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

BEIRUT (AP) — The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.

The repatriation was the largest Washington has carried out from the camps to date, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Five of the 11 citizens brought back were children, and one non-U.S. citizen child -- the 9-year-old sibling of one of the other children -- was also brought with them.

As part of the same operation, the U.S. facilitated the repatriation of 11 other camp residents, eight of them children, to Canada, the Netherlands and Finland, the statement said.

Although the pace of repatriations has picked up -- neighboring Iraq recently returned hundreds of its citizens -- many countries remain reluctant to bring back citizens from the al Hol and al Roj camps, which now hold about 30,000 people from more than 60 countries, most of them children.

The camps are run by local authorities affiliated with the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The SDF and its allies, including U.S.-led coalition forces, defeated the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019, ending its self-proclaimed Islamic “caliphate” that had ruled over a large swath of territory straddling Iraq and Syria.

Human rights groups have regularly reported on what they describe as inhumane living conditions and abuses in the camps and in detention centers where suspected IS members are housed.

“The only durable solution to the humanitarian and security crisis” in the facilities “is for countries to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and where appropriate, ensure accountability for wrongdoing,” Blinken said in the statement.

FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the Islamic State group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

FILE - Women shop in the marketplace at al-Hol camp, home to families of Islamic State fighters, in Hasakeh province, Syria, on March 31, 2019. The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)