by Juliana Birnbaum Fox

Apache activist Enrique Madrid meets with Berkeley City Council about indigenous rights on the U.S. – Mexico border. (photo by Juliana Birnbaum Fox)

Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Vice Mayor Max Anderson hosted a special reception with three indigenous leaders from the U.S. Ð Mexico border last week, where they discussed ongoing militarization and its impacts. Margo Tamez, Lipan Apache of southeast Texas, Enrique Madrid, Jumano Apache of southwest Texas and Michael Paul Hill, Chiricahua Apache of Arizona shared personal experiences about the construction of a border wall, and disruptions to family, community, religious, cultural and economic structures.

Earlier this year, the Berkeley City Council passed a resolution condemning the federal decision to commit over $1.2 billion toward construction of a border wall.

“The border wall will have devastating consequences on the environment, economy and on human lives, not just around the border area, but across the country,” noted Councilmember Worthington.

Since the passage of this resolution, opponents of the border wall have gained support from various other cities and counties.

Vice Mayor Max Anderson introduced the visitors, commenting that Berkeley was proud to oppose the wall, which “is not just bricks, mortar and surveillance cameras, but a symbolic effort to divide people targeting those with the smallest capacity to resist.”

Berkeley’s stance is spreading to other cities and towns,” said Enrique Madrid, indigenous community member, land owner in Redford, Texas and archaeological steward for the state’s Historical Commission. “State laws can be passed that would create a legal obstacle to federal military interventions.”

It was in Redford that a U.S. Marine shot and killed 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez, herding his sheep near his home in 1997.

“We had hoped he would be the last United States citizen and the last Native American to be killed by troops,” Madrid said.

Margo Tamez, an activist, poet and scholar, pointed out that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, passed this year, now guarantees the right of native people to their traditional territories. “We are not a people of walls. It is ­against our culture to have walls. The Earth and the River go together. We must be with the river. We must be with this land. We were born for this land.”

Tamez’ mother, Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez, was told that she would be taken to court and her lands seized by eminent domain if she didn’t allow surveys for the US/Mexico border-wall onto her property.

The proposed wall will have devastating consequences on the local environment sand will result in landowners and farmers losing their land and access to river water for irrigation,” Worthington wrote in his recommendation to the City Council. “It will also negatively affect the relationship between the US and Mexico as well as to indigenous nations.”

by the El Reportero’s news services

Fernando Lugo

The decision by the new President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, to appoint Joseph Stiglitz as his chief economic adviser is another signal that most of South America is moving onto a new economic track.

The obvious parallel was Bolivia’s decision in the late 1980s and early 1990s to rely on Jeffrey Sachs, then a fashionable development economist, to deregulate its economy.

Sachs was a keen proponent of the so-called Washington Consensus, which favored deregulation on a large scale and recommended only minimal state participation in the economy.

Bolivia’s Morales sets date for constitutional vote

President Evo Morales passed a supreme decree on August 28 establishing 7 December as the date for a national referendum on the new constitution.

The announcement represents a major breakthrough in Morales’s two-and-a-half year struggle to get a new constitution approved.

It shows that the government feels sufficiently buoyed by the results of the 10 August recall referendum – in which Morales received an overwhelming 67 percent of the vote, winning in 95 of the country’s 112 provinces – to abandon attempts at dialogue with the opposition prefects who have emerged as the main obstacle to Morales’ reform efforts.

Prefects defy Morales in Bolivia

Evo Morales

Five opposition prefects from Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija and Chuquisaca announced on August 27 that they would not permit a referendum on the constitution to take place in their departments.

The declaration by the prefects is likely to undermine their position further in their ongoing battle with the government of President Evo Morales.

The decision was announced at a meeting of the opposition prefects’ bloc, Consejo Nacional Democrático, held in Villa Montes, Tarija and followed an ultimatum issued by Morales the previous day that if the prefects continued to defy attempts at dialogue, he would call the referendum on the draft constitution by supreme decree to speed up the process.

Uribe squares up to Supreme Court and Liberals as parapolitical scandal deepens

Relations between Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe and the supreme court took a sharp turn for the worse this week after revelations emerged in the press that two senior presidential advisers had received two emissaries from the top paramilitary leader, Don Berna, in the presidential palace. Uribe defended his advisers on the grounds that the supreme court was “trafficking in false witnesses.” He also took a pot shot at the leader of the opposition Partido Liberal (PL), César Gaviria. Mutual mudslinging ensued. The upshot is that the opposition is refusing to discuss political and judicial reforms which Uribe sent to Congress late on August 26.

Honduras opts for Alba

Traditionally one of the US’ most steadfast allies in Central America, Honduras would appear to be shifting its allegiances after President Manuel Zelaya announced plans to join the Venezuelan-led trade and integration initiative, Alternativa Bolivariana de las Américas (Alba).

Honduras signed up to Petrocaribe, Venezuela’s oil-supply pact in February [RC-08-03]. Zelaya has also upped his anti-US rhetoric, in a manner reminiscent of US bête noire, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. The president’s proposal to join Alba has yet to be ratifi ed by Congress and has proved divisive within the country. (Latin News contributed to this report).

by Jon Higuera

Barack Obama

Cuahubtemoc “Temo” Figueroa has worked on many political campaigns during his career but h is ro/e for f he Obama cam paign is his most prominent. As the Latino Vote Director for the Democratic presidential candidate, his job is convincing Latino voters that Obama is the right man for the job. His background includes that of staffer to the late Congressman George Brown, who during his time was dean of the California delegation, serving as policy communications director for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and most recently, assistant political director for AFSCME, a public union representing government workers.

On a Sunday afternoon from campaign offices in Chicago, Figueroa discussed with Jonathan Higuera, former editor of Hispanic Link Weekly Report, Obama’s strategy to garner the Latino vote.

Jon Higuera: How do Latinos fit info Obama’s strategy to win thee presidency?

Temo Figueroa: The way we believe can win this race is by doing a few things. One is to expand the playing field. The last few cycles, the way it has worked: is the Democrats go to bed at night praying they will get Florida or Ohio to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win. We decided to create new paths to 270. That entails playing in a lot of states that have gone Republican in the last few cycles. We have ads running in 17 states that have gone Republican in the past, some since 1964. We’re in states like Virginia, Georgia, Iowa, North Dakota, Alaska, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Florida and Ohio.

We also have to expand the voting electorate. This campaign is focused like a laser beam on voter registration.

Historically campaigns have relied on other groups to do that but we in the Obama campaign are doing that. We believe the result will be the largest voter turnout in history.

Cuauhtemoc ‘Temo’ Figueroa

That’s the mega picture. So where do Latinos fit? In the battleground of battleground states – New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Florida – they all have a high percentage of Latinos that vote. I hose elections have been incredibly close historically. !f we increase the amount of Latinos voting, it could make a difference.

JON: What is the on-the-ground strategy for registering more Latino voters?

TEMO: When it comes to voter registration, there are no secret weapons. It takes lots of volunteers, lots
of staff and people willing to go door to door. We have a large number of people will-

ing to give of their time to get this man elected.

Five months ago, we put out a call on the Internet for volunteers. We didn’t know what we’d get. Over 10,000 people applied. We picked 3,600 that we sent to 17 states.

JON: What will be the messages your candidate will use to appeal to Latinos?

TEMO: With a few exceptions, it’s not very dif-

ferent than the messages for all voters. The economy, jobs, how to pay for health insur-

ance. In some cases, these issues are more pronounced among Latinos. When there’s a mortgage crisis, who suffers the most? There were a lot of shysters preying on Hispanic communities. That’s a huge issue.Then, there are issues of particular importance to Latinos, especially in the Southwest, like comprehensive immigration reform.

People want to know what’s going to be done. We re hearing lots of rhetoric hyperbole from both sides on that issue but nothing is being done. Obama has said in front of Latino audiences and white audiences that will he fi ght for comprehensive immigration reform in his fi rst year as president.

He talks about border security fi rst and foremost and no one will jump to the front of the line, but he’s addressing that issue.

Also the Iraq war resonates higher among Latinos than in most other communities. We’ll say let’s put an end to this war and bring home our people.

JON: The campaign recently announced it is devoting $20 million focused on the Latino electorate. How and where will this funding be spent?

TEMO: A majority will be used on general market TV and radio in both English and Spanish. But it will also be spent on campaign literature in Spanish and bilingual, online organizing efforts, hiring of staff, training programs for grassroots organizers in Spanish and English, developing precinct leaders in battleground states and voter registration efforts.

What it’s demonstrating is we are fighting hard for every vote. We’re out to earn Latino votes in battle ground states. I’m proud of the training: programs we have going in these states.

JON: How will you win over Hillary supporters, many of whom are still harboring resentments that their candidate didn’t receive the nomination?

TEMO: One of the outcomes from having long primary contest was the feelings that supporters of candidates had toward their candidate. It’s expected. People worked years and had longtime relationships with the Senator from New York. But I’ve also seen the vast majority of her supporters, now supporting Barack. Among Latinos, Antonio Villaragoisa has been campaigning hard for us. Henry Cisneros, Hilda Solis and Nydia Velázquez and Jos6 Serrano were big Hillary supporters now on board with Barack.

My job has been to reach out to each and every one and listen to their comments and suggestions. They’ve done an amazing job in the primary and we’ve incorporated some of their strategies into our campaign. There are pockets (of resistance). It’s understandable some people are not quite there. But the vast majority is. The Senator herself is campaigning for us in Las Vegas and New Mexico.

JON: How are you addressing concerns that Obama has never visited Mexico or Latin America?

TEMO: After he won the nomination, the first trip he took was to Florida where he spoke to the Cuban American National Foundation. It was a comprehensive speech on Latin America. He didn’t just talk about Cuba but all of Latin America. He showed incredible knowledge of Latin America.

The speech is on our web site.

JON: Do you expect him to make a visit to any of those countries prior to the election?

Due to lack of space we were not able to provide you with the endind of this article – five paragraphs.

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