Grupos de baile Ballet Tierra Caliente; Wa-kushma (Wa: familia y Kushma: danzante); Grupo Folklórico Yoneme de la Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas y Danzarts participarán en este gran evento.

La danza mexicana es uno de los tesoros más preciados del País Azteca. En gran parte se debe a que cada región tiene su propia expresión musical y dancística.

Es por ello que el 19 de mayo a partir de las 3 p.m., se llevará a cabo México a través de sus danzas, el primer encuentro de danzas mexicanas en el Organ Pavilion ubicado en el Parque Balboa.

El evento es organizado por el Consulado General de México en San Diego con motivo de la celebración del 150 aniversario del 5 de mayo, fecha histórica para México en la que se conmemora el triunfo del ejército mexicano sobre el francés, uno de los ejércitos más poderosos en 1862. También, el evento celebrará los 100 años de presencia del Consulado Mexicano en San Diego.

El encuentro gratuito está abierto al público en general e incluirá la participación de los grupos de baile Ballet Tierra Caliente; Wa-kushma (Wa: familia y Kushma: danzante); Grupo Folklórico Yoneme de la Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas y Danzarts, Sabor México, los cuales ofrecerán una demostración de danzas representativas de diversos estados de la República Mexicana, incluyendo Sinaloa, Baja California, Jalisco, Oaxaca y Veracruz.

La Cónsul General Remedios Gómez Arnau indicó que México es un país con mucha diversidad, como se refleja en los diferentes bailes típicos.

Las danzas regionales son el eje entorno al cual giran varios elementos, de la cultura popular, lo cual, tiene mucho sentido”, señaló la cónsul. “Es muy importante subrayar que México es un país plural de profundas raíces populares, indígenas, mestizas, y que las expresiones culturales varían notablemente de una región a otra”.

Para Gómez Arnau, San Diego es el lugar perfecto para hacer una muestra de la danza mexicana.

“En San Diego hemos encontrado los grupos dancísticos de gran calidad, que nos permiten ofrecer un programa rico y variado, representativo de ocho estados de la república”, dijo.

José Jaimes, director del Ballet Folklórico Tierra Caliente, que trabaja con jóvenes del área de Vista, en el norte del condado, indicó que la danza es una excelente manera de celebrar a México.

“Ya que en San Diego la comunidad mexicana es muy grande, es muy importante el dar a conocer nuestras raíces por medio de la danza, el lograr identificarnos entre nosotros y presentarnos como lo que somos: una comunidad fuerte, unida y multicultural”, dijo Jaimes. “Este evento sirve no sólo para celebrar nuestras raíces, sino pera abrir muchas puertas artísticas y culturales en nuestra comunidad”.

Fernando López Maldonado, profesor y director del Grupo de Danza Yoneme de la Pre-paratoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas, en Tijuana, recalcó que este evento unirá aún más el intercambio cultural entre ambos lados de la frontera.
“Seguramente dará inicio a una relación de intercambio más sistemática, además de que con la participación de los cinco grupos (incluyendo el nuestro) se ofrecerá al público un variado mosaico de danzas folclóricas de diferentes regiones del país”, señaló López Maldonado.

Jaimes resaltó que lo que hace única a la danza mexicana es su diversidad.

“La danza folklórica mexicana se caracteriza por ser una amalgama de muchos países entre ellos los de Europa y Africa, que es lo que la hace diferente y rica en estilos, sonidos musicales y vestua-rios”, indicó.

López Maldonado comparte esa opinión.

Hay un reconocimiento internacional en el sentido de que la nuestra es una de las danzas más ricas y variadas del mundo ya que la idiosincrasia, la forma de ser del mexicano, se ma-nifiesta de muy diversas maneras en las diferentes regiones del país; tenemos poblaciones que viven en zonas tropicales, desérticas, costas, valles, en grandes ciudades o pequeñas ciudades, donde el contexto histórico local y social son factores que inciden en las expresiones culturales que con su diversidad enriquecen nuestro mosaico cultural.

Más que nada, aseguró Jaimes, la danza mexicana es una manera de instruir al público acerca de la historia de México a través del baile y la música.

“La danza es una forma de contar la historia de nuestro país y de demostrar que somos una cultura muy rica en muchos aspectos”, dijo. “Con la danza uno puede instruir a la audiencia los distintos eventos más impactantes de nuestra República Mexicana, desde lo prehispánico, la conquista, la época porfiriana, la Revolución Mexicana, sólo por mencionar algunos”.

PHOENIX – Latino activists in Arizona lauded the news that the Department of Justice was filing a federal lawsuit against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for alleged civil rights violations.

The suit, filed Thursday in federal court, is the latest chapter in a four-year-long investigation that began after Sheriff Joe Arpaio started conducting immigration sweeps in Latino communities, raising allegations of racial profiling and discrimination.

“The wheels of justice move slow, but they are still moving. In this case our community has been waiting close to four years for today,” said Daniel Ortega, a civil rights attorney and chairman of the board of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). “The racial profiling continues in this community despite of what the Department of Justice has done.”
But some activists say the lawsuit is not enough.

“What we’re asking is for the Justice Department to continue and indict Arpaio on the criminal charges they are investigating for abuse,” said Salvador Reza, an activist from Tonatierra whose case is mentioned in the lawsuit as a victim of alleged retaliation.

The federal lawsuit comes as negotiations broke down with the Sheriff’s office over the DOJ’s requirement to impose a monitor of the law-enforcement agency, after the Justice Department released a scathing report in December.

The findings alleged that sheriff deputies engaged in a “pattern and practice” of civil rights violations, including racial profiling during traffic stops, discrimination against Latino inmates in county jails, and acts of retaliation against those who criticized Arpaio.

But the DOJ findings went beyond issues affecting the Latino community.

“At its core, this is an abuse of power case involving a sheriff, and a sheriff’s office that disregarded the Constitution,” explained Perez.

It’s unclear how these allegations could affect the ongoing separate criminal investigation into Sheriff Arpaio’s alleged abuse of power. The complaint lists a number of critics of the Maricopa County sheriff – not all of them Latino – who were allegedly subjected to acts of retaliation by Arpaio and former Maricopa County prosecutor Andrew Thomas.

The Arizona State Bar recently disbarred Thomas in connection to his activities in the Maricopa County Anti-Corruption Unit (MACE), which he founded with Arpaio. The bar claims that Arpaio, Thomas and others engaged in “a concerted effort to wrestle power” against the Board of Supervisors, judges and county officials to “instill fear in the hearts of those who would resist.”

“Nobody is above the law, and nobody can misuse the legal process to silence those with different opinions,” said Perez.

No other choice

This week’s lawsuit is only the second time in U.S. history that the DOJ has to brought suit against a law enforcement agency. Normally, the Justice Department is able to come to an agreement with agencies to fix any problems. That’s what happened in 1997, when the DOJ reached an agreement the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in connection with mistreatment in county jails. Perez said that this time around they wanted to ensure they’d have a monitor to avoid repeating history.

“I can’t think of any other choice the federal government could take than file this lawsuit,” said Antonio Bustamente, attorney and pro-immigrant activist.

The lawsuit addresses allegations of racial profiling against the Latino community.

According to Perez, Arpaio wasn’t only responsible for these abuses; he was also responsible for a culture that “promotes and is indifferent to the discriminatory conduct of its law enforcement officers” and has “virtually non-existent accountability measures.”

The lawsuit describes employees of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office as frequently using derogatory comments to refer to Mexicans like: “wetbacks” and “Mexican bitches.”

Some of these allegations resonate with claims brought by another suit that is still pending against Arpaio, which was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).

The racial-profiling lawsuit is now reaching its litigation stage and will go to court on July 19.

The federal court will have to make a determination of whether or not the DOJ lawsuit relates to the suit filed by the civil rights organizations and, if so, it could be assigned to judge Murray Snow, who is handling the other lawsuit. That means that both cases potentially could be consolidated into one, according to Perez.

Funding at stake

Maricopa County is now facing the burden of expensive litigation to fight the lawsuits. Even more worrisome for the sheriff’s office is the possibility that it could risk losing funding if it is found to have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, explained Mary Rose Wilcox, a Mar-icopa County supervisor.

One of the conditions it must meet in order to receive funding is to comply with the title guidelines, which prohibit “intentional discrimination on the grounds of race, color or national origin.”

Joseph Popolizio, an attorney representing the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, said the Justice Department didn’t simply want to have a monitor supervise the agency but was opening the door in many instances for the DOJ itself to have veto power over the sheriff’s decisions.

“I’m not going to surrender my office to the federal government,” said Arpaio during a press conference. “I will fight this to the bitter end.”

The day before the lawsuit was filed, Arpaio released a 17-page document with new guidelines to improve the relationship between his agency and the Latino community.

But activists like Perez see the document as “an admission of the existence of a problem … not a substitute for meaningful reform.”

During a press conference, Sheriff Arpaio called the DOJ lawsuit politically motivated, saying it was simply an attempt to attract the Latino vote in the 2012 presidential election.

It remains to be seen whether the new lawsuit will have an impact on voters in Maricopa County when they go to the polls in November to choose a sheriff.

It is becoming clear that too many in our society have reached a level of comfort with overt expressions of bias and racial discrimination towards non-whites, especially among those who feel those “unlike” them are taking over “their” country. This fear of invading hordes of those who are different or unknown is rearing its ugly head in an increasing number of situations.

This form of xenophobia has manifested itself in a variety of ways, including permissive attitudes and actions among members of a declining white “majority” towards former “minority” groups that are becoming the new “majority” in many parts of the nation. For many xenophobes the fear of losing their “majority” status and historical entitlement of dominance is motivating their behaviors. Their attitudes are frequently expressed by bumper sticker and placard slogans like “We want our country back!”

The vehemence of those espousing such expressions is no longer associated solely with white extremist or supremacist groups. In spite of the many contributions made to the USA by citizens of all races, colors and creeds, these increasing overt acts of hate and bigotry belie the principles of our democracy. For generations, U.S. Americans have supported these principles — many having paid the ultimate price to insure “liberty and justice for all.”

The killing this past November of 68-year-old African-American Marine veteran Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., who was fatally shot inside his apartment by White Plains, NY police responding to a false alarm from his medical alert pendant; the shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin while returning from the store to his gated-community home in Sanford, Florida; the hunting, shooting and killing of Latino immigrants from the U.S. border states to the Northeastern Atlantic states, and recent Tulsa, Oklahoma shootings that left three black men dead and two more wounded are examples of the growing public display of disrespect and prejudice visited on non-white members across the country.

The recent NCAA basketball tournament game between Kansas State University and Southern Mississippi University, where the chant, “Where’s your green card?” — a reference to immigrant status — was directed at K-State player Angel Rodriguez by supporters of the opposing team. Rodriguez, born in the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico, is a U.S. citizen — a fact most high school and college students should have already learned in their geography classes. Some consider such behaviors as aberrations, actions of the criminal elements or kids just having fun. But consider the examples parents and other adults are providing for their children with the banning of ethnic studies in predominant ethnic school districts, English-language only requirements, voter photo ID laws, and the passage of anti-immigration laws in many states that trample the civil rights of U.S.-born and naturalized Latino citizens.

Add to them the racial invectives and ongoing challenges to our President’s proof of U.S. citizenship, his alleged relationship to Muslim radicals, and the public disrespect shown him by his fellow elected colleagues — actions that are rationalized as political differences and the right to free speech. These aforementioned cases are but a few examples of the xenophobic frenzy and overt prejudice that has become too common in our public discourse. Actions like these have no redeeming value in a society that grows more diverse with each passing day.

A collective silence by law-abiding and moral citizens infers agreement with, and acceptance of those whose hate is based on class, race or religion. Acts of unabashed hatred and aggression toward one’s fellow citizens will survives only in a society where silence is the norm.

As parents and role models, we must become better examples for current and future generations. Our country is undergoing a demographic change. Now is the time for to us to stop what appears to be the polarization of class, economic, political and social distinctions. The demographic changes in our nation are inevitable; therefore, we must revoke the “License to Hate” before it contaminates our population and destroys the promise of a democracy that was once the model for every other society in the world.

Jim Estrada is the Founder/CEO of Estrada Communications Group in Austin, TX — a company owned and operated by him and his son Raymond. The San Diego native is a former Channel 10 TV news reporter, documentarian and corporate marketing executive for McDonald’s & Anheuser-Busch. He is also the author of “The ABCs & Ñ of America’s Cultural Evolution,” scheduled for publication later this year. Read his blogs “Pelos en el caldo” at http://jimestrada.post erous.com/.

Next month, the country’s educational community celebrates the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Plyler vs. Doe. In Plyer vs. Doe, the high court ruled in June 1982 that it was against the law to prohibit primary and secondary education to an undocumented student. Although the decision has stood for nearly 30 years, attaining higher education for undocumented high school graduates has been, for most, a long, distant dream — a nightmare, even.

Too often, politics has gotten in the way of common-sense policy. In 2001, a bipartisan effort led by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) resulted in the introduction of the Development Relief for Alien Minors Act, or the DREAM Act.

This legislation, which many had hopes of passing, came to a screeching halt after the September 11th attacks. Since then, officials like Kris Kobach (the Kansas Secretary of State, who’s a key architect of Arizona’s S.B. 1070 immigration bill) have used fear tactics to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment.

A climate of hate, under the pretense that immigrants are criminals, have defined the immigration narrative, especially within the extreme wing of the Republican Party. When the DREAM Act came up for a vote in 2010, it was a Republican filibuster and five Democrats that altogether deferred the dreams of thousands of immigrant youth.

Across the country, students who were raised as Americans — who attend public high schools, who seek to become full-fledged, contributing citizens of the country they call home — live in limbo.

As we mark the Supreme Court’s decision on Plyler vs. Doe, it’s fitting that the DREAM Act and access to higher education are again at the forefront of the contentious conversation on immigration reform. Conveniently enough, the attention also comes in an election year, when both parties seek the Latino vote, which will prove critical, particularly in swing states.

For two years, the GOP has either been silent or shown great apathy on the issue. When asked about the DREAM Act during the Republican primaries, Gov. Mitt Romney said, “If Congress was to pass the DREAM Act, I would veto it.” But a few weeks ago, surprisingly, the silence and apathy was broken by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).

Rubio picked up the flag left behind in the battle field after the DREAM Act vote and began talking once again about education and immigrant youth — and a path to legalization for them.

United We Dream, the largest national organization of undocumented youth, has not dismissed Rubio’s attempt just yet. We are eager to learn the details of his upcoming bill. As the people who are directly impacted by this issue, we appreciate the senator’s interest to listen to our stories. We are thankful for being asked for our ideas on what the legislation will say, and are glad to see the Senator reaching out to our long-time champion on this issue, Senator Durbin.

To some, this outreach may seem like nothing more than a political calculation for a man who has higher ambitions.

Rubio’s name, after all, has continually topped Romney’s vice-presidential wish-list. But it cannot be overstated that Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a first-generation American, understands that the Latino population cares deeply about this issue. He also understands that the country as a whole wants to find a solution to this problem.

Immigrant youth are not beholden to one party. We’ve mobilized, organized and negotiated with both parties. With many risks, we’ve created our own stage. Now that we have the public’s attention, we are challenging Republicans and Democrats and President Barack Obama.

Four years ago, under the banner of hope and change, he promised to take on immigration reform during his first term. Though the Department of Homeland Security has offered some failed attempts of relief, through prosecutorial discretion, the Obama administration has also deported the highest number of immigrants in the history of the United States.

But Obama can also execute the power he holds in his hand — the power to stop the deportation of immigrant youth and grant them temporary relief, while Congress addresses the issue in a more complete and lasting way. After all, the Obama administration has increasingly been using Executive power under the slogan “We Can’t Wait.”

We will continue to push for the President to take action.

Sitting through my American history honors and AP classes, and learning the basis and foundation of this country, I’ve learned that the road to justice, though arduous, is one that America has always found.

Immigrant youth, like myself, fervently ask for an opportunity to adjust our undocumented status so that we can then serve and participate fully in our communities.

I graduated college in 2005; since I haven’t been able to work because I don’t have papers, I went back to school and earned two other degrees, one of which is in special education. I love children. My deepest desire is to one day be in a classroom teaching elementary-school children with Down Syndrome and autism so that they too have a voice — that they, too, matter in this country.

We are hopeful that the gap between feeling American and becoming American on paper soon becomes a reality. In the meantime, trendsetters and pioneers of education in this country, like Dr. Eduardo Padrón, President of Miami Dade College, understand the importance of ensuring that immigrant youth, who are part of the fabric of this nation, have an opportunity to receive an education.

Currently there are 14 in-state tuition laws that allow undocumented students to attend college. Miami Dade College, who has opened the doors to countless undocumented students in Florida, believes that “Opportunity Changes Everything.”

So do I.

Gaby Pacheco, editor of Latina Lista’s “American Dream” section, is an undocumented American and an immigrant rights leader from Miami, Florida. Since 2004 she has been working on the DREAM Act. Her passion for education and immigrant rights prompted her and three friends in 2010 to walked 1,500 miles form Miami to Washington DC, to bring to light the plight of immigrants in this country, this walk was dubbed the Trail of DREAMs. 

Since 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has been an essential tool in helping to protect victims of domestic and sexual violence. While seeking to improve criminal justice and community-based responses to victims of abuse, VAWA ultimately changed the landscape for those previously left to suffer in silence.

Since then, Congress – on a bipartisan basis — has repeatedly shown its commitment to preserving and enhancing the core goals of VAWA by increasing protections in all subsequent VAWA reauthoriz-ations. This was recently demonstrated by the Senate’s VAWA reauthorization bill (S. 1925) introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) that passed last month on a vote of 68 to 31, with strong bipartisan support. S. 1925 was introduced after months of input from a wide range of stakeholders. Unfortunately, Republican leaders in the House have taken a different approach, with the introduction of H.R. 4970, a bill authored by Rep. Sandy Adams (FL-24), that actually rolls back protections for victims of domestic violence. On Tuesday, on a vote of 17-15, House Republicans passed this measure out of the House Judiciary Committee, without properly considering the cross-jurisdictional sections that provide for protections on tribal lands, in federal housing programs, and on college campuses around the country.

The Adams bill adds burdensome, counter-productive requirements that compromise the ability of service providers to reach victims, fails to adequately protect Tribal victims, lacks important protection and services for LGBT victims, weakens resources for victims living in subsidized housing, and eliminates important improvements to address dating violence and sexual assault on college campuses. Among the most troubling components of this bill are those that jettison and drastically undercut existing and important, long-standing protections that remain vital to the safety and protection of battered immigrant victims.

Since its inception, VAWA has reflected the unique circumstances that immigrant victims face, and as such, has demonstrated a commitment to offering them protection and addressing the specific issues that endanger the lives of these particularly vulnerable victims. This commitment includes addressing the problems faced by immigrants married to or in relationships with abusive citizens or legal residents.  In many of these relationships, abusive partners use immigration status as a tool to control and further abuse immigrant victims.  Currently, VAWA addresses this by allowing battered immigrants to petition for their own immigration status—independent of their abusive spouses – freeing them from their spouse’s abuse and control.

The Adams bill takes a significant step backwards from the existing law by allowing immigration officials to interview an alleged offender and consider the information obtained in making a determination about the adjudication of a battered immigrant’s petition for status. This not only undermines the critical protection of confidentiality relied on by victims to find safety for themselves and their children, it also allows abusers to manipulate the immigration process to cause further harm. Because the risks of serious injury and homicide increase when a victim is taking steps to leave an abusive relationship, this provision puts victims directly in harm’s way. This proposal guts nearly 18 years of established law and undermines the very foundation of VAWA.  Never before have policy makers retreated on the core VAWA principle of victim safety.

The bill also discourages immigrants from reporting sexual assault and other crimes by placing other unnecessary restrictions on the U visa program and fails to provide an increase in the number of available visas. The U visa is a tool widely used and supported by law enforcement officials in order to help keep our communities safe by prosecuting criminals. Many law enforcement agencies have called upon Congress to increase the number of available U visas so that they can encourage victims to come forward, report crimes, and receive the help they need to be safe.

Finally, the Adams bill will decentralize the VAWA immigration adjudications process – bypassing examiners who are specifically trained in domestic violence and sexual assault – and mandates additional interviews for battered immigrants, causing unnecessary burdens on victims.  Immigrant victims often have limited options to escape abusive relationships and the provisions in the Adams bill contradict the very purpose of VAWA by putting victims’ lives, health, and safety at risk.

Our nation’s laws should continue to strengthen protections for our most vulnerable populations – not roll back those safeguards. The long standing bipartisan commitment to ending domestic violence must continue to be supported and strengthened to better protect all victims from violence, abuse, and exploitation. We urge the House of Representatives to join with the Senate in passing a bipartisan VAWA reauthorization bill that protects all victims.

Lynn Rosenthal is the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. Felicia Escobar is the Senior Policy Director for Immigration.

Magu, Our Family Car

The personalized automobiles known as “Lowriders,” are part of a subculture whose aesthetic tendencies cross over into the world of fine art. Lowrider describes a car that is typically customized with a hydraulic setup to be low to the ground, with an elaborate paint job, striking chrome features and uniquely designed upholstery. But this term reaches beyond cars, and has become a cultural phenomenon and way of life for many people.

Today Lowrider culture can be seen not only in cars and motorcycles, but also in sculptures, photography and paintings as a way for people to express their individuality and cultural pride. This exhibition will feature a display of full-size cars, motorcycles and bicycles that have been created in the Lowrider style.

Accompanying the vehicles will be paintings and sculptures made by the vehicle designers and owners and other prominent artists influenced by Lowrider culture in their artwork. Featured artists include Teen Angel, Mister Cartoon, Mike Pickel, Gilbert “Magu” Lujan, Jae Bueno, David Avalos, Bobby Ruiz, El Moises, D. A. Garcia, Estevan Oriol, Eriberto Oriol, Victor Cordero, Eddie “Swoopy” Galindo, Aztek, Howard Gribble, Pedro “Rooster” Rayos, Salvador Gonzalez, Ulises Vasquez, El Moises and Armando Flores, among others.

The exhibition opens with a preview reception on Saturday, May 12 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The reception is complimentary for OMA members and $10 for non-members. Cruisin’ Califas: The Art of Lowriding is guest curated by Carlos C. de Baca and David C. de Baca. This exhibition is made possible by the generous support from Rudy and Elizabeth Van Hunnick, and David and Jan Arnold.

El Moises, La Catrina y Su Vida Loca

Join the guest curators a walk and talk through the exhibition on July 14 at 2:00 p.m. Hear Lowrider stories, watch hydraulic demonstrations and learn more about the artists and artwork in the exhibition. The talk is free with museum admission and complimentary for OMA members, students and military.

Learn about the art of pin-striping during Manuel Cisneros’s demonstration at Artists@Work on June 14 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 for OMA members and $20 for nonmembers and include an open bar with wine and Lagunitas beer and appetizers by Harney Sushi and Bull Taco.

The title of the exhibition, Cruisin’ Califas, refers to Lowrider culture in California and the favorite pastime of the Lowrider – cruising! Califas is a slang term that refers to California amongst the Latino culture with roots that going back to the mythological land of Calafia that inspired the naming of California. Largely associated with the rise of the automobile industry and the post WWII manufacturing boom, Lowriders became a popular way for people, mostly without the means to purchase a brand new car, to express their individuality and cultural pride. Lowrider describes a car that is customized with a hydraulic setup to be low to the ground, with an elaborate paint job that often includes pin striping and lettering, with striking chrome features, and uniquely designed upholstery. Classic cars such as Chevrolet Impalas and Master Deluxes are often associated with this culture, but today, any type of vehicle can be transformed into a Lowrider, from motorcycles to bicycles, SUV’s and tricycles. Reaching farther then cars; this phenomenon has become a way of life for many people, influencing the style of the artists involved in this exhibition.

The exhibition will featuring a 1950 Chevrolet and artwork from the late Gilbert “Magu” Lujan, the 1938 Chevy Master Delux, the pin-striping and airbrush artwork of Victor Cordero, the El Revolucionario motorcycle of Rick Alvarez, the hubcap sculptures of David Avalos, pen and ink drawings from Eddie Galindo, a motorcycle and paintings by Salvador Gonzalez, the art of Teen Angel, model cars, memorabilia, cruising music compiled by well-known radio DJ and Lowrider ‘Xavier the X-Man’ and much more.

San Diegans Carlos and David C. de Baca have been involved in the Southern California car culture for more than 25 years. They have developed many local automotive-oriented shows, including the “Bajitos y Suavecitos” Lowrider exhibition featured at the San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park. The exhibit is touted by the museum as the most successful in terms of the number of visitors and admissions. Based on the success of the show, Carlos was recruited by that museum’s Board of Directors where he is currently an active board member. David has been featured and interviewed on many local and national television shows to discuss Lowrider history, style and culture.

Opened in 1995, Oceanside Museum of Art educates and inspires through a unique range of diverse engaging exhibitions and programs that connect people with regional, national and global artists and art forms. The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday 1 to 4 pm. Free admission every Tuesday, general admission is $8, $5 for seniors and free for students and military. For more information call 760.435.3720 or visit www.oma-online.org. The museum is located at 704 Pier View Way in downtown Oceanside, California within walking distance from the Oceanside transit center with Amtrak, Coaster, Sprinter and Metrolink stops.

Two years after the death of San Diego resident Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, his family and supporters continue demanding justice and answers from the Obama administration.

Hernandez Rojas died in May 2010, a few days after being beaten and tased by Border Patrol agents near the San Ysidro pedestrian exit. The case was well-documented with video taken by passer-bys.

Since then, his family and supporters have been demanding that the federal government releases information of the investigation. On Thursday, May 3, a vigil and march was held at Balboa Park in support of his widow Maria Puga and the family of Hernandez. Eight cities across the country participated in a National Day of Action demanding justice from the Obama Administration in the case of Hernandez.

“We want to see where in the training manual it says it’s okay to kill border residents like Sergio Adrian who are not posing threats to agents,” said Christian Ramirez, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition. “This is a pattern of abuse that repeatedly ends in homicide.”

Ramirez said that there has been no information released on Hernandez’s case.

“Anastasio was a proud father of five, a hard-worker, we want to make sure justice is made for him,” he said.
During the vigil, people hold signs asking “Who killed Anastasio?” Others read, “We are all Anastasio! Todos somos Anastasio!” Still others demanded, “We demand justice!”

Hernandez was 44 years old when he died. His mother and other family members came from the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi to participate in the vigil.

“Today we take to the streets again to remember Anastasio,” Ramirez said. “We want the government to clarify this case.”

Hernandez had been a San Diego resident before being detained by the Border Patrol. His children and wife lived here with him.

“We’re not talking about a stranger, about an outsider,” Ramirez said. “Anastasio was a San Diegan, he was our neighbor!”
San Diego Councilmember David Alvarez was present at the vigil, wearing a San Diego baseball cap, Hernandez’s trademark.

“I’m here to demand a clarification of what happened two years ago,” said Alvarez, who represents District 8, which includes Barrio Logan and San Ysidro. “It’s inconceivable that in plain 21st century these kinds of injustice are taking place. This has nothing to do with immigration, it is about human rights and dignity.”

San Diego activist Estela de los Rios said that “we need to stop the brutal killings at the border.”

Maria de la Luz Rojas, Hernandez’s mother, thanked all the participants during the vigil. “Thank you to everyone who have helped us,” she said in Spanish.

In the last 2 weeks, more than 32,000 people have signed a petition demanding that Attorney General Holder and the Obama Administration conduct an open and thorough investigation into the incident.

On Mexican Mother’s Day, May 10, those petitions were delivered outside the Department of Justice building in Washington D.C. Congress members, including Rep. Bob Filner, are circulating letters demanding Holder to release information about the status of the investigations of eight Border Patrol-related deaths.

These events come just days after the Department of Justice (DOJ) decided not to prosecute the Border Patrol agent who shot and killed 15 year-old Sergio Adrián Hernandez Hüereca. The deadly incident occurred days after Anastasio was killed near the international bridge that unites Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. The DOJ asserted that the agent acted in accordance with Border Patrol guidance on use of force when they shot Sergio across the international boundary.

Community members in Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, Calexico, South Texas and other U.S. cities, organized actions denouncing the lack of accountability and oversight over U.S. border agents that has resulted into repeated cases of brutality.

Mothers of women and men missing in Mexico embarked May 8 on a national march/caravan that will culminate in protests and meetings in the nation’s capital this week. Like last year’s caravans organized by poet Javier Sicilia and other relatives of violence victims, the mobilizations will remind Mexicans of the deep emotional wounds and unhealed psychological scars that devour families of forcibly disappeared persons.

Named the “March of National Dignity: Mothers Looking for their Sons and Daughters and Searching for Justice,” the protest is led by 300 women demanding clarification of the fates of between 600 and 700 relatives who went missing during the administration of outgoing President Felipe Calderon.

“For some it has been years, for others months or days, of walking alone, of clamoring in the desert of the hallways of indolent and irresponsible authorities, many of them directly responsible for (disappearances) or complicit with those who took (loved ones) away,” the mothers’ group said in a communiqué.

Among the many organizations supporting and/or endorsing the march are the Network of Human Rights Defenders and Families of the Disappeared, Women’s Human Rights Center, Justice for Our Daughters, Paso del Norte Human Rights Center, United Forces for Our Disappeared in Coahuila, and the Catholic Archdiocese of Saltillo. Solidarity actions, including protests at Mexican embassies, are planned this week in the United States, Canada, Honduras and El Salvador.

March contingents will depart from the northern border states of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, wind their way through the Mexican heartland of the Bajio and arrive in Mexico City as Mother’s Day celebrations get underway. The Mexico City activities include a May 10 march to the Angel of Independence monument, where the names and stories of the disappeared will be made public.

Senator Rosario Ibarra de Piedra, a pioneering human rights activist who organized Mexican mothers into the Eureka Committee to demand the return of children forcibly disappeared by government forces during the Dirty War of the 1970s, has been invited to address the Mexico City protest.

On Mother’s Day 2012, many Mexican mothers have “nothing to celebrate,” stressed Norma Ledezma, co-founder of Justice for Our Daughters in Chihuahua City. “As families, we want to take this occasion to tell society not to forget that in Mexico there is home with a plate and a seat empty…”

Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon have been among the hardest-hit places in the violence that has steadily gnawed away at the fabric of Mexican society. In all three states, so-called narco-violence, femicides and threats and attacks against Central American immigrants passing through Mexico to the United States have registered extremely high volumes. Recent headlines include the discovery of at least 12 murdered young women outside Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, and the revelation that nearly 800 skeletal remains collected in the state of Chihuahua since 2007, mostly of men, remain unidentified by authorities.

The Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office lists 213 women missing in the state since 1993, with about 123 cases in Ciudad Juarez alone. But non-governmental organizations estimate a higher number. A review of the official list reveals a spike in cases after 2008, the year when widespread narco-violence broke out and thousands of army troops and federal police were deployed in Joint Operation Chihuahua and its successors.

While the international press usually homes in on stories about Ciudad Juarez, which borders the United States, alarming episodes of violence have increased in the state capital of Chihuahua City in recent weeks. In addition to a familiar pattern of disappearances, women’s murders and constant homicides, violence has erupted in very public places, even in broad daylight. Recent incidents include shoot-outs and/or mass slayings outside a Wal-Mart, inside an Applebee’s restaurant and at the Colorado Bar, where 15 people were gunned down on the evening of April 20. A suspect, Javier Arturo Hernandez Najera, is reportedly in custody for a crime committed by multiple shooters.

Three members of a ‘60s-style rock combo that regularly performed at the Colorado Bar were among the victims of the massacre. Relatives of the ill-fated members of “Freddy’s Friends” described the musicians as hard-working men who held day jobs, were devoted husbands and fathers and uninvolved with the intrigues of organized crime.

“It isn’t easy to deal with how this came down,” the son and daughter of guitarist Juan Luis Vazquez were quoted. “You get used to hearing about the violence, four dead over there, 13 over here, and you get used to it even though it touches you. It’s ugly but you get used to it. Now we ask ourselves: Why them?”

Across Mexico, thousands and thousands of people are asking the same question.

Alma Garcia, representative of United Forces for Our Disappeared in Coahuila, told the press that the mother’s march will insist on getting answers to pressing questions. Garcia said the caravan will demand that Mexican government officials comply with United Nations recommendations on forced disappearance, create a “program of internal attention” and, above all, undertake “immediate searches for the disappeared.” Garcia’s movement also demands the creation of a national data base of disappeared persons, the formulation of investigative protocols and the appointment of a special prosecutor for disappeared persons.

Since the 1970s, mothers and their supporters have launched distinct movements related to forced disappearance in various parts of Mexico- with minimal results.

In Ciudad Juarez /El Paso, the International Association of Relatives and Friends of Disappeared Persons pressured the Zedillo and Fox administrations into successively naming several special prosecutors charged with uncovering the truth about nearly 200 disappeared people, mainly men, who vanished in the Mexican border city during the 1990s. On another front, the Fox administration created a special office within the federal attorney generals’ office to investigate and prosecute Dirty War disappearances.

A central player in both the Dirty War and narco-war chapters who was widely said to have first-hand knowledge of the whereabouts of victims of forced disappearance, retired army General Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro, was shot dead in Mexico City last month. The former military official was assassinated as a truth commission assembled by the Guerrero state government began forming to investigate the Dirty War disappearances.

After 1997, victims’ relatives and women’s activists succeeded in getting first the Chihuahua state government and then the Mexican federal government to establish special law enforcement divisions officially dedicated to probing femicides and women’s disappearances in Ciudad Juarez. Fifteen years later, the cases have passed through the hands of almost as many prosecutors.

In 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights handed down a judgment ordering Mexico to thoroughly investigate the disappearances of young women. As a signatory to the Court, the Mexican government is obliged to follow the verdict.

Despite a slew of measures arising from civil society pressure over the decades, few cases of forced disappearance have been cleared up and no credible prosecutions have ensued.

As old cases piled up, Mex-ico’s National Human Rights Commission documented 5,400 new cases of disappeared persons- both men and women-from 2006 to 2011, though non-governmental organizations speak of 10,000 or more people forcibly disappeared during the same time frame.

A recent report from the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances contended that not all the latest cases could be attributed to organized crime operating alone. “On the contrary, state participation in forced disappearances is also present in the country,” the report stated.

Last year, Javier Zuniga of Amnesty International compared forced disappearance in Mexico with the situation that prevailed under the military dictatorships of South America during the 1970s.

“We have walked alone in the middle of stares and stigmatizing commentaries, and we have been treated like lepers, marginalized and condemned to the worst pain a human being could live: not knowing the whereabouts of our sons and daughters,” the new mother’s movement declared. “But now we are not alone. We have found hundreds of mothers and we unite our clamor and our love to recover our loved ones and bring them home.”

Frontera NorteSur: on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news Center for Latin American and Border Studies New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Back in 1992, Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” became the number one single on the Billboard charts for five weeks. It was definitely the “it” song that summer and remains a popular song to this day. One of the most resonate lyrics to the song was the phrase stating “So Cosmo says you’re fat? Well, I ain’t down with that”…. and so on it went to talk about (in less graphic words) how curvy women with color on their skin aren’t usually on the cover of magazines, referencing Cosmo in specific. Twenty years later, that is changing and you will see that in the new Cosmopolitan for Latinas that was released May 1 at newsstands nationwide. And yes, we are gladly taking in the compliment of acknowledgement.

In a recent interview with Michelle Herrera Mulligan, Editor of the new Cosmopolitan for Latinas she talked to us about why and how this concept for creating a Latina version of the Cosmopolitan came about, here’s a bit of insight in her own words “Latinas are already big fans of the Cosmo brand….one out four buy the magazine! After conducting a survey of Cosmo’s Latina readership, the publishers found that Latinas wanted more content especially for them…. including help finding makeup that matches their tones, relationship and family advice with their experience in mind, and plenty of hot entertainment and recipes that reflect their culture…. all from the bold Cosmo perspective. We designed the magazine to be a fresh, fun look at Latina life in the United States…including the street fashion no one else covers and bold empowerment moves that a young women can take to move forward in her life.”

If you’re still wondering what the differences between Cosmopolitan and Cosmopolitan for Latinas are, the truth is, the growing, dynamic Latina audience continues to have an under-served presence in this country, and there are many un-discussed issues within our communities and even within a general market publishing, that something had to be done. Just as Herrera Mulligan put it during the interview “Latinas deserve our own Carries, Samanthas, and Mirandas!” and in Cosmopolitan for Latinas we will hopefully find those voices, faces and personalities to identify and relate to. The talented group of writers, bloggers, social media editors and photographers at Cosmopolitan for Latinas are working arduously to bring us the same Cosmo brand with only a tweak in style that will not segregate us as Latinas but rather unite us with the culture that we carry within and that which we live with. “Like Cosmopolitan, we’ll celebrate the fun, fearless, female, always taking a daredevil, dynamic approach to life in general. We found clever ways to apply the Cosmo voice to our experience from street food showdowns to celebrity fashion finds” expressed Herrera Mulligan.

She speaks from experience professionally, personally and culturally. Herrera Mulligan has been working as a writer for over ten years and has covered everything from women’s health to international entrepreneurs. She does admit, however, her greatest professional love is covering Latinas in the United States. Although she has a heavy weight of responsibility under her belt, she has proven to have the much needed expertise to bloom to the challenge. As a side reference to her experience in the biz, she worked with the founding team at Latina magazine and went on to publish two breakthrough collections [Border-Line Personalities, 2004, and Juicy Mangos, 2007] since then.

The magazine will cater articles that resonate for women of all ages, but its main target reader is the English-dominant woman in her twenties. Aside from entertainment, beauty, and fashion, young Latina women are concerned about advancing their careers, balancing their busy schedules with their family demands, and building their confidence to reach the next level in their lives which is why Herrera Mulligan will also dedicate special coverage to current affairs through the lens of what affects our daily life “…whether it be sexual abuse, career advancement, health concerns, or any other issue, our approach will take the intimate voice of a close friend” shared the editor.

On their end, Cosmopolitan magazine is doing it’s part in cross-promoting the launch of the new Latina version of its magazine. Beginning in July 2012, targeted copies of Cosmopolitan magazine will feature bonus editorial content curated for the Hispanic female consumer. “We are taking a pioneering role in delivering compelling media to an audience who isn’t having their needs currently met by what’s out there in the marketplace,” said Kalajian Lagani, SVP, publishing director and chief revenue officer of Cosmopolitan. “We are uniquely positioned to reach these fun, fearless women, and are confident that they will respond enthusiastically to the premiere issue” she added.

“Launching new businesses that address the ever-changing needs of consumers is something that we do especially well,” said David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines. “Cosmopolitan for Latinas aligns with the mindset and interest of a growing demographic eager for content tailored specifically for her.”

When picking up your copy of the new release look for the feaured sections:

¡En Vivo!

A section dedicated to entertaining quizzes, a list of the can’t-miss Latin events nationwide and highlights of entertaining cultural mash-ups.

Stylista

Fashion coverage that celebrates the vibrant Latina style.

Beauty

All the best beauty ideas and tips from today’s pros, curated especially for the unique needs of Latinas’ skin and hair.

Manthropology

A guy’s roundtable (“Pregúntalo a Ellos”), and interviews with the hottest Latin male celebrities.

Real Talk

Empowering advice on how to navigate complex relationships, whether with your coworkers, friends or familia.

Features

A feature well teeming with beautifully shot fashion stories and compelling celebrity interviews.

Divertida

It’s time for fiesta! Learn easy-to-follow food and cocktail recipes that bring the authentic, regional flavors of Latin culture to life.

Readers also can connect with Cosmopolitan for Latinas on myriad social platforms, including Twitter (@CosmoForLatinas), Facebook (Facebook.com/CosmoForLatinas) and Pinterest (Pinterest.com/CosmoForLatinas). The magazine’s web site, www.CosmoForLatinas.com also went live on May 1.

In the spring of 2011, Sicilia’s son Francisco, 24, along with several of his friends was kill.

LOS ANGELES — Javier Sicilia looks tired. The 56 year-old Mexican poet, essayist, journalist and novelist has been going non-stop since March 28th of last year, which is the day he acquired a distinction that is every Mexican’s nightmare: to be a member of one of the roughly 60,000 families to have lost one or more loved ones to the accelerated violence that has gripped Mexico since President Felipe Calderon began his crusade against the drug cartels six years ago.

In the spring of 2011, Sicilia’s son Francisco, 24, along with several of his friends, was killed after leaving a bar where witnesses said they had been talking loudly about the cartel-fueled violence in their country. Their dead bodies were discovered later that night in a car, accompanied by a note that read, “This is what happens to those who make anonymous calls to soldiers.” The killings, which occurred in the town of Cuernavaca, were highly publicized on both sides of the border.

Since then, Sicilia has been roaming Mexico’s northern and southern states demanding peace, justice and dignity for the families of victims of organized crime. And however tired and disillusioned by the actions of the Mexican government he may be, Sicilia doesn’t plan to give up his quest anytime soon. To the contrary, after catching a red eye flight last week from Mexico City to Los Angeles to meet other family members of victims, he quickly lined up a series of meetings with community leaders and labor representatives to work out the logistics for the next phase of his campaign. Believing deeply that U.S. government officials share as much responsibility as their counterparts in Mexico, Sicilia plans to make his plea to the U.S. Congress this summer.

Between now and then, Sicilia will be spending his time organizing a caravan due to depart from the border town of San Diego in August, making stops in over twenty U.S. cities and finishing at the steps of the U.S. Capitol where he plans to repeat the message he’s been spreading all over his native country: “!Estamos hasta la madre!” Roughly translated to English, the phrase means, “We’ve had it!”

In Sicilia’s view, as long as both countries aren’t making it a priority to stem the flow of weapons south from the U.S. to Mexico, instead keeping to their same policies of penalizing drugs and imposing fines for money laundering, the only winners will be the already bloated prison industry, and the Mexican Army. The latter, says Sicilia, has been the main beneficiary of the roughly $1.7 billion dollars in economic and logistical aid granted by the U.S. to Mexico and several countries in Central America under the Merida Initiative, a massive security agreement to combat drug trafficking, organized crime and money laundering. The initiative was authorized by Congress in 2008.

“The jails in Mexico and in [the U.S.] are filled with young people accused of the crime of drug consumption, while the real criminals walk freely, work for the government, or hold well paying jobs in white collar positions. The only thing we are achieving with these policies is to destroy a whole generation of young people in both countries,’’ Sicilia concludes.

With Mexico’s presidential elections quickly approaching, Sicilia’s message could very well resonate on the U.S. side of the border, where a huge pool of Mexican nationals – an estimated 4 million — are eligible to vote in their country’s national election. If history is a guide, just a fraction of those will actually register to vote and participate in the election – only 33,000 did so in 2008. Nevertheless, the issue of violence is paramount in the minds of many Mexican voters, and the drug war policies implemented by current president Felipe Calderon and his ruling National Action Party (PAN) have increasingly been blamed for the years-long spike in gruesome cartel-related killings and disappearances.

“How could it be possible that during the past six years we have had more than 60,000 deaths, 10,000 disappearances and 160,000 displaced people, yet only two percent of those crimes have been resolved?” asked Sicilia to a group of Latino journalists who met him after his arrival to “La Iglesia de la Placita,” one of the oldest Catholic churches in downtown Los Angeles. “It is clear that Mexicans have been living under a failed state. It’s a national tragedy born of a wrong strategy.”

Which is why, explains Sicilia, he is organizing the caravan bound for Washington D.C., something that no Mexican national, he points out, has ever attempted.

When asked if he expects actual results to come as a result of the campaign, Sicilia shrugs his shoulders and answers in a deep, calm voice.

“I am convinced that change will come from the bottom up of society, not from the top. If we the citizens don’t voice our concerns and pressure the politicians, nothing is going to happen.”

Latino immigrants and their descendants have long struggled to define their identity. Like any community, economic and cultural hardships sometimes make them feel isolated and different.

That is why when a survey from the Pew Hispanic recently pointed out how little Latinos have in common with each other – Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Salvadorans, etc. are of course distinct – I looked towards music to find something vital that brings our diverse immigrant cultures and experiences back together again.

The books you read, the films you watch, and the foods you eat, are often regarded as reflections of who you are. How you value these things, the way you rank them in your life and present them to others, reveals a small window into your personality. But in no cultural experience is that reflection more intense and sincere than in music.

Music is often connected with people’s heritage and pride. It can remind them of where they come from — and where they are moving towards. It can ease the pangs of nostalgia felt after leaving family and friends behind. A three or four minute song can at times feel like an epiphany, revealing an unexpected truth that changes the way you perceive yourself. While listening to a clip from Ray Barretto’s “Together” on World Cafe two weeks ago, I suddenly understood something different about being Hispanic or Latino, which for me is much more than a race or nationality:

“I know a beautiful truth and it’s helped me be free / I know I’m black and I’m white and I’m red, the blood of mankind flows in me / And so in every face I see, I see a part of you and me together…”

Barretto’s 1969 song captures the social unrest and positive spirit of the Woodstock generation, but for me, as the son of Spanish immigrants, I could hear how a Puerto Rican musician, who grew up listening to Duke Ellington and Count Basie, was able to incorporate elements of blues and funk with salsa and mambo to tell the story of millions of people who live between Spanish and English-language cultures in the United States.

“Together” can also remind Latino listeners how music is loaded with autobiographical references; how certain songs are part of a soundtrack that can help us reconnect with specific people, places, and moments in our lives. And by rediscovering that soundtrack, not only could we learn something significant about our identities, but also appreciate how we relate to other Spanish-speakers.

The first songs that I remember listening to as a boy were recorded on vinyl. The crackling sound of my parents’ records gave the music a weight and density that took up an emotional and cultural space in my life.

While the parents of my English-speaking friends listened to big band music like Jimmy Dorsey and Glenn Miller, or Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, my family listened to paso dobles like “Suspiros de España,” and coplas like Antonio Molina’s “Adios mi España querida.” The sad lyrics of those songs encouraged me to explore my Spanish identity. A possible soundtrack from my family in New York could also include Raquel Meller’s “La violetera,” and Imperio Argentina’s tango “Fumando Espero.”

As an adolescent in New York, I continued to grow in my Spanish identity, and listened to contemporary Spanish rock and pop. I heard Siniestro Total’s “Bailaré sobre tu tum-ba” around the same time that I saw the Christian Slater movie Heathers, and both were emblematic of that counterculture spirit, which was uplifting for outsiders and comic book readers like me. Other songs like “No mires a los ojos de la gente” by Golpes Bajos reminded me of the secret Spanish world that existed inside of my parents’ New York apartment.

Years later, music helped me explore the other side of my Spanish-American identity. Like the children of many immigrants, after living most of my life in my parents’ Spanish culture, I suddenly began to notice things about myself that were distinctly American when I moved to Spain. And for the first time I set out to compile an English-language sound-track while browsing through British and American albums in music stores like the now defunct Madrid Rock.

For Paula García, a native of Valencia who now lives in New York, certain Spanish songs bring her closer to Spain and the beginning of her career as a journalist. When she listened to Nosoträsh’s “Voy a aterrizar” for the first time, García had just started working at a Murcia radio station, and for her, the song captured the wanderlust of her “alma viajera,” which drove her to move to the United States. Now in New York, “Voy a aterrizar” is emblematic of her continuous flight between two worlds -– the place where she works, and the place where she was born. But at least during the space of the song she can see herself integrated in both.

For another Spanish-speaker, flamenco has helped her find a home in Puerto Rico, Spain, and New York. When Consuelo Arias, associate professor of foreign languages and women’s studies at Nassau Community College, listens to Enrique Morente’s “La aurora de Nueva York,” she remembers her undergraduate professor Rafael Rodríguez at the City University of New York,who inspired her to study Spanish literature. Until then she had focused mostly on French and art history, but Rodríguez awoke in Arias a greater consciousness of Latino identity. He transmitted the magic of Spain, Puerto Rico, and other Spanish-language cultures through Fed-erico García Lorca’s poetry. And now, when she listens to Morente sing Lorca’s poem, she can visualize her triangulated cultural identity—Rodríguez’s Puerto Rico, her family’s Spain, and how those two places converged in New York.

But the title song would be undoubtedly reserved for Manu Chao’s “Me gustas tú.” Not only does it make reference to cities where many of my Spanish-speaking friends in New York are from — La Habana, San Salvador, Managua, Madrid, and my mom’s birthplace La Coruña — but more than anything, it reminds me about the way Chao, the son of a Galician parent like myself, fuses French, Spanish, and English to build a universal narrative that is emblematic of all Hispanics and Latinos who live geographically, culturally, and emotionally between two or more places.

Revived in the United States on a mass scale by the immigrant rights movement six years ago, the annual commemoration of International Workers’ Day is fast becoming an established tradition across the country. And if anything captured the essence of the 2012 celebrations, it was the convergence of issues popularized by Occupy Wall Street-influenced movements with demands for justice long pushed by immigrant community organizations. Held on a balmy spring day, a rally and march in Albuquerque, New Mexico, gave a glimpse of movements that could continue to reshape U.S. and world politics in future years.

As the late afternoon sun continued to beat down on a hot New Mexican land, hundreds of people began gathering in a park near Albuquerque’s downtown. Mobilized by Enlace Comunitario, El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, the Albuquerque Partnership, La Raza Unida Party and many other organizations, young and old alike assembled to demand respect for immigrants and fundamental changes in labor, immigration and economic policies.

Proclaimed a sampling of the signs: “No a la SB 1070,” “Todos Somos un Nuevo Mexico” and “Se quiebran corazones cuando separan familias,” or “Hearts are broken when families separate.”

“It’s important to remember New Mexico is not Alabama, is not Arizona,” New Mexico State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino (D-Bernalillo) told an enthusiastic crowd. “Here in New Mexico we want to say to the immigrants only one word-welcome!”

Taking time to talk to FNS before the event moved into high gear, pro-immigrant activist Ramon Dorado stressed the importance of immigrants in New Mexico’s biggest city. The longtime resident pointed to a man tending a small hand-cart draped with churros for sale. The vendor, Dorado insisted, is not taking a job from anyone but in fact creating one that spreads money around. “Where does he spend it?” Dorado asked. “Here in Albuquerque, and this is good for the economy.”

His voice rising with emotion, Dorado said the last four years have been tough times for immigrants locally. “It’s very difficult for struggling immigrants to get their families ahead,” he said, adding that many people have lost jobs because of the introduction of the federal govern-ment’s E-verify system in small businesses, and families are increasingly divided with one or more members deported while others linger in the United States.

According to Dorado, his own son was deported to Mexico while just two weeks shy of completing a professional program at the local community college. After spending practically all of his life in the United States, the young man was stopped by a local cop and then turned over to “the migra,” Dorado said. Once a leader in his church’s youth group and a top-notch student, Dorado’s son is now trying to get by in a country south of the border in which he is a stranger while the rest of his family is stuck in anguish north of the border.

“Put yourself in my shoes, in the shoes of my wife,” Dorado pleaded.

Roused to marching by the sounds of a Mexican banda, Aztec dancers and matachines, the pro-immigrant crowd welcomed a contingent of several dozen people from the (Un) Occupy movement that marched from the University of New Mexico. On the park stage, an emcee welcomed “the 99 percent.” Signs carried by the reinforcements supported labor rights, single payer health care, no war against Iran and justice for murdered Florida teen Trayvon Martin, among other demands. Read one bilingual placard: “Abuelas (Grandmothers) United: Against Corporate Greed, Against Citizens United….”

While demonstrators in Albuquerque were marching in the streets, sister activists an hour north in the state capital of Santa Fe were inaugurating a new worker center. Founded by the immigrant and labor advocacy organization Somos un Pueblo Unido, the new center is a “dream that the workers committee had,” said Somos organizer Alma Castro.

Although pricey Santa Fe has the highest minimum wage in the nation at $10.29 per hour, Castro said that worker complaints related to wage theft and other abuses that are not always thoroughly investigated helped prompt the opening of a space specifically dedicated to labor issues. According to Castro, the new center will be a place where workers can go to get advice, know-your-rights training and helpful computer resources. A part-time staff attorney will also be available, she told FNS.

Castro estimated that about 250 people showed up for the center’s May 1 inauguration, where mariachi music and food were enjoyed by the celebrants. The participation of organized labor was important in the center’s creation, she noted, and for the second year in a row unions joined together with Somos to recreate May Day as worker’s day in the United States like the rest of the world.

“We’ve always had May Day events,” Castro said. “It’s interesting to see an organization like Somos have relationships with unions.”

From Los Angeles to El Paso to New York and elsewhere, the fusion of immigrant and Occupy movement demands was evident in 2012. Although the overall number of participants in more than 125 U.S. cities chalking up May Day events, according to the website occupytogether.org, was less than the historic turnout of 2006, the breadth of issues raised was expanded and the shift toward a multi-issue movement rooted in working-class demands was notable. With few exceptions, however, mainstream media did not explore the issues raised by May Day demonstrators and instead zeroed in clashes between police and protesters or isolated incidents of window-smashing in some places. An Associated Press story minimized the turnouts in comparison with those of 2006.

But a chant heard for blocks away in the streets of Albuquerque was impossible for any passerby to ignore: “Aqui estamos y no nos vamos,” or “We are here to stay.”

Building for the big day, Occupy El Paso’s Facebook page resembled a bilingual, encyclopedia-like repository splashed with images, slogans and historical tidbits of social movements that ranged from Black liberation to the eight-hour day.

In perhaps the classic style of “El Chuco,” (El Paso), the page contained references to Cesar Chavez’s birthday, a miniaturized poster of murdered Black Panther Lil’ Bobby Hutton, remembrances of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination and the 1992 L.A. Uprising, a shot of a German building that supposedly plays music when it rains, and a warning not to “Mess with Texas Nurses.”

On the Gulf Coast, the New Orleans Workers’ Center launched Stand Up 2012, a campaign to demand that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano “follow her agency’s own directive, and stop deporting those who stand up to defend their civil, labor, and human rights.”

In a press release, the pro-labor group charged that 32 leaders from the Congress of Day Laborers face retaliatory deportation because they stood up for worker and civil rights. The labor group called on the Immigration and Customers Enforcement agency to use “…discretion to grant dignity, stability and economic security to the Southern 32.”

Summed up the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: “Today, immigrant workers continue fighting for living wages and know that an injury to one is an injury to all. “May Day is also the day when working class immigrant communities across the country will say a booming NO to punitive enforcement and the criminalization of immigrant workers. As the November presidential election nears, we also raise our voices for a fair and just legalization that respects labor and civil rights.”

Looking beyond May Day, the possible impact of the immigrant rights and Occupy movements on the 2012 elections is one of the year’s big questions, especially in the event of close races. While 2006’s mobilization of millions of immigrants for a path to legalization arguably strengthened the Democrats and contributed greatly to the presidential election of Barack Obama, who captured the Latino vote amid promises of an immigration reform, different dynamics are at play this year.

And while Occupy has undoubtedly shifted the parameters of political debate and popularized the notion of the 99 percent, the diverse movement is proudly non-partisan and quite often very critical of the Democrats.

Ramon Dorado said many immigrants feel betrayed by the Obama administration, which has deported record numbers of immigrants since taking office. Immigrants with voting rights, he said, are questioning why they should support people who will only end up deporting members of their community. “Romney won’t get the immigrant vote,” Dorado asserted. “But Obama has lied to us… (immigrants) don’t believe in the candidates.”

The Duke City activist criticized divisions between Democrats and Republicans that have impeded immigration reform, and blasted private prisons that profit from the incarceration of people for civil violations. And in a broad commentary, Dorado homed in on the irony of border walls and such in an economically globalized world. “How can we put barriers on the border when there is free trade?” he questioned. “This is incredible.”

Frontera NorteSur: on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news Center for Latin American and Border Studies New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico

The Mexican Revolution Mural will be dedicated on Cinco de Mayo at Chicano Park.

This Cinco de Mayo, Mexico will be celebrating the 150th anniversary since the famous battle of Puebla, where the Mexican army defeated the French.

Although many people in San Diego spend this day drinking and partying, muralist Victor Ochoa prefers to commemorate the tenacity, hard-work of the Mexican people.

“Cinco de Mayo isn’t something that took place 150 years ago,” said Ochoa, who’s one of most recognized artists in San Diego. “It’s not only a historical event that’s long gone. For me, Cinco de Mayo represents a continuous fight from Mexicans of Indigenous descent against oppression and abuse and discrimination from Europeans.”

This Saturday Ochoa and other artists will present and dedicate the Mexican Revolution Mural after its restoration and update in Chicano Park. The event, which starts at 11 a.m., is in recognition of the life’s work of Ernesto Bustillos, a long-time activist in the area.

“You can come and learn of the history, the inspiration of this mural, as well as the process for restoring the mural and the historical significance to our people’s movement for self-determination,” Ochoa said.

How do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo? If you’re a Mexican immigrant, perhaps you remember the salute to the flag that takes place at schools on this day.

If you’re not Mexican, maybe you try to figure out why this date is important in Mexican history.

Without a doubt, Cinco de Mayo has become the biggest celebration of Mexican culture in this country. In San Diego County, for example, there are more public events, like festivals, that celebrate the Battle of Puebla, than in Tijuana.

But remember, Cinco de Mayo is not a excuse to go get drunk. Some Latino organizations, in fact, object to using the day as an excuse to get drunk. The truth is that it’s U.S. restaurants and bars that have turned this day into a drinking fest amid strains of Mexican music.

As with most things, you can celebrate Cinco de Mayo with your family, without alcohol or margaritas.

But if you drink, please don’t drive. Law enforcement will be hard at work catching drunk drivers. The National City Police Department will be conducting DUI/Drivers licence checkpoint at an undisclosed location within the city limits between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m. on Cinco de Mayo.

“Deaths from drunk and drug-impaired driving are going down in California,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). “But that still means that hundreds of our friends, family and co-workers are killed each year, along with tens of thousands who are seriously injured. We must all continue to work together to bring an end to these tragedies. If you see a Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1.”

Whichever way you celebrate, remind your friends that Cinco de Mayo most decidedly is not Mexico’s Independence Day!

Below is a sampling of the events that celebrate the day the legendary army of Ignacio Zaragoza defeated French troops in 1862.

The Fiesta Old Town Cinco de Mayo will be from Friday 4 through Sunday 6. There will be mariachis, Aztec danzers, and children’s area. Free.

The Cinco de Mayo Latin Rock Festival takes place at the Valley View Casino Center, formerly Sports Arena, on Friday. Bands include Inspector, Plastilina Mosh, and 3Ball MTY. $30 to $100. More information: www.valleyviewcasinocenter.com.

The Centro Cultural de la Raza, in Balboa Park, will have a Fiesta Danzantes on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
The City of Chula Vista will host its annual Cinco de Mayo Festival on Third Ave. from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Free. More information: 619-422-1982.

Univision Radio stations Recuerdo and La Nueva will celebrate Cinco de Mayo with El Reventon at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on Sunday. Performers include La Adictiva Banda San Jose de Mesillas, Chuy Lizárraga, Montéz de Durago, Tierra Cali, Auténtica Banda Jerez. $10. More information: You can win free passes listening to Recuerdo and LaNueva.

Hace unas noches estuve viendo el documental “Monique… Behind the bars” que fue filmado en una prisión de alta seguridad solo para mujeres acá en Estados Unidos, la mayoría de las mujeres que se encuentran presas en esa prisión han sido condenadas a cadena perpetua es decir a vivir allí el resto de su vida sin derecho a libertad condicional.

Escuché la declaración de una de las presas que ahora tiene 31 años y que fue condenada a cadena perpetua cuando tenía 16 años de edad, o sea, que fue condenada cuando era menor de edad; su condena data de hace casi quince años atrás y quizá por ello debo asumir que le dieron una sentencia drástica ya que en estos tiempos y con las nuevas declaraciones y convenciones de las Naciones Unidas que han sido ratificadas por la casi totalidad de países en el mundo, la organización mundial humanitaria recomienda que los menores de edad no sean sujetos de sentencias a cadena perpetua y menos a pena de muerte, recomendaciones que se sustentan en los Principios del Derecho Penal Liberal como son: La resocialización, readaptación y reintegración a la sociedad del individuo que ha cometido un ilícito penal considerando que el sentenciado en algún momento se reincorpore a la sociedad como un elemento útil. Mientras observaba el documental yo me preguntaba, ¿en dónde quedaron estos Principios? La joven que mencioné fue condenada a 101 años de cárcel (En este sistema las condenas se suman a diferencia de en mi país donde sólo se aplica la condena más alta) pues de hecho, en este caso específico, los Principios carecen de todo sentido y ella lo sabía, recuerdo que una parte de su testimonio dijo: “Cada día es duro, llegué acá hace 15 años y sé que nunca saldré, acá encerrada moriré”

Me gustaría también reflexionar en voz alta acerca de que todas las mujeres entrevistadas contaron haber sido víctimas de abuso en la niñez por sus propios familiares o por alguien más, la mayoría fueron víctimas de violencia doméstica y/ o de abuso sexual, es decir, el común denominador es que fueron criadas en ambientes de violencia, sufrieron en carne propia la violencia y en algún momento de sus vidas pasaron de ser víctimas a victimarias, lo que significa que el círculo de violencia en que siempre vivieron nunca se rompió, nunca fue superado.

Sé por experiencia profesional de cuando tuve la oportunidad de trabajar para la Organización de las Naciones Unidas supervisando los derechos de los prisioneros en las cárceles del norte de mi país (Perú), que lo mencionado también es denominador común en los varones y niños que se encuentran detenidos o privados de libertad; ellos también, en un momento de su vida fueron víctimas y luego se convirtieron en victimarios o criminales. Me pregunto ¿cuál es el espíritu de las leyes penales/carcelarias cuando imponen cadenas perpetuas? ¿Mantener a las personas encerradas hasta que mueran? No estoy proponiendo de ninguna manera la pena capital o pena de muerte con la que discrepo totalmente teniendo en cuenta que los sistemas judiciales no son por perfectos y que los seres humanos por más jueces que sean o los métodos científicos por mas sofisticados que sean no son infalibles no son perfectos por lo que siempre se encuentra latente la posibilidad de equivocarse y cometer el irremediable error de encerrar o matar a un inocente. Aspirar a un mundo ideal es pedir mucho, sin embargo, aspirar a combatir la violencia y prevenirla creo que debe ser nuestra tarea como ciudadanos responsables; sabemos que las cárceles están superpobladas y es tarea del gobierno o seguir construyendo infiernos en la tierra o utilizar los recursos en educación; ojalá se optara por lo segundo y que se invirtiera en educación multicultural, educación para la paz, en cursos básicos de derechos humanos, que permitan entender y devolverle el verdadero significado a las palabras como: Respeto, amabilidad, compasión, asertividad, empatía, igualdad, acceso, dignidad para que por sobre todo se fortalezca el derecho insoslayable que tienen todas las personas a vivir con paz y en libertad.

Kcomt es Ex Magistrada Peruana. Programs Manager at La Maestra Legal Advocacy Services. City Heights.

By Pablo Jaime Sáinz

The Surveying Process: Each Promotora is paired up with a SANDAG staff person in Bilingual teams and work 6 days a week.

Cyndi Gonzales has lived in the Castle Park area of Chula Vista for more than 30 years. This is the community where she grew up. She said she loves her community, that is why it hurts her to know that, historically, Castle Park has the lowest performing schools in the city, and is home to many low-income families.

“This area is very dear to my heart, because I grew up here, I went to school here,” said Gonzales, whose children are now growing up here.

But Gonzales decided to take action, and has become a leader in the implementation of a survey that will help to better understand the needs of the Castle Park community.

The survey, which began early this month, is part of a $500,000 Promise Neighborhood grant that South Bay Community Services (SBCS) received from the federal government to plan the revitalization of the Castle Park area with the help of a variety of community partners.

SBCS was one of 15 organizations nationwide that received this grant. The Campo Band of Mission Indians also received one of the grants, which were announced in December.

Of those 15, five organizations will receive up to $6 million for the first year of implementation of their programs. Those organizations will get up to $30 million during the life of their grants.

The Promise Neighborhoods program aims to address significant challenges faced by students and families living in high-poverty communities by providing resources to plan and implement a continuum of services from early learning to college and career.

“Promise Neighborhoods recognizes that children need to be surrounded by systems of support inside and outside of the classroom to help them be successful in school and beyond,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a statement. “The grantees are spread out across the country, reflecting a broader nationwide movement to revitalize struggling communities by providing better access to health care, social and safety services partnered by great schools.”

SBCS chose to focus on Castle Park because “it has had the lowest performing schools in Chula Vista, and a lot of low-income families,” according to spokesperson Shirley Horton, a former Chula Vista mayor and state assemblywoman. “We want to understand the community’s needs in real life situations to learn how we can help them.”

Castle Park is the catchment area for Castle Park Elementary School, Chula Vista’s worst performing school. It is home to more than 6,700 individuals, 51 percent of them of Latino origin, according to Census data.

“It is predominantly a Spanish-speaking area,” said Rachel Morineau, Promise Neighborhood Program Coordinator for SBCS.

Morineau said that at this first planning stage SBCS, with the help of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), is conducting the community need survey. For this, they hired promotoras who are going out to the community and randomly select households to participate in the bilingual survey. The goal is to complete 600 surveys by April 30.

“These promotoras are very passionate about their community,” Morineau said.

She added that the pro-motoras live in the Castle Park area, so it would be easier for families to talk to persons they know and with whom they can relate better.

SBCS will submit their proposal for the implementation grant later this year. Although it is a very competitive process, Gonzales, the Castle Park resident, said she believes this will revitalize Castle Park.

“I’m very proud of my community,” she said. “Just the survey process has been a great awakening for all of us. Now people are eager to start helping improve our area.”

South Bay Community Services is the region’s largest provider of social service, education, and community development programs for youth and families. To learn more about its programs, please visit www.southbaycommunityservices.org.

Robert Castaneda.

The race for Chula Vista city council seat 3 is not your usually city council race! Not only does the incumbent have to face her challengers, but for the first time in memory a political action committee was created calling themselves “Anybody But Pamela Bensoussan.”

Bensoussan ran afoul of her initial support base on her first day in public office when she recommended a sales tax while many Chula Vista residents are facing foreclosure, a loss of jobs, and depressed income. Her support of this tax caught many of her supporters by surprise. Then Bensoussan aligned herself with Republican mayor, Cheryl Cox, often siding against fellow Democrats on the council. She was involved in clandestine negotiations regarding Chula Vista’s bayfront and a possible city contract to clean up of the South Bay power plant with Republican David Malcolm. This alignment with Cox and Malcolm was to be rewarded with the endorsement by staunch Republican organization, the San Diego Log Cabin which for many was the proverbial last straw. In essence Bensoussan was a democratic in name only. Then there was the whole debacle with the city’s centennial, that Bensoussan tried to manipulate to her benefit.

The question was who would challenge Bensoussan?

Early on there was Republican challenger Larry Breitfelder, who lost a close race to Bensoussan four years ago. But for Democrats and the progressive base, options were limited. There was, in the community, a desire for an alternative candidate to the Republican option and for a while there, it appeared as though no one would step up leaving a huge void in choice.

Into this void stepped Robert Castaneda.

The Castaneda name is a well-known in Chula Vista with his brother Steve Castaneda being a Chula Vista City council man for the past eight years, this year is his last year with term limitations, which in one sense is good that it gives Robert instant name identity and at the same time it will be viewed as political nepotism.

Robert Castaneda does not come into this political race without credentials and this is not his first political race. Robert Castaneda has worked on the staff of three governors, George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson, and Grey Davis. He has worked in State Government with the State Lottery as director of community &and legislative affairs and with the California Public Utilities. At present he is president of Castaneda Communications specializing in government affairs, community outreach, media and strategic planning. In 1987 he ran for San Diego city council.

We asked Robert why he was running for office.

I am running to replace Pam Bensoussan. I, like many other Chula Vistans, when Pamela first ran supported her, wrote her a check, walked precincts, and called voters. And I, Like many of these other supporters, were misled. Now we have a candidate seeking re-election that has embraced every issue that either we were opposed to, or she made promises that she didn’t keep, or has directly connected herself with special interest.

Can you give us an example of some of these promises she broke?

The issue that came up first was a deficit the city faced where Pamela did two things that were diametrically opposed to what she told people that she would do. She joined forces with the mayor to strongly support a sales tax increase to which she announced her support at her inaugural speech when she was first elected to office. She authored and signed the argument for the sales tax as presented to the Chula Vista voters. The Chula Vista voters were smart enough to reject that sales tax by nearly 60% of the vote.

Pamela has also tied herself to special interest, especially on the bay front. Pamela tied her interest to a specific individual (David Malcolm) who sought to co-opt the development and the tearing down of the power plant.

But I think what concerned many of us was the ongoing negotiation that the City Council was involved with, with police, firefighters, and municipal employees. Police and fire-fighters were asked to take cuts and frankly with Pam’s unwillingness to support public safety our police to citizen ratio is the lowest we have had in the city since 2004. Pam’s lack of support and direct opposition to firefighters has resulted not only in increased response time for both police and fire, but the fact we don’t have trained medical response personnel on our fire trucks that would function as first responders in the case of tragedy, a heart attack, a car accident, where lives are on the line and minutes are precious. Pam did not support those budget appropriations for those public safety measures. However what she did support were increased pay raises for city bureaucrats.

Couldn’t you say that the police and fire funding was just a result of the general overall bad economy that the city was going through?

I think you can make a case for that, but that is where you end up. What I am talking about is where you begin. How do you negotiate as a city councilmember, like Pam tried to do, in good faith and have trust with other stake holders in the city when you continue to take your car allowance? How do you negotiate in good faith when you are expecting fire fighters, police, librarians, and other city staff to take cuts, while executives and managers are given raises and car allowances?

Budgets in tough economic times should be about what we value!

What would you do different?

My view of public service is that it should be one of sacrifice. What I have committed to do is to not only refuse the car allowance, but also take 10 percent of my city council salary and give it directly to the Norman Park Senior Center here in Chula Vista.

Budgets should represent, especially in tough times, shared pain. I don’t believe that there should be winners or losers when it comes to tough budgets. Everybody has to give up something. Tough budgets, in tough economic times should be about what we value. In my opinion paid should be share equally and that has not been the case with Pam Bensoussan.

As a city council candidate what would you bring to the city council?

What I would bring to the council is a new brand of leadership. I think it’s important for people to engage in public and political service in the sense that they are not looking to be professional politicians. They are not looking at an initial term as a way and a means to support future endeavors in politics. I felt it was important for me to stand up and bring that type of leadership and that commitment to the people of the city which I live.

You defined your brand of leadership, but, how does this translate in office?

That is really the key. In political office if you are going to be effective two things have to happen. You need to listen to the community and know the issues. The other thing you need is a wealth of experience. I think it is important for people to get involved in public office that have a background in government, that have a background in public purpose programs, that have a background in public budget, at that point you can melt, you can mold, you can combine the community message, the community need, together with the experience and the practical know how, to get that agenda moving forward at city hall and it allows you to build consensus.

You talked about bring experience to the office. One of the issues with your campaign is that you recently moved to Chula Vista to run for office. What kind of Chula Vista experience do you bring to the office?

I, as a teenager, worked in Chula Vista on north Broadway at an auto part store. I have relatives in Chula Vista. I have worked with Crossroads II and with Earl Jentz in the past when they opposed the twin towers project on H Street. But I think the most important aspect of my running is my willingness to sit, listen, and talk with the community.

The second issue in your campaign is the fact that your brother now serves on the city council. People are going to raise the question of dynasty building. How do you respond to that question?

I am glad that you asked that question, I look to respond to that every time I am asked. I don’t believe in any sort of dynasty. What I do believe is that Steve Castaneda has represented a legacy of public service, has represented eight years of not only leadership, courage. There is many in this community what he was up against. There are many in this community that know not what Steve had to sacrifice to continue to serve the people of this community, but what our family had to sacrifice. So public service, either at the city level or at the state level, is not new to the Castaneda family. This is something that we have always done and we have done it for nearly three decades now. So when people ask me about Steve or they ask me my connection to Steve Castaneda what I tell is this: If elected, if the people of this city choose to have me represent them on their city council the one commitment I have, not only to them but to myself and my family, is to work towards the legacy to try to be least 70% of what Steve Castaneda has represented.

If elected I don’t have problem telling anybody that Steve will be the first person I call to get his council, ask his opinion, to seek out his assistance in getting things done. In the final analysis Steve and I just about agree on everything.

One final question, do you see yourself as the underdog in this race?

Yes. Anytime you run against an incumbent in the City of Chula Vista you are an underdog. If history tells us anything in Chula Vista is that underdogs in terms of anyone seeking to challenge an incumbent is running up hill. I knew that before deciding to get into this race. But this is not about having a comfortable campaign with an assured of victory at the end.

This is about work, it’s about talking with people, it’s about giving the people a choice. I believe at the end, elections are about choices.

If you are happy with $240,000 going away from the city’s general fund, in terms of lawyers and putting the city on the hook for liability with an sort of toxic issue that we would have with the power plant, Pamela Bensoussan is your candidate. If you want some of the lowest responses times in connection with police staffing, if you want to continue to support those cuts to public safety, Pamela Bensoussan is your candidate. If you don’t want medical teams operating as first responders then Pamela Bensoussan is your candidate. If you want candidates who tell you one thing and once they are elected do something else Pamela Bensoussan is your candidate.

So in my mind I recognize I am the underdog, but I also recognize that I provide the people of this city a crystal clear choice of the type of representation on the city council and in the end I hope to get their support.

You can meet Robert and the other candidates April 30th at Southwest Chula Vista Civic Association, Candidates’ reception at South Branch Library 389 Orange Ave. 91911, room B-Literacy center, back entrance near 4th

Meet the candidates, read their answers to questionnaire and ask them questions yourself. There will be tables on each side of the room-one for each candidate. You can go from one to another talking with each one and have a piece of cake to much on. All candidates, EXCEPT Pamela Bensoussan have agreed to come.

Voters can contact Robert Castaneda at BobCastanedaforCouncil@gmail.com

The starting bell rang for the Mexican presidential campaigns on March 30, and the candidates are out of the gates. As the nation faces an unprecedented crisis in levels of violence and lawlessness, one of the big issues is who will have to take the blame for the disastrous war on drugs.

More than 50,000 men, women and children have been killed in violence related to the drug war since December of 2006. That was when President Felipe Calderón made the now deeply regrettable decision to launch thousands of army troops into the streets to confront drug cartels.

Almost no one believes the drug war has been a success. In one recent poll, 53% of Mexicans surveyed said that organized crime was winning the war. Their perception is born out by statistics. The same poll, by Consulta Mitofsky and Mexicans United Against Crime, reported that in the five years since the drug war began (2006-2011) crimes have increased 15%, with homicides up 88%, kidnappings 81%, and extortion 46%. According to the US drug report, between 2004-2008, heroin production increased 340% in Mexico.

Gender-based violence has also risen dramatically. In the northern border state of Chihuahua, where Ciudad Juárez—already infamous for its femicide rate—is located, assassinations of women rose 1,000% between 2007 and 2010. Chihuahua was one of the first places that the federal government organized a major military operation in the drug war and it continues to have heavy military presence. Yet, far from being safe, its citizens live in fear. In addition to assassinations, hundreds of people have been ‘disappeared’ and tens of thousands have fled their homes.

The law-and-order strategy of focusing on supply enforcement and interdiction in the drug war, rather than a demand-side social or health approach has also had a terrible impact on eroding legal institutions in Mexico. According to government statistics, only 20% of crimes are investigated, only 9% go to trial and only 1% result in punishment. One percent. Incidents of corruption among police, judges, prosecutors and other public officials are commonplace. There has been an 83% rise in human rights complaints 2006-2011; complaints against the Army make up 45% of the total, with the increase in complaints about the army rising ninefold since the drug war. Torture, rape, murder, illegal detention and disappearances are the most serious of the many complaints filed.

Although the Obama administration worried again about “spillover” violence coming across its border at the April 2 North American Summit, it is clear that U.S. policies are largely to blame for the current mess. Plans for regional cooperation under a model of expanding U.S. security priorities, including drug prohibition, to Mexico began under the Security and Prosperity Partnership in 2005 and developed into the Mérida Initiative under George W. Bush in 2007.

The security aid package for “Counter-Terrorism, Counter-Narcotics and Border Security” included millions of dollars in military equipment and training to fight the drug war. Calderón had already sent more than 45,000 soldiers into the streets of Mexico for crime fighting and the Mérida Initiative consolidated politically and economically the strategy of military/police confrontation.

It is U.S. demand for drugs, estimated at tens of billions of dollars a year, that creates and sustains the business, and its failed prohibition policies that deliver that business into the hands of organized crime. It is the U.S. arms industry that arms the hit men, through legal and illegal sales and aid. It is U.S. corruption and crime that allows for the money and drugs to flow within the U.S. and over the border. And it is the lobbying power of U.S. defense contractors and private security firms that keeps the Mérida Initiative funded year after year by Congress. In times of budget constraints, the Mérida Initiative has now inexplicably been funded well beyond the original three-year extension proposed by the Bush administration.

Experts and analysts are still trying to explain the obvious but paradoxical correlation between a strategy ostensibly aimed at cracking down on the cartels and the chaos that has resulted. Even President Obama, a staunch ally of Calderón’s in the drug war, has noted publicly that the cartels are stronger than ever. The violence has resulted from turf wars between rival drug cartels—often caused by a government strike against one, battles between the armed forces and cartels, and the splintering of cartels when their leaders are killed by the government or arrested. Many of those splinter groups are the most violent and ruthless cartels of all.

Even the head of the U.S. Northern Command, Gen. Charles Jacoby told a Senate committee in March that the strategy of killing drug lords was not working. This is something that Mexican researchers have been documenting for some time, with charts that show a clear relationship between the murder or arrest of a local drug lord and an explosion of violence in that city.

Besides the booming economy of war, the drug war strategy serves interests of social control. When the nation is militarized in the name of the drug war, the government can and does intimidate and often do worse to dissidents. Human rights defenders, indigenous people seeking to protect their land and natural resources from incursions of companies, and youth in general are particular targets of military occupation, killings and repression.

It’s clear why the drug war has become a political liability. It has tainted the prospects for Calderón’s would-be successor, candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota of the National Action Party; she has endorsed the militarized strategy but sought to change the tone as she trails in the polls. Enrique Peña Nieto, from the PRI, the party which ruled Mexico with an iron fist for seven decades until being unseated from the presidency in 2000, has also endorsed the strategy yet there is some sense that his advantage going into the campaigns is in part owing to a desire among many Mexicans to return to a time when it seemed that the ruling party had secret agreements with cartels to avoid rivalries and violence by giving everyone, not least of all government officials, a piece of the pie.

The only candidate to promise a change of strategy is the center-left coalition candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He has said he would change the strategy and put the emphasis on tackling the social roots of crime and violence.

This is one of the tragedies of the drug war. With violence capturing headlines, the more than half the population that says that economic issues are of most concern to them has been left out in the cold. Mexico felt the U.S. recession hard and has been slow to recover, and now could be facing the consequences of another global recession. The number of poor people has increased by five million during this administration. The North American Summit announcements said that the three partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement would continue to reduce trade barriers and failed to note the negative effects of the agreement on their countries’ most vulnerable populations.

More and more Mexican migrants are returning home—because of record numbers of deportations in the US and because the high rate of unemployment means they’re out of work. They come back to communities with no jobs, and in many cases suffering culture shock after decades in the United States.

Stories like theirs don’t make the news like a gory beheading does. But as elections loom, the rise in poverty and the abandonment of the poor–with the nation pouring billions into security to fight criminals who find it easy to recruit fresh ranks among hapless youth—could and should be issues of primary concern.

Laura Carlsen is the director of the Americas Program (http://www.cipamericas.org/).

Condoleeza Rice urging passage of immigration reform earlier this month provided. Photo courtesy of Duke University.

Recently, in front a packed crowd at Duke University, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice regretted the failure of passing the comprehensive immigration reform act and the shift in Americans’ attitude toward immigrants.

Accepting and welcoming immigrants “has been at the core of our strength,” she said. “I don’t know when immigrants became the enemy.”

These days it is refreshing, if rare, to hear someone of Rice’s stature to speak on behalf of immigrants. Over the last few years the public discourse has been shrill and, if anything, media coverage seems to stoke anxiety to an unprecedented level.

Instead of a larger narrative on immigration—from culture to economics, from identity to history— what we have now is a public mindset of us versus them, and an overall anti immigrant climate that is both troubling and morally reprehensible.

America’s Difficult Love Story

Yet I often see the story of immigration in America as a kind of difficult love story.

Take the scandal involving Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County, Arizona. Running for Congress, the sheriff is tough on undocumented immigration—but he had a secret: a love affair with Jose Orozco, an immigrant whose legal status remains in question.

The romance went sour, alas, and the immigrant lover alleged that the sheriff threatened to deport him if he came out with their story. Babeu vehemently denied the deportation threat. Orozco promptly filed a lawsuit.

What struck me most about this story is the contradictory nature of the relationship and how emblematic it is to the larger American narrative. We want and benefit from immigrants’ cheap labor, but we don’t want to acknowledge our relationship with them. We need them; we don’t want to be associated with them.

Meg Whitman, the billionaire who ran for governor in California in 2010, wanted to “hold employers accountable for hiring only documented workers.” But she didn’t include herself.

The year before Whitman’s campaign, she’d fired Nicky Diaz Santillan, who in a spectacular press conference revealed that she was undocumented. She had been taking care of the Whitman’s household for nearly a decade.

When Santillan reportedly asked Whitman for help finding an immigration attorney after she was fired, Whitman allegedly told her, “You don’t know me and I don’t know you.”

In the war on terrorism, the immigrant is often the scapegoat. He becomes a kind of insurance policy against the effects of recession. By blaming him, the pressure valve is regulated in time of crisis. The master narrative regarding immigration seems to require those it vilifies to obey the rule of silence. Their tongues are often kept in check through the threat of imprisonment and deportation.

God forbid if they become articulate, organize, participate in union politics and demand better wages and fair treatment. God forbid if they hold a press conference or get together to make an updated movie version of The Help.

Immigrants: Canaries in the Coal Mine

Yet, in the context of a free and open society, the immigrant is often the canary in the coalmine. The horror stories from detention centers are just too many:

*Pregnant women shackled to a hospital bed while giving birth;

*Inmates shackled and paraded in pink underwear on the streets of Arizona, a scene reminiscent of Abu Ghraib;

*Rape incidents uninvestigated;

*Healthcare dangerously lacking in immigrant detention facilities where the suicide levels are alarming;

*Deportees forced to take psychotropic drugs so they act docile in their long journey back to their countries of origin.

Human-rights abuse by law enforcement in America’s Southwest is so notorious that organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are ringing alarm bells for the lack of accountability. This terrible treatment reflects a legal system that’s gone so badly wrong that America’s very humanity is now put in question.

“You don’t know me and I don’t know you.”

Perhaps we don’t want to know about the tragedy and psychological and economic impact on tens of thousands of American-born children whose parents have been taken away by the authorities. But it is a fact that we are in the process of creating a whole generation of Americans who are becoming permanent outsiders, a vast second class of citizens.

When a society hides behind the apparatus of draconian policies, allowing the authorities almost unchecked power to detain and deport, the only logical outcome is injustice and cruelty.

Missing Voices

Missing from the national conversation are voices like that of the former secretary of state’s, of pro-immigration reformers and civil rights leaders, who can speak on behalf of those who have no voice. Where are the leaders who can speak to the idea that it is not alien to American interests, but very much in our socioeconomic interest—not to mention our spiritual health—to integrate immigrants, that our nation functions best when we welcome newcomers and help them participate fully in our society?

What’s missing is compassion.

If I am sympathetic to the plight of immigrants of all kinds, I have good reason: I was once a Vietnamese refugee. Like millions who left Vietnam, my family and I fled that country illegally, without passports. We entered another country without visas. That I am a writer and journalist today is due to the American generosity, my Americanization story is a love story, a success story.

But that generosity has all but faded. The United States is no doubt at a very important crossroads. In one direction is a country ruled by distrust, xenophobia and continual exploitation—with its need to strengthen law enforcement. That choice offers us a society willing to look away while an entire population lives in fear, in a de facto police state. It’s a country in which the immigrant becomes, indeed the enemy.

In the other direction is a global society defined by openness and with the understanding that we as a nation have always depended and thrived on the energy, ideas and contributions of newcomers. It’s a promised land that can only be envisioned by the newcomer to our shore, who still dreams the dream. For even if we don’t know it yet, we all desperately need to be reborn through his eyes.

Andrew Lam is an editor of New America Media and the author of East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres and Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora. His book of short stories, Birds of Paradise, is due out in 2013.

Portrait of Cesar Chavez, honoring his life and struggle.

 To be Presented to Chicano Park for Their Forty Second Anniversary

Cesar Chavez once remarked that, “Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?” – A very ambitious group students at O’Farrell Community School in Southeast San Diego have just completed portrait of Cesar Chavez, honoring his life and struggle and are preparing to present it to Chicano Park.

In the tradition of giving back to the community, championed by Cesar Chavez, Spanish instructor Jose Islas spent the last six weeks working after school with his students to create an original work of art reaching nearly ten feet in height and consisting of 5500 dominoes. Inspired by the work of mathematician Robert Bosch of Oberlin College, Mr. Islas started with one hundred sets of double nine dominoes, which contain 55 unique dominoes in each set and by using the techniques of mathematical optimization, Jose accomplished his goal of using every single domino, with not one left over.

Mr. Islas, whose parents, Jose and Luz were educators in Mexico, decided to become a teacher to inspire students and have them realize that with hard work and education they can make the impossible possible. The task was a bit daunting, he admitted and many times he did not know to do. We first had to sort over 5000 dominoes, next groups of students working with blueprints put together 100 tile sections. They were then checked for accuracy and glued to vinyl tiles. A custom frame was built and painted. Lastly the vinyl times were glued down to the frame and the last 500 joints were installed.
This very special gift to Chicano Park will be unveiled April 21st at 2:00 p.m., at the 42nd Anniversary of Chicano Park. The park is home to the country’s largest collection of outdoor murals (67) as well as various sculptures, earthworks, and architectural pieces dedicated the cultural heritage of the community. Chicano Park was founded on April 22, 1970 when the community of Barrio Logan Chicano activists joined forces to protest the construction of a Highway Patrol station on the present site of the park. “What Jose Islas has done is nothing less than provide some validation and permanence to the hopes and dream of the members of our community,” noted Executive Director Dr. Jonathan Dean.

Rigo Reyes’ lowerider back on Chicano Park Day 1977.

Saturday marks the 42nd anniversary of the taking of Chicano Park. The annual Chicano Park Day celebration this year will revolve around the central theme “Lowriders: Part of Chicano Park’s History, Culture, Pride & Future,” referring to the long history of community involvement of the local lowriders clubs.

Lowriders car club members will be honored during the midday flag-raising ceremony. They will be escorted by the Brown Berets de Aztlán.

“The lowrider community has been one of the strongest partners we’ve had since we started Chicano Park Day,” said Tommie Camarillo, president of the Chicano Park Steering Committee, who’s in charge of Chicano Park Day and the daily administration of the park.

“They are always willing to contribute to our events, to the causes and struggles of our community. This recognition the lowriders are getting this year is very well deserved.”

For Rigoberto Reyes, spokesperson for Amigos Car Club, which has been part of Chicano Park Day for more than 30 years, this recognition of the lowrider community “is a great honor.”

Reyes said there’s space for 325 lowrider cars, but that there’s a waiting list of many others who want to participate in the display. Also, he added that Amigos Car Club will be celebrating its 35th anniversary that day.

In Chicano Park there’s a mural dedicated to the lowrider car club council that was painted in the late 70’s, said Víctor Ochoa, one of the original Chicano Park muralists.

“Lowriders used to have a bad reputation, because it was a very misunderstood culture,” Ochoa said. “But now, people are learning that lowrider creators are some of the most hardworking, family-oriented men. They are always supporting our people in the community events, ever since the beginning.”

Besides celebrating one more year since the park’s founding, the community will also celebrate the restoration work on more than 15 of Chicano Park’s murals, thanks to the $1.6 million grant the park committee received from the state.
Chicano Park’s murals are the history textbooks of la raza, the informal means of communication among Mexicans, the monument to the past struggles of Chicanos in San Diego.

The almost 70 murals in the park are a testimony to events in the history of the United States, of Mexico and of the Chicano community, but above all, these murals emphasize the culture that residents of Mexican descent have forged in Barrio Logan, the heart of Mexican culture in San Diego.

On the park’s walls are represented such Mexican heroes as Benito Juárez, César Chá-vez, Frida Kahlo and the Virgin of Guadalupe. They also tell the story of the founding of Tenochtitlán and of the Mexican Revolution.

Other murals depict more recent events, including the takeover of the park by Barrio Logan’s residents on April 22, 1970.

“There is no censorship there. The murals are like weapons, tools, to help find a solution to the problems that our people face,” said Ochoa, one of the artists involved with the restoration of the murals.

The murals say “no” to racism, discrimination and sexism, he added, and “yes” to human rights, diversity and to being proud of our Mexican heritage.

The 42nd Annual Chicano Park Day will be held on Saturday, April 21, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in historic Chicano Park, located in the Barrio Logan community, south of downtown San Diego. This family event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit www.chicano-park.com.