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ARTICLES POSTED SEPTEMBER 1998
United States Department Of Commerce News, (posted 9/28/98)
Population Distribution On July 1, 1998, an estimated 30.4 million people of Hispanic origin lived in the United States. They comprised 11.3 percent of the total population. Since July 1, 1990, the Hispanic population has increased 35 percent, while the total U.S. population grew 8 percent. (These totals do not include persons living in Puerto Rico, estimated at 3.8 million as of July 1, 1997.) <http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/nation/intfile3-1.txt and <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-54.html The nation's Hispanic population is young, with an estimated median age on July 1,1998, of 26.5 years-nine years younger than the median for the U.S. population as a whole. <http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/nation/intfile3-1.txt Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of the nation's Hispanics in 1997 were of Mexican origin. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-137.html By the middle of the next century, according to middle-series population projections, the nation's Hispanic population is expected to reach 96.5 million (24.5 percent of the nation's total population). Long before that, by 2005, it is projected that Hispanics will surpass non-Hispanic African Americans to become the nation's largest minority group. Projections indicate that this transition has already occurred among children under 18. On July 1, 1998, there were 10.5 million Hispanic children in the United States, outnumbering non-Hispanic African American children by 35,000. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb96-36.html As of July 1, 1997, according to population estimates: The Hispanic population of six states totaled at least 1 million: California (9.9 million), Texas (5.7 million), New York (2.6 million), Florida (2.1 million), Illinois (1.2 million) and Arizona (1.0million). Combined, California and Texas contained more than half of the nation's Hispanics. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-160.html The states with the highest concentration of Hispanics were New Mexico (where Hispanics constituted 40 percent of the total population), California (31 percent), Texas (29 percent), Arizona (22 percent), Nevada (15 percent), Florida (14 percent), Colorado (14 percent) and New York (14 percent). <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-160.html The 10 counties with the highest Hispanic population were Los Angeles, Calif. (4.0 million), Dade, Fla. (1.1 million), Cook, Ill. (870,000), Harris, Texas (850,000), Orange, Calif. (760,000), Bexar, Texas (750,000), San Diego, Calif. (700,000), Bronx, N.Y. (570,000), San Bernardino, Calif. (530,000) and Maricopa, Ariz. (530,000). <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-160.html Texas was the location of all six counties where at least 90 percent of the residents were Hispanic. These counties were Starr (98 percent), Webb (95 percent), Maverick (95 percent), Jim Hogg (93 percent), Zavala (92 percent) and Brooks (91 percent). <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-160.html Between April 1, 1990, and July 1, 1997, according to population estimates: California (2.2 million), Texas (1.4 million), Florida (530,000), New York (360,000) and Arizona (310,000) added more Hispanics than any other state. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-160.html The 10 counties that added the most Hispanics to their populations were Los Angeles, Calif. (650,000), Harris, Texas (210,000), Orange, Calif. (200,000), San Diego, Calif. (190,000), Dade, Fla.(190,000), Maricopa, Ariz. (180,000), Cook, Ill. (170,000), Riverside, Calif. (160,000), Bexar, Texas (160,000) and San Bernardino, Calif. (160,000). <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-160.html By 2025, according to projections, Hispanics will be the largest race or ethnic group in California, comprising 43 percent of the total population. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb96-176.html Education: Compared with a decade ago, the Hispanic population has made gains in educational attainment. In 1997, 55 percent of the nation's Hispanics, ages 25 and over, had earned at least a high school diploma; 29 percent had at least some college training; and 10 percent had at least a bachelor's degree. Ten years earlier, the respective figures were 51 percent, 22 percent and 8 percent. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-107.html Among Hispanic subgroups, persons of Cuban descent were the most likely to have a bachelor's degree in 1997 20 percent of those ages 25 and over had a bachelor's or higher. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-137.html About 450,000 Hispanics, ages 25 and over, had an advanced degree (e.g., master's, Ph.D., M.D. or J.D.) in 1997. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-107.html Income and Poverty Households maintained by persons of Hispanic origin experienced a 5.8 percent increase in real median household income from 1995 to 1996 (to $24,906), offsetting the drop of 5.1 percent observed from 1994 to 1995. Additionally, real per capita income also increased significantly for Hispanics between 1995 and 1996 (4.9 percent to $10,048). <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-162.html The poverty rate for Hispanics in 1996 was 29.4 percent, statistically unchanged from 1995. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-162.html Coming to America In 1997, the nation's total foreign-born population numbered 25.8 million, of which about 1 out of every 2 (13.1 million) was a native of Latin America or the Caribbean. Looking at individual countries, Mexico (7.0million), Cuba (913,000), the Dominican Republic (632,000) and El Salvador (607,000) were among the biggest contributors to the nation's foreign-born population. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-57.html As of 1997, nearly 4 in 10 of the nation's Hispanics were foreign born. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-137.html Families In 1997, more than one-third (36 percent) of the nation's 8.2 million Hispanic households consisted of traditional families married couples with children versus less than a quarter (24 percent) of non-Hispanic households; additionally, more than half (52 percent) of all Hispanic households contained children versus only one-third (33 percent) of all non-Hispanic households. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-17.html In 1997, Hispanic children were twice as likely to live with both parents (6.7 million) as to live with only one parent (3.3 million). The other 517,000 lived with neither parent. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-126.html The Spanish Language The percentage of U.S. public high school students taking Spanish courses more than doubled between 1982 and 1994, from 12 percent to 27 percent. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-199.html As of 1992, 8 percent of the nation's 17 million small businesses could conduct transactions in Spanish. Among Hispanic-owned small businesses, the proportion was 60 percent. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-182.html Businesses The nation had 862,605 Hispanic-owned businesses in 1992, up 76 percent from 1987. These comprised 5 percent of all U.S. firms and had receipts of $76.8 billion (up 134 percent since 1987). <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb96-110.html About two-thirds (68 percent) of U.S. Hispanic-owned firms in1992 were located in California, Texas or Florida. Pinpointing the location of these firms even more precisely, Los Angeles County, Calif., and Dade County, Fla., combined were home to 1 in every 4 of them. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb96-110.html The dream of emigrating to the United States and operating a business has become a reality for many of the world's Hispanics. In 1992, nearly half of the nation's 770,000 Hispanic-owned small-business owners were born outside the United States. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-182.html The preceding facts come from the Current Population Survey, the Statistical Abstract of the United States, population estimates and projections, the Survey of Minority-Owned Business Enterprises and the Characteristics of Business Owners Survey. The data are subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Previous Facts for Features in 1998 were: African-American History Month (Feb.), Valentine's Day (Feb. 14), Women's History Month (Mar.), Secretaries' Day (Apr. 22), Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month (May), Mother's Day (May 10), Father's Day (June 21), the Fourth of July, Back to School (August) and Grandparents Day (Sept. 13). Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau's Public Information Office (Tel: 301-457-3030; Fax: 301-457-3670; E-mail: pio@census.gov). Charges Against 2 Cigar Lovers Dropped, (posted 9/9/98) Friday September 4 11:43 AM EDT NEW YORK, Sept. 4 (UPI) - Federal prosecutors have dropped the charges against two businessmen who allegedly bought illegal Cuban cigars. John Steinhardt, head of U.S. securities at Chase Manhattan Bank, and Michael Dana of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette were arrested as part of the crackdown that included raids at Manhattan's Patroon restaurant on East 46th Street and Racquet & Tennis Club on Park Avenue. Herbert Haddad, a spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White tells United Press International, that the complaints against the pair were dismissed without prejudice, which means the accusation could be brought again at a later date. On Aug. 5, U.S. Customs agents seized cartons of expensive stogies from the humidors at the exclusive midtown cigar bars. They also arrested the manager of the Racquet Club and the owner of Patroon, charging them with selling the contraband, as well as several business executives. According to authorities, the smokers purchased Montecristo No. 1s and Bolivar Royal Coronas for as much as $400 to $900 per box. Copyright 1998 by United Press International. Feds Target Illegal Cigar Market, (posted 9/9/98)
NEW YORK (AP) - Federal agents have made some high-profile arrests in their bid to snuff out the aroma of Cuban cigars in the United States. Agents raided two Manhattan businesses and arrested seven people in an attempt to rid the industry of the most popular and successful cigars. Two of the defendants charged with conspiracy were arrested Wednesday, and five more were taken into custody Thursday after raids on the Racquet & Tennis Club and the Patroon restaurant, where cigars are treated as delicately as babies. Those arrested included Racquet Club manager Robert Gressler, Patroon owner Kenneth Aretsky and Patroon cigar room manager Alex Hasbany. Also arrested Wednesday and Thursday were four buyers of the cigars who were willing to pay $825 for a box of Cohiba Esplendidos. The men were charged under the Trading with the Enemy Act, which carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison and up to a $100,000 fine. All those arrested were released on their own recognizance after brief court appearances. "This makes no sense," said Michael Kennedy, a lawyer for business executive Kenneth Joseph, one of the arrested purchasers. "It is both absurd and arcane to think that an individual American who buys a cigar from another American can be arrested for trading with the enemy." Calls to Patroon were not immediately returned today. Gressler, the Racquet Club manager, said he had "nothing to say." Gordon Mott, managing editor of Cigar Aficionado, said most Cuban cigars are smuggled into the country in small quantities by individuals who are not related to any organized smuggling ring. He said the magazine estimates cigar consumption in the United States grew from 100 million in 1992 to about 500 million in 1997. Still, the number of Cuban cigars smuggled into the country has held steady at between 6 million and 8 million, he said. "People are being arrested for a product that in every other country in the world is legal and in this country is legal when it doesn't come from Cuba," he said. "I think cigar smokers in general consider it a pretty unfair targeting of something that really doesn't do any harm to anyone."
US Trying To Keep Troops in Panama, (posted 9/9/98)
WASHINGTON (AP) - A U.S.-Panamanian effort to keep American troops in Panama into the next century apparently has been doomed by a recent political setback to President Ernesto Perez Balladares, an administration official said Wednesday. Under the Panama Canal treaties, all U.S. troops are due be out of Panama once the canal reverts to local control on Dec. 31, 1999. But the two countries have been working on a plan to let American soldiers stay as part of a hemisphere-wide counternarcotics center. The talks faltered earlier this year when the United States insisted that some U.S. troops be allowed to carry out tasks independent of the center. This is politically sensitive, as many Panamanians who embrace the multilateral drug center idea oppose any arrangement that would give the appearance of a foreign military base on Panamanian soil. Those difficulties were compounded Sunday when Panamanians rejected, by a 64-34 percent vote, a proposal Perez Balladares strongly supported to change the constitution to permit a president to serve two consecutive terms. With the next presidential elections set for May 1999, the vote left Perez Balladares an instant lame duck. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it is highly unlikely Panamanian opposition parties would acquiesce in supporting any major initiative, including the drug center, because that would give a boost to the ruling party heading into the elections. The official, who has closely followed the negotiations, cautioned that the administration has made no formal decision to abandon the negotiations. President Clinton and other top policy-makers have been out of the country this week. Panamanian Ambassador Eloy Alfaro was in Panama on Wednesday and was unavailable for comment. Panama's proximity to the major sources of cocaine make it an ideal site for the U.S. military to monitor illegal drug flights. The monitoring is carried out by AWACS radar planes operating from Howard Air Force Base in Panama. That operation apparently will have to be shut down by Dec. 31, 1999, when Panama assumes control of the canal. By then, all other U.S. troops will have been withdrawn, leaving Panama without an American military presence for the first time in over 90 years. The Pentagon will have to seek alternate means of tracking the illegal drug flights.
The 16th of September, (posted 9/8/98) The 16th of September of 1810, marks the beginning of Mexico's struggle for independence from Spain. Hence, this day is similar in many ways to the American "4th of July," which commemorates our American Independence from Britain. "El Grito de Dolores," (The cry in the village named Dolores-Sorrows-.) "Long live Independence! Long live America! Death to bad Government!" This proclamation for Independence was made on this day by Miguel Hidalgo, from the Balcony of the Parish of Nuestra Senora de Los Dolores.(Our Lady of Sorrows.) A heroic Parish Priest, who is widely regarded as the Father of Mexican Independence and a symbol of patriotism, Miguel Hidalgo De Costilla was responsible for leading the first large revolutionary forces against the Spaniards. Tragically, however, shortly thereafter, he was captured and executed by a firing squad. Father Hidalgo's martyrdom, however, galvanized the Mexican people to struggle and fight for independance. After Father Hidalgo's demise, Jose Maria Morelos, a small village priest, and a farseeing political and military genius, rallied the revolutionary forces until his capture and execution on December 22, 1815. Historians sum up his service to the cause of Mexican independence by stating that "with him ended the heroic days of the Mexican Revolution." As he read of the guerilla leader's brilliant campaigns, the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte said," with three such men as Jose Morelos, I could conquer the world." Vicente Guerrero, a liberal rebel and the inheritor of the Hidalgo/Morelos tradition, continued the revolutionary struggle against the Spaniards until 1824, when the Spanish were overthrown and Guadalupe Victoria, a liberal became the first elected president of the Republic of Mexico. At the time, the Mexican Empire encompased almost all of Central America and the Southwestern United States including California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and parts of what now is the State of Kansas. There is even today great controversy and debate as to the questionable, and perhaps unethical political means, the United States used to acquire this vast territory from Mexico. A few Spanish land grants still survive today , and Hispanic land grant heirs still argue the United States should be forced to honor land rights they were promised in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican War. To commemorate these revolutionary heroes, Mexico named three states after them. Hidalgo, is a state just North of Mexico City, whereas Guerrero and Morelos are two adjacent states in Mexico's West coast. In addition, many hospitals, schools and colleges, state and federal parks, universities and government buildings have been named to honor these three Mexican Revolutionary Heroes - Hidalgo, Morelos, and Guerrero. Bilingual Education Information, (posted 9/8/98) In light of California's Racist and Anti-Mexican/Chicano Proposition 227, the Brown Berets are making documents and forms available to teachers, parents, students, and community members for download at their website. The documents are made possible so that individuals in the educational sector in California know and understand their RIGHTS. The Brown Berets firmly believe that our right to speak the Spanish language is fully protected by international law (the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo), and thus, Ron Unzilla and his cohorts should be prosecuted for breaking treaty law. The site may be reached at http://www.brownberets.org Then in the main menu click on Bilingual Education. Latino Writers Abound-If You Know Where To Look, (posted 9/8/98) FROM UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE As writers, we've long confronted the erroneous idea that people of color and the poor don't read or can't read. This idea is often perpetuated in the worlds of journalism, publishing, advertising and public relations. As thousands upon thousands of people streamed into the Los Angeles Convention Center in late August to attend the Latino Book and Family Festival, perhaps that idea has now been put to rest. The big publishers from the East Coast, the big-name agents and representatives from the large chain bookstores should have attended; it would have shattered their preconceived notions. Books were being sold by the thousands-in English and in Spanish. The truth is, these detractors are not too far off when they say Latinos can't read: It's difficult for them or anyone else to read about Latinos when the big chain stores or libraries don't carry literature by Latinos. We've had this experience nationwide when we've walked into large bookstores and found either no section for Latino authors or only a literal handful of their titles. Most stores blame their purchaser on the East Coast, while others say they would be glad to carry titles if we could recommend some to them. We've already given out the titles and authors and have written this column before (about four years ago), yet there seems to be little progress in carrying titles by Latino writers in the United States. Audiences will stand outside in line and pack independent bookstores, however, to hear Latino writers, such as Helena Maria Viramontes. She appeared at the Martinez Bookstore in Santa Ana, Calif., which started as a barber shop with a few good books to read. Blatant censorship also continues to be a problem. Authors Luis Rodriguez ("Always Running") and Carlos Jimenez ("The Mexican American Heritage") have had celebrated battles in Illinois and California, where school administrators are alleging that those authors' books are inappropriate reading material for students. For some, the truth about street life and the truth of history always seems to be inappropriate. We've often wondered where it is that people get these ideas about reading and about their "right" to censor. Perhaps they are vestiges of uncivilized societies that prohibited Indians and Africans from reading. To this day, it is said that the indigenous people of the Americas are an oral people, with oral traditions. True. However, these societies also had great written traditions, which produced tens of thousands of books or codices before the arrival of Europeans. Virtually all the codices, incidentally, were torched by fanatical priests who did not want Indians remembering their history, culture and ways. Many of the Indian writers were also put to death. That's long-ago history, of course, a time when men of the cloth believed Africans or Indians were not human beings. Yet, these fanatical priests have seemingly been replaced by modern media/publishing censors. No doubt there's not an actual conspiracy to silence people of color and the poor, and Latinos in particular, but from what we observe, the effect is the same. Latinos do support Latino authors when they know about their works and get notice of their readings, says Helena Maria Viramontes, who is also a literature professor at Cornell University. At an Arizona Barnes and Noble that was promoting her book "Under the Feet of Jesus," the store manager was amazed that grandmothers came, as did professionals and farmworker families as a result of an interview and book review. They wanted to see someone "who worked in the fields and succeeded because she studied." It took actor Edward Olmos to stage the Latino Book and Family Festival in Los Angeles, which will expand nationally next year. In addition, many Chicano/Latino bookstores have sprung up nationwide to fill in the massive void. Viramontes suggests writers start their own magazines and writers groups, and do readings at community centers as well as independent bookstores so that people will be exposed to their work. "The author has to initiate a dialogue with the community," she said. But a thousand Latino bookstores cannot replace the need to make Chicano/Latino literature an integral part of mainstream literature. The titles have to be accessible to all, lest Latino literature continue to be "barrioized" or nonexistant as far as most Americans are concerned. As for those seeking good books to read, Viramontes advises, "The reader has to do a political act and demand our books be on the shelf." COPYRIGHT 1998 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE Both writers are authors of Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut & Uncensored (ISBN 0-918520-22-3 UC Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library, Publications Unit. Rodriguez is the author of Justice: A Question of Race (Cloth ISBN 0-927534-69-X paper ISBN 0-927534-68-1 Bilingual Review Press) and the antibook, The X in La Raza II and Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human. They can be reached at PO BOX 7905, Albq NM 87194-7905, 505-242-7282 or XColumn@aol.com Gonzales's direct line is 505-248-0092 or PatiGonzaJ@aol.com The Irish Martyrs' of Mexico, (posted 9/8/98) The Irish Times This week 150 years ago, 48 Irish soldiers were hanged by the US army, from which they had absconded to fight for Mexico. Joe Carroll tells their tragic tale. The Mexicans call them "the Irish martyrs" of the war of 1847 when the United States invaded Mexico and took almost half its territory. They are commemorated in a suburb of Mexico city where 50 were hanged, 48 of them Irish, and others flogged and branded with red-hot irons on their faces with a "D". For the conquering Americans, the Irish of the San Patricio battalion were deserters who deserved their brutal fate. Mexicans, however, see them as heroes who gave their lives defending their adopted country against an unjustified invasion which still rankles south of the Rio Grande. Tomorrow, for the first time, a President of Mexico and a Mexican foreign minister will attend the annual ceremony in San Jacinto Square, where 16 of the Irish were hanged. A plaque gives 71 names of the members of the San Patricio battalion led by Captain John O'Reilly from Co Galway. As the names are read out, the Mexicans present will respond: "Died for Mexico". President Zedillo will lay a wreath. The foreign minister, Angel Gurria, will speak, as will the new Irish non-resident ambassador to Mexico, Mr Sean higinn. President Zedillo and An Post will jointly issue a commemorative stamp honouring the Irish soldiers tomorrow. The anniversary will also be commemorated in Clifden, Co Galway. At a museum in Mexico city devoted to the "invasions" endured by Mexico since the Spanish conquistadores, there are souvenirs of the Irish because many died at that spot - defending the 17th century monastery which is now beautifully preserved as the museum - in the battle of Churubusco, a vain attempt to stop the US troops entering the capital. The quiet square in front of the building is called Plaza Batallon San Patricio in honour of the Irishmen who died in battle. There are also commemorations in other Mexican cities where the Irish fought against the invading Americans. How the Irish changed sides and then paid dearly is a little-known saga in Ireland, but Mexico still cherishes the memory. For Americans, the "Mexican War of 1847", let alone the role of the Irish, is scarcely remembered today. How the war started is still regarded as controversial. The Mexicans see it as a naked land grab by their powerful northern neighbour which coveted not just Texas but California and the territories today known as New Mexico and Arizona. This huge area, now part of the US, was once part of the Spanish Empire: it had passed to Mexico when it threw off Spanish rule in 1821. The hostilities broke out in the disputed territory of Texas in 1846, following a skirmish between Mexican cavalry and US soldiers. This gave President Polk the excuse he needed to declare war because the Mexicans had "shed American blood on American soil". Even Abraham Lincoln, then a young Congressman, and Ulysses S. Grant, the future Civil War victorious commander and US President, believed that the invasion of Mexico was not justified. This was a period when the large immigration of Irish fleeing the Famine was stirring up bigotry among the earlier settlers, and the numerous Irish soldiers in the US army under General Zachary Scott were apparently badly treated by their officers, who added anti-Catholic prejudices to the prevailing anti-Irish feeling. John O'Reilly, who had emigrated from Galway, deserted before war was declared and this was to save his life later. Other Irish soldiers followed him across the Rio Grande to join the Mexican forces soon to be headed by General Santa Anna, the conqueror of the Alamo 10 years earlier. It is said the Irish were attracted by the Catholic culture of Mexico as well as repelled by the discrimination against them in the US army, but the motives of those who deserted have never been clearly understood given that still larger numbers of Irish soldiers did not do so. As the war progressed, the Irish grouped in the 200-strong San Patricio battalion, under a green banner with St Patrick and the Mexican eagle, distinguished themselves as artillery specialists and inflicted heavy casualties on their former comrades at the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista. But the Mexican forces were being pushed back towards the capital as Santa Anna made a series of tactical blunders. The US army, now under the command of a tough Virginian, General Winfield Scott (Old Fuss and Feathers), landed at Vera Cruz and marched on the capital. The San Patricios, whose bravery and skill were noted by the Mexican officers, fell back with their allies on Mexico City. Those who survived the Churubusco battle and were captured were soon court-martialed for desertion. The historian, Michael Hogan, author of The Irish Soldiers Of Mexico, says the punishments inflicted on the Irish went beyond what was allowed by the military code of the day and that the whole episode was denied for years by the US army. The hangings and brandings were particularly brutal. Thirty of the condemned were forced to wait for hours with the noose around their necks until the final Mexican surrender at Chapultepec Castle. Mr Hogan says the severity of the punishments indicates that the US army officers were "motivated by causes not articulated by American historians". General Scott in his statement after the executions said they should be a warning to "Catholics and non-Catholics alike" that desertion would not be tolerated. Why did he bring the question of religion into it? Mr Hogan asks. For years the tragic story of the San Patricios had almost been forgotten, although the Irish-born US ambassador to Mexico, Mr William O'Dwyer, has recorded that in 1950, "the fact that I was of Irish extraction was regarded favourably" because of the memory of the San Patricios. Patricia Bustamente Cox, an Irish-Mexican woman, researched the episode and wrote a novel about it in the 1950s which has been reprinted many times. Now a film has been made by Mark Day. There is now little chance that the San Patricios could be forgotten in Mexico or Ireland. But in the US, their decision to change sides will continue to be seen as a matter of shame. The Irish Soldiers Of Mexico by Michael Hogan is published by Fondo Editorial Universitario Body Count: Immigration Enforcement Is Killing People In South Texas, (posted 9/8/98) by Debbie Nathan On a Saturday last month just before sunset, San Antonio resident W.C. Duderstadt made a gruesome discovery. Duderstadt was reconnoitering property on the Pendencia Ranch, in Dimmit County near Carrizo Springs, when he found a corpse crumpled across a dirt road. It was clear the remains had lain several days in the heat of South Texas' broiling drought, because the body was rotted beyond recognition. The gray shirt, black jeans, black belt and brown boots that clothed the corpse, however, suggested that this had been a man. By the following Wednesday, he had been logged by the local Border Patrol, scrutinized by a Justice of the Peace, shipped to the coroner in San Antonio, returned to a funeral parlor in Carrizo Springs, transported to the border, and retrieved by relatives who live deep in Mexico. Only the barest outline of these events made the South Texas media minus the deceased's name or any details about who he was in life. The fact that he was an undocumented migrant apparently was enough for public consumption in the United States, but those who normally deal with such bodies learned a bit more about the victim. More than 50 corpses have been found in similar circumstances in Texas this year. That is a record, but 1997 was very bad, too, so was 1996. Talk to Border Patrol officials, local sheriffs, funeral directors and others who process the corpses, and they will tell you they have never seen anything like this summer: so much death and decay, such sadness. The dead man in Dimmit County was Juan Carlos Bravo. That was the name on the voter identification card he was carrying when he died. The card also listed his birthdate-which made him 23 -- and his address in Celaya, a middling Mexican city 19 hours by bus from downtown San Antonio. A lot of dead immigrants have been found lately with their voter registration cards, which surprises people who handle the bodies. Normally, aspiring crossers leave their ID behind. If caught, they don't want the Border Patrol to know their real names. That may be changing, however, since the Border Patrol began its "prevention through deterrence" campaign a few years ago. The agency's goal: to clamp down on illegal immigration by beefing up enforcement at traditional unauthorized crossing points around cities such as El Paso, Brownsville and San Diego. The idea is to drive immigrants into isolated, treacherous areas where they will be discouraged from crossing. To fund this campaign, Congress doubled the Immigration and Naturalization Service's budget between 1993 and 1997, from $1.5 billion to $3.1 billion. Much of the new money was put into barriers, fences and electronic surveillance. The number of agents went from 3,400 agents to about 6,000. It will almost double again in the next three years. The campaign shows no signs of working. Arrests at the old crossing areas are dramatically down. But in no-man's-lands from California to Texas, they have skyrocketed, so much so that this year, at the southern U.S. line, the Border Patrol expects to make more arrests of undocumented immigrants -- some 1.2 million-than in any year since 1986. Immigrants in these desolate outbacks are often immigrants in distress. Indeed, the number of dead has shot up since the deterrence program began. At the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville in 1996, a huge wave swept nine Pakistanis off a sand bar to their deaths. In Arizona last year, a flash flood killed eight people trying to cross north in an underground drainage pipe. In Southern California a few weeks ago, 10 people from one group of crossers were found dead Ò the largest mass fatality in two decades. California's body count is 92 dead so far this year. The tally is 127 in Texas: 72 drowned and 55 dead from heat. The carnage makes for a lot of abandoned corpses. "We buried two last year," says David Ortiz, a justice of the peace in Dimmit County. Dimmit provides paupers' graves for the unknown dead in a tiny cemetery a few miles from Carrizo Springs. There, the county's longtime residents are buried in neat rows, under finely chiseled gravestones. Migrants are segregated at the other end of the field, beneath lumpy dirt mounds and rickety metal signs, no bigger than index cards, marked with the dates they were found dead. No religous service accompanies these burials, which are done by Leonard's, the local funeral home. Justice of the Peace Ortiz is grateful to Leonard's for not charging, except for items like the long, army-green body bags that are used instead of coffins because they are cheap. Nearby Maverick County-whose big city is Eagle Pass-faces the same identification and disposal problems as Dimmit County. In June, two would-be crossers drowned in Maverick while trying to ford the Rio Grande. Their personal effects and ID washed away in the river. Across South Texas, identification has become problematic in ways too revolting for the press to report frankly. Nor do the people who deal with the bodies like to talk about it. "They look really, really bad," was the terse comment from a funeral home worker who asked for anonymity. "In this 100-degree-plus heat, they decompose very, very rapidly. The ones this summer have been horrible." Bodies don't last two days in summer, says Ortiz. What is left is "sometimes mostly bones," resulting from animals such as coyotes, javelinas and buzzards dragging the remains around. Ortiz remembers Daniel Alan Maldonado, from Mexico. "We found him July 18. He had been dragged to the ranch road" and by the time he was discovered, he was in pieces. Often, says Ortiz, people like Maldonado "sit by a tree to kind of cool off and that's where they die. We followed the trail back to a tree and found his wallet right quick." The Border Patrol's Del Rio sector press officer, Paty Mancha, has been working with families trying to identify their relatives. "We had one body," she says, "that was so decomposed that they assumed it was a man. It turturned out to be a woman. That was determined by an autopsy. But a lot of counties don't have money for autopsies." University of Houston sociologist Nestor Rodriguez has his story about the unidentified and the lack of effort or money to give them names. As head of the university's Center for Immigration, Rodriguez co-authored a research project published last year. It tabulated 1,185 migrant deaths between 1993 and 1996 -- on average, six victims per week. But these were only deaths in counties touching the border. That doesn't include the 20 corpses from Texas' Kenedy County in 1996. It wouldn't encompass the 18 there in 1997, or the 10 so far this year, because Kenedy doesn't abut the international line. Nor does Brooks County (Falfurrias is its major town). There, a record spate of migrant deaths this summer seems to represent overflow from Kenedy, where the Border Patrol is on a mission to block the terrain around Highway 77 from immigrant passage. Dimmit County, too-where Juan Carlos Bravo was found-misses the body count by a few miles. Further, the University of Houston study ignores an unknown numer of bodies that have never been found. Since he published his research, Rodriguez has gotten calls from people whose family members have disappeared migrating to the United States. Some ask him to help find their loved ones. Recently, Rodriguez searched for a Guatemalan who vanished a few years ago. A friend of the missing man remembered reading in a Matamoros newspaper that he drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande. So, remembers Rodriguez, "I go down to Brownsville and talk to the sheriff's office and look at the records of the unknown." On the border, though, records of the migrant dead are not centralized, and the missing Guatemalan's name didn't come up. It didn't appear in the U.S. newspapers either, though they did mention an unidentified man who drowned at the same time the Guatemalan disappeared. In Matamoros, Rodriguez found two news items about the drowning, including the fact that Brownsville authorities fished the body from the river. Also, the Mexican press published the victim's name Ò the same name as the Guatemalan's-even though the U.S. papers and police described him as "unknown." Rodriguez went to the Brownsville funeral home mentioned in the Matamoros papers. He was told the body had decomposed beyond recognition before it was buried in the local potters field. But mortuary workers had kept a religious medallion found on the remains. Rodriguez called Central America. The man's wife described the medallion: she had given it to him before he left for the United States. Piedras Negras newspaper reporter Francisco Javier Garza thinks identification problems may be why migrants are carrying their voter registration cards. "If they die," Garza says, "they don't want to die unknown." Soft-spoken, 31-year-old Mancha, the Border Patrol information officer in Del Rio, has seen a lot of bodies. "I'm from Eagle Pass," she elaborates. "My dad was a justice of the peace for 15 years. When I was in junior high I went out with him when a migrant body was reported." She tries not to go out on corpse calls today: "I don't want to make myself so callous that I think of it as just another body." Mancha recalls the last one found in her Border Patrol sector, on July 25 -- a woman named Guadalupe Mendoza Diaz. The victim's brother was with her when she died in the brush. Later he described to the Border Patrol her final throes, common to people who succumb of heat exposure. "They hallucinate. They see rats," says Mancha. "They try to run. They scream things like, 'They're trying to get me!' They foam at the mouth." From her days with her dad, Mancha has vivid memories of the aftermath of these paroxyms: "Sometimes the bodies were bloated. Or you'd see white and once you get closer you see they're covered with maggots." Mancha blames the current wave of death on several causes. First on her list is the Mexican economic crisis. Second is the five-year drought, which has dried up livestock watering troughs. Immigrants are used to crossing the brush with one-gallon jugs, which they normally refill at the troughs. This year everything is dried out. The worst culprit, Mancha says, are smugglers who tell migrants the journey north will take only one day. In fact it takes four. But the longer, more dangerous routes and the proliferation of smugglers are direct results of policies enacted by the INS. Asked whether the Border Patrol's deterrence campaign has increased the body count, Mancha says "most definitely," then hastens to stress that the patrol also saves lives by conducting search-and-rescue operations, and by sending people like her out to warn jailed immigrants and the Mexican press of the dangers of crossing. "The Border Patrol feels embarrassed and bad about the deaths," comments Karl Eschbach, another University of Houston sociologist who currently is updating his institution's migrant death study. The INS has begun keeping close tabs on the number of victims, and has offered border-area counties federal money for autopsies. Juan Carlos Bravo, the dead man in Dimmit County, was autopsied by the medical examiner's office in San Antonio because a justice of the peace suspected violence. Bravo's chest had holes in it, which the judge thought were .22 caliber bullet wounds. The autopsy found the holes were simply what happens when animals scavenge, or when tissue swells and degrades in the heat. Bravo's body, according to one mortuary professional, could not be embalmed. "We told the family not to look at it," he adds. Bravo's kin in Celaya, Mexico could not be reached from San Antonio because they have no phone. But the his hometown newspapers have been full of talk about him. "He was from a very poor family," says Raul Olmos, co-editor of the daily A.M. de Celaya. "He had been living and working in the United States for three years but came home in May to celebrate Mothers Day with his mom. When he got ready to leave he went to a little town nearby called Jalpilla. It's a a staging area for coyotes-immigrant smugglers. He paid one $600." Bravo thought he could beat the South Texas crossing. Backpacker style, he took dried food, water, even Pedialyte-an expensive, Gatorade-like drink that doctors use to treat dehydration. He died anyway: of heat stroke, which kills even people who drink liquids. But Bravo had his voter card, so a recognizeable name made it back to Mexico, attached to an unrecognizeable body. There are people who see his death as one more casualty in a war that is as misconceived as it is deadly. Despite the increased body count, borderwide arrests of undocumented immigrants are at sky-high levels, and a recent government report found no compelling evidence that the Border Patrol's urban and highway blockades are discouraging the flow. But even if deterrence were found to work, would it be worth it? "Somebody needs to say, 'Wait a minute!' " says Maria Jimenez, who heads the Houston- based Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Project, an effort by the American Friends Service Committee to protect civil and human rights amid increasing immigration enforcement. "At what cost do we control the border? People-including women and children-are dying." Jimenez thinks the United States should legalize more of the migrants who are already contributing labor and culture to this country; and make it easier for them to reunite with family who are here with papers. Sociologist Eschbach points out that in Arizona, the death rate is down, apparently because the Border Patrol abandons its highway checkpoints in summer. Eschbach says if the agency in Texas "were to get serious about minimizing deaths, they could also close the checkpoints whenever it gets above a certain temperature." Thermometers may now be moot, however, if-as is hoped after Tropical Storm Charley-the South Texas drought has played out. Still, Eschbach notes that historically, the big threat to immigrants is water. "In normal seasons," he says, "more people die of drowning than heat. So rain is even worse than sun." While driving down a back road in Dimmit County last month after a weekend of driving rains, this writer spotted a man stumbling from the brush and cactus just a few miles from where Juan Carlos Bravo died. His eyes glazed from fatigue and hunger, he identified himself as Temo, and gave a bone-chilling account of how he and eight other Mexicans had just spent four days walking from the border, with nothing to eat for most of that time. Now Temo's group and some 30 other migrants were stranded at the flooded Nueces River. Death was on everybody's minds. They had passed two human skeletons on the trip. Temo decided to swim the Nueces anyway. He reached the other side safely and now hoped to hitch a ride to his job in Houston. As for the people still at the river, maybe they, too, would make it. But again, maybe not, and the pauper's graveyard lay just yards away. Schools Seen as Violating Mandate, Immigrant Students Lose Out, Group Says, (posted 9/2/98) By Beth Daley, Globe Staff, 09/01/98 harging Boston public schools with violating a court order to educate immigrant students who cannot read or write in any language, a legal advocacy group is gathering evidence to bring the case back before a judge this school year. The case casts light on a frequently ignored segment of urban schools' population, but one of its most troubled and academically deficient. Every year, about 350 students in grades 5 through 12 show up in Boston public-school classrooms with little or no schooling in their native language, according to school officials. The advocacy group, Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy Inc., says the number is closer to 700. Some of the students, from rural areas in Africa, Central America, or the Caribbean, arrive in the United States unable to write the simplest sentence in their native language. For years, most have been thrust into Boston bilingual classes with other students their age, even though the newcomers lack basic skills. Eventually, critics charge, they wind up dropping out or graduating without the skills to get an entry-level job. "Frankly, it's a real mess," said Jane E. Lopez, staff attorney for the Somerville office of the national advocacy group. "Every year they promise to address our concerns and then they don't follow through. We need to know services will be in place for these students." In a 1994 consent decree sparked by a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Boston Latino Parents Association and the Boston Master Parents Advisory Council, the school system agreed to start special two-year programs to help the students, including placing them in small classes with properly trained teachers, giving them tutors, providing them with work programs, and, for older students, helping them make the transition into a GED program. School officials yesterday acknowledged their efforts have been uneven in recent years, but expect to be in "substantial" compliance with the consent decree by the start of school Sept. 9. Last spring, school officials appointed an evaluator to assess, school-by-school, how many older, non-English-speaking students are lagging behind in bilingual programs. More specially trained teachers for older illiterate students were hired for this school year, school officials said yesterday. "Based on our assessment last spring, we've been working in a much more focused effort to make sure all of the staffing, training, and curriculum are in place," said school spokeswoman Tracey Lynch. Still, Lopez says, the advocacy group's lawyers have been visiting Boston schools for over two years and maintain that school officials still do not know how many illiterate immigrant students they have. "We estimate almost twice the number of students than they do who need these services," Lopez said. The group is taking depositions from school officials this fall to help prove their case. Few officials dispute that it is difficult to educate students who arrive in Boston - and similar urban areas - every year from dozens of countries around the world, lagging as many as five or more grade levels behind their American peers. While there was a large influx in the early 1980s, the number of incoming illiterate students has stayed stable in the last decade - although the countries they arrive from vary. Most recently, illiterate students from Somalia have arrived in Boston schools, officials said. Not only is it expensive and difficult to teach the students, but debate rages over whether to teach them in their native language or go directly to English, teachers say. Also, some bilingual teachers question how long a teenager who does not even have a second-grade education should stay in school. "Some of the students are nomads and move from area to area and have disrupted schooling," said Francisco Ruiz, bilingual head for English High School in Jamaica Plain. "It is very difficult to teach these kids. Nobody knows the answer." This story ran on page B01 of the Boston Globe on 09/01/98 INS Finally Releases Deaf Mexicans, (posted 9/2/98) On July 15, after spending a year imprisoned by the INS in a hotel in Queens, New York City, a group of 17 deaf Mexican immigrants (including four children) voluntarily departed the US and returned to Mexico. On July 17 the INS granted work permits to 37 others who preferred to stay in New York with their young children; the families are now living in a specially-designed transitional shelter in Brooklyn, run by the City of New York. All were part of a group of 57 deaf Mexican immigrants who were taken into police custody with their children on July 19 of last year after four of them told police they were being held as slaves, forced to sell trinkets in New York City's subway system [see WNUA #391]. Of the individuals who led the exploitation ring-themselves Mexican immigrants--18 have been sentenced; two others are in Mexico seeking to avoid extradition; and another is a fugitive. The presumed head of the ring, Adriana Paoletti Lemus, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay $1 million to the victims. [El Diario-La Prensa (NY) 7/16/98 from combined services, 7/20/98 from AP, 7/21/98 from correspondent] Judge Upholds Anti-Bilingual Education Measure In California, (posted 9/2/98) On July 15, US District Judge Charles Legge upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 227, a ballot measure approved by 61% of voters in California state elections on June 2 which seeks to eliminate bilingual education. In his 48-page ruling, Legge concluded that Proposition 227 is constitutional on its face, and refused a request from a coalition of civil rights organizations to block its enforcement. [San Jose Mercury News (CA) 7/16/98] On July 31 a federal appeals court upheld Legge's ruling against the injunction. Schools with year-round schedules-including those in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest-began implementing the law on Aug. 3. On Aug. 4 the Los Angeles City Council voted 11-3 to file a "friend of the court" brief in a lawsuit against the measure by civil rights groups. [AP 8/6/98] The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is planning a statewide effort to thwart the new law by urging parents of school-age children to seek waivers from the English immersion classes the law requires. After the first 30 days of immersion classes, parents can seek a waiver to put their child back in bilingual education under limited conditions. Schools where 20 or more waiver applications are approved must provide a bilingual class or transport students to another school that can accommodate their needs. Schools with fewer than 20 waivers may provide a class but are not required to. [San Diego Union Tribune 7/18/98 from AP; Bergen Record (NJ) 8/4/98 from AP] San Francisco schools superintendent Waldemar Rojas says his district will continue to offer bilingual education in accordance with a 1970 federal court decision that ordered public schools to guarantee classes in a language that students can understand. [Clarin (Buenos Aires) 8/5/98 from Washington Post] US Government Settles Lawsuit Over Border Killing, (posted 9/2/98) The US federal government will make annual payments expected to total $1.9 million to the family of Esequiel Hernandez, Jr. under the terms of a settlement agreement signed between the Hernandez family and the US Justice Department and Navy. Bill Weinacht, lawyer for the Hernandez family, announced the agreement on Aug. 11. The 18-year old Hernandez was herding goats near his family home in Redford, Texas, on May 27, 1997, when he was shot to death by Marines conducting anti-drug surveillance along the Rio Grande under the supervision of the US Border Patrol. Military officials claim Hernandez shot twice in the direction of the heavily camouflaged four-person Marine Corps patrol, and team leader Cpl. Clemente Banuelos fired back when the boy raised his gun a third time. Relatives said Hernandez carried a .22-caliber rifle to protect his livestock from wild dogs and occasionally to shoot targets, and would never have knowingly shot at people. Federal and state grand juries refused to indict any of the Marines. An investigation by Joint Task Force 6, an El Paso-based federal agency that coordinates anti-drug missions between the military and civilian authorities, concluded that the Marines acted within mission guidelines. Controversy over the shooting led to the suspension of military patrols along the Rio Grande. The settlement is "one more piece of evidence that there was total wrongdoing in this case by various arms of the government," said Redford activist Rev. Melvin LaFollette. "Innocent parties don't pass out millions gratuitously." [Associated Press 8/11/98, 8/12/98; NYT 8/12/98] Immigrant Death Toll Rises in Imperial County, (posted 9/2/98) Source: The Associated Press PLASTER CITY.-Three more suspected undocumented immigrants have died in as many days crossing the Imperial County desert east of San Diego. The Imperial County Sheriff's Department received a report late Monday that six immigrants were in need of help at Plaster City, a community near the Salton Sea. A dispatcher for the county coroner investigator's office said at least one man was dead and five other people were in need of medical care, but no other deaths were available. More than 100 people have died crossing the southwest border of Mexico this year, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. More than 80 of those deaths were heat-related; the others were drownings, traffic accidents or other causes. The temperature in eastern San Diego County was about 110 degrees on Monday. Imperial County authorities found the body of another immigrant Sundayy floating in the All-American Canal near Calexico. The body, which appeared to have been in the water less than 24 hours, was fully clothed and was spotted by Mexican citizens swimming in the canal, Chief Deputy Coroner Jesse Altamirano said. The body of another man was found Saturday just north of Bombay Beach near the Coachella Canal. Altamirano said it appeared the 24-year-old man was overcome by the heat. The body was found face down near a road; footprints of several people were leading up to the body and away from it, Altamirano said. Authorities believe the man was traveling with a group of illegal immigants when he died.
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