by the El Reportero’s news services

Fidel y Raúl Castro

The ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro published an open letter on 18 February effectively resigning from the country’s presidency. In his letter, published by the communist mouthpiece Granma, Fidel stated “I will not aspire nor accept, I repeat, I will not aspire nor accept, the post of president of the council of state and commander in chief”. With this statement Fidel left the path clear for his younger brother, Raúl, to succeed him as Cuba’s president.

Nevertheless, he would keep his post within the National Assembly and the ruling Communist Party.

Raúl Castro, possible successor of his brother Fidel Castro in the presidency of Cuba, asked Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for help in the process of transition, since it  considers Brazil a more suitable ally than Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, Paulo said last week Sao’s newspaper Folha.

According to news versions, during the official visit that the head of state of Brazil did to Havana last January, Raúl Castro asked Lula to intervene possible private investments in Cuba and negotiation with the United States.

“For Raúl Castro, Brazil would be an ally more suitable than the Venezuela of Hugo Chávez “, said el diario de Sao Paulo, Folha.

Nicaraguan leader calls Obama’s campaign ‘revolutionary’

Hugo Chávez

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – President Daniel Ortega, who led the 1979 revolution in Nicaragua, says Barack Obama’s presidential bid is a “revolutionary” phenomenon in the United States.

“It’s not to say that there is already a revolution under way in the U.S. … but yes, they are laying the foundations for a revolutionary change,” the Sandinista leader said Wednesday night as he accepted an honorary doctorate from an engineering university. Ortega led a Soviet-backed government that battled U.S.-supported Contra rebels before he lost power in a 1990 election. He returned to office last year via the ballot box.

In statements broadcast on Sandinista Radio La Primerisima, Ortega said he has “faith in God and in the North American people, and above all in the youth, that the moment of great change in the U.S. will come and it will act differently, with justice and equality toward all nations.”

Obama, a senator from Illinois, is locked in a tight battle with Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

Barack Obama

Ortega also called Obama a spokesman for the millions of Central American and Mexican citizens who migrate to the U.S. in search of work, though polls indicate most Latino voters so far have favored Clinton over Obama.

Bomb in Mexico City kills one person

On 15 February a bomb exploded, just before 2.30pm, in a main street in Mexico City, killing one person. The police say that the homemade bomb, which appears to have been set off by a cellular telephone call, is probably neither the work of guerrillas nor gangsters.

Chávez puts Colombian paramilitaries back in spotlight

Luiz Lula da Silva

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez claimed this week that the US and Colombia planned to fill Venezuela with paramilitaries.

His remarks come weeks after he accused the same countries of plotting a conspiracy against him.

They are significant because one of the main reasons Colombia’s President Álvaro Uribe is basking in such high approval ratings at the moment is that his fierce spat with Chávez over the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) has diverted attention away from his government’s difficulties with the demobilised paramilitaries from the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC).

The Colombian peace commissioner, Luis Carlos Restrepo, reacted to Chávez’s remarks by reopening the government’s dispute with the judiciary over the legal status of demobilised paras.

(Associated Press and EFE contributed to this article).

by Emily C. Ruíz

It is going to be a turn-out question in the Texas Democratic presidential primary March 4. This is the first time Texas and its Hispanic votes could be pivotal in choosing the 2008 Democratic nominee. Both candidates promise to campaign vigorously.

“We’re going to be on television radio in Spanish and knocking on doors in Latino neighborhoods’” Temo Figueroa, field manager of the Obama campaign, told Weekly Report.

Patti Solis Doyle, interviewed Feb. 8, two days before she was relieved of her position as Clinton’s campaign manager, stressed, “We have formidable Latino support in Texas. Regardless of these friendships, we’re not going to take anything for granted.”

Solis Doyle, the only Hispanic ever to serve a major candidate at that high level, was replaced by Clinton aide Maggie Williams’ who is African American’ following Obama’s victories in Nebraska, Louisiana and Washington state Feb. 9.

On Super Tuesday’ Obama won 11 state, while Clinton carried eight. With very strong Latino support, Clinton won the popular vote in the big ones: California, New York, New Jersey, Arizona and New Mexico.

The Texas primary is more complex. It has both s popular vote and a caucus after the polls close. The caucus determines the number of delegates candidates will send to the Aug. 25-28 convention in Denver.

U.S. Senator Robert Menéndez of New Jersey noted. “Latinos in many of those states (on Super Tuesday) were the definitive factor that tipped the election to a particular candidate’ We showed we’re not just a category of demographics’ but a central part of American democracy.”

Southwest Voter Registration Education Project vice president Lydia Camarillo, stressed, “It’s truly competitive so the Latino electorate has become very pivotal.

The two candidates have accepted MSNBC’s invitation to debate in Houston on Feb. 28. Clinton’s participation may be in question after network correspondent David Shuster referred to the Clintons “pimping out” their daughter Chelsea by having her ­phone celebrities and party super-delegates on her mother’s behalf.

There are 796 super-delegates.

Overall, Clinton has 1,136 pledged delegates, Obama 1,108.

Neither candidate has accumulated the 2,025 delegate votes needed to win the party’s nomination. So far 213 super-delegates had committed to Clinton, 139 to Obama, showed a survey done by the AP.

On Feb 12 come primaries in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Obama is said to be well positioned in all three.

With three weeks remaining before the Texas primary, both camps emphasize that voters will have a greater opportunity to know the candidates and digest their messages.

“Obama will spend more because he is raising three dollars per every dollar that Hillary is raising and he has momentum,” said Camarillo.

Both sides told Weekly Report that key issues in the Hispanic community are the economy, Iraq war, job security, healthcare, education, and anti-immigrant measures.

Political analyst Andy Hernández of Austin told Weekly Report, “There is no question Latinos have been one of the strongest groups against the war, even before the war became unpopular.’’

But, he added, ~In South Texas, the fence is a huge issue. Everyone is against it because it’s really bad for businesses down there and bad for cultural relations.”

Nationally, young, eligible Latinos increase by about two million each presidential election cycle. About a million vote.

There were 9.3 million registered Hispanic voters nationally in 2004. In 2008 the figure is 12 million. In 2004 Hispanics cast 7.5 million votes. The expected number in 2008 is 10 million, Camarillo said.

Hernández expects Latinos in the Texas primary will cast between 25-30 percent of the ballots. Camarillo projects Latinos could contribute as much as 50 percent. Hispanic Link.

by the El Reportero”s staff

Salvador Durán

The only ever credit union in the Mission District that serves the district’s residents, will be at another location starting Feb. 19, in the District of Bermal Heights, when it moves from their third-floor office at the old brick, Redstone Building on 16th Street and Capp streets.

Formerly Mission Area Federal Credit Union, and now re-baptized SF Mission Credit Union, it was founded in 1971 out of a  founder’s suitcase, without any marketing and no visible storefront, was able to spread the word through word of mouth.

Since its inception, the SF Mission Credit Union has helped its current 2,500 members stabilize their financial conditions through loans and banking access, especially to those who haven’t been so lucky with other banks , and those who have never had or were able to open an account.

Among one of its most altruist endeavor has been the creation of leadership  and saving programs for children through the Youth Credit Union Program, which was the first of its kind credit union in California, to be run by youth.

The move of location will give a more visible and competitive position to the credit union, and will be able to realize its goal of recruiting more than 500 new youth and adult members by the end of 2008, according its director, Salvador Durán.

“This new office makes us more visible to the community so we can reach more people and help them with their financial situations. That is our mission—to help people,” says Durán, who is also serves as the CEO.

Over the years, one of its achievements has been to offer an alternative to those financial outlets such as payday lenders and the international money wiring in the neighborhood corridor, which according to Durán, have stripped residents of much of their money. They have “strip money away from our hard-working residents through high fees that are often predatory and not fully disclosed.”

Says Margaret Libby, Director of Mission SF Community Financial Center, with the SF Mission: “The average payday loan borrower pays back $793 for a $325 loan, which amounts to over $2 million paid annually in fees in the Mission District – for payday loans alone.”

Accroding to the statement, from their new location, located across the street from Bank of America at Mission and Valencia streets, Mission SF is launching the Tierra Firme initiative, an array of products and services—small loans and credit counseling to repair credit or build credit, small emergency loans to get people out of payday loan debt or to avoid it in the first place, affordable check cashing, international money wiring and specialized saving accounts—to move people onto solid ground, with dignity and respect. The initiative includes an awareness-raising campaign and youth employment and leadership opportunities to ensure they are financially equipped and college-ready.

The new storefront office will be located at 3269 Mission Street. For more information.