by Alex Meneses Miyashita

Hispanic advocates and executives from the Public Broadcasting System came to no resolution after 90 minutes of discussion and debate March 6 regarding a seven-part World War 11 documentary by Ken Burns that ignores the role of Latinos in the conflict

Neither side yielded in what was otherwise described as a cordial meeting.

Hispanic advocates are demanding that PBS suspend the program’s Sept. 23 scheduled release until it includes the Latino contribution. PBS remains firm on its intent to air the documentary intact while offering alternatives that the Latino advocates rejected out of hand.

The Latino group, led by former San Diego State University staff member Gus Chavez, has requested a formal response from PBS to its demands (listed below) by March 13.

The community advocates maintained that releasing the documentary without portraying the Latino involvement would be “an insult to our community.”  They also asked for a meeting with Burns, who has a contract with PBS until 2022. So far he has declined to respond to their invitation.

Contacted by Weekly Report, a PBS spokesperson said the company will reserve comment until it communicates with the Latino participants again.

In a statement, PBS gave the explanation, “It was never the goal of the filmmakers to create a comprehensive history of the War, thus many, many stories are left untold.

PBS said that editing the film would infringe on the filmmaker’s artistic expression.

It also stated that with the national airing of the documentary, The War, on Sept. 23, it will conduct an outreach initiative to generate local productions that add more perspectives of the conflict. During the meeting, the PBS executives said they would work to ensure that Latino participation is addressed with local additions.

Group members said that is not enough. “We’re not going to compromise, that’s the bottom line,” Chavez told Weekly Report.

Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez said, “We really have to have the Latino voice in that big documentary. Burns could not find a Latino in six years…It’s perpetuating the invisibility of Latinos.” She added it will be easier for them to exclude the community next time.

Rivas-Rodriguez is co-author of “A Legacy Greater than Words,” which showcases interviews with Hispanics in World War II.

Chávez added that the group is planning to contact corporations that provide support to PBS if it decided to air the documentary without changes.

President Bush has requested a slash of $145 million of federal PBS funding for next year’s budget, he said, adding, “This is not the time for you to be messing with this.”

The group plans to reach out to leadership at national and local levels, among other actions such as a national call-in day to protest the airing of the documentary. “This kind of omission is a national tragedy,” Chávez said. “It totally denies our experience.”

He called the meeting generally productive, saying Kerger “seemed to be shook up.” He remains optimistic that changes will be added to the documentary, he said.

PBS did change its initial Sept. 16 release date, Mexican Independence Day, to Sept. 23, following pressure from advocates.

An estimated 500,000 Latinos participated in the war, according to Chávez. American GI Forum chief operating officer Rolando Esparza told Weekly Report that Latinos earned proportionally more Medals of Honor during the last century than any other group, stressing the contribution the community had made to the country’s armed forces. Hispanic Link.

Evo Morales

BOLIVIA – Something is going on in Bolivia and it is not the nationalisation claimed by the government and reported in the foreign press. Nor is it the power clash with rightwing autonomists in the east of the country. The real development is the pressure being brought to bear on President Evo Morales from the supporters that brought him to power but are positioned to the left of him.

Disenchanted with the speed of change promised by Morales one year ago, some of the president’s more radical supporters declared a (still-born) “revolutionary” government in Cochabamba during the recent uprising; they rose up in Camiri, in the Chaco region, on 2 February to demand “real nationalisation” of the gas industry, rather than the ostensible nationalisation announced by Morales last May; and then, on 6 February, 10,000 to 15,000 cooperative miners took to the streets of La Paz to protest against a new tax on the mining industry the government was planning to introduce.

by the El Reportero wire services

Álvaro Uribe

COLOMBIA – Politicians both from the opposition and the ruling coalition have called for a new legislative election following the arrest of six congressmen last week for their links to the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC). The last legislative election was held less than a year ago, in March 2006. Parties loyal to President Alvaro Uribe gained a comfortable majority in congress, with the result that Uribe was expected to exert even greater control over congress than he did in his first term. However, congress’s reputation has since been dragged through the mire. The supreme court and the public prosecutor have initiated criminal proceedings against a number of legislators over their links to paramilitaries in what has become known as the parapolitical scandal. The overwhelming majority ­of those who have been implicated belonged to the pro-Uribe parties.

by Marvin J. Ramírez

Two unseparable friends: L-R: Marvin Berroterán and Dennis Mendoza were savagely beaten in front of Berroterán’s house on South Van Ness Ave. and 24th St. house by gang members for no reason.

For approximately five years, Dennis Mendoza and Marvin Berroterán were like two inseparable brothers, both from Nicaragua, about the same age, and about the same weight size. The two best-friends hang around with other friends and shared occasional cocktails in local joints in the Mission, usually near 24th Street and South Van Ness Avenue.

The Day of the Dead Parade last November was not different, the El Reportero’s camera spotted them together watching the parade pass by just a few meters from Berroterán’s mother, where he lives with his elderly mother.

On Feb. 17, they were also together, sitting on the stairs of Berroteran’s house entrance at about 7:20 p.m., when a small group of youngsters approached them with a challenging, “what are you looking at me,” and Mendoza responding, “I am not looking at you.” The youths, according to friends close to the family, responded by spitting at Mendoza and Berroterán.

Subsequently, the group were joined by others who descended from a car, increasing their number to about 15 – armed with bats and a broken bottles, started assaulting them savagely with their weapons, leaving both, and an identified woman, critically injured on the ground.

The two men now lay on the same floor and a few beds apart from each other in the Intensive Care Unit at the San Francisco General Hospital, where both fight for their lives. The woman, who was also injured, remains hospitalized under extreme police watch, as she might be a key witness for the identification of the aggressors.

According to hospital sources, Mendoza, who worked 30 years as an engineering technician for AT&T before retiring recently, have a good chance of recuperating from the injuries suffered in the right side of the head by the eye, as well as neck injuries. Although he is considered to be in comatose status, he opens his eyes occasionally but hasn’t talked. A source told El Reportero he had contracted a lung infection.

The injuries to Berroterán, meanwhile, left him almost with little chance of survival, although a doctor at the hospital expressed remote optimism. He’s also been in comma after the assailants broke his skull with bat beating, which left him with part of his brain hanging out. His broken bone flap, which lines the inner skull and covers the brain, was removed. He is connected to an artificial respirator and fed intravenously, same as Mendoza.

At press time, El Reportero learned from non-official sources that the police- which is not talking much about the case with the media to protect the investigation – might already have knowledge of the identity of some of the suspects.