Guatemala News: El Norte review

“El Norte” revealed a hidden world

Film depicted the human side of illegal immigration

By Ann Hornaday
Washington Post

With immigration reform a hot topic on TV, radio and around most Americans' kitchen tables, the time seems right to revisit a film that, though made more than 20 years ago, could have been ripped from yesterday's headlines.

I first saw El Norte in 1984, and it's one of those film experiences I'll never forget — not because it was great cinema (although it announced an important new talent in the filmmaking world), but because it revealed a heretofore hidden world.

Directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and his German-born wife, Anna Thomas, El Norte told the story of a brother and sister living in a remote village in Guatemala, where their father is executed by military forces while organizing his fellow workers on a coffee plantation.

Enrique (David Villalpando) and Rosa (Zaide Sylvia Gutierrez) watch as their mother is killed as well, then make their way to America, "The North," where they've heard everyone has a flush toilet and a car to drive.

In a harrowing journey, Enrique and Rosa battle hunger, rats and the corrupt "coyotes" who take money for accompanying people over the Mexico-California border, all in an effort to escape political oppression and poverty.

Once in Los Angeles, they begin to learn English as they start to work in their adopted country's sweatshops, kitchens and construction sites. Disregarded, exploited and condescended to, Enrique and Rosa represent that vast, nameless population of workers who make the American way of life possible even while being routinely locked out of it.

El Norte, one of the first projects to emerge from Robert Redford's then-nascent Sundance Institute, was the first film to enjoy a significant release that showed, with compassion, honesty and tragic insight, the human lives behind such bloodless abstractions as "illegal immigration" and "undocumented workers."

El Norte was seminal, both for its graceful blend of classical narrative and magic realism and the power with which it brought an otherwise invisible world to life.

El Norte rarely if ever shows up on television and has yet to be released on DVD.

Your local video store might have a threadbare VHS version, or you might be able to find a copy on eBay, but this classic film — more indispensable than ever — deserves better.

Read the entire article

Other resources:

“El Norte” – Great Movies series, a review by Roger Ebert

IMDb – “El Norte”

Tags: Guatemala, El Norte, Movies, Immigration, News

Immigration News: Day Laborers

Here’s a fascinating article published by The Advocate, a newspaper based in Stamford, Connecticut. I was aware of the advantages that long-time immigrant workers had over the newcomers, but I had no idea that there was such a notable difference between the lives of Central American and South American immigrants. Interesting news...

South American day laborers are better off
By Vesna Jaksic
Staff Writer
The Advocate

Published May 30 2006

Stamford -- Day laborers from Peru, Ecuador and other South American countries tend to demand higher pay, spend more money and live in better conditions than their Central American counterparts, according to a recent survey.

The survey, conducted late last year in Stamford by the East Side Partnership, a group of business owners and residents, and Stamford's anti-poverty agency, CTE Inc., also found that Central Americans, who hail primarily from Guatemala and Honduras, earn less but send more money to their families back home.

"South Americans earn more, know more English and they expect a better quality of life because quality of life in South America is higher than in Central America," said Juan David Paniagua, an outreach worker who interviewed day laborers for the survey.

******

The survey found South Americans spent an average of $612 a month on rent, compared with Central Americans' average monthly rent of $315. Nearly 62 percent of South Americans had their own room, but fewer than 20 percent of Central Americans did.

In recent weeks, some laborers said they will work for $8 an hour, while others said they only accept hourly wages of $10 or more. Some said they negotiate with contractors based on the type of work -- roof work, for example, pays more than painting -- as well as the time of the day. They are more likely to accept lower pay later in the day.

One 27-year-old Guatemalan said he negotiates based on how badly he needs to pay for food and rent.

"It's hard," said Josue, who asked that only his first name be used because he is in the country illegally. "You don't have money to pay the bills, but you have to."

Still, life is better than in Guatemala, where he said he only went to school for five years because he had to start earning money by killing pigs at age 12.

Though South American laborers earn more, they send an average of $80 a month less to their home countries than Central Americans, which Paniagua and others said is because their families' needs are not as great.

******

Many of the more recent immigrants from Central America also are more desperate for work because they have to pay human traffickers who helped get them across the border, said Nik Theodore, director of the Center for Urban Economic Development and assistant professor in the urban planning and policy program at University of Illinois in Chicago.

"We've seen, especially with the more recent arrivals from Central America, like the rural areas of Guatemala, that these workers who are very poor from the outset now have become very set in debt," said Theodore, one of the four authors of "On the corner: Day labor in the United States," the nation's first study on day laborers, which was released earlier this year.

Josue, the day laborer from Guatemala, said he has to pay $6,000 for human traffickers for each sibling he wants to bring to the United States.

"One brother a year," he said in Spanish.

******

As he walked around the labor pickup zone on a recent morning, Paniagua said that regardless of where they come from or how long they are here, most laborers are here for the same reason.

"Many people say they are working because they don't want the kids to repeat the same life," he said. "They want them to have an opportunity to study, to get an education."

Read the entire article

Other Resources:

On the Corner: Day Labor in the United States

En la Esquina: Los Jornaleros en los Estados Unidos

Tags: Guatemala, Day Labor, Immigrants, Stamford, News

Human Rights in Guatemala

Good morning (Buenos días):

I would like to thank the Government of Guatemala for inviting me to visit the country, and facilitating the many fruitful discussions that I have had in the last two days.

I was honored to be received by the President together with the Vice-President, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the presidents of the Supreme Court, the Congress and the Constitutional Court. I also had the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Interior, the Public Prosecutor, a high representative of the Ministry for Defense, the Ombudsman and the President of COPREDEH. I also had the pleasure to meet with several indigenous representatives who are doing an important work within the public administration.

I am particularly happy for the meeting I had with a group of prominent women, who in their respective fields of work are contributing to the development of a more equitable society. And, of course, as I do in all my visits, I also met with many representatives and members of non-governmental organizations, who are essential in providing a balanced understanding of the challenges that societies face.

I also visited Rabinal in Baja Verapaz together with Mr. Frank La Rue, President of COPREDEH, Mrs. Rosalina Tuyuc, President of the National Reparations Program and Mr. Fredy Peccerelli, Director of the Foundation for Forensic Anthropology. I heard moving testimonies of the atrocities committed in the past, and of the resilience of the victims to uncover truth and obtain justice.

In assessing the progress made in human rights since the signing of the peace agreements almost ten years ago, it should be noted that Guatemala is a different country today than it was at the conclusion of the conflict.

The end of authoritarian, repressive and violent State practices associated with the internal armed conflict, have brought undeniable benefits to the country as a whole, but especially to those areas in the countryside that bore the brunt of the conflict.

Important initiatives have been launched in a number of areas, particularly the adoption of an anti-discrimination law; the establishment of the National Reparations Commission; and programs to improve access to justice for indigenous communities. From a human rights point of view last year's adoption of the Framework Law concerning the Peace Agreements, by which the Peace Agreements became binding on the State, was also very positive. The President's public recognitions of the atrocities committed during the armed conflict, and of the existence of racial discrimination in the country, also constitute important steps forward.

It must be recognized that the profound political, social and cultural changes called for in the peace agreements cannot be fully achieved in only ten years. However, in Guatemala it is cause for concern that not only reforms are progressing slowly, but that more and more people are becoming increasingly frustrated with the State's inability to deliver the promised security, equality and justice.

From the Peace Accords to recent reform initiatives and programs, Guatemala has equipped itself to achieve social peace and justice.

Expectations have been raised, again and again, but results have rarely followed.

Insecurity and inequality prevail, and a history of failed opportunities has created disenchantment in a population eager for change.

Nothing can exemplify this better than the delay encountered by victims of the armed conflict in obtaining justice and re

Noticias de Guatemala: Impunidad

Guatemala: "Sigue la impunidad"

BBC Mundo

La impunidad sigue siendo una constante en Guatemala, afirmó este sábado la Alta Comisionada de Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos, Louise Arbour.

Describió a Guatemala como "uno de los países más violentos de la tierra".

Tras una visita oficial de tres días para evaluar la situación de los derechos humanos en el país centroamericano, Arbour resaltó que las autoridades guatemaltecas han hecho poco por detener los abusos y castigar a culpables.

"No hay avances significativos en el combate contra la impunidad y a los grupos clandestinos de seguridad", expresó la diplomática.

Agregó que "los grupos defensores de los derechos humanos y los funcionarios de la justicia siguen siendo objeto de amenazas, acoso y en algunos casos ataques fatales".

Ola criminal

Arbour señaló que la ausencia de procesos legales para castigar a funcionarios culpables de abusos pasados ha propiciado la ola criminal que vive actualmente Guatemala.

"Donde la impunidad es la regla para las violaciones pasadas, no debe sorprender que también prevalezca para los crímenes actuales", dijo.

Arbour se entrevistó con altos funcionarios del gobierno, representantes de organizaciones humanitarias locales para evaluar la situación del país 10 años después de la firma de los acuerdos de paz que dieron fin a la guerra civil.

Unas 200.000 personas, en su mayoría indios mayas, murieron en el sangriento conflicto que terminó con los acuerdos de paz de 1996, mayormente a manos de fuerzas de seguridad.

Tags: Guatemala, Noticias, Naciones Unidas, Impunidad, Violencia

Guatemala News: Romeo Lucas Garcia dies

Guatemala now remembers Lucas Garcia as one of the most bloodthirsty presidents in all of its history. During his administration, a great number of massacres of entire segments of society took place as military troops slew hundred of intellectuals, student leaders, unionists and peasant leaders.

(Marco Julio Ochoa, UPI)

It is difficult to lament the passing of a man responsible the suffering and deaths of so many innocent people. Romeo Lucas Garcia is a name that will be forever uttered with scorn, contempt, and loathing in Guatemala.

I believe that Eduardo de Leon, director of the Rigoberta Menchu Foundation, is correct when he laments the fact that "death came and saved him from facing judgment".

Although his genocidal deeds went unpunished on earth, one can still hope that there is a special place in hell’s table reserved just for Romeo Lucas Garcia. (I would imagine that it is right next to the empty chair marked “Efraín Ríos Montt”.)

Ex-Guatemala President Lucas Garcia Dies

By Juan Carlos Llorca
The Associated Press
Washington Post
Sunday, May 28, 2006; 8:47 PM

Guatemala City -- Former Guatemalan President Romeo Lucas Garcia, whose rule was marked by a bloody police raid on the Spanish Embassy, has died at a hospital in Venezuela. He was 81.

Lucas Garcia, who reportedly suffered from Alzheimer's disease and had been incapacitated, died of respiratory failure Saturday in Puerto la Cruz, about 150 miles east of the Venezuelan capital Caracas, said family friend Eduardo Vallejas.

Lucas Garcia lived in Venezuela since the 1980s, his former sister-in-law Maria Nana Winter told a Guatemalan radio station.

An army general, Lucas Garcia served as president of Guatemala from July 1978 to March 1982 when he was overthrown by another general, Efrain Rios Montt. While Lucas Garcia's administration was accused of rights abuses, Rios Montt ushered in one of the bloodiest chapters in the country's 36-year civil war.

In the major crisis of Lucas Garcia's tenure, peasant, labor and student activists took over the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City in January 1980 to protest his rule. Police raided the building in an attack that left 37 dead, including Vicente Menchu, father of Rigoberta Menchu, the Indian rights activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.

Lucas Garcia was briefly placed under house arrest at his home in Venezuela in 2005 after a Spanish judge issued a warrant for his arrest for rights abuses committed during his administration.

Spain wanted to try him for his role in the police raid. But in June 2005, Venezuela's Supreme Court ruled that Spain did not provide enough evidence for his extradition and lifted the house arrest.

Eduardo de Leon, director of the Rigoberta Menchu Foundation - which sought to make Lucas Garcia stand trial for the deaths - said he regretted that the former leader had died before facing justice.

"Death came and saved him from facing judgment," de Leon said. "Still, we hope that the trial could go forward and that he could be judged, even posthumously."

Resources:

Fallece Fernando Romeo Lucas García, ex presidente de Guatemala

Romeo Lucas Garcia's crimes

Memory of Silence – Lucas Garcia years

The School of the Americas and Guatemala

Terror on Trial - Guatemala's Indians take their former army tormentors to court

Tags: Guatemala, Lucas Garcia, Menchu, Spain, News

Guatemala News: Human Rights

UN: Scant improvement on human rights

Guatemala City, May 27 (Reuters) - Guatemala is struggling to recover from a 36-year civil war and has done little to halt human rights abuses or punish past offenders, including government officials, a U.N. official said on Saturday.

"There has been no significant progress in combating impunity or eliminating clandestine groups," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said during a visit to the Central American country.

"Human rights defenders and justice operators in particular remain subject to ongoing threats, harassment and, in some cases, fatal attacks," she told reporters.

Arbour was in Guatemala to assess the human rights situation 10 years after the signing of U.N.-backed peace accords that ended fighting between leftist guerrillas and government security forces.

The civil war in Guatemala claimed the lives of over 200,000 mostly Mayan Indians, the majority killed by government commanded troops, according to a U.N. truth commission.

Arbour, a Canadian judge and a former prosecutor for international war crimes tribunals in Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, said a lack of prosecution of high-level Guatemalan officials responsible for massacres has encouraged a current crime wave sweeping the country.

"Where impunity is the rule for past violations, it should come as no surprise that it also prevails for current crimes," she said. "This has led to Guatemala earning the dubious distinction of being one of the most violent countries in the region."

Murder rose 60 percent from 2001 to 2005, to about 40 homicides per every 100,000 people, said Arbour, citing Guatemala's human rights ombudsman.

Tags: Guatemala, U.N., Human Rights, Violence, News

PBS Guestworker Interview

From the excellent PBS series NOW:

Hugo Martin Recinos Recinos, a guest worker from Guatemala, discusses his experiences coming to work and live in America.

This is an edited and translated transcript of an interview conducted on May 2, 2006.

Q: How did you find out that you could be a guest worker in the U.S.?

A: I was told there were visas available to work for Express Forestry in Montana through a recruiter who was going to bring people over. I asked him how much it would cost, and he said it would be 12,000 quetzales ($1,580), which they told me included the plane ticket, a fee for the visa, and other expenses. But in the end it did not include the airfare from Guatemala.

Q: Where did you get the money?

A: My father put up the deed to the land where we have our home to get the money. We were in ruin, because there was no way to get ahead. To grow coffee or corn, you have to use fertilizer. But since there was no money for that, I thought I should come here. That's why we mortgaged our land, so I could come here.

Q: You ended up having to give collateral to recruiters working on behalf of this American company. Tell me, how did the deed end up in their hands?

A: Since they charged us 12,000 quetzales ($1,580) we had to leave the deed with them so once we got here, no one would run off. No one would leave the company. You would have to work there permanently, until the visa would be up, and then you could return to Guatemala. If you left the company, and broke the contract, then you'd lose the property.

Q: How did that make you feel?

A: I felt like we were slaves. You couldn't move anywhere else, just work with them. But I thought here in the U.S. we didn't have rights to be free, that we had to be like slaves working with them. I also thought about the title I left with the lawyer. To not lose it, I had to stay with the company.

Q: What was the work like?

A: When you're planting you have to do as they say. The company prepares a certain parcel each week or every other week that they have to turn over. If you don't do it, you are scolded. They tell you 'you can't work.' And if you say, 'if you don't want me here, I'll go elsewhere.' They tell you, 'you can't leave, until you meet your obligations, you can't leave.' That's what makes me think you're a slave. You have to do what they say, not what you want, but what they say, you have to do.

Q: What did the recruiter in Guatemala tell you about the type of work you would be doing?

A: In Guatemala, they told me I would be paid by the hour, but we didn't get a good explanation of what the work would be. They made us sign the papers in 2000 [the year he first came]. They filled them out themselves and there was no explanation. We signed the forms and handed them in. It wasn't until our first check that we saw how much we were being paid. It was by the job, not by the hour.

Q: How much were you paid?

A: About $25 per 1,000 seedlings planted. The most I'd make was about $350, $380 a week for six days of work. Taxes were taken out, payment for your tools, rent....You'd also have money taken out to pay for your ride between the work site and the hotel. There were weeks that we could only work five days, and we'd make $270, $250, after all the deductions.

Q: Did you ask them why they were taking this money out of your pay?

A: I tried asking. What they would say was, 'if you don't want to work anymore, you can leave, but without papers.' But I was thinking, if I leave this company, I lose my papers, and immigration can grab you anywhere. So I never tried again asking.

Q: But you understood that you were in this country legally. And yet you felt like you had no rights?

A: Yes. You have no idea, no experience in this country, no one has told you what your rights are, whether you're here legally or illegally, no one told us how to live here in the U.S. We lived from work to the hotel, and from the hotel to work. Sundays we'd rest in the hotel.

Q: Where did you live?

A: In a hotel with five or six people. We bought a little pot to cook, a little stove, that's where you cook. It cost $30 or $40 a week for the room. You have to keep the room real clean so you won't get scolded by the bosses. What you pay is out of your pocket, out of what you earn.

Resources:

PBS Now – “Be Our Guest” program interviews

PBS Now – “Be Our Guest” program description

Tags: Guatemala, PBS, Immigrant, Worker, Interview

What’s next? A Mayan sitcom on NBC?

When you’re hot, you’re hot! (Or, in this case, cold.)

It seems that the Ancient Maya have become all the rage.

First there was Survivor: Guatemala, set in the Mayan ruins of the Petén.

Then the amazing discovery of the Mayan mural depicting the creation story, that came to be known as the “Mayan Sistine Chapel”.

Shortly thereafter, an ancient Mayan royal tomb was discovered in Guatemala.

Finally you know you’ve made it to the A-list when Mel Gibson decides to make a movie, Apocalypto, about you.

So I guess it’s hip to be an ancient Mayan!

(You’re pretty much screwed if you’re a modern-day descendent of the Maya living in Guatemala, though. But that’s a different story.)

So where do the Maya go from here? What possible pinnacle still awaits these ancient people?

Ah.... Mayan Ice Cream! That makes perfect sense. (Because they lived in a sweltering jungle, see?)

Well, I’ll say this for the new Häagan Dazs ice cream... at least it’s chocolate.

And although I am no corporate shill, I have to confess that the Mayan ice cream website (yes, it has its own damn website) is kinda like a cross between the video game Myst and a trip to Tikal. It’s even borderline educational.

Note to my family: when I come home to visit this summer it would be nice to find a pint of this stuff in the freezer. For purely investigative reasons, that is.

I owe that much to my readers.

Tags: Guatemala, Maya, Mayan, Ice Cream, Humor

Decretan alerta por lluvias en Guatemala

© 2006 The Associated Press

El presidente guatemalteco Oscar Berger decretó el estado de alerta "naranja" a causa de la previsión de fuertes lluvias en todo el país durante los próximos días.

"La Alerta Naranja consiste en que tendremos mayor vigilancia, movilizamos recursos de emergencia para asistir a los damnificados y maquinaria para despejar caminos", dijo el martes a la AP la vocera de la Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres (Conred), Ana Luisa Olmedo.

La decisión del presidente eleva el nivel de la alerta "amarilla" que ya se había declarado el lunes la Conred.

El pronóstico del clima indica que durante los próximos días continuarán las abundantes lluvias que desde el fin de semana azotan el país.

El domingo las precipitaciones causaron un deslave en la carretera interamericana y dejaron durante más de 36 horas incomunicada la ruta entre la capital y el oeste del país.

Se prevé que las lluvias afecten principalmente el oeste y el sur del país, el área que fue devastada por las precipitaciones causadas por las bandas periféricas del huracán Stan a su paso frente a Guatemala en octubre pasado.

Deport George Bush!

I definitely don’t intend for this to become a Bush-bashing blog (well not only a Bush-bashing blog, anyway) but the man leaves me little choice. In other words, the devil made me do it...

"What the president has said all along is that he wants to make sure that people who become American citizens have a command of the English language,” said White House press secretary Tony Snow. “It’s as simple as that.” [Press Gaggle]

A command of the English language, eh?

"There's an old saying in Tennessee... I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee... that says: Fool me once, shame on (pause)... shame on you. (Pause)... Fool me (long, uncomfortable, agonizing pause)....... you can't get fooled again."
George W. Bush. Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

"I'll be glad to talk about ranching, but I haven't seen the movie. I've heard about it. I hope you go — you know — I hope you go back to the ranch and the farm is what I'm about to say."
George W. Bush, after being asked whether he's seen Brokeback Mountain, Manhattan, Kan., Jan. 23, 2006

"I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep on the soil of a friend."
George W. Bush, on visiting Denmark, Washington D.C., June 29, 2005

"I'm going to spend a lot of time on Social Security. I enjoy it. I enjoy taking on the issue. I guess, it's the Mother in me."
George W. Bush, Washington D.C., April 14, 2005

"I like my buddies from west Texas. I liked them when I was young, I liked them then I was middle-age, I liked them before I was president, and I like them during president, and I like them after president."
George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 1, 2006

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."
George W. Bush. Greater Nashua, N.H., Jan. 27, 2000

"Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?"
George W. Bush. Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

"I can only speak to myself."
George W. Bush. Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

"Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican."
George W. Bush, declining to answer reporters' questions at the Summit of the Americas, Quebec City, Canada, April 21, 2001

"We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile.''
George W. Bush. Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. 21, 2000

"Actually, I—this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I like it. When I'm talking about—when I'm talking about myself, and when he's talking about myself, all of us are talking about me."
George W. Bush. Hardball, MSNBC, May 31, 2000

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.''
George W. Bush. Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001

And, to be fair, I should point out that Bush doesn’t only have trouble speaking English. His Spanish sucks, too.

Bush: "First of all, Cinco de Mayo is not the independence day. That's dieciséis de septiembre, and ..."

Matthews: "What's that in English?"

Bush: "Fifteenth of September."

(Actually: “Dieciséis de septiembre” means “September 16th”)

George W. Bush. Hardball, MSNBC, May 31, 2000

Tags: Bush, Bushisms, English, Language, Humor

Faces of Immigration #2

Here's another entry in the (hopefully never-ending) series: Faces of Immigration.

This kind soul was preparing for a back-breaking day of hand-harvesting tulips in the Skagit Valley of Washington State. The tulip bulbs would later be harvested, packaged and sold all across the United States.

And this is what conservatives in the U.S. Congress consider a criminal?

Tags: Guatemala, Immigrant, Immigration, Mexico, Photograph

Posted by elcanche at 12:21 AM | Comments (0)

Legislating language

The United Status Senate, in its infinite wisdom, has seen fit declare English as the official language of the United States. Good for them. I’m glad to see that the Senators aren’t wasting their time and our taxpayer money on trivial issues such as the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the domestic spying scandal, the growing deficit, education, job creation, health care, or campaign reform.

So in order to honor their noble, humane and broad-minded bill I have decided to declare that this blog will now be... bilingual!

I will post both in U.S.-Senate-approved English™ and, for those of you non-official types, en español.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to translate all the posts (if only I had the time... sigh), so some will appear in English, some in Spanish, and a precious few in both beautiful languages.

(There will be absolutely no posts in Russian, though, because --God Bless America-- I’m no commie.)

I will also beg you patience, because my Spanish is not perfect. Neither is my English. Feel free to correct either. Or both. (Just don’t mock me, because I’m a very sensitive type and easily prone to tears. I still cry every time I watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”.)

And so, in this new spirit of bilingualism, I would like to send a shout out to all the senators who had the patriotic might to defend the mother tongue: “¡Ustedes son unos cobardes que tratan de esconder su racismo bajo el pretexto de nacionalismo. Deberían tener vergüenza!”

For you English-only speakers, and for the Senators themselves, I’ll translate: “Hey nice work with the language bill. I’m proud of you!”

And now... a quote from Mexican presidential spokesman, Ruben Aguilar concerning the new walls that that the Senate have also boldly proposed:

“The walls are a sign of distrust, and that will never be the basis of a good friendship between two countries.” “International politics in this day and age seeks to build bridges and not put up walls. Most countries want to bring people together and tear down physical, commercial and cultural barriers. Anyone who proposes dividing us is out of line.”

El Senado de los EEUU, en su sabiduría infinita, ha declarado el inglés como el idioma oficial estadounidense. Que bueno para ellos. Me alegra saber que no están malgastando su tiempo y los recursos del Estado con temas insignificantes como la guerra en Irak, la guerra en Afganistán, el escándalo del espionaje domestico, el déficit, la educación, el empleo, la salud, o reformas a la ley electoral.

Entonces, para “honrar” el noble, humano, y tolerante decisión de los senadores gringos declaro que este blog, desde hoy, será.... bilingüe.

Subiré información en ingles (el idioma oficial, pues) y para los de ustedes que no son tan “oficiales”, en español también.

Lastimosamente no podré traducir a toda la información (ojalá que tuviera tanto tiempo). Entonces algunas notas saldrán en inglés, otras en español, y unas pocas en ambos idiomas bellos.

(Pero no habrá ni un solo comentario escrito en Ruso porque, Dios bendiga los Estados Unidos, no soy comunista. Jaja.)

También pediría la paciencia tuya. Resulta que mi español, no es perfecto. Tampoco mi inglés. Tienes toda la libertad para corregir mis errores en un idioma u otro. O ambos. Solo te pido que seas amable conmigo, porque tengo un alma sensible. (Hasta me pongo a llorar durante las películas tristes.)

Bueno, en este espíritu nuevo de bilingüismo, quiero enviar a los senadores que aprobaron esta nueva ley “patriótica” un mensaje especial en español: “¡Ustedes son unos cobardes que tratan de esconder su racismo bajo el pretexto de nacionalismo. Deberían tener vergüenza!”

Lastima que ninguno de estos pisados entienden el español, ¿no?

Y ahora, para empezar, una declaración del portavoz de la Presidencia mexicana, Rubén Aguilar, que me cayó rebién:

“Los muros son señal de desconfianza y ésta nunca será la base de la amistad entre los dos pueblos”. “La política internacional ahora busca tender puentes y no construir muros, lo que la mayoría de los países buscamos es acercar a nuestros pueblos derribando barreras físicas, comerciales y culturales, y quien propone separarlos está fuera de lugar.”

Fox reprocha que edificar un muro no es de amigos

George Bush in yet another "Mission Accomplished" photo-op at the Mexican Border. (Disclaimer: I swear that I did not add Bush’s repugnant armpit sweat stains to the picture in Photoshop. As one person commented: "it looks as if the Border Patrol nabbed a sweatback!")

George "Don’t call me Jorge" Bush en otra "Misión Cumplida" foto de propaganda, ésta vez en la frontera con México. (Advertencia: Te juro que no agregue las manchas de sudor de Bush en Photoshop. Como comentaba una persona: "Parece que la migra agarró otra clase de mojado!")

Tags: Senate, English, Language, Official, Sweaty, Bush, News

Los Pineros: Men of the Pines

The Sacremento Bee has put together a stunning, sweeping, and heart-breaking project about the “pineros”, the hidden Latino laborers who care for America’s forests.

Given the current immigration debate, I think this is a resource well worth visiting. (The photographs alone are amazing!)

Across vast tracts of rugged ground from Maine to California, Latinos do the dirty work in America's woods. They plant trees by the millions, thin out snarls of vegetation that stunt the growth of commercial timber and slash away the dense mats of brush and spindly trees that stoke forest fires.

They are pineros, the men who work in the pines. They are the major source of manual labor in America's forest industry, the muscle behind the Healthy Forest Initiative - often paid in tax dollars to work on public lands. And they are being misused and abused under the noses of government officials.

Even frequent visitors to America's forests may never see them. They live in motels and campgrounds on the fringes of society, traveling through resort towns long before dawn on their hours'-long commutes to deep backwoods areas.

In this three-part investigation, The Bee takes you inside the hidden lives of the pineros.

Visit the site

El Sacramento Bee de California ha producido un reportaje asombroso, exhaustivo, y trágico sobre los “pineros”: los trabajadores latinos, medio escondidos, que cuidan los bosques de los EEUU.

Dado la coyuntura actual y el debate sobre la inmigración en los Estados Unidos, creo que vale la pena visitar este sitio. ¡Las fotos son impresionantes! Los documentos están en ingles y español.

A través de lo escarpado del terreno desde Maine a California, los latinos son los que hacen el trabajo más arduo y sucio en los bosques de la nación. Plantan árboles por millones, desmontan la vegetación que detiene el crecimiento de los árboles comerciales y cortan la maleza y árboles debiluchos que fomentan los incendios forestales.

Ellos son pineros, los hombres que trabajan con los pinos. Son la mayor fuente de trabajo manual en la industria Forestal de Estados Unidos, la fuerza tras "Healthy Forest Initiative" (Iniciativa Forestal Saludable), con frecuencia usando fondos de impuestos para trabajar tierras públicas. Se les abusa y maltrata frente a las narices de oficiales gubernamentales.

Hasta los visitantes frecuentes a los bosques nacionales tal vez nunca los han visto. Viven en moteles y campamentos en el borde de la sociedad, viajando por pueblos de recreo antes del amanecer, tomándoles largas horas, de su tiempo, de viaje hacia los bosques más apartados.

En esta serie investigativa de tres partes, The Sacramento Bee los lleva dentro de las vidas escondidas de los pineros.

Visite el sitio

Tags: Guatemala, Pineros, Immigrants, Immigration, News

Article: Tighter Borders

Tighter borders won't help the desperate

Only a real reversal of economic trends will stem the tide of illegal crossings.

By G. Jefferson Price III
The Christian Science Monitor

Altar, Mexico – President Bush raised the odds Monday night against Delfredo Garcia Martinez who hopes soon to join as many as 2,000 people coming through here every day on their way to try to enter the United States illegally.

But it probably won't stop Mr. Martinez and tens of thousands of others trying to cross the border.

The 37-year-old Honduran set off on foot from his home two months ago with $20 in his pocket. He said he begged for more money along the way as he and a friend, Abel Quintanilla Leyva, walked, hitched rides, and jumped trains to get this close to the border with the US.

Twice, on the way through Guatemala to Mexico, different bandits tried to rob him and then beat him when they discovered he had no money. Now he and Mr. Leyva are working to raise enough money to pay one of the guides, known as "coyotes," to take them on the perilous journey through the Mexican and Arizona deserts to reach America.

The coyote charge - about $1,600 per person for a 60-mile journey from here to the border - is likely to increase now that Mr. Bush has decided the National Guard should help bolster security along the US border with Mexico. But in the order of perils illegal immigrants face as they stream from here to the border, getting caught by US authorities is pretty mild.

First of all, there's the alternative for most people who immigrate illegally, which is to stay home and nearly starve in appalling economic conditions.

Faced with that alternative, the hundreds of thousands of people who immigrate illegally every year from Mexico and through Mexico from Central America, have paid up to an estimated $18,000 to get this far and across; others, like Martinez, have risked their lives.

From here, the last leg to the US border and beyond, to places such as Phoenix, is a tortuous journey across the desert where the air temperature reaches more than 110 degrees F. and the sunbaked ground temperature reaches as high as 120 degrees.

As if that weren't enough, the migrants are prey to bandits and traffickers on both sides of the border.

Read the entire article

• G. Jefferson Price III is a former foreign correspondent and editor with The Baltimore Sun. He travels now on behalf of Catholic Relief Services.

Tags: Guatemala, Immigration, Immigrants, Mexico, News

¡Feliz Día de la Madre!

Today is Mother’s Day in Guatemala. I want to wish “mi madrecita”, and all of the other mothers out there, the happiest of days.

I love you Mom!

Here’s a photo of my mother with her newest grandson, John Michael.

Tags: Guatemala, Mother’s, Day, Día, Madre

The faces of immigration

I want to thank everyone who has written to me lately, either via email or the comments section. Although my long letter yesterday was addressed to Paul, it really was an open letter of gratitude to all of you who, in one way or another, have brightened my life.

I have to confess that it is not difficult for me to “love my neighbor” when I am surrounded (albeit virtually) by wonderful people like you!

Your messages have also motivated me to try and flex some creative muscles. I realize that there are many people in the United States who have not been as fortunate as I have to form relationships with people from such incredibly diverse backgrounds. (If I were “King of the USA” I would rule that every man, woman and youth should spend time living in a foreign culture. So be it!)

Racism comes too easily when we reduce human beings to mere labels, names, and clichés.

That is why I want to try and put a face.... well, various faces actually... to the immigration issue.

I dug deep into the archives and found some photographs that I had taken with the migrant farmworkers in Washington State a few years ago. I’ll try to make a series out of these images so that I can share these proud and beautiful faces with all of you!

Here’s the first one...

Tags: Guatemala, Immigration, Photography , Immigrants, Racism

The Immigration Debate

Here is my reply to a comment posted by Paul, a visitor to this website. He made some rather critical remarks concerning the current immigration debate in the United States that I felt warranted a thorough (aka: loooong) reply.

I invite you to add your own thoughts on the subject!

******************************

Dear Paul,

Thanks so much for visiting my website.

You obviously have some passionate feelings about the immigration issue, and I appreciate the fact that you took the time to share them with us. As for my allowing you to post your comments on the site, I’m afraid it’s not a matter of “courage” but rather, humility.

The more I learn, the more I realize just how complex this world is. I am humbled by the many shades of gray that define the difficult issues, such as immigration. I certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers, and that’s why I post news and analysis from so many different authors. It is also why I always enjoy reading the comments that visitors, such as yourself, leave on the weblog or send via email.

First of all, and as a matter of introduction, I would like to share some of my background with you. I am a U.S. citizen, a New Yorker to be exact. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been born in a country abounding with natural beauty, artistic creativity, cultural diversity, human ingenuity... and so much more.

Eating at a Chinatown or Little Italy restaurant in New York City... sipping a sweet iced tea on a porch in North Carolina... hiking the stunning Cascade Mountains of Washington State... listening to a live jazz performance in New Orleans... watching the sun set from atop the Sears Tower in Chicago... these are just a few of the gifts that I have received from living in the USA.

That said, however, I am more than just my nationality. In addition to being an American, I am also a son, brother, uncle, Christian, artist, activist, volunteer, etc. These parts of my “being” also guide me, motivate me, and inspire me... in short, they help define who I am.

I have also had the great privilege and pleasure of living in Guatemala for the past seventeen years (give or take a year or two). I could probably write a book on the lessons I’ve learned while living here... some were easy to grasp, others took a while. (Thankfully Guatemalans are very patient teachers!) These experiences also shape the person I am today.

And in the interest of total disclosure, I should also mention that I was absolutely blessed to be able to work for a couple of years at a migrant outreach center in Washington State called Tierra Nueva. It was there that my eyes were finally opened to the struggles and sacrifices of our nation’s migrant workers.

Well, Paul, you might be wondering where I’m going with this. What the heck does my background have to do with the immigration issue?

I think that at the heart of this issue is how we view the immigrants themselves. Many in the United States are quick to slap a label on them: “illegals”, “criminals”, “wetbacks”, “aliens”, or worse.

In short: not "us", but "them".

My experiences have led me to believe that the "us" versus "them" separation is a false one. Languages, customs, and even nationalities aside, I believe that there is more that unites us than divides us as human beings.

In Guatemala, for example, men and women work long hours for to provide for their families. Parents lovingly embrace their newborn babies. Children giggle as they dash around the playground. Seniors sit in lawn chairs in their front yard taking pleasure in the late afternoon sun. Students reluctantly do their homework, young couples sneak kisses, the ice cream man rings his bell, and the politicians in Congress are seen as being somewhat less than effective.

Sound at all familiar?

Once you begin to realize that there really is no such thing as “us” or “them”, it becomes all but impossible to ignore the suffering and struggles of other people... whether they be Latino, gay, Chinese, sick, Muslim, poor, Iraqi, handicapped, African, homeless, etc.

Once you begin to understand that we all depend on each other, then you will no longer want to close your heart, your door, or your border to those in need.

Once you begin to see every person as part of this family of humanity, you won’t want to build walls that separate, but rather build bridges that bring us together.

Paul, I truly hope that you will come to experience this feeling of belonging to something bigger than the United States... call it what you will: “compassion”, or “solidarity”, or “love for your neighbor”... it is a wonderful, life-changing experience!

Finally, because my reply to you took a turn for the philosophical, I should at least try to respond to some of the more concrete questions you raised.

You wrote: “Firstly, if you don't live in this country, keep your opinions to yourself.”

Well, OK, too late for that one.

You wrote: “The very first thing they ever did in the America was to become a felon by illegally crossing the borders.”

In a previous post I explained that while the United States depends on migrant labor, the possibility of a poor, or even middle class, Guatemalan receiving a work visa is virtually nil. Most immigrants who enter the US without a visa do so because they HAVE to, not because they WANT to.

No immigrant enjoys paying thousands of dollars to be smuggled across a deadly desert only to work without any legal protections, and to live in constant fear of deportation. The U.S. immigration system has been broken for many years. Hence the current debate in Congress.

You wrote: if you vote, then you can spew your U.N. approved rhetoric.

Sadly, Kofi Annan doesn’t proofread this website. My rhetoric is 100% my own.

You wrote: “until some natural disaster occurs...then they all want our money to help them out”

Did you know that Mexico sent disaster relief to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina? Offers of aid also came from other countries and organizations such as: Belgium, Canada, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, Guatemala, Britain, China, Australia, Jamaica, Honduras, Greece, Venezuela, the Organization of American States, NATO, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, South Korea, Israel, the United Nations, and the United Arab Emirates.

Here’s a quote from Union-Tribune:

"A Mexican army convoy crossed into the United States on Thursday [September 8, 2005] to bring aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina. ... Carrying water treatment plants and mobile kitchens that can feed 7,000 people daily, the convoy bound for San Antonio is the first Mexican military unit to operate on U.S. soil since 1846. Military engineers, doctors and nurses are among the 200 people headed to San Antonio."

You wrote: “Nor do they pay taxes”

That’s a common mistake. The truth is, though, that even undocumented workers pay taxes. They pay sales tax on everything they purchase: food, gas, clothing, etc. Agricultural workers are paid by check, with income taxes, even social security, deducted. The catch is that the workers are forced to use a fake Social Security number, so billions of dollars are pouring into the Social Security fund which will never be collected! These payments have helped maintain the solvency of the U.S. Social Security system. Also many immigrants ask the IRS for a special “tax ID number” so that they can legally file their returns, with the hope of someday becoming a U.S. citizen.

Here’s a quote from The Christian Science Mo