by Kenneth Burt

It took 403 years after immigrants from Spain first settled in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565 for the United States to proclaim Hispanic Heritage Week as an official annual national celebration.

In 1968, at the behest of Congress, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the commemorative event, which was extended to a full month—from Sept 15 to Oct. 15—20 years later.

With deep roots in the Great Society and some successful campaigns to insert Latinos into presidential politics, the initiative differed from most others at the time by establishing an annual celebration, not a one-time event. Co-sponsors of the Congressional Joint Resolution were predictably liberal for the most part. They included Edward R. Roybal of California and Henry B. González of Texas.

Also among them was George H. W. Bush, the current president’s father. The elder Bush was in the forefront of the Republican Party’s outreach efforts to Mexican Americans.

But President Johnson went way beyond symbolism. Johnson’s War on Poverty was the first serious effort to uplift economically disadvantaged Latinos. He started a host of federal programs, pumping money into job training and educational opportunities. He appointed a record number of Latinos to help oversee these programs, including Daniel Luevano as the Western states director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).

And for the first time, Johnson directed millions of dollars into Latino-run programs, such as Project SER, operated by the American GI Forum and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and such California-based institutions as the Center for Employment Training (CET) and the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation(MAOF).

LBJ TAUGHT LATINO KIDS

Johnson’s special relationship with Latinos went back to his days in Texas. He taught Mexican North American school children, and Spanish-surnamed voters provided the winning margin in his 1948 U.S. Senate election.

Shortly thereafter, Johnson helped Pvt. Felix Longoria fi nd a permanent resting spot in the Arlington National Cemetery after a Texas cemetery refused to bury the World War II casualty because he was Mexican.”

Given the controversy over Ken Burns’ initial exclusion of Latinos from his forthcoming PBS documentary on World War II, it is signifi cant to note that Congress signaled out battlefi eld bravery in promoting Hispanic Heritage Month.

“The Spanish-surnamed population has contributed the highest proportion of Medal of Honor winners through acts of bravery and determination in the defense of our land,” declared the U.S. Senate.

Veterans played a central role in that era’s presidential politics and in the political appointments by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Before overseeing the War on Poverty, Daniel Luevano, a World War 11 veteran, served as Undersecretary of the Army, making him at the time the highest ranked Latino in the federal government.

VETS NAMED TO LOCAL POSTS

Veterans were likewise represented at the local level. For example, President John F. Kennedy named Héctor Godinez as postmaster in Santa Ana, Calif. The national LULAC president had learned his leadership skills as a tank commander for General George Patton.

This nexus between politics and military service is best represented by Vicente Ximenes. In 1967, the president appointed Ambassador Ximenes to chair the newly created Inter-Agency Cabinet Committee on Mexican American Affairs. Winner of the Distinguished Flying Cross during World War II, Ximenes, of New Mexico, was formerly the national head of the GI Forum.

XIMENES STRESSED POLITICS

In an interview for my new book, The Search for a Civic Voice: California Latino Politics, Ximenes stressed the role of veterans in national politics. His tangible achievements included working with Congressman Roybal to enact the nation’s first bilingual education bill, which Johnson signed in January 1968.

Hispanics.He also stated that his most lasting contribution was placing Latino professionals and Latino issues into a federal government that had only started to recognize

Hispanic Heritage Month is a good time to honor the early trailblazers, many of whom served in World War II. Hispanic Link.

[Kenneth Buff is author of The Search for a Civic Voice: California Latino Politics (www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com). For more details, go to www.KennethBurt.com. Reach Burt at k.burt@sbcglobal.net.]

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by Raquel Sharp-Mendoza

Hispanic Heritage Month Left to right: Guillermo “Memo” Morantes, Mary Helen Rocha, Marcia Treidler, Cío Hernández, Marcia Treidler, Martín Mora, and Tony Ramírez hold their certificates received from KQED as Latino heroes. (photo by Marvin J. Ramírez)

To open Hispanic Heritage Month, KQED presented its annual Local Heroes event, honoring those who have excelled with their contribution to the advancement and better the lives of Latinos.

This year’s heroes included Cío Hernández, from the Marín County Health and Human Servicews Department; Martín Mora, Fire Fighters of Northern California; Guillermo “Memo” Morantes, New York Life Insurance; Tony Ramírez, Dover Elementary School; Mary Helen Rocha, The Perinatal Council; and Marcia Treidler, with ABADA- Capoeira San Francisco Grazilian Arts Center.

During his acceptance speech, Morantes said that in the Spanish language there is no concept of volunteering.

“When it comes to deciding where to volunteer or ‘to help’ with, it should be ­something that is dear to your heart and there should be some personal interest to make sure you stay committed.

For example, I started volunteering because of my sons,” Morantes said.

Helen Rocha pointed out: “I came up in a time in the U.S. when Latinos were not acknowledged and much less recognized for our involvement and contributions. I had to fight to get elected and had to fight stay in.

by the El Reportero news services

Álvaro Colom

With 76 percent of votes counted, Alvaro Colom, of the Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza leads the 9 September presidential elections with 28.04 percent.

Significance: Otto Pérez Molina of the rightwing Partido Patriota (PP) is behind him with 24.59 percent, well ahead of Alejandro Giammattei from the ruling Gran Alianza Nacional (Gana) who 17.51 percent. This means that a runoff between Colom and Pérez Molina is certain on 4 November.

One surprise in the elections was the strong performance of some of the smaller rightwing parties. Eduardo Suger, of the right wing Centro de Acción Social (CASA) scored 8.11 percent; Luis Rabbé from the Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG) (led by the controversial dirty war president, Efraín Ríos Montt) had 7.07 percent.

One big loser in the elections was Rigoberta Menchú, from the centre-left Encuentro por Guatemala (EG) who took only 3.02 percent of the vote, slightly worse than the opinion polls had been forecasting.

Neoliberalism in Latin America: what has survived

Otto Pérez Molina

The abandonment of neoliberalism in Latin America has become particularly strident since the tail-end of the 1990s, when Hugo Chávez was elected president of Venezuela. It is not, however, a new phenomenon: almost as soon as neoliberal policies – or ‘reforms’ as they were called by their proponents – began to be introduced, politicians began to campaign, if not for their outright rejection, at least for giving the policies “a human face”. Much of the ensuing disillusionment with politics and politicians arose from neoliberalism not delivering what it had initially promised, and from the failure of critics to give it that ‘human face’.

New threat to fiscal reform

The government is running into some last minute hitches over its ambitious and crucial fiscal reform package. The centrepiece of this is the innovatory Contribución Empresarial de Tasa Unica (Cetu). The last minute row, in the fi rst week of September, was over the introduction of a 5.5 percent tax on petrol.

State governors (predominantly members of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional) and the PRI itself, which wants to fl ex its political muscles after its successes in Yucatán and Veracruz – the country’s third most electorally important state – want to force changes to the government’s plan. The danger is that they will try to force too many changes which will create a majority in congress against the whole package.

by Ricardo Chavira

(First in two-pant series on changes in Cuba, exclusive to Hispanic Link News Service)

Raúl Castro

HAVANA, Cuba— Everything has changed, and nothing has changed. How else to describe the momentous and surreal political and social transformation rippling across Cuba?

With no announcement, Fldel Castro has permanently ceded power to his defense-minister brother RaúI, officials here tacitly acknowledge. In the year since Fidel became gravely ill and turned over temporarily presidential duties to Raul, the hand-off began.

It has been so gradual that only now is Washington waking up to the fact that Fidel has ensured the revolution will survive his passing. Cubans, though unsettled by the switch, continue day-to-day life as before. The transition is further complicated by the fact that Fidel has not died (contrary to recent published rumors in Miami) and still has some say in government policy.

This has led certain analysts to conclude mistakenly that the elder Castro continues to run Cuba, though in seclusion. He has weighed in to stall badly needed economic reforms, but increasingly Raul is exerting his will.

It is important to keep in mind that Raul is a staunch communist, which means the government will not veer far from its revolutionary origins.

On the other hand, Fidel’s younger brother is fairly pragmatic. He successfully pushed for reforms in the mid-9Os that saved the economy from collapse.

But under Fidel’s fieHerenciarcely anti-capitalist rule, Cuba’s economy has remained fairly anemic. Judging by his public comments, Raul is acutely aware of the nation’s plight.

Speaking at the annual July 26th Revolution Day celebration, he acknowledged what Fidel never would Cubans don’t earn a living wage. “Wages today are markedly not enough to satisfy all needs,” he said.

By contrast, Fidel, in one of the many opinion pieces he’s written in recent months, said simply reducing waste and raising Cubans’ self-esteem would boost the standard of living.

Similarly in contrast to Fidel, Raul acknowledged that on-the job theft is rampant and the product of paltry pay. The pilfering, he said, is “social indiscipline which, having taken root [will] prove difficult to eradicate.”

These are the words of a leader staking out an independent position.

Perhaps in recognition of his brother’s moderating role, RaúI asked Cubans to be patient while unspecified structural change is undertaken.

On Havana’s streets, most believe that Fidel will need to die before there can be profound economic reforms.

Chief among the expected changes would be substantial wage increases, additional private enterprise and greatly reduced Inflation.

For the second time since his brother took ill, Raul suggested it was time for Cuba and the United States to workout their differences. “If the United States authority were to finally desist from their arrogance and decide to converse in a civilized manner, it would be a welcome change,” he said.

It’s hard to imagine such talks with the Bush administration.

Washington has formed a commission to foster a transition to democracy and thwart Raul’s succession.

For the most part, life goes on, with Cubans clearly preoccupied with making a living.

Yet many ponder the strange nature of the political change. “For all of my life he has been out among the people everywhere,” says factory worker Yuriel of Fidel. “He is not dead, but he is no longer among us,” Next week: Raul inherits country restive for change.

(Hispanic Link contributing columnist Ricardo Chavira is conducting research for a book on contemporary Cuba. His e-mail is ricardochaviraSG@yahoo.com)