by anonimous sender

­About 20 UC Berkeley students are staging a hunger strike to push the university to oppose Arizona’s stringent new immigration law. In the photo paramedics examen the students. (PHOTO BY MEMBERS OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE STUDENTS)

After a long battle against cancer, Mrs. Luisa Ezquerro, a native of San Francisco but originary of Nicaragua, died at home next to her family on May 1. Born in Jan. 5, 1934, she was 76.

Mrs. Ezquerro, a lifelong educator and community activist, leader and mentor spent her life serving her San Francisco community. She taught for 43 years in San Francisco’s Unified Public Schools impacting the lives of countless young adults throughout the City she loved dearly. Mrs. Ezquerro started her student teaching at Poly Tech High School, taught at Lincoln High School, Lowell High School, and retired while teaching at McAteer High School. Those that knew Mrs. Ezquerro, know that she never retired but kept active helping other in the community.

Mrs. Ezquerro was a community activist for most of her adult life helping to found the Mission Coalition Organization and serving on its board of directors. She helped create other community organizations Cenwhich continue to enrich the lives of so many today including the Mission Housing Development (MEDA) where she was a member of their Executive Board, Mission Model Neighborhood Corporation, Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, Mission Economic Development Association, The Mission Reading Clinic now known as the Mission Learning Center, The Mission Tutorial Program, Arriba Juntos, Mission Neighborhood Health Center, Mission Community Legal Defense and Mission Hiring Hall.

“On behalf of the City and County of San Francisco, I honor Luisa’s life and legacy and am grateful for all Luisa has done for the people of San Francisco,” San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said.

“I will remember Luisa as a tireless and committed leader in the educational and community aspects of San Francisco and in particular the Mission District. She could be tough but had that very pleasant smile. I shall always remember you Luisa,” said Ricardo Noguera, former executive director of MEDA.

“We lost a great person with great human qualities, she was an excellent woman and educator who helped many people. We thank God who gave us great joy to have met Luisa and take it into our lives and family,” said Alicia López in Managua, Nicaragua.

Mrs. Ezquerro was very active in the Teachers Union, and a member of their Executive Board, where she served as president for approximately six years. In 2001, she was awarded Teacher of the Year by San Francisco State University.

Mrs. Ezquerro was appointed to the Recreation and Parks Commission by Mayor George Moscone in 1976. In 2004, she was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom to the Commission on the Status of Women. Throughout the span of her life she was appointed to and served on the transition teams for three San Francisco Mayors.

In addition, Mrs. Ezquerro was active with the United Educators of San Francisco, Jamestown Community Center, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR) and was a consultant for the San Francisco Board of Education.

Mrs. Ezquerro is survived by her brother Manuel Ezquerro, her sister Carmen Ezquerro Fletcher, and her many beloved nephews and nieces.

­Viewing took place at Duggan’s Funeral Home at 3434 17th Street, San Francisco, Thursday, May 6, followed by the rosary at Saint Anne’s Church of the Sunset. Funeral services were held the following day, Friday, May 7th at St. Anne’s Church, followed by her burial at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California. Contributions can be made in Mrs. Ezquerro’s name to Mission Learning Center www.mlcsf.org.

You may also write a thought for Luisa at: http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookid=2843410849031&cid=gbsrchres.

Research in mice, cells suggests possible prevention, treatment strategy

by TheUniversity of Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A compound derived from broccoli could help prevent or treat breast cancer by targeting cancer stem cells — the small number of cells that fuel a tumor’s growth — according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The study tested sulforaphane, a component of broccoli and broccoli sprouts, in both mice and cell cultures. Researchers found sulforaphane targeted and killed the cancer stem cells and prevented new tumors from growing.

“Sulforaphane has been studied previously for its effects on cancer, but this study shows that its benefit is in inhibiting the breast cancer stem cells.

This new insight suggests the potential of sulforaphane or broccoli extract to prevent or treat cancer by targeting the critical cancer stem cells,” says study author Duxin Sun, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the U-M College of Phar- macy and a researcher with the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Results of the study appear in the May 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research. Current chemotherapies do not work against cancer stem cells, which is why cancer recurs and spreads.

Researchers believe that eliminating the cancer stem cells is key to controlling cancer.

In the current study, researchers took mice with breast cancer and injected varying concentrations of sulforaphane from the broccoli extract. Researchers then used several established methods to assess the number of cancer stem cells in the tumors.

These measures showed a marked decrease in the cancer stem cell population after treatment with sulforaphane, with little effect on the normal cells. Further, cancer cells from mice treated with sulforaphane were unable to generate new tumors. The researchers then tested sulforaphane on human breast cancer cell cultures in the lab, finding similar decreases in the cancer stem cells.

­“This research suggests a potential new treatment that could be combined with other compounds to target breast cancer stem cells. Developing treatments that effectively target the cancer stem cell population is essential for improving outcomes,” says study author Max S. Wicha, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Oncology and director of the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The concentrations of sulforaphane used in the study were higher than what can be achieved by eating broccoli or broccoli sprouts. Prior research suggests the concentrations needed to impact cancer can be absorbed by the body from the broccoli extract, but side effects are not known. While the extract is available in capsule form as a supplement, concentrations are unregulated and will vary.

This work has not been tested in patients, and patients are not encouraged to add sulforaphane supplements to their diet at this time.

Researchers are currently developing a method to extract and preserve sulforaphane and will be developing a clinical trial to test sulforaphane as a prevention and treatment for breast cancer. No clinical trial is currently available.

Sebastián Piñera

by the El Reportero’s news services

On April 29 the Chihuahua state government called on all its fellow border states to boycott the 28th annual meeting with their US counterparts scheduled for September.

Already, Sonora has cancelled its annual bilateral meeting with the state government of Arizona to underline Mexican objections to a new law allowing state police to stop suspected undocumented immigrants and demand proof that they are in the U.S. legally.

The row is likely to color President Felipe Calderón’s forthcoming state visit to Washington on May 19-20. The Mexican senate has called on the government to come up with an action plan over the next 90 days to persuade Arizona to rescind the legislation.

Piñera’s honeymoon comes to an abrupt end in Chile

President Sebastián Piñera should by rights be enpjoying a fairly comfortable ride less than two months after taking office on March 11, but the honeymoon period traditionally extended to new heads of state has been denied him. This is not because of concerted opposition from the left-wing Concertación, which is still licking its wounds after losing its 20-year residency in the presidential palace of La Moneda, but rather because of open dissent from within the ranks of his own right-wing Coalición por el Cambio.

Presidential candidate in diplomatic row with Ecuador and Venezuela

Historically, Colombia-Venezuela bilateral relations have not been the best; but since 2005 tensions have escalated to extraordinary levels, with bellicose rhetoric becoming increasingly more frequent.

What is peculiar about the latest confrontation is that two elected officials, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, decided to respond to the comments made by a presidential hopeful – someone who at the moment has no position in the government – warning that he could create a future military conflict.

A decisive yearThis year, 2010, is a busy year for elections in the region. Brazil’s presidential and congressional elections dominate the calendar and the big question is whether President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can transfer his popularity to his preferred successor, Dilma Rousseff.

The example of what has happened in Chile shows how difficult this is.

Chile elected Sebastián Piñera as its first democratically-chosen, rightwing president for 52 years in January. This was despite the 80 percent plus opinion poll approval ratings of the leftwing incumbent, Michelle Bachelet.

­Hard to Trust Obama without Releasing Cuba Anti-terrorists

It is hard to trust US President Barack Obama without releasing the five Cuban anti-terrorists imprisoned in that country for over a decade, stated Sunday Cuban Parliament’’s President Ricardo Alarcon.

Does he believe he will convince us he represents a credible change when he dares not to release those innocent men, and keeps preventing terrorists from being tried? Alarcon wondered during a solidarity with Cuba meeting in Havana.

He also called to put an end to the suffering of Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez, whom Washington has prevented from visiting their husbands Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez, respectively.

Rene and Gerardo, along with Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, and Fernando Gonzalez were arrested in Miami in 1998 for monitoring anti-Cuban terrorist organizations in that US city and accused of many charges that were not substantiated nor proved during a biassed trial in Miami.

A U.N. legal body declared their incarceration and sentences as unfair and arbitrary and demanded their release.

Obama’s signature, with an order by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is enough to end with that situation, said Alarcon, and called the measure atrocious expression of medieval torture. (Latin News and Prensa Latina contributed to this report.)

by Andy Porras

What we need is a Cinco de Mayo for Dummies. Many of us confuse May 5 with Sept. 16, Mexican Independence Day. Even less is known of the incredible Cinco de Mayo connection between the Battle of Puebla, fought between Mexico and France, and the salvation of United States, not Mexican, independence.

Mention the date to today’s young Latinos and you’re bound to get the same answer: party-time!

But it’s not their fault. Not when there is next to nothing in school curricula that even hints of a President Lincoln-Mexican President Benito Juárez connection during the Civil War.

May 5, 1862, is when the Battle of Puebla shook the Americas. The victory of a ragtag Mexican Army against an elite French military machine was just the start of the story. Or shall we say stories.

Newly shared research reveals that the original (non Native American) Texas settlers, los tejanos, were involved and it seems few, have taken notice. Can you imaginehow this story will rattle the current Texas Textbook Committee? Oh, to be a fly on their plush meeting room wall!

Check the date. The U.S. Civil War was raging. The country seemed headed onto a path of self-destruction. While the North counted on vast industrial resources, the Southern rebs’ quest for secession tempered them with a fierce, almost barbaric, fighting spirit.

President Lincoln could ill afford a nation divided. Benito Juárez’s troops were thought to be no match for the Euro-warriors who had not tasted defeat in more half a century and were said to be “the premier army in the world.” Both leaders were desperate for a military miracle.

Some historians claim the desire of Napoleon Bonepart’s nephew, Napoleon III, to occupy Mexico was fueled by his intense dislike for the United States and the Monroe Doctrine, which stated the United States would oppose any European intrusion in the Americas. A French stronghold in Mexico would thwart the growing U.S. strength.

Noted writers, among them fellow tejano José Antonio Burciaga and John Shepler, point out that Napoleon III banked on thefact the United States, in the midst of its own civil war, wouldn’t interfere in Mexico.

“Under orders of their emperor, French troops arrived in Mexico with a dual purpose: to help the Confederacy win the war and to conquer Mexico.” wrote Donald Miles in his book, “Cinco de Mayo — What Is EverybodyCelebrating?”

Thus with state-ofthe-art equipment andthe French Foreign Legion at his disposal, Napoleon III planned a traditional military assault on Puebla and then on to Mexico City. Once the capital fell into French hands, the rest of the country would surrender.

Then they would march north and keep their promise to the Rebels. It was quite a plan, except they didn’t count on Texas-born, Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza’s non- traditional battle skills and his passionate pleas to the Mexican soldiers, mostly Zapotec Indians.

Nor did they have any inkling, writes Texas historian Dr. Andrés Tijerina that General Zaragoza would recruit Captain Porfirio Zamora from Palito Blanco in south Texas and in turn he would recruit 500 tejanos. Together as a cavalry unit they would join the Mexican army in repelling the French invasion.

The tejanos, although still Mexican sat heart, were U.S. citizens. “On the morning of May 5, 1862, French General Lorenz led 4,000 French forces toward Puebla, believing he would be welcomed and the lo­cal clergy would shower his troops with magnolia blooms,” writes Shepler, “Instead, waiting for him was General Zaragoza with a much smaller force of 2,000 troops along with Puebla citizens who brought their own farm tools as weapons.”

The Texas general’s guerrilla tactics included stampeding cattle into the French occupied areas near Puebla. Then the screaming, machete-wielding Zapotecs sliding down muddy hillsides baffled the brightly dressed French Dragoons.

The numero-uno army in the world was no match for the inspired natives, who were growing weary of foreign warriors traversing across their lands.

What a scene! Darkskinned natives swinging their machetes as they utilized the slippery slopes to surprise Mexico’s latest invaders. Cows trampling neatly organized French rifl e racks. Tejanos helping their brothers once more. Where’s Hispanic Hollywood when you need it?

Benito Juárez’s people had risen to the task. Napoleon’s plans to help the South were crushed. On April 18, 1865, the Civil War ended with the surrender of the Confederate army. By then, 617,000 Union and Confederate soldiers had died in the war.

In gratitude for their aid, Washington’s leaders invited the Juárez family to Washington after the war. Maybe someday both countries will get their historical facts straight and celebrate Cinco together. Just as their forefathers did. Hispanic Link.Andy Porras, of Houston, Texas, is a contributing columnist with Hispanic Link News Service. Email: califasap@yahoo.com)