HispanicVista Columnists - February 7th, 2005

By Steven J. Ybarra, JD

I am glad that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has a building and money in the bank.  Thanks Terry.  But I would rather have a tent on the mall and be fifty million in debt if that was the cost we had to pay to elect a Democratic President. Face it - Bush the lesser wiped out all the Republican debt on Inauguration Day…  Now it is time for getting serious and I am happy to see reform is on the horizon.  After a much-spirited race (that I never got the chance to handicap) Howard Dean will assume the mantel of power in the DNC.  This is the first time in recorded history that Democrats have actually elected a chair…

By Donna L. Brazile,
Dear Governor:

   I have known and admired you for more than 16 years. As you recall, we first met while working on the Dick Gephardt for President Committee back in 1987. Although Gephardt lost in the primary, your unwavering support of a little-known Congressman from the Midwest was crucial and helped validate his campaign proposals on health care.

   Since announcing your candidacy for chairman of the Democratic National Committee, you’ve been the talk of the town. Everywhere I go, people (not just Republicans, but even some prominent Democrats) are asking me how the Democratic Party could turn to Howard Dean after John Kerry’s defeat last year.

By Domenico Maceri
In its efforts to help its citizens identify themselves in the US, the Mexican government instituted a matricula consular, an identity card available to those who might not have other forms of ID. It's been a popular and useful document. Many American banks and local US government agencies accept it as a legitimate I.D.
Now to help save lives of Mexican nationals who may cross into the US without papers, the Mexican government has published Guia del Migrante Mexicano (Guide to Mexican Migrant), an illustrated handout providing advice on how to stay alive and other useful information.

NCM, News Feature,

A group of Mexican immigrants in San Diego is focusing on slowing down the exodus to the U.S. by reviving the economy in their native Oaxaca. Their plan is to promote the export of home grown prickly pear cactus -- a celebrated Mexican delicacy.

By Raoul Lowery Contreras

Minutes after newly sworn-in President George W. Bush spoke of liberty worldwide, a prominent Republican congressman told this writer that the President’s immigration reform proposal is as important as anything on the political horizon…. Inauguration Day, Congressmen Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Randall (Duke) Cunningham (R-CA) discussed illegal immigration with this writer. Rather than phone interviews they were gracious enough to allow personal interviews in their Washington offices.

By Richard N. Baldwin T.

For most of México's history it has been an inward looking country with little or no desire for international involvement. This is understandable when the mouse lives next to the elephant…. But things took a radical change in the Salinas administration after the start of the formation of NAFTA, which was originally the US and Canada. Salinas saw something that could be of great benefit for México, and he wanted (and got) in. That was the beginning of the thinking of having México "take its rightful place" on the world stage. And this line of thought has continued through the Zedillo and Fox administrations, gathering speed on the way.

National Immigration Forum

Two days before the President was sworn in for a second term, the Washington Post released its latest ABC News-Washington Post poll evaluating the President’s popularity and the extent to which the public remained sharply divided on Bush and key issues.

 Among the issues the poll addressed was the President’s handling of the immigration issue.  The Post dutifully reported on page A-1 that 54% of Americans disapprove of the President’s handling of immigration, compared with 58% disapproval of the President’s handling of the budget deficit, 52% disapproval on the economy, and 51% disapproval on health care.

By Frank Gómez

The New Year is upon us.  Raúl Yzaguirre, the long-time leader of the National Council of La Raza, has retired.  His stepping down, and the rise of his successor, Janet Murguía, are vivid examples of the sunset of a valiant generation of Latino leadership and the emergence of a new generation…   Antonia Hernández, who headed the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund for two decades, also retired last year.  Former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, after a stint at Univision, is back in Texas running a business.  Although he worked on the Kerry campaign, he has had a low profile in recent years. 

The Christian Science Monitor's View

When a large and predominantly white public university such as Texas A&M can successfully increase its enrollment of minority students without considering race as an admissions factor, other schools should pay close attention….  Former CIA Director Robert Gates, who became president of A&M in 2002, managed to do just that. The number of black freshman enrolled at the school in 2004, compared with the year before, was up by 35 percent - from 158 to 213. The number of Hispanic freshmen increased by 26 percent - from 692 to 865. Not bad for a university that began as a military-training college, and, like many southern colleges, didn't admit blacks until the early 1960s (though it did admit Hispanics).

By Manuel Hernandez
A door opens when a key is used to unlock it. Education is the key that unlocks the door to a new world of opportunities. Without education, humanity merely survives and risks its existence. Research and statistics have supported the fact that a quality education is much more than a fixed set of norms, rules and regulations. In the dawn of a new administration come new ideas, new strategies and new methodologies. A new beginning is the motor that ignites the power of education.

By Robert Miranda

Last week it was reported by the Chicago Sun Times, that a popular talk-show host, Java Joel (Joel Murphy), was fired from Clear Channel’s WKSC-FM (103.5) for telling a racially charged joke on the air that offended African Americans….   The radio host was immediately terminated from his position and Clear Channel regional representatives issued a statement saying that Murphy’s comments were “inappropriate.”

Joel Murphy, known as Java Joel, was honored for his work by the Illinois Broadcasters Association’s Silver Dome Award for “Best Local Radio Station Personality of the Year” a few years ago.

By Erika Robles
According to official figures, as of late Jan. 2004, more than 63,000 immigrants have been detained over the past year. However, leading immigration attorney, Richard Iandoli, estimates it at about 100,000. Of those numbers, the Department of Homeland Security says it has already deported as many as 70 percent, most of them legal residents…. On Sept. 30, 1996, a new immigration act was introduced called the "Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996." This act allows for the deportation or removal of any alien --illegal, legal and non-immigrant -- convicted of a misdemeanor or felony that carries a punishment of at least one year in jail, regardless of whether they served the sentence or it was reduced to simple probation.

By Robert Miranda

In an article published several weeks ago by the Shepherd Express, Maria Monreal-Cameron, CEO of the Wisconsin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (WHCC), gave her rationale as to why the issue with Mark Belling should be disbanded.  In a nutshell, it's because he makes too much money for Clear Channel, that we can't win. …Cameron's reason for pulling out of the effort to oust Belling is pathetic. Just because he makes this kind of money does not mean that we should abandon the effort to hold him and his employer accountable for his racist attack against our community.  Besides, who is Maria Cameron, to think that she can make this unilateral decision on behalf of the Latino/Mexican community--especially after the majority of the community's leadership decided to move forward with efforts to have Belling ousted?

By John P. Schmal

The immigration of Mexicans to the United States is not a new phenomenon.  A large portion of the southwestern U.S.A. had belonged to Mexico up until the Mexican-American War of 1846-1847.  But, with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, the United States extended its frontier to the Pacific Ocean and received more than 525,000 square miles of Mexican territory that included the present-day states of Arizona, California, western Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah.

By Larry Birns and Jessica Leight - Council on Hemispheric Affairs
In the February issue of the Foreign Service Journal, two researchers at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) noted that the replacement of Secretary of State Colin Powell by Condoleezza Rice would provide an appropriate opportunity to assess his legacy regarding Latin America after four years in office. Underlining such an appraisal was the inescapable truism that Powell "never articulated a vision for the region." Rather, his policy was marked by an "apathy, revealing major flaws in the areas of staffing, an indifference toward democratic institutions and tolerance for intervention in the internal affairs of regional nations."

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals.

The manual is available through Electronic delivery for $9.95 making it possible to download the manual to save on your hard drive, printing its entirety or particular sections while reaping considerable savings over printed copies.

 By Dr. Michael A. Weinstein
 The core Andean states -- Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru -- form the most politically unstable region in South America today. Political instability is no stranger to the Andes -- the three states in the heart of the mountains have long histories of veering from military rule to authoritarian and quasi-democratic civilian governments, and have political cultures that encourage direct extra-legal action as a social counterbalance to formal institutional and constitutional processes. At present, each of the Andean states is in the throes of a political crisis. The immediate causes of the crises are local and the forms they take are different, yet they express the same basic and persistent social tensions, making their simultaneous occurrence an indication of region-wide problems rather than simply a coincidence.