Good morning, Mimi, 
I just received the June issue of Somos Primos, which I look forward to receiving.  Since I have only been doing family research (several generations to Ixtlan del Rio, Nayarit, Mexico) beginning in 2006 I was wondering if past issues of Somos Primos are available on-line?

paul.gomez@verizon.net

Hi Paul . . .  Yes, they can be accessed from the home page.  Scroll down to the years and then click on the individual monthly issue.  We also have the Tables of Contents online, so you can check and decide which issues to look at.  
Enjoy . . .   Mimi

Gloria Candelaria 
candelglo@sbcglobal.net

thanks for shortening some of the pages of somos primos. In times past my computer was not able to process the whole report. Thanks for the good work with much appreciation. 
Mike Dovalina..  mikedovalina@msn.com

Dear Mimi:

I have been engrossed reading each and every article and as usual it is riveting. Thank you so much as I love our history and totally agree with Mr. Ruben Salaz about our Native Americans and I might add our own Mexican Americans in the USA not knowing our history...

But that said it is a joy to read this magazine every month and it is up to us,members of the Latino Community to make our history known.

Thank you Mimi,  Connie Vasquez

Mimi, I don’t know if you remember me, but I am now the chairperson of the Department of Foreign Languages here at Cal State University Dominguez Hills. Keep up the very good work that affects positively the lives of thousands.  

Miguel Domínguez, Ph.D.

Dear Mimi: I found the letter from the Ramon relative very fascinating. I have to tell you that this is so telling about the quality of the History taught in our schools.

Thank God he has a great father who told him from whence he comes.

     One reason the Spanish Sephardic names are all over the world is that not all of the Jewish people came to the New World. When the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela expelled them from Spain many of them were taken in by other countries. When I was visiting in Turkey we were studying the Sultans. One of the Sultans opened his country so the Sephardic Jews could come and have a home.  Many other countries did the same.

England,France, etc all accepted them.  Isn't it great to have a discussion on this subject.I also am a desendent of Diego Ramon so "hello".

I will be in Washington July 4th and Thanks Many Times for your hard work on the magazine. 

Tu Prima, Sylvia Ann Leal Carvajal Sutton

Thanks for keeping me informed. You have yet another excellent issue -- Rudy 
Rudolphlewis1@aol.com

Recently, the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) has become embroiled in what might be called a "Mexican Stand-off" of sorts. Their well-intended efforts to fund and promote a project about Americans and WWII, has become the subject of heated debate fostered by the American Hispanic or Latino Community. The series, "The War" produced by Mr. Ken Burns appears to have forgotten, excluded, left out, put aside, etc. some 500,000 Hispanics who fought for the United States against the Axis Powers during that bloody five year conflict. One side feels that these 500,000 American servicemen should be included. The other suggests that such demands amount to media censorship, an interesting dilemma to say the least. This pits one sacred part of Americana, "artistic freedom" against that most recent sacred cow "freedom from racism". At this juncture, perhaps we should explore a few terms.

The term "institutional racism" describes societal patterns that have the net effect of imposing oppressive or otherwise negative conditions against identifiable groups on the basis of race or ethnicity. And this would be? Oh let’s see, Hispanics maybe? Not just Hispanics but American war heroes, the honored dead, and the revered living testament to the defense of democracy and liberty against a German Nazi racist maniac and a Japanese Imperialist nation gone amuck.

It was a black nationalist, in the late 1960s, who expanded the definition to include "the collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their color, culture or ethnic origin". This form of structural racism or systemic racism is a theoretical form of racism that occurs in institutions, such as public bodies and corporations, including universities. And who might that be? Oh let’s see, PBS, the one-time champion of liberty and good solid race relations.

In the realm of racism even well-meaning people may be unaware of the effect of their behavior on people around them. This is called unintended racism. And who might that be in this case? Oh let’s see, Ken Burns maybe? You think? This more insidious form of racism is the kind that is more difficult to confront. Institutional racism is more easily distinguished from the bigotry or racial bias of individuals by the existence of systematic policies and practices that have the effect of disadvantaging certain racial or ethnic groups. An individual’s actions might appear honorable, even noteworthy. The idea that one is protecting freedom of artistic expression is a hard one not to defend but so is defeating unintended racism. The question is, how does one addressed this type of bigotry? So, what do two honorable groups do when knee deep in a Mexican stand-off?

I would suggest a human approach. Think of yourself as one of those American servicemen in those foxholes being shot at for defending mankind’s freedom from evil, destructive, fascist maniacs. Put yourself in the place of the loved ones of an American soldier that gave his life for such things as, I don’t know, artistic freedom maybe! Then increase that number from the original 500,000 that served their country honorably to several million living relatives and descendents. Next, try walking a mile in their shoes. If that doesn’t work, let’s try something more in the now, today, right now.

Let’s think about the many, many young Hispanic boys and girls in uniform today in Afghanistan or Iraq being wounded and dying weekly. What message are we sending to them? If the stand-off continues, the message is simple and reads loud and clear. Hispanics need not apply. But this isn’t about jobs. This is about Hispanics being good enough to die for their country but not good enough to receive honorable mention for it. Both parties have just told several million Hispanics what they think about them and their damned honored dead.

Interested third party

First-generation immigrants are more likely to be law-abiding than third-generation Americans of similar socioeconomic status, reports Robert Sampson, Ford professor of the social sciences. These new findings run counter to conventional wisdom, which holds that immigration creates chaos. The prevailing "social disorganization theory" first gained traction in the 1920s and ’30s, after the last big wave of European immigrants poured into the United States. Scholars have maintained that the resulting heterogeneity harmed society. "They weren’t saying that this was caused by any trait of a particular group," Sampson explains. "Rather, they were saying that lots of mixing would make communication across groups difficult, make it hard to achieve consensus, and create more crime."

Yet in Sampson’s recent study, first-generation Latino immigrants offer a particularly vivid counterexample to this common assumption. "They come into the country with low resources and high poverty, so you would expect a high propensity to violence," Sampson says. But Latinos were less prone to such actions than either blacks or whites—providing the latest evidence that Latinos do better on a range of social indicators, a phenomenon sociologists call the "Latino paradox."

With colleagues Jeffrey Morenoff of the University of Michigan and Stephen Raudenbush, now of the University of Chicago, Sampson followed 3,000 young people in 180 Chicago neighborhoods from 1995 to 2002. They ranged in age from eight to 25, and came from a full range of income levels and from neighborhoods with varying degrees of integration. Chicago was a deliberate choice: "We felt it was representative of where the country was going," Sampson explains. The number of Mexican immigrants in the city skyrocketed in the 1990s, and immigration from Poland and Russia also increased, creating an almost equal three-way split in Chicago’s general population among whites, blacks, and Latinos.

During the course of their study, Sampson and his colleagues periodically interviewed the young people on a range of subjects, including asking whether they had been involved in such violent acts as fighting or robbery. The researchers supplemented this data with census, crime, and poverty statistics, and with a separate survey that asked 9,000 Chicago adults about the strength of social networks in their neighborhoods. The investigators then developed mathematical models to determine the probability that a given child would engage in a violent act, and to understand which factors raised or lowered his or her likelihood of violence.

Sampson was surprised to discover that a person’s immigrant status emerged as a stronger indicator of a dispropensity to violence than any other factor, including poverty, ethnic background, and IQ. "It’s just a whopping effect," he says. Of people born in other countries, he notes, "First-generation immigrants are 45 percent less likely to commit violence than third-generation immigrants, and second-generation immigrants are about 22 percent less likely [to do so] than the third generation." Mexican Americans were the least violent among those studied, in large part because they were the most likely to be first-generation immigrants, Sampson adds. The study also revealed that neighborhoods matter. "Kids living in neighborhoods with a high concentration of first-generation immigrants have lower rates of violence," he explains, "even if they aren’t immigrants themselves."

What makes new arrivals more law-abiding? Sampson theorizes that people who relocate here for the sake of greater opportunity come with a strong work ethic: "They may have a certain motivation to work and not get arrested," he says. The young Latinos in Sampson’s study were also more likely to live with married adults, which correlated with a lower risk of violence, and to hold conservative opinions regarding drug use and crime, all of which might deter them from breaking the law. Finally, living in a neighborhood with many first-generation immigrants—who appear to bond over their shared experience—generates a dense social network that may steer young people away from crime. It’s likely, Sampson adds, that many of these immigrants are in the country illegally, which may give them "extra incentive to keep a clean record and not commit crimes, in order to avoid deportation." After a few generations here, however, America’s tradition of "frontier justice" may prompt greater violence, he speculates. "It’s that notion of reacting to insults and taking the law into your own hands," he says. "You would expect more exposure to that over time."

When immigration increases, "the culture of violence is diluted," Sampson suggests. Indeed, he wonders if the last decade’s spike in immigration nationwide might explain the drop in crime in American cities around the same time, an idea he explored in an op-ed piece for the New York Times ("Open Doors Don’t Invite Criminals," March 11, 2006) published as Congress began to debate immigration reform.

The column prompted a flood of e-mails and letters, including angry rebuttals from groups favoring strict immigration controls and hate mail from individuals. Sampson says he wasn’t surprised: another portion of this research indicates that preconceived notions about foreigners and minorities are tremendously difficult to shake. He and his colleagues found that the presence of Latinos and blacks in a neighborhood creates a perception of disorder, even when levels of crime and disorder are actually low. "People make inferences about neighborhoods very quickly," he says.

Still, Sampson believes that America’s history as a nation of immigrants means that those who have arrived in the most recent wave will ultimately be accepted into the fold. "At the end of the day, I’m optimistic that this debate will resolve itself in a way that’s consistent with the past," he says. "I think the data show that the country isn’t going to hell in a handbasket because of immigration."

~Erin O ’Donnell

Robert Sampson e-mail address: rsampson@wjh.harvard.edu  http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/090605.html 

Sent by Dorinda Moreno orindamoreno@comcast.net

[[Editor: Twenty years ago, in 1986,  as a resource teacher with the Huntington Beach High School District, I attended my last educational conference.  The conference was held at Trinity University, outside of Washington, D.C. The theme of the conference was Parental Involvement in the education of their children. 

One of the studies which fascinated me had results quite similar to the findings above, but pertained specifically to education.  The high school drop-out rate was higher for third-generation immigrants, than first-generation immigrants. 

Since I was involved in language acquisition, the results of those statistics were at first puzzling, but clearly pointed to the fact that limited English was not the dominant factor in the drop-out rate. Data clearly shows that most 3rd generation Latinos are English dominant. 

THERE HAD TO BE ANOTHER FACTOR, ANOTHER COMPONENT.

I was working primarily with the Vietnamese influx into Orange County.  I was able to clearly contrast the support for the history, culture and heritage of the newly arrived Vietnamese, Laotians, and Hmong (because that was what I was involved in developing and several federal projects), with that of the Spanish speaking immigrants. 

Although Cinco de Mayo might be observed with festivities, the histories of the newly arriving incoming Mexican and Central Americans was not included in the celebrations. 

Using English as a Second Language strategy (rather than Bilingual techniques) I had the opportunity of surveying the materials in the media centers in numerous school districts.  Hispanic materials were greatly outdated, posters and information from the 1960s. Hispanic heritage activities focused on culture, not history . . . .  the happy-cake approach. 

http://www.learner.orgMs . Judith Thomas of Annenberg Media kindly sent the following. "You might be interested in this list of resources from our email Update newsletter sent out last September for Hispanic Heritage Month:"

On history, geography, and society: 
Learn about ancient Mesoamerican trade routes and the civilizations of the Maya and Inka in "Bridging World History" 
http://learner.org/redirect/september/bwh63.html
http://learner.org/redirect/september/bwh64.html

Examine the role of the Spanish explorers and Native peoples in "A Biography of America" http://learner.org/redirect/september/boa65.html

Program 1, "New World Encounters." 
Learn about U.S.-Mexico borderland issues through a single mother's daily struggle for survival and a look at "Operation 'Hold the Line'" in Program 2 of "The Power of Place: Geography for the 21st Century" http://learner.org/redirect/september/pop66.html

Then look to Program 21, "Population Geography," to learn about factors in Mexican migration and economic and population issues in Guatemala."Teaching Geography" 
http://learner.org/redirect/september/geog67.html

Workshop 2, "Latin America," considers population issues and factors leading to migration, then enters the classroom to observe real teaching in action. 
Find lesson plans http://learner.org/redirect/september/geog68.html
Program transcripts http://learner.org/redirect/september/geog69.html ,

National Geographic standards
http://learner.org/redirect/september/geog70.html , and a Guatemala slide show http://learner.org/redirect/september/geog71.html , on the series Web site.

"The Merrow Report" http://learner.org/redirect/september/mer72.html  Program 33, 
"Lost in translation: Latinos, Schools, and Society," investigates special challenges Latino students face in public schools.

On art and literature: 
"A World of Art: Works in Progress" http://learner.org/redirect/september/woart73.html showcases the provocative works of painter/activist Judy Baca and performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña (program intended for older students and adults).

"The Expanding Canon: Teaching Multicultural Literature in High School" http://learner.org/redirect/september/canon74.html  features authors 

Pat Mora http://learner.org/redirect/september/mora75.html ,
Rudolpho Anaya  http://learner.org/redirect/september/anaya76.html  ,
Tomás Rivera http://learner.org/redirect/september/rivera77.html  
Graciela Limón  http://learner.org/redirect/september/limon78.html 

"Teaching Multicultural Literature: A Workshop for the Middle Grades" http://learner.org/redirect/september/tml79.html  http://learner.org/redirect/september/tml80.html  introduces teachers to the writings of Julia Alvarez, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and other distinguished writers.

On the Web site for "Developing Writers: A Workshop for High School 
Teachers" http://learner.org/redirect/september/dwrit81.html , read

Judith Ortiz Cofer's poem "Hispanic Barbie With Accessories" http://learner.org/redirect/september/dwrit82.html  and this essay about race, culture, identity, and American academia

http://learner.org/redirect/september/bstrp83.html  by Professor Victor Villanueva of Washington State University.

"American Passages: A Literary Survey" http://learner.org/redirect/september/ap84.html  discusses the work and influences of many Latino and Chicano authors of past and present. Programs 1, 2, 12, and 16 may be of particular interest. Also visit the series Web site to find links to author biographies

http://learner.org/redirect/september/ap85.html  and artifacts related to Hispanic history and heritage http://learner.org/redirect/september/archv86.html  .

On language: 
Our popular language series "Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish" http://learner.org/redirect/september/dest87.html presents lessons in the form of a telenovela, or Spanish soap opera.

"Teaching Foreign Languages K-12: A Library of Classroom Practices" http://learner.org/redirect/september/tfl88.html offers eight programs featuring the Spanish language and Latin American culture.

The Power of Poetry

The students' poetry provides an intimate look at the challenges these kids are facing and the way they cope. But there's more to be learned here. These seniors have spent their last four years in a school that has been rated "academically unacceptable" by the Texas accountability system, despite efforts to redesign and invest in the school. Those pervasive low Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test scores mean the Texas Education Agency could shut the school down this summer. The poetry produced in DePrang's classroom, however, shows that it might be hasty to judge Johnston simply by the numbers. It provides hope that the school's efforts to till the soil will bear fruit. These students know how to write.

Deprang began the poetry class in fall 2005, just as the district was implementing its "high school redesign" program at Johnston. She wanted to find poets who would inspire the kids to write about their lives, and she contacted Raúl Salinas, the poet and human-rights activist who founded Resistencia Bookstore. He and fellow activist Rene Valdez were already running writing clinics for juvenile offenders called Save Our Youth, or SOY, and they brought the project to Johnston. DePrang saw the workshop as a chance for students to write for fun – and work on the basics at the same time.

"I'm not a teacher who sets the world on fire," she says. "I find my role is to get back to basics. These students often aren't taught the foundations of grammar and how to edit. It's a form of institutional racism, and it can hold them back later when they're trying to get into college. I hope to open doors for creative things to happen."

Johnston senior Saray Rosales saw the open door and went running through it. The witty 17-year-old actually discovered her love for poetry through the TAKS test, but not in the way the test's designers intended. "I hate the TAKS, the writing prompts are so wack," says Rosales, referring to the directions given for the essay portion of the test. "The prompts would make you write something boring. Not cool. It puts you in a box. So I started just writing poetry in my tests instead."

So Rosales was intrigued when she heard about the poetry group. "I thought it was going to be hard, because I've never been one to write when someone tells me to write," she said. "But then they gave me a one-word prompt, like 'war' or 'family,' and I just went off. I liked what came out. So I thought, 'Hey, this is pretty cool. I should be a poet!'"

Her father is a Catholic deacon, and Rosales has lately been questioning her faith. Here's an excerpt from an untitled poem about her father:

He says I should pray
for patience, but I won't
I think I have far too much
patience
but if it should ever
run out I hope my self-control
will be enough.

My mom never tells me
to pray
It's always "tu papa dice"
One day, I hope she will.
Just so I can hear her talk
.

For others, the poetry group has provided a place to confront painful experiences. When 17-year-old Mariama Konneh speaks, it's a whisper, and her classmates rarely hear her voice unless she's reading her poetry. She was born in Liberia in the midst of a civil war where children were trained to maim and kill by the indicted war criminal, Charles Taylor. Her family fled to Sierra Leone, until fighting broke out there. An aid organization found them in a refugee camp in Guinea, and she came to Johnston in 2005. One of her poems is about a field near her house where a massacre took place. The poem could be a metaphor for Mariama herself.

I wonder why
why the place is so quiet
And I think
what lies under settled water
is darker than what lies
under running water.

When Mariama reads her poems, you can hear the pride in her quiet voice. DePrang says she's seen a lot of these kids transform over the past two years. "It's a beautiful effect that I didn't anticipate," she says. "I've seen students who couldn't speak getting up and really delivering their words. It's given them a sense that their voice was important."

And these poems are important in a broader social sense, as well. It's one thing to understand that students at Johnston are dealing with difficult situations outside of school, but these poems provide a glimpse into how the students cope. Oscar Valenzuela writes poignantly about his relationship with his mother, who works every weekday from 7am to 4pm at Comfort Suites and then from 5pm to 1:30am as a janitor at UT.

Day by day, we have nothing to show,
On my own, it eats at me slow.
Each passing hour we grow farther apart,
Loving each other with barely a heart.
Minutes can't grasp on one another,
Just like us, we don't know each other.

Valenzuela has also written a series of poems about his brother, who got into drugs and was sent to live with his father in Mexico five years ago. Valenzuela hasn't seen him since. "The poetry allows me to put things out of my mind," he says. "Writing it down on paper makes me feel more relaxed."

But the writing isn't just a form of therapy. These are all motivated students who plan to go to college. And both the students and their teacher feel the poor test scores and bad press don't tell the full story about what's going on at Johnston. Senior Charlie Ramirez says the school has improved dramatically in the past four years. "There's a lot of good students here," he says. "And when the media paints a negative picture, it hits me personally." It's a theme that runs through his work.

You can't see the beauty in the rough
But the writing on the walls are now memories
The doors are pried open
The eyes of my comrades are vacant
I look in the mirror and see another
Statistic in the media

The students' poetry from last year has been published in a book called Beyond Blood Ties, which is available at Resistencia Bookstore, 1801 S. First. The volume from this year's work will be published shortly.

Loteria in San Juan, Texas 
Artist . . . Cristina Sosa Noriega 

Mimi, please check out the work of artist Cristina Sosa Noriega. It is unbelievable. The Loteria is wonderful. I have bought all the "Skull" items to use for Dia de los Muertos. Pricilla Rodriguez at the Brownsville Historical Museum has booked the show for 2008. The "Friends of the San Juan Library" are buying up the items to decorate for the next "National Hispanic Month". This is a must have collection. Who hasn't played Loteria in their youth? It's being played at all the "Adult Day-Care Centers" here in South Texas.

Right now H-E-B Plus has the most complete selection of My Lotería products, and they will be carrying t-shirts too beginning in September (though I am not sure the exact date, it may be towards the end of the month). At that same time new designs will be released, including Las Banderas, La Sirena, and a few others.

OUTSTANDING ACTOR – MOTION PICTURE
Jesse Garcia – Quinceañera

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS – MOTION PICTURE
Adriana Barraza – Babel

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel

OUTSTANDING SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
Guillermo Arriaga – Babel

OUTSTANDING TELEVISION SERIES, MINI-SERIES, OR TV MOVIE
Ugly Betty – ABC

OUTSTANDING ACTOR – TELEVISION SERIES, MINI-SERIES, OR TV MOVIE
Edward James Olmos – Battlestar Galactica – Sci Fi Channel
Michael Peña – "Walkout" – HBO

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS – TELEVISION SERIES, MINI-SERIES, OR TV MOVIE
America Ferrera – Ugly Betty – ABC

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR – TELEVISION SERIES, MINI-SERIES, OR TV MOVIE
Benito Martinez – The Shield – FX

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS – TELEVISION SERIES, MINI-SERIES, OR TV MOVIE
Ana Ortiz – Ugly Betty – ABC

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR – TELEVISION SERIES, MINI-SERIES, OR TV MOVIE
Edward James Olmos – "Walkout" – HBO
Kenny Ortega – "High School Musical" – Disney Channel

OUTSTANDING WRITING – TELEVISION SERIES, MINI-SERIES, OR TV MOVIE
Silvio Horta – Ugly Betty, "Pilot" – ABC

OUTSTANDING MADE-FOR-TV DOCUMENTARY
"From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale" – PBS

Arte Internacional, organización y promoción
de iniciativas culturales entre USA, Rusia y Argentina.  Desarrollo de proyectos: CONTACTO Tel./ Fax (54-11) 4328-1675
PARAGUAY 934 (CP: 1057)
BUENOS AIRES - ARGENTINA

La Raza Galeria Posada
1022-1024 22nd Street
Sacramento, CA 95816
(916) 446-5133
http://www.larazagaleriaposada.org 

For 35 years, La Raza Galeria Posada's mission has been to advance, celebrate, and preserve the art and culture of Chicana/o, Latina/o, and Native Peoples for present and future generations. Today, we serve the community through a year round exhibition series, community education workshops and events, literary and music events and cultural ceremonies.

La Raza Galeria Posada is a volunteer-based, donation-supported organization. A historic institution of local civil rights movements, La Raza Galeria Posada was established on the belief that art and culture uplift, enlighten, build communities, educate, and build awareness about culture and society. Your contributions and membership are greatly appreciated.  

La Raza welcomes volunteers to participate in the delivery of the organization's mission.
There are many ways to be involved, and if you are interested please consider the following: Special Events: assist in setting up the gallery and interacting with guests
Delivery and Pick-Up: of equipment, artworks, printing, etc. Gallery Preparation, Artwork Installation and Lighting Design  Translations: English/Spanish translations for
exhibition text and related materials Video Documentation: of programs and special events. La Raza values all support and involvement. Call (916) 446-5133 to become a volunteer!!  Contact: juan carrillo  mailto:rcaf_artista@yahoo.com

Sent by Dorinda Moreno dorindamoreno@comcast.net

Broadcasting was always in the background but never Mota's first choice as an occupation. He was going to be a ballplayer.

Raised in the Dominican Republic, he is the son of a famous outfielder. Manny Mota was an all-star who played most of his career for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Dodgers.

During his playing days, Manny Mota did some Spanish-language broadcasting for winter league games in the Dominican Republic. Jose Mota remembers playing baseball in his back yard with his brother Andy, emulating professional ballplayers and mimicking his father and other broadcasters.  "I was about 9 years old, and we'd re-created games on the tape recorder," Mota said.

Mota had an outstanding career as a Titan at Cal State Fullerton, playing second base for the Fullerton team that won the 1984 College World Series. He got his degree in communications.

He was drafted in the second round in 1985 and signed a professional contract with the Chicago White Sox. He bounced around the minor leagues with stops in Las Vegas and Omaha, Neb., among other places, while playing for seven organizations. His major league career consisted of 19 games, eight hits and two runs batted in.

In Omaha, one local reporter stopped him in the locker room. "He told me I should consider this (broadcasting) as a career," he said. "I listened."  In Omaha, Jose began hosting a show called "Mota Mondays," in which he gave fans an inside look at his team.

In spring training of 1997, he was hitting well for the Montreal Expos, but he knew his baseball career was over because he had lost his passion for playing the game. He decided to retire." His first thought was not about broadcasting.

He quickly got a job working for agent Chris Arnold, serving as a liaison with Spanish-speaking players. In May 1997, Manny Mota's cell phone rang. Fox Sports officials were looking for his son Jose. They needed a Spanish-speaking broadcaster.

Suddenly, Jose Mota was an announcer. He worked on the Game of the Week, the playoffs and the World Series. "I was nervous," Mota said. "This wasn't taking ground balls anymore."

He got a huge career boost in 2003 when the Angels TV analyst was suspended after his arrest on suspicion of marijuana possession. Mota served as the Angels color man for the rest of that season.

"He's very popular with our fans," said Nancy Mazmanian, Angels director of communications. "People can tell when a person is sincere and genuine."

One day he saw Vin Scully, the legendary Dodgers announcer, who had known Jose as a child.  "There's one thing you can say that I'll never be able to say," Scully told him. "You played the game. I didn't. Use that."

Mota has never forgotten. His style in the broadcast booth was formed as a player. He picks out tiny details of the game – the grip of the ball, the position of the hands on the bat – and explains them in his broadcasts.Angels manager Mike Scioscia has also known Mota since he was a child.

"You could always see he had the love for baseball," Scioscia said.  He said Mota's intelligence is a product of good parenting by Manny and Margarita Mota.  "He's accomplished so much," Scioscia said. "To have him share his love of the game – that's exciting. He's a great guy."

Sent by Cecila Mota, Jose's sister, seen here with her mother and father, Manny Mota.

ksharon@ocregister.com 949-454-7344 

Book: Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line

by Adrian Burgos, Jr., Assistant Prof. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. 

"Adrian Burgos is one of best young historians currently working the baseball beat. This is essential reading, not just for baseball aficionados, but anyone interested in the history of American race and ethnic relations."-Jules Tygiel, author of _Extra Bases: Reflections on Jackie Robinson, Race, and Baseball History_

Although largely ignored by historians of both baseball in general and the Negro leagues in particular, Latinos have been a significant presence in organized baseball from the beginning. In this benchmark study on Latinos and professional baseball from the 1880s to the present, Adrian Burgos tells a compelling story of the men who negotiated the color line at every turn-passing as "Spanish" in the major leagues or seeking respect and acceptance in the Negro leagues.

Full information about the book is available online: http://go.ucpress.edu/BurgosPlaying 

Lolita Guevarra, Electronic Marketing Coordinator
University of California Press
Tel. 510.643.4738 | Fax 510.643.7127
lolita.guevarra@ucpress.edu

Juan Gines de Sepulveda, the ''Father of Modern Racism'' and apologist for Spanish wars against Natives of ''the Indies,'' requires more than one editorial, or book. So do his great antagonist Bartolome de Las Casas, the passionate defender of American Indians, and the great debate over the humanity of Indians at Valladolid in 1550. Continuing discussion is necessary because the positions of that 500-year-old debate, not yet settled, continue to haunt Indian nations.

De las Casas could claim a moral victory, simply for the fact that the Spanish King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V were troubled enough by his protests to summon the debate. But Sepulveda's many fans maintained that he carried the day in the practical upshot and the continuing influence of his doctrine of ''natural slavery.'' There's a strong case that Sepulveda is the dark force behind Supreme Court holdings of tribal dependency, which live on today in the extra-constitutional doctrine of congressional ''plenary power'' over Indian affairs.

The dispute between Sepulveda and de las Casas had actually gone on for a decade before the royal commission convened at Valladolid. Sepulveda wrote a treatise in 1533 called ''Democrates Primus,'' or the conformity of military doctrine to the Christian religion, justifying the wars of Charles V. De las Casas and his fellow Dominicans actually living in the Americas protested that the Spanish conquests there, far from just, were tyrannically cruel. (As bishop of Chiapas, de las Casas had infinitely more ''field experience'' than Sepulveda, who had never been to America and possibly never even met an Indian.) Greatly annoyed by de las Casas' ''scandalous and diabolical'' attacks, Sepulveda responded in 1544 by writing a dialogue in Latin called ''Democrates Secundus,'' or ''The Just Causes of the War against the Indians.'' Both men were summoned to make their case to the Commission at Valladolid.

Sepulveda repeated the main points of his dialogue, and the point that concerns us is his assertion that Spaniards had a natural right to rule over Indians because in nature, superior entities had dominion over inferior ones. ''For the same reason, the husband holds dominion over his wife, the adult over the infant, the father over his son,'' his character Democrates told his incredulous interlocutor. Sepulveda bolstered his case with extensive defamation of the ''rude nature'' of the Indians, including accusations of cannibalism and equally implausible assertions of Spanish gentility. (Historian Lewis Hanke notes with amazement that Sepulveda cited the Spanish army's sack of Rome in 1527 as an example of its benevolence; the rest of Europe considered it an atrocity worse than the attacks of the Visigoths.)

This argument was a self-interested excuse for economic exploitation, and Sepulveda shares responsibility for the subsequent evil history of racial slavery. But in Sepulveda's terms, it had a flip side. The allegedly superior master was supposed to rule for the benefit of the slave. (The dialogue used the example of domestic animals.) The greater prudence and wisdom of the Spaniard was to be used for the welfare of the Indian, to provide him with the implements of civilization and the benefits of Christianity.

In rebuttal, de las Casas presented the Valladolid Commission a massive brief on the achievements of the Indian civilization, which he said compared favorably with classical antiquity and even with Spain. But subsequent generations paid more attention to Sepulveda.

The idea of the Indian as ward of the superior European took root in Supreme Court doctrine with Chief Justice John Marshall's famous definition of tribes as ''dependent domestic sovereigns.'' The word ''dependent'' could have two meanings. It could refer to the relation between a smaller sovereign and a dominant ally, a common situation which international lawyers held did not diminish the sovereign rights of the smaller party. Or it could mean a sort of welfare dependency. Marshall himself used the term both ways. In Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia, he elaborated that the tribes ''are in a state of pupillage. Their relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardians.''

''They look to our government for protection; rely upon its kindness and its power; appeal to it for relief to their wants; and address the president as their great father.''

Chief Justice Roger Taney, Marshall's successor and later author of the disastrous Dred Scott decision upholding slavery, continued the theme in his 1846 decision United States v. Rogers. The federal government ruled ''over this unfortunate race'' in ''a spirit of humanity and justice,'' endeavoring ''by every means in its power to enlighten their minds and increase their comforts, and to save them if possible from the consequences of their own vices.''

This language might seem an artifact of the Andrew Jackson era, but it was extended some 40 years later in a way that has a continued, and in fact expanding, impact on federal law. The 1886 case of United States v. Kagama upheld federal jurisdiction over Indian territory, even though a state government had been established around it. But Justice Samuel Miller acknowledged that he could cite no written provision of the Constitution to support this ruling. Instead, he derived it from Marshall's ''state of pupillage.''

''The Indian tribes are the wards of the nation,'' Miller wrote. ''They are communities dependent on the United States, dependent largely for their daily food, dependent for their political rights. ... From their very weakness and helplessness, so largely due to the course of dealing of the federal government with them, and the treaties in which it has been promised, there arises the duty of protection, and with it power.''

This power of protection, Miller concluded, resided in the federal government because it was necessary and because it didn't reside anywhere else, not because it was provided in the Constitution. His argument might seem nebulous, not to say circular, but it is the source for the Supreme Court's current approach to Indian law. Tribal sovereignty is fine up to a point, says the court, but Congress has the final say. If Congress ordains that states can tax a reservation's economy or take jurisdiction on its territory, then that's the law. Why is this so? Because the tribes are wards of the government.

It might come as a shock that this assertion of practically unlimited federal power has no basis in the Constitution, treaty relations or any coherent political theory. Professor Frank Pommersheim calls it ''a blatant contradiction of the Lockean notion of limited government sovereignty.'' He continues that the high court's use of the doctrine seems ''especially crabbed and destabilizing, and of questionable constitutional validity.''

The true origin of this alleged power harks back to ''the White Man's Burden,'' as defined by Marshall and Taney. They in turn present the paternalistic face of Gines de Sepulveda. The authority of the European over the Indian has its ultimate source in his distorted version of Aristotle's doctrine of natural slavery.

Sepulveda's tendentious and ignorant argument was stoutly attacked in his own time, in the name of universal humanity and Indian sovereignty. It would seem totally untenable in our own day. Yet it lives on in Supreme Court rulings. Just as the ''doctrine of discovery'' is actually a doctrine of Christian discovery, congressional ''plenary power'' is disguised version of the power of the guardian over the ward, that is, of the master over the ''Natural Slave.''

It's shameful enough that the Supreme Court should invoke this doctrine with such little reflection. Like its other principles of Indian law, it is discredited, illogical and invalid to begin with. But the shame of the court is more overwhelming because there do exist sound and logical basic principles for tribal relations with the United States which the court has been reluctant to acknowledge. We will be turning to these principles next.

LINDA CHAVEZ DISCOVERS RACISM! 
Latino Fear and Loathing by Linda Chavez

Some people just don't like Mexicans — or anyone else from south of the border. They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English. They think Latinos have too many babies, and that Latino kids will dumb down our schools. They think Latinos are dirty, diseased, indolent and more prone to criminal behavior. They think Latinos are just too different from us ever to become real Americans.

No amount of hard, empirical evidence to the contrary, and no amount of reasoned argument or appeals to decency and fairness, will convince this small group of Americans — fewer than 10 percent of the general population, at most — otherwise. Unfortunately, among this group is a fair number of Republican members of Congress, almost all influential conservative talk radio hosts, some cable news anchors — most prominently, Lou Dobbs — and a handful of public policy "experts" at organizations such as the Center for Immigration Studies, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, in addition to fringe groups like the Minuteman Project.

Stripped bare, this is what the current debate on immigration reform is all about. Fear of "the other" — of those who look or sound different, who come from poor countries with unfamiliar customs — has been at the heart of every immigration debate this country has ever had, from the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to the floor of the U.S. Senate this week.

What is said today of the Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and others was once said of Germans, Swedes, the Irish, Italians, Poles, Jews and others. The only difference is that in the past, the xenophobes could speak freely, unconstrained by a veneer of political correctness. Today, they speak more cautiously, so they talk about the rule of law, national security, amnesty, whatever else they think might make their arguments less racially charged.

Where once the xenophobes could advocate forced sterilization and eugenics coupled with virtually shutting off legal immigration from "undesirable" countries, now they must be content with building walls, putting troops on the border, rounding up illegal aliens on the job and deporting them, passing local ordinances to signal their distaste for immigrants' multi-family living arrangements, and doing whatever else they can to drive these people back where they came from.

There is no chance this small group of xenophobes will succeed — ultimately.

The victories of their predecessors have been short-lived and so obviously wrong-headed we've always finally abandoned them, from modifying and then repealing the Asian exclusion acts to scrapping the nationalities quotas. But we need to quit pretending that the "No Amnesty" crowd is anything other than what it is: a tiny group of angry, frightened and prejudiced loudmouths backed by political opportunists who exploit them.

The status quo — largely turning a blind eye toward the 12 million illegal aliens who work, pay taxes and keep their noses clean, while stepping up border enforcement and selective internal enforcement — may not be the worst possible outcome in the current debate on immigration reform. It is the coward's way out of our current dilemma. But there are other problems with allowing the xenophobes to derail comprehensive immigration reform.

We've struggled long and hard as a nation to overcome our prejudices, enduring a Civil War and countless dead for the right to be judged by the content of our character not the color of our skin or where we came from. Our country is the greatest, freest, most powerful and optimistic nation in the history of the world — and our people are good, decent, fair and the hardest working anywhere. That is why immigrants — even those who look and sound different, from nearby and far away — come here, often with only the clothes on their backs but a fire in their bellies to succeed. They make all of us richer, and by embracing and welcoming them, we make ourselves better.

It seems I've touched a raw nerve among my fellow conservatives. My column last week argued that "Some people just don't like Mexicans — or anyone else from south of the border," and that this sentiment was playing a pervasive and destructive role in the current immigration debate. I estimated the number of such persons in the general population at about 10 percent, a figure I extrapolated from several studies and polls of racial attitudes taken in the last 20 years, which generally show that about one-in-10 Americans harbors some animus based on race.

Ten percent is not a very alarming number (Americans are among the least intolerant groups in all international studies of the issue), even though I think the group includes a disturbing number of influential voices on the right, who even if they don't personally share these views seem perfectly comfortable in the company of those who do. Those in positions of influence, whether elected leaders or talk show hosts, have a special responsibility not to inflame racial passions and animosities.

So how is it that some of my fellow conservatives have demonstrated that I am wrong to think a small group of them might not want Mexicans to come to America — even legally?

On Townhall.com, these delightful bon mots appeared (I've preserved the original spelling and punctuation):

· "Mexicans are pigs"

· "They can be referred to as: Human Locusts. "

· "Latino girls are baby factories. They fornicate like animals with no regard for the welfare of the child. Babies having babies while the boy goes out and screws someone else. Most latinos are liars. True again. Look at the corruption at all levels of the mexican government and it carries on to all the people."

· "Quickly, the fact is that we're being invaded by an inferior culture. Every person of low quality we import plants a family-tree that bears low-quality fruit. The rotten fruit of that tree will rot our own fruit."

· "We don't want spanish speaking little retards befouling our great country. REMEMBER SAN HACINTO1"

· "And YES ,Illegals are lazy, disease infested, freeloading moochers.

· The fact they criminally enter the country automatically qualifies them as lazy freeloaders."

· "Get a clue Chavez . . . we dont want wetbacks mooching our system and NO we dont need them. They are simply slave labor.nothing more."

· "most Mexicans, especially men, are lazy good for nothing drunks who only care about sacking as many mujeres that they can."

I could go on; there are more than 300 posts on Townhall and hundreds more on less mainstream sites, but you get the point. It's hard to imagine that anyone could get away with posting such foul comments about blacks, or Jews, or gay people on a mainstream website.

But because I've exposed the nasty underbelly of the anti-immigrant crowd — and let's be clear here, this debate is about more than illegal immigration — I'm called a racist, as in this post: "Linda Chavez has revealed herself to be a racist who demonizes color-blind conservatives as racist. Special rights for Latino criminal invaders and mindless labeling to intimidate fair-minded Americans - that is what Linda stands for now."

There are hundreds of similar posts, usually alleging that my views on immigration are linked to my ancestry and inviting me to go back to Mexico — from whence the last member of my family trekked north in 1701.

I want more secure borders and an end to illegal immigration — but the only way that will ever happen is to adopt a market-based legal immigration system that allows sufficient numbers of workers to come here to fill jobs Americans shun. I've spent my entire professional career fighting against racial, ethnic and gender preferences; against bilingual education and multiculturalism; and for making English the official language of the country, for which I have suffered significant abuse, even physical attack. But I absolutely reject the view that our immigration policy should ever be premised on a racial or ethnic test, or that members of one group are somehow unfit to become Americans.

Most conservatives claim to be color-blind, but remaining silent in the face of such naked bigotry evokes Edmund Burke's dictum: "It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph." It's time for those who truly are color-blind to disavow those in our ranks who are not.

Discrimination takes many forms. It's not just the denying of opportunity, it can also be the denying of history.

That is what's happening at the Public Broadcasting Service, which is preparing to release a lengthy documentary on World War II that ignores the contribution of Latinos to the war effort. PBS has acknowledged the omission but has also refused to take any meaningful steps to correct it. The same goes for respected filmmaker Ken Burns, producer of the 14 1/2-hour epic, "The War."

Talk about a blind spot. Latinos take tremendous pride in their military service to the United States, which dates back at least to the Civil War and that has produced more Medal of Honor recipients as a percentage of the population than any other ethnic group. Latinos are especially proud of their stint in World War II, which helped spark the Latino civil rights movement of the 1960s. That generation fought in Europe and the Pacific, then returned home to fight for fairness and respect.

It's a great and wonderfully patriotic story, and it's a shame that Burns and his associates at PBS missed it.

One person who hasn't missed it is Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin who has spent the last eight years attempting to document the Latino experience in World War II. As part of her U.S. Latino & Latina World War II Oral History Project, Rivas-Rodriguez and her colleagues have interviewed 550 Latino World War II veterans and put together a database of hundreds of individuals and thousands of photographs. Much of it is reported in the book "A Legacy Greater Than Words."

For Rivas-Rodriguez, the dispute with PBS is not about political correctness. It's about keeping history honest.

"The Latino experience was very important because of what was going on before World War II," she told me. "Throughout the Southwest and the Midwest, we had segregated schools and public institutions. We had Medal of Honor winners who came back home and were denied service in restaurants because they were Mexican. That is a very unique and important story that needs to be part of any historical account."

The Burns film includes African-Americans and Japanese-Americans. But in addition to skipping the contributions of Latinos, it also bypasses Native Americans, which is shocking because one of the more compelling stories of World War II is that of the Navajo code talkers. According to Rivas-Rodriguez, other good stories include those of segregated units made up entirely of Puerto Ricans and "de facto Spanish-speaking units" of recruits from rural towns in New Mexico who were thrown together so they could communicate with one another and stand a better chance of surviving combat.

Rivas-Rodriguez & Co. wrote a letter to PBS, but the concerns were dismissed. They wrote more letters, eventually getting invited to a meeting in Washington, where they were dismissed again. They then launched an e-mail campaign. Soon, PBS was hearing from the American GI Forum, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and others. This controversy wasn't going away, and neither were Rivas-Rodriguez and her growing army of supporters.

Last month, PBS seemed to give in a nudge when officials announced they had hired a Latino documentary filmmaker to work with Burns to incorporate into the film new material that would highlight contributions by Latinos and Native Americans. However, a day later a panicked PBS tried to clarify that it never meant to suggest that the film would be re-cut, or re-edited, and new material "seamlessly" added to the film – as a PBS spokesman had told The Washington Post a day earlier. Instead, PBS programming chief John Wilson told the Post that the new footage would become part of "the same contiguous experience" of the documentary, but the film would not be re-cut.

Translation: Whatever they come up with is going to be an addendum to the finished product.

Not good enough, said Rivas-Rodriguez.

"We're not asking for any favors," she said. "This is what we deserve as Americans because of what our people have given to this country."

She's right. PBS has added insult to insult and bungled this whole affair, just as surely as Burns seems to have bungled the telling of an important story. Both parties should make it right, and there's only one way to do that. Re-edit this film, and tell this history the way it really happened.

Even as I write these articles I continue to fill my self with pride. I have always been proud of my Hispanic heritage, but my pride continues to grow when I write about these heroes. All of those mentioned in this article gave their lives for their fellow men. What greater show of love then that?

Just look at Jose F. Valdez. He didn't think of himself when he covered his men from enemy fire. The Navy, not the Army, honored his memory by naming a ship in his honor. What about Staff Sergeant Ysmael R. Villegas? Villegas single-handedly cleared five enemy foxholes that had his squad pinned downed before he was killed. I mean just imagine, this man did not think about the comforts of home that would await him if he survived the war. His only thought was of saving his comrades.

The amazing thing about these men and all those who sacrificed their lives saving their fellow men is that they think about their comrades race or color, at that moment they were only one. They were members of the only true race, the human race. It is a shame that PBS, a federally funded educational network will air "The War" a documentary by Ken Burns" that has omitted the contributions and participation of Hispanics in World War II. Despite the fact that PBS Chief Executive Paula Kerger is aware of this serious injustice, the network considers the documentary a "Masterpiece". Here is another thought for our readers. Why don't we all unite and figure out a way to honor our Hispanic military heroes with a monument in Washington, DC? Wouldn't it be great if our Hispanic organizations, such as "La Raza" got together to create a donation fund towards this goal? I mean, isn't time that the Hispanic military contributions to this wonderful country finally be recognized in our capitol?

* N.B. An asterisk after the name indicates that the award was given posthumously.

Valdez was a Mexican-American born in the born in Governador, New Mexico. He lived in Utah in the 1940s and upon the outbreak of World War II joined the United States Army at a recruiting station in the Pleasant Grove. After completing his basic training, he was assigned to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.

The 3rd Infantry Division, which was under the command of Major General John W. O'Daniel, was stationed in North Africa. Gen. O'Daniel led the division in battles in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France. On January 23, 1945, the 3rd Infantry Division began its second offensive against Siegfried Line positions south of Zweibrucken. The Siegfried Line was a defense system stretching more than 630 km (392 miles) with more than 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps. It went from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the western border of the old German Empire as far as the town of Weil am Rhein on the border to Switzerland.[1]

On January 25, 1945, Valdez was on patrol with 5 of his fellow soldiers in the vicinity of Rosenkrantz, France, when unexpectedly they confronted an enemy counterattack. An enemy tank was headed towards the patrol and Valdez, upon his own inactive, opened fire against the tank with his automatic rifle, action which made the tank withdrawal. After Valdez killed 3 enemy soldiers in a firefight, the Germans ordered a full attack and sent in two companies of infantrymen.

Valdez offered to cover the members of his patrol when the platoon leader ordered a withdrawal. He fired upon the approaching enemy and his patrol members were able to reach American lines. Valdez was wounded and was able to drag himself back to American lines, however, he soon died from his wounds.

Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 7th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division.
Place and date: Near Rosenkrantz, France, 25 January 1945.
Entered service at: Pleasant Grove, Utah.
Born:Governador, New Mexico
G.O. No.: 16, 8 February 1946.

Citation:

"He was on outpost duty with 5 others when the enemy counterattacked with overwhelming strength. From his position near some woods 500 yards beyond the American lines he observed a hostile tank about 75 yards away, and raked it with automatic rifle fire until it withdrew. Soon afterward he saw 3 Germans stealthily approaching through the woods. Scorning cover as the enemy soldiers opened up with heavy automatic weapons fire from a range of 30 yards, he engaged in a fire fight with the attackers until he had killed all 3. The enemy quickly launched an attack with 2 full companies of infantrymen, blasting the patrol with murderous concentrations of automatic and rifle fire and beginning an encircling movement which forced the patrol leader to order a withdrawal. Despite the terrible odds, Pfc. Valdez immediately volunteered to cover the maneuver, and as the patrol 1 by 1 plunged through a hail of bullets toward the American lines, he fired burst after burst into the swarming enemy. Three of his companions were wounded in their dash for safety and he was struck by a bullet that entered his stomach and, passing through his body, emerged from his back. Overcoming agonizing pain, he regained control of himself and resumed his firing position, delivering a protective screen of bullets until all others of the patrol were safe. By field telephone he called for artillery and mortar fire on the Germans and corrected the range until he had shells falling within 50 yards of his position. For 15 minutes he refused to be dislodged by more than 200 of the enemy; then, seeing that the barrage had broken the counter attack, he dragged himself back to his own lines. He died later as a result of his wounds. Through his valiant, intrepid stand and at the cost of his own life, Pfc. Valdez made it possible for his comrades to escape, and was directly responsible for repulsing an attack by vastly superior enemy forces"

Honors:

USNS Pvt Jose F. Valdez

Valdez was buried with full military honors in the Santa Fe National Cemetery located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The government honored the memory of Valdez by naming a technical research ship the USNS Pvt Jose F Valdez (T-AG-169). The local government of New Mexico also honored his memory by designating a section of U.S. Hwy. 64 in San Juan County as PFC Jose F. Valdez Memorial Highway.[3]

Awards and recognitions
Among Jose F. Valdez' decorations and medals were the following:
Medal of Honor
Purple Heart Medal
French Croix de Guerre
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
American Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Fourragere cord, granted by France to the Third Infantry Division

Notes
^ 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) "Rock Of The Marne!"
^ of Honor citation
^ Final Agenda

By Tony (The Marine) Santiago

Villegas was a Mexican-American born and raised in Casa Blanca, California. There he received his primary and secondary education and joined the United States Army upon the outbreak of World War II. After he finished his basic training, he was assigned to Company F, 127th Infantry, 32d Infantry Division which was involved in the invasion of the Philippines.

On March 1, 1945, Villegas' company found itself engaged in combat against Japanese forces at Villa Verde Trail on Luzon Island in the Philippines, in what if known as the Battle of Luzon. His squad was attacked by an enemy machinegun nest. Villegas took it upon himself to save his squad by destroying the nest and its occupants. For his actions he was awarded the Silver Star medal.[1]

On March 20, 1945, Villegas was ordered to lead his squad in an advance which would result in the taking of a hill. They confronted an enemy which was entrenched and who attacked them with heavy machinegun and rifle fire. He led his men towards the crest of the hill and then upon his own initiative attacked five enemy foxholes, killing all of its occupants. Villegas was mortally wounded when he attacked the sixth foxhole.

On October 19, 1945, President Harry S. Truman, posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Villegas, presenting the medal to his surviving family.

Rank and organization:Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company F, 127th Infantry, 32d Infantry Division.

Place and date: Villa Verde Trail, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 20 March 1945.
Entered service at:Casa Blanca, California
Born: March 21, 1924 at Casa Blanca, California
G.O. No.: 89, 19 October 1945.

Citation:

"He was a squad leader when his unit, in a forward position, clashed with an enemy strongly entrenched in connected caves and foxholes on commanding ground. He moved boldly from man to man, in the face of bursting grenades and demolition charges, through heavy machinegun and rifle fire, to bolster the spirit of his comrades. Inspired by his gallantry, his men pressed forward to the crest of the hill. Numerous enemy riflemen, refusing to flee, continued firing from their foxholes. S/Sgt. Villegas, with complete disregard for his own safety and the bullets which kicked up the dirt at his feet, charged an enemy position, and, firing at point-blank range killed the Japanese in a foxhole. He rushed a second foxhole while bullets missed him by inches, and killed 1 more of the enemy. In rapid succession he charged a third, a fourth, a fifth foxhole, each time destroying the enemy within. The fire against him increased in intensity, but he pressed onward to attack a sixth position. As he neared his goal, he was hit and killed by enemy fire. Through his heroism and indomitable fighting spirit, S/Sgt. Villegas, at the cost of his life, inspired his men to a determined attack in which they swept the enemy from the field."

Villegas was buried with full military honors at the Riverside National Cemetery located in Riverside, California. The Veterans of Foreign Wars named one of its #184 post in Riverside the Ysmael R. Villegas Memorial Casa Blanca Post. A statue by sculpture Gary Coutrer, called Villegas Memorial was dedicated on May 27, 1995 and is located on Main St. Civic Center Courtyard in Riverside. The local government of Riverside named a middle school in his honor.[3]

Awards and recognitions: 
Among Staff Sergeant Ysmael R. Villegas' decorations and medals were the following:
Medal of Honor
Silver Star Medal
Purple Heart Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
Philippine Liberation Medal
American Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal

Notes
^ The 32nd Div. in WW II
^ of Honor citation
^ Ysmael R. Villegas middle school

Garcia attended grade and high school in his hometown of Utuado. He moved to San Juan where he started to work for the Texas Company as a file clerk.

On September 19, 1951, Garcia was inducted into the Marines; he received his "boot" training at Paris Island, South Carolina and after he graduated from his basic training he was sent to Camp Lejuene in North Carolina where he underwent advanced training before being sent to Korea. Garcia was a Private First Class when he arrived in Korea. He was assigned to Company I, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, of the 1st Marine division. On the night of his death, he was posted about one mile from the enemy lines. The Korean enemies were attacking with grenades, bombs and other types of artillery. Garcia was critically wounded, but he led his team to a supply point to get hand-grenades.

An enemy grenade landed nearby, and Garcia covered with his body, sacrificing himself to save the lives of his fellow Marines. Garcia died instantly. For this heroic action, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor; on October 25, 1953, PFC Garcia's parents were presented his Medal of Honor at a ceremony held in the Utuado City Hall.

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a member of Company I, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division (Reinforced), in action against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on September 5, 1952. While participating in the defense of a combat outpost located more than one mile forward of the main line of resistance during a savage night attack by a fanatical enemy force employing grenades, mortars and artillery, Private First Class Garcia, although suffering painful wounds, moved through the intense hall of hostile fire to a supply point to secure more hand grenades. Quick to act when a hostile grenade landed nearby, endangering the life of another Marine, as well as his own, he unhesitatingly chose to sacrifice himself and immediately threw his body upon the deadly missile, receiving the full impact of the explosion. His great personal valor and cool decision in the face of almost certain death sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country."

Awards and decorations:
Among Fernando Luis Garcia's awards and decorations are the following:
Medal of Honor
Purple Heart
Navy Unit Commendation
National Defense Service Medal
Korean Service Medal with two bronze stars
United Nations Service Medal
Presidential Unit Citation (Korea)

In memory: 
PFC Fernando Luis Garcia's remains were never recovered. There is a headstone with Garcia's name in the Puerto Rico National Cemetery in the city of Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

On February 5, 1959 the United States Marines Corps named a military camp in Vieques, Puerto Rico, "Camp Garcia" in his honor. His name is inscribed in "El Monumento de la Recordacion" (Monument of Remembrance), dedicated to Puerto Rico's fallen soldiers and situated in front of the Capitol Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His name is also inscribed in the "Wall of the Missing" located in the National Memorial of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, which honors the Medal of Honor recipients whose bodies have never been recovered.[2] A monument commemorating his actions stands in his hometown of Utuado, Puerto Rico.

Born on August 10, 1932, in Omaha, Nebraska, he attended Omaha High School before enlisting in the Marine Corps Reserve on August 11, 1949, at the age of 17. After recruit training at MCRD San Diego, California, he trained at Camp Pendleton, California, and went to Korea with the 7th Replacement Draft.

The United States' highest decoration for valor was awarded to Gomez for extraordinary heroism on September 14, 1951, at Kajon-ni, when he smothered a hand grenade with his own body to prevent destruction of his Marine machine gun team. In addition to the Medal of Honor, PFC Gomez was awarded the Purple heart with a Gold Star in lieu of a second award, the Korean Service Medal with bronze star, and the United Nations Service Medal.

Medal of Honor citation:

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

CITATION:

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an Ammunition Bearer in Company E, Second Battalion, First Marines, First Marine Division (Reinforced), in action against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on 14 September 1951. Boldly advancing with his squad in support of a group of riflemen assaulting a series of strongly fortified and bitterly defended hostile positions on Hill 749, Private First Class Gomez consistently exposed himself to the withering barrage to keep his machine gun supplied with ammunition during the drive forward to seize the objective. As his squad deployed to meet an imminent counterattack, he voluntarily moved down an abandoned trench to search for a new location for the gun and, when a hostile grenade landed between himself and his weapon, shouted a warning to those around him as he grasped the activated charge in his hand. Determined to save his comrades, he unhesitatingly chose to sacrifice himself and, diving into the ditch with the deadly missile, absorbed the shattering violence of the explosion in his own body. By his stouthearted courage, incomparable valor and decisive spirit of self-sacrifice, Private First Class Gomez inspired the others to heroic efforts in subsequently repelling the outnumbering foe, and his valiant conduct throughout sustained and enhanced the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country."

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the United States Marine Corps.
"Private First Class Edward Gomez, USMCR", Who's Who in Marine Corps History, USMC.
Medal of Honor citation

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Do not miss next months issue of "Somos Primos", where I will write about Ambrosio Guillen*, Rodolfo P. Hernandez, Baldomero Lopez* and Benito Martinez*

Puerto Ricans who had obtained U.S. citizenship as a result of the signing of the Jones-Shafroth Act on March 2, 1917 were expected to serve in the military if they met the required qualifications. When a Japanese carrier fleet launched an unexpected air attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Puerto Ricans were required to bear arms in defense of the United States. During World War II, over 53,000 Puerto Ricans served within the U.S. military.[1] Soldiers from the island, serving in the 65th Infantry Regiment, participated in combat in the European Theater - in Germany and Central Europe. Those who resided in the mainland of the United States were assigned to regular units of the military and served either in the European or Pacific theaters of the war. In some cases they were subject to the racial discrimination which at that time was widespread in the United States.[1]

The military did not keep statistics in regard to the total number of Hispanics who served in the regular units of the Armed Forces and therefore, it is impossible to determine the exact amount of Puerto Ricans who served in World War II.

The seeds of a full scale World War were planted in Asia in 1937 when Japan invaded China and in 1939 in Europe when Germany invaded Poland. In October 1940, the 295th and 296th Infantry Regiments of the Puerto Rican National Guard, founded by Major General Luis R. Esteves, were called into Federal Active Service and assigned to the Puerto Rican Department in accordance with the existing War Plan Orange.[2]

During that period of time, Puerto Rico's economy was suffering from the consequences of the Great Depression and unemployment was widespread. Unemployment was one the reasons that some Puerto Ricans choose to join the Armed Forces.

Most of these men were trained in Camp Las Casas in Santurce, Puerto Rico and were assigned to the 65th Infantry Regiment, a segregated unit made up mostly of Puerto Ricans. The rumors of war spread and the involvement of the United States was believed to be a question of time. The 65th Infantry was ordered to intensify its maneuvers, many of which were carried out at Punta Salinas near the town of Salinas in Puerto Rico.[3]Those who were assigned to the 295th and 296th regiments of the Puerto Rican National Guard received their training at Camp Tortuguero near the town of Vega Baja.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war and Puerto Ricans living on the island and on the U.S. mainland began to fill the ranks of the four major branches of the Armed Forces. Some volunteered for patriotic reasons, some joined in need of employment, and others were drafted.

In 1943, there were approximately 17,000 Puerto Ricans under arms, including the 65th Infantry Regiment and the Puerto Rico National Guard. The Puerto Rican units were stationed either in Puerto Rico or in the Virgin Islands.

France's possessions in the Caribbean began to protest against the Vichy government in France, a government backed up by the Germans who invaded France. The island of Martinique was on the verge of civil war. The United States organized a joint Army-Marine Corps task force, which included the 295th Infantry (minus one battalion) and the 78th Engineer Battalion, both from Puerto Rico for the occupation of Martinique. The use of these infantry units were put on hold because Martinique's local government decided to turn over control of the colonies to the French Committee of National Liberation.[4]

In 1943, the 65th Infantry was sent to Panama to protect the Pacific and the Atlantic sides of the isthmus. The 295th Infantry Regiment followed in 1944, departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico to the Panama Canal Zone. Among those who served with the 295th Regiment in the Panama Canal Zone was a young Second Lieutenant by the name of Carlos Betances Ramirez, who one day become the only Puerto Rican to command a Battalion in the Korean War.[5]That same year, the 65th Infantry was sent to North Africa, arriving at Casablanca, where they underwent further training. By April 29, 1944, the Regiment had landed in Italy and moved on to Corsica.[6]

On September 22, 1944, the 65th Infantry landed in France and was committed to action on the Maritime Alps at Peira Cava. The 3rd Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Juan Cesar Cordero Davila, fought against and defeated Germany's 34th Infantry Division's 107th Infantry Regiment.[7] There were 47 battle casualties, including Sergeant Angel Martinez from the town of Sabana Grande who became the first Puerto Rican to be killed in action from the 65th Infantry. On March 18, 1945, the regiment was sent to the District of Mannheim and assigned to military occupation duties. The regiment suffered a total of 23 soldiers killed in action.[8] [9]

On January 12, 1944, the 296th Infantry Regiment departed from Puerto Rico to the Panama Canal Zone. On April 1945, the unit returned to Puerto Rico and soon after was sent to Honolulu, Hawaii. The 296th arrived on June 25, 1944 and was attached to the Central Pacific Base Command at Kahuku Air Base.[10]

Sergeant First Class Agustín Ramos Calero  was one of many Puerto Ricans who distinguished themselves in combat. Calero's company was in the vicinity of Colmar , France and engaged in combat against a squad of German soldiers in what is known as the Battle of Colmar Pocket . Calero attacked the squad, killing ten of them and capturing 21 shortly before being wounded himself. Following these events, he was nicknamed "One-Man Army" by his comrades. A Silver Star Medal was among the 22 decorations and medals which he was awarded from the US Army for his actions during World War II, thus becoming the second most decorated soldier (the most decorated US soldier was Audie Murphy) in the United States Military during that war.[13]

PFC. Santos Deliz was assigned to Battery D, 216 AAA, a gun battalion, and sent to Africa in 1943 to join General George S. Patton's Third Army. According to Deliz, Patton demanded the best from all under him, including cooks and kitchen hands Deliz once recounted an experience which he had with General Patton: "[Patton] went in to inspect [and] he scolded me because I had rations over the amount I should've had. The rations were food the GIs didn't want, so instead of dumping it, I sometimes gave it to the people who were around there." Deliz was the recipient of a Bronze Star Medal.[14]

Some Puerto Ricans served in the Army Air Corps. Among those who served in the Army Air Corps were Captain Mihiel "Mike" Gilormini and T/Sgt Clement Resto.

Captain Mihiel "Mike" Gilormini served in the Royal Air Force and in Army Air Corps during World War II. He was a flight commander whose last combat mission was attacking the airfield at Milano, Italy. His last flight in Italy gave air cover for General George C. Marshall's visit to Pisa. He was the recipient of the Silver Star Medal, the Air Medal with four clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross 5 times. Gilormini later became the Founder of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard and retired as Brigadier General.

When the United States entered World War II, Puerto Rican nurses volunteered for service but were not accepted into the Army or Navy Nurse Corps. In 1944, the Army Nurse Corps decided to actively recruit Puerto Rican nurses so that Army hospitals would not have to deal with the language barriers. Among them was Second Lieutenant Carmen Dumler, who became one of the first Puerto Rican female military officers. A total of 200 women from Puerto Rico served as nurses.

Not all the women served as nurses, some women served in administrative duties in the mainland or near combat zones. Such was the case of Tech4 Carmen Contreras-Bozak who belonged to the 149th Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. The 149th Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) Post Headquarters Company was the first WAAC Company to go overseas, setting sail from New York Harbor for Europe on January 1943. The unit arrived in Northern Africa on January 27, 1943 and rendered overseas duties in Algiers within General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s theater headquarters. Tech4 Carmen Contreras-Bozak, a member of this unit, was the first Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Women's Army Corps as an interpreter and in numerous administrative positions. .[20] [21]

Rear Admiral Frederick Lois Riefkohl , who was the Captain of the USS Vincennes, was assigned to the Fire Support Group, LOVE (with Transport Group XRAY) under the command of Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner's Task Force TARE (Amphibious Force) during the landing in the Solomon Islands on August 7, 1942..[23]

Prior to World War II, Rear Admiral Jose M. Cabanillas served aboard various cruisers, destroyers and submarines. In 1942, upon the outbreak of World War II, he was assigned Executive Officer of the USS Texas (BB-35). The Texas Participated in the invasion of North Africa. by destroying ammunition dump near Port Lyautey. Cabanillas also participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-day.

Rear Admiral Edmund Ernest Garcia was the commander of the Destroyer USS Sloat and saw action in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily and France.

Admiral Horacio Rivero, Jr., served aboard the USS San Juan (CL-54) and was involved in providing artillery cover for Marines landing on Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. For his service he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V."[24]

Captain Marion Frederic Ramirez de Arellano was a submarine commander in the Navy who was awarded two Silver Star Medals, the Legion of Merit, and a Bronze Star Medal for his actions against the Japanese Imperial Navy. Not only is he credited with the sinking of at least two Japanese ships, but he also led the rescue of the lives of numerous downed Navy pilots.[25]

Rear Admiral Rafael Celestino Benitez, who was at the time a Lieutenant Commander, saw action aboard submarines and on various occasions weathered depth charge attacks. For his actions, he was awarded the Silver and Bronze Star Medals. Benitez would later play an important role in the first American undersea spy mission of the cold war as commander of the submarine USS Cochino in what became known as the "Cochino Incident".[26]

During World War II, the United States Army was segregated. Puerto Ricans who resided in the mainland and who were fluent in English served alongside their "White" counterparts. "Black" Puerto Ricans were assigned to units made up mostly of African-Americans. The vast majority of the Puerto Ricans from the island served in Puerto Rico's segregated units, like the 65th Infantry and the Puerto Rico National Guard's 285th and 296th regiments. Racial discrimination practiced against Hispanic Americans, including Puerto Ricans in the United States East coast and Mexican-Americans in California and the Southwest was widespread. Some Puerto Ricans who served in regular Army units were witnesses to the racial discrimination of the day.[17]

In an interview, PFC Raul Rios Rodriguez said that during his basic training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, he had encountered a strict drill instructor who was particularly harsh on the Hispanic and black soldiers in his unit.

He stated that he remains resentful of the discriminatory treatment that Latino and black soldiers received during basic training. "We were all soldiers; we were all risking our lives for the United States. That should have never been done, Never."

Rios Rodriguez was shipped to Le Havre, France, assigned to guard bridges and supply depots in France and Germany with the 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division.[18]

Another soldier, PFC Felix López-Santos was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Dix in New Jersey for training. López -Santos went to Milne Bay and then to the small island of Woodlark, both in New Guinea, where he was in the communications department using telephone wires to communicate to the troop during the war.

The American participation in the Second World War came to an end in Europe on May 8, 1945 when the western Allies celebrated "V-E Day" (Victory in Europe Day) upon Germany's surrender, and in the Asian theater on August 14, 1945 "V-J Day" (Victory over Japan Day) when the Japanese surrendered by signing the Japanese Instrument of Surrender.

On October 27, 1945, the 65th Infantry who had participated in the battles of Naples-Fogis, Rome-Arno, central Europe and of the Rhineland sailed home from France. Arriving at Puerto Rico on November 9, 1945, they were received by the local population as National heroes and given a victorious reception at the Military Terminal of Camp Buchanan. The 295th Regiment returned on February 20, 1946 from the Panama Canal Zone and the 296th Regiment on March 6. Both regiments were awarded the American Theatre streamer (The 295th was also awarded the Pacific Theatre streamer) and were inactivated that same year.[29]

Many of the men and women who were discharged after the war returned to their civilian jobs or made use of the educational benefits of the G.I. Bill. Others, such as Major General Juan Cesar Cordero Davila, Colonel Carlos Betances Ramirez, Sergeant First Class Agustin Ramos Calero and Master Sergeant Pedro Rodriguez continued in the military as career soldiers and went on to serve in the Korean War.

Some of the Puerto Ricans from the mainland who had not completed their full active duty in the military service were reassigned to the 65th Infantry in Puerto Rico. According to remarks made by Frank Bonilla in an interview, he discovered that there was a divide among the soldiers. The Puerto Ricans who had emigrated to the mainland were seen as "American Joes." while Puerto Ricans from the island considered themselves "pure" Puerto Ricans. Bonilla is quoted as saying:

"The Puerto Rican soldiers paid little, if any, attention to the playing of the 'Star Spangled Banner," Bonilla at first thought the soldiers were being disrespectful to the United States, especially since they stood at attention whenever "La Borinqueña," the Puerto Rican anthem, was played. "The soldiers in the regiment, although proud to be U.S. citizens, felt that they were a Puerto Rican army, not a US army," Mr. Bonilla said. "These men had a select unit pride because they had had more time overseas and in combat areas than the American units."[30]

1. a b Introduction: World War II (1941 -1945). Hispanics in the Defense of America. Retrieved on March 19, 2007.

2. Hector Marin. Puerto Rican Units (WWII). Hispanics in Americas Defense. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

3. Bruce C. Ruiz (November 1, 2002). Major General Luis Raúl Esteves Völckers. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

4. Stetson Conn, Rose C. Engelman, and Byron Fairchild (1961). The Caribbean in Wartime. U.S. Army in World War II: Guarding the United States and Its Outposts. Center of Military History, United States Army. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

5. Carlos Betances Ramirez

6. Military History. American Veteran's Committee for Puerto Rico Self-Determination. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

7. LTC Gilberto Villahermosa (September 2000). World War II. "Honor and Fidelity" - The 65th Infantry Regiment in Korea 1950 - 1954 (Official Army Report on the 65th Infantry Regiment). U.S. Army Center of Military History. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

8. W.W. Harris (2001). Puerto Rico's Fighting 65th U.S. Infantry:From San Juan to Chowon. Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-056-2.

9. Juan Cesar Cordero-Davila. ZoomInfo (2000). Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

10. Shelby, Stanton (1984). World War II Order of Battle. New York: Galahad Books.

11. Juan De La Cruz. Combat engineer Fernando Pagan went from Normandy to Belgium and Germany, where a sniper nearly killed him. US Latinos and Latinas & World War II. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

12. Jennifer Nalewicki. Louis Ramirez recalls brutality of war; but what still shines through is the camaraderie. U.S. Latinos and Latinas & World War II. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

13. Who was Agustín Ramos Calero? (PDF). The Puerto Rican Soldier (August 17, 2005). Retrieved on November 19, 2006.

14. Chris Nay. Santos Deliz. US Latinos and Latinas & World War II. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

15. Memories of a Jug Driver. World War II Pilots. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

16. T/SGT. Clement Resto. Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

17. Discrimination. History.com. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

18. D’Arcy Kerschen. Despite war’s end and brother’s horror stories, man was intent on joining military. US Latinos and Latinas & World War II. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

19. Juan de la Cruz. Man survived jungle fever, suicide attacks and kangaroos during service in Pacific. US Latinos and Latinas & World War II. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

20. Judith Bellafaire. Puerto Rican Servicewomen in Defense of the Nation. Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.

21. Katie Kennon. Young woman's life defined by service in Women's Army Corps. US Latinos and Latinas & World War II. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.

22. USNA graduates of Hispanic descent for the Class of 1911, 1915, 1924, 1927, 1931, 1935, 1939, 1943, 1947. Association of Naval Service Officers. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

23. David H. Lippman. World War II Plus 55. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

24. *Robert F. Dorr (January 26, 2004). Damn the Torpedoes! Former VCNO excelled in combat, technical roles. Navy Times. Archived from the original on January 21, 2004. Retrieved on October 21, 2006.

25. CAPT Marion Frederic Ramirez de Arellano. USNA graduates of Hispanic descent for the Class of 1911, 1915, 1924, 1927, 1931, 1935, 1939, 1943, 1947. Association of Naval Services Officers (February 27, 2007). Retrieved on March 15, 2007.

26. a b *Sontag, Sherry; and Christopher Drew, with Annette Lawrence Drew (1998). Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage. Public Affairs. ISBN:006097771X.

27. Puerto Rico Archives

28. Lieutenant General Pedro A. Del Valle, USMC. History Division. United States Marine Corps. Retrieved on October 10, 2006.

29. The Puerto Rican Soldier. El Pozo Productions (2001). Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

30. Anne Quach. Frank Bonilla became major figure in Puerto Rican studies. US Latinos and Latinas & World War II. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

31. Minority Groups in World War II. U.S. Army Center of Military History. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

32. World War II By The Numbers. The National World War II Museum (2006). Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

33. Monumento de la Recordacion. Searching For Our Roots (February 10, 2006). Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

Sources
Hispanics in the Defense of America. America USA (1996-2007). Retrieved on March 19, 2007. 

Stetson Conn, Rose C. Engelman, and Byron Fairchild (1961). U.S. Army in World War II: Guarding the United States and Its Outposts. Center of Military History, United States Army. Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

US Latinos and Latinas & World War II. University of Texas at Austin (1990-2007). Retrieved on March 18, 2007.

(1997) 65th Infantry Division. Turner Publishing. ISBN 1563111187.

del Valle, Pedro (1976). Semper fidelis: An autobiography. Christian Book Club of America. ASIN B0006COTKO.

Esteves, General Luis Raúl (1955). ¡Los Soldados Son Así!. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Star Publishing Co.. Retrieved on March 20, 2007.

Gordy, Bill (1945). Right to be proud: History of the 65th infantry division's march across Germany. J. Wimmer. ASIN B0007J8K74.

Lederer, Commander William J., USN (1950). The Last Cruise: The Story of the Sinking of the Submarine, U.S.S. Cochino. Sloane. ASIN B0007E631Y.

Special Thanks to:  My friends Ercheck and Ben Cartwright who helped in the copyediting and to my friend Miguel Hernandez who provided me with much needed information

The first character with the name Zorro (the fox) was in a 1919 pulp magazine story by Johnston McCulley. However, according to Robert Owen in a 1999 "Times of London" article, the basic features of the Zorro action-drama are from General Vicente Riva Palacio’s 1872 novel of a real life revolutionary in Mexico, "Memorias de un Impostor: Don Guillen de Lamport, King of Mexico." Also, professor Fabio Troncarelli of Viterbo University in Italy, who has spent decades searching for the original Zorro, concludes from a study of the Holy Inquisition files on Lamport that the flamboyant actions of the rebel dovetail with the character created "by a Mexican general who tried his hand at a novel" thus producing the model for Zorro.

McCulley’s Zorro is a Californian of wealth just returned from Spain, who goes about disguised, marks his enemies with a Z, and helps the oppressed Indigenous of colonial California, and in the climax of the story uses his caballero supporters to overthrow the crooked governor. Riva Palacio’s novel is but the first of two treatments he gave to Lamport; the second was in his footnoted encyclopedic history "Mexico a traves de los Siglos" . Real features of Lamport are shown in both the novel and the history. For instance, Lamport began agitating just after coming from many years in Spain - he was born in Ireland. He went about in disguise and aided by an Indigenous artist he became a master forger. A scheme to overthrow the Spanish rule in Mexico hinged upon gathering supporters among the wealthy through well placed fraudulent decrees allegedly from the the King of Spain, while foot soldiers among the poor were collected by promising abolition of slavery to blacks and liberation from serfdom for the Indigenous. Riva Palacio adds in the novel that Lamport had a fascination with the letter Z, as in twisting to that shape to escape prison. Also, Lamport is described romancing an amazing number of women. In the scholarly history Riva Palacio writes that the conspiracy "would appear to be crazy and unrealizable, but in those years, to have cleverly... brought together to his side the Indios, the blacks, the mestizos and the mulattos for the purpose of elevating them to free men with capacity to live honorable and dignified lives, the project might have been realized." In the end, however, Lamport was betrayed and imprisoned, where he remained for years as the Crown and the Holy Inquisition sought to sift through his network of conspirators and his fraudulent decrees. Concern over rebellion was intense, considering that three months before Lamport’s planned uprising the irate Bishop Palafox of the city of Puebla had launched his own revolt against the Viceroy and had assumed that office. Palafox was soon removed. Lamport was initially sentenced to only ten years, but angry officials decreed death after his recapture from a prison escape that was worthy in its complexity of McCulley’s fictional Zorro.

Below are excerpts from Riva Palacio’s novel selected to display the basic plot. The book ends with over half a hundred pages of Inquisition transcripts..

Nights were dark in the capital in these times, there being no street lights, and the residents kept their doors shut from the night time call to prayer. Few ventured into the street after this, and few of these were from the wealthier classes, and they went with their footman armed and carrying a lantern.

Don Guillen headed for the windows at the house of Henriquez, avoiding going directly through the center of the city in his route. He was confident that Dona Juana was expecting him to pass by at this hour. Don Guillen came under the window, and after a brief but passionate welcome, he took leave of Dona Juana.

"Good by, Guillen. You will come tonight?"

"I can’t. It is impossible."

"Then..."

"Tomorrow morning at eleven, as is the custom. Goodby. Close your window,"

"No, I want to watch you till you are out of sight."

Don Guillen disappeared into the shadows. Dona Juana peered into the dark. Suddenly she heard fresh steps in the street, and then he was again at the bars of her window. He handed Juana a letter saying in a rough voice.

"Read it and you will be content."

And without leaving time for a response, he left rapidly in the same direction that he had come....

Don Guillen walked a grand part of the city until arriving at a house on Santo Domingo street. He called at the door then pushed it open, stepped into a large poorly lit patio and mounted the steps to the first floor. There he was received by Don Diego de Ocana.

"Is that you, Don Guillen, " said a voice in a singular friendly tone.

"It is I, and I imagine I have made you wait a good long time." answered Don Guillen, taking a seat at his side.

"No, I just left the house of Ines."

"You were there?" asked Don Guillen with interest.

"I was and I gave your apologies to Ines, that you should be forgiven this night for not presenting yourself to her, and that you pass on, as always your respect and love."

"And what did she say?"

"That is appears that you don’t want her anymore, and for all my effort to convince her otherwise she remained sad. Why do you not devote yourself entirely to her?"

"Oh! And Dona Juana? And Guadalupe? And Carmen? ...

"But Don Guillen," interrupted Don Diego smiling, "It is impossible for you to love all these women."

"Tell me, then, what should I do?"

"Concentrate your love on one alone."

"Impossible, you know that for me it is impossible. You’ve heard: I had just been born and my father asked the my horoscope be read. The horoscope could not possibly have been more favorable for a new born. Then this very night my mother dreamed she heard the sound of the devil coming toward her on a horse of fiery red, and he said, "I am the monarch of the darkness and evil. All the blessings you give to your son will earn him gifts, and I have mine. I hear by give him the power of love over the hearts of all women. They will be happy with him and none other. But this will open other roads and it will bring him to my reign.’ At saying this the devil put his finger on my forehead, leaving in it a rose colored mark. My mother awoke screaming and crying and called to my father and to console her he brought a light close to my face. My mother gave a shout and my father jumped back trembling: the rose mark of the finger of the devil really was on my forehead."

"Although it does not appear now?

"When my heart is calm it is not visible, but scarcely can I speak to a woman than there it is in its light, the mark appears as clear as the first day. Today, I made a new victim in Clara, the daughter of the man whose life I saved yesterday." Don Guillen lowered his head, and the two remained in silence.

* * *
The bells of the cathedral had sounded their last chimes when Felipe cautiously mounted the steps of Dona Fernanda. The black woman servant received him advised the Senora of the arrival of her godson.

Dona Fernanda was engaged in pleasant conversation with a multitude of persons, who gathered nightly in her house. Seeing her black in the doorway she rushed quickly across the salon, and taking her where no one could hear, the widow asked,

"Has he arrived?"

"He is awaiting your welcome, my master," the black woman replied.

"Godson," said Dona Fernanda arriving at the where Felipe stood. "of those who live in your circle you can count Don Gaspar Henriquez and Dona Juana his daughter."

"Certainly."

"Then listen to me. Could you investigate if our Dona Juana is giving her loves to a certain caballero, and who this would be, and if he is scornful or pleased by music and serenades, and finally, do you think you might do all this, if it is possible. What do you think?"

"Madam, you know that whatever you request I will give my all to do it. But I am presently in need of money. Coins are what rule all, it seems."

"Nothing you need will be spared."

"Then this will be easily accomplished, because the house where I live is in back of the house of Henriquez, and I can observe from my terrace."

"Tomorrow then, I await the news."

"Good enough Madam, but that is little time, it would be best if you"

"You can count on me. Now I have many visitors and I ought to return soon to the living room. Take this for your expenses." Dona Fernanda took a bag of gold coins and handed it to Felipe, and without a farewell, she turned to look for her guests.

Felipe examined the coins in the light of a candle and placing the bag in a pocket of his clothes he put on his hat, threw his cape around him and left.

* * *

While Dona Fernanda spoke with Felipe in her house, Don Guillen and Don Diego left the house wrapped in their capes and with swords dangling in the open below their left arm. This was a precaution in these times in which police were almost unknown and there were an abundance of robbers,... (who by day) blended among the men and women covered in rags, dirty and sinister, part of the scene of scrawny children, diseased, pallid and completely nude, women relying on prostitution with cynicism attached to their every move, and blacks and mulattos barely dressed in more than a sheet, around whom milled a multitude of skinny dogs...

Proceeding silently across the city until arriving almost at its edge. They halted their march in front of a great building, at which they went along the side until they arrived at a small door. The entrance opened upon a once beautiful garden, now abandoned. Noisily climbing a stairway they passed through the rooms, but found all in profound gloom.

They were in the hacienda house of the Count of Roses. Don Guillen and Don Diego knew the place quite well. They lit a light and without difficulty proceeded to the bedroom where they found the Count.

Don Guillen said upon entering, "Count, we wanted to come before something came along to see if the preparations are in order for a certain event."

"All is arranged, and tonight the mysteries of Uranius will be celebrated with the greatest splendor because you know we will have to tell our companions of the happy discovery in the box."

"In effect, this night will be a pleasant one for the children of Uranius," said Don Diego.

"And it will be good luck for Anahuac to see this night," agreed the Count.

At this moment the church bells rang.

"Don Guillen," said the Count, "We will leave you and return to look for you when the hour comes."

The Count and Don Diego left closing the door behind them. Don Guillen went to one of the walls and found between the tapestry a button. He pushed it and small door opened and he went through. On the other side there was a narrow passageway the end of which was barely visible. At a door, Don Guillen called softly two times. A elderly woman of the Count opened it then closed it quickly.

Don Guillen turned and called at another door and heard a sweet voice say, "Enter."

On a sumptuous divan, cluttered with large pillows, rested a woman. She was of brown skin, with black eyes, two large pigtails of hair were curled around her head and tied in front, as if they were a crown.

At the sight of Don Guillen, the woman made a move to arise but he impeded her, and falling at her feet he passionately took her two hands.

"Always sad, my Carmen!" said Don Guillen.

"Always, except when you are here with me. And you come so few times! And you go so soon!"

"Senora, if only I could spend my life in your company."

"What an ingrate you are!" Said the woman continuing to talk at Don Guillen.

"Carmen, you know that I have to complete a sacred mission in this country."

"Yes, a mission full of dangers. Oh! I don’t know if your heart really beats for this thing you call glory."

"Carmen, it is not only glory that concerns me, I want to liberate this country, these people who are your people."

"It appears to me, Guillen, that your dreams are impossible. I know that all our men wish for the reign of a free and independent Anahuac with you proclaimed the monarch... But if they discover the plot you will be hauled in." And Carmen covered her face with her hands and began to cry softly.

Don Guillen embraced her, until Carmen asked him, "When do you believe you will launch your plan?"

"Within six months."

"And if by then it has not been launched?"

"You will know that my plan is impossible."

"Promise me then, solemnly, that if by the last day of October you have achieved nothing, we will leave here and live happily together."

"I promise you.," Don Guillen said solemnly.

At this moment there came two soft knocks on the door.

"They call me," said Don Guillen.

Carmen took one of the hands of the young man, and kissed it with passion and fell back upon the divan.

Don Guillen left quickly, struggling to hid his emotion.

The Count met Don Guillen in Carmen’s door.

"They await you," he said.

And the two traveled past various rooms to one of the more spacious quarters of the house. In the anti-room two caballeros presented Don Guillen with a plate of silver adorned with precious jewels that was held by a dangling chain of gold.

Don Guillen put the chain around his neck, and the two caballeros opened the large door and stepping inside, they announced.

"His Majesty."

The room was not that spacious, but it was adorned in interesting if not magnificent manner. At the rear was the image of Uranius, the muse of astronomy. At the other extreme, on top of a seat was a brilliant sun surrounded by four figurines.

Each of the thirty men who had come wore a pendent of the sun on their chest, hanging from a chain.

Upon the entrance of Don Guillen all rose and saluted respectfully. He crossed the room and was seated on a ceremonial chair below the sun. The Conde stood at the foot of Don Guillen and began to speak.

"Brothers, the day of the light approaches." The Count then recounted the reasons that they gathered. "In contrast to that which people previously believed, there are now those who believe that the sun is the center around which circles the earth, this the theory of Copernicus. And to believe in this one was punished by burning at the stake, on order of the Inquisition that believed the center was represented by the earth."

The Count continued saying that Helios, which is to say the sun, was the magic word for them. "Helios, is life, freedom. We need freedom for Anahuac, and in science we have seen free thought in our native land, but there is no native land without independence. We ourselves know that we need independence in this realm. And we have chosen Don Guillen for our King.

"A grave problem presents itself: one of our most illustrious brothers was assassinated in the mountain, the same day he received the box that contains the secret of the treasure of Moctezuma, and that Dona Carmen, the daughter of one of our most powerful Caciques, had hidden.

"Viva!" all responded with enthusiasm, but without raising their voices.

"Then Don Guillen gave the signal that he was about to speak and the reign of silence was profound.

"You have confided in me," said Don Guillen, "you have chosen me to lead you. The moment has arrived to act, and for you to know my plans. Before all, it is necessary that you authorize me to be the Viceroy of New Spain."

"I know an Indio quite adept at falsifying seals. He is willing to work for me to write decrees and letters of King Felipe IV that declare me the Viceroy and Capitaine General of New Spain."

"These letters and decrees will come in a closed and sealed envelope. Thereby the principle gentlemen of this city will turn their loyalty from the Marquis de Villena, present Viceroy, and these people will come to the Palace and give me possession of the government.

"The time of arrival at the Palace is preciously when all of you will be there, bringing at the least five hundred men well armed and determined to sustain us in case the Marquis de Villena attempts to resist. The majority will aid us, believing they are defenders of the rights of Spain.

"Once in possession of the government, we will augment our troops. I will publish an edict that offers freedom to all blacks and mulattos who wish to assist us in our plan. And as we help these, so will Indios receive the rights to seek respectable and lucrative employment and public offices.

"Then the freedom of this realm will be decreed, without deceit, and there will be my elevation to the thone. If I should be denounced and taken to the jail of the Inquisition, and my body put at their mercy, you can rest assured that the most horrible tortures will not part from my lips the name of a single one of you.

"If such should happen to occur, I implore you to continue the work which we begin. I swear to you: There will be freedom for Anahuac and your thone for me, or death at the stake of the Holy Inquisition."

Don Guillen was quiet and a terrible silence reigned in the room.

(In the chapters which follow the success of Bishop Palafox’s rebellion does not deter Don Guillen, but his plans are exposed by Felipe, who seeks to win the hand of the woman to whom Don Guillen appears closest, Dona Inez. From his spying, Felipe had learned the run of Don Guillen’s lovers and arranges that they all gather together and learn of his amours and confront him. Subsequently, a distraught Don Guillen is turned into the Inquisition by Felipe, who secretly received a large reward, and then marries a despondent Inez. Of the other women, some enter convents, some die depressed, and the Jewish Juana suffers exposure of her faith and dies in prison. - a subplot of the novel is life in the secret Jewish community in which Juana is known as Rebecca.

( It is sixteen years before Guillen’s "auto de fe,." in part because he was first sentenced to only ten years. Then he escaped, - in the novel by use of his favorite letter z. Once free, Guillen seeks revenge on the Inquisition by plastering doorways with secrets of the institution that he learned in prison. Re-captured, his execution is delayed in Inquisition bureaucracy and by orders of the King of Spain who was not pleased at the church after its Bishop seized his Viceroy post. At the novel’s climax, Inez, much regretting her marriage to the cruel Felipe, learns of the reward he received for exposing Guillen. The revelation comes shortly before Don Guillen is to be paraded through the streets to burn at the stake, a parade of such victims being the custom. The parade passes below the window of Inez and she insists, over Felipe’s objection, upon watching him go by. At the sight of Don Guillen a love repressed for sixteen years wells to the front. )

* * *

Don Guillen understood in the look of Dona Inez that here was a woman that had not forgotten him, and he recognized that he loved her and that she loved him, and he felt a pain in his heart that she would be at the side of his tomb. To be found and yet lost again was a worse horror than the coming death. He realized he had finally found one love on this earth, but it would last only a few instants.

The eyes of Dona Inez and Don Guillen met, and a bolt of lightening crossed between them.

"Dona Inez," exclaimed Don Guillen, with a voice filled with such sorrow as his body trembled.

"Guillen," she murmured silently, having to hold herself to keep from fainting.

"Heretic!" shouted Felipe, with a burning hatred, "Heretic."

...Don Guillen counted he had but a few moments of life, and what life, the hellish torment of the flames, more than this, moments to pass in the agony of watching the face of a woman that loved him, because he read in the eyes of Dona Inez that she had not come there to enjoy his torments, for the diversion of his agony, but to accompany him, although she would do so from afar in a terrible trance.

From this moment Don Guillen did not separate his eyes from those of Dona Inez, and both, in low voice, began to murmur goodbys, scarcely moving their lips but feeling it.

"Adios, my angel," said Dona Inez, "Adios, heaven opens to receive you, poor and noble martyr. I am with you and your executioner. I burn with you on this pire, but if you could feel the hell that I feel in my heart, if you could see what is in my heart, you would easier expire on the pire, oh, that you feel and you know I feel... Goodby my dear love, soon I will follow you, but not before you are avenged.

"Adios," said Don Guillen, "Adios, noble woman who comes to give your life watching my agony and my death, but you do not abandon the horrible sight, how I love you, I know now real love, and I am going. Adios. I do not know if there is more after this earth, but if love guards memory of life, you will be always my love. Goodby, Goodby."

The executioner brought the burning torch to the resin covered kindling that formed the pire on which the victim was suspended.

Flames lept with a dense smoke and one heard a terrible shriek to which their came quickly an answer.

The first had come from Guillen, feeling the flames rapidly burning his body, the second from Inez, who fainted into the arms of Felipe. The fire consumed the clothes and hair of Guillen and enveloped his body in smoke and flames.

For a time the body twisted and jerked in desperation and pain and gave groans and strident shouts.

Later, after the frantic agitation, the body was immobile and in a resigned posture, suspended by the bonds that held him to the post. Don Guillen was already dead, and his body "was reduced to cinders" according to the order of the officer in charge.

Dona Inez recovered and rose to her feet. And her eyes searched for Don Guillen, but she could not see him, in the place where only a few moments before she had gazed for the last time, there existed no more than a black mass that gave off torrents of black and pestilent smoke, crackling and boiling, representing the most repugnant of spectacles.

Dona Inez did not take her eyes away from the body on the bonfire for even an instant.

... Finally, all had been reduced to a mountain of smoking ashes, stirred and stirred again by the executioners flinging a spark here and there. Then the ashes and bone chards were collected, as was the custom, and discarded in a large water carrying drainage ditch. The sentence was complete: Don Guillen was no more than ashes.

Night had closed in completely and the cold wind that blew seemed to moan through the branches of the trees.

The people, tired and spent, had already retired and the place of execution was almost deserted. One could see only two people, standing in silence.

They were Felipe and Inez.

Dona Inez had kept a tenacious fixation in her gaze upon the spot. She had not again fainted, nor cried, nor sighed.

Felipe, in contrast had become convulsive, his breathing uneven, and sweat had poured down his face.

Dona Inez looked at him serenely and said in a horse voice, "Are you satisfied? Is your revenge satiated?"

"This was too much, too much," he exclaimed his two hands in front of his face.

"Then the hour is mine and I take it, you bastard!" And with the velocity of a light ray Dona Inez lept upon Felipe and buried a dagger in his heart.

"This is a good death," she said, and she walked slowly to the drainage ditch that contained the ashes of Don Guillen.

"In death was are united," she exclaimed as she fell into the water.

An official of the Inquisition walking by exclaimed, "Someone fell into the water."

There was no movement from the body covered with wet ash.

Translation of Riva Palacio by Ted Vincent, Translation of commentary by Julia Menard-Warwick

Don Guillén no se dirigió directamente al centro de la cuidad. Paso por delante de las ventanas de la casa Henríquez. Sin duda debía ser cosa sabida por doña Juana que el pasaría por allí a esa hora, puesto que ella estaba en espera. Don Guillén se acerco y después de un breve pero apasionado saludo se despidió de doña Juana.

"Adiós, Guillén, ¿Vendrás esta noche?

"No puedo, es imposible.

"Entonces…

"Mañana a las once como de costumbre; adiós. Cierra tu ventana.

"No; quiero mirarte hasta que te pierdan mis ojos.

Don Guillén desapareció entre las sombra. Doña Juana lo siguió con la vista. Repentinamente oyó pasos en la calle, muy cerca de la ventana, un embozado pasaba por la calle, y al estar enfrente de la reja, arrojo una carta a Doña Juana diciéndole con voz ronca:

"Leed, que os va la felicidad.

Y sin darle tiempo de contestar, se alejo rápidamente por el mismo camino por el que había vendido...

Don Guillén camino gran parte de la ciudad hasta llegar a una casa en la calle de Santo Domingo; llamo a la puerta que se abrió en el momento, atravesó un patio grande y mal alumbrado, y subió las escaleras hasta el piso principal. Allí lo recibió Don Diego de Ocaña.

"¿Sois vos, Don Guillén? " dijo con un acento de singular cariño.

"Yo soy, y quizás os habré hecho esperar mucho tiempo, " contesto Don Guillén tomando asiento a su lado.

"No, que casi acabo de llegar de casa de Inés.

"¿Estuvisteis allá? " preguntó Don Guillén con interés.

" Estuve y di vuestras disculpas a Ines, diciéndole que os perdonase si esta noche no podíais ir a presentarle, como siempre, los respetos de vuestro amor.

"¿Y o dijo?...

"Que le parecía que ya no la querías tanto; a por mas que me esforcé en convencerla, quedo triste. ¿Por qué no os dedicáis enteramente a ella?

"¡Oh! ¿Y Doña Juana? ¿Y Guadalupe? ¿Y Carmen?...

"Pero, Don Guillén," le interrumpió Don diego sonriéndose, "es imposible que podáis amar a todas esas mujeres."

"Pero decidme, ¿Qué debo hacer?"

"Reconcentrar vuestro amor en una sola."

"Imposible; os juro que para mi es imposible. Oid; siendo niño me contaron que mi padre pidió que me leyeran el horóscopo. Este horóscopo jamás había sido mas favorable para un recién nacido. Ese noche, mi madre sonó que el diablo llegaba junto a su lecho en la figura de un caballero vestido de color de fuego y le decía: "Yo soy el monarca de la tinieblas y del mal: el que todo lo puede ha bendecido a tu hijo y le ha dado sus dones; quiero darle yo también de los míos: yo le señalare para darle el poder del amor sobre los corazones de las mujeres; será feliz con ellas como ningún otro, pero esto le apartara de otros caminos y le traerá a mi reino." Y al decir esto, el diablo puso su dedo sobre mi frente, dejándome en ella una mancha rojiza. Mi madre se despertó espantada y, llorando, llamo a mi padre, y el para consolarla, trajo una luz y la acerco a mi rostro. Mi madre lanzo un grito y mi padre retrocedió temblando: realmente había aparecido en mi frente la mancha rojiza del dedo del diablo.

"¿Y aun la tenéis?"

"Cuando mi corazón esta en calma no se distingue; pero apenas hablo a una mujer y siento por ella la mas ligera ilusión, la mancha aparece tan clara como el primer día. Hoy mismo he visto una nueva victima en Clara, la jija del hombre que salvamos ayer. Don Guillén inclino la cabeza y los dos quedaron en silencio.

* * *
Sonaban en la Catedral las ultimas campanadas de la queda, cuando Felipe subía con precaución las escaleras de Doña Fernanda. La negra que lo recibió fue a avisar a su señora de la llegada de su ahijado.

Doña Fernanda estaba en alegre conversación con la multitud de personas que concurrían todas las noches a su casa. Al ver a la negra, atravesó rápidamente el salón. Cuando ambas llegaron a un aposento en donde se encontraron a solas, la viuda pregunto:

"¿Ha llegado?"

"Esta aguardando a su merced mi ama," contesto la negra.

"Ahijado," decía Doña Fernanda al llegar a donde estaba Felipe, "entre las personas que viven en tu misma manzana, viven Don Gaspar Henríquez y Doña Juana, su hija."

"Ciertamente."

"Pues escúchame. ¿Podrías averiguar si la dicha doña Juana trata de amores con algún caballero, y quien es este, y si es desdeñosa o gusta de música y serenatas, y en fin, todo lo que hace, y si es posible, hasta lo que piensa?"

"Madrina, sabe vuesa merced que se puede hacer todo para servirla: pero se necesita dinero, que las monedas son el todo."

"Nunca te he negado nada."

"Pues con eso la cosa es muy fácil, porque la casa donde vivo esta a espaldas de la casa de Henríquez, y desde el terrado pondré quien vigile."

"Mañana quiero todas esas noticias.

"Bueno madrina; es poco tiempo, pero haré lo que pueda.

"Puedes retirarte; tengo muchas visitas y debo volver pronto a la sala. Tomar para tus gastos." Doña Fernanda saco de su bolso unas monedas de oro que entrego a Felipe, y sin despedirse el volvió a buscar a sus convidados.

Felipe examino a la luz de una vela las monedas y guardándoselas en una bolsa de su traje, se puso el sombrero, se cubrió con la capa y salio.

* * *

Al mismo tiempo que Doña Fernanda hablaba con Felipe en su casa, Don Guillén y Don Diego salían de casa de estos embozados en sus capas y con la espada desnuda bajo el brazo izquierdo. Esta era un precaución en aquellos tiempos en que casi no se conocía a la policía y abundaban los ladrones … (que por día mezclan con) hombres y mujeres cubiertos de harapos, sucios y de aspecto sinistro; nonos débiles, enfermizos, pálidos, completamente desnudos; muchos que revelaban la prostitución y el cinismo en sus mas insignificantes acciones; negros y mulatos, sin mas vestido, algunos de ellos, que una sabana, de color indefinible; y multitud de perros flacos…

Caminaron silenciosamente mucho tiempo rumbo al sur hasta llegar casi al extremo de la ciudad. Se detuvieron frente a una gran edificación. Le dieron la vuelta hasta llegar al lado opuesto y entraron por una puerta pequeña. El lugar donde se encontraban debía haber sido un jardín delicioso, ahora abandonado. Subieron por una escalera ruidosa y penetraron en las habitaciones; pero todo estaba en la más profunda oscuridad.

Aquella era la casa de campo del conde de Rojas. Don Guillén y Don Diego la conocían muy bien. Encendieron una mecha y llegaron sin dificultad al aposento en el que estaba el conde.

"Conde," dijo Don Guillén entrando, " hemos procurado llegar antes que alguien venga por si hay que preparar alguna cosa."

"Toda esta dispuesto, y esta noche los misterios de Urania se celebraran con mayor esplendor porque sabéis que hay que decirles a los compañeros del feliz hallazgo a la caja.

"En efecto, esta noche será de contento para los hijos de Urania," dijo Don Diego.

"Y la suerte del Anahuac va a decidirse esta noche," agrego el conde.

En ese momento sonó una campanilla.

"Comienzan a llegar," dijo Don Diego. "Don Guillén," agrego el conde, "os dejamos y volveremos a buscaros cuando sea hora."

El conde y Don Diego salieron cerrando tras ellos la puerta. Don Guillén se acerco a uno de los muros y busco entre el tapiz un botón, lo oprimió y se abrió una pequeña puerta por la que se deslizo. Detrás de aquella puerta había un pasillo angosto yen el fondo estaba una entrada parecida. 
Don Guillén llamo suavemente dos veces. Una mujer ya anciana fue la que abrió y, tan luego contó entro el conde, volvió a cerrar.

Don Guillén llamo a otra puerta, y se oyó una voz dulcisima que decía: "Adelante."

En un soberbio diván, formado de grandes almohadones, estaba recostada una mujer. 
Era morena, de ojos negros’ dos gruesas trenzas de pelo daban vuelta alrededor de su cabeza y sobre su frente, como si fueran una diadema.

Al ver a Don Guillén, aquella mujer hizo un movimiento para levantarse pero el lo impidió, arrodillándose a sus pies y tomándole apasionadamente as dos manos.

"Siempre triste, mi Carmen!" dijo Don Guillén.

"Siempre, menos cuando tu estas aquí. ¡Y vienes tan pocas veces! ¡Y te vas tan pronto!"

"Señora, si pudiera pasaría mi vida a tus plantas."

"¡Que ingrato eras!" continuo sin dejar hablar a Don Guillén.

"Carmen, tu sabes que tengo que cumplir una misión sagrada en este país…"

"Si, una misión llena de peligros. ¡Oh!, yo no se como tu corazón puede latir para eso que llamas gloria…"

"Carmen, no es solo la gloria lo que me preocupa; quiero hacer libre este país, este pueblo que es tu pueblo…"

"Me parece, Guillén, que suenas un imposible. Sé que todos esos hombres que pretenden hacer de Anahuac un reino independiente te han proclamado su monarca… Pero si llegan a descubrirte, te encarcelaran..."  Y Carmen se cubrió el rostro con las manos y comenzó a llorar silenciosamente.

Don Guillén la abrazo hasta que Carmen le pregunto: "¿Cuándo crees que estarán realizados tus planes?"

"Dentro de seis meses"

"¿Y si para entonces no se ha conseguido nada?"

"Sabré que mi empresa es imposible."

"Prométeme, entonces, solemnemente, que si para el último DIA de octubre no se ha conseguido nada, partiremos lejos de aquí a vivir felices."

"Te lo juro,"dijo solemnemente Don Guillén.

En ese momento sonaron dos golpes suaves en la puerta.

"Me llaman," exclamo Don Guillén.

Carmen tomo una de las manos del joven, la beso con pasión y se dejo caer en el diván.

Don Guillén salio precipitadamente, procurando ocultar su emoción.

El conde esperaba a Don Guillén en la puerta de Carmen.

"Os esperan," le dijo.

Y los dos se dirigieron, pasando por varias habitaciones, a uno de los salones mas apartados de la casa. Al llegar a una antesala, dos caballeros le presentaron a Don Guillén, en una gran bandeja de plata, un sol formado de piedras preciosas pendiente de una cadena de oro.

Don Guillén colgó en su cuello aquella alhaja, los dos caballeros abrieron una gran puerta y penetraron anunciando:

"Su majestad."

El salón no era muy grande pero estaba curiosa y magníficamente adorando. En el fondo se veía la imagen de Urania, la musa de la astronomía. En el otro extremo, encima de un sitial, había un sol resplandeciente rodeado de cuatro figuras.

Los treinta hombres que había allí llevaban sobre su pecho un sol pendiente de una cadena.

Al presentarse Don Guillen, todos se levantaron y saludaron respetuosamente. El atravesó el salón y fue a sentarse en el sitial que estaba debajo del sol. El conde se quedo de pie cerca de Don Guillén y comenzó a hablar:

"Hermanos, el día de la luz se aproxima." 
El conde entonces recordó las razones que los unían. En contra de lo que se pensaba entonces, ellos creían que el sol era el centro alrededor del cual giraba la tierra; esta era la teoría de Copernico. Y creer esto era castigado con la hoguera, ya que la
Inquisición opinaba que el centro lo representaba la tierra.

El conde siguió diciendo que por eso Helios, es decir sol, era la palabra mágica entre ellos. "Pero Helios es luz, vida, libertad; nosotros necesitamos la libertad para el Anahuac, y en la ciencia hemos visto la libertad, y la libertad comienza en la patria y no hay patria sin independencia. Vosotros lo sabéis; un día juramos aquí mismo hacer independiente este reino. Y aquí juramos también a Don Guillén por nuestro rey.

"Una grave dificultad se presento; uno de nuestros mas ilustres hermanos fue asesinado en la montana, el mismo día en que había recibido la caja en que estaba la noticia del tesoro de Moctezuma, y que
Doña Carmen, la hija de uno de nuestros mas poderosos caciques, tenia oculta.

"Esa caja era la clave, puesto que nuestra empresa exige muchos gastos. Tres anos se ha buscado en vano. Por fin Don Guillén, a riesgo de su propia vida, la trae a nuestro poder.

"Hela aquí.  El conde levanto en sus manos la caja de encino y dijo: "Ya no hay obstáculos: el día ha llegado. ¡Viva su majestad el rey de Anahuac!

"¡Viva!," contestaron todos con entusiasmo pero sin levantar la voz.

Entonces Don Guillen hizo señal de que iba a hablar, y reino el silencio mas profundo.

"Habéis confiado en mi," dijo Don Guillen; " me habéis elegido para que os conduzca. Ha llegado el momento de actuar y necesito que conozcáis mis planes. Ante todo, es necesario que yo me apodere del virreinato de la Nueva España.

"Conozco un indio muy hábil para falsificar sellos. De el me serviré para escribir cedulas y cartas de Felipe IV en las que me nombra virrey y capitán general de la Nueva España.

"Esas cartas y cedulas vendrán en pliego cerrado y sellado. Ahí se advertirá a los señores principales de esta ciudad de la deslealtad del marques de Villena, actual virrey, para que estas personas me lleven a Palacio a darme posesión del gobierno.

"Al tiempo de llegar a Palacio, es preciso que todos vosotros estéis allí, llevando por lo menos quinientos hombres bien armados y decididos, para sostener en caso de que el marques de Villena pretendiese resisten. La majaría nos ayudara, creyéndonos defensores de los derechos de España.

"El posesión y del gobierno, aumentaremos nuestras tropas. Publicaré un edicto, ofreciendo la libertad a todos los negros y mulatos que quieran ayudarme en mi empresa. Y otro para que tanto estos como los indios puedan obtener puestos y oficios públicos, decorosos y lucrativos.

"Entonces se publicaran ya sin engaño la libertad de este reino y de este reino y mi elevación al trono. "Si por una denuncia llegar la garra de la Inquisición a apoderarse de mi persona, podéis descansar tranquilos, que los tormentos mas espantosos no arrancaran de mis labios el nombre de uno solo de vosotros.

"Si tal llegare a suceder, yo os amonesto para que continuéis la obra que hemos emprendido. "Yo he jurado: o la libertad para el Anahuac y su trono para mi, o la muerte en la hoguera del Santo Oficio."

Don Guillén callo y un silencio terrible reino en el salón.

((En los siguiente capítulos, no impide a Don Guillen el éxito de la rebelión del Obispo Palaofox, pero revela sus planes Felipe, el cual quiere casarse con Doña Ines, la mujer con quien Don Guillen parece más íntimo. Espiando, el Felipe ha descubierto a todas las amantes de Don Guillen, y entonces organiza una reunión de ellas en que se informan de sus amores y enfrentan a él. Después, Felipe se lo entrega al turbado Don Guillen a la Inquisición, por lo cual recibe en secreto una recompensa muy grande, y se casa con la deprimida Ines. Entre las otras mujeres de Don Guillen, algunas se mueren desilusionadas, otras se ingresan en conventos, y la judía Juana sufre la exposición de su religión y se muere en prisión—una intriga secundaria de esta novela es la vida en la comunidad judía secreta en que la Juana se llama Rebeca.

Pasan dieciseis años hasta el auto de fe de Guillen, en parte por que se lo condena primero a solo diez años en prisión. Después se escapa—en la novela por emplear su letra favorita, la z. Ya libre, Guillen se venga en la Inquisición cubriendo puertas con los secretos de la institución, los cuales ha aprendido en la prisión. Capturado otra vez, se demora su ejecución por la burocracia de la Inquisición y también por órdenes del Rey de España, enfadado con la Iglesia desde el Obispo se hizo Virrey. En el punto culminante de la novela, Ines, muy arrepentida de su matrimonio con el cruel Felipe, aprende que ha recibido recompensa por la entrega de Guillen. Lo descubre un poco antes de que se haga marchar a Guillen por las calles al auto de fe, según el costumbre. El desfile pasa abajo de la ventana de Ines, y insiste ella en mirarlo pasar, a pesar de la protesta de Felipe. Al ver a Don Guillen, surge un amor reprimido por dieciseis años. ))

* * *

Don Guillen comprendió en la mirada de Doña Inés que aquella mujer nunca le habia olvidado; conoció que le amaba aun, y sintió un dolor espantoso en el corazón; la volvió a ver ya al lado de su tumba. Iba a la muerte con resignación; mas desde aquel momento la muerte le causo horror. Había encontrado ya un ser que le amase sobre la tierra; pero aquel amor debía durar pocos instantes.

"Guillen," murmuro ella sordamente, teniendo que sujetarse de la reja para no caer desmayada.

"¡Hereje!" Grito Felipe con el estertor del odio más reconcentrado, "¡Hereje!"

Y todo aquello paso en menos de un minuto…

((Brota una discusión muy violenta entre Ines y Felipe. Insiste ella en que vayan al auto de fe. Él está furioso por la amor de ella a Guillen, y consiente acompañarla para ver su muerte. La Ines se abre camino por la multitud, y llega exactamente delante de Guillen al momento en que se enciende la leña.))

…Don Guillen no contaba ya sino con algunos minutos de vida, a ¡que vida!, los tormentos infernales de la hoguera: mas esos minutos de espantosa agonía los iba a pasar mirando siguiera el rostro de una mujer que le amaba, porque el leía en los ojos de Doña Inés que no había venido allí por gozar de sus tormentos, por divertirse con su agonía, sino por acompañarlo, aunque fuese de lejos, en tan terrible trance.

Desde ese momento Don guillen no quiso separar sus ojos de los de Doña Inés y ambos, en voz baja, comenzaron a murmurar su despidida, moviendo apenas los labios, pero adivinándose.

"Adiós, ángel mil – decía Doña Inés . Adiós: el cielo se abre para recibirte, pobre y noble mártir. Yo te entregue a tus verdugos; yo soy la que enciendo esa hoguera; pero si tu pudieras comprender el infierno que siento dentro de mi alma’ si tu pudieras ver lo que pasa en mi corazón, querrías mejor expirar en la hoguera que sentir lo que lo siento. ¡Oh!, si con mi sangre, con mi vida, con la salvación de mi alma pudiera libertarte de esa muerte, con cuanto gusto perdería mi existencia, condenaría mi alma .Adios, adios, mi bien, mi amor; pronto te seguiré; pero antes quedaras vengado.

"Adiós," decía Don Guillen, "adiós, noble mujer, que vienes a despedazar tu alma mirando mi agonía y mi muerte, pero que no me abandonas en este horrible trance: cuanto te amo, único ser que me ama en el mundo; ya me voy, adiós. No sé que habrá mas allá de esta tierra; pero si el alma guarda memoria de la vida; tuya será siempre mi alma. Adiós, adiós."

El verdugo introdujo la tea encendida entre la leña cubierta de resina, que formada la pira en que estaba parada la victima.

Se alzo rápidamente la llama rodeada de un humo denso, y se escucho un alarido terrible, al que contesto otro en el momento.

El primero lo había lanzado Guillen, al sentir las llamas que quemaban repentinamente su cuerpo; el otro era de Doña Inés, que cayo desmayada en los brazos de Felipe.  El fuego se apodero de la ropa y de los cabellos de Don Guillen envolviéndole en un manto de humo y de llamas.

Durante algún tiempo se vio a aquel cuerpo retorcerse con desesperación, y estremecerse de dolor, y lanzar gemidos ahogados y gritos estridentes. 

Doña Inés volvió en si. Se puso de pie, y sus ojos buscaron a Don Guillen; pero ya no le vio; en el lugar en que pocos momentos antes le había contemplado por ultima vez, no existía mas que una masa negra, que ardía lanzando torrentes de negro y pestilente humo, crujiendo e hirviendo, y representando el mas repugnante de los espectáculos.

Doña Inés no apartaba un momento sus ojos de aquel cuerpo que se consumía en la hoguera.

Al fin todo quedo reducido a un montón de cenizas humeantes que, movidas y removidas de nuevo por los verdugos, arrojaban al aire un que otra chispa.  
Entonces todas aquellas cenizas fueran recogidas y arrojadas a una de las acequias (zanzas o canales por conducción de aguas) de los arreadores. La sentencia estaba cumplida; Don Guillen no quedaban ya ni las cenizas.

La noche había cerrado completamente, y soplaba un viento frió que parecía gemir entre las ramas de los árboles.

Toda la gente, cansada, se había retirado ya, y el lugar de la ejecución estaba casi desierto. En aquel silencio y en aquella soledad podían, sin embargo, distinguirse dos personas:

Eran… Felipe y Doña Inés.

Doña Inés tubo una tenaz fijeza en su mirada hasta el último instante. No volvió a desmayarse, ni a llorar, ni a suspirar.

Felipe, por el contrario, estaba convulso; sus respiración era desigual, y de cuando en cuando se secaba el sudor abundante y frió que llenaba su frente.

Doña Inés se volvió a el serena y, con voz ronca le dijo:

"¿Estas satisfecho? ¿Tu venganza esta saciada?"

"¡Esto es demasiado, demasiado!," Exclamo el, como volviendo en sí y llevando sus dos manos a la frente. "Pues ahora a mi me toca, ¡infama!" Y con la velocidad de un rayo, Doña Inés se arrojo sobre Felipe y le hundió en el corazón una daga.

"Está bien muerto," dijo levantándose, y se dirigió lentamente a la acequia en donde había visto arrojar las cenizas de Guillen.

"¡La muerta nos une!" exclamo, y se arrojo al agua.

"Alguien ha caído al agua," dijo uno de los del Santo Oficio, y corrió a ver.

Pero apenas se movía ya la superficie de aquel cenagoso deposito.

(In legend it is said the Lamport cheated the Inquisitors at the auto de fe by managing to strangle himself to death on his ropes before dying in the flames..)

This blog is posted by Louis F. Serna, historian, author, and genealogist who developed the earliest family history of the "Sernas" of New Mexico, descended from the de la Sernas of Spain. His genealogical research is the basis for current studies of Serna families today. http://www.sernasoftheworld.blogspot.com

Lou Serna writes:  I was born and raised in Springer, NM in northern New Mexico. My maternal family are the Vigil family from the Mora - Chacon area. I graduated from Cimarron High School where I met and married my sweetheart of close to 50 years...! Gloria Martinez de Serna. We live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. View my complete profile http://www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=2133362056301688866&widgetType=
Profile&widgetId=Profile1&action=editWidget

From 1997 until 2006, I produced a family history newsletter about my family, the Sernas of New Mexico. I had previously done some 40 years of research on my Serna family, taking that history back from me, through the years back to 1626 when my first ancestor, Luis Diego de la Serna came to what is now New Mexico in 1625. I then went back through the family's history in Spain when we were the "De La Serna" family, to 1360 in the mountains in the north of Spain. I wrote a book titled: "The Sernas of New Mexico, a Family History" in which I documented that family history and included a genealogy of 20 generations, and much more. I wrote several other books about historical people, places and events that in many way affected the development of the state of New Mexico and even of the United States. In 2005 I wrote another book titled: "The Sernas of the World" in which I included much of our family history, but also added a great deal of new information regarding the family's origins before 1360, into the region of the Middle East..! I also included many conversations and newly discovered family history from distant cousins in Argentina, Cuba, France, Spain, and even the Ukraine..! In postings that will follow, I plan to share that history I mentioned, and a great deal more..! I hope you will enjoy and learn from the postings that follow. I also hope that as you did before, with the Serna Newsletter, that you will send me your questions, news items, pictures, and anything that you would like to share with my worldwide Serna family and others..! Louis Serna

In the latest issue, at http://.www.sernasoftheworld.blogspot.com , I am highlighting the famous Mexican American actor, Pepe Serna who is featured in over 300 films and other venues. Please visit my site and consider sharing my blog site with your readers as another way that some of us try to promote our wonderful Hispanic family history.  http://sernasoftheworld.blogspot.com/

by Judge Edward F. Butler, SR.
http://www.sar.org/mxssar/spinvo-2.htm

Go to the site for Part 2
Part 2: Bernardo Galvez Drives the British from the South

In August 1776, General Charles Henry Lee, second in command under George Washington sent Capt. George Gibson, a Virginian, with a group of 16 American colonists, from Ft. Pitt to New Orleans, to obtain supplies from Spain. Lee's request included guns, gun powder, blankets and medicine. New Orleans businessman, Oliver Pollock introduced Capt. Gibson to Spanish Governor Unzaga, who agreed to supply the colonists. The following month, Spain sent 9,000 pounds of gunpowder to the colonists up the Mississippi River, and an additional 1,000 pounds by ship to Philadelphia.

In October 1777, Patrick Henry wrote two letters to General Galvez, and another in January 1778. In each of those letters he requested more supplies. Henry also suggested in those letters that the two Floridas that Spain lost to England in 1763 should revert back to Spain.

In March 1778, U.S. Captain James Willing left Ft. Pitt with an expedition of 30 men. They raided and plundered British forts and property along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. They captured boats, barges, an armed British ship, and slaves. When Willing arrived in New Orleans with his rag tag flotilla of boats, the expedition had grown to 150 men. Galvez welcomed Willing and his men. He provided them with quarters and gave them free reign of the city. They auctioned off their British plunder. With the proceeds, they purchased military supplies for the Continental army from Galvez for their return trip.

George Rogers Clark received a considerable amount of his supplies which he used in his victories over the British at Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes in 1778-1779, up the Mississippi River from Galvez. Again, Oliver Pollock was instrumental in the transactions.

Galvez knew that a formal declaration of war was soon to come. Under the guise of recruiting an army for the defense of New Orleans, he prepared for formal war. Up until 21 June 1779, all of Spain's support for the colonists was secret. Much of the support was funneled through the French government, which took credit for these gifts and loans. On 21 June 1779 Spain formally declared war upon Great Britain.

Sent by Rafael Ojeda

MacArthur Park - Mama's Hot Tamales Café, 
2124 West 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90057

FREE ADMISSION
http://www.eastlosangeles.net/tamalefestival 

The school district has set aside $60 million to start public-private partnerships.

Garfield High math teacher Jaime Escalante taught his inner-city students advanced-placement calculus, winning national attention in 1982 for their high test scores and inspiring the 1998 movie starring Lou Diamond Phillips.

Photo text: A suspicious fire gutted the 1925 auditorium of Garfield High School in East L.A. (LAUSD

Looking forward to being with you
Eva Booher  EvaBooher@aol.com 
Santa Monica, 310-451-3216
Please call for address

Thank you. RafaelOjeda
RSNOJEDA@aol.com
Tacoma,WA

Click here to access a copy of the complaint: http://www.aclu.org/votingrights/minority/30081prs20070611.html

Daniel Levitas
State Legislative Strategies for Felon Enfranchisement 
c/o ACLU Voting Rights Project 
2600 Marquis One Tower 
245 Peachtree Center Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30303
Tel: 404-523-2721 x 213    Cell: 404-290-3214
dlevitas@aclu.org

Sent by Dorinda Moreno

A little bit of Old Los Angeles might be coming to the Truckee Meadows if developer James Clark and the Nevada Hispanic Services have their way.

The general manager for Incline Village-based Sierra Bouquet VII and the nonprofit want to build a Latino marketplace, named Mariposa Village, at 3860 Neil Road, with a Latino-owned bank, restaurants and about 36 booths selling Latin American wares.

The principals go before the Washoe County Planning Commission Monday for a slight modification to the existing mixed-use zoning, Clark said. Clark's concept is similar to Los Angeles's Olvera Street, which has been an institution in Southern California since the 1920s, in that the aim is to become a center for Latino commerce.

"There is nothing like this in the whole state of Nevada," said Jesse Gutierrez, executive director for NHS, whose organization partners with both private and public entities for such programs as a youth outreach program or immigration help.

Gutierrez is hoping the Mariposa Village will become a major funding source for Nevada Hispanic Services. Still, Gutierrez said the project will help the entire Latino business community.

"There is only, I believe, eight (Latino-owned banks) in the nation, so we would have one here that would help with the growth of the Hispanic community and the need for financial education," Gutierrez said. "Secondly, the whole project will help business development for entrepreneurs who might want to start their business in a project like this."

If the project comes to fruition, which Clark said could take six to eight months to complete once permitting is complete, NHS will get its own building on the grounds. And the first phase of the project, the Mariposa Academy of Language and Learning, which already exists, will be expanded.  Also, senior housing, which will cost at most 30 percent of the tenant's income, is planned for the second and third floors above the market.

It has felt like a new beginning, to know more and more about the Mexican-American culture in this country, filled with discovered emotions and enjoyable experiences. One of these experiences was my attendance at the presentation of Denise Chavez this past Monday, March 19, 2007 in the Brazos Gallery of Richland College. This magnificent director, teacher, actress, and writer is the executive director of the Border-Book festival, a non-profit organization founded in 1995 by a group of writers, artists, and community people committed to celebrating literature and the art of story in the southern United States—Northern Mexico border region. The Border Book Festival is a catalyst between many different groups and organizations including city, state and government agencies, schools, businesses, and community centers. During the entire year, this tire-less woman works to organize and direct a vast group of Mexican-American artists and hundreds of volunteers (most of them young students) in order to pull off the different events in Mesilla, New Mexico, El Paso, Texas, and Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Among the upcoming events are: the tribute to Pedro Infante (Mexican Idol 1917-1957) this next April 15 in Mesilla, NM., The 13th Annual Border Book Festival that this year will count on the presence of Sandra Cisneros, Martin Espada, David Romo, Osvaldo Ogaz, and Perla Batalla among many others. This event will take place in Mesilla, NM from the 20th to the 22nd of April. The Crossing Borders Studies Seminar will be in Mesilla, NM for two days with two other days of field study in El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico from May 13th through May 17th.

Denise Chavez was born in Las Cruces, NM on the 15th of October, 1948. Only a little after she was born, her parents divorced and she was raised by the three women of her family, her mother and two sisters. From the time she was a little girl she had a great inspiration to write. Her home was always filled with tales, stories, and anecdotes of all types. Because it was Las Cruces, a city where the Anglo and Hispanic cultures had been conjugating for over two-hundred years, the influences in her were determinant and became another motive for her to write about what she say and heard in her surroundings.

Chavez has written plays since 1970. She studied drama at New Mexico State University, receiving her undergraduate degree in 1971. She later received her master’s degree from Trinity University in 1974, and later received an additional graduate degree in creative writing from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. In 1989, Chavez was a delegate for the Organization of International Arts, a part of a U.S.-Soviet relations group, traveling to and acting in Russia. The themes of her plays come from the experiences and problems that Chicanos face, and can be contributed to personal events concerning the people around her. In her plays, she incorporates bilingualism, using words in Spanish without translation or changing the text into cursives or italics, as many authors do. She respects the importance of knowing her own tongue and the benefits of speaking two languages.

Hispanic Heritage is something that Chavez feels deeply proud of, and she transmits this feeling in every line of her plays just as much as in every phrase that she speaks in an auditorium, classroom, and even in table conversation. I have the fortune of having been able to experience this personally last Monday, March 19th.

Chavez is the author of the novels, "Loving Pedro Infante," "Face of An Angel," and a short story collection, "The Last of the Menu Girls," and most recently, "A Taco Testimony: Meditations on Family, Food and Culture, a memoir in food." She has also published a children’s book, "La Mujer Que Sabia el Idioma de Los Animales/The Woman Who Knew the Language of the Animals." Her plays include "The Flying Tortilla Man," among many others. Denise Chavez considers herself to be a performance writer.Chavez was the 2003 Hispanic Heritage Foundation Award Honoree in Literature. The award is given to Hispanic role models whose professional achievements and contributions have touched national life and culture, as well as given back to their community. The award ceremony took place September 4, 2003 at the Kennedy Center and was televised September 13, 2004 on NBC.

Something that impressed me very much during her presentation at the Brazos Galleria in Richland College was the simplicity of Chavez and her easy interaction with any type of public. You can tell that she is used to interacting during her presentations. She spoke about the importance of education in the entire world, "Education is very important to make the difference," she said, "Write about your own experiences, not just the college assignments, make the writing fun." She also spoke about the importance of analyzing everything that occurs in our surroundings and writing about our own perceptions of what happens in the world. Chavez gave a particular importance to family stories, spoken history, which is transmitted from one generation to the next, family history and genealogy. Write about it, even those details or anecdotes that seem insignificant. It is our duty. To bring her point home, she read an excerpt from her most recent book, "A Taco Testimony." She read "Manteca Vieja," or "Old Grease," in which Silvia Bejarano lets us know the authentic secret to the great flavor of tacos. Standing before an audience of mostly young students of different nations such as Russia, Korea, Arabia, Africa, Vietnam, India, El Salvador, the U.S., and of course, Mexico, Chavez asked her public about the content of those little metal tubs that some of our mothers and grandmothers still use in the kitchens of our homes. "Do you know what these little tubs contain?" she asked, "Raise your hand if you have seen these little metal tubs in your kitchen." Some hands were raised. "Manteca Vieja," she said in the purest of Spanish, letting each letter of these two words resound. This is the secret that gives the taste to authentic Mexican Tacos, as well as menudo, biscochos, gorditas, flautas, and every other dish. If old grease is not used, the taste will never be equal, according to Silvia Bejarano.

After that, Chavez got laughter and happiness from the public in reading and interpreting, improvising at the podium without needing a microphone, walking among an audience that was as surprised as it was entertained. She interpreted each of her characters from her book "Face of an Angel and a short story collection." She asked young men and señoritas their opinions on hair, even asking those who didn’t have any. She even unmade her own hair style to give life to one of the waitresses that worked at that restaurant where the protagonist (Chavez herself) held interviews in order to write a story about hair and personality.To bring everything to an end, Chavez answered questions from the attendees. Among them, there was a young woman who asked her what her inspiration to write was, to which she immediately responded, "Wherever you go you see stories that can inspire you, everything inspires you. Your work, your troubles, the suffering of others, a dead man in the desert trying to cross the border, animals that suffer because they are disabled, sick, or just abandoned, a beautiful landscape like the gardens of Richland College or dried land as "The Dompe"(sanitary landfill) in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where hundreds of impoverished people actually live. Your family history, your own genealogy, your experiences of any kind, your beliefs and values, everything can inspire you to write," she said. She also encourages us to love ourselves, love others, love our own language and write in our own languages. A great applause ended the presentation of one of the greatest Mexican-American writers.

Hi All:  Have received some e-mails offering to help and asking how to register for the 28th Annual Genealogy Conference to be held in Austin, Texas on September 13 to 15. We appreciate this outpouring of participation and contribution. You can help by registering early and passing this e-mail and attachment to members of your distribution list.