por José de la Isla
Hispanic Link News Service
MEXICO CITY – Former Arizona Governor Raul H. Castro, 96, was detained by border agents June 12 while he was driven on his way to his birthday party from his home town along the border Nogales to Tucson. Besides serving as governor from 1974 to 1977 he is a former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, Bolivia and Argentina.
Castro, a frail man, had undergone hospital testing on his pacemaker the previous day, the likely reason the sensor went off.
He was put through secondary screening under a tent in 100 degree weather while he wore a business suit. His wife and driver complained but Castro later downplayed the incident, saying the U.S. Border Patrol agents were just doing their job. There has been a large public outcry about the lack of discernment and onsite discretion—the lack of judgment instead of buzz-cut, procedure manual unthinking.
This is the third known such stop Castro has undergone, and not for the same reason.
The first occurred when he was out repairing a fence at his own property and agents stopped by. They asked for his work card and left after Castro pointed out the farm entrance’s sign reading “Judge Castro.”
Another time in San Diego, the incident ended when someone recognized Castro and said “Governor, how are you?”
Would you know former Governor Raul Castro if you saw him?
You should. For U.S. history’s sake.
In January 1974, after Gerald Ford was in office only three months following Richard Nixon’s resignation, the new president went to Arizona, showing a sudden interest in border affairs since the Republican nomination convention was only months away. He went to meet his Mexican counterpart president Luís Echevarría. They talked about oil trade and the farm worker shortage in the U.S. It also happens that Castro, a Democrat, was running neck and neck with Republican Russ Williams. Ford’s trip to the border was actually intended to help Williams in his re-election bid.
At the time, another Mexican-immigrant scare was in full swing (not unlike the Red Scare, Catholic Scares, Witch Hunts, etc.) and Attorney General William Saxby was telling the public he would round up and deport a million unauthorized aliens. Hardly anyone was saying it out loud, but with a wink and a nod implying, Castro wasn’t —shall we say — fit to be governor of a U.S. state, given that he was born in Mexico. Never mind his public service record.
This kind of discrediting is the stuff with which the public is dooped, fearmongers used to dumb down our national understanding of who the public is and actually to appease wacko elements. Castro countered the effect of Ford’s visit by meeting separately with President Echeverría to discuss Arizona-Mexico relations.
Castro had lost to Williams four years before by 7,000 votes. But he won in 1974, in the comeback race. The former Tucson D.A. and judge now had name recognition statewide, he was better financed, and had a twin-engine airplane to get around in.
While he lost Maricopa County (Phoenix), Castro won three Navajo Native American counties with 9,000 votes, the result of a successful voter registration drive. It was triple the previous year’s registration, and about 60 percent of those who registered actually voted, compared to previous elections when turn-outs were low.
Raúl H. Castro was one of two Latino governors elected that year. Jerry Apodaca won the gubernatorial race in New Mexico. It was the beginning to a new kind of electoral success. A Latino consciousness was forming about a role that joined local and state with presidential campaigns and national politics.
As a community and a constituency, the first step was recognition of itself as a group and issues and concerns. The realization set in motion politicians, regardless of Democratic or Republican affiliation, to become responsive. Once that became clear, Latinos increasingly became candidates for office, supported by voter registration campaigns. Latinos have influenced presidential campaigns since 1960. Don’t believe the press about all that “Sleeping Giant” bull or whether they will turn out or not or who will be VP. That’s not, never has been, the issue. There’s a half-century history about that already.
Responsiveness to the issues and to the moment at hand. Castro, the ambassador and governor, represents that.
The dumb border officials who stereotype with fake ethnocentric observations are only evidence of wholesale seconddegree profiling. Casualness about this is a throwback to the times before the ascent of Raúl Castro and others of his generation who reformed things.
It looks now like the jungle has grown back over the Arizona sand. w
