HispanicVista Columnists - February 28th, 2005

Counterpoint - On Fernando Suárez del Solar

By Patrick Osio, Jr.

“Stop illegal immigration and we make America safe from terrorism” – and “Add 3.5 miles to a 14-mile long fence on the US-Mexico border and it will stop terrorists and illegal immigrants from entering the US” – Are Americans expected to believe this bunk? It seems that Congressmen James Sensenbrenner and Duncan Hunter believe we should, and surprising how many Americans do believe it, though by just giving those ideas a tiny little bit of thought the absurdity of each statement would be clear.

The third absurdity in the so called laws to “make America safe”  also found in the Sensenbrenner Real ID Act (H.R. 418), and stop illegal immigration is the “don’t give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.”

By Jorge Mariscal
(sic)… A generation later, a Mexican immigrant named Fernando Suárez del Solar has gained international prominence as a peace activist and opponent of the Bush administration's foreign policy.  Suarez speaks eloquently about the very real threats that face us. But he sincerely believes that the invasion and occupation of Iraq were both morally indefensible and a strategic error that will only increase dangers here and around the world. 
From this principled position, Suarez opposes the war in Iraq as an act of conscience.  In fact, Suarez opposes the war in Iraq and supports the troops because he believes the sacrifice and courage of the troops ought not to be exploited and misused.  

Counterpoint - Raoul how dare you question Fernando Suarez – you are a vendido.

By Raoul Lowery Contreras

Escondido’s (CA) Fernando Suarez de Solar supporters claim that he is an icon like hero/martyrs Martin Luther King, Jr., India’s Gandhi, and Farmworker Union’s Cesar Chavez.

Suarez de Solar immigrated his family from Mexico a decade ago. A 14 year old son grew up and joined the United States Marines. Fernando made no effort to become an American citizen and made little effort to learn English as most immigrants do. Before his son was killed in the first few hours of the Iraq war, no one had ever heard of Fernando.

By Dorinda Moreno

Raoul, estufas, ese! This essay is so laden with denigrating, disrespectful-- talking down not only to Fernando Suarez del solar, but to all thinking parents y pueblo not following the red white and blue lies that got us into the Iraq war. And, yes, like Fernando and the 'white people of the American left which you demean, also I am an admitted antiwar, Chicana activist, proud to stand opposite from any podium on which you may serve: two polarized views in this sea of contradictions that is the corporate war and takeover of the United States and thus of the planet.
Also, I hold in my keep, my grandfather's green card and having fought in the 1910 revolution alongside of Pancho Villa, I honor his example and follow in his footsteps, como Fernando Suarez del solar, guerrera Azteca. Gente like ourselves will always be your 'bee sting'.

By Richard N. Baldwin T.

We went through the flap over the travel warning from the US State department concerning public security advice for US tourists in the northern border area. And the Mexican foreign ministry screeched loudly.

Then came the revelation that the drug cartels had penetrated the travel office of the Mexican presidency. While the administration tried to downplay this, President Fox himself admitted that there was an official who had been removed and arrested for being on the take from the drug people. Now why would the drug people be interested in the travel plans of Fox?

By Robert Miranda
The neo-conservatives and fear mongering right-wingers are on the war path. They’re on the offense against a professor who is coming to speak in March at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater about the 9/11 attacks. Some argue that this professor espouses hate speech and that the “hate speech police” are nowhere to be found condemning Ward Churchill.
First, as a supporter of the “free speech police” let me state for the record that I disagree with Ward Churchill. I do not agree with the notion that al-Qaeda acted in self-defense when they murdered innocent people on 9/11. As a former Marine with eight years regular active service I can say with authority that flying commercial planes loaded with civilians into the World Trade Center filled with more civilians was an act of murder, end of point.

By Domenico Maceri
One of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first proposals since becoming governor in 2004 was to cut funds for Medi-Cal patients, California’s version of Medicaid, and reduce services to developmentally disabled people. After a lot of negative publicity, Schwarzenegger decided not to implement the cuts.

Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget for next year continues to be an attack on the weak segment of Californians. It's the budget of a Girlie Man governor.

By John T. Plecnik
 Regardless of age, we have all heard the phrase, "First Amendment Rights," bandied about.  Free speech has been the rallying cry of the liberal elite since the 60s, and every time violent protesters are beaten back by police or cordoned off from a rally, the ACLU comes a calling.  However, the same team of trial lawyers, rebel billionaires and Deaniacs turn a blind eye toward the abuses of their academic brethren.  America's colleges and universities are anything but free speech zones.  Contrary to their mantra of universal tolerance, Stalinist professors and administrators see intellectual diversity as a disease.  Unpopular viewpoints, like a belief in absolute truth or the Republican Party, are actively discouraged.

By Erika Robles

Hispanic children of third and later generations tend to speak only English, making it highly unlikely that they will be bilingual as adults. According to the Census Bureau of Statistics, in 1990, 64 percent of third-generation Mexican-American children spoke only English at home; in 2000, the equivalent figure had risen to 71 percent.
These facts could be construed to mean that these Mexican-Americans have completely assimilated to the U.S. A large part of initial acceptance of anyone into any human group is the "sounds like us". By not knowing or speaking the Spanish language –along with following the American laws, values and institutions- they could be seen as having become Americanized, regardless of their roots.

By Jorge Mújica
Mexicans abroad advanced one step further in their long struggle to be able to cast their votes from outside their country. After months of delay, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, equivalent of the US House of Representatives, voted in favor of regulating such vote.
The right to vote from abroad was approved in 1988, but the mechanism to cast such votes was never implemented, nullifying in reality the rights written in the books.
But the vote in favor by 391 Deputies (only 5 voted against and 22 abstained,) does not represent a victory. The bill still has to be approved in the Senate, and such approval does not seem easy. The first reaction of several Senators affiliated with Vicente Fox’s…

By Steven J. Ybarra, JD

This month has been a good time for the Democrats. Bush admitted he was a dope smoker, Howard Dean was elected to chair the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and the DNC employees who worked for Terry McAuliffe were asked to resign. All in all, the month is looking pretty darn good.

This is the time when Democrats need to figure out how to seek enlightenment. I know that the Buddhist thing is not a generally shared philosophy, but hey - it is all about Zen and motorcycle repair.

By Jorge Castañeda 

A perception has been growing over the last few years – and picking up strength in recent months – that Latin America is swinging back to the left. The unimpressive – and sometimes dismal – results of economic reform seem to have generated a backlash that has elected leftist presidents across the continent, starting with Hugo Chávez’s victory in Venezuela at the end of the 1990’s, and continuing with those of Ricardo Lagos in Chile and Nestor Kirchner in Argentina, and more recently that of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Tabaré Vázquez in Uruguay. More left-wing victories seem to be in store in Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia.

But while the premises underlying this broad trend are clear, Latin America’s voters are electing not one left, but two.

A Black Commentator Investigative Report

In a transparent bid to boost Republican fortunes among Blacks, billionaire Bob Johnson attempted earlier this year to convene a secret meeting of prominent African Americans at BET headquarters in Washington, DC. obtained a copy of the invitation to the “retreat,” scheduled for January 13 and 14 and ostensibly designed “for the purpose of brainstorming ideas as to how we as African Americans can best confront the political and demographic realities of the 21st century.” None of the invitees were told the identity of the others and the press was scrupulously kept in the dark, but we have learned enough to report that the mix was high-powered and politically diverse.

HR-256 Fails to Provide Solution for National Issue 

On Thursday, February 17, 2005, Georgia HR- 256 was introduced by Representatives Roger Williams (HD-4), Bobby Franklin (HD-43), Ronald Forster (HD- 3), Scott Martin (HD-3), Jeannette Jamieson (HD- 28). HR-256 calls for a state constitutional amendment to ban all public services to undocumented immigrants including all publicly funded healthcare and all education, including K-12 education. HR-256 also calls for greater cooperation between local law enforcement agencies with federal immigration authorities.

By Tom Barry 

Lining up with the Bush administration’s “global war on terrorism,” U.S. immigration control programs have a global reach. Searching for migrants headed to the United States on the high seas and within “sending” and transit countries is part of the mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which in 2003 assumed control over all aspects of U.S. immigration policy.

The DHS doesn’t limit its mission of “border protection” to U.S. territorial boundaries, but has loosely defined homeland security to include programs that “have been put in place at--and beyond--our borders.”1 According to the DHS, its new immigration-control strategy includes a “pushing our borders out” approach to stopping the flow of immigrants and terrorists into the United States.

By Xuan-Trang Ho, a COHA Research Associate.

• Until recently, Washington has all but ignored that China is making important inroads in the region—China and a number of western hemispheric countries have deepened their cooperation, especially in the areas of trade and development.
• As the world’s second largest and fastest growing major economy, China possesses an insatiable appetite for Latin American natural resources and agricultural products, and is now beginning to realize its full potential as a world power, challenging and, perhaps overshadowing, the United States in a number of economic sectors—China’s quest could rival the U.S.’ need for the same products.

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 Seth R. DeLong, Ph.D,  COHA Senior Research Fellow
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is pushing full speed ahead with land reform, an issue that has been one of the most divisive and perennially debated topics in Latin America. Land reform poses perhaps the greatest challenge yet to Chavez’s stormy presidency, as it historically has been the Achilles’ heel of left-of-center regimes. Chavez’s daunting task is twofold: first, he will have to overcome problems that doomed past attempts at land reform throughout the region by other reformist governments, notably Jacobo Arbenz’s 1954 attempts in Guatemala and Salvador Allende’s 1970 – 1973 attempts in Chile.