Youth go to ES

Youth want to reconnect with their roots. We all need to do that at some point! Help out if you can or pass it on anyway. M

*Please repost and forward it to everyone you think might help.*

Dear family,
I am writing to inform you of a special project that our organization is developing. As many of may know we started an on campus organization at San Francisco State University called C.A.S.A. (Central American Student Association). The organization was born out of a need for Central and South American representation on our campus. What makes our organization different from other Latino organizations is that we want to get involved in international issues and in specific in Central America. One of our goals and missions is to take delegations of high school and college level students back to their ancestral lands. This July we are taking our 4th delegation in less than 6 months. What makes this delegation so different from the previous 3 is that they are all high school students. This very exciting and important for us because we believe high school students are the future and we must as privileged university and professional Latinos and other ethnicities begin to take and active and leadership role in their lives.

We met some of these students in the week of action for immigrant rights this past March in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco. While some of our members were fasting for immigrant rights, these high school students were there, by our side supporting the cause, marching and making sure that the hunger strikers were ok. They made signs and they organized themselves in a peaceful way to protest the racist anti-immigrant reforms. They are not just high school students, they are young warriors from our communities who have stand up for our rights. We believe in these students and we have high hopes for them. Please help us raise funds for them to experience the culture and history of El Salvador.
I call upon all you out there that care about the future of our youth to support these students in their efforts to reconnect with their roots and reclaim their identities.
We are fundraising $800 per student, which includes the flight, meals and spending funds. Our total budget for 20 students is $16,000. These students are low income students and is almost impossible for their families to afford this much money for an educational trip to El Salvador, therefore your support is of great importance for this project.
Paz,
Gustavo

You can donate funds to our non-profit Avenues Project
and you can claim a tax-donation for your support. Tax Id .. 300035154.
____ Yes, I ____________________________ would like to donate __________ so that students can reconnect with their roots. Please add my name to the list of donors on your website (AvenuesProject.org), your community newsletter, and any materials you send out to the media.

Checks payable to: Avenues Project, re: El Salvador Roots Trip
Contact Info: 510.776.3740, razafilm@yahoo.com, teolol@avenuesproject.org, www.AvenuesProject.org

Below you will find an important letter from high school students and teachers that I am organizing with, we are raising funds to take 20 youth to El Salvador to connect with their roots.
Please read it, spread it like wild fire, and donate even $20. Everything helps......

Gustavo Choto (email: GustavAlexander@yahoo.com)
Organizer/Educator - C.A.S.A - SFSU (Central American Student Association San Francisco State Univerity)

East Oakland Community High School- Raza Film Class
The Avenues Project, an education non-profit organization (501 c.3)
8251 Fontaine Street Oakland, CA 94605
510.776.3740, razafilm@yahoo.com, www.AvenuesProject.org/

Dear Community Members and Supporters,
Twenty East Oakland Community High School students from the Raza Film Class are fundraising to travel to El Salvador this summer, but they need your help to make this dream a reality. Half of the students in the class are Central American and want to learn about their roots. We have family members who live in El Salvador, but we have never met them because traveling out there is very expensive. We want to learn about our country because we only know about El Salvador from pictures and stories. We want to live there for a couple of weeks and experience life in Central America. We are fundraising $800 per student, which includes the flight, meals and spending funds. Our total budget for 20 students is $16,000.

Some of the goals of our trip are helping our larger community. During this trip we will be helping the people there by making a bridge so that they can transport themselves from the countryside to the city. We will also help set up pipes so that they can get clean drinking water to their homes. We want to also visit and help out orphanages.

We need your support to help empower all of us and also allow us to meet/reunite with family members. We are all excited about going to El Salvador, but we cant make our dream come true without your support. We will be making a difference to the people of El Salvador, and it will change our lives, but we need your help. Thank you so much for your support.
Sincerely,
C.A.S.A. (Central American Student Association)

Raza Film Class- East Oakland Community High School
Raza Film Students
On the journey
to connect with our roots
in Central America.

Name of Students:
Yanina Vazquez- El Salvador
Yesenia Vazquez- El Salvador
Adrian Arias- El Salvador
Maite Arias- El Salvador
Adriana Vega- Mexico
Francisco Flores- Guatemala
German Flores- Guatemala
Maria Felix- Mexico
Luis Sanchez- Mexico
Luis Garcia- Mexico
Jose Gutierrez- Mexico
Jose Agredano- Mexico
Omar Escalante- El Salvador
Jocelyn Padilla- Honduras
Francisco Capuchino- Mexico
Gumaro Meza- Mexico
Ricardo Gomez- Mexico
Eric Maldonado- Mexico
Reyna Rodriguez- El Salvador

Organizer & Educator,
Gustavo Choto - El Salvador

'Sanctuary City' for Immigrants Gets Pricey

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
By KEN MAGUIRE, Associated Press Writer Sun May 7, 2:14 PM ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - This famously liberal city is serving notice that illegal immigrants are welcome, even while Congress is considering tough new penalties. Police won't harass you. Education and health care are available.
ADVERTISEMENT

Here's the hitch: You probably can't afford to live here.

Back in 1985, when Cambridge first declared itself a "sanctuary city," rent control kept apartments affordable.

Today, however, Cambridge no longer has rent control; cheap apartments were turned into luxury condominiums and the city — home of Harvard and MIT — is among the most expensive places to live in the United States. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is around $1,400 a month.

Vos

EL VOSEO

En algunos países hispanoamericanos como Guatemala, Argentina, y algunas partes de Colombia, en vez de "tú" se dice "vos," y no se utilizan las terminaciones normales para la segunda persona del singular en el presente del indicativo, ni en el imperativo. Este es el llamado "voseo." Uds. no tienen obligación de utilizarlo ni de memorizar su conjugación, pero sí es conveniente que lo reconozcan:
PRESENTE tú piensas --> vos pensás, IMPERATIVO ¡piensa! --> ¡pensá!
PRESENTE tú comes --> vos comés, IMPERATIVO ¡come! --> ¡comé!

PRESENTE tú vienes --> vos venís, IMPERATIVO ¡ven! --> ¡vení!

Hay, sin embargo, una manera más facil de recordar todo esto:

PRESENTE
1. Tomen el infinitivo del verbo (pensar, comer, venir)
2. Quiten la "r" y pongan una "s" (pensas, comes, venis)

3. Añadan un acento a la última vocal (pensás, comés, venís)

IMPERATIVO

Igual que el presente pero no añadan la "s" (pensá, comé ...)
Hay muy pocas excepciones: tú eres --> vos sos

Arab/Iranian/Muslim Contingent-MAY1

May 1st Immigrant Rights Mobilization
Arab/Iranian/Muslim Contingent

NO WORK - NO SCHOOL - NO BUYING - NO SELLING

from philadelphia to san francisco, millions of
immigrants & allies will leave school and work, and
take the streets of the united states demanding
dignity and an end to immigrant attacks in congress.

from buenos aires to mexico city, there will be a
boycott of US products.

from tehran to sao paulo, millions will celebrate
international workers day.

WHERE WILL YOU BE?

MARCH WITH US -
Arab/Iranian/Muslim Contingent
Meet at 10:30 AM - YERBA BUENA GARDERNS
(Mission between 3rd & 4th)
Contingent will march with other immigrant groups and
meet up with the Rally and March at 11 AM Justin
Herman Plaza, Embarcadero.

for more information call ADC-SF at 415-861-7444 or go
to www.adcsf.org

Where you stay

Check it...


http://www.filamarts.org/whereyoustay/

SPECIAL ISSUE: CENTRAL AMERICA

Millions of Central Americans live and work in North America. This
Special Issue looks at what caused the migration flows to El Norte and
the impacts of Central American migration on both home and host
societies.

Top story:
Central America: Crossroads of the Americas
Many migratory streams from Central America -- including refugees,
economic migrants, and transit flows headed north from South America
and
elsewhere -- have converged in North America since the 1980s. Sarah J.
Mahler and Dusan Ugrina of Florida International University outline the
region's main trends.

Spotlight:
Central American Foreign Born in the United States
Over
half of all Central American foreign born in the United States are from
El Salvador and Guatemala. MPI's Megan Davy examines the numbers as
well
as events and policies that have shaped Central American migration.

Country Profile:
Guatemala: Economic Migrants Replace Political Refugees

Guatemala's long civil war, which spurred large flows of refugees, has
given way to high levels of economic migration to the United States and
an economy more dependent on remittances. Also, Guatemala's geography
has made it a prime transit country for migrants headed north, as James
Smith of Inforpress Centroamericana reports.
Mexico: Caught Between the United States and Central America
Since the 1980s, Mexico has become home to Guatemalan refugees and served as
a transit country for Central Americans seeking to reach the United
States. Manuel Ángel Castillo of El Colegio de México analyzes Mexico's
policies toward its southern neighbors.
Canada: A Northern Refuge for Central Americans
Although most Central American refugees sought protection in the United
States, Canada admitted thousands of Central American refugees in the
1980s. María Cristina García of Cornell University takes a detailed
look at Central Americans in Canada.
Remittance Trends in Central America
In 2004, Central American countries received US$ 7.8 billion in
remittances through official channels. Are remittances hurting or
helping the region? MPI's Dovelyn Agunias investigates.
Migration and Development in El Salvador: Ideals Versus Reality

Salvadorans abroad have helped their families economically and, to some
extent, decreased poverty levels back home. Yet migration has economic
and social costs in El Salvador -- and has not yet proved to be the
answer to its development problems, according to Katharine
Andrade-Eekhoff.

CAFTA: What Could It Mean for Migration?
The Central America Free Trade Agreement may be the most important
economic event in the region in 20 years. However, it seems unlikely to
reverse established migration trends, reports Salomon Cohen.

Central Americans and Asylum Policy in the Reagan Era
Not long after the United States passed the 1980 Refugee Act, thousands
of people began fleeing civil war in Guatemala, El Salvador, and
Nicaragua. Their treatment in the United States, linked to US foreign
policy, spurred the Sanctuary Movement and efforts to grant them
refugee
status, as Susan Gzesh of the University of Chicago explains.
National Policies and the Rise of Transnational Gangs
The growth of violent gangs such as MS-13, which operates in the United
States and Central America, has caught the attention of the US media
and law enforcement. However, the role of migration policies in this growth
deserves closer attention, finds MPI's Mary Helen Johnson.
Policy Beat:
Senate Debates Temporary Worker Program and Path to Legal Status for
the Unauthorized
MPI's Julia Gelatt reports on the Judiciary Committee's proposals for
immigration reform, which set the stage for Senate debate on the topic,
plus other immigration news.
Archives

Special Issues:
Don't forget to visit our previous Special Issues on:
The Top 10 Migration Issues of 2005
The Unauthorized

Human Rights and Migration
Africa
and Migration
US-Mexico Migration
Women and Migration
Integration and Immigrants
Migration and Development
Join Our List
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link below.
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On behalf of the Source team, thank you for your comments and
suggestions.
Kirin Kalia
Editor
The Migration Information Source is a project of the Migration Policy
Institute (MPI).
email: source@migrationpolicy.org

Performance Art Immigration Festival

The Central American Studies Program
Performance Art Immigration Festival

Monday, April 17, 2006
6:00p.m.

With an update on High School Student Movement
coordinated by the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA)

Key Note Speaker:

Prof. Ana Patricia Rodríguez,
University of Maryland, College Park
"¿Dónde estás vos/z?: Performing Salvadoreñidades in Translocal Sites"

Performance and Visual Artists:

Jessica Grande
Lizette Hernandez
Víctor Espinosa
Carlos Somoza
Luis A. Vega
María Adela Díaz


Followed by a reception hosted by the Central American United Student Association (CAUSA)

Whitsett Room
Monday, April 17, 2006 6:00p.m.
California State University
Central American Studies Program
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8246

Tel. (818) 677-3585
Fax (818) 677-7578

website for rights for students

This website has some useful information including a student free speech rights section and some contact info for the national lawyers guild for students that need legal help because of their walkout actions.

Please distribute widely.
-----FOR THE STUDENTS WEBSITE - Posted 4.6.06
A new committee has been formed in response to the recent student activities. This group is composed of teachers, students, parents and professionals who feel that "education is a right, not a privilege", and that students inherently have the right to voice their opinions. In this committee are people who were active in the 1968 Walkouts, such as Bobby Verdugo, Paula Cristosomo and Mita Cuaron. We invite the community to help us in the students of our youth. Please check out the new web page !!
http://forthestudents06.tripod.com

A tragedy because of the lack of support/understanding

Very sad news. This should not happen.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEWS CONFERENCE
Sunday, April 9, 2006
12:00 p.m.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
710 S. Sultana Ave., Ontario, CA 91761


Louise Corales, whose 14 year-old son, Anthony Soltero, died on April 1 after committing suicide, will speak to the community and ask for a prayer for her son this Sunday, following the 11:00 a.m. mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario, California.

Eighth grader Anthony Soltero shot himself through the head on Thursday, March 30, after the assistant principal at De Anza Middle School told him that he was going to prison for three years because of his involvement as an organizer of the April 28 school walk-outs to protest the anti-immigrant legislation in Washington. The vice principal also forbade Anthony from attending graduation activities and threatened to fine his mother for Anthonys truancy and participation in the student protests.

Anthony was learning about the importance of civic duties and rights in his eighth grade class. Ironically, he died because the vice principal at his school threatened him for speaking out and exercising those rights, Ms. Corales said today. I want to speak out to other parents, whose children are attending the continuing protests this week. We have to let the schools know that they cant punish our children for exercising their rights.

Anthonys death is likely the first fatality arising from the protests against the immigration legislation being considered in Washington, D.C. Anthony, who was a very good student at De Anza Middle School in the Ontario-Montclair School District, believed in justice and was passionate about the immigration issue. He is survived by his mother, Louise Corales, his father, a younger sister, and a baby brother.

Ms. Corales will speak to the community after mass on Sunday, April 9, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. She will ask for a prayer for Anthony, whose funeral and burial are scheduled for Monday, April 10 in Long Beach, where he was born.
CONTACT: R. SAMUEL PAZ
(310) 410-2981
(310) 989-6815
R. Samuel Paz
Civil Rights Lawyer
LAW OFFICES OF R. SAMUEL PAZ
Buckingham Heights
5701 W. Slauson Avenue
Suite 202
Culver City CA 90230
Telephone (310) 410-2981
Facsimile (310) 410-2957

Legal info on walkouts for students

http://www.schoolwalkouts.info/

Immigration Performance Art Festival

Monday April 16, 6 pm

Justice not IGNORANCE NOW

Subject: commonly used attacks against immigrants
Body: Myths vs. Facts


IMMIGRANTS DONT PAY TAXES

Immigrants pay taxes, in the form of income, property, sales, and taxes at the federal and state level. As far as income tax payments go, sources vary in their accounts, but a range of studies find that immigrants pay between $90 and $140 billion a year in federal, state, and local taxes. Undocumented immigrants pay income taxes as well, as evidenced by the Social Security Administration's "suspense file" (taxes that cannot be matched to workers' names and social security numbers), which grew by $20 billion between 1990 and 1998

(Source: http://www.immigrationforum.org/about/articles/tax_study.htm)

IMMIGRANTS COME HERE TO TAKE WELFARE

Immigrants come to work and reunite with family members. Immigrant labor force participation is consistently higher than native-born, and immigrant workers make up a larger share of the U.S. labor force (12.4%) than they do the U.S. population (11.5%). Moreover, the ratio between immigrant use of public benefits and the amount of taxes they pay is consistently favorable to the U.S. In one estimate, immigrants earn about $240 billion a year, pay about $90 billion a year in taxes, and use about $5 billion in public benefits. In another cut of the data, immigrant tax payments total $20 to $30 billion more than the amount of government services they use.

(Source: "Questioning Immigration Policy – Can We Afford to Open Our Arms?", Friends Committee on National Legislation Document ..G-606-DOM, January 25, 1996. http:www.fas.org/pub/gen/fcnl/immigra.html)

IMMIGRANTS SEND ALL THEIR MONEY BACK HOME

In addition to the consumer spending of immigrant households, immigrants and their businesses contribute $162 billion in tax revenue to U.S. federal, state, and local governments. While it is true that immigrants remit billions of dollars a year to their home countries, this is one of the most targeted and effective forms of direct foreign investment.

(Source: http://www.cato.org/research/articles/griswold-020218.html.)

IMMIGRANTS TAKE JOBS AWAY FROM AMERICANS...

THIS ONE IS MY FAVORITE...CARLOS MENCIA SAID IT BEST...
" IF AN IMMIGRANT THAT CAN'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH IS TAKING YOUR JOB..YOU ARE ONE STUPID MOTHERFUCKER...." Does anyone have the right to claim a job 'belongs' to them?

The largest wave of immigration to the U.S. since the early 1900s coincided with our lowest national unemployment rate and fastest economic growth. Immigrant entrepreneurs create jobs for U.S. and foreign workers, and foreign-born students allow many U.S. graduate programs to keep their doors open. While there has been no comprehensive study done of immigrant-owned businesses, we have countless examples: in Silicon Valley, companies begun by Chinese and Indian immigrants generated more than $19.5 billion in sales and nearly 73,000 jobs in 2000.

(Source: Richard Vedder, Lowell Gallaway, and Stephen Moore, Immigration and Unemployment: New Evidence, Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, Arlington, VA (Mar. 1994), p. 13.

IMMIGRANTS ARE A DRAIN ON THE ECONOMY

During the 1990s, half of all new workers were foreign-born, filling gaps left by native-born workers in both the high- and low-skill ends of the spectrum. Immigrants fill jobs in key sectors, start their own businesses, and contribute to a thriving economy. The net benefit of immigration to the U.S. is nearly $10 billion annually. As Alan Greenspan points out, 70% of immigrants arrive in prime working age. That means we haven't spent a penny on their education, yet they are transplanted into our workforce and will contribute $500 billion toward our social security system over the next 20 years

(Source: Andrew Sum, Mykhaylo Trubskyy, Ishwar Khatiwada, et al., Immigrant Workers in the New England Labor Market: Implications for Workforce Development Policy, Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, Boston, Prepared for the New England Regional Office, the Employment and Training Administration, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Boston, Massachusetts, October 2002.

http://www.nupr.neu.edu/1102/immigration.PDF..search='center%20for%20labor%20market%20studies%20at%20Northeastern%20University%20studies')


IMMIGRANTS DONT WANT TO LEARN ENGLISH OR BECOME AMERICANS

Within ten years of arrival, more than 75% of immigrants speak English well; moreover, demand for English classes at the adult level far exceeds supply. Greater than 33% of immigrants are naturalized citizens; given increased immigration in the 1990s, this figure will rise as more legal permanent residents become eligible for naturalization in the coming years. The number of immigrants naturalizing spiked sharply after two events: enactment of immigration and welfare reform laws in 1996, and the terrorist attacks in 2001.

(Source: American Immigration Lawyers Association, "Myths & Facts in the Immigration Debate", 8/14/03. http://www.aila.org/contentViewer.aspx?bc=17,142..section4)

(Source: Simon Romero and Janet Elder, "Hispanics in the US Report Optimism" New York Times, (Aug. 6, 2003).


TODAY'S IMMIGRANTS ARE DIFFERENT THAN THOSE 100 YEARS AGO

The percentage of the U.S. population that is foreign-born now stands at 11.5%; in the early 20th century it was approximately 15%. Similar to accusations about today's immigrants, those of 100 years ago initially often settled in mono-ethnic neighborhoods, spoke their native languages, and built up newspapers and businesses that catered to their fellow émigrés. They also experienced the same types of discrimination that today's immigrants face, and integrated within American culture at a similar rate. If we view history objectively, we remember that every new wave of immigrants has been met with suspicion and doubt and yet, ultimately, every past wave of immigrants has been vindicated and saluted.

(Source: Census Data: http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kprof00-us.pdf,http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/censr-4.pdf )


MOST IMMIGRANTS CROSS THE BORDER ILLEGALLY

Around 75% of today's immigrants have legal permanent (immigrant) visas; of the 25% that are undocumented, 40% overstayed temporary (non-immigrant) visas.

(Source: Department of Homeland Security (http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/index.htm)


WEAK US BORDER ENFORCEMENT HAS LEAD TO HIGH UNDOCUMENTAED IMMIGRATION

From 1986 to 1998, the Border Patrol's budget increased six-fold and the number of agents stationed on our southwest border doubled to 8,500. The Border Patrol also toughened its enforcement strategy, heavily fortifying typical urban entry points and pushing migrants into dangerous desert areas, in hopes of deterring crossings. Instead, the undocumented immigrant population doubled in that timeframe, to 8 million—despite the legalization of nearly 3 million immigrants after the enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986. Insufficient legal avenues for immigrants to enter the U.S., compared with the number of jobs in need of workers, has significantly contributed to this current conundrum.

(Source: Immigration and Naturalization website: http://www.ncjrs.org/ondcppubs/publications/enforce/border/ins_3.html)

THE WAR ON TERRORISM CAN BE WON WITH IMMIGRANT RESTRICTIONS

No security expert since September 11th, 2001 has said that restrictive immigration measures would have prevented the terrorist attacks—instead, the key is effective use of good intelligence. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were here on legal visas. Since 9/11, the myriad of measures targeting immigrants in the name of national security have netted no terrorism prosecutions. In fact, several of these measures could have the opposite effect and actually make us less safe, as targeted communities of immigrants are afraid to come forward with information.

(Source: Associated Press/Dow Jones Newswires, "US Senate Subcommittee Hears Immigration Testimony", Oct. 17, 2001.)

(Source: Cato Institute: "Don't Blame Immigrants for Terrorism", Daniel Griswold, Assoc. Director of Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies (see: http://www.cato.org/dailys/10-23-01.html)


information provided by: http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org

Mario Escobar has had his deportation hearing delayed twice.

Student’s fate depends on overburdened court

EUNICE KWON/daily bruin
Mario Escobar has had his deportation hearing delayed twice.

By Adam Foxman
DAILY BRUIN STAFF
afoxman@media.ucla.edu

As thousands across the nation took to the streets last Tuesday to protest legislation that would increase penalties against undocumented immigrants, Mario Escobar paced nervously in front of the Los Angeles Immigration Court on Olive Street.

He was waiting for a judge to either deport him to El Salvador, from which he fled following the country's civil war, or grant him political asylum.

Neither happened, as it turned out.

More than a year after Escobar's court date was delayed the first time, the fourth-year English and Spanish student's deportation hearing was pushed back for an additional six months.

Judge William Martin Jr. was prepared to hear the case Tuesday, and Escobar – with his wife, his psychologist and a friend in tow – had come to the courtroom expecting resolution in his bid for political asylum.

But the case was delayed because the counsel for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not have his file.

Kristin Piepmeier, the U.S. government's counsel, told Martin she did not have Escobar's file because, though she had ordered it on March 17, it was accidently sent to the National Records Center in Missouri.

"I made a mistake," Piepmeier said, explaining that she expected the file to arrive "any day now."

The judge, visibly frustrated, expressed dismay at having to delay the case after setting aside plenty of time to hear the counsel's position as well as Escobar's defense and testimony from his psychologist.

He urged Escobar's lawyer to work toward an agreement with the counsel in order to more quickly settle the case, and he rescheduled the hearing for Sept. 13.

Escobar, who was in tears hours before the scheduled hearing, said the postponement made him want to scream.

"I'm still in the same predicament," he said. "All I want is for this nightmare to be over."

Escobar, who is an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, fled from his home country to the United States more than a decade ago. He is applying for political sanctuary based on the trauma he suffered during El Salvador's civil war.

His father and grandmother were killed in that conflict, which lasted from about 1979 to 1992. And as an 11-year-old near the end of the war, Escobar was kidnapped and held for almost a year by former members of the Salvadorian military.

Escobar's hearing was not the only one postponed Tuesday. An asylum hearing scheduled immediately before his was also pushed back for six months.

Delays are common in Los Angeles' immigration court, and with a steady increase in immigration cases nationwide in recent years, the situation appears unlikely to improve.

For Escobar, a delayed hearing means more months of anxiety, he said, explaining that his unresolved case is also impeding upon his efforts to become a professor.

During his time at UCLA, the 28-year-old student took early steps down that path. He gave a lecture at UC Santa Barbara on the difficulties Central Americans face in the United States, and spoke about Roque Dalton, a Salvadorian poet, at California State University, Northridge.

He is also scheduled to speak on April 7 at the Salvadorian Embassy in Washington, D.C., about a literary magazine he established as a forum for Central American issues.

But because of his status as an undocumented immigrant, he has had to turn down offers to speak in El Salvador and Canada, and he has had difficulty securing fellowships, he said.

Escobar is one of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States at whom the Senate and the House are aiming controversial immigration-reform proposals.

The differences in the two proposals illustrate the deep ideological divide – in both Congress and the country at large – over issues of illegal immigration.

The Senate Judiciary Committee recently released a proposal that would give many current undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship and establish a guest-worker program.

In contrast, the House's bill, passed late last year, would increase penalties for illegal immigration and erect a 700-mile-long wall between the United States and Mexico.

Opponents of the Senate Judiciary Committee's proposal call it an amnesty for illegal immigrants. Critics of the more stringent bill passed by the House have said it is unnecessarily harsh, unenforceable and would split up many families who have undocumented members. Neither proposal is final, and as many of their provisions are in direct opposition, they are likely to see fierce debate in Congress before they can become law.

But either bill, if it goes into law as written, would likely have dramatic effects on the nation's immigration courts, which are already dealing with a growing number of cases.

Between 2004 and 2005, the country's immigration courts saw a 23 percent increase in the number of cases received nationwide, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice. The number of cases increased 31 percent from 2001 to 2005, from 282,396 to 368,848.

Los Angeles' court has 23 judges and received 17,182 cases in 2005.

The number in 2004 was 15,281.

And in these busy courts, delays caused by administrative mistakes – like the one Escobar experienced – are not uncommon, according to several immigration lawyers.

Armineh Ebrahimian, Escobar's lawyer, said delays of all types are common in Los Angeles' court.

And Joren Lyons, an attorney with the San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus, said that though San Francisco's immigration court generally runs smoothly, cases are sometimes postponed because of missing or misplaced files.

If the House's bill becomes law, immigration courts could see an additional influx of cases.

The House bill, HR4437, includes a provision that would make it a felony to be an illegal resident of the United States, and would make providing assistance to illegal immigrants a felony as well.

Since the House bill seeks to crack down on illegal immigration it would, if passed, ramp up deportations and have a "severe impact on the dockets of the courts," Lyons said.

Lyons also said the path toward legalization opened by the Senate Judiciary Committee's proposal could lessen strain on immigration courts. But some facets of the proposal could increase pressure on the courts.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's proposal, for example, would allow for re-evaluations of undocumented immigrants' criminal records, which could lead to deportations based on past offenses, according to analysis of the proposal by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

This provision could increase deportations and lessen the discretion immigration judges can exercise, thereby increasing strain on the courts, Lyons said.

UCLA Students Face Threat of Deportation

Please epis, pray for me. Check the link

www.dailybruin.ucla.edu
March 20, 2006


By ADAM FOXMAN, Daily Bruin
(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES -- Mario Escobar's boisterous laughter dies out as
he tells his story. As other University
of California at Los Angeles students focus on their final exams this
week, he also has to cope with the
possibility of being deported to a violent country.
"It's crazy; it's a hell," said Escobar, a fourth-year English and
Spanish student.

Escobar is one of dozens of UCLA students who are undocumented, meaning
that they do not have the
papers necessary to be legal residents of the United States. While
there
is no official count of such students,
an on-campus support group for undocumented students has nearly 60
members.

Like many undocumented students, Escobar came to the United States at
an
early age: He fled to the
United States from El Salvador after that country's civil war, which
lasted from 1979 to 1992. His father,
grandmother and cousins were killed in the conflict.

Escobar has applied for political asylum, but he has already been
denied
once, he said. The denial came
nearly a year ago. His second hearing with the immigration court is
scheduled for March 28, and if this
petition is rejected, he could be deported to El Salvador.

The prospect of deportation fills him with frustration and fear. And
while otherwise confident and articulate
in conversation, Escobar lapses into heavy silence at the mention of
his case.

"I refuse to think about it because if I do, then I know it will bring
me
down," he said.

Escobar, 28, has spent much of his life in the United States.

In addition to working his way to within a year of finishing a double
major at UCLA, he has started a family;
founded a fledgling publishing company called Cuzcatlan Press;
published
a volume of original poetry in
Spanish called "Gritos Interiores" ("Cries from Within"); and started a
literary magazine to give a voice to
what he calls the Central American diaspora. He published his book in
2005, and the first issue of the
magazine, called "La Nueva Tendencia" ("The New Tendency"), should be
in
stores by April.

As his court date approaches and he faces the possibility of being
thrown
out of his adopted country,
Escobar said he feels dislocated and trapped.

"I feel like an outcast, I feel marginalized," he said.

He is also frightened by the prospect of returning to El Salvador,
because more than a decade after the end
of that county's civil war, it remains a violent place.

In a 1999 report done for the World Bank, Amnesty International found
that more than 100 people out of
every 100,000 are killed in homicides each year in El Salvador. And in
1998, more than 200 in 100,000
Salvadorian men ages 15-34 were killed in homicides. By comparison,
California had 6.8 murders per
100,000 residents in 2003, according to the New York Times Almanac for
2006.

Escobar's situation is uncommon at UCLA, but it resonates with many
immigration issues being discussed on
a national level.

Lawmakers working on a major immigration bill, which is currently in
the
Senate Judiciary Committee, are
grappling with questions of how to cope with the millions of illegal
immigrants currently in the United States
and what to do with future newcomers.

Questions of residency are also highly charged at California's public
universities, where some undocumented
students pay in-state tuition as a result of AB 540, a California state
law that allows students who have
attended a California high school for three or more years to pay
resident
tuition.

Though some undocumented students qualify to pay in-state tuition under
AB 540, they cannot receive
federal or state financial aid under current California law. Still, the
law has led some to argue that
undocumented students are taking resources which should go to U.S.
citizens.

A class-action lawsuit filed in December against California public
colleges and universities charged that by
allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition, the
universities
were discriminating against U.S.
citizens. If the lawsuit succeeds, AB 540 could be repealed.

One story among many

While the particulars of Escobar's case are unique, his experience as
an
undocumented student is common,
said Roberto Manc'a, a professor of literature at Los Angeles Trade
Technical College.

"By telling Mario's story, (one is) telling the story of thousands of
other students," said Manc'a, who became
friends with Escobar when Escobar was studying at LATTC.

As Salvadorians, Escobar and Manc'a bonded over their common
experiences.

Like several of Escobar's other friends, Manc'a described him as gifted
and inspirational. But Manc'a said the
uncertainty of being without immigration papers weighs on his young
friend as it does on many
undocumented students.

It's like "a cloud that won't go away; a sense of hopelessness," Manc'a
said.

But Escobar and UCLA's other undocumented students have something
Manc'a
said is unique in his
experience: a support group.

The student-run group, called Ideas UCLA, seeks to provide a safe
environment for students to talk about a
subject often taboo even among friends and family -- their immigration
status.

The group has about 30 active members, and another 30 on its mailing
list, said Saray Gonzalez, the group's
co-chairwoman. Ideas UCLA's work to educate high school students about
AB
540 is funded by the
Community Activities Committee, which oversees funding for off-campus
projects.

Most, but not all, of Ideas' members are undocumented. Most are also
Latino, but the group has a member
each from Poland, Vietnam and Russia. The term undocumented is used
generally. For example, some
undocumented students may have work permits but not legal residency, or
may be in the process of
becoming naturalized.

Members help each other with everything from school to transportation,
work with UCLA staff members who
can advise them about subjects such as scholarships, and work to inform
undocumented high school students
about the opportunities available to them.

Students in the group rarely face deportation, but at least one group
member other than Escobar has faced
deportment proceedings, said Gonzalez, a fourth-year chemistry student.
The student who faced
deportation, now an alumnus, was ultimately able to stay in the United
States.

Though few UCLA students have faced deportation, the slim possibility
that someone might place a call to
immigration authorities encourages many undocumented students to hide
their status, Gonzalez said.

But the top concerns cited by members of Ideas UCLA included the
negative
perception of undocumented
individuals and financial difficulties.

"Being undocumented is highly stigmatizing," Gonzalez said.

When Ideas UCLA was founded in 2003, it gave form to a community many
undocumented students didn't
know they had.

"Now that Ideas exists it actually makes people more comfortable doing
a
lot of things. It gives people a
place to talk about their stories and know they are not alone," said
Tam
Tran a fourth-year American
literature and culture student who is a member of the group.

Manc'a, who often encounters undocumented students at LATTC, said the
information Escobar gave him
about the club has been a boon to his students.

"Knowing that other students are in a similar situation makes them
aware
that anything is possible. It makes
an incredible difference," he said.

Waiting for resolution

For all the similarities and differences Escobar's story bears toward
those of other undocumented students,
as he studies for finals this quarter he is also just a man who wants
to
know what will happen to him.

"The war (in El Salvador) ended in 1992, and still being in this
situation, I'm tired. I want this nightmare to
be over. I want to know what it feels like to be a citizen of a
country,"
he said.

As he waits for his deportation hearing, the literature student and
author takes solace in writing.

Books have always been both an escape and a tool to deal with the past,
he said.

"Literature has been, as we say in Spanish, 'la guarida' -- a safe
place.
... There, I can create my own
world," Escobar said.

Alicia Gaspar de Alba, a UCLA Chicana/o studies professor, once told
Escobar that by writing he could gain
authorship over his own life, and he believes he has.

Within the 115 pages of his book "Gritos Interiores," Escobar includes
poems that he wrote as long ago as
1992, and as recently as last year.

One of his early poems recalls the layered Russian doll, called a
matrioska, he carried as a child, wishing he
could hide inside it like one of the interior dolls as the sounds of
war
burst into his home in El Salvador.
Roughly translated from the Spanish in which it was written, the poem
reads:

"I walked, I walked, I walked, and at last I found you matrioska / Open
your body and let me hide inside
you."

In a more recent poem, Escobar described his feeling of desperation.

Seated against a pillar outside Rolfe Hall on Friday, he translated it:

"I have walked through the desert, burned, mutilated, and dead / I walk
like a shadow, hungry for an
eternal / smile / Giving a neglected cry / and rowing against the /
breeze."

Manc'a said in the nearly five years he has known Escobar, the poet has
progressed from an imitator of
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda to an author with a powerful voice of his
own.
And now, as he faces the
possibility of deportation, Escobar is working to put out "La Nueva
Tendencia" to give other Central
American writers a place to tell their stories.

"In a way Mario has been saying what I have wanted to say for a long
time," Manc'a said. "That we (Central
Americans) have a voice."

SF Hunger Strike & Week of Actions

Check out this blog on the SF hunger strike for Immigrant Rights.

Also check this link out at indymedia

Here is some more info at KRON

MARCH & RALLY: March 25 LA

Be part of history this Saturday, March 25, it will be a big protest. All the radio Spanish DJ's are announcing it and the TV has also announced it. People got very energized aftr the March 10 Chicago mass march of over 100,000 people. Here people are expecting well over 100,000. We are organizing a SEIU 660 contingent. Service Empoyees International Union Local 660.
Here is the first announcement. More details later on exactly where to meet. Please get the word out.See you his Saturday.
JOIN
The SEIU Local 660 Contingent and

Over 100,000 People for a

MARCH & RALLY: March 25
Ending at City Hall

FOR HUMANE IMMIGRATION REFORM


URGE CONGRESS TO.

OPPOSE H.R. 4437:
STOP inhumane provisions, such as H.R. 4437, that would criminalize undocumented immigrants and those who assist them, including churches, unions, and family members--and undermines due process and civil liberties.

PASS HUMANE IMMIGRATION REFORM THAT:
· Offers a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
· Reunites families
· Protects Immigrant Workers' Rights



Saturday, March 25, 2006
10:00 AM
Olympic & Broadway

Put on your SEIU colors and look for the SEIU 660 banner! Bring your water, & walking shoes.

For more information call Carlos Montes cell (213) 276-8415, Saira Soto w (213) 368-8623

Disporic Central American Visibility Through Creative Discourse

We will be presenting our papers at the 2006 LASA conference in San Juan,Puerto Rico this wednesday March 15th at 8am at the The Caribe Hilton (Primary Congress Site) Conference Room 3

Queering Central-American Disaporic Identity in the Arts
Anayvette Martinez
Ethinic Studies, San Francisco State University


Cyber Central Americans:
The Hyphen in Cyberspace
Maya Chinchilla
Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts, San Francisco State University


The Indigenous Abject and Displaced Mother, Transforming Self and Nation through La Siguanba
Karina Oliva-Alvarado
Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley

A Mother's Loss Spurs War Debate

Thanks to Mario for sending this story. M

--------------------

El Salvador is the only Latin nation with troops still in Iraq.
Herminia
Ramos, whose son died there, doesn't
want others to suffer like her.

By Hector Tobar and Alex Renderos
Special to The Times

March 10 2006

GUAYAMANGO, El Salvador — The only thing Herminia Ramos wanted from
the army was her son's
pension — exactly $200 a month. She figured she deserved the money
now, seeing how he gave his
life wearing an army uniform, fighting in a war halfway around the
world
in Iraq.

The complete article can be viewed HERE


Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

Women Without Borders

A conference by and for Central American women


Date: March 13, 2006
from 9:00am to 5:30pm
Event at CARECEN is from 6pm-mindnight

Location: Grand Salon University Student Union
California State University Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Ave. Northridge, CA 91331

Information: casas@csun.edu
(213)219-1044


Invited speakers:

Ellen Verryt
Centro de Prevencion,Tratamiento y Rehabilitacion de Victimas de Tortura y sus Familias
and
Pais Poesible
Honduras

Magdalena Sarat Pacheco
Movimiento de Jóvenes Mayas and Coordinadora Nacional de Viudas de Guatemala
Maria Adela Diaz
Artist
Guatemala

Rosa Maria Menjivar Peraza
Las dignas
El Salvador

Soraya Long
Center for Justice and Internacional Law
Costa Rica

Phyllis Cayetano
National Garifuna Council
Belize

This conference proudly sponsored by: Central American Studies Alumni Society (CASAS); Sin Fronteras, a non-profit organization serving youth; Central American United Student Association (CAUSA); Central American Resource Center (CARECEN); Contacto Ancestral; Olympic Mortgage; CSUN’s Associated Students, Central American Studies Program, Central American Research and Policy Institute, Chicana/o Studies, the Women’s Center and Women’s Studies.

Dalila

I wanted to share this website of a fellow epicentro poet and artist. Give it up to Dalila who continues to inspire us.
http://www.ixchelana.com/

CaRaCoL Marketplace

CaRaCoL Marketplace
"Working together to build a sustainable future"

Please join us this Sunday
February 26, 2006
10am - 3pm
Books, Clothes, Jewerly, Natural Body Care Products,
Art, Herbs, Healthy Food and Community

All this and more at:
PROYECTO JARDIN
1718 Bridge St. Boyle Heights, ELA
(between State & Boyle, behind White Memorial Plaza I)

A free event for the whole family!
EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

Email: caracolmarketplace@yahoo.com
or check us out at: www.myspace.com/caracolmarketplace

El Canche

Finding American Dream, in El Salvador

Thanks to Santiago Bernal for sending this article.

From the Los Angeles Times
Finding American Dream, in El Salvador
By Héctor Tobar
Times Staff Writer

February 9, 2006

SACACOYO, El Salvador - The 170 laborers ensconced at the Hacienda San Clemente here consider themselves the champion sugar cane cutting team of El Salvador.

They work seven days a week. The youngest and strongest of them can cut 12 tons of cane stalks in one shift.

"One day, I'm going to tell my children what we did here," Adrian Sanchez Corrales, 53, said proudly.

Salvadorans take pride in calling themselves the hardest-working people in Central America. But Sanchez Corrales and his team aren't from El Salvador; they're migrants from Honduras.

Thousands of Salvadorans have immigrated to the United States, legally and illegally, sparking a labor shortage in their homeland. In addition to the sheer number of workers lost, the dollars those immigrants send home discourage those who remain behind from performing low-paying, backbreaking labor like that of the sugar cane harvest.

The Hondurans at the Hacienda San Clemente are more than eager to fill the labor gap.

In November, Salvadoran Agriculture Minister Mario Salaverria announced that 15,000 foreign workers would be needed to complete the cane, cotton and coffee harvests here.

The labor shortages are being felt across the region. Mezcal producers in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, coffee plantations in Nicaragua and chile farmers in the central Mexican state of Zacatecas have found themselves in a similar predicament because so many local people have left to seek better wages elsewhere.

"The problem is that remittances [from the U.S.] have made Salvadorans comfortable and they don't want to work cutting cane," said Italo Escrich, harvest supervisor for the Central Izalco sugar refinery, which contracted the workers.

In addition to the Hondurans, who come from the province of Choluteca, Escrich also hired 25 Nicaraguan workers.

Traditionally, migration between the neighboring countries has gone in the other direction. In fact, the presence of thousands of Salvadoran immigrants in Honduras helped precipitate the 1969 "Soccer War" between the two nations. But for the poor of Honduras and Nicaragua today, Escrich said, "El Salvador has become the Central American dream." For the Hondurans, the relative abundance of El Salvador is, unlike the faraway United States, just a day's bus ride away.

People here get paid in dollars - El Salvador adopted the U.S. currency in 2001. The local currency, the colon, has all but disappeared from circulation. The Honduran migrants find that the dollars earned in El Salvador go much further when they are sent home and converted to Honduran lempiras.

"Here, a pound of cheese can cost you $3 or $4," said Jose de la Cruz, 22. "For that much money, I can get 3 pounds in Choluteca."

Raymundo Calderon, a sociologist at the University of El Salvador, says the supply of Salvadoran laborers for arduous work such as cutting cane has declined in part because of the country's cultural and economic contact with the United States.

It's common for Salvadoran families to have at least one relative living in the United States. About one in nine people born in El Salvador moves to the United States, according to the most recent census figures for both countries.

"Most of the Salvadorans who have migrated to the United States are not well educated," Calderon said. "But when they get to the U.S., they have access to better housing and better pay. Their view of the world changes, and they communicate this to their families in El Salvador."

There is some concern here that Salvadorans are losing their industrious self-image, a vision celebrated by poets such as Roque Dalton, whose "Love Poem" recounted the exploits of Salvadoran laborers up and down the Americas.

In November, Interior Minister Rene Figueroa issued a plea for Salvadorans to work the harvests.

"Today some sectors are telling us that they have enough with their family remittances," he told a Salvadoran newspaper. "It's not possible that we are abandoning our own fields and that we have to bring in labor from abroad."

Figueroa's appeal to the "fame" of the Salvadoran worker did little to stop the buses bringing in thousands of Honduran and Nicaraguan laborers.

The Hondurans at Hacienda San Clemente have been living since last fall in two warehouse-like buildings near the town of Sacacoyo, about 25 miles west of San Salvador. The accommodations are spare: bunk beds and two color televisions for the 170 men.

And yet the men speak with great optimism and a sense of gratitude about their situation, not least their pay: as much as $125 a week for the best cutters.

"The engineer [Escrich] told us that we were in first place in the whole country," De la Cruz said. No other brigade of cutters had knocked down as much sugar cane in a day as they had.

During one memorable day recently, their boss informed them that they had cut twice as much cane per man as a group of Salvadorans working alongside them, De la Cruz said.

"Any person who is held in high regard by his employer is going to feel good about himself," Sanchez Corrales said. The sugar refinery was so pleased with the Hondurans that it bought them all Christmas presents.

Shortly after the workers' arrival, the sugar refinery also helped most obtain official permits to work in El Salvador, the local equivalent of the "green card" so many immigrants aspire to obtain in the United States.

"This is a real achievement for me," Sanchez Corrales said, holding up the card.

Sanchez Corrales, a man with leathery skin, said he probably would return home to Choluteca in a few months. He planned to make good use of his Salvadoran-earned dollars.

"The guy who has a good head on his shoulders buys a cow, a pig or two, as an investment" for his farm, he said.

After tending to his crops and animals for a few weeks, Sanchez Corrales said, he'll be back on the bus westward to El Salvador, a place where a hard-working Honduran man can earn more dollars than he ever dreamed of.

*

Tobar, The Times' Mexico City Bureau chief, was recently on assignment in El Salvador. Special correspondent Alex Renderos in San Salvador contributed to this report.

WORLD CINEMA AUDIENCE PRIZE, DOCUMENTARY: DE NADIE (NO ONE )

Despite sometimes heavy-handed efforts to tug at audience heart-strings, debutant Mexican helmer Tin Dirdamal's "No One" reps a moving portrait of Central American immigrants passing through Mexico to El Norte in search of a better life. Central American subjects interviewed recount appalling tales of beatings and worse encountered en route from gangsters and police, but still cherish fragile hopes for the future. Slickly assembled pic will put a human face on familiar statistics at further fests and liberally inclined cablers, and make Dirdamal a talent to watch.
More

Manlio Argueta

This Is The Way I Serve My Sentence

This Is The Way I Serve My Sentence
Centralamericanamericanamericancentraldecentralmarginnonamericanepicentralamerican

DREAM Act Introduced! You can help

Please send email responses to bernstein@nilc-dc.org
*************************************************************************************

Great news! On Friday, November 18th, a bipartisan group of Senators officially introduced S. 2075, the DREAM Act of 2005, giving new life to legislation that has been in a holding pattern since the beginning of the year.

The sponsors of the DREAM Act of 2005 are Richard Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Richard Lugar (R-IN).

The other original cosponsors are Norm Coleman (R-MN), Larry Craig (R-ID), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Mike DeWine (R-OH), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), John McCain (R-AZ), and Barack Obama (D-IL).

It will become law if passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President before the end of 2006.

These Senators will now be targeted for their courage by the anti-immigrant lobby and their vocal supporters. It is essential to balance the abuse with expressions of appreciation from those who care about the great young people who the DREAM Act will help.

Please act now to thank the DREAM Act sponsors.

Clicking here will allow you to send a message of thanks to Senators Hagel and Durbin. The message will also go to your own cosponsoring Senator(s) if you live in one of their states. If the above link did not come through, you can cut and paste this address:
http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/NILC/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1551&t=DREAM blank.dwt

Important: Please forward this message to anyone you know in any of the states the cosponsoring Senators represent to make sure they hear from their constituents.
Background

If enacted, the DREAM Act would transform the lives of persons who were brought to the U.S. years ago as undocumented children and who have stayed in school and out of trouble since their arrival. Currently these individuals have no pathway to legalize their immigration status and get on with their lives. The DREAM Act would correct this flaw by providing that upon high school graduation, these individuals-who have grown up in the United States-would be able to apply for six years of "conditional" legal immigration status which would be made permanent if they continue on to college or to serve in the military.

Among those helped would be Marie Gonzalez who grew up in Jefferson City, Missouri. A Latina Magazine Mujer of the year, she became a symbol for others like her when she was able to stave off deportation earlier this year with the help of thousands of supporters. Now she is quietly attending college, but her reprieve only lasts until July of 2006, at which time she could again face deportation if the DREAM Act is not enacted.

The features of the DREAM Act of 2005 are nearly identical to the version that passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last year by a 16-3 vote. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), formerly the Chair of that Committee, was then the sponsor of the DREAM Act. He has assured constituents that his failure to introduce it again this year does not mean that he is any less supportive than he was in the past.

Introduction of the DREAM Act comes at a time when the broader immigration debate is becoming more and more politicized and contentious. DREAM Act supporters argue that it deserves to considered on its own merits, regardless of one's position on other immigration issues. It will have a far bigger impact on education, fairness to children, and American competitiveness than on immigration to this country.

Supporters argue that young people facing high school graduation and major decisions about college or work should not be asked to wait until Congress resolves all of the other vexing immigration issues. Rather, Congress should act now and take these young people off of the field of battle of the immigration wars.

Additional information about the DREAM Act is available here (http://nilc.org/immlawpolicy/index.htm#DREAM)

El Salvador

From: Aryeh Shell


---------------------------------
Hola friends y companeros...
As some of you may know, I will be going to El
Salvador in January for
nine months to work with
a community in the Bajo Lempa region doing popular
education, art, and
theater -
though what I was planning and imagining will look
very different now.
They have recently been devastated by Hurricane Stan
which is getting
very little airtime
in the media. I know our hearts are extended to so
many the world over
and in our own communities,
but please hold them also in your hearts and prayers
and if its
possible to donate - this is a grassroots effort that
needs it.
I'm sending a link to the website of the organization
I'll be working
with which has photos and news
of the people and land affected:
http://fssca.net/news/stan.html
check their "about us" link for more info about the
org and La
Coordinadora who is hosting me...
they desperately need some support as the government
is doing very
little
to evacuate or supply food or meds - much like our
own.
Thanks for taking a minute and many blessings....
Love and solidarity,
Aryeh

Tuesday Edition: Central American Flood: Where Is the Coverage?

By Al Tompkins

The American press let out another collective yawn Monday about the tragedy that has claimed hundreds of lives and devastated entire areas of Central America. The Los Angeles Times, one of a handful of U.S. papers that is providing original reporting from Guatemala City, says out in the countryside, more than 500 people are dead, more than 300 are missing and roughly 90,000 people are living in shelters -- including more than 3,000 people who are stuck in makeshift camps.

And, yet, this story is missing on front pages and national newscasts.



The flooding, mudslides and landslides began five days ago. Refugees from Guatemala are trying to escape to Mexico -- thirsty, hungry and without government aid. There are stories of people who are still stuck on mountaintops. Andrew Tyndall, who writes the Tyndall Report, a monitor of weeknight evening network newscasts, tells me that even while the tragedy was unfolding, "On the nightly newscasts last week, CBS and ABC both ran voiceover videotape mentions of Hurricane Stan. NBC did not mention it."



Univision provides the most detailed coverage I could find online. Along with updated information and death tolls, the Spanish-language TV network also includes online video and photo galleries. Univision puts the death tolls in Mexico and Guatemala at 752, with more than 1,400 missing.



Knight Ridder Newspapers is covering the story from Mexico City. The Washington Post made it to the waterlogged village of Escuintla, southwest of Guatemala City.

The New York Times, which also has a reporter on the ground, said:

As rescue workers and relatives of the dead arrived Saturday, villagers handed out native herbs and told the visitors to press the leaves into their noses to fend off the smell of decomposing bodies.

Despite an increasingly prominent concern in the U.S. media about how to best serve a growing Hispanic population in America, what is being reported in American papers is mostly wire-service coverage.



I looked at more than 300 newspaper front pages yesterday. The most prominent coverage I found in the country came from The Beaver County Times in Beaver, Pa. The paper ran a front-page headline and brief and a B-1 jump.



The only other papers I found that featured front-page coverage of the Central American landslides and floods were the Los Angeles Times and The (Memphis, Tenn.) Commercial Appeal. Al Día (Dallas) included a small photo and inside coverage.



The San Jose Mercury News, The Miami Herald, Hoy, The Lancaster, Pa. Intellegencer Journal, The Dallas Morning News, Rockford (Ill.) Register Star and Rumbo (del Valle, de Houston, de San Antonio and de Austin, Texas) included a front-page brief -- and some had inside coverage. CNN has a correspondent in the area. The network's Latin America correspondent, Harris Whitbeck, filed from the city of Panabaj, which may be declared a cemetery.



El Heraldo and La Prensa (Honduras) estimate 3,000 people may have died in Guatemala



Univision reports that Mexico accepted 15 tons of food and medicines from Cuba. Channel 3 in Guatemala City reports that France is sending 3.4 tons of medical supplies on a military cargo plane and the Germans say money is on the way.



What is the U.S. sending? The United States Embassy in Guatemala says:

To date, USAID has delivered more than $200,000 ... in relief supplies to Guatemala, including funding for the helicopter transport of emergency relief supplies and for the purchase of food, water and other supplies. Fuel has been purchased for the Guatemalan air bridge to deliver emergency supplies. USAID has flown in 5,000 blankets, plastic tarpaulins to provide temporary shelter for 1,000 families and 5,000 personal-hygiene kits containing blankets, soap and other toiletries.


In addition, U.S. Southern Command has delivered eight helicopters -- six UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and two CH-47 Chinook helicopters -- to assist Guatemala in search and rescue operations in priority areas.

The U.S. Southern Command is moving 58 people up from Honduras to help out.


Veronica Villafañe, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, told me she considered the lack of coverage by U.S. media to be "appalling." She dropped a note to Al's Morning Meeting readers:

The loss of life due to catastrophic events is a tragedy no matter where it takes place. It usually prompts news coverage and immediate help, as was the case after the tsunami hit Southeast Asia, hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast and just this past weekend, an earthquake leveled parts of Pakistan. But what seems appalling is that the destruction of hurricane Stan in Central America has been virtually ignored by the U.S. media.


Go to the NAHJ Web site for more from Veronica where she writes:

NAHJ performed a search of 22 major daily newspapers from Oct. 7-10 using the Lexis-Nexis database and found that a total of 10 stories ran about the tragedy and only one newspaper, The Washington Post, placed a story about the disaster on its front page. In addition, the network evening news only devoted a total of four stories to the Guatemalan mudslides from Oct. 7-9, although three were only mere mentions of less than 50 words.

Mayan Towns to Be Declared Mass Graves

Thanks to Hugo for passing this article on.

Guatemalan Officials to Abandon Communities Buried by Landslides, Declare Them Mass Graveyards
By MARK STEVENSON
The Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY - Dozens of foreign tourists fled devastated lakeside Mayan towns on foot and by helicopter Sunday as Guatemalan officials said they would abandon communities buried by landslides and declare them mass graveyards.

Villagers who had swarmed over the vast mudslides with shovels and axes digging for hundreds of missing gave up the effort Sunday, five days after Hurricane Stan made landfall on the Gulf of Mexico coast, bringing torrential rains before weakening to a tropical depression.

More than 640 people died and hundreds more were missing across Central America and southern Mexico after a week of rains. In hardest-hit Guatemala, 519 bodies had been recovered and reburied. Some 338 were listed as missing.

"Panabaj will no longer exist," said Mayor Diego Esquina, referring to the Mayan lakeside hamlet in Guatemala covered by a half-mile-wide mudflow as much as 15 to 20 feet deep. "We are asking that it be declared a cemetery. We are tired. We no longer know where to dig."


Many of the missing apparently will simply be declared dead, and the ground they rest in declared hallowed ground. About 160 bodies have been recovered in Panabaj and nearby towns, and most have been buried in mass graves.

Vice President Eduardo Stein said steps were being taken to give towns "legal permission to declare the buried areas" as hallowed ground.

Attention turned to aiding thousands of hungry or injured survivors as helicopters including U.S. Blackhawks and Chinooks fanned out across Guatemala to evacuate the wounded and bring supplies to more than 100 communities still cut off by mudslides and flooding.

On Sunday, as aid workers reached the most remote areas, they learned that a mudslide had buried a storm shelter in the town of Tacana, about 12 miles from the Mexican border, where about 100 people had taken refuge from rains and flooding.

Thirty-seven bodies have been dug from the shelter since the mudslide hit Wednesday, and 52 people were still missing, said Jorge Hernandez of the country's civil defense agency.

Thousands of hungry and injured survivors mobbed helicopters delivering the first food aid to communities that have been cut off from the outside world for nearly a week.

Some communities along Guatemala's Pacific coast have been cut off for almost a week, and when aid helicopters finally arrived on Sunday, hungry and desperate villagers grabbed wildly at bags of flour, rice and sugar.

As some foreign tourists worked shoulder to shoulder with Mayans in traditional cotton blouses and broad sashes to dig for missing victims, others hiked around mud-choked roads or boarded government helicopters in the second day of evacuations from the area around Lake Atitlan.

Helicopters went to the nearby town of San Andres Semetabaj to fly out an estimated 20 Scandinavians trapped since mudslides cut off the area several days ago. About 50 more tourists were hiking out of the lakeside town of Panajachel.

"We got about 400 (tourists) out last night, and were expecting more today," said Solomon Reyes of Guatemala's Tourism Ministry.

In some areas the arrival of the Guatemalan military only complicated matters. Villagers in Panabaj refused to allow in the army because of memories of a 1990 massacre there during the country's 36-year civil war.

But U.S. military helicopters from Joint Task Force Bravo based at Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras joined the rescue efforts with a half-dozen Blackhawk helicopters and one Chinook transport helicopter, running flights through dense clouds and heavy fog.

"We're still in search-and-rescue mode," said Army Maj. Bob Schmidt. "We're in the saving life and limb thought process."

The U.S. craft delivered some medical supplies and personnel and evacuated children needing medical care.

In El Salvador, authorities reported 71 deaths from the rains, after two people where swept away by flood waters in San Salvador on Saturday.

The rest of the dead were scattered throughout Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica and southern Mexico.

Mexican President Vicente Fox visited devastated Chiapas state Sunday as floodwaters began to recede.

"The important thing is that the worst is over," Fox said. "Now comes the reconstruction."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures

Guatemalans Plead for Aid After Disaster

LA TIMES, Oct. 10, 2005

Guatemalans Plead for Aid After Disaster
Residents say the government's response to Hurricane
Stan is inadequate. Few bodies are recovered from the
site of a massive slide.

By Alex Renderos and Reed Johnson, Special to The
Times

SANTIAGO ATITLAN, Guatemala — Rescue workers battled
with little success Sunday to retrieve bodies buried
under 40 feet of mud, while local officials and Maya
residents complained bitterly that the federal
response to the disaster was slow and inadequate.

Nearly five days after Hurricane Stan triggered
massive mudslides that devastated this region, wiping
out the entire village of Panabaj and apparently
killing hundreds of people, local officials struggled
to supply food and shelter to the survivors.


The Guatemalan government on Sunday reported that 519
people have died in the wake of last week's hurricane
and an additional 338 are missing across the country.
Nearly 90,000 people are living in shelters, including
3,000 in 31 makeshift camps here.

Maya farmers from neighboring towns used canoes to
haul corn, beans and clothes across Lake Atitlan to
give to survivors.

"We haven't received anything from the government,"
said Manuel Culan, an assistant to the mayor of this
lakeside town in the country's volcanic western
highlands. "Especially we are requesting economic aid
that is going to help us to buy some land for these
people."

On Sunday afternoon, men and women stood in line
waiting to receive a hot meal of corn, beans and
tortillas.

About 2,500 of the refugees were from Panabaj, a
coffee-growing community of about 260 buildings that
was engulfed by a mudslide early Wednesday. Culan
estimated that 500 people may still lie there, many
buried as they slept.

Previously, government officials had said up to 1,500
might be dead. So far, about 70 bodies have been
retrieved from the area, where exhausted,
dispirited-looking local firemen and about 20 rescue
workers who flew in from Spain were still searching
Sunday night.

With so much time having passed and such a large
number missing, there was speculation that efforts
would be abandoned in some areas and the sites would
become mass graves.

As evening approached, the workers were being careful
not to take a wrong step and sink into the
quicksand-like muck. Yellow, orange and red sticks
planted in the ground guided their movements. Rescue
dogs barked as they sniffed for victims.

A vibrant center of Tzutuhil Maya culture, the
Santiago Atitlan region is known for maintaining its
traditional Indian ways despite outside political
pressures and the encroachment of tourism in some
villages that ring the picturesque, blue lake.

The region was a rallying place for Indian activism
during Guatemala's 35-year civil war, which left about
200,000 people dead, many of them Maya villagers. The
war ended in 1996.

On Sunday afternoon, about 500 people stood in a
drizzling rain in the central plaza here while an
evangelical pastor, Diego Sesos, urged them to help
their fellow Mayas.

"We're going to be united forever. This incident is
going to give us strength," Sesos, speaking in Mayan,
said through a microphone.

Salvador Sapalu, a Maya administrator of an
organization that works with poor children here, said
the area had not received federal support.

"The only thing you see here, these corn and these
beans, those have been provided by the local people,"
Sapalu said. "We don't even have medicines. There are
only three doctors for the entire town here. It could
be a kind of racism because these people are Indians."

Some agronomists and land experts have speculated that
erosion caused by deforestation and farming on the
volcanic slopes might have played a role in the
disaster. Deforestation has been rampant throughout
Central America, including Guatemala.

"Any form of agriculture runs the potential for
destabilization of the soils," said William W. Shaw, a
professor in the school of natural resources at the
University of Arizona at Tucson, in a telephone
interview. "When it's on volcanic slopes, that's a
real concern."

In other parts of Central America and southern Mexico,
where Hurricane Stan cut a ruinous swath, cleanup
efforts continued fitfully.

Touring devastated communities in the hard-hit
southern Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca over the
weekend, President Vicente Fox declared the worst of
the crisis over. But much like New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina, communities are struggling with
overwhelming health, sanitation and security woes.

In the Mexican city of Tapachula near the Guatemalan
border, the Coatan River burst its banks last week,
obliterating at least 3,000 homes and washing out the
four bridges that connect the community with the
outside world, said Alfonso Ochoa, a reporter with El
Orbe newspaper. He said authorities had found 15
bodies "but those were just the ones found in the
streets. We have no idea how many people are dead."

Ochoa said the city was low on food, potable water,
fuel, medicine, warm clothing and other necessities
needed to sustain its 300,000 people. He said cartons
of eggs that usually cost $1.40 were now selling for
four times that when they could be found at all. On
Sunday, Mexico City newspapers showed photos of
desperate residents scrambling for aid packages tossed
from army helicopters.

Ochoa said a couple of government ships had arrived
and were unloading supplies. But he said the relief
was too little and too slow.

"There is sadness, hunger and desperation," Ochoa
said. "We need more help." Summing up the devastation
to all of Central America and Mexico, Ochoa said,
"This is a disaster much greater than in Louisiana,
but it isn't getting the same attention."

*

Special correspondent Renderos reported from Santiago
Atitlan and Times staff writer Johnson from Mexico
City. Staff writer Marla Dickerson in Mexico City
contributed to this report.

Guatemala Activists Oppose Military Courts Bill

Legislation would ban criminal prosecution of soldiers
and officers in civilian venues. Critics say it would
create 'a climate of impunity.'
By Héctor Tobar, Times Staff Writer

GUATEMALA CITY — Proposed legislation putting
military personnel beyond the reach of civilian courts
has drawn strong opposition from Guatemalan human
rights activists haunted by the excesses of previous
military rule.

Backed by the Guatemalan Republican Front and other
rightist parties, as well as the country's powerful
lobby of active and retired army generals, the bill
would modify Guatemala's 19th century code of military
conduct and transfer criminal prosecutions of soldiers
and officers to military courts.

Human rights activists and judicial experts here
argue that the law could halt a number of prosecutions
against military officers on corruption charges.

"This law creates a climate of impunity," said
Iduvina Hernandez of Security in Democracy, a military
watchdog group. "It's a law written in a spirit of
cowardice that favors the corrupt."

Hernandez and other activists here say the law would
halt the prosecutions of officers charged in a
$100-million embezzlement case, and block corruption
and human rights charges against former military ruler
Efrain Rios Montt, who presided over an especially
bloody chapter of Guatemalan history.

Backers of the law say it is merely an attempt to
bring an outdated military justice system into the
modern era.

"The existing code was written 120 years ago and is
out of date," said Juan Santacruz, a congressional
deputy with the Guatemalan Republican Front. "People
have been trying to create confusion about the spirit
of the reform."

Santacruz contends the legislation would not affect
current prosecutions of military officials on
corruption charges. Human rights activists disagree,
and see the bill as a first step of a wider rollback
of civilian control over the military.

Opponents of the bill say it violates a key provision
of the 1996 treaty between the government and leftist
rebels that ended the country's long civil war. It
stipulates that "ordinary crimes and misdemeanors
committed by military personnel will be tried in
ordinary courts."

Otto Perez Molina, a retired general and
congressional deputy representing the Patriot Party,
acknowledged that the measure contradicts the treaty.
But he said the reforms had been discussed between the
military and the rebels during their negotiations a
decade ago.

"We've been talking about this since then," Perez
Molina said. "We want this to be decided in a public
debate…. What we want is that everyone be equal before
the law."

Human rights activist Helen Mack says the legislation
would further weaken a judicial system that has proved
incapable of prosecuting those charged with human
rights violations committed during decades of military
rule.

"The military already has so much influence over the
judicial system that they have a de facto amnesty from
human rights prosecutions," said Mack, whose sister
Myrna was killed by a military death squad in 1990.

Myrna Mack was an anthropologist who was
investigating the effect of the Guatemalan military's
"scorched earth" policy on the country's Mayan
Indians.

Her killing is one of the few crimes attributed to
the military that has been successfully prosecuted. An
army colonel was convicted in the killing but he was
freed pending appeal and fled the country.

If the bill is passed, Mack said, it would only
demonstrate "the continuing weakness and the decay of
the Guatemalan justice system."

Perez Molina said opposition could lead the bill's
backers to postpone debate on it until next year.

Times researcher Alex Renderos in San Salvador
contributed to this report.

Mesa Global Oct 4, 2005

Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Oviatt Library, 1st Floor, Room 25
4:00 pm

Central American Studies Lecture Series
Welcomes

Norma Maldonado

Representative of the collective of social organizations in Guatemala
known as Mesa Global, which includes rural women organizations,
Indigenous peoples and peasant organizations, students, workers,
consumers, ecologists, human rights, NGO's, associations for community
development, of urban settlers, from the Academia and Research
organizations and others.

Who will present a lecture on U.S. Corporations:
Their interest in Central America and their Connection with
the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)


Sponsored by the Central American Studies Program,
The Central American Research and Policy Institute (CARPI),
and the Central American United Student Association (CAUSA)

Central American Studies Program

California State University

18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8246

After Katrina, Where Have All the Hondurans Gone?

News Feature, Daffodil Altan,
Pacific News Service, Sep 13, 2005

Editor's Note: In Houston, many storm survivors from New Orleans' Honduran population are seeking help at a common meeting point for the undocumented: a restaurant.

HOUSTON--For several weeks now, consulates and relief organizations have been stumped. They don't know where, exactly, the thousands of Honduran and Mexican people living in New Orleans went before and after the hurricane.

"It's very hard for us to say where people are," says Alexandra Jost, with the National Council of La Raza. "Part of the difficulty for this community is that a lot of the traditional services, even the consulates, are not reaching them."

Here in Houston, when the first of Katrina's Honduran evacuees trickled into town, most didn't go to the city's public shelters, the Honduran consulate or to the Astrodome. Instead, through a network consisting mostly of word-of-mouth tips, many found their way to El Coquito, a Honduran restaurant in Houston's southwestern, mostly Latino neighborhood that transformed itself into a makeshift consulate nearly overnight.

"People are going through the networks that they can trust," says Francisco Celaya, a full-time Honduran college student who worked with the restaurant's owners to build a small office and warehouse just after the storm hit.
(click on link to read the rest of the article)

Cuzcatlan Press

Cuzcatlán Press es su casa editorial cuyo objetivo es promover las letras de los centroamericanos/as, en particular de los inéditos, sin exclusiones o condicionamientos extra artísticos, todo y cuando acorde con su regla literaria y cultural.

www.cuzcatlanpress.com

Movie about El Salvador

Have any of you seen this movie called VOCES INNOCENTES? I heard it was good but I dont know where it can be seen.

HEGOTISTIC-Salvi Truth Teller

Listen to Snippets

Milta Ortiz

Check out the Salvi poeta from the Bay Area.

Report Back From El Salvador- This Thursday

RESISTANCE  IN  EL  SALVADOR

Report back from the biggest May Day March since the end of
the civil war in El Salvador

Red Poppy Art House
Thursday July 14th
7 - 10pm
2698 Folsom St.
San Francisco

Learn how unions, campesino, women, youth & religious folks
combat corporate globalization in El Salvador.

Featuring:
*Slides of the march
*Typical Salvadoran food
*Art Auction
*Live music from locals

Suggested donation: $5 - ?
No one turned away for lack of funds
*all proceeds benefit the social movement in El Salvador

Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador -
CISPES
415-648-8222
ba-cispes@prodigy.net