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Elected oficials of color share similar views on national issues

by Alex Meneses Miyashita

Elected officials of color, regardless of their race or ethnicity, tend to share similar views on a number of national policy 8issues, including immigration, the war in Iraq, the Voting Rights Act and No Child Left Behind.

The majority of them are supportive of the Voting Rights Act and policies 6that benefit immigrants. On the other hand, the large majority is against the Iraq war and in favor of returning the troops as soon as possible. Support for NCLB stands at about a third.

The conclusions were drawn from a survey of 1,354 responses from elected officials of color conducted by the Gender and Multicultural Leadership Project and released Nov. 8 in Washington, D.C.

The survey compares the views of male and female Latino, black, Asian and Native American officials, primarily at the state and local level, on policy issues, making it a first of-its-kind study, according to its investigators.

It also offers a demographic view of the composition of these office holders nationwide.

“Our intention was to look at the emerging leadership of color in public office as elected officials,” Christine Sierra, political science professor at the University of New Mexico, told Weekly Report.

She emphasized the growing role of women in politics. “Women of color often get left out of the story. They are a very important force of this new emerging leadership.

Sierra pointed out that while there are more Latinos holding public office than Latinas, the latter group is growing at a faster rate.

Findings included:

IMMIGRATION: Most elected officials of color favored offering government services to residents in languages other English, 78 percent, and providing public school instruction in other languages for limited-English proficient students, 68 percent.

Less than half supported providing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, 41 percent, and allowing legal non-citizen immigrants with children in public school to vote in school board elections, 47 percent.

IRAQ WAR: Black officials were most likely to oppose the war In Iraq, 90 percent, followed by Asians 75 percent, Native Americans, 70 percent and Hispanics 69 percent.

Slightly more than a third, including 35 percent of blacks, Asians and Native Americans, and 34 percent of Hispanics, oppose it “strongly.”

Blacks are also most likely to favor a rapid withdrawal of the troops, 93 percent, followed by Native Americans 87 percent, Hispanics 80 percent, and Asians 76 percent.

­VOTING RIGHTS ACT: Latinos and Native Americans were slightly more likely to favor bilingual ballots, 83, than blacks and Asians, 78. On the overall importance of the VRA’s reauthorization, 96 of Native Americans, 95 percent of blacks, 63 of 7Latinos and 74 percent of Asians supported it.

NCLB: Support for No Child Lefi Behind was below 50 percent. Asians expressed the most support at 37, followed by Latinos and blacks 34, and Native Americans 29.

Differences were more evident along gender lines. Latinas were more likely to oppose it than Latinos, 61 vs 49. Black women 56, black men 47. Asian women 67, Asian men 57. Native American women 40, Native American males 71.

POLITICALAFFILIATION: More than threequanters of the officials, 76, identified themselves as Democrats, 10 as Independents and 6 Republicans.

However, most of them, 34 also Identified themselves as being “middle of the road,’’ 32 as liberal and 29 as conservative.

The survey included the responses of 722 black, 509 Hispanic, 96 Asian and 27 Native American elected officials.

Sierra, who collaborated on the multi-year project with three other political science professors, all women, white, black and Asian, said they will continue to release more findings from the extensive data they have collected.

For more information, visit ­www.gmic.org.

­Hispanic Link.

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Brazilian films in the Bay Area

by Juliet Blalack

Negros Peleando Brasil 1724 AD. Pintado por Augustus Earle (1793-1838)Negros Fighting Brazil 1724 AD. Pai­nted by Augustus Earle (1793-1838)

The International Latino Film Festival will show four Brazilian fi lms Nov. 2-18. The Castro Theatre in San Francisco will play Deserto Felíz / Happy Desert at 1:30 and O ano em que meus pais saíram de ferias/ The Year My Parents Went on Vacation at 3:30 on Nov. 4. Other locations include Redwood City, San Jose, and Berkeley. For a complete schedule visit www.latinofilmfestival.org or call 415-513-5308.

Support the Jena 6 during new hearings

Four of the Jena 6 are due in court for pre-trial hearings on Wednesday, Nov. 7. The ANSWER Coalition is calling on all progressive and anti-racist forces to unite and demand to free the Jena 6, and drop all the charges. Rally at 5 p.m. that day at the Federal Courthouse, 7th and Mission streets. Contact 415-821-6545 or answer@answersf.org for more information.

Neighborhood Parks Bond Q&A with Supervisor Mirkarimi

Ross MirkarimiRoss Mirkarimi

There will be a presentation on the Neighborhood Parks Bond Nov. 8, 6pm at Park Branch Library 1833 Page St. Afterwards, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi will review his recent activities and future plans. Contact Karen Fishkin 415-921-2032.

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Sleep out for Katrina survivors

The Gulf Coast Civic Works Project demands federal action to provide living wage jobs, new infrastructure, and means for Katrina survivors to return home. The organizers will present documentaries, spoken word, and speeches from Gulf survivors in support of the GCCWP. The sleep out is scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 14, at the center of San Jose State University campus near the Smith-Carlos statue. Call 510-508-5382 or email smlipton@sjsu.edu for more information.

Parent Leadership Action Network fundraiser party

To honor parent leaders and raise funds, PLAN will host a buffet dinner with live music, Capoeira performance, raffle, and inspirational stories at Silver Dragon Restaurant, 835 Webster Street in Oakland on Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. Tickets are sliding scale, starting at $30. To purchase a ticket visit: www.parentactionnet.org or call Maria Luz Torre at 415-343-3383.

Oakland summit on jobs, housing, and justice

Join hundreds of Oakland residents as we create a vision for the development of our communities on Nov. 17 from10 a.m.-2 p.m. The Summit is a free event with childcare and translation (Spanish, Cantonese) available. Please RSVP. It will be at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church School Gym, 1500 15th Street, Oakland. Contact Leah Block at 510-290- 0978.

MILK CLUB hosts state senate debate

All of the announced candidates for state senate district 3 are scheduled to debate at the State Building’s Milton Marks Auditorium, 455 Golden Gate Ave., in San Francisco on Nov. 17 from 3-5 p.m. Contact Howard Grayson for more information 415-860-5809.

Che Guevara Remebered Forum

Educator Eduardo Martínez Zapata will examine Che Guevara’s life work as a socialist leader. A Cuban dinner will be served before the forum at 5:30 p.m. for $8.50 (sliding scale available). The forum costs $2 and beings at 7 p.m. on Nov. 17, at New Valencia Hall, 625 Larkin St., Ste. 202. For more information please call Toni Mendicino at 415-730-2917 or email ­bafsp@yahoo.com.

Self-taught artist’s drawings who once was diagnosed schizophrenic to be shown

by Antonio Mejías-Rentas

Outside In by Martín RamírezOutside In by Martín Ramírez

TREASURE TROVE: Newly discovered works by the late Mexican folk artist Martin Ramírez will be exhibited next year by the American Folk Art Museum in New York.

The 144 drawings by the self-taught master— who was diagnosed schizophrenic and created most of his work at California hospitals—were once destined for the trash and survived more than two decades in a Sacramento garage.

They were recently discovered by the heirs of Dr. Max Dunievitz, who was medical director at DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, Calif, where Ramírez died in 1963 at age 68. The Dunievitz family donated three of the works to the museum and will sell the rest. The museum, which last year organized a retrospective of Ramírez’s work, will hold an exhibition in October 2009.

According to The New York Times, the money raised by the sale will be donated in honor of Ramírez’s family to a philantropic foundation. Ramírez’s heirs have never owned one of his drawings.

Some of the drawings to be sold will be shown later this year by at New York’s Ricco Maresca Gallery.

DESERT SOUNDS: The world’s top Latin recording artists are expected this week in Las Vegas for a number of events leading up to the Nov. 8 Latin Grammy ceremony.

Gabriel García MárquezGabriel García Márquez

­Festivities begin Nov. 6 with the city premiere of the English-language fi lm Love in the Time of Cholera, adapted from Gabriel García Márquez’s novel with a soundtrack by Shakira. The Colombian singer will perform at a fundraiser dinner preceding the screening to benef t her Pies descalzas charity foundation.

Events on Nov. 7 include the Latin Recording Academy’s 2007 Lifetime Achievement Awards to Olga Guillot, Lucho Gatica and Los Tigres del Norte, among others—and the Person of the Year Award to Dominican singer-song-writer Juan Luis Guerra.

Among confirmed artists performing works by Guerra. Ricky Martin, Rubén Blades and Daddy Yankee.

Martin himself will open the Nov. 8 Latin Grammy telecast in a number that will include Las Vegas troupe Blue Man Group. Other performers Include Ivy Queen, Andrea Boccelli, Calle 13 and Conjunto Primavera.

­ONE LINER: Tenor Plácido Domingo will sing the National Anthem at the MSL soccer championship game, Nov. 16 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
Hispanic Link.

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Bilingual sixth graders get a sample of translation jobs

by Juliet Blalack

Two professional translators showed Monroe Elementary students where their bilingual skills could take them last week.

Inés Swaney and Tony Beckwith dropped by the Poetry InsideOut program and engaged the sixth graders with stories of their translation backgrounds and adventures, said teacher Anita Sagastegui.

The two also explained how bilingual skills would help students no matter what career they chose, and then Beckwith shared a poem he wrote in both English and Spanish.

Swaney translated into English while Beckwith spoke in Spanish to demonstrate simultaneous translation.

“It gave the students a real sense of pride,” said Sagastegui. Poetry Inside out is a program that uses poetry to help students from 3rd grade to high school acquire and maintain bilingual skills. The instructors emphasize that the students learn to express themselves creatively in two languages.

Gang injunction hits the Mission

Under a new injunction, alledged members of the Norteno gang are prohibited from associating with each other, showing gang signs or symbols, trying to recruit new gang members, or carrying weapons over 60 blocks in the Mission.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera successfully petitioned a gang injunction that also prohibits intimidation, trespassing, loitering, and graffiti vandalism within the safety zone between Valencia St. and Potrero Ave., north of Ceasar Chavez.

Once gang members have been properly served, they are also banned from possessing drugs, weapons, or graffiti tools within the zone.

Violations of the injunction can be pursued civilly by the City Attorney, for monetary penalties and up to five days in county jail for each violation. They can also be prosecuted criminally by the District Attorney as a misdemeanor for up to six months in county jail.

Of thirty-two alleged Norteño members originally named in the City Attorney’s proposed injunction, thirty were found by clear and convincing evidence to be active Norteño gang members. One was voluntarily released by Herrera’s office prior to the court hearing.

Governor appoints Carolina Rojas-Gore to the County Fair Board of Directors

Carolina Rojas-Gore,60, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the Sacramento County Fair Board of Directors (52nd District Agricultural Association). She has served as director of community affairs for KUVS Univision 19/Telefutura 64 since 2004.

Previously, she served as a leasing agent and events coordinator for Capitol Towers from 1997 to 2001. Rojas-Gore also served as a freelance Spanish translator from 1997 to 2004 and human resources manager for Sacramento Cable Television from 1984 to 1995. She is a member of the Mexican Cultural Center and the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no salary. Rojas-Gore is a Democrat.

San Francisco officials move toward drug injection rooms

City health officials began discussing and studying drug injection rooms as a means to reduce drug overdoses and deaths, according to the Associated Press.

Drug overdoses represented about one of every seven emergency calls handled by city paramedics from July 2006 to July 2007, said San Francisco Fire Department Capt. ­Niels Tangherlini. At the same time, the number of deaths linked to overdoses has declined from a peak of about 160 in 1995 to 40 in 2004, he said in an Associated Press interview.

San Francisco already operates a clean needle exchange program for intravenous drug users. Injection rooms are open in 27 cities in 8 other countries, but San Francisco’s program would be the fi rst in the United States. The rooms would be supervised by nurses to prevent overdoses and fatalities.

When a driver’s license not a driver’s license?

by José de la Isla

­HOUSTON — The give-and-take at the Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia, Oct. 30, finally looked like the candidates might drill down to display their differences.

The build-up was there. Barack Obama had said the week before he was going to take off the gloves. Perhaps because NBC and MSNBC with Drexel University sponsored the event, those news people felt they had a certain license to egg on the candidates.

Chris Matthews on his “Hardball” program delivered an oration saying what he thought Obama should say about Hillary Clinton.

Straight-talking Matthews likes brawls out of the East Coast political-boss tradition. Role-playing Obama, Matthews said, “Every vote she has cast, every word she has spoken says yes to the status quo. She voted to approve the war with Iraq. She just voted with the hawks to target Iran. She always seems to choose the safe boat.”

Then on debate night, John Edwards delivered the lines that Matthews had spoken, almost word-for-word. But the “pile on,” as the press called it, came after NBC’s Tim Russert asked whether Clinton supported New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s driver’s license proposal.

To her credit, Clinton — in what’s been widely attributed as skillful waffling — called it this way: By proposing to issue driver’s licenses that would be available to undocumented immigrants, Spitzer is in a touchy spot. He is in that position because Congress failed to pass immigration reform.

That sounds true enough. Indeed, Spitzer is in a tough spot because the underlying issue in New York is really not about permits to drive. The issue being heatedly debated is not about access to the state’s public roadways after proving you understand the rules of the road and have auto insurance.

The issue is really coded language that screams, “Let’s run undocumented immigrants out of town.”

Eight states have already passed legislation somewhat similar to Spitzer’s proposed administrative policy change, which would become effective within eight months. His three-tier plan makes it possible for applicants to obtain a license with identification other than a Social Security card. It was refined following a meeting with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

All the details really don’t matter in the presidential race. Attention has been diverted from real concerns — war in Iraq, Afghanistan and maybe Iran. Matthews was even bragging the next day on his program about how illegal immigration would overtake other issues as the major one after the two parties select their candidates.

In reality, the two issues are as different as cup cakes and a heart attack.

A majority of U.S. residents have long favored measures allowing undocumented immigrants to remain as permanent residents and eventual citizens or as temporary workers who go home at some point, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. When it had a chance, Congress failed to pass legislation along these lines.

­That failure has helped create the perception that more people oppose an immigration solution than actually do. Paperless immigrants make a convenient scapegoat in light of that and other national failures.

Will denying undocumented immigrants a New York driver’s license capture Bin Laden? Will having more unlicensed, uninsured drivers capture whoever is responsible for the anthrax attacks on Congress or on NBC’s Tom Brokaw?

There’s a game going on and the public needs to wise up to it.

What’s really taking place is an attempt by media stars to drive the national debate. The focus is less on public concerns and more about inciting raw emotion. The appeal to reason that the national political culture is founded on is slowly giving way to a sensationalist imprint. And the immigration issue is used as a chameleon made to fit the most recent fears — free trade, low wages, job shortages, war and terrorism.

What’s discouraging is how the broadcast ratings game is now driving the priorities of the presidential debates with cheap shots.

This presidential season, broadcast media looks more and more like Friday night wrestling. It’s phony, emotional and made to look real. Where’s Walter Cronkite now that we really need him?

[José de la Isla, author of “The Rise of Hispanic Political Power” (Archer Books, 2003) writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. E-mail joseisla3@yahoo.com]. ©2007

Latin America – the new ‘old neighbor we almost forgot

by Michael Shifter

Few would dispute that the U.S. relationship with Latin America has deteriorated over the past decade, or that the past half dozen years have been the worst. Even Bush administration officials, and certainly many Republicans in Congress, concede as much. There is manifestly less trust in inter-American affairs.

The search for an adequate explanation should begin with the larger question of how the United States is exercising its power on the global stage. The specifics of Washington’s Latin American policy, while important, should be a secondary factor.

On three key questions – immigration, agricultural subsidies and free trade – President Bush has been more in sync with the region’s democratically elected governments than has Congress, whether controlled by Republicans or Democrats. It would be hard to identify a major candidate from either party who can match President Bush’s early drive for pushing comprehensive immigration reform, reducing agricultural subsidies and promoting a free-trade agenda.

The Iraq invasion struck a real nerve in Latin America. For many there, the prevention doctrine was less a recent policy formulation than a historic reality. The United States carries a lot of baggage in Latin America, especially Central America and the Caribbean – the consequence of frequent unilateral military interventions carried out in the name of spreading democracy.

In the post-Cold War period under George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, many Latin Americans entertained the possibility that the United States would begin to pursue its interests with key allies in accordance with international law. Iraq shattered that notion.

If the United States could carry out a policy of “regime change” in the Middle East, what is stopping a comparable intervention in this hemisphere?

While serving as non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Chile and Mexico opposed the U.S. decision to invade Iraq. Washington temporarily distanced itself from these countries, disappointed it did not receive unquestioning support from its strategic “backyard.”

The shocking U.S. abuses committed in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo effectively destroyed any credibility Washington may have had on human rights and the rule of law. The Bush administration’s hypocrisy has been more costly for U.S.-Latin American relations than any specific issue on the agenda. Particularly after 9/11, Latin Americans have been troubled about the yawning gap between Washington’s priorities and the region’s social and governance agendas. In the early part of the 21st century, Latin America has experienced social dislocations and pockets of instability.

Preoccupied with the Middle East, Washington reflexively assumed the region’s governments would 6embrace U.S. objectives. Of course, they didn’t.

The world has changed, and Latin America with it, but the U.S. remains stuck in its old mindset. To begin restoring some measure of trust, it needs to take a number of concrete steps. Before the next administration takes over in 2009, the Congress should approve pending trade deals with Peru, Panama and Colombia. Since most of the region falls through the cracks on assistance programs, Congress should also back the proposal for a social investment and development fund for Latin America. It is unrealistic to expect much progress on immigration until early 2009, but comprehensive reform would send an important signal to the entire region.

U.S.-inspired anti-drug policies have yielded meager results. In Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil and other countries, drug-fueled violence poses the most serious threat to democratic governance. As the world’s largest drug consumer, the United States has shirked its full responsibility.

In Mexico, for example, nearly all drug-related killings are committed with arms easily acquired in the United States.

The Bush administration’s tacit support for the 2002 coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has cast further doubt in the region about U.S. motives.

Washington’s response to the Argentine financial crisis in late 2001 was notably cavalier, and its failure to back a troubled ally in Bolivia with even modest support was not very reassuring.

At the White House, just six days before 9/11, Bush had called the bond with Mexico “our most important relationship.” Even on policy questions where, on balance, Bush was generally supportive of Latin America, the upshot often left a bitter taste and increased irritation with Washington. His support later on for a “wall” on the border was seen as a serious affront to the region. On trade agreements with Chile and Central America, U.S. negotiators evinced little flexibility or generosity.

What is most needed to repair the relationship is for Washington to adopt a different style and fresh attitude. The new administration in Washington must take Latin America’s profound changes into account and treat the region with the seriousness it deserves, not as the stepchild of U.S. foreign policy. Trust, after all, has to be earned.

(Michael Shifter is vice president for policy at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C. He teaches Latin American politics as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Reach him at ­mshifter@thedialogue.org). 2007

Stop unaffordable mortgage loans

­by Marvin J. Ramirez

Marvin RamirezMarvin Ramirez

A recent foreclosure study shows a dramatic injustice done to minorities.

While the losses stand to hit Oakland with more than $875 million, national losses could exceed $25 billion. And what is more highlighted in this study is the racial disparities in the so called, high-cost sub-prime lending.

It would seem that is all a fraud, purposely perpetrated against hard-working people, especially people of color.

I call it fraud because I’ve heard in news accounts, that the banks or lenders, which at night pay each other with promissory notes and not with Federal Reserve Notes (cash dollars), have been putting pressure on mortgage appraisers, to inflate home prices. And this means that if you bought a home at a certain high price, you could’ve paid an illusionary price – not real. However, in your pocket is real. And many like you, might now be about to lose what you called for a short period of time, your home.

It’s been a piece-of-cake deal for the lenders, who probably, in private, divide the profits sucked in from those desired dreamers of owning their own home by charging them more than what the real value is.

Not only many people are losing their home after the bubbled mortgages hit the ceiling, but in the middle of this scheme,  entire neighborhoods are being broken up by the displacement of working families.

According to the ACORN study, the real costs communities incur when high foreclosure rates spawn is that they derelict buildings and depress residential and commercial property values.

“Neighborhoods with concentrated foreclosures experience higher rates of violent crime and artificially decreased property values, placing additional costs and maintenance burdens on local governments and devaluing the assets of neighbors – even those in good financial standing,” says the study.

As ACORN recom­mends, the rules of lending should change, or we will continue being banks’ slaves.

Loans should be modifi ed into a fi xed rate loan based on the borrower’s capacity to repay the mortgage. This could stop the abuse and bring peace to families. But this can only happens if laws are passed for this purpose.

San Francisco has a new same mayor

by Ali Tabatabai

Gavin Newsom­Gavin Newsom

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said everything short of declaring victory during his re-election celebration speech Tuesday night, including thanking his opponents for entering the race despite his overwhelming approval ratings.

In front of a crowded room full of campaign volunteers and supporters at the Ferry Building in of San Francisco, Newsom acknowledged the mayoral race as “anticlimactic” and offered his next term as moment of reconciliation with his critics. According to campaign spokesman, Nathan Ballard, Newsom had received 77 percent of the 40,000 some votes as of 8:45pm.

“I’d like to thank my opponents for having the courage to actually put their names on the ballot and not sit on the sidelines and take shots,” Newsom said, “To those who may be disappointed tonight, I’m committed to working with you in the next four years.”

Mary Watts, 19, a college student who interned with the campaign through a program called Act Locally said they mayor should focus on fixing Muni problems and homelessness during during his next term.

“I’d like to see him tackle the homelessness situation and make sure they have the right resources are available for them,” Watts said.

After his speech, Newsom said that he plans to concentrate on crime, particularly homicide rates, as well as the environment and quality of life issues.

­“You just wait and see on the environment,” said Newsom, “I’ve been working for six months on some new environmental ideas that will reignite San Francisco.”

District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty made an appearance in the crowd to show his support for Newsom’s expected victory and acknowledged the mayor’s ability to overcome publicly chronicled personal issues.

“The mayor has been through a lot of rockiness over the past year, but no matter what San Franciscans have looked beyond the headlines,” Dufty said.”

Official election results counts are not expected until two more weeks.

Emeryville protestors try to oust ICE

by Juliet Blalack

ICE, OUT OF EMERYVILLE!ICE, OUT OF EMERYVILLE! Members of group Unite Here Union, protest outside the ICE Special Agent offices in Oakland.(photo by Jennifer Delgado)­

Protestors demanded immigration officials leave Emeryville last Thursday, in the latest development of local hotel workers’ battle with the management of Woodfin Suites Hotel.

The crowd marched carrying signs such ­as “Tear down the wall of death, stop the raids” and “stop the raids no more deportation.”

They gathered outside the office of the local ICE ((Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement) at Broadway and 15th streets in Oakland at 12:15 p.m., according to Jon Rodney, the communications official for East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE).

“By pursuing workers affected by Measure C, ICE is helping employers scare their workers into silence and avoid following labor laws. That undermines labor standards for all workers, no matter where they’re from,” said Wei-Ling Huber, President of UNITE HERE Local 2850.

Emeryville voters passed Proposition C, which guaranteed living wage for hotel workers, in 2005.Woodfin Suites Hotel management tried to overturn Prop. C and did not pay its workers in accordance with the measure, according to EBASE’s website.

After employees began drawing attention to the wage violations, the management fired 12 housekeepers.

In February, the managers contacted U.S. Representative Brian Bilbray, who then asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to investigate the immigration status of the hotel workers. Woodfin CEO Samuel Hardage donates to Bilbray’s campaign and lives in his district, according to the East Bay Daily News.

ICE officials took documents from both Woodfin and the Hilton Garden Inn, and then told managers they needed to fire 12 employees.

During this time, they arrested a dishwasher who was employed by the hotel for 18 years, according to EBASE.

“I am deeply concerned by the allegations that another member of Congress – acting on behalf of a campaign contributor – may have gotten a federal agency to intervene in that dispute in a way that hurts workers in my district,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, in a statement made available to the East Bay Daily News as stating.­

Colom wins Guatemala election

by the El Reportero news services

GUATEMALA – CENTER-LEFT VICTORY: The campaign was marred by violence, with more than 50 political party activists or candidates for Congress or the local elections killed.

Center-leftist Alvaro Colom won Guatemala’s presidential election on Sunday, denying power to a retired general who had sought to unleash the army to fight a violent crime wave.

Colom, a soft-spoken textile businessman, beat General Otto Perez Molina, the former head of army intelligence, by 6 percentage points with more than 97 percent of votes counted.

“I am the nation’s president elect,” Colom told his cheering supporters.

He will be sworn in on Jan. 14, becoming the first president from the left since the end of the country’s civil war in 1996, which deeply scarred this coffee-producing nation of jungles, volcanoes and Mayan ruins.

The Central American country, a U.S. free-trade partner, has been plagued by violent drug cartels and youth street gangs since the war and has one of the world’s highest murder rates.

But voters with bad memories of atrocities under military rule rejected Perez Molina’s plans to send more soldiers onto the streets, boost the use of capital punishment and emergency powers to fight crime. Perez Molina conceded defeat.

While the complete Guatemalan Cabinet will be announced December 1st, Alvaro Colom advanced some names on Monday, including that of the future foreign minister, Haroldo Rodas.

Rodas, current general secretary of the Central American Economic Integration system (SIECA), will formally announce his withdrawal from that post at the Ibero-American Summit in Chile on Wednesday.

Colom also invited legislator Alejandro Arevalo (Unionista Party) to lead the Finance Ministry and publicized plans to transform the Economy Ministry into the General Economic Development with involvement of his advisor Edgar Barquin.­

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