TABLE OF CONTENTS
October 2013

and 
Diversity Issues

OCTOBER 2013
157rd Online Issue

Editor: Mimi Lozano ©2000-2013

This photo was the winner of a city photo competition in Westminster, California.
It appears on the city's newsletter and recreation guide.
Click for more information.

"Liberty is the great parent of science and virtue;  and a nation will be great in both, 
in proportion as it is free." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Letters to the Editor

Latino Americans Documentary 

Moments in Latino American history were re-created for the series. 
(Brett Buchanan / September 17, 2013)

PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments

View/Submit Comments for this story

Sent by Bonnie & Ruben Chapa  thechapas@yahoo.com 

LATINO AMERICANS Screening

By Daisy Wanda Garcia

Once again destiny united John Valadez and me.  This time it was at the screening of the new documentary, “Latino Americans” at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center on September 10, 2013. All the Hispanic movers and shakers in Austin, Texas, were present for the documentary screening. Dan Arellano was present representing the “Battle of Medina Society and Kathy Vale for “HABLA”. Bill Stotsbery, CEO of KLRU-TV was there to greet the audience. Mr. Stotsbery, John Valadez and I had a lively discussion about the production of the documentary,”Longoria Affair” and the trials and tribulations Valadez and I endured during this process.  Also, I mentioned how certain groups were attempting to rewrite the history of the Longoria Affair.

As expected, the documentary” Latino Americans” was brilliant with reference to journals and interviews with historians and nearly 100 Latinos about the history of Hispanic Americans for the documentary.   Actor Benjamin Bratt narrates the documentary which is a three part, six hour series.   KLRU described the series as capturing “the evolution of a new “Latino American identity from the 1500 to the present.” The visual effects are awesome.  I don’t know how it is done, but sometimes it appears that an individual in the old photograph blinks or makes a slight movement which brings the photo to life.

There were four clips shown:

v  Juan Seguin’s Story of the Alamo and San Antonio.

v  Crossing the border at El Paso during Mexican Revolution.

v  Dr. Hector Garcia and the Longoria Affair/Kennedy Election.

v  Willie Velazquez Voter Registration Project.

Afterwards a panel moderated by Cinthia Salinas, member of the Social Studies program area at University of Texas and a panel  composed of John Valadez, Imagen Award-winning producer and director of the Longoria Affair, Dr. Emilio Zamora, professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, and Marta Cotera, activist of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. John Valadez took questions from the audience.  After the q&a session, Valadez introduced me to the audience.  His words were so touching they moved me to tears. .  According to Valadez, “We are both trying to cement the Mexican American Civil Rights legacy so it is firmly rooted in our nation’s collective historical memory and your Dad (Dr. Hector Garcia) is central to that story.”

Some members of the audience remarked to me they learned a lot from the documentary about Mexican American history. They were outraged about the treatment of the Tejanos and about the Mexican veterans who served this country during the war who now were being deported by the government.

In 2010 during one of our trips back to Austin, I had placed a statue of the Blessed Mother which I purchased in Corpus Christi in the back seat of the car.  I told Valadez that the Blessed Mother was watching us. Who can speculate how high Valadez’s star will rise because of his incredible talent?  As for me, I am committed to promoting the Mexican American Civil Rights legacy and am along for the ride.  In any case, the Blessed Mother is watching.  And I leave this thought with you.

Mark and Debbie Lee with John 

The National Park Service 
By KIRK JOHNSON, September 5, 2013

 LA PUSH, Wash. — Thrusting out into the Pacific Ocean, Olympic National Park can feel like a lost world, with its ferny rain forests, violent surf and cloud-shrouded peaks.  

Crystal Roberts, with a group called Travelistas in Nature, listened to a park ranger, Jon Preston, on the way to the beach. To the four women who hiked down to the sand one recent afternoon, there was an added element of strangeness: race. 

Photo: Matthew Ryan Williams for The New York Times

“We’ve been here for two days, walking around, and I can’t think of any brown person that I’ve seen,” said Carol Cain, 42, a New Jersey resident of Dominican and Puerto Rican roots, who was zipped up tight in her hooded, dripping rain jacket.

The National Park Service knows all too well what Ms. Cain is talking about. In a soul-searching, head-scratching journey of its own, the agency that manages some of the most awe-inspiring public places is scrambling to rethink and redefine itself to the growing number of Americans who do not use the parks in the way that previous — mostly white — generations did.

Only about one in five visitors to a national park site is nonwhite, according to a 2011 University of Wyoming report commissioned by the Park Service, and only about 1 in 10 is Hispanic — a particularly lackluster embrace by the nation’s fastest-growing demographic group.

One way the service has been fighting to break through is with a program called American Latino Expeditions, which invited Ms. Cain and her three colleagues. Groups like theirs went to three parks and recreation areas this summer — participants competed for the spots, with expenses paid for mostly through corporate donations — part of a multipronged effort to turn the Park Service’s demographic battleship around.

“We know that if we get them there, it can be transformative,” Jonathan B. Jarvis, the Park Service’s director, said in a telephone interview. A single positive park visit, he said, can create a lifelong pattern.

Easy to say, harder to achieve, Mr. Jarvis admitted. But the agency, in looking for a path forward, has also stumbled onto an unlikely team of allies — from outdoor outfitters to health and fitness advocates — all focused on the same thing: encouraging, supplying or simply understanding the young minority market.

GirlTrek, a national nonprofit group, organizes fitness-oriented park hikes for African-Americans. REI, the big recreation retailer, and Aramark, which manages lodging in some national parks, are sponsoring expeditions through the American Latino Heritage Fund of the National Park Foundation, a Congressionally chartered nonprofit group. New recruiting efforts to diversify the Park Service’s employee base — also largely white — are working with urban youth who might scoff at the idea of being a ranger in the wild, but could gravitate toward history, science or construction jobs.

New attractions are part of the mix, too. National monuments managed by the Park Service have been created in the past few years to recognize more minority figures in American history, like Cesar Chavez, the farm labor organizer, and Harriet Tubman of Underground Railroad fame.

“The future is diverse,” said Scott Welch, a spokesman for Columbia Sportswear, which provided clothing to expedition groups this summer and has been working with GirlTrek. “If you want to be a brand for the future, you’ve got to embrace that.”

But the effort to diversify also touches some deep cultural grooves in American life that may not be as quick to change as a moisture-wicking outdoor shirt.

Many white Americans who grew up going to the parks had towering figures of outdoor history — not to mention family tradition — blazing the trail as examples. And those examples, like Daniel Boone and the fur trappers of the Old West, tended to be white.

The idea of roughing it in a tent, however, can feel to some people like going backward, said Ms. Cain, a first-generation American who said the stories in her family about escaping the hard rural life still resonate.

Chelle Roberts, 40, who was on the Olympic Park expedition with her sister, Crystal, 33, co-authors of the blog BrownGirlsFly, said there was also simply more of an appetite for vacations in cushy surroundings. “People want a lot of things we associate with modern luxury,” she said.

The Park Service has allied with private interests before, in survival or strategy. At the agency’s founding in 1916, the idea of having national parks at all was new and had to be introduced and sold. Art was a tool then, with majestic landscape works by Albert Bierstadt and other painters widely reproduced in pushing the notion that natural majesty was of value.

In the 1950s and ’60s, the automobile industry became a partner, when the Park Service went after World War II veterans, who were furiously raising baby boom families. Advertising campaigns of the time, like “See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet,” linked the call of the open road to the appeal of outdoor adventure.

But the new effort goes further, to the question of how, and how much, the parks themselves must change to attract a fundamentally different audience. Wireless access, for example — still nonexistent in much of the Park Service universe — could divide older park visitors from minorities and young people, the so-called millennial generation, who want to share the experience live in social media with their peers.

“Boomers maybe want to get away, and millennials want to be connected; that changes how you use the space,” said Laura Swapp, REI’s director of diversity and inclusion. Music events could be another potential generational dividing line — peace and quiet versus entertainment — but would also draw the demographic the Park Service is after, Ms. Swapp said.

But the reality that going to a park, at least for now, means encountering mostly white people is its own potential barrier. Research by the Park Service says some members of minority groups have said they fear they would feel unwelcome.

Ms. Cain said she intended to write about that sense of isolation in her blog, GirlGoneTravel. “You’re going to notice it,” she said. “Don’t let it be distracting.”

But Ana Serafin, 29, a Venezuelan-born member of the team who writes the blog Traveling Latina, said she would probably not talk to her readers about it. “It might scare them,” she said.

The natural beauty of Olympic National Park and Second Beach, though, was unquestioned and overwhelming, she and the others said. “Photographer’s heaven,” Ms. Serafin said as she began snapping shots.

Live posts mostly had to wait, though. The park’s Internet connection was too slow.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/national-parks-try-to-appeal-to-minorities.html?hp&_r=0

Sent by Warren James  latinopreservation-l@lists.nationaltrust.org 
Dan Arrellano and Lcdo. Fernando E. Lloveras

Dallas Mexican-Americans remember the JFK years, surveillance by FBI  
By Diane Solis, The Dallas Morning News, Staff Writer, 13 September 2013  
dsolis@dallasnews.com

In 1960, Korean War veteran Albert Orozco set out to prove himself with other Mexican-American vets on a new battlefield — politics. They embraced the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy with Viva Kennedy Clubs and strategic fundraising for poll taxes so the poor could vote.

Orozco was already a leader in a Mexican-American group that played the red, white and blue patriotism card hard — the American GI Forum.

Kennedy won their support with a social justice message, Catholic faith, a Spanish-speaking wife and a family history of fighting anti-Irish discrimination.

Yet, in a strange twist of JFK history, the Dallas chapter was under surveillance by the very government they had served in war.  

Orozco is now an 84-year-old retired school principal with thinning silver hair, pole-straight posture and precise speech. He doesn’t let the surveillance eclipse the significance of the activism. By one account, 91 percent of Texas Mexican-Americans voted for JFK — giving the senator a key state in a razor-thin election.  

“The clubs saw how important it was to get involved in the voting process,” Orozco said. He and his late wife, Henrietta, co-hosted the first Viva Kennedy meeting in the Old East Dallas home of his mother.

“For the first time, after the efforts of the GI Forum, they saw the results,” he said. “They saw that it does pay to vote.”

Military service filled families with pride and confidence. In Dallas, Orozco and others took on swimming pool segregation, a Catholic Church that kept Mexican-American altar boys from field trips and a downtown bar with a “No Dogs, Negroes or Mexicans” sign.

In Corpus Christi, similar scenes unreeled before Dr. Hector P. Garcia, a Corpus Christi physician and surgeon who had served in the Army during World War II. He founded the Forum after the war. The catalysts for the movement were discrimination against Latino vets, poor treatment at the Veterans Administration, school segregation and an infamous incident over a Texas funeral wake for a soldier.

“They were veterans and not too happy to be treated like second-class citizens,” said his oldest child, Daisy Wanda Garcia, a 67-year-old Austin resident.

GI Forum chapters morphed into Viva Kennedy clubs in the Southwest, California and Illinois. Membership also came from the League of United Latin American Citizens.

“Kennedy was a dark horse,” she said. “It if hadn’t been for the Viva Kennedy clubs delivering all these votes for him, he might not have been elected. It was one of the first concerted attempts by minorities to put in office someone favorable to their cause. It was a nonviolent way to change the destiny of the Mexican-American people.”

The Viva Kennedy Club harvested support in its first rally with posters, stickers and buttons at Orozco’s grocery store, a West Dallas business owned by a relative.

Enchilada dinners in the Little Mexico housing projects and door-to-door solicitations raised money for a get-out-the-vote necessity: payment of poll taxes. Poll taxes were $1.25 per voter, the equivalent of about $10 today.

Inspired to act

On Nov. 22, 1963, Henrietta Orozco left her downtown office at noon to see the Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, in their motorcade. Her husband stayed at work, content that his wife would experience the excitement surrounding a couple “she was in love with.”

When she returned to her office, she heard the news. Years later, she’d retell the story of that day to her daughter Diana Orozco-Garrett, who was a toddler in 1963. She told her that many in her office were Republicans and joyful over the shooting, clapping as if they were at a party.

In the Orozco household, admiration ran so deep “we had portraits of Jesus and the Kennedys,” the daughter said.

Soon, the family gathered at Dealey Plaza, laying a wreath near the Texas School Book Depository. For several years, on Nov. 22 they’d repeat the ritual.

JFK’s assassination inspired deep political dedication.

“For my mom, it gave her more reason to be involved and for me, too,” Orozco-Garrett said.

As a child, she watched her mother register voters. As an adult, Orozco-Garrett was a delegate to two Democratic conventions. As an attorney, she worked on voting rights cases. In 1994, she won election as a justice of the peace, serving six years.

She now lives in Santa Fe with her husband, a former Voting Rights Act litigator.

‘Good Americans’

Earlier this year, Orozco-Garrett began researching those Kennedy years. She found documents from the FBI and the Warren Commission on surveillance of the GI Forum of Dallas.

Years earlier, the Mary Ferrell Foundation had amassed material on the JFK murder using the federal Freedom of Information Act. The foundation and its online resources (at maryferrell.org) are named for the Dallas legal secretary who became prominent among assassination experts.

That’s how Orozco-Garrett found her father’s name.

A mole inside the Dallas chapter of the GI Forum had reported to the FBI on the Mexican-American vets. He was William Lowery, a shoe salesman who died in the 1990s.

“They were good Americans and this is who the government was spying on,” Orozco-Garrett said. “They were thought to be subversive groups.”

As Orozco-Garrett pieced together those years, she enlisted help from an old friend and a fellow attorney, Sol Villasana. Up popped the name of his cousin Edmund Villasana, who is now 85. He’d been an early officer of the Dallas GI Forum chapter.

Edmund Villasana, a World War II vet, fumed when denied service at Dallas restaurants.

“I was young and full of vim and vinegar and very politically minded,” he said. “All we were doing was fighting for civil rights. We weren’t trying to overthrow the government.”

Villasana remembered Lowery, too.

“If anyone came up with any radical ideas, it was always coming from him,” he said.

FBI documents, Warren Commission testimony and a Justice Department hearing in Washington detail the spying in Dallas and date it as far back as 1954, one document showed.

“The Dallas chapter was composed primarily of Mexican-American servicemen who reportedly banded together to stamp out discrimination of the Mexican-American people and to help these people in various other ways,” according to a declassified FBI document. “The Communist Party sought to infiltrate this chapter at the time of its inception and for a brief period in 1955 controlled and dominated the Dallas Chapter.”

Lowery discussed his role in 1963 testimony in Washington before the Subversive Activities Control Board, a government group established in 1950. Days later, he gave interviews to reporters like Jim Lehrer, then a Dallas Times Herald reporter.

Lost in translation

Villasana and Orozco call the Communist charges ridiculous.

Among the stories Orozco-Garrett heard was that law enforcement agents hassled one GI Forum member in particular. They found him with a letter containing the word “comadre,” a common term of affection for a female friend. It literally means godmother, or co-mother.  “They took it to mean comrade,” Orozco-Garrett said.

That this happened as the GI Forum pushed the Viva Kennedy bandwagon may seem ironic. But under the long tenure of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI would eventually have a contentious relationship with the Kennedys. Its spying on civil rights groups and leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. is now well-documented.

Historians and university professors Ignacio García, who wrote the book Viva Kennedy: Mexican Americans in Search of Camelot, and José Angel Gutiérrez agree that anti-discrimination protests seemed to attract Hoover’s FBI.

“The more they claimed to be pro-American and America-love-it-or-leave-it attitude, the more the FBI thought it was a ruse, that they were hiding their true identity,” said Gutiérrez, a University of Texas at Arlington professor who’s studied FBI spying on Latino groups.

García, the daughter of the GI Forum founder, said she and her mother believed their phone was tapped because of clicking noises as conversations began. The pair deliberately spoke in code.

“We had nothing to hide. Mainly we just wanted to irritate them,” said García, who now works as a database administrator. “Papa was accusing so many of discrimination.”

With Kennedy’s death, civil rights legislation pushed by President Lyndon Johnson flowed from Congress.

In 1964, the 24th Amendment prohibited poll taxes in national elections. In 1966, the Supreme Court declared poll taxes unconstitutional in state elections. The tax had been in effect in Texas since 1902.

Orozco-Garrett called the FBI surveillance of GI Forum members comic and shocking.

“Without knowing it, they were walking a tightrope,” she said. “Say the wrong thing by being passionate and your life could be very different.”

Sol Villasana said his sleuthing about that era brought him closer to his cousin, who is 25 years older.

“I’m just so proud of him,” he said. “But for the FBI, we would not know so much of the early history. We need to thank that informant.”

Sent by Wanda Garcia 
wanda.garcia@sbcglobal.net 

Deborah Berebichez 

 A Wise Latina

Nominated by Mimi Lozano

  By

Mercy Bautista-Olvera

Dr. Deborah Berebichez

Dr. Deborah Berebichez is a Mexican Physicist and (science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) Mentor. She is the first Mexican woman to obtain a Physics Ph.D. from Stanford University. She has also excelled in countless other areas.  

Dr. Deborah Berebichez was born in Mexico City and now lives in New York.  

Dr. Berebichez attended Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. As a Wien International Scholar, she earned highest honors and Summa Cum Laude in a Bachelors of Arts Degrees in both Physics and Philosophy. She also became a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society. Berebichez also has a PhD in Theoretical Physics from Stanford University.

She was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Applied Physics and Applied Math Department at Columbia University and New York University’s prestigious Courant Institute of Applied Mathematics.

Dr. Berebichez worked with Nobel laureates Bob Laughlin and Steve Chu (U. S. Secretary of Energy).

She is a physicist, author, and Vice President of Risk Analytics at Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Inc. (a provider of investment decision support tools, including indices and portfolio risk and performance analytics for use by institutions).  

Dr. Berebichez has done scientific research in the area of waves and invented highly effective techniques in the fields of wireless communications and nanotechnology.

Dr. Berebichez encouraged young men and women to learn science and to improve the state of STEM education in the world. She is leading a new way of educating the public by providing friendly computer programs that deliver scientific content in easy and engaging ways.

She is the Global Ambassador for Technovation Challenge to teach high school girls from under-served communities how to code science-based mobile, and create high-tech businesses around them.

She was the keynote speaker at Oprah’s National Women in leadership Conference in New York. Berebichez has also hosted the National Geographic TV series Humanly Impossible and Discovery International.

Dr. Berebichez gave the keynote speech at Oprah Winfrey’s White House Leadership conference.  "Women are so used to only taking the opportunities that are presented to them. I want women to challenge their status quo in society and empower themselves through education," stated Dr. Berebichez. 

She was named a John C. Whitehead Fellow at the Foreign Policy Association.

In October Dr. Berebichez will be recognized with the “Community Service” award at this year’s society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) National Conference, in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Indianapolis Convention Center.   

Dr. Berebichez continues to mentor and empower girls across the world. Play  She currently works on Wall St. as a risk analyst and continues to develop videos, articles, and public communications programs to bring science to all.

HISPANICS BREAKING BARRIERS

Third Volume 

  2^nd   Issue

By

Mercy Bautista-Olvera

Leticia R. San Miguel Van de Putte:  Texas State Senator, 26^th District, San Antonio and Bexar County

Alfredo Artiles: President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics

Ana Guerrero:  Chief of Staff for Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti  

Juan Felipe Herrera:  Poet Laureate of California. 

Betsaida Alcantara:  Associate Administrator, Office of Communications and Marketing at the U.S. General Services
                                Administration  

Alfredo Artiles

Professor Alfredo Artiles has been appointed to the   President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. He is a leader in the fields of Special Education and Educational Equity at Arizona State University.   Alfredo Artiles was born and raised in New York.

Artiles earned a Master’s Degree in Education and a Doctorate Degree from the University of Virginia.  

In announcing the members of this high-profile commission President Barack Obama stated, “The extraordinary dedication these men and women bring to their new roles will greatly serve the American people. I am grateful they have agreed to serve in this administration and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”  

Artiles served as a faculty member at Vanderbilt University and at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Artiles is professor of Culture, Society and Education in the School of Social Transformation, part of Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, where he co-directs the Equity Alliance. He has published extensively in the general, special, and bilingual education fields for research, policy, and practitioner audiences, and his research in the United States and other nations examines the role of cultural processes in special education identification practices and teacher learning in urban schools. 

“I'm deeply honored by the appointment, and have great respect for the approach Director Juan Sepúlveda is taking to meet the White House Initiative’s mandate. By engaging Hispanic communities and philanthropic, business, nonprofit, and education communities in a national dialogue and partnerships, he’s laying the groundwork for programs and policy outcomes that will have relevance and currency at a grassroots level,” stated Artiles.

He just completed a term as Vice President of the American Educational Research Association’s Division on the Social Contexts of Education and serves on editorial boards of nine national and international journals.

Commissioners, who are appointed by the president for their relevant experience or subject matter expertise, advise President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education,   Arne Duncan, on matters pertaining to the education attainment of the Hispanic community. They represent a variety of sectors, including the education sector, labor organizations, research institutions, corporate and financial institutions, public and private philanthropic organizations, and nonprofit and community-based organizations.    

Ana Guerrero  

Ana Guerrero is serving as newly elected Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Chief of Staff.    

Ana Guerrero was born in Mexico. She is the daughter of migrant farmworkers.  She is married to Neal Goldstein and is the mother of three children ages 23, 10, and 8.

Guerrero began her career in Northern California with the Sonoma County Organizing Project where she organized low and middle-income families around job creation and affordable housing issues. She came to Los Angeles in 1995 to become the lead organizer of the United Neighborhoods Organization (UNO). While there, Guerrero led a campaign that helped more than 5,000 immigrants become naturalized, politically active citizens. She also provided technical assistance to community-based organizations through the Center for Community Change.  

Guerrero has been with the Office of former Councilmember Garcetti since July 2001. She was named District Director in July 2003, after serving as Organizing Director. She became Chief of Staff in 2008. Garcetti served as Council President from 2006 to 2012.  

During her free time, she enjoys hiking, participating in book groups, and a strict spinning regimen for fitness. She stays active in community organizing by serving on the boards of the Center for Community Change and the Nedcor Family Fund.

"I am honored and humbled for this opportunity to serve the people of Los Angeles," stated Ana Guerrero "Mayor-elect Garcetti back to basics agenda is what Los Angeles needs to move forward, and I'm going to make sure he has the tools he needs to get the job done."

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti stated "I’m focused on creating jobs and solving problems in our neighborhoods, and there is no one more expert and experienced in making government work better for the people of Los Angeles than Ana Guerrero," he further stated, “Ana was the key player in my work to cut budget costs and revitalize neighborhoods. Together, we're going to build on this foundation with new solutions to fix City Hall and strengthen communities citywide."  

Juan Felipe Herrera  

Juan Felipe Herrera is a writer, poet and activist, and chairman of the creative writing department at the University of California at Riverside. On March 21, 2013, California Governor Jerry Brown appointed Herrera, whose work focuses on the Chicano experience, a subject that holds special significance to Herrera since he was the son of migrant farm workers.   

Juan Felipe Herrera was born in Fowler, California, in 1948. The son of migrant farmers, Herrera moved often, living in trailers or tents along the roads of the San Joaquin Valley in Southern California. As a child, he attended school in a variety of small towns from San Francisco to San Diego. He began drawing cartoons while in middle school, and by high school was playing folk music by Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. He is the father of five children, and lives in Redlands, California, with his partner, the poet and performance artist, Margarita Robles.    

In 1967, Herrera graduated from San Diego High School, he was one of the first waves of Chicanos to receive an Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) scholarship to attend UCLA, where he became immersed in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, and began performing in experimental theater, influenced by Allen Ginsberg and Luis Valdez. In 1972, Herrera received a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Social Anthropology from UCLA. In 1980, Herrera received a Master's in Social Anthropology from Stanford University    and went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1990.  

His interests in indigenous cultures inspired him to lead a formal Chicano trek to Mexican Indian villages, from the rain forest of Chiapas to the mountains of Nayarit. The experience greatly changed him as an artist. His work, which includes video, photography, theater, poetry, prose, and performance, has made Herrera a leading voice on the Mexican American and indigenous experience.  

In a profile of Herrera in the New York Times, Stephen Burt wrote: "Many poets since the 1960s have dreamed of a new hybrid art, part oral, part written, part English, part something else: an art grounded in ethnic identity, fueled by collective pride, yet irreducibly individual too. Many poets have tried to create such an art: Herrera is one of the first to succeed."  

From 1990 to 2004, Herrera taught at California State University, Fresno, he also served as chairman of the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department.  

Herrera has received fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and the University of California at Berkeley, the Breadloaf Writers' Conference, and the Stanford Chicano Fellows Program. Over the past three decades, he has founded a number of performance ensembles, and has taught poetry, art, and performance in community art galleries and correctional facilities. He has taught at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and served as chair of the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department at CSU-Fresno.  

He is also director of the Art and Barbara Culver Center for the Arts, a new multimedia space in downtown Riverside, California. He was elected an Academy Chancellor in 2011.  

Herrera is the author of many collections of poetry, including Senegal Taxi (Camino del Sol) (University of Arizona, 2013); Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems (2008), a recipient of the PEN/Beyond Margins Award; 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross The Border: Undocuments 1971–2007 (City Lights, 2007); and Crashboomlove (University of New Mexico, 1999), a novel in verse, which received the Americas Award. His books of prose for children include: SkateFate (Rayo, 2011) Calling the Doves (Children's Book, 2001); Letters Found Inside a Cereal Box (HarperCollins, 2005), which tells the tragedy of 9/11 through the eyes of a young Puerto Rican girl. Ilan Stavans, the Mexican American essayist, has stated: "There is one constant over the past three decades in Chicano literature and his name is Juan Felipe Herrera.”  

“No one is more worthy than Juan Felipe Herrera, both for this distinctive honor and for the task at hand as the California Poet Laureate,” proclaimed University of California, Riverside Chancellor Tim White in his weekly email.  

“I want to thank UC Riverside for such a great community of support. All the students here inspire me greatly. This award is for all the young writers who want to put kindness inside every word throughout the state, because kindness is the heart of creativity,” stated Herrera in an article by University of California, Riverside “UCR Today.”

The position of California Poet Laureate was created in 2001 and is primarily shaped by the California Arts Council. The Council, which consists of 11 experts in fields such as the arts, education, and community development, are tasked with selecting candidates who would best promote and serve as an advocate of poetry in the state of California. Following his senate confirmation, Herrera will begin his two-year term and his tasks will include providing six public readings and completing a cultural project with the goal of exposing poetry to individuals of all backgrounds.

Herrera’s recent accomplishments include being elected to the Academy of American Poets’ Board of Chancellors and receiving the 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry.  

Por José Antonio Crespo-Francés*
rio_grande@telefonica.net

Vázquez de Ayllon en 1526 fue el primero en establecer un poblado, San Miguel de Guadalupe, en lo que es hoy día Carolina del Sur. Dos años más tarde, en 1528, Pánfilo de Narváez desembarcó cerca de Tampa, y exploró la península floridiana.

De los cuatro supervivientes de la que resultó ser una expedición desastrosa, los primeros europeos en cruzar el país a pie de costa a costa ¡durante más de siete años a pie!, uno de ellos, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, publicó en España, en 1542, 

"Naufragios", donde informa y detalla la vida, las costumbres, la organización tribal, grupos étnicos, creencias religiosas, etc. de los indios sureños por primera vez en la historia.

2

En 1598 la expedición de Juan de Oñate fundó Nuevo México, ellos celebraron el primer Thanks Giving, Acción de Gracias, del suroeste. Sus hombres representaron la primera obra de teatro en territorio norteamericano, Moros y Cristianos, escrita por un capitán de la expedición, Marcos Farfán de los Godos, y el capitán Gaspar de Villagrá, miembro del consejo de guerra de Oñate fue el primer notario y hombre de leyes en los EEUU siendo el relator de la expedición, autor de la primera obra épica norteamericana, Historia de la Nuevo México, escrita por tanto en español, donde se relata el primer encuentro europeo con un tornado y las costumbres de los indígenas con los que se encontraron. 

En 1792 Fidalgo y Alcalá Galiano y Valdés exploraron las costas de Columbia y Alaska. Entre 1817 y 1823 se fundaron la misión de San Gabriel Arcángel, en California, y la de San Francisco Solano, en Sonoma. 

El rey Carlos III concedió al gobierno de los patriotas norteamericanos una ayuda de 5 millones de pesos duros, que se convertiría en su primera moneda oficial, como primera contribución a la guerra de independencia de Inglaterra.

En 1781 el gobernador de Cuba abrió, por orden recibida desde España, una subscripción en La Habana para ayudar a Washington, consiguiendo reunir de la 6

De entre ellos hemos de destacar el caballo que entró con los españoles por el suroeste y que cambió la vida de los nativos de las praderas y llanuras que lo desconocían. Los españoles describían las huellas en las llanuras como de carretas y no eran otra cosa que las marcas producidas por el arrastre de traíllas de perros de los travois, una especie de carros de arrastre sin ruedas que constaban de dos varas unidas por pieles que de una parte se apoyaban en el lomo de los animales y por su otro extremo se arrastraban por el suelo dejando unas características marcas que desconcertaron a los españoles creyendo que eran huelas de carretas.

Cuando los españoles llegaron a Norteamérica, y luego los anglosajones, los arapaho, como los demás pueblos de las llanuras conocieron los caballos europeos y se dieron cuenta de que podrían viajar más rápido y recorrer mayores distancias usando caballos en vez de perros. Su punto de vista, la perspectiva, la distancia y la percepción del mundo, la relación intertribal y el comercio les cambió la visión. Lograron caballos mediante el intercambio o el asalto a los españoles o a otras tribus indias, principalmente a los pawnee y los comanche, para obtener así los caballos que necesitaban. También podían capturarlos salvajes pues los españoles tenían las costumbre de dejar pastar en libertad a las yeguas preñadas y muchas veces las tormentas y la dificultad de poner cercas en las inmensas llanuras hizo que muchos caballos quedaran libres, llamados mesteños por los españoles, de ahí la denominación "mustang".

Con el movimiento anglosajón hacia el oeste… muchas tribus indias estaban ya españolizadas y cristianizadas. Sin esta contribución el "Go West" del siglo XIX hubiera sido extremadamente dificultoso, lento, sangriento, y por lo tanto muy distinto del que fue para los nuevos colonos anglosajones, en su mayoría donde yacen los restos de Fray Junipero Serra, en Carmel, California.

Sent by Juan Marinez  

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH 

There wasn’t room on Soledad Mexia’s birthday cake for all the candles, so her family simply wrote “Happy Birthday Nana.”

Soledad turns 114 today. She is the fifth oldest person in the world whose records have been validated by the Gerontology Research Group. The oldest is Misao Okawa, of Japan, 115, followed by three U.S. women, 114, all born within three months of Soledad.

Born: August 13, 1899, Mexico
Died: August 30, 2013, Chula Vista, CA

About 100 of her family members from San Diego, Temecula, Arizona and the Mexican towns of Ensenada, Tijuana and Sinaloa, where Soledad was born, came for last weekend’s festivities at the south San Diego home of Soledad’s granddaughter, Rosalia Ferreira, and her husband.

On Sunday, Soledad, now residing in a care facility in Chula Vista, joined five generations of her family. These days, her relatives report, Soledad’s primary activity is sleeping, but she smiled a lot and seemed to recognize family members.

Meanwhile, gerontology researcher Dr. L. Stephen Coles says Soledad is the first of several supercentenarians who submitted DNA and blood for analysis in a UCLA/Stanford study. The results of their quest to unlock the secrets of longevity are expected to be published in a peer-reviewed scientific/medical journal by year’s end.

For next year’s birthday, her family is planning a huge, formal party, perhaps in a banquet hall, with live music and church blessings. “She told my grandma she really wanted to have a quinceañera,” said great granddaughter Dennise Ferreira. Normally, that’s a Mexican tradition for celebrating a girl’s 15th birthday. Why not 115?

San Diego Tribune August 12, 2013 by Diane Bell

For a Kindle version/ Paperback/AudiobookCD/Audible     GET COVER AND MORE

OUR AMERICA IS UPON US!

We are a little over a month and a half away from the opening of Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, on October 25 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. This exhibition has been years in the making and we are honored to have worked with Dr. E. Carmen Ramos and her curatorial team to make it a reality. Please stay tuned for more updates as the opening approaches and see where the exhibition will be traveling after D.C. Also mark your calendars for the conference Latino Art Now! Nuestra América: Expanding Perspectives in Latino Art, scheduled for November 7 – 9 here in DC.

Generous exhibition support is provided by Altria Group, Aida M. Alvarez, Judah Best, the James F. Dicke Family Endowment, Sheila Duignan and Mike Wilkins, Tania and Tom Evans, Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino, the Michael A. and Honorable Marilyn Logsdon Mennello Endowment, Henry R. Muñoz III, Zions Bank, and The Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool.

Image credit: Judithe Hernández, Reina de la Primavera, from Méchicano 1977 Calendario, 1976, screenprint, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment. © 1976, Judithe Hernández

WITNESS TO HERITAGE

Olive Street Reunion at Sigler Park in Westminster, California

The photo on the front page of the issue is just a portion of the persons who attended the  2012 Olive Street Reunion at Sigler Park in Westminster California . The photo shows just the senior group of attendees all age fifty and above. Last year the total that attended numbered around 250. The reunion was started back in 2004 and this year we will have celebrated our 10th Anniversary Celebration at the end of September 2013.

Its purpose, since the start, was to find a means of preserving the history of the area as it related to the Mexican experience. The focus was to tap into  the families of the Olive Street Neighborhood and uncover the stories, timelines and facts that created it. Olive Street was selected since it was a hub for the Mexican population in Westminster, in the early 1900's to present, that interconnected with the surrounding ranches and towns in Orange County .

Our ancestors were pioneers in search for a better life for themselves and their children. They all had different reasons for moving into the area; friends, available work, affordable housing, beautiful weather, schools for the children, and a life without the fear of war. These families came together in the area and created a neighborhood of everlasting friendships and relationships often linked by marriage that abound to this day.  

The above photo was one of four I, Ricardo Juan Valverde,  entered into a photo contest sponsored by the City of Westminster under the title, "Parks make life better! I am a 60 year resident of Olive Street , a amateur historian and photographer that has been documenting important events in the area. I won the contest and not one but all four photos were selected and printed on the cover of the city's Fall Newsletter and Recreation guide for 2013.

My grandparents, my parents, my family and now my grandchildren and friends have and continue to use Sigler Park for fun and recreation. I was honored to have won the contest but I will say this, "I won because of the subject matter." I feel the photos tell the story of the importance parks make in the life of all who live in cities throughout the nation. The photo above depicts that after all these years the people of Olive Street still come together to celebrate their history at their one and only park, Sigler.

Paco Ignacio Taibo II on the Many Myths of the Alamo

UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Newsletter
September 2013 Volume 12, Number 1 
UCLA - CSRC Library 
New collections in process 

ERASING HISTORIC REALITY
'If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed!
If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.' ~ Mark Twain

Napoleon Invented Modern Idea 
of Public Relations

By MONICA SHOWALTER

Unlike any leader before him, Napoleon Bonaparte engineered his rise to power, almost out of nowhere, not only through military prowess — but also through his mastery of propaganda to stir the public.

"What strikes one almost immediately is the depth to which Bonaparte understood the art of propaganda and the degree to which he was personally involved in its creation," wrote historian Wayne Hanley in "The Genesis of Napoleonic Propaganda, 1796-1799."

That's what led to Napoleon — almost a foreigner — to reach the heights of power and secure a legend for himself that lives to this day.

In France, disillusion and distrust followed the horrors of the Reign of Terror and the Directory government after 1794, wrote Will and Ariel Durant in "The Age of Napoleon."

That made possible the rise of the ambitious Corsican general who offered not the bloodshed and primitive justice of the street mobs, nor the self-righteous justification of the royalists and moderates.

What Napoleon proposed was a new kind of glory separated from the factionalism of the past decade, with the promise of a bright future, a solid nation and better times.

It happened almost by accident. In 1799, Napoleon was an obscure general fighting Prussian and Austrian troops on the Italian border. Short of troops and supplies, he learned that exaggerating his troops' strength and victories in newspapers intimidated the enemy, writes Hanley.

Napoleon bought two Italian newspapers — Courrier de l'Armee d'Italie and La France vue de l'Armee d'Italie — to trump his troops' excellence and deride his enemies' incompetence. From there, he used them to tout himself, too.

"In these two newspapers," Hanley wrote, "Napoleon Bonaparte subtly altered the form from a medium focused on providing the news and bolstering the morale of the army to one devoted to furthering the political ambitions of its commanding general."

Through the newspapers — into which he often wrote unsigned articles and bulletins to Paris — he essentially invented the press release to tout his successes, swiftly grasping the potential for propaganda as a PR tool. This enabled him to rise as his fame spread.

Theatrically adopting the persona of a simply dressed, straightforward man who didn't care about luxury and never took political sides, he cleverly touted himself. His popularity grew.

As it did, he put down his predecessors, particularly those in the Directory. He painted them as decadent dinosaurs while claiming their achievements as his own, such as "an efficient civil administration, an effective   tax system, economic stability, military security and even the legal reforms which would culminate with Napoleon's famous Civil Code," wrote Hanley.

It all came down to support for one man, his ambition and his cult of personality. He amply passed out medals and awards to instill confidence and pride in his men — always bearing his image on them.

He was also a master of the logo — adopting the eagle as the symbol of the victorious French army, and the bee as the symbol of his own anticipated dynasty, giving his troops the image of victory. He was a master of spectacle. "A newly established government must dazzle and astonish. The moment it ceases to glitter it falls," he remarked.

He commissioned art — of himself — ostensibly to depict France's military victories, using the best artists, such as Jacques-Louis David.  Napoleon also paraded art looted from Italy around Paris as a means of showing the French capital his army's power.

"It has been noted that Bonaparte's military genius was not that of an originator, but rather lay in his status as one of the most able 'scramblers' or adapters in history," wrote Hanley.

The author added: "The same is true of his genius for propaganda. All the techniques and tools of propaganda used by the young general — the popular press, propagandistic art and even medals — already existed; he merely employed them on a scale and in ways never before attempted, proving himself to be among the first masters of the art of image-making."

Although Napoleon's message was generally positive and affirming — and, according to the reports of his secret police, effective at winning public support — he also used propaganda out of a sense of contempt.

"He did not conceal his opinion that the people were not equipped to decide wisely about candidates or policies; they were too amenable to personal charm, declamatory eloquence, bought periodicals or Rome-oriented priests," wrote the Durants. "He was sure he knew better than they what the French people wanted and should have."

So it's not surprising he was the first to reintroduce the censor as well as shut down 60 of France's 73 independent newspapers, leaving just nine by the end of 1799.

"Three hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets," he said.  He also took control of the printing presses.

"Unlimited freedom of the press," he wrote in 1802, "would very soon reestablish anarchy in a country where all the elements for such a condition are already present."

He extended censorship to the theater, arguing that he didn't care about the opinion of one man or another. He was concerned that certain ideas, "when proclaimed from the stage with the force and eloquence of a popular actor, would have an influence explosively multiplied by the mutual reverberations of feeling," wrote the Durants.

It worked only so long as the public was not onto it, notes historian Robert Holtman in his "Napoleonic Propaganda."

When crude instances of censorship and press control became public knowledge, the public tuned out and began to follow the foreign press instead.  Which in a sense proved that it was impossible to fool all of the people all of the time — a hard lesson, once Napoleon's star fell.

Propaganda: Key To The Communist Takeover In Russia

By MONICA SHOWALTER

Bolshevik leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin addresses a crowd in Moscow's Red Square circa 1917. View Enlarged Image

Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-viewpoint/082313-668676-lenin-used-propaganda-for-communist-takeover.htm#ixzz2criZ1O7y

Sent by Odell Harwell hirider@clear.net 

HONORING HISPANIC LEADERSHIP

Jessie Lopez De La Cruz, 
among United Farmworkers union's first female members, dies at 93 | ugust 2013  

Bea Franco

EDNA CISNEROS CARROLL   
Obituary, The Monitor, July 27-28, 2013

EDNA CISNEROS CARROLL RAYMONDVILLE - Edna Cisneros Carroll, 83 of Raymondville, TX, entered into rest Friday, July 26, 2013 at Varanda Nursing and Rehab.Center in Harlingen, Texas. She was born on February 2, 1930, daughter of Manuel and Benita (De La Garza) Cisneros. Edna was the first Hispanic woman attorney in Texas and was a District Attorney for 29 years. She was preceded in death by her husband Charles Ernest (Bo) Carroll; her parents and sister Diana Cisneros Klefisch. Edna is survived by her sisters, Bebe Terrell, Vina Witte; and nieces, Pennie Hutchins, Bonita Terrell, and nephew, Kurt Klefisch. Honored to serve as pallbearers are David Erps, Kurt Klefisch, Van Hutchins, Brad Vassberg, Coy Cisneros, and Cloyce Terrell. Visitation was held on Saturday and will continue on Sunday from 9:00 a.m. until time of service. Funeral services will be held at the Duddlesten Funeral Home Chapel , 604 W.Hidalgo, Raymondville, TX on Sunday, July 28, 2013 at 5:00 p.m.with Pastor Sam Blanco officiating. Interment will follow in the Raymondville Memorial Cemetery. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Duddlesten Funeral Home, Raymondville, TX Sign guest book at www.themonitor.com/obituaries

Published in The Monitor from July 27 to July 28, 2013
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/themonitor/obituary.aspx?n=EDNA-CARROLL&pid=166052312#fbLoggedOut 

NATIONAL ISSUES

Cartoon: Happy Labor Day by Sergio Hermandez
U.S. Employment Change From December 2007
"Paraíso": Immigrant window cleaners' work on Chicago's skyscrapers.
Immigrant fights to become California lawyer
Fighting Discrimination and Hate Crimes for 45 Years by Rosie Carbo
65 Years Later, a Memorial Gives Names to Crash Victims
Loretta Sanchez Bill Targets Visa Overstays
Charley Reese's Final column! 545 vs. 300,000,000 People 
What's The Dumbest Thing You Could Say To A Congresswoman
Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was LEGAL
     ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Cartoonist Sergio Hernandez, September 2, 2013

http://www.eset.com/

"Paraíso": Immigrant window cleaners' work on Chicago's skyscrapers.

Immigrant fights to become 
California lawyer
by Paul Elias 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A majority of California Supreme Court justices appeared reluctant Wednesday to grant a law license to Sergio Garcia, who graduated law school and passed the state's bar exam but has been living illegally in the United States for 20 years. 

A federal law passed by Congress in 1996 bars immigrants in the country illegally from receiving "professional licenses" from government agencies or with the use of public funds unless state lawmakers specifically vote otherwise. 

"Congress wanted political accountability," Justice Ming Chin said in expressing doubt the court could grant Garcia his license without a specific law enacted by the state Legislature. 

Justice Goodwin Liu said it was "commonsensical" that Congress meant to include lawyer licenses in the law.  The five other justices on the court made similar comments, essentially arguing that the law bars them from making Garcia a lawyer unless the state Legislature acts. 

The court has 90-days to rule in a case that has garnered national attention, putting the Obama administration against state officials who supported Garcia's application. 

Outside of court, Garcia expressed optimism that the Supreme Court would rule in his favor despite the tough questions asked of the lawyers who spoke on his side during an hour of oral arguments. 

If he does lose, Garcia vowed to continue fighting to become a California lawyer either through the state Legislature or in the federal courts. 

"This is about trying to live the American Dream and showing other immigrants that hard work and dedication does mean something in this country," he said. 

The state Supreme Court is in charge of licensing lawyers in California and the arguments boiled down to whether public money would be used in its licensing of Garcia. Lawyers for Garcia and the California State bar also argued that Congress meant to exempt attorney licenses from the law because they are issued by courts and not agencies. 

A U.S. Department of Justice lawyer argued that Garcia is barred from receiving his law license because the court's entire budget comes from the public treasury. 

"A law license is a professional license," Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Tenney said. "Congress meant to prohibit all professional licenses." 

Garcia arrived in the U.S. illegally 20 years ago to pick almonds in the field with his father. 

Working the fields and at a grocery store, he attended community college, studying to become a paralegal, and then law school. Garcia passed the California bar on the first try, a boast that Brown, former Gov. Peter Wilson and nearly 50 percent of all first-time test takers can't make. 

The dispute is the latest high-profile immigration clash between state and federal laws. Usually, it's the Obama administration opposing state laws in Arizona and elsewhere thought to be anti-immigrant. 

The Obama position surprised some, since it had recently adopted a program that shields people who were brought to the U.S. as children, graduated high school and have kept a clean criminal record from deportation and allows them to legally work in the country. 

At 36, Garcia is too old to qualify for the Obama program. But he and the immigration groups supporting him argue that Garcia is exactly the type of candidate the Obama administration had in mind when it adopted its program. 

The administration's opposition stunned Garcia, who self-financed his education at Cal Northern School of Law in Chico while working at a grocery store and publishing a self-help book in 2006. 

"I was very upset by," he said. "I worked hard and have never been a burden to the state." 

But legal scholars and others say Garcia faces obstacles if he wins his law license. 

Garcia will have to work for himself because no law firm or other employers could legally hire him. And he may be automatically disqualified from representing certain clients and taking on some types of cases because of his citizenship status. 

"Garcia is not qualified to practice law because he continually violates federal law by his presence in the United States," former State Bar prosecutor Larry DeSha said in one of the few "friend of the court" briefs filed opposing Garcia's licensing. 

A similar case is brewing in Florida. That state's Supreme Court has so far refused to certify a person living illegally in the U.S. as a lawyer, but has not issued a final ruling. 

Garcia and his supporters argue that he deserves his law license on legal — and moral — grounds. 

State Bar officials and California's attorney general argue citizenship status is not a requirement to receive a California law license. Garcia said he deserves to practice law for those legal reasons, plus the hard work and dedication he put into passing the bar examination. 

Garcia first came to the U.S. with his family from Mexico when he was 17 months old. He returned to Mexico with his mother when he was 9 and came back eight years later and applied for citizenship in 1994, sponsored by his father, who is now an American citizenship. 

Garcia estimates that it could take another five years for his application to be approved given the backlog of applications. 

He said he doesn't fear deportation because of the notoriety his case has received — and the fact that he has notified immigration officials of his prolonged presence in the U.S. 

In the meantime, he has supported himself as a motivational speaker and paralegal when he can find the work. 

Off the web . . . 
He applied for citizenship 19 YEARS AGO! Something really wrong with the system if they are backlogged that much. I am usually against granting citizenship to illegals but he applied when he came over here at 17 and was sponsored by his father who became a citizen. He has always worked to support himself and paid his own way through law school. I'm sure he thought he would be a citizen by the time he finished.

                 MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE
                                         AND EDUCATIONAL FUND

Fighting Discrimination and Hate Crimes for 45 Years
by Rosie Carbo

HISPANIC   OUTLOOK    2/04/2013

To that end, MALDEF began its historic journey with advice and guidance from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, support from the League of United Latin American Citizens and a $2.2 million grant from the Ford Foundation.

The Ford Foundation's seed money was intended to help finance the legal careers of future Hispanic/Latino attorneys committed to advocating for social justice and civil rights of those who cannot defend themselves. Other attorneys and professionals joined the cause, but one became a leading voice.

Mario Obledo, appointed Texas assistant attorney general in 1965, joined Tijerina as MALDEF's co-founder in 1968. Together they resolved to challenge decades of police brutality, voting rights abuses and overall institutional racial discrimination toward Mexican-Americans and Mexican nationals.

At first, the San Antonio base of operations was mired in legal aid cases. In 1972, headquarters were moved to California. Obledo replaced Tijerina as the first general counsel. Under his leadership, MALDEF began addressing other issues and advocating for Latinos through friend-of-the-court briefs.

From there, the organization evolved into a major litigation force. MALDEF began mounting legal challenges in reapportionment, public school financing, the right to a free public education, and other areas.

In 1973, MALDEF had its first victory in the landmark White v. Regester case. Here the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with MALDEF that single-member election districts in Texas violated the l4th Amendment's equal protection clause.

The high court further said that Texas had violated the Constitution's 15th Amendment banning race-based voter discrimination. The court said the system was unconstitutional. Consequently, Texas was forced to finally comply with the Voting Rights Act.

The Supreme Court issued an unprecedented mandate that the Texas Legislature consider equal population in reapportionment. The decision resulted in the creation of single-member districts in city council, school districts and county offices.

Prior to the ruling, Texas had held at-large elections that diluted the strengths of Hispanics and Blacks statewide. White was the first case in which the Supreme Court said at-large elections were discriminatory. Prior to the decision, only five Mexican-Americans had served in the Texas Legislature since the 1880s.

In 1975, Texas passed a law denying funding to school districts that educated children who could not prove they were in the country legally In 1977, MALDEF filed a class action lawsuit against the Tyier Independent School District and James Plyler, superintendent, on behalf of undocu­mented Mexican immigrant school-age children. Plyler v. Doe has become a celebrated case whose reverberations are being felt even today

In 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a district court's decision that the 1975 Texas law had violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution's l4th Amendment. The court said: "the illegal alien [sic] of today may well be the legal alien of tomorrow. And without an education, these undocumented children, already disadvantaged as a result of poverty, lack of English-speaking ability and undeniable racial prejudices, will become permanently locked into the lowest socioeconomic class."

MALDEF's victory was once again a historic milestone in American jurisprudence. But this would not be the last time MALDEF would file a violation of equal rights. 

MALDEF demanded justice for Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez, bludgeoned to death by White teens in Shenandoah, Pa,,and acquitted by an all-White jury, lawsuit to prevent discrimination in primary and secondary equal-educa­tional opportunities for Latinos regardless of legal status.

In 1989, MALDEF won another education victory in Edgewood Independent School District v. State of Texas. The Supreme Court held the system of financing public education unconstitutional. It compelled rich districts to give to poor districts. The media dubbed the remedy the "Robin Hood" Plan.

For people who lived through segregation in the schools, memories of discrimination and racial prejudice surface each time Texas and other states propose draconian anti-immigrant laws reminiscent of bygone days.

"I actually went to segregated schools in Texas. It wasn't until the 1960s that they integrated our schools. But you still see the vestiges" of  that racism, "even today," said Frank Herrera, a MAIDEF board member for 25 years.

65 Years Later, a Memorial Gives Names to Crash Victims

By MALIA WOLLAN

Published: September 3, 2013

Sent by Dorinda Moreno 

SANCHEZ BILL TARGETS VISA OVERSTAYS

"We've known for a long time that visa overstays make up a large portion of illegal immigration -  up to 40% -  but the department of homeland security has yet to implement a working biometric exit system,"  Sanchez said in a statement. " It is impossible to secure our borders and keep our country safe if we're only addressing half of the problem."

a similar provision was included in the immigration overhaul bill the Senate passed in June. A biometric system identifies a person's physical characteristics or traits, such as a 10-fingerprint scan.  Briefly/DC Orange County Register, Sept. 24, 2013

Please go to past articles concerning visa overstays:

www.somosprimos.com/sp2010/spjun10/spjun10.htm    
TWO ARTICLES UNDER UNITED STATES .
Laguna Niguel man pleads guilty in student visa fraud ring 
How many foreign students are in the United States on Student Visas?

www.somosprimos.com/sp2010/spjul10/spjul10.htm  
UNDER NATIONAL ISSUES> The 14th Amendment, Anchor Babies, Dream Act, and Overstayed VISAS 

www.somosprimos.com/sp2010/spsep10/spsep10.htm   
UNDER NATIONAL ISSUES>  Unauthorized Immigrants and Their U.S. Born Children 

Charley Reese's Final column! 
545 vs. 300,000,000 People 

GO AHEAD. . . BE AN AMERICAN!!!  
Tell the government to
Follow the Constitution
Stop spending
Stop borrowing

LET IT START AT THE TOP . . . . 

What's The Dumbest Thing You Could Say To A Congresswoman
Be sure and read this prolog before watching video. 

The Apostle Paul likely wrote his letter to the Romans about 25 years after Christ’s death and resurrection (sometime between A.D. 55-57). Throughout the book of Romans, Paul warned of God’s unfolding wrath against the Roman Empire – indeed, all of humanity – for mankind’s embrace and practice of pagan morality.

The words of Christ’s hand-picked messenger likewise paint an eerily accurate portrait of America, A.D. 2013. 

MEDICAL ISSUES  

Jennifer Ng’andu, Director, Health and Civil Rights and Policy Projects, NCLR
Ph.D. in Weed: Meet Israel’s cannabis scientist
Women in Chiapas are endangered by the patriarchal beliefs of Mexican society. 

Jennifer Ng’andu  
Director, Health and Civil Rights and Policy Projects

NCLR 2013 Conference

Interviewed by Delia Gonzalez Huffman

The subject of Health care in the US is fiercely debated topic where for some it would be better to kick the can for the next generation. For some they believe there are no problems that a public hospital can’t fix. Or death is the natural order for the most vulnerable who cannot afford good health care.

 Ng’andu holds a B.S. in psychology from Duke University. At Duke University was the beginning of her activism for social justice. She was on various boards where she learned the importance of understanding grievances need to be heard and have resolution and no toleration of harassment in an educational setting. The importance of experience of student teaching and the beginning of the art of diplomacy would become the platform of understanding of “how policy framework can change a law and it changes a rule,” says Ng’andu.

For Ng’andu it is compelling “without healthcare you have nothing,” she says.

 “There are direct biological consequences in that a child who does not have good access to health services will experience developmental setbacks because they are sick or their parents are sick,” Ng’andu says. “It makes it harder for them to achieve in school and can have serious consequences on their future. We have to invest in children early, their health early, their education, making sure they have healthy communities to grow in.” From article Health Disparities Cause Financial Burdens for Families, Communities and Health Care System by Kimberly. N. Alley.

“Should a mother have to make a choice about health care?” Ng’andu says. “Does it make any sense to choose from having health care and having nothing left for college funds?”

Ms. Ng’andu joined NCLR in 2004, and for over eight years, she has overseen the Health Policy Project, which aims to improve the health status and outcomes of Latinos through policy change. She has successfully advanced policies that expand health coverage options for Latinos, leading the organization's efforts to insert Latino priorities into the historic Affordable Care Act. Before that, she worked on collective efforts to enact a major children’s health initiative, which led to the restoration of critical benefits for legal immigrant children and families. As a result, more than 250,000 uninsured children received access to insurance, and Congress restored at least $1 billion of public health insurance to legal immigrant children and expectant mothers.

Her media credits include a spectrum of radio, print, and television media, including The New York Times, BBC, and The Washington Post.  She received recognition for her work to eliminate racial and ethnic health care disparities when presented with the 2008 Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain trust Leadership in Advocacy Award.

  Currently she serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Herndon Alliance. She serves as a board member of Director of the National Physicians Alliance.  Because of her expertise she was recently appointed by the government of Mexico to serve on the Advisory Board of Ventaniallas de Salud, a cooperative program to promote access to preventive health care for the Mexican immigrants in the United States.  A 2012 Center for Progressive Leadership fellow.

In February of 2013 because of her efforts as an advocate and a public spokesperson protecting and expanding health care quality and access for Latinos and other communities of color. She was recognized by Consumer Health Equity Advocate of the Year Award at the annual Families USA Health Action Conference.

“Jennifer is more than a “Who’s Who” in the health reform effort—she is really a personification of “Here’s How!” Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, said. “I’ve worked on the public stage on health care issues for much of my adult life, and I stand in awe of what Jennifer has been able to accomplish in her eight years with NCLR.”

It is quite an accomplishment  for Na’andu to have such wide expertise in Health and nutrition policy; Affordable Care Act and health reform; access and health disparities for racial/and ethnic populations, immigrant eligibility for health programs and public benefits, hunger and obesity.

She has also an author.  Critical Things You Should Know About Health Care Reform, coauthored with Marco Murillo, and Sin Provecho Latinos and Insecurity, coauthored with Emilia M. Leal Gianfortoni.

So how does she find time to attend the 2013 Bull Run festival in Pamplona, Spain, knowing in a day or two the 2013 NCLR health summit begins and she is one of the first presenters and still has the youthful face and no tear or wear?

It was obvious to me I needed to stand on the coffee table and with my off key voice I would had sang to her the Helen Reddy Lyrics from her album of 1971, I Am A Woman –If I have to I can do anything, I am strong, I am invincible, I am a woman. This song was made just for Ng’andu.

Jennifer can be contacted at (202) 785-1607. Info on NCLR – www.nclr.org.

Much of what we know about cannabinoids and medical marijuana stems from the groundbreaking work of this courtly Israeli.  The country has long been a pioneer of cannabis research. 

Women in Chiapas are endangered by the patriarchal beliefs of Mexican society. 
Machismo and Married Men Spread HIV in Mexico —Posted by Natasha Hakimi
Posted on September 18, 2013

ACTION ITEM

Sent by Yomar Villarreal Cleary 

I invite you to send us the name of a place that inspires you and represents an important connection to your heritage. And I hope you will join the National Trust for Historic Preservation as we honor places like them each day and ensure they are protected for future generations.

Germonique R. Ulmer
Vice President, Public Affairs
National Trust for Historic Preservation

2004 Getty Images

Recognize The Borinqueneers Ahora!

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/opinion/2013/08/26/recognize-borinqueneers-ahora/#ixzz2eFpKmCIB

EDUCATION

The National Latino & American Indian Scholarship Directory is the most comprehensive source for Latino and American Indian students to find financing for college! At a time when college graduates carry more than a TRILLION dollars in student loan debt, The Directory offers via 1,900 scholarship funds more than 220,000 ways to help finance college education, reducing the need to use loans to pay tuition and other expenses.

Kirk Whisler, Executive Editor
Latino Print Network, 760-434-1223
kirk@whisler.com

3rd Biennial Policy Summit on Latino Higher Education

"We are the Future and the Future is Now"
SAfHE Sereno Alliance for Higher Education 

October 2 - 4, 2013 Albuquerque, NM 

LATINO EDUCATION: THE DREAM
by Manuel Hernandez Carmona

After a Recent Upswing, College Enrollment Declines, 

Census Bureau Reports: census@subscriptions.census.gov 

CULTURE

The History of Las Comadres Para Las Americas
~ Nora de Hoyos Comstock, Ph.D.

My bloodline is Mexico-Americano, and I was born and raised in the US as a fourth-generation Tejana. Though I spoke Spanish as a child, English became my dominant language once I entered school, since my friends were mostly non-Latinos. This was not by choice. But since I did not know my history, it was very hard to feel grounded. I thought that this feeling was unique, but soon found out that many US Latinos felt this desire for community and a proximity to our Latino culture as a way to preserve and celebrate who we are and where we came from. As a young woman, I also thought I wanted a large family, but after the birth of my twins, whom I love so very much, I decided that I did not. Kids are a lot of work and a huge responsibility. But I still wanted a community. After being born into a family that would eventually produce 10 siblings, upon my release from the hospital I was placed into the loving arms of my aunt and uncle who raised me. I owe them my success. However, I strongly sense that being an only child until the age of 10, when my cousin David was adopted into the family, said my overwhelming need for others.

As successful attorneys, neither Elizabeth nor Veronica had the time to devote to the upkeep of a loosely mixed group, which at that time required paper, typewriters, and postage to keep everyone connected between comadrazos. I saw the potential to expand, and applied my love of technology and computer experience to transform Las Camadres into the international organization it is today. Prior to that time I had been struggling to recruit members. But once an article was published in an Austin newspaper about our "culture club" close to 500 Latina has reached out to me to say: I am also looking to connect with other Latinos, and I am so glad I found this group. Then their mothers sisters, cousins, friends, and extended families started writing or calling to ask about starting Las Camadres in their city.

I believe that the convergence of the following three elements made it possible to expand beyond our wildest dreams: the expanding awareness and use of the Internet by potential, comadres; the availability of the expertise required to set up and maintain the technological systems to keep the project viable; and the personal element: time and willingness to invest to make it succeed (i.e., my passion for this organization and my husbands technological and financial support, as it began to consume our lives!).

As I began to connect Latinos in my immediate surroundings, they often laughed saying that what happened in those gatherings "filled their souls" until the next meeting. When I started traveling to other cities to begin camadres groups, I met numerous women who told me they had the same idea a long time ago. They had not started such a network because it really is a lot of work to keep a group together and grow it. Then I met other women who actually did form comadre groups in their communities. One of those groups had been in existence for 40 years. The majority of the groups were small, and wanted to maintain the intimate connection between original members, but we're interested in joining our larger network to benefit from what we can offer.

Though were mostly English-based, meeting with others who relate to and appreciate phrases, jokes, and songs in Spanish serves to make instant connections in a way that doesn't happen with others in a mainstream society. For example, we can be strangers but if a reference is made to something about chanclas, similar images and memories are conjured up for us all. I believe this is what keeps us coming back to comadrazos. We can count on those experiences connect to our us to connect us to our people our language, our laughter, our roots.

As many of you are aware, during the 50s and 60s, Mexican heritage was not positively knowledged or per trade in our schools, even at the university level. Consequently I had little exposure to the history of rock or writings of Mexican Americans. Through Las Comadres, I became acutely aware of what would become known as American Latino literature. The more I read, the more I learned about the many aspects of Latino culture, and I became committed to spreading the word. In 2006 we started a Latino author teleconference series and in 2008 the book club was born. Las Comadres and the Association of American publishers partnered to create Las Comadres and Teleconference Series. Each month the book club selects the book written by a Latino author that has been published in that year the club's read the book and gather to discuss it, and at the end of the month all members can phone in to listen to my conversation with the author during a live teleconference. Today I'm grateful that there are now so many of us trying to support Latino authors.

This anthology of moderate stories is only the beginning. We have so much to give, so much to learn from each other together, we can make the future.

~ Nora de Hoyos Comstock, Ph.D.

Count on Me, Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships edited by Adriana V. Lopez is a collection of writings by Latinas on the theme of Comadres, Nora De Hoyos Comstock, Ph.D., Carolina De Robertis, Reyna Grande, Stephaie Elizondo Griest, Michelle Herrera Mulligan, Adriana V. Lopez, Lorraine Lopez, Daisy Martinez, Ana Nogales, Ph.D., Sofia Quintero, Teresa Rodriguez, Esmeralda Santiago, Fabiola Santiago, and one Compadre, Luis Alberto Urrea.

Adriana V. López is the founding editor of Críticas magazine and edited the story collections Barcelona Noir and Fifteen Candles. López’s journalism has appeared in the New York Times and the Washington Post, and her essays and fiction have been published in anthologies such as Border-Line Personalities, Colonize This! and Juicy Mangos. She is also the translator of various works in the Spanish language, most recently Waiting for Robert Capa by Susana Fortes. Her short memoir El oso y el madroño was published in Latin America in 2012. A member of PEN America, López divides her time between New York and Madrid.

Editor:  Nora, national and international founder of Las Comadres Para Las Americas and who has served as the organization's president and founder since its founding has given me permission to share tidbits from the stories included in Count on Me, Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships.  Please click to Los Comais by Esmeralda Santiago in Cuentos.

"While self-awareness is an essential part of leadership while self-awareness is an essential part of leadership preparation for all people, for Latinos includes integrating one's cultural identity and knowing one's roots and family heritage." 

Conciencia implies we must look for deeper meaning. Conciencia can be translated as "consciousness,"  " awareness," and " self-knowledge."

Because of cultural domination, success for Latinos meant cloning the behavior and thinking patterns that white society taught in schools and other institutions. This social conditioning can result in Latinos rejecting their culture, becoming "whitewashed," and distancing themselves from their own group.One way that Latinos and other people of color have tried to escape negative cultural images is to assimilate into the dominant society. A simulation or races one's cultural identity and can create feelings of inferiority and function at an unconscious level. The fact is, however, that no matter how hard Latinos and other people of color tried, they could never totally fit in.

When I was seven years old, my family bought a small house in the newly developed section of town. I was uprooted from West Tampa, where the "Spanish people" lived and walked into second-grade to see a whole sea of white faces. Like all other children, I wanted to be accepted and to succeed in school. So little by little, I stop speaking Spanish, learn to act like the other kids, and even became in barest by my immigrant family. Likewise, many Mexican Americans in the Southwest forgot Spanish and even change the pronunciations of their names.

The psychological pain of rejecting one's own group, together with the confused or splintered identity that can result, was termed the psychology of oppression by the perceptive Brazilian thinker and educator Paulo Frerire. The psychology of oppression is the process by which Latinos and other "minorities" internalize the negative messages and beliefs about their people and come to believe that they are true. This operates at an unconscious level, so that many are unaware of how this functions in their personal lives or affects their self-esteem. Once this occurs, they are held hostage by their own thinking and began to collude with the society that kept them "in their place." They may believe their culture is inferior.

From an individualistic orientation, the feeling that one may not measure up can be confused for a lack of initiative or abilities. However when an entire culture cannot compete equitably and must battle the obstacles of discrimination, this becomes a systemic or social mechanism. Conciencia requires a clear awareness of how exclusion affects Latinos both individually and collectively.

Conciencia  entails addressing the subliminal messages about white privilege, resolving the internal barriers of exclusion, and fully integrating one's cultural identity. As a young girl I struggled with this. As an immigrant growing up in a lower income family, I did not know the social manners associated with White people or the middle class. Children like me who didn't have the right close, know the right people or live in the right neighborhood often felt inadequate. The language my family used, their table manners, and their jobs, put me at a disadvantage. I remember as a young girl feeling inferior. One occasion was especially difficult.

Please click a painful incident, to The Red-Striped Dress by Juana Bordas under Cuentos.

Sal Valadez salvaladez82@yahoo.com

Las “Hermanitas Gonzalez”  

Juan Marinez <marinezj@msu.edu>
Subject: Not included

CLICK HERE to learn about the MARIACHI VIP PACKAGE, dedicated to College Scholarships! Includes prime seats for Día de los Muertos and a pre-concert VIP reception!

Symphonic Mariachi Champaña Nevin
Mónica Ábrego, soprano
José Luis Duval, tenor
Rafael Palomar, tenor
Mariachi Garibaldi from Southwestern College
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Directed by Jeff Nevin

Experience one of the world's most colorful and magical celebrations! Día de los Muertos honors the lives and music of Mexico's most beloved singers and composers. We will honor José Alfredo Jimenez, Agustin Lara, Javier Solis, Pedro Infante, María Grever, Tomás Méndez, and others.

The performance includes San Diego favorite Mónica Ábrego, Metropolitan opera veteran José Luis Duval and one of the most famous mariachi musicians in the world, Rafael Palomar. With world-class singers and world-class mariachi performing some of the most passionate and exciting music, don’t miss this San Diego tradition!

LITERATURE

The first Spanish newspaper in Texas

My great grandfather, Damaso Lerma, published the first Spanish newspaper in Texas. It was called Las Dos Republicas and was written in Spanish. He had the newspapers bound into books. There were three books, His daughter Hortenia Lerma Neale had all three and one was left to her daughter, her brother borrowed one and was found many years later. That book was later donated to the Arnulfo Olivera Library at the University of Texas, Brownsville which they have lost and the other was given to my aunt and I later donated it to the Stillman Museum in Brownsville. The newspaper only lasted a few years because the building burned down and they did not have insurance to rebuild. The third book seems to be lost, my other aunt left it to me but it was never found. I would love to find the other two books. 

Helen Fisher  
helencfisher@comcast.ne

Dagoberto Gilb Discusses His New Literary Magazine, 
Huizache By Hector Tobar, April 26, 2013  

Huizache magazine is a new Latino literary journal started by writer Dagoberto Gilb. (Huizache)

The writer Dagoberto Gilb is a believer in the literature of the American West and in the literature of the Latino United States. He’d prefer not to read any more novels that portray Latino people as stereotypical criminals and bumpkins. His own work — half a dozen books, including short story collections and novels — is a ferocious riposte to those writers and editors who perpetuate a one-dimensional vision of the Latino U.S.

Now Gilb is going to bat for Western and Latino lit in a new literary magazine called Huizache that he’s started with the help of the Centro Victoria for Mexican Literature, based at the South Texas campus of the University of Houston-Victoria. The first two issues featured an all-star literary cast, including Sandra Cisneros, Juan Felipe Herrera, Sherman Alexie and Gary Soto and art by Patssi Valdez.

In this email interview, Gilb speaks with characteristic candor about his new magazine, the “Junot-ization” of the Latino lit scene, and what he doesn’t like in Latino lit, including “do-gooder pedo,” by which he means work that patronizes Latino subjects.

Why have you decided to start a literary journal now, since supposedly printed words are dead?

Wow, you’re catching onto my most dazzling flaw in a first line of query! Dead lit, yes sir, that’s my baby mama. For lots of years in my life I didn’t know there was anything but. It was dead writers I loved to read. I couldn’t find American writers who lived wherever it was I was living (L.A. or El Paso). I’m so into it, I didn’t even realize I was writing in that non-contemporary vein of lit myself! So yeah, I still like work to be so out-of-it that it appears in these paper and bound dealios once called ‘magazines’ [mag-ah-ZYEEN]. Worse, I want for others what I have wrought unto myself — a home for those who love lit but come from unseen bad neighborhoods or maybe in the boonies or too close to a busy freeway or border, not in the mainstream suburbs or upper eastsides. A mag that puts us in the printed center. But hey, wait, soon we're going online a little bit too.

Why call it Huizache? And why call it "the" Latino literary journal?

“Huizache” is a Nahuatl word meaning “a real lot of thorns.” It’s also a type of acacia tree native to Mexico and well known in Texas, less fondly to farmers in South and East Texas, where they have trouble ridding their fields of it, whereas to Chicanos, many know the tree blooming (yellow flowers) in the backyard of their childhood homes. I think the metaphorical usage, from this point, will be apparent to most readers. I want to add that in Texas huizache gets pronounced in a mandatory, reduced to two-syllables form required of all Mexican words. We at Huizache magazine insist on the actual three syllables within the word and do not think we are talking Spanish when we say huizache anymore than we are when saying taco.

As to the “the” in “the magazine of Latino literature.” Oralé and oh yeah, that’s right, that’s us! You tell me who else has done what we’ve done in two issues alone? And that’s so far. And we’re in Victoria, Texas. You go, Uh, where? And I go, See what I’m saying?! Just think, and just wait. It’s our Paris Review, that’s why, and we’ve only started.

One can't help but notice that many if not most of your contributors are from the western side of the Mississippi River. Is cultivating that Southwestern Latino voice one of your missions?

The Southwest and Texas, yes, but as much so the West. There are so many magazines that “matter” on the East Coast already, it’d be hard for anyone to mention one that isn’t from there. Established media equalizes (roughly speaking) the nation’s Latino demographics into fourths (Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Mexican), despite the fact that Mexican Americans are around 75% of the whole. It’s interesting to me that President Obama, who’s from Hawaii and or Chicago, chose a Cuban American to represent Latinos in his second inauguration. Imagine the impact in the West had he chosen a MexAm (that’s my non-gendered shorthand), the only group overwhelmingly from the West.

As one of the handful of Latino literary voices of the Southwest who's cracked New York publishing again and again, is New York publishing starting to get the difference, the diversity in Latino voices? Or do they still think a Dominican is telling the same story as a Texan?

No, New York understands this no better than Washington, D.C. How many Latinos are editors? Are any from western states or their universities, let alone MexAm? There is simply no awareness of the Chicano, a MexAm world in the East. Their perception is what’s been around for a century. Thus, the usual stories are promoted: the exotic, untamed, tequila’ed Mexico (“Under the Volcano,” or Kerouac & Burroughs adventure), or as Mexican nationals even if the setting’s in the U.S.; or how we just crossed the border (despite being here a couple hundred years now, and the curiously Spanish names of our mountains, rivers, and cities), Guadalupe-tattooed cholos in or out of prison (though, worst case number, 95% have non-gang lives).

Though this is a much larger discussion, it’s also true that we are responsible for showing the industry that there’s a market for complex stories from the real population of the West. In many respects, what I want Huizache to do is both external and internal: to raise the awareness (and market viability) not only for publishers, but to educate our own about our own beyond what’s marketed by East Coast publishing. As with real political changes in this country, we are only at the beginning of our artistic powers, stories, and verses, and we want to be able to promote it from within.

Well, moving across the Mississippi to the East Coast, in one of our emails back and forth you referred to the “Junot-ization” of the Latino lit scene. What did you mean by that? And how has Junot Diaz changed Latino and American lit?

I’ve known Junot for almost 20 years, since he was my little brother (way smarter than me!), when he was only a literary hip-hop star, not the massive planet he’s become. It’s not on him that all questions Latino are most definitively answered by him (has he been asked where the best Mexican restaurant in L.A. is?), as if his is our experience and history. The man is super-smart and talented and funny, but he’s from New Jersey and teaches at MIT. He’s into Dominican culture and supporting it. Unlike us, his local mag is a national one, the New Yorker. All good for him.

Putting aside the Latino part, there’s nothing extremely new when you look at it clearly: Even Kerouac and Ginsberg were from there. It’s like watching an old Western: We’re supposed to be thrilled the stagecoach finally got here with the soprano and grand piano from the classier East. It’s not on him that our own region fawns as though it’s the way of their literary dreams. They don’t realize that buying him — better said, only buying him — and not our own stories makes New York publishing believe it has it right. Ours don’t realize that buying, say, Huizache (or any other of “our” publications), making it half-profitable, would generate far more opportunity for their career possibilities, because editors would become aware of the huge market in the West that is about being here. I myself love international lit, but we need some “buy local” consciousness so all stories aren’t shipped in — so at least our young can learn that where they were born and raised doesn’t doom them to only watching the high lives of "Mad Men."

And, finally, who are some of the new up-and-coming voices in the Southwest scene you're excited about? Who are the ones you think are most underappreciated?

I am no Stalinist, no doctrinal mandates or purity tests. Maybe it’s only because I’ve been a man so long, with traditionally male work (in construction for a decade and a half) or jobs dominated by men (back when I was a janitor, for instance, or even now in universities), I find it very cool that I’m seeing women writers, like women vocalists, doing the least clichéd, most fascinating and fresh work. Me, I want punk, I want classical, so long as it’s obsessed with what it’s doing and good. I hate do-gooder pedo. I like skilled art that knows the smartest, that doesn’t try to dupe the stupid or naïve. Willful craft. I want quality from artists who don’t think they ever get it right but move on anyway.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/26/entertainment/la-et-jc-dagoberto-gilb-new-literary-magazine-huizache-20130424
Sent by Roberto Calderon, Ph.D. beto@unt.edu

Historia de Lepe en comic

Reconozco que los libros me atraen desde pequeño. Es tal mi afición a la lectura, especialmente de temas históricos, que cuando paso junto a una librería, me resisto  a entrar, porque si lo hago, es casi seguro que salgo con algún libro bajo el brazo.

Reconozco que los libros me atraen desde pequeño. Es tal mi afición a la lectura, especialmente de temas históricos, que cuando paso junto a una librería, me resisto  a entrar, porque si lo hago, es casi seguro que salgo con algún libro bajo el brazo 

Por eso hace unos días cuando un amigo  me dijo que me iba a enviar un libro sobre la historia de Lepe, me alegré, porque por diversos motivos, me siento muy vinculado a la población y sus habitantes, donde  he vivido y conservo excelentes amigos. 

Pero el libro traía una nueva sorpresa para mi, porque cuando me enteré que era la historia lepera en comic, pensé que debía ser su autor Tomás Rodríguez Villanueva, que hace años me enseñó los primeros bocetos de su obra. 

Y efectivamente, mi buen amigo Tomás, ha publicado su obra con la colaboración del Ayuntamiento de Lepe y la Comunidad de Regantes “Piedras-Guadiana” y con la particularidad que todos los beneficios de esta edición van destinados  íntegramente  a Caritas de la Parroquia de Santo Domingo de Guzmán de Lepe. 

El libro, muy cuidado en la impresión y encuadernación, recoge la historia de Lepe, desde los orígenes con  fenicios y romanos  y hasta nuestros días,  y Tomás hace un magnifico  resumen de la historia de su pueblo, detallando a los naturales que emigraron a América, Falcon, Treviño, Alonso Barba, entre otros y allí brillaron en sus profesiones,  como dice en la introducción, “una reseña histórica de hechos concretos, que nos da una visión general de ella y sirve de punto de partida…”. 

Quiero hacer patente mi sincera felicitación a Tomás Rodríguez Villanueva por sus textos y expresivos dibujos  y a todos los que han intervenido en esta edición, de la que hasta el papel empleado es bueno. 

Ángel Custodio Rebollo (Publicado en el Periodico de Huelva)

Si algún lector está interesado en una mayor información, puede contactar con la dirección electrónica, raky002@gmail.com

BOOKS

Count on Me: Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships

by Las Comaderes para las Americas
and edited by Adriana V. Lopez

Beloved bestselling Latino authors, including Esmeralda Santiago, Carolina De Robertis, and Luis Alberto Urrea share moving personal stories of the many ways that sisterly bonds have powerfully impacted their lives. What would you do, where would you be, without your comadre?

THE POWER OF LATINO LEADERSHIP by JUANA BORDAS

“America grows more diverse by the day. Leaders want to understand and motivate those they lead but may feel intimidated by the complex history and culture of Latinos in America. Juana Bordas has written a handbook for making sense of it all. The Power of Latino Leadership helps the reader decode the coming America and the changing workforce.”
—Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent, PBS News Hour, and former host, Talk of the Nation, NPR

“Bordas has mentored generations of young Hispanics throughout her distinguished career. [Here] she presents a compelling case for how the strengths Hispanics bring to the table…can infuse new life into leadership development for all of our country’s current and future leaders.”
—Janet Murguía, President, National Council of La Raza

http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Latino-Leadership-Contribution/dp/1609948874#_ 

Sent by Darlene Tenes  darlene@casaq.com 

Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers

New Book: Anabel Hernández, Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers.

'Mexico's war on drugs is one big lie'.  Anabel Hernández, journalist and author, accuses the Mexican state of complicity with the cartels, and says the 'war on drugs' is a sham. She's had headless animals left at her door and her family have been threatened by gunmen. Now her courageous bestseller, extracted below, is to be published in the UK

By Ed Vulliamy

The Observer, Saturday 31 August 2013
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/01/mexico-drugs-anabel-hernandez-narcoland

During January 2011, Anabel Hernández's extended family held a party at a favourite cafe in the north of Mexico City. The gathering was to celebrate the birthday of Anabel's niece. As one of the country's leading journalists who rarely allows herself time off, she was especially happy because "the entire family was there. There are so many of us that it's extremely difficult to get everybody together in one place. It hardly ever happens."

Anabel Hernández had to leave early, as so often, "to finish an article", and it was after she left that gunmen burst in. "Pointing rifles at my family, walking round the room – and taking wallets from people. But this was no robbery; no one tried to use any of the credit cards – it was pure intimidation, aimed at my family, and at me." It was more than a year before the authorities began looking for the assailants. And during that time the threats had continued: one afternoon last June, Hernández opened her front door to find decapitated animals in a box on the doorstep.

Hernández's offence was to write a book about the drug cartels that have wrought carnage across Mexico, taking some 80,000 lives, leaving a further 20,000 unaccounted for – and forging a new form of 21st-century warfare. But there have been other books about this bloodletting; what made Los Señores del Narco different was its relentless narrative linking the syndicate that has driven much of the violence – the Sinaloa cartel, the biggest criminal organisation in the world – to the leadership of the Mexican state.

Her further sin against the establishment and cartels was that the book became, and remains, a bestseller: more than 100,000 copies sold in Mexico. The success is impossible to overstate, a staggering figure for a non-fiction book in a country with indices of income and literacy incomparable to the American-European book-buying market. The wildfire interest delivers a clear message, says Hernández: "So many Mexicans do not believe the official version of this war. They do not believe the government are good guys, fighting the cartels. They know the government is lying, they don't carry their heads in the clouds."

Hernández's book will be published in English this month with the title Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and their Godfathers, so that we in the English-speaking world that consumes so much of what the cartels deal, and which banks their proceeds, might learn the lie of "cops and robbers", of "upright society versus the mafia" – the received wisdom that still contaminates coverage of drug wars and the "war on drugs".

Two writers in particular have been pioneering the struggle to counter this untruth: one is Hernández, and the other is Roberto Saviano – author of Gomorrah, about the Camorra of Naples – who writes in a foreword to Hernández's English edition: "Narcoland shows how contemporary capitalism is in no position to renounce the mafia. Because it is not the mafia that has transformed itself into a modern capitalist enterprise, it is capitalism that has transformed itself into a mafia. The rules of drug trafficking that Anabel Hernández describes are also the rules of capitalism."

By the year 2000, Anabel Hernández had made a name for herself in Mexican journalism, on the daily paper Reforma. But in December of that year, she found herself personally caught up in the murky crossover between state and criminals when her father was kidnapped: a crime the family believes to have been unconnected to his daughter's work.

The police in Mexico City said they would investigate only if they were paid; the family refused, figuring – as sometimes happens – that the police would take the money without taking any action. When Mr Hernández was murdered, Anabel Hernández's resolve to nurture her craft – fearless of, and without illusions about, the establishment – was deepened by the outrage.

Within a year, Hernández had broken a scandal about the extravagance with which the winning presidential candidate, Vicente Fox, had decorated his personal accommodation using public funds – while campaigning on a ticket of economic austerity. Two years later, she was honoured by Unicef for her work on slave labour and the exploitation of Mexican girls entrapped in agricultural work camps in southern California. Before long, Mexico's drug war erupted, and Hernández turned her attention to this most perilous of subjects, and the most powerful man involved: Joaquín "El Chapo'" Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel. In the depth of its depiction of the world's richest and most influential criminal, Hernández's book leaves every other account far behind.  

When Zulema Hernández (no relation) entered Puente Grande prison, convicted of robbery, she cannot have thought herself in for a happy time. But she could never have imagined the consequences of attracting the attention of the jail's most famous inmate, Guzmán, and becoming one of his lovers. The attentions of El Chapo ("Shorty") led Zulema to have two abortions, to being prostituted around the warders like "a piece of meat" and – once released – to her corpse being found in the boot of a car with the letter Z, epigram of Guzmán's main rivals, Los Zetas, carved into her buttocks, breasts and back.

If this appalling tale, past midway through Hernández's narrative, captures the squalidness of Mexico's drug war, another passage illustrates the way Guzmán ran the jail in which he was supposedly incarcerated, inviting his extended family in for a five-day Christmas party. Hernández also recounts the mysterious murders of the one senior public official who tried to expose the corruption at the jail at government level and the only warder who testified to it. And, most important, the fact that Guzmán did not "escape" from Puente Grande, as the lore has it, in a laundry truck – he walked free in police uniform, with a police escort, long after the chief of the prison service and deputy minister for public security arrived in response to the "news" of his escape.

A character appears throughout the book, called simply "The Informant" – one among many Hernández found during her five-year odyssey through the criminal world, and those supposedly fighting it. "And he told me when I started this in 2005: 'Don't do this. You're a woman and it's too dangerous.' But I had to – because of what had happened in my life, and because only when people understand what is going on can they change it."  

The threats began when Hernández's book was published in Mexico in 2010 – and their story is interwoven into the book she has since written, Mexico in Flames. By this time she had become a mother of two children. "I received initial warnings that someone in the government wanted to sanction me," she says. "Even that someone wanted to have me killed. I didn't want to believe it, but I was told this on good authority – 'they want to kill you'. I'd come to know official cars well over the years, and one day when I was fetching my little child from school, there it was, one of them, an official one."

Whatever the motive of this menace, "I reported it immediately to the government's human rights commission. They opened a file, and I was allocated 24-hour protection." But then, earlier this summer, a sinister move: the authorities announced their intention to remove the escort, forcing her to cancel a number of trips to afflicted areas of the country to promote the new book.

"I fought the decision," says Hernández, "and they gave me back the escort – but beheaded animals continued to appear on my doorstep even after this, as recently as last June."  

For this is a book about, to use one of Anabel Hernández's best words, the "mafiocracy", rather than the mafia – about the mafia state. It is about how the old Guadalajara cartel of the 1980s was protected by the Mexican government just as its heir, Guzmán's Sinaloa syndicate, is now. It is about the rise of Genaro García Luna, whom Hernández accuses of being El Chapo's protector at the apex of government. "At first, I thought it would be difficult," she says. "I didn't think people would be ready to believe that the government is lying. That this is all one big lie."  

A 2005 picture of Rafael Caro Quintero, who was released last month on a technicality. Photograph: Getty Images

A character appears throughout the book, called simply "The Informant" – one among many Hernández found during her five-year odyssey through the criminal world, and those supposedly fighting it. "And he told me when I started this in 2005: 'Don't do this. You're a woman and it's too dangerous.' But I had to – because of what had happened in my life, and because only when people understand what is going on can they change it."

The threats began when Hernández's book was published in Mexico in 2010 – and their story is interwoven into the book she has since written, Mexico in Flames. By this time she had become a mother of two children. "I received initial warnings that someone in the government wanted to sanction me," she says. "Even that someone wanted to have me killed. I didn't want to believe it, but I was told this on good authority – 'they want to kill you'. I'd come to know official cars well over the years, and one day when I was fetching my little child from school, there it was, one of them, an official one."

Whatever the motive of this menace, "I reported it immediately to the government's human rights commission. They opened a file, and I was allocated 24-hour protection." But then, earlier this summer, a sinister move: the authorities announced their intention to remove the escort, forcing her to cancel a number of trips to afflicted areas of the country to promote the new book.

"I fought the decision," says Hernández, "and they gave me back the escort – but beheaded animals continued to appear on my doorstep even after this, as recently as last June."  

When Hernández visits Britain this month, she will be drawing attention not only to the agony of her country, but to the intimidation she has suffered and the murder of scores of her colleagues. This pogrom against the press is no "sideshow" or media obsession with itself – it is strategically integral to Mexico's drug war, and the taking of territory by the cartels.

One of Hernández's friends is the veteran reporter Mike O'Connor, who spent much of his childhood in Mexico, has covered conflict since America's "dirty wars" in Central America during the 1980s and now works full-time on behalf of Mexico's menaced reporters, based in Mexico City for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"The silencing of the press and killing of journalists is integral to the reality, the big story, of what is happening here," explains O'Connor. "The cartels are taking territory. The government and authorities are ceding territory to the cartels and, for the cartels to take territory, three things have to happen. One is to control the institutions with guns – basically, the police. The second is to control political power. And, for the first two to be effective, you have to control the press."

Furthermore, he says, underlining the theme of his friend's book, "The inability of the government to really solve any of the crimes against journalists during the four years I've been here is a metaphor for its inability to solve crimes against common citizens. They simply cannot do it. And you wonder: if they can't solve these crimes, why not? Is it because they don't want to?"

What does Hernández feel about her less prominent colleagues on local papers, often compromised and threatened by cartels? It is a problem, she says, that "our reporters are not united in the face of these threats and murders", and she intends to "form a federation of solidarity, to build a group, a community, to make us stronger against the cartels and authorities".

"Many of these murders of my colleagues have been hidden away, surrounded by silence – they received a threat, and told no one; no one knew what was happening," she says. "We have to make these threats public. We have to challenge the authorities to protect our press by making every threat public – so they have no excuse."

The timing of this English edition of the book is fortuitous, feeding into the current news like a hand into a glove. The release last month of the cartel boss Caro Quintero by a Mexican federal court made headlines across the world; Quintero had been convicted of a part in the torture to death of a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in 1985. It's a murder which, in Hernández's account, throws light on both Mexican government and CIA complicity in drug trafficking, a narrative that exposes a deep root of the present drug war.

The court released Quintero on a legal technicality, but Hernández says now: "Mexico's government did nothing to prevent his release. On the contrary, they contributed cover for the release. The one thing nobody wants is Quintero talking about the roles of the Institutional Revolutionary Party [returned to power, and in government during Camarena's murder] and the CIA in the origins of Chapo Guzmán's cartel."

Another major item of news was the capture in July of the Zetas leader Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, and the killing last year of the man he replaced, Heriberto Lazcano. These successes for the Mexican military speak to Hernández's theme: it has long been speculated that any Mexican government's best chance for peace is to return to the so-called "pax mafiosa", a conviviality with – a blind eye towards – the biggest cartel, Guzmán's, whereby the drugs keep flowing in exchange for a cessation of violence, while the official "war on drugs" is fought against his opponents. Of these, the Zetas are by far the most formidable.

"Sadly, I think this is what is happening," says Hernández. "Mexico is exhausted. People will pay anything to live in peace. And this is the strategy; a sponsorship of the Sinaloa cartel, which makes the so-called 'war on drugs' one big lie."

Señores del Narco is not flattered by its English translation, which is sometimes colloquial to the point of inelegance (agent Camarena is described as "a goner", and the mysterious killing of a compromised government official, Edgar Millán, is "a shocker"). That is a shame given the importance of the book and the availability of excellent translators from Spanish. The English edition is, furthermore, regrettably tardy (though hats off to Verso for publishing it), illustrating the Anglophone world's baffling detachment from the death toll of the drug-taking to which it feels entitled.

Hernández is "very pleased my book is being published in English, so it can be read in London and New York where drugs are being sold and taken on every corner, and people can know where every gram of cocaine comes from – corruption and death. I want it published in Britain and America, where the profits are laundered. In your country, where HSBC took Chapo Guzmán's money to 'look after it', and then said they didn't know where it came from. I have studied the laundering networks in depth, and I cannot believe them."  

Hernandez insists – and this is what places her among the political heretics with regard to the "war on drugs"– that "the violence and the cartels are not the disease. They're a symptom of the disease, which is corruption. The cartels cannot operate without the support of officials, bureaucrats, politicians and police officers – and bankers to launder their money. These people let the narcos do what they do and they are the issue, this is the cancer. I met these people, the narcos. They have no scruples, they're cruel – but in the end, they're just businessmen, all they can see is money. Life, they cannot see."  

Mexican Federal Police patrol the surroundings of the Puente Grande State prison (background) in Zapotlanejo, Jalisco State, Mexico. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images  

Prisoners received them in the psychological care section, in the conjugal visit rooms, or in their own cells. If ever there was a shortage, they would get their hands on female staff or inmates, with the connivance of warden Beltrán. These women didn't have much choice. Any who dared to resist the sexual demands of the drug barons had a rough time.

Of all the women El Chapo had at Puente Grande, three stood out: Zulema Yulia, Yves Eréndira and Diana Patricia. Each learned what a hell it is to be the current favourite of a gangster. Their desperate stories blow apart the myth of the "love-struck drug baron".

On 3 February, 2000, Zulema Yulia Hernández, a young woman just 23 years old, was incarcerated in Puente Grande for robbing a security van. Even if she deserved to go to jail, the maximum security facility seemed an excessive punishment. There was no separate wing for women. They were kept in the observation and classification centre, where they had neither the appropriate medical services nor adequate physical protection in the midst of an overwhelmingly male population.

Guzmán's family visits coincided with those of Zulema. She quickly caught El Chapo's eye. The drug trafficker's obsessive nature and the young woman's vulnerable situation were to shape their dark tale. Through one of the members of the Sinaloas, known as El Pollo, Guzmán sent "love" letters to Hernández. The almost illiterate drug trafficker dictated these letters to an unidentified scribe, who embellished them with a dose of drama. Of course, writing to a female inmate was one of the thousands of forbidden things that he was allowed to do quite freely. Very soon, Guzmán began to have intimate relations with the young delinquent barely more than half his age. Their meetings took place in the communications area, aided and abetted by female guards and by the prison management.

The last Christmas in Puente Grande

It was after 10pm on Christmas Eve. The silence hanging over the broad freeway between Guadalajara and Zapotlanejo was broken by the roar of a convoy of SUVs, speeding towards the prison. At the junction outside the gates, there was a temporary checkpoint where perimeter guard José Luis de la Cruz stood watch with a colleague. He'd had specific orders from the deputy director for perimeter security not to let anybody in; he'd even been told to park a pick-up truck across the road to block access to the jail.

When De la Cruz saw the vehicles approaching without switching off their lights, he nervously swivelled his weapon and chambered a round, thinking it could be an attack. The driver of the lead vehicle suddenly slammed on the brakes, opened the door and jumped out. The guard's fears vanished when he recognised the smiling face of prison commander Juan Raúl Sarmiento. "It's us," he shouted jovially, like someone arriving at a party. De la Cruz moved his truck to let the line of vehicles pass. Joaquín Guzmán's relatives were travelling in some of them; Héctor Palma's in others. There was also a big group of mariachis and 500 litres of alcohol for the Christmas party. The sumptuous feast arrived a few minutes later. It had been prepared at the last moment, but the menu was first-class: lobster bisque, filet mignon, roast potatoes, prawns, green salad, and trays of nibbles, with canned sauces to spice up the dishes after reheating.

El Chapo and El Güero had been planning the celebration for weeks. They sent for a brighter yellow paint than that usually used in the prison; the prison guards themselves worked overtime painting the walls. The corridors and cells of units three and four were hung with Christmas lights and decorations. Guzmán's outside gofer, El Chito, had been entrusted with organising the banquet and buying the family gifts, as well as getting special food and drink for the ordinary prison inmates.

Corruption had been rife in Puente Grande for the past two years, but this cynical display of power was unprecedented. The party went on for three days. El Chapo and El Güero's relatives stayed until 26 December, taking advantage of the authorities' extreme laxity. Although it had looked as if the change of government might mean the drug barons would lose their privileges, they were acting with extraordinary confidence. In fact, one of the guests at the party was the prison warden himself; Leonardo Beltrán never let go of the briefcase full of wads the traffickers had given him for Christmas.

Anabel Hernández on Mexico’s Lost Drug War and Her New Book Narcoland

Mexican investigative reporter Anabel Hernandez has spent years combing through government documents and cultivating sources in law enforcement, the military and the drug world. She’s come to the conclusion that Mexico’s drug war can’t be won. Corruption is so deep and systemic within the government institutions charged with fighting narco-trafficking that it’s become a “war for drugs, not against drug trafficking,” she says.

Hernandez’s 2011 bestseller Los Señores del Narco was a sensation in Mexico. It linked former President Felipe Calderon’s powerful head of security forces, Genaro Garcia Luna, with the country’s top drug capos, including Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. In 2012, Hernandez was awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers for her work                        Anabel Hernández   
 in exposing government corruption.

Because of her work, the 42-year old journalist and her family have lived with round-the-clock bodyguards provided by Mexico City’s government since 2008. Now her book has been translated into English and will be released as Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and their Godfathers on September 10 by the UK publishing house Verso. This fall, Hernandez will tour the United Kingdom and the United States to promote her book. I spoke with her recently about Narcoland and her crucial investigative work in Mexico on government corruption and drug trafficking.

Texas Observer: What is the status of your security situation right now? I heard that the Mexican government had announced it would take away your bodyguards.

Anabel Hernandez: Last March the government of Mexico City decided to take away my bodyguards but thanks to the French government and other governments intervening I was allowed to keep them. The worst thing that I am living with now are the death threats. In June, someone left decapitated animals in my house as a warning.

TO: Do you have any idea who might have done this?

AH: I think it’s because I am still investigating and writing about the corruption of Genaro Garcia Luna. He’s not heading the Secretariat of Public Security anymore, he now lives with his family in Miami but all of his key people are still in control in Mexico. [The agency was dissolved in January 2013 by the current president and recreated as the National Commission of Security].

TO: Can you talk more about who Genaro Garcia Luna is and his power within Calderon’s presidency and the role he played in the current security crisis in Mexico.

AH: When Felipe Calderon started his presidency [in 2006], he announced his war on drugs. The head of that war was Genaro Garcia Luna; it wasn’t the army. Garcia Luna lead the government strategy and his institution, the Secretariat of Public Security, received the most money in the war against drugs. This institution got involved with drug traffickers. They didn’t just protect narcos, they helped them traffick drugs in international airports in Mexico City, Tijuana and Cancun for instance. The Federal Police helped the Sinaloa Cartel put drug shipments in airplanes and take them off planes when they arrived. I think it was one of the biggest lies of the Calderon government because he knew what Garcia Luna was up to. Many people told him. The general prosecutor has documents with many testimonies about Garcia Luna and his team’s corruption. But Calderon didn’t want to stop them. I think it’s because he was part of it.

TO: In your book, the soon-to-be-released Narcoland, you spent five years investigating the relationship between drug trafficking and the Mexican government as far back as the 80s. What you describe sounds like a mafia state. Is that what Mexico has become?

AH: I started the book in 2005 after visiting the Golden Triangle [Durango, Sinaloa and Chihuahua]. I went because I wanted to write an article about kids being forced to work in the marijuana and opium poppy fields. But then I discovered that these kids even as young as seven or eight-years-old were proud of their work in the fields because in this region of Mexico at least 90 percent of the families are dedicated to growing marijuana and poppies. These little kids wanted to be part of the family business. It was a shock for me. I went back to Mexico City and wrote the article. Afterward a lawyer contacted me. He was representing a man who worked at the maximum security prison where Chapo Guzman had escaped [in 2001]. He had been thrown in prison because of Chapo’s escape and he wanted to tell his side of the story. So I went to the jail and met with him and what he told me really opened my eyes. He gave me a large file with thousands of documents and I went home and read it. I realized that Chapo Guzman had been one of those little kids in the Golden Triangle helping his father in the marijuana fields. I wanted to know how an almost illiterate child had grown up to be one of the most powerful drug lords in the world and that’s when I started my investigation.

TO: So you followed his trajectory from a small child to the most powerful drug lord in Mexico?

AH: Yes. When he was in prison he had money to pay for women, parties and to bribe the guards because of his cousins the Beltran Leyvas but he wasn’t a powerful person. He had lost all of his smuggling territories and his business. So, it was a big surprise for me to see after his escape from jail and his joining with the Sinaloa Cartel again that he became very powerful in a very short time. I wanted to know why? And I discovered that it was because he had the protection of the federal government.

TO: Was it surprising to you as you learned more about how complicit the government was in the drug business?

AH: It was like swimming in dark waters. I did so many interviews with law enforcement, military officials and so many people involved in the drug world. I spoke with members from each of the cartels and got their stories and cross checked them with documents and other testimonies and that’s how I wrote Narcoland.

TO: And the more you learned the more dangerous it became for you I can imagine.

AH: Yes. Many of my sources were killed and others jailed. I think I stayed alive because I denounced and made public the threats against my life. I made public the death threats from Garcia Luna.

TO: In your book you speak of the abject poverty in the Golden Triangle where families view growing marijuana and poppies as their only means for survival. Has the Mexican government done anything to alleviate this poverty and offer other solutions?

AH: No. I really don’t think that the Mexican government wants to fight against drugs. Because when you go to the Golden Triangle you don’t see the government there. They’re not interested in starting programs to offer the poor people another option, another crop like corn or beans that they can grow. The government isn’t there or offering any alternatives.

TO: Why hasn’t the government done anything?

AH: Because it’s a business and I think illegal drugs globally is a huge business that moves the economies of many countries in many parts of the world. When I talk to the lawyers for instance of some of these large drug capos they explain, ‘Anabel you have to see it like a business’.

TO: Did it surprise you that they talked to you openly about the business?

AH: Well, it wasn’t easy. But I insisted with them that I wanted to understand more about narco-trafficking. “They said, ‘don’t do it. You’re a woman and you have children and it’s not a good idea.’ But I kept insisting and finally they opened the doors. In Mexico, many people think if you want to talk with drug traffickers you have to go to these remote areas where they are hiding out. But most of my interviews are in major cities. Narco-traffickers are not hiding from anybody. They are everywhere and in the best restaurants and staying at the finest hotels.

TO: You also write about the Iran-Contra scandal in your book and the nexus between Mexican drug dealers and the CIA. Can you talk more about that?

AH: There was a very important trial in California of Juan Matta-Ballesteros. Many of the testimonies talked about ties between the CIA and the drug dealers in Mexico such as Rafael Caro Quintero, who as you know was just released from jail in Mexico.

I have an idea that I can’t get out of my head. If the CIA was involved with Mexican drug lords during the Iran-Contra years why wouldn’t it happen again? Who knows? I discovered in 2011 ties between the DEA and Sinaloa Cartel in the trial with Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla in Chicago. The proof is in the testimonies and files in that case. The DEA is a different agency but it’s a similar scenario where the government gets involved with drug cartels. How many other cases are there out there that we don’t know about?

It’s impossible to think that this very huge elephant— tons of cocaine, tons of marijuana — just walks over the border and goes to Chicago, New York or Los Angeles and nobody sees it. It’s not possible. For instance, there are many houses used in the U.S. to count drug proceeds. Counting that money can take weeks and nobody sees it? It’s not possible. I really think the problems we have in Mexico some of the responsibility lies with the U.S. government and U.S. drug consumers.

TO: Here’s a question that’s often asked. Would legalizing drugs help?

AH: Well, I’m not an expert on that issue. As you know the drug cartels don’t just sell drugs; they have a lot of different types of illegal businesses, like human trafficking. If you make drugs legal there are still the other businesses.

TO: What do you think about the new presidential administration of Enrique Peña Nieto. Can he improve things?

AH: I really don’t know yet, it’s still to soon to say. But what I do know is that all of our institutions are corrupted — the army is penetrated by drug cartels, the federal police and the general prosecutors office. Peña Nieto can’t fight against anything without cleaning them up first. Then you need to make a strategy, but if he doesn’t clean the institutions nothing will work. We don’t have anything to fight with against the drug cartels.

TO: Fighting such deep systemic corruption sounds really difficult. Wasn’t much of this corrupt system allowed to grow under the PRI — the same party that Enrique Peña Nieto belongs to? How do you clean everything, who’s going to do it?

AH: Right. Only people who aren’t corrupt can do it. The problem is that Peña Nieto became president in a controversial election. A few have proved that in his campaign were signs of laundering money. And his presidential election had the least votes in the history of Mexico. So his presidency is very weak. He is part of the PRI, which is the same corrupted party but it has weakened. Its institutions are weak and so is the country.

TO: It used to be that the PRI told drug cartels what to do, but it seems the relationship has changed.

AH: Yes it has reversed. That’s the big difference. The cartels don’t do something because Enrique Peña Nieto wants it. It’s not like it was before in the 70s or 80s.

TO: What do you make of the recent release of Rafael Caro Quintero?

AH: I think it is a really bad sign for Peña Nieto’s presidency. I recently published an article in Proceso where I found documents in court that show Peña Nieto knew one week before Caro’s release that he would be released and his administration didn’t stop it. They didn’t advise the U.S. government either so that they could request his extradition. They kept silent. And when Caro Quintero got out of jail Peña Nieto acted surprised but they knew in advance.

TO: It does seem like the old PRI doesn’t it?

AH: Yes, that’s what I think. It’s a very bad sign for the Peña Nieto presidency and I think it will have consequences. Not only with the U.S. government but also with Mexican society because no one believes that corruption wasn’t involved in his release.

TO: This is off topic but what do you think about the proliferation of self-defense groups in Michoacan and Guerrero. Is it a natural response to the government’s failure to protect people and to the systemic corruption? This to me seems to be a turning point in the drug war. I was curious what you thought about it.

AH: I have been investigating the issue, and I don’t have a conclusion yet but I think I’m close. What is happening in Michoacan and Guerrero is almost the same thing. There have been self-defense groups in these areas for many years, even before the war against drugs. The people vote for these community defense groups, and the groups don’t wear masks because they have nothing to hide. And they use rudimentary, old weapons.

Now, suddenly we have these self-defense groups carrying high caliber weapons and wearing masks that seem to come out of nowhere. I think some of the self-defense groups really are from the communities but others are from the drug cartels. And I have information that other self-defense groups have been put there by the government.

TO: Are the government self-defense groups working in tandem with the drug cartel groups or separate?

AH: That’s what I don’t know yet—if they are the same or separate. It’s very dangerous for Mexico because as you know everything in Colombia got worse when the government let the paramilitaries grow. I think things could get much worse for Mexico and spread beyond Guerrero and Michoacan. I’m very worried about it.

TO: Do you see Mexico as a functioning democracy right now. Do you feel like there is freedom of expression?

AH: No. It’s very sad to say, more because I am a Mexican journalist but in Mexico I can’t say that democracy exists, not if in many parts of Mexico like Jalisco, Michoacan, Veracruz and Tamaulipas the drug cartels are in power. How can democracy exist when they can do whatever they want to? How can we have freedom of expression when so many journalists have been killed? I can’t say that freedom of expression exists when I have to live with round-the-clock bodyguards. Journalists in other countries can walk freely on the streets and I can’t.

TO: Do you know many journalists who have been killed or left the country?

AH: Yes, many. Right now along with Reporteros sin Fronteras we are organizing a program to keep reporters safe because sometimes when they escape places like Veracruz or Tamaulipas and come to Mexico City they don’t know where to go, they have no resources and not even food to eat. So, we are making a program to provide them with some money and food for them and their families because the Mexican government doesn’t really want to do anything.

TO: What do you hope that English-language readers will take from your book?

AH: For me it’s very important that my book is translated because I think that now many people in the world can understand what is really happening in Mexico. Because if they read Narcoland they’ll learn that the biggest problem in Mexico is not the drug cartels—they are just a symptom of the disease—and this disease is corruption. What is happening in Mexico because of corruption can happen in other places, too. If the institutions are weak and the government is involved and if people don’t say anything about it, then they will have another Mexico.

TO: Do you consider leaving Mexico?

AH: Many times I have considered leaving. But I’ve decided to stay. I know very well that I am not the best journalist in Mexico, but I really want to work to help my country. I really believe that good journalism can change things in this world. I want to contribute with my work to change something.

Sent by Roberto Calderon, Ph.D.  beto@unt.edu 

Latino soldiers
 Cebu, Phillipines, WW II

USA LATINO PATRIOTS

CENTURY OF VALOR
Rogelio C. Rodriguez © 1999

UNITED STATES MILITARY HISTORY
Hispanic Americans in the United States Armed Forces
Part Three

Korean War, 1950-1953

On June 27, 1950, the United Nations Security Council asked member countries to aid the Republic of Korea as a result of the June 25, 1950 invasion into South Korea by the North Korean People’s Army. The Truman Administration characterized the conflict as a “police action” where by, President Harry S. Truman announced United States intervention in the Korean Conflict. Although Congress did not officially declare war during the Korean Conflict, the essence of the struggle was in all respects a war and thus the Korean Conflict can be characterized as the Korean War. United States involvement in the Korean War would last up until September 1953.

Hispanic U.S. Census population data is not accurately available for this period, it can only be assumed that there was nominal Hispanic population growth and approximated to be 3.9 million for the years between 1950 and 1953, within the continental United States. For this period the highest concentration of Hispanics resided on the west coast, mid-west, and southwest that being Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. Additionally in the northeast, and some southeastern states had Hispanic populations with Puerto Rican and Cuban representation.

It is estimated that there were 1,789,000 airmen, soldiers, sailors, and marines serving in-theater during the Korean War. Hispanic Americans also served with distinction during the Korean War. It is estimated that there were 180,000 Hispanic airmen soldiers, sailors, and marines who served in-theater during the Korean War. As in World War II, Hispanics were identified as Caucasian.

The Korean War Casualty Summary Report 2003, prepared by the Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, report that there were 36,576 in-theater casualty deaths.

Latin American attachments to U.S. Armed Forces  

Colombia:         1 naval frigate and 4 Infantry Battalions, each serving separate tours of duty, attached to 21^st

Regiment and 31^st Regiment, U.S. Army.  In all, Colombia suffered 140 killed in action, 452

wounded in action, and 94 prisoners of war and missing in action.

Note: These casualty figures are not included in the overall U.S. Hispanic casualty figures.

Puerto Rico:      The 65^th Infantry Regiment was attached to U.S. Army 3^rd Division.

Summary of Korean War Hispanic Casualties to Date

Summary of Korean War Hispanic Award Recipients to Date

Aerial Victories

Research has discovered several Hispanic pilots during the Korean War. Two pilots in particular have been documented as having scored aerial victories; one pilot scored 14.5 aerial victories and became and ace, another scored one aerial victory.

This study provides a historical analysis of the participation of Hispanic Americans in the United States Armed Forces during four major conflicts in the last century - World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

We are still uncovering many untold, forgotten or perhaps hidden stories of American valor and the call to duty. Relatively unknown is the extent of participation of a group of Americans – soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Spanish, Latin American or of Hispanic heritage – who have served their country with pride and distinction.

The facts and figures presented herein are a brief summary of an over-arching study that details the accounts of service men and women, individual details of casualties and award recipients, and selected images depicting military service personnel in the air, land, and sea forces. Information on over 250,000 military service personnel has been compiled from military records, historical documentation, and personal accounts. The identification of these military personnel is based on the accuracy and corroboration of these records. Careful attention has been placed on the compilation of casualties and award recipients, omissions or errors may exist.

Vast amounts of records, unit histories, after-action reports, rosters, and casualty reports are continuously being researched.

A partial list of resources used for this study is listed below.

·        U.S. National Archives & Records Administration

·        Library of Congress

·        Presidential Libraries

·        Public Libraries

·        University Libraries

·        Department of Defense: Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel

              Office

·        American Battle Monuments Commission

·       Center of Military History

·       State Archives

Rogelio C. Rodriguez, B.S., M.S., hails from Santa Paula, CA and is a long time resident of Orange County, CA.  

Mr. Rodriguez has been conducting military history research on Hispanic American veterans for over 15 years. His efforts are focused on comprehensive research to bring forth these untold stories.  

His professional experience includes engineering, higher education management, and organizational learning and development consulting.

Sent by Oscar Ramirez osramirez@sbcglobal.net 

COLLEGE STUDENT PRE-COMMISSIONING INITIATIVE (SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM)
http://www.gocoastguard.com/find-your-career/officer-opportunities/programs/college-student-pre-commissioning-initiative-(scholarship-program) 

Sophomore and junior college students receive full funding for up to two years, including tuition, books, fees, housing allowance, medical benefits, and a monthly salary of approximately $3,600 – all for just 16 hours of commitment a month…

Overview, Initial Assignments and Career Path: Students currently enrolled in a bachelor's degree program at an approved college or institution *(defined below) with the desire to complete college and receive a guaranteed position as an officer in the United States Coast Guard can apply for the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative program (CSPI). CSPI is a program designed for motivated individuals who demonstrate a high caliber of academic and leadership excellence, with a desire to serve their country in the United States Coast Guard. Selected students will be enlisted into the United States Coast Guard, complete basic training, and receive full funding for up to two years of college. This includes not only payment of tuition, books, and fees, but a Coast Guard salary, housing allowance, and medical benefits.

Photos: The Pacific and Adjacent Theaters in WWII
http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/03/18/captured-blog-the-pacific-and-adjacent-theaters/#more-1547

Posted Mar 18, 2010

With the premiere of the ten part HBO miniseries, The Pacific, produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, World War II has again come into the living rooms of American families. The Pacific, the follow-up to Band of Brothers, will focus on the US Marines in the Pacific Theater of the war.

The below collection focuses on The Pacific War, a term referring to parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, the islands of the Pacific and the Far East. The start of The Pacific War is generally considered to be the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The Pacific War pitted the Allies against the Empire of Japan and culminated with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, Victory over Japan Day on August 15, 1945 and the official surrender of Japan aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

Puerto Rican officers trained the Tuskegee Airmen, 

During World War II, Puerto Ricans served in every military branch of the United States. Puerto Ricans from the island served in the 65th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Borinqueneers, which 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.

Puerto Rican officers trained the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American military aviators at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. These men formed the famed 99th Fighter Squadron.^[18]

World War II was the first conflict in which Puerto Rican women were allowed to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.^[19] Over 1,000 applications were received and 200 women served in the Puerto Rican WAC unit, Company 6, 2nd Battalion, 21st Regiment of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, a segregated Hispanic unit. Some were assigned to nursing, dental or clerical duties, however some women were assigned to units which were stationed in the European Theater of operations.^[20] Puerto Ricans played important roles as commanders in the Armed Forces of the United States for the first time. Some Puerto Rican aviators served and fought for three different countries as members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces.^[21]

Sent by Joe Sanchez 
bluewall@mpinet.net  

Dear Mimi,

I haven't written in sometime, but I am still around. I am a member of the Borinqueneers Congressional Gold Medal Alliance, a movement initiated by Capt. Frank Medina which seeks the Congressional Gold Medal for the 65th Infantry Regiment. The Regiment was a segregated unit which originated in Puerto Rico and which served in WW I, WW ll and distinguished itself during the Korean War. Many Hispanics from many backgrounds served in the 65th, including a young first lieutenant of Mexican-American descent whose name is Richard E. Cavazos. Cavazos entered the military in Texas and served as Company Commander of Company E of the 2d Battalion. Cavazos, who in 1982, became the first Hispanic to become a 4-star General in the United States Army, was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star Medal and the Bronze Star Medal.

As of 2013, four military units have been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. These are the Navaho Wind Talkers – Native American Marines whose primary job was the transmission of secret tactical messages with the use of their Native language; the Nisei Soldiers - Japanese American intelligence soldiers during WWII in the Pacific, Africa, Italy and France; the Tuskegee Airman - the first African-American military aviators; and the Montford point Marines - the first African-Americans to break the race barrier in the Marines. In addition, the Women's Air Service Pilots (WASP) received the Congressional Gold Medal.

So far Congress has not recognized any Hispanic unit. We believe that the 65th should receive the Congressional Gold Medal as well. I wrote something together with my friend Nelson Denis, a former NY Assemblyman that I hope you will publish in Somos Primos.

Tony "The Marine" Santiago

REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR  

Maria G. Benitez
m.g.benitez.ctc@gmail.com 

December 7, 1941 is truly “the day which will live in Infamy”, as President Roosevelt stated. I grew up during the war years as World War 11 ended in 1945.  I remember as a small child my Mother she was an air raid warden.  She had her little whistle and her hard hat.  What was an air raid warden you might ask, it was a volunteer who would run around the neighborhood making sure everyone had their lights turned off.  We would get a message that the Japanese war planes were headed toward Los Angeles.  And it was their job to make sure there were NO lights, even a cigarette. I remember when she ran in front of a car with its light on and made the driver stop and turn off their lights.  She was also a Red Cross volunteer and would go down to Long Beach from where the troops would be sent off to fight the war to give them cigarettes, candy, and other items .  She used to go down to the headquarters to fold bandages for the wounded troops.  She wanted to do her part, she was a Home worker.  

I guess it was because of seeing these things as a small child that in 1991 on the 50^th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, I went to Hawaii to be with the Pearl Harbor survivors and other veterans from the war.  It was a very somber occasion. But what an honor it was just walking down the street with so many heroes.  And the way the City of Honolulu honored them.  They were wearing orange knitted leis that the Senior Citizens of Honolulu had knitted for them.  They had special dinners and the hotels rolled out the red carpet for them.  I was walking down Kealakekua Avenue and saw a very young many probably in his 20’s going down the street shaking each of their hands and thanking them for all they did.  I guess no one really realizes the things they went through.  It was my first time going over for Pearl Harbor, but I have been there for the 55^th and the 60^th anniversaries. And other years in between.  On the 65^th Anniversary Tom Brokow was there to honor and thank those who still were able to attend.  It was a big event as they said it was going to be the last one.  Tom Brokow is the one who wrote the book “The Greatest Generation.”  Only thing is that was not the last one. 

 In 2011 I went for the 70^th Anniversary and it too is supposed to be the last one as so many of the survivors and other WWII veterans are now too frail and unable to travel.  But this one was the biggest event of them all.  They held the usual ceremony at the Arizona Memorial in the morning, they wined and dined the participants and in the evening they held a big parade on Kealakekua Avenue.  It was a very somber and yet happy time.  The parade had them riding in convertibles, and the actor who plays on Hawaii 5O was in the parade too.  They had high school bands and so much more.  But they said this will be the last as the Pearl Harbor Survivors I think there were about 53 remaining at that time.  And that they are disbanding the organization because they can no longer travel.  

I am still planning on going in December 2016 for the 75^th Anniversary and I am sure there will still be a few of them there.  If you ever go be sure to take the Navy Cruise excursion as it is the one that allows you to board the Arizona Memorial.  Going aboard the Memorial is something in itself.  Take tissues with you as it is very somber.  You can still after all of these years see oil surfacing from the ship.  It is as if those entered in the ship are telling us NEVER FORGET.  And that was the message those who were at the 70^th Anniversary told everyone.  Their message was NEVER FORGET, NEVER FORGET. 

My friend Diane’s Father told me that he was 13 and his wife was 11 and they were living in the area above Pearl Harbor, the planes flew over them and they saw the whole thing.  Unfortunately they are now both deceased.  I wish I had tape recorded his story of what happened that day.

Editor Mimi:  I was going to hold on to this essay by Maria Benitez until the December issue, but decided to share now because of the last two sentences above.  If you have a relative or friends who remembers December 7th, 1941, please interview them now.   
The last of my Tias is alive.  She is 91 with a very bright clear mind. Maria's regret will be my stimulus.   

Carlos "Jaguar" Aguilar poses next to the mural he painted on the side of La Chiquita Restaurant which honors World War II veterans, especially those that live or lived in the Logan neighborhood, Santa Ana, California.

To see more pieces of the mural, go to http://www.ocregister.com/articles/aguilar-522418-mural-veterans.html?pic=2

From book: REMINISCENCES 
OF A NAVAL AVIATOR
A GROUP OF SHORT STORIES
by Daniel L. Polino

"My First Solo"
Section 1: Cadet Days

In the early days of World War II, with our Pacific fleet in a shambles as a result of the destruction at Pearl Harbor, the need for building a large naval air arm was given a top priority. Many young men with only a high school education were accepted into the V-5 aviation cadet training program, which was sponsored by the U.S. Navy. Prior to that time, a minimum of two years of college was required before anyone would be accepted for naval aviator training.

As a result of the relaxation of educational requirements, many of us had this great opportunity to earn a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy and wear the coveted wings of gold. Having been raised in the big city it wasn't uncommon to find yourself at age 18 having never driven an automobile, which was my situation. The four years I'd spent attending Buffalo Technical High School did a lot toward making up for the two years of college which I lacked going into the program. It made a big difference.

My first assignment was to the training center established at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York; better known as R.P.I. The first few months were spent in the classroom learning those subjects that were to help us fly and navigate in our new, temporary career. After three months of ground school we were introduced to flying at the adjacent Troy airport, in a program sponsored by the U.S. Navy and administered by a civilian school, flying civilian-type aircraft. We learned to fly in the popular Luscombe aircraft, a very forgiving plane with a single parasol wing, fixed landing gear, and a 90 HP engine. The fuselage was all metal, while the wings were fabric-covered. Our instructors were civilian pilots who became role models for very impressionable young men.

The normal way to learn to fly is to acquire a minimum of eight hours of dual instruction, then take a solo flight. I obviously had impressed my instructor, during the first few hours of dual instruction, with my ability to handle the aircraft. So much, in fact, that after only 6 hours of dual flight, he decided I was ready for solo. To his credit, and my good fortune, he had impressed two things on me during the training sessions: If you feel that you're stalling the aircraft, apply the throttle; and, if you drop a wing, apply the opposite rudder to bring it up.

Before describing the details of my first solo flight, I'd first like to describe the layout of the Troy, New York, airport; at least, as it was in the early 1940's. It consisted of a large grassy field with a small hanger and ready room. There was one basic runway, identified by the fact that the grass was shorter where the planes took off and landed. In other places the grass was 12 to 18 inches high. At the upwind end of the runway, as you took off you'd fly over a row of trees approximately 50 feet high, beyond which was a line of power poles, followed by a drop of approximately 25 feet to the road that bordered the field. Beyond that point was a very large cemetery with many acres of tombstones, certainly not one's first choice for an emergency landing.

I guess my instructor thought that it would be some kind of honor to launch off the first cadet in the group on his first solo flight. And so it was one morning while taxing out to the take-off point, fully expecting another dual instruction that he let me know that this was the big day. We had just stopped at the turnaround point to check out the engine when he told me to hold the brakes.  He then climbed out of the plane, attached a red flag to the tail, and returned to advise me that this was to be my first solo flight. My temporary surprise was only matched by what was to follow, which I'm sure was permanently etched in his memory. In my youthful ignorance I was not a bit afraid, and proceeded to my takeoff point.

Since  I was the first of the group to solo, there was an audience consisting of a dozen cadets, several instructors, and the airport manager, lined up in front of ready room to see the excitement. And, I didn't disappoint them. My takeoff was flawless; I cleared the trees and power lines and climbed over the cemetery in to the prescribed 500 foot level, where I settled into a cruise mode while preparing for my downwind leg and subsequent spiral glide to a landing. Up to that point everything went smoothly, and as I approached the near end of the runway in a gentle glide on part throttle, I could feel the eyes of my audience off right of my landing spot.

I can recall my instructor's inquiries during those first dual instruction and his surprise at my negative answers to his questions of whether I'd ever flown before, and if I had driven a car. The landing approach proceeded smoothly, I leveled the plane off at about 25 feet, stalled it, and fell to the runway, a perfect three-point carrier landing - but not for the little Luscombe! On the way down I realized that the aircraft had stalled out, and I knew enough to simultaneously apply throttle and keep the wings level by using opposite rudder - it probably saved my life. The Luscombe settled into the grass like a fat lady into an overstuffed chair. Then the fun really started. 

The throttle on the Luscombe aircraft consists of a narrow rod projecting horizontally out of the instrument panel, capped by a small knob, much like the choke handle found on some of the older cars and trucks. Full throttle meant that the rod was pushed all the way toward the panel. Idle position was with the rod pulled all the way out, a displacement of about six inches. Being somewhat tense and excited at the prospect of a hard landing, with an iron grip on the throttIe knob, I had the throttle halfway in at the moment of impact. The result was that the force of the landing caused the throttle rod to bend down 90 degrees against  the panel. It was jammed so that I couldn't push the rod inward, or pull it the idle position. Anyone with automobile driving experience would have reached over and turned off the ignition switch, but then I had no experience in an auto or aircraft.

So - there I was with an aircraft that was so damaged that it shouldn't be again, proceeding down the runway with something a little better than half-throttle, dodging other aircraft that were foolish enough to try to cross over the hanger at a time like this. I managed to control the Luscombe up over trees, power lines, and cemetery to a safe altitude where, while circling the field, I managed to straighten out the throttle rod so that it was workable and could be returned to the idle position. At that point I made my downwind approach, pulled the throttle back to idle, and spiraled down to a reasonably good landing. Taxing back to the hanger I was met by a very excited airport manager and a stunned instructor, followed by some shaken cadets. Without a word to me, the manager inspected the aircraft and found: An engine loose on its mounting, a loose wheel strut, broken internal bulkheads in the fuselage, and an unusual accordian effect on the aluminum underskin of the body. Needless to say, the aircraft was beyond repair and was surveyed (scrapped).

Descriptions of my (first) solo landing by the spectators were very colorful. Upon impact, the wing tips bent down to momentarily meet the grass. One of my cadet friends, upon seeing the landing, had the great urge to relieve his bladder, which he promptly did. My instructor said that it was the biggest thrill that he'd had in his years of flying.

In my own defense it should be noted that in the ensuing ten years of operational flying, during which time I flew everything the Navy had, under conditions including night carrier landings, I never damaged another aircraft. Some of my squadron mates, however, could have qualified as Japanese aces on the basis of the number of planes they destroyed (ours). My first solo is an event that I'm sure neither my instructor nor I will ever forget. As the saying goes - any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.

Horses & Heroes

No other animal has played so great a role in the history of warfare as the horse.  For thousands of years, nations have risen and fallen by the participation of the horse. In recognition of the long and illustrious relationship between the horse and the branches of the American military, we salute this enduring relationship.

Today, horses have a vitally important role in continuing to serve our veterans returning with physical and emotional wounds and to their families. Horses help our heroes heal through experiencing the joy, peacefulness, solace, compassion and unconditional love that the horses have to offer. This creates special relationships, companionships and bonds that is necessary in every facet of life.

Our program offers an opportunity for our heroes and their families to overcome their fears and build a confident lifestyle. Whether suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), physical wounds, the invisible wounds of war or the stress of frequent deployment, horses help reconnect families and build relationships.

  Our horses help our Veterans and their families deal with a broad range of mental and physical health issues:

•           Acute stress related issues

•           Addictive behaviors such as chemical dependency and eating disorders

•           Anger management, depression, adjustment issues

•           Trauma resolution, impulse control issues and suicide

 Rancho Del Sueño offers additional therapy and learning opportunities with our Hispanic horses for our Hispanic Heroes.   Our Colonial Spanish historical horses can be traced back to thousands of years of exploration, war and the colonization of the Americas.  

Please use our PAY PAL and contribute to our dollar drive to help support the horses who are again sharing the partnership of love and duty to help heal our Veterans.  Every dollar goes to the support of our horses working with our heroes.      

For more information, on services for veterans, please Robin Collins, at (559) 868-8681 or email us at hdc.ranchodelsueno@gmail.com,  

Well known historian Don Garate on Cristo, a Colonial Stallion from Rancho de Sueno.

EARLY LATINO AMERICAN PATRIOTS

 José de Escandón – Father of the Lower Rio Grande Valley

                                                                                            by Norman Rozeff
                                                                                             nrozeff@sbcglobal.net 

 Part I: Exploration and the Coming of Valley Colonists

 If you have never heard of this gentleman, don't blame yourself. Blame American history text writers who neglect to tell the story of Spanish settlements in what would become the U.S.A. In the 1600s and especially the 1700s when colonization of the Atlantic coast was picking up steam, similar attempts were being made by Hispanics moving fitfully northward in New Spain (Mexico). Both diverse cultures, Northern European and Southern European, were contending with Native Americans who rightfully were defending their land and heritage. No peace or settlement on the borders were possible until pacification, by hook or crook (and this was literally the case) occurred.

As the North American Indians in what would later be southern Tejas were somewhat subdued by the Spanish military in the 1740s, the British had problems of their own in the northeast. It was May 1754 that the French and Indian War commenced on the continent. This was the American name for the Seven Years' War between France and Great Britain. The fighting raged from the frontier of Virginia north to Nova Scotia. The end result of France's defeat in North America was that France ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to its ally Spain in compensation for Spain's loss of Florida to Great Britain.

Escandón, who would become the prime colonizer of South Texas, was born May 19, 1700 in Soto de Marina, which is near the port and capital of the Cantabria region, Santander, Spain. He was one of three sons of the prominent family of Juan de Escandón and Francisca de la Helguera. In this area also are towns named Camargo and Laredo that would one day lend their names to New World communities. He was educated in his native town and, as we will learn later from his successes, likely possessed an innate intelligence and ability to get things done.

At the young age of fifteen he arived in Mérida, Yucatan, and there began military service as a cadet in the Crown's cavalry, Comparia de Caballeros Montados. After exhibiting valor in action against the English at Laguna de Términes he was promoted to lieutenant and posted to Guerétaro. Here he fought in ongoing action against the Apache. He learned to treat the Indians “como amigos, con mano suave, y como enemigos, con rigor implacable” (as friends, with a soft hand, and as enemies, with implacable rigor.)

In 1727 he pacified the Pames who had revolted in Celaya. For this he received the rank of sergeant major in the regiment at Querétaro. In 1732 he subdued rebels in mines at Guanajuato and again the following year in Iratuato.  In 1734 he pacified 10,000 Indian rebels at San Miguel el Grande. In three campaigns, he entered the Sierra, subdued the natives, and assisted in the founding of missions. The fact was that the subjugation of Tamaulipas was predicated on the pacification of Indians in the Sierra Gorda by Escandón and the Franciscan missionaries. He also took action against the Tamaulipecos who were devastating Nuevo Leon.This brought him another promotion, this time to colonel and assignment as aide to the captain general of the Sierra Gorda.  Not only had he acted as a conquerer, but he went on to civilize the native people, train, and educate them, and even integrate some into military service.

At age 27 Escandón had returned to Soto de Marina where he married Dominga Pedrajo of a noble family from nearby Revilla. She died in 1736 and the following year he remarried, this time to Maria Josefa de Lerna from Querétaro. She bore him seven children.

In 1740 the viceroy of Mexico commissioned him as colonel of military companies in Querétaro. His next major challenge came in 1746 when he was tasked, on September 3, with inspecting the country between the Panuco River at Tampico and the San Antonio and Guadelupe Rivers. This region, the Seno Mexicano (lands adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico), would later be designated Colonia del Nuevo Santander.

Spanish royalty had been alarmed by France's slow encroachment on the region and by planting colonists to develop the land and establish communities hoped to secure a good grip on the region.

Escandón's initial plans were to assign soldiers to each settlement but not on a permannt basis. Each town would be an independent entity with its own church mission. We know from subsequent mapping that grants almost always bordered on the river in order to provide water for livestock and humans alike. Subsequent porciones followed this rule.

Escandón was a master planner and tactician. He expended much time and effort in tackling the problems of exploration in a wild, unknown land. Escandón, in January 1747 sent seven military divisions totaling 765 soldiers into the area. They were well outfitted. Split up and being sent into different parts of Nuevo Santander, the reconaissance work could be expedited. It was. In three months the remarkable exploration, surveying and mapping of 12,000 square miles had been accomplished. He personally went as far north as the Rio Grande and sent Captain Joaquín de Òrobio Bazterra to explore the region between the Guadalupe to the Rio Grande.

In October of that year, he presented a colonization plan that proposed founding fourteen Spanish villas or towns and as many missions as might be necessary. Twelve of the villas would be south of the river and two north. As the logical individual to implement the plan he was made governor and captain general of Nuevo Santander on June 1, 1748. His work was recognized in faraway Spain when Fernando VI made him Conde (Count) of Sierra Gorda and Knight of the Order of Santiago in 1749. Much of what Escandón had accomplished was done at his own expense. It was understood however that he would be repaid with land grants from which he could generate income. He was, among others, considered an adelantado or an individual responsible for the conquest of new land and with it the duty to distribute land and water rights to colonists.

He was given 58,000 pesos for colonization work, but this was not enough and was raised to 90,000 pesos. Escandón also acted as a public relations man. While back in Querétaro, he and his agents publicized the potential of the new area and offered incentive packages of tax exemptions, and travel bonuses. Settlers were promised free land, fertile soil, and tax exemptions for ten years. These were  advertised also in San Luis Potosi, Charcas, Huasteca, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila.  He raised 750 soldiers in Querétaro. Some of the soldiers on the expedition were the first to take advantage of the new land grants. Blas Maria de Garza Falcón and Carlos Cantú, among them, would become well-known names in the early history of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Between 200 and 2,500 colonists and soldiers started the trek north with Escandón, but a number dropped out enroute. They were from all walks of life with upper class in the majority, but the traits all would need were hardiness and self-reliance.  Priests would soon follow as there was a strong desire to proselyte the Indians, establish law, and administer special care. Being educated priests also helped in reading and writing matters such as testamentos (wills) and land title matters. Indians were to be handled with civil rather than military options by the missionaries. The new missions were entrusted to the College of Guadelupe de Zacatecas.

The colonists brought with them their household goods and agricultural equipment. Equally important were the numerous horse, cattle, burros, sheep and goats herded along.

Colonization of Nuevo Santander began in earnest along the Rio Grande del Norte (also called the Rio Bravo and Rio de las Palmas) when on March 5, 1749 Santa Ana de Camargo was established at he mouth of the San Juan River and soon followed by Reynosa (March 14). Its full name was Villa de Nuestra Señora de Guadelupe de Reynosa. It was later moved to a safer site after the extreme flooding of 1801.

It was in 1750 that Escandón granted Jose Vázquez Borrego fifty sitios (222,395 acres or just over 35 square miles) for the founding of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores and on October 10 Vicente Guerra of Coahuila was sent to found the town of Revilla (later named Guerrero), twenty leagues (52.5 miles) northwest of Camargo.  Escandón himself founded the lugar of Mier on March 6, 1753. It was in 1755 that Escandón granted permission to Tomás Sánchez de Barrera y Garza to found Villa de Laredo, then to become “the largest and most successful permanent Spanish settlement in Southwest Texas.”  

Part II: Establishing a Living Legacy

In a report made by Escandón in October 1755, he was able to transmit that he had founded 23 settlements, including one city, 17 villas, two poblaciones, one lugar, and two rales de minas, or mining camps. In the fifteen missions were 2,837 Indians under instruction.

Tienda de Cuevo, who visited the colony in 1757, provided an updated account. He showed that with the addition of Jaumave, the settlements now contained 8,993 settlers, and 3,473 Indians at 18 missions. These possessed 58,000 horses, 25,000 cattle, 1,874 burros, and 288,000 sheep and goats. The largest sheep and goat ranches were at Camargo, Revilla, and Mier where stock was pastured on both sides of the river. While the initial settlement along the Nueces had failed in 1750 due to an unsuitable site and Indian hazards, subsequent years saw ranching reaching that river.

The peopling and development of Nuevo Santander gained momentum in 1767 when a royal commission commenced assigning land grants to resident settlers of the colonies along the Rio Grande.

Organizer that he was, Escandón had also taken note of the natural resources available in the area. The valuable salt lakes of El Sal del Rey and Sal Vieja had been taken into account. Salt, of course, was a valued commodity as it was needed to preserve meat. Wild horses, wild cattle, deer for their hides, and wood sources were also to be counted as assets for colonists. He envisioned the river as a natural source to move goods in and out of the area. Unfortunately sandbars at the mouth of the river denied complete access to the Gulf of Mexico. Still Escandón brought onto the river two brigs or goletas from Veracruz to transport out salt, meat, and hides and bring in farm implements. He stimulated irrigation, constructed bridges and roads, and at Santander built a church, established a kiln and sugar mills.

Amberson in her “I Would Rather Sleep in Texas” tells us that Escandón was handsomely rewarded for his efforts and accomplishments. “He was awarded and maintained two haciendas (69 square miles) near his capital at Villa de los Cinco Señores in Tamaulipas. His home was a handsome two-story  building completed at the cost of twenty-three million pesos. With walls of stone and lime, it had forty doors and windows. The space on the first floor he used for administrative purposes and an oratorio or guesthouse for visiting missionary priests. The Escandon coat of arms flanked the main entrance. A stairway to the second floor and entrance hall led to the family quarters. The exterior provided five different views from corner balconies and on three of these were mounted cannon. At the rear of the palace was a large orchard of fruit trees and a vegetable garden.”

He would retire to Querétaro in October 1755, devoting his time to compiling a map and history of his Nuevo Santander conquest. Perhaps he had succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, for within seven years 1,481 families or 6,383 individuals had settled in the region and 2,837 Indians resided near the fifteen missions. As Bolton would put it “ The execution of Escandón's plans was one of the most notable events in the entire history of the colonization of the northern frontiers of New Spain.”

Unlike what the future would hold for livestock, the prime animals being raised were sheep, not cattle. This was because the prairies north of the river were largely grasslands swept free of brush and trees by periodic fires. Overgrazing combined with multi-year droughts would eventually change the ecology of the area.

It would take 19 years from when the first colonists settled on the Rio Grande before Spanish rulers commenced addressing land ownership in the area. At Escandón's urgent request in 1767  there was established the Royal Commission to the Lands of Nuevo Santander, also sometimes referred to as the General Visita. In May of that year lands were reviewed, towns and jurisdictions surveyed, and the process commenced to convey land to the colonists. Naturally property transactions had to be documented and accurate maps produced. What followed was to be over 167 grants of land and porciones from the Rio Grande to the Nueces.

Statute in Alice, Texas

Henry Alvarado and Joe
Perez represented Granaderos of the
Navarra Regiment and Bill Bowlin
represented a Continental Marine (the
first Marines) who fought under
Gálvez’ command for a brief period.


Display table with a tricorn hat, colonial toys and a musket.

THE SHIPS, THE SEAMEN, THE NAVAL BATTLES  

OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

and 

Spanish General Bernardo de Galvez

BY LTC JACK COWAN  

 
Soon other schooners were added to Washington’s Navy, including the Lee, Warren, Lynch, Franklin, and Harrison and a brigantine Washington. Captain John Manley of the Lee captured the brigantine Nancy loaded with a huge military cash including a 13-inch brass mortar.

In January, 1776 Manley was appointed Commodore of the squadron and took as his flagship the schooner Hancock. Washington’s squadron continued to grow with ships added from Massachusetts, Providence, and Connecticut along with some privately owned. When Washington left Boston for New York, he left Artemas Ward in command and the squadron captured numerous British ships and supplies until it was disbanded by the Marine Committee in 1777.

Let’s talk a minute about ships.  

Big naval battles during the Revolution were rare and while collectively the smaller actions were of a big importance in supplying the war effort and causing disruption of British re-supply only a few were of strategic importance. One stands out as a tide changer.   

   You will remember Benedict Arnold and his valiant attack on Quebec with an army stricken with sickness and appalling weather and his sad withdraw down the Richelieu  River but what has been downplayed due to his history as a traitor is his virtual saving the Revolution at Valcour Island in Lake Champlain. The British had to be stopped there or the war was as good as lost. To that end he resolved to do the impossible. He had to build a fleet of ships from scratch big enough to stop a superior force which had experienced navel ship builders, ship building equipment and military support as it needed.

     In the summer of 1776, he scoured the woods around Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and Skenesboro of timber, men and material to build a fleet of small ships to stop the British. At the North end of the lake, Sir Guy Carleton was busy building his own invasion fleet and there was little time for Arnold to build conventional ships of war.  

    The gondolas had a flat bottom about 45 feet long carrying three guns; a 12-pounder, and two 9’s and each had a crew of 45 men.  

     Carleton, on the other hand had the gondola Loyal Convert carrying seven 9-pounders, and twenty gunboats carrying one gun in the bow.  

   He also had a great sailing raft, Thunder carrying six 24-pounders, six 12’s, two howitzers and a crew of 300 men.  

    If that wasn’t enough, he also had the Inflexible, a three masted ship with 18 12-pounders and two schooners, the Maria with fourteen 6-pounders and the Carleton with 12 6-pounders.  To fairy his soldiers and supplies he had 400 flat bottom boats in trail.  

   But, it took valuable time for Carleton to amass all his ships and men and he wasn’t able to sail south until October and by then Arnold had sailed to Valcour Island and set a trap. Being out gunned by almost two to one he placed his small fleet in a crescent line east of the south end of the island and would hide until the British fleet had sailed passed him, giving Arnold the wind advantage as Carleton would have to come about and head into the wind to engage Arnold’s fleet.    

Arnold’s plan worked and the British fleet sailed almost two miles pass Arnold before spotting the American fleet and being downwind were hard pressed to react swiftly. That is except for the gun boats which had ors and thus came closing fast. Arnold and his fleet came forward to meet them with scalding fire but soon more of Carleton’s fleet was able to come within range and the cannon fire was deadly, badly damaging all of Arnold’s small but extremely brave fleet. But Carlton’s heavy gun ships were not able to make way against the wind and fortunately spared Arnold and his men certain death. The battle continued until dusk and the British fell off and anchored waiting for dawn to resume the fight and finish off the American fleet. But resourceful as Arnold was known to be, he gathered what could make way and under cover of darkness, with only a stern light which was shielded so only one directly to the rear could follow, he and his men snuck pass the British and daybreak found them 10 miles south of the embarrassed British. But the fight wasn’t over and the British, with the wind to their back soon caught up with the patriots and the heavy guns now took their turn at what was left of the noble fleet. Running out of powder and cannon to fire, Arnold gave the order to beach the boats and retreat to the woods. Arnold himself stayed at the cannon until all his men were safely ashore and then set fire to his boat and joined his crews and led them to Crown Point. Eleven of his eighteen ships had been taken or destroyed and he suffered eighty casualties but he had accomplished the impossible and bought valuable time for the Revolution.

    Being too late in the season to move on Ticonderoga and advance to the Hudson before winter, the campaign to cut off New England had failed. Had it not been for Arnold, the British would have taken Ticonderoga and joined Howe’s army coming up the Hudson at Albany and the disaster at Saratoga would never have happened. France and Spain probably would not have considered America strong enough to give the British a good fight and the war would have turned out totally different. It’s not every country that can boast that one of its traitors saved its nation.    

One such Privateer was Jonathan Haraden of Salem who as captain of the General Pickering, 16 found a fight with another superior British privateer, the Achilles, 42 off the coast of Spain. 

As the two commenced exchanging broadsides, hundreds of Spaniards crowded the shore to witness the General Pickering do such damage to the Achilles that she bore off to save herself leaving Haraden bathed in glory and free to take his prizes to port. It is said that Haraden captured over 1000 guns off British vessels during the Revolution in many hard fought sea battles.

There are far too many stories of Privateers and their sea battles to mention here except to say that while no individual action was of any major consequence, together they racked havoc to the British effort to re-supply their armies and maintain control of the ocean trade.   

[Author Jack Cowan has a chart showing a partial list of the number of privateers by Class, by State, and by Year.]

   John Paul Jones: Compared to other captains both Navy and Privateer, John Paul Jones career was less than notable except for the sea battle with the British Serapis 44. John Paul, which was his real name, was a remarkable seaman having earned his experience on slave ships and working his way up to Captain of a large British merchant ship Betsy of London. But while in Tobago, he had a “disagreement” with another seaman and ran him through with his sword killing the man. Instead of facing the Admiralty Court, he abandoned his ship and fled across the island and hopped a ship and changed his name to John Jones.   

 Jones took command of the Serapis and watched as the Bonhomme Richard slowly sunk bow first into the North Sea of England. The name of John Paul Jones however, would live on forever in Navel History.

   The entrance of France into the war should have been a blessing as France’s Navy could now be used to keep the British from freely landing and re-supplying troops anywhere they pleased along the coast. 

DNA

 Fernandez/Salinas/Fernandes Genealogical Meeting 
 27 July 2013, Corpus Christi, Texas

At the Fernandez/Salinas/Fernandes Genealogical Meeting we held on 27 July 2013, in Corpus Christi, TX we had four presentations. The first was done by my brother John. The other three, I gave. 

One. The DNA makeup of the Fernandez/Salinas lineage. Two of my brothers, John and Eduardo, and sister Lucy Fernandez Olmos, obtained their DNA make-up from various sources. Attached is a synopsis of that presentation done by my brother John.

Two. The Fernandez story from its beginnings (as far as I have found out) in 700 AD with our 34th Generation Pedro de Cantabria, to 1492, when Spain vanquished the Muslims hordes who had occupied Spain for almost 800 years.

Three. The Fernandez story from the first Fernandez men who came with Columbus to the New World, to our ancestor Juan Fernandez de Castro, who came to the New World in 1535, served in South America for thirty years, before he settled and married as a very old man in Zacatecas, Mexico.

Four. The Fernandez story from Gonzalo Fernandez de Castro in Monterrey, Mexico, then with Jose Eugenio and his brother Bartolome Fernandez toTamaulipas, then to Matamoros, across the river to the agostadero of Concepcion de Carricitos, to El Topo Ranch at the Norias Division of the King Ranch with Marcelino Fernandez, his wife Teresa Salinas and his son Jose del Refugio Fernandez born there, to Alice, Texas, to Gussettville, TX, to Blanconia, TX, and finally to Corpus Christi, TX with Jose de Refugio Fernandez, his wife Dolores Fernandes and large family.

Synopsis of these will come more slowly, because of family on-goings.

Sinceramente,
Refugio Fernandez  
cnsfernandez1943@sbcglobal.net 

What is Your DNA?
Ultimately, we are children of God.
Psalm 139:13 says: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."
God made us in His image so I say, let's redefine DNA to mean Divine Netting Activated by God.

Spanish SURNAMES

Spelling variations of this family name include: Saens, Saenz, Sans, Sanx, Sanz, Sainz, Saiz, Sainz, Saez, and many more. [2]
Original source of information: http://www.digplanet.com/wiki/S%C3%A1enz 
Sent by Tom Saenz saenztomas@sbcglobal.net 

GRIJALVA HERITAGE  by Eddie Grijalva
In the many years of my research for our GRIJALVA history, here are some very interesting facts:
1. GRIJALBA IGLESIA de SANTA MARIA de LOS REYES, Burgos, Spain, built, 1140.
2. Juan de Grijalva, explor'er, 1528, the Yucatan Peninsula, Mex.
3. The GRIJALVA RIVER, Chontalpa Tobasco, Mex. 1518.
4. GRIJALVA PARK, Mexico City.
5. AVINIDA GRIJALVA, Mexico City.
6. GRIJALVA UNVERSITY, Valle del Grijalva, Tuxtla Gutierrez Cintalapa, Mexico.
7. The Anza Expedition, 1775/76, Sgt. Juan Pablo Grijalva.
8.San Francisco Unversity, CA, Anza circle and GRIJALVA AVE.
9. Orange County, RANCHO SANTIAGO de SANTA ANA, Juan Pablo Grijalva, 1796/1806.
10. GRIJALVA PARK, Orange, CA.
11. GRIJALVA SPORTS ARENA, Orange CA.
12. GRIJALVA WAY, Orange, CA.

CUENTOS

BEGINNINGS by Margarita B. Velez

As a child I had heard of Abuelita reminisce about me about "mi Tierra", the land she left never to return. I listened as she talked about raising a large family. Tales involving my father's antics always made me laugh. I remember the pain look that masked her face as she talked about sending four sons to fight in foreign lands with names like Karachi, India, Malinta Hills and Germany. But a cheerful countenance replaced it when she talked about their triumphant return after World War II.  She spoke about the medals pinned on their chest by a grateful nation for her son's gallantry and valor. Growing up in her midst enriched my life..

My childhood in the barrio was memorable and colorful. Love abounded and everybody cared about everybody else. The neighbors looked after the children, keeping an eye on us as we walked to and from school and rejoicing with our achievement. The watchful eye of the many guardians also encouraged us to walk a straight line.

As they prospered my uncles moved their families to other parts of the city where we discovered other cultures. When I started first grade, Spanish was my primary language, but papa insisted that we learn English, and it became my second language. If the string of discrimination arose, it only made me strive harder to succeed By the time I completed the 12th grade, the four grade schools and three high schools on my record had given me a broad view of life in El Paso. Entrance into the business world help to widen my perspective and enhance my views..

After marriage I left El Paso and gained a new appreciation for my hometown and returned here by choice. I love this diverse city and write about the people and places that have touched my life in many special way. My memories will strike a chord with other El Pasoans. I think the story of my name, Margarita is interesting. And Mexican calendars, June 10, my birthday is it contributed to Santa Margarita.   Mama was keen on giving us the saints names of the day on which we were born. My sisters and I were lucky that our birthdays fell on saints days we liked Margarita, Maria de Los Angeles,  and Maria Elena, but my brothers were never quite happy with their monikers.  Eusebio was born December 16.  Papa didn't like the name, but Mama insisted.  Exactly a year later a second brother was born, and now it was Papa's insistence that they give  his second son the saints name too. So my two brothers are named Eusebio.  Luckily my parents also gave them a middle name.

When I was a little girl papa tagged me "Margie" and the name stuck. Now that I'm older I don't particularly like "Margie" and I have tried to shed it, but thought that people would not recognize me by Margarita. Several years ago I was encouraged when Ruthie Kay, a prominent El Paso announced that henceforth she would answer only to Katherine. She made it stick and so should I.

My name Margarita represents to me, what El Paso is all about a blend of cultures like a savory and spicy salsa my aim is to summon memories of the city we all love and I hope that my musings will prove entertaining and thought-provoking. 

November 1996.'

Margarita B. Velez is a writer from El Paso, Texas.  Her columns were  published in the El Paso Times. Other works appeared in the Southwest woman, Deming Highlight and the El Paso Herald Post. This selection is from her book, Stories from the barrio and Other Hoods. She and her husband Bob are parents of Robert, Laura, Michael and Vince, and have five grandchildren.

Stories from the barrio and Other Hoods began as a collection of stories for Margarita Velez' children. She moved around the country with her husband and feared the children would miss the family hearth she experienced as a child. She wrote a permanent record of the people, customs and traditions that were integral in her life. Margarita Velez weaves her re-collections of what he thought, Mama, Papa and his exploits in the war and an assortment of relatives and other people who influenced her life. There is the man who sold bananas and painted his philosophy on cardboard signs nailed to the horse-drawn wagon. In charming, poignant stories, Velez tells about growing up in El Paso, Texas where the international flavor of the desert city blends like a good salsa, with enough spice to wet anybody's appetite. Readers will enjoy Margarita's stories because they are told in a way that makes everyone relate to them.  

Editor:   . . . . positions in the community

 LORENZO LOZANO AS A VILLISTA
Part 2
By 
Christina Lozano Martinez

     When we last left off,  Lorenzo Lozano was being forced to bury the bodies of those that died in battle. This was a punishment he was given for getting in a fight. He hated it, and decided that he would sneak away and joined the Villistas as a means of escape.  What happened next is a series of events that Lorenzo experienced during his time spent in the Mexican Revolution in his own words…..

  "When I joined the Villistas, Pasqual Orozco (a revolutionary leader) decided he was going to turn against Francisco Madero. Villa made Orozco a banquet to celebrate this occasion and had given him money. Pasqual Orozco was Chief of operations of the North Division and he reward Villa by making him commander of the division del norte.  General Villa was then dispatched to an area known as Las Escobas to follow a General that Orozco said had betrayed the forces. When General Villa arrived, he discovered it was a lie and got on the saddle of the Coronel’s horse and rode off. He started many fires because he was angry that he had been lied to. We had heard that the general had committed suicide and General Huerta took over the command.

  Around that time Pasqual Orozco decided to burn puentes (bridges) to Jimenez, to keep the troops from crossing.  Orozco then went to the Sierra de Bandares to attack. We were sent to Escalon but when we arrived there wasn’t much fighting, it was very quiet so we moved on to Jimenez. We went on foot and were walking and sometimes running till we got to Chihuahua.

  Upon our arrival we had heard that General Villa had a disagreement with General Victoriano Huerta. It happened when a female mule had gotten out of the corral and one of men of the Federation Huerta had taken it. General Villa asked that the mule be given back but they did not want to give it back so Gen. Victoriano Huerta and Gen. Villa started shouting at each other and General Villa slap Gen Victoriano Huerta. General Villa was apprehended by those guarding Gen. Huerta and was locked in a room in chains.   General Huerta wanted General Villa shot for disobedience. At this time all the forces of General Huerta were on the side of the river in case of a revolution and all the Chiefs and Officials were there also so they decided not to shoot General Villa instead they dispatch him to Mexico City to Judge him there.

  We moved on through the towns of  La Laguna, Ahumada Cajocitos, following Orozco who had position himself at the port city de Guaymas we head to Leovada, Corbe and the canyon Del Nido.

   To Santa Rosalia de Camargo, there were six of us when we arrived at the river banks to cross.  The current was so strong that it was taking the sticks and cactus in its path.   A villista named Pelón Crucillos who rode with us had a very tall and strong horse he said ‘let me see how bad the current is’. Pelón entered and only made it half way when  the river current took him and his horse. He made it back to the riverbanks we helped him out of the river and we decided to stay there till the sun was starting to rise. We decided we would cross the river and whoever makes it makes it.  We let the rains of the horses go and proceeded to cross. The horses held their own and we could feel the rush of the water on our saddles and mounts. We made it across but ended up far from where we wanted. It took several hours for us to get to a place known as Santa Rosalia de Camargo. I had many friends in Camargo and I was sore and tired from the journey. We had been up for several days. When we got to the town of Camargo a man named Rosalio Hernandez said “I will take care of you”. He then gave us an ounce of gold to buy food to eat and gave us food for our horses.

   He asked us where we were headed. We said we were going to Parral. ‘Stay here’ General Hernandez said, so we did for 15 days. We decided to stay at The Hacienda of Diaz where the walls were made of adobe. There were many holes in the walls where bullets had gone through the wall.  The men hung out a white bandana (a sign of peace) and started shooting at wall for practice. I had my horse tied to my waist and was passing by the wall when and one of the shoots went through the wall.  It killed my horse and grazed me on the backside. After tending to my wounds they put three of us on a horse till we got to the ranch there we were put in a cart to carry us to the town of Parral. I left all my things behind good blankets and saddle things that I needed.

“When we were in Parral I told General Maclovio Herrera that I had no shoes and asked him if I could have some gold to buy some shoes and medicine. He said no. He told me I was traveling and surviving. Then General Herrera told us he was going to kill us.  For nine days we were detained.  We were locked in a room in chains and everything was taken from us the blankets, ammunition everything. General Herrera had thought we had turned on him. I said to the others we don’t even have a fight. We were told by tomorrow they will scalp the rooster a sure sign of our death. There was a guard watching us and he said ‘don’t worry tomorrow I’ll bring you a bottle of Tequila and soon you will not remember anything, you will not feel death’. At five in the morning they played the wake up song and the escort was at the door. Just then General Manuel Chao saw us and freed us. I had worked under him before and he remember me. We took a payroll person with us who was locked up because he had taken and spent all the money of the forces.  From the town of Parral we took meat bottles of brandy and tequila we asked for money they said no.

   I went and picked out a horse from the corral and this horse happened to be mean spirited and bit me often. While riding this horse would run underneath branches and try to knock me off. It would run up to cactus and stop suddenly to knock me to the ground but it was a strong horse and I could break him. 

  We joined the revolutionaries to take the town Torren.   In Torren General Villa was in the patio with talking with another revolutionary. Villa had been talking about turning and going to the other side or deserting the cause. A general   named Felipe Angeles was in charge of artillery and had hear that Villa was going to desert. General Angeles was going to cut all resources to General Villa because of this.  Villa became angry and words were exchanged.

   We left Torren and moved on to Frases de les Colonies and we captured the town and from there we moved on to the town Paredón.   They sent one of the troops to notify General Villa that Zacatecas was under siege and he was to leave Paredón and move forward to Zacatecas because a  revolt going on. General Villa responded that he refused to go and went on to a place called Saltillo. Villa was told that this supply would be cut off if he did not obey his orders. Villa proceeded on to Saltillo and captured it before moving on to join his men in Zacatecas.

  After the fall of Zacatecas a General named Zapata and General Villa help to choose a temporary president.  A man by the name of Genovevo De la O was chosen but he only lasted 4 hours. Eulalio Gutierrez  was then  chosen to replace Genovevo De la O. Villa and Zapata turned on  Venustiano Carranza, a fellow revolutionary and left his forces because they did not like how he way of doing things.”

  “I had seen so many dead bodies piled everywhere from the battle and was glad when we headed out of Zacatecas. I always move from town to town during the first taking of the town Celaya.  They sent me to Chihuahua to help move some box cars loaded with ammunition for General Villa whose troops were in and around Celaya.  After I delivered the three box cars I went to Torreón and was told to deliver three box cars of maíz to Gov. Madero who was in Monterey.  While there I was asked if I would like to stay to help. I and my friend decided to stay   General Villa was in the Sierras, the government was chasing him a lot because he was a bandit.  In Revolution of 1910 Francisco Villa and General Madero were making the propaganda for the Presidency.  At this time Pasqual Orozco and Jose De La Luz Blanco rose against the government of Porfirio Diaz. 

   I was working in Gomez Palacio in the train yard and they gave Madero a special train from Chihuahua to take Madero to accept the presidency. There was another train entering that was going to Jiménez, on the same track as the train that was carrying Madero. The other train for Jiménez had not cleared the area and the two trains hit. The engine of the train flipped but the cars carrying Madero did not turn. The chief of the trains died, his head was crushed by the door when the train hit. Pasqual Orozco was in the car with General Madero and got out and was shouting angry about what had happen and wanted to kill the other machinist who caused the wreck.

   I was ordered to get a car and a blanket to cover General Madero legs and make him comfortable. They then took Madero to another train so he could go on to Mexico City.”

   A lot has happened to Lorenzo in the relatively short time will he was with the Villistas. His path was pull of danger and constant movement.  He saw so much and there was still much more to come.

Doña Anna didn't have the house with the cement porch where I had honed my skills as a one-skate skater. A highway now crossed her pasture, and her house,  doña Lola's, and ours had been demolished.  Doña Ana now live right next to the school and sold candy, drinks, school supplies, and trinkets wrapped in cellophane from a shack in the yard. As I sipped on a cold soda, she told me a couple of her ribald jokes that I could now understand, and laughed with her, feeling as if I had joined a club that had been close to me as a child.

I was curious to see  doña Lola. The longer I lived in the United States, the more I missed her. To me she represented the Puerto Rican jibara, the self-sufficient countrywoman, knowledgeable about, and in harmony with, her surroundings; and as a healer and midwife, in touch with every aspect of the birth, life, and death of every person in Barrio Macún. She now lived at the end of the narrow path lined by medicinal plants and fruit trees. She showed me the cement corral where she kept land crabs. Further down was her pigsty, and a little further, her goat was tied to a stake. The kitchen was a separate shack that looked pretty much the same as the one I remembered, with a three-stone fogón in the corner, the embers smoldering and dried herbs tied to the beams. 

"Here you go," she handed me the same coffee grinder I'd used as a child. I found the stump just outside the kitchen and turned the handle, breathing in the fragrance of the smoky home roasted beans, as doña Lola told me that her sons and daughters had immigrated to New York and Chicago. They wrote often, but a neighbor had to read the letters because she didn't know how to read or write. Most of the residents of the barrios were newcomers and she didn't know many of them.

"I wish things in Puerto Rico with the same as when I was a child," I sighed "when we were one big huge family." 

"Ay, no, mi'ja, don't waste precious time wishing for the past. If you do, you'll wake some morning to realize that you've spent your life wishing.

She made the coffee the old-fashioned way in an enameled pot, dropping the grounds into the boiling water than filtering them through a darkly strained flannel sock with a patinated wooden handles. We sat on her porch, sipping the delicious brew. Against the far wall of the room behind me there were stacks of an open boxes of appliances

"What are those,  Doña Lola?"
"Oh, gifts for my children and grandchildren."
"Why do you keep them in the boxes?"
"I don't know what most of those contraptions do. I don't have electricity."
"Why not sell them, or give them away?"
"They remind me of them," she said.

Editor Mimi: As Nora De Hoyo Comstock states in promoting the sharing of our stories, "a reference is made to something . .  and similar images and memories are conjured up for us all."  That is exactly what happened to me as read this selection by Esmeralda, and I felt closer to her and her Puerto Rican heritage.  I remembered my grandmother Petrita and aunts also preparing coffee in boiling water, and then pouring the coffee through a sock or piece of cloth, the brownish liquid seeping through. After the coffee grinds cooled, Grandma Petrita would bury the coffee grinds under one of her fig, avocado, or lemon trees. 

Click for more information on Count on Me.

  The Red-Striped Dress by Juana Bordas 

As a budding teenager, a very sensitive time in my life, I was invited to a special party by a well to do Anglo cheerleader. My mother took me to learners store to buy a dress for the event. Going to learner was like a Saks 5th Avenue expedition! I still can't imagine how my mother got the money to do this. There on the rat when it was beautiful red cotton dress with black and brown stripes and a little bow tie at the caller. My mother and I were so happy that I danced around the store. Such a treasured moment.

What a trauma to my young soul when I walked into the party and saw the rich girls dressed in fancy taffeta and silk! I was mortified and hid in a bathroom all night, refusing to come out. Years later I saw a TV special on how poverty affect self image - the story of a little girl who hid in the bathroom during lunch because she didn't have any money to eat. When the teacher asked why she did this, she said, "I felt ashamed. This was the same in embarrassment I felt that night. Experiences are internalized by minority children, and they think," I am not good enough," "something is wrong with me," "they are better than me," or"I won't amount to much."

By the time I entered high school, I decided, I have to succeed. My parents and familia okay to me thank you are counting on me and that have sacrificed so much while I was thinking about this I saw a cartoon that had a wise old owl singing," is not what you got. It's what you do with what you got." This became my mantra. "Wow!" I thought, "I may have been born with limitations, but I am going to make it!" I became involved in school activities and sports, wrote for the school paper, and was even elected an officer in several clubs. I assimilated.