture. The 91st Academy Awards will be held on Sunday. (Carlos SomonteNetflix via AP)

Silva said she hadn't planned on watching the Academy Awards until she heard about Aparicio's nomination and "Roma's" best picture nod.

"It's hard to describe. It's not just pride we're feeling," Silva said. "Yalitza is just...us."

Associated Press Writer Russell Contreras is a member of The Associated Press' race and ethnicity team. Follow Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras

For full coverage of the Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/AcademyAwards

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)