by José de la Isla & Jackie Guzmán

Marcelo Lucero

The Suffolk County, N.Y., murder of Marcelo Lucero, a 37-year-old Ecuadorean national who had lived in the United States for 16 years, has sparked a new level of concern about hate crimes.

Six of the nation’s leading civil rights groups are sounding the alarm about the nature of such incidents.

The National Council of La Raza, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Asian American Justice Center, Anti-Defamation League and National Urban ­League conducted a video-streamed news conference Nov. 24 at www.nclr.org/risinghatecrimes. Their press alert was themed as a “wake up call for America.”

Janet Murguía, president and CEO of NCLR, said that the polarized debate over immigration has led to the increase in violence and hate groups targeting Latinos.

“And the key players in this wave of hate are found among elected officials and the media, especially talk radio and cable news,” she said, referring to hosts such as Lou Dobbs and Michael Savage.

Seven teenagers have been arraigned on gang assault and other crimes in the Lucero murder. Some are now facing new hate related charges. They are also alleged to have attacked another Hispanic man who escaped a half-hour before Lucero was assaulted near the Patchogue train station.

Federal authorities including the FBI have investigated 750 incidents involving violence, threats, vandalism and arson against Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs and South Asians between Sept. 11, 2001 and March 2007. NAACP Washington bureau director Hilary Shelton said that now, while the nation should be celebrating, “There are unfortufi lled with hatred, fear and division.”

Last month the FBI released a report claiming, “Hate crimes involving race and religion declined by 1.3% in the U.S. last year.” However, the same report showed crimes against Hispanics increased for fi ve straight years, from 595 in 2003 to 830 in 2007, with similar increases for Asians.

­The presidential election drew public attention to one form of race bias, while other animosities remain unharnessed.

Referring to incidents around the country that rise and fall, AAJC’s Priya Murty told Weekly Report, “We are supposedly in this post-racial state, but that has not been borne out.”

Noting that individuals often do not even report incidents, her group has documented many occurrences which attempted to associate the president-elect with Arabs, Islam, unchristian faith, and terrorism — all xenophobic digressions from reality.

The same phenomenon, she claimed, has been abundantly expressed about Sikhs and immigrants in noteworthy incidents of intimidation perpetrated on South Asians.

The Anti-Defamation League at the time called for a renewed commitment to prevent prejudice-based crimes. Hispanic Link.

­by Jackie Guzmán

Sworn in the new District 9 Supervisor David Campos, next to Mayor Gavin Newsom, after he was sworn in as a San Francisco supervisor Thursday, Dec. 4 in front of a large, boisterous crowd at San Francisco City Hall. (Photo by Jorge Luis Garcia)

More than 100 students, parents and teachers protested Nov. 20 what they consider a discriminatory policy of denying scholarships to undocumented students­ at Hispanic Scholarship Fund headquarters in San Francisco. Similar demonstrations had been held earlier this year in San Diego and Los Angeles.

HSF, the nation’s largest Hispanic student scholarship provider, made awards totaling $26.5 million during the 2006-2007 academic year. Undocumented students are ineligible because of their legal status, according to HSF communications director Chino Chapa, who states the scholarships are for “Hispanic-American” students only. Undocumented students do not qualify as they comprise only half of that designation.

The California-based Association of Raza Educators says it plans, with more than 20 other groups, to pursue additional strategies to press HSF to change its policy.

ARE co-chairs José Lara and Eilene Cruz met with Chapa prior to the demonstration. Lara told Weekly Report that Chapa challenged ARE’s contentions that undocumented students are the most needy and a “safer bet” than other scholarship recipients to complete their schooling.

Chapa maintained that legal-resident students are 2008better prospects when it comes to completing their education, have greater opportunities and are more likely to contribute to the workforce.

Lara said that undocumented youth, “who are some of our brightest and hardest working students, are being thrown out in the cold. They are the ones with the greatest need because they are not eligible for state or federal financial aid.”

The press has reported many instances of students, brought to the United States without papers as infants, who went on to become valedictorians of their graduating high school classes or who lost college scholarships because of their status.

Kristan Kirsh, HSF’s public relations manager, told Weekly Report that the exclusion of students who could not prove legal U.S. residency was an HSF board decision.

­When Weekly Report requested details, including a copy of the board minutes when the action was taken, Kirsh responded by email, saying, “We are not required to give out board meeting minutes, but we thank you for your interest.”

Lara stated that HSF does not “want to jeopardize its funding” from donors, including many major corporate givers, and wants to avoid any controversy that could result.

His group and its affiliates see their next step involving a campaign to contact HSF board members for re-consideration, if the board has taken formal action on the matter. Hispanic Link.

­

by the El Reportero’s news services

Pictures of the new currency that will supposedly replace the US dollar have appeared on the Russian Internet. The United States is reportedly working on the new currency, the amero, which will be common for the USA, Mexico and Canada.

The unstable financial situation in the world, the collapsing oil prices and the growing foreign debt of the United States may eventually crush the US dollar as the world’s major currency. Needless to say that the US authorities reject the rumors and promise to keep the dollar afloat.

Amero notes have no portraits of US presidents on them and resemble the Belarussian rubles. For example, there is an image of a deer depicted on a 50-amero note, whereas a picture of a pyramid of Mexican Indians can be seen on a 100-amero note.

Chile steps up pressure on Peru

On Dec. 1, Chile’s rightwingers stepped up the pressure on Peru’s president Alan García over his apparent recanting of his promise to sack Peru’s army commander. Chileans, probably accurately, believe that García is wavering over whether to sack General Edwin Donayre Gotzch because he wants to build up his popularity in Peru. In the Chileans’ view García wants to boost his dismal popularity (under 20% in the opinion polls) by tapping into Peruvians’ traditional hostility to Chile.

Chavistas win majority of states, but opposition makes key gains

President Hugo Chávez interpreted the results of Venezuela’s regional elections on Nov. 23 as a victory for his Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) and a message from the electorate to keep travelling down the path of 21st century socialism.

­The opposition, naturally, placed a different interpretation on the results. While PSUV candidates won 17 out of 22 states, the opposition won fi ve, including three of the six key battlegrounds. Perhaps the most eye-catching development, however, was that dissident Chavistas, widely tipped to pose more of a threat to the PSUV than the offi cial opposition, suffered a crushing defeat.

Nicaragua: Venezuela has offered to replace U.S. aid

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — President Daniel Ortega says Venezuela has offered Nicaragua $100 million in aid if Washington and the European Union cut off funding over disputed elections.

Ortega says his leftist ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez made the offer last week “without blackmail, without conditions of any sort.’’

The U.S. government said last week it would freeze $64 million in anti-poverty aid to Nicaragua amid accusations that local elections were fraudulent. The EU has withheld $54 million in budget support.

Ortega spoke Monday in a televised address.

Ortega’s leftist Sandinistas won most of the country’s mayorships in the Nov. 9 elections. Counting with a majority of legislators, 47, the opposition proposed legislation to cancel the results, but Ortega issued a decree declaring that effort unconstitutional.

And then, On Dec. 1, three opposition deputies announced they would not support the bill proposed by the Partido Liberal Nacionalista, so giving a blow to the opposition in Nicaragua. (Latin news, Associated Press, and Pravda, contributed to this report. )

by Christina E. Rodríguez

Luis Guitiérrez

CHICAGO — More than 400 people answered the call from U.S. Rep. Luís Gutiérrez (D) to give testimony for someone they know a neighbor, friend, family member or other intimate who is on the verge of deportation.

Their stories gain a voice, but from the lips of others who know them. The intent is to spotlight their suffering, create public awareness, and ultimately to bring reform.

The witnesses came to St. Pius V Church in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on Nov. 15 and testified for more than three hours. About 60 volunteers took down names and ages of individuals who depend upon those being deported. Gutiérrez said he is compiling a fact sheet from the information to hand to President-elect Barack Obama and speed up a comprehensive immigration reform effort that leads to the introduction of new legislation in Congress.

“Our government should work to keep our families together, not destroy them,” Gutiérrez said.

Among the testimonies came stories from families with deported members. Ana, speaking for her deported husband, said, “We marched, we voted, we got the president we wanted. Now they have to work for us and he has to keep his promises.”

Julie Savitt, who watched as eight Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surrounded her house to arrest her husband, Adam, talked about losing her companion and family breadwinner.

“Deportation of a loved one is like death without resolution,” said Savitt, who was surrounded by her three children as she spoke.

Volunteers like Myrna García, a doctoral student at the University of California San Diego, now living in Cicero, Ill., identified Gutiérrez’s effort as only one among many that are essential to address the issues.

“I hope something happens but it’s really complicated,” she said. “This has to be one strategy among many.”

Alderman Manny Flores of the First Ward, who has worked with Congressman Gutiérrez, observed, “We’ve been very proactive in providing the type of local policies and legislative initiatives that ensure we protect all members ­of our community.”

He stressed he wanted to join in the effort to engage Barack Obama in the need for immigration reform and family reunification.

“We hope president-elect Barack Obama is very strong in addressing these issues right off the bat. Then in the long term we must come up with some type of comprehensive immigration reform.”

Alderman Billy Ocasio, of the 26th Ward, pushes for an immediate end to the ICE raids and sweeps rounding up undocumented immigrants for deportation.

“This is just the beginning.

We’re just touching the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “There are so many families in the same position where one person is undocumented in a family of citizens and the government is dividing them up.”

Ocasio, who chairs the city council’s human relations committee, said he’s hoping Obama’s words to the immigrant community are genuine.

The city of Chicago, he promised, “will not cooperate with anything that has to do with deportations or raids.”