by the El Reportero’s news service

Mauricio Fumes

El Salvador’s president-elect, Mauricio Funes, reiterated on March 16, that he would not align himself with Venezuela’s leftwing President Hugo Chávez and his socialist “Bolivarian Revolution.”

It is clear that maintaining close U.S. ties will be a top priority for El Salvador’s newly elected leftist president, who met with U.S. embassy officials soon after stripping power from the ruling conservative party, which had enjoyed 20 years at the helm and a solid alliance with Washington, wrote The Miami Herald.

Mauricio Funes of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN — a former guerrilla movement — met with U.S. Embassy Charges d’Affaires Robert Blau after declaring victory in a raucous election that split the nation between those who support continuity over a new face in the political spectrum.

According to the results announced by the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), Funes won 51.26 percent of the votes, while his rival Rodrigo Avila was supported by 48.74 percent.

David Munguia, a Funes security advisor and former colonel in the Salvadoran army, said the president elect has sent clear messages he will maintain close U.S. ties.

‘’These messages will allow us to build a government that doesn’t seek confrontation,’’ said Munguia, who is part of Funes’ 12-member transition team. First contact is to be made this week with a visit by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon.

Funes, who will took power on June 1, is facing huge challenges, but the most important ones are to reduce poverty and violence.

Mexico moves up U.S. priority list

Mexico’s president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa and his government do not seem to know whether to be pleased or horrifi ed that the US government is taking such an interest in what is happening in Mexico. There is an awkward awareness, on both sides of the border, of the U.S.’s history of ignoring the Mexican government when the US feels that military action has to be taken in Mexico.

A delightful sense of Schadenfreude

Latin American bankers and regulators would be less than human if they did not feel a tingle of Schadenfreude at the problems to hit the world’s big banks. For years, U.S. and European bankers and regulators have lectured the region about the importance of living within its means and matching assets and liabilities.

Latin American bankers and regulators have practiced what was preached at them and, as a result, the region’s fi nancial systems look in good shape.

Regional defense council launches amid renewed tension

The Defense Council of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) was launched this week in Santiago de Chile. The timing of the launch was significant. Just over one year ago, a cross-border incursion by Colombian troops to destroy an encampment of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FAR) in Ecuador sparked a ­diplomatic crisis with Ecuador and Venezuela. Tension is still running high, and there is no immediate prospect of Ecuador restoring diplomatic relations with Colombia. Injudicious remarks by Colombia’s defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, last week prompted a disproportionate response from Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez.

Farc and drugs scandal rattles Ecuador as elections loom

An investigation into a cocaine shipment seized in 2007 has revealed hitherto unreported contacts between a senior offi cial from the government of President Rafael Correa and the ex number-two leader of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) almost up to the eve of the Colombian raid on his camp inside Ecuador in which he was killed. Its ramifi cations, which have already affected a regional human rights NGO, could prove damaging to Correa in the run-up to the 26 April general elections.

by Anne Wake Field

An influential new force has joined the expanding lineup of frustrated and angry critics of the federal government for its repeated failures to undo this nation’s widening immigration mess.

After digesting an extensive study covering the impact of federal inaction on local government entities, which it ordered last year, and conferring with a cross-section of its membership and officers, the International City/County Management Association is circulating its findings and recommendations to the Obama administration and Congress.

ICMA serves 9,000 municipal and county jurisdictions throughout the world. Its management decisions, it maintains, ‘’affect 185 million individuals living in thousands of communities, from small villages and towns to large metropolitan areas.”

The Washington, D.C.-based organization is calling on U.S. political powerbrokers to heed the findings of its report by incorporating four principles into a comprehensive U.S. immigration strategy:

1. Overhaul U.S. policy to reflect current (continued on page economic and social realities, including appropriate enforcement.
2. Place control at the national level and immigrant integration at the local level.
3. Conduct federal enforcement that considers the impact on communities and local governments and promotes human rights.
4. Redistribute resources equitably that are generated by immigrants.

ICMA deputy executive director Elizabeth Kellar told Hispanic Link News Service and other participating media during a March 5 teleconference, “The absence of a comprehensive approach creates public health and safety issues for our country. Local government managers see the consequences of a patchwork approach to immigration in their communities every day.”

The report, “Immigration Reform: An Intergovernmental Imperative,” stated that the current piecemeal efforts jeopardize the safety and security of citizens and immigrants alike, while imposing significant burdens on the economic and social fabric of localities.

Additionally, it said, the confusion creates intergovernmental tensions that may impede effective working relations on other issues.

Nadia Rubaii-Barrett, the report’s author, elaborated during the teleconference, “To be competitive in an increasingly interdependent and connected world, the United States needs to articulate and implement a comprehensive and coordinated intergovernmental strategy to maximize the benefits of immigrants and minimize the dangers and costs of uncontrolled immigration.

Two affected local officials also spoke, sharing their “on-the-ground” experiences.

Arlington County, Va., manager Ron Carlee emphasized local governments “must set the tone for a welcoming, tolerant and inclusive environment.

“Otherwise, there is a danger of unintended consequences from exclusion.

Creating a culture of fear and distrust of law enforcement makes a community less safe.

Denying educational opportunities to students who may continue to live in this county makes a community less safe. Denying such basic services as well as baby care, immunizations and treatment of communicable diseases makes a community less safe.”

Michael (Dave) O’Leary, city administrator of Shelton, Washington, added, “The idea is to build trust so we can get people to report crimes and then bring violators to justice. This is hard work. Many immigrants have come from places where law enforcement is to be feared. Over time, we have made progress. Occasionally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel come to town and conduct surprise arrests. Our city is caught between the goals of our national government enforcing immigration laws and those of our local government protecting people. Immigrants tend to see law enforcement as one entity. When ICE does its work, it undermines ours”.

Concluded report author Rubaii-Barrett, Department of Public Administration chair at Binghamton University’s College of Community and Public Affairs, ­“Professional local government administrators, who see on a daily basis the potential for positive immigrant contributions to their communities and the negative economic and social consequences of the current failed policies, understand that a comprehensive immigration strategy must begin with a clearly articulated division of responsibilities and the establishment and enforcement of sensible immigration policies that meet the economic and social needs of the 21st century without sacrificing security.” Hispanic Link.

by Marvin Ramírez

With the help of members of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), Armando Ramos and Fernanda Cardenas’s foreclosed home, which has already been foreclosed, was successfully spared from being sold in an auction on the steps of of the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland. In the photo below, a young man representing the auctioning OCWEN compa­ny leaves after failing to auction the house. (photo by Marvin J. Ramirez)

As foreclosures continue to inflict their devastating effects on families – especially hard-hit Hispanic and African-American households who live under a stage of fear waiting for the day when the sheriff comes and put a lock on their house – many are fighting back with a little help from ACORN, with a new strategy.

It’s not the first time that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), that uses laud protests when an auction is about to take place.

The law says that a public auction must take place on the stairs of the courthouse, at the main entrance, and it must be publically announced days in advance.

So, when the auctioneer approached the top step outside of the courthouse, members of the ACORN, the owners and their friends, simply will not let the auction to take place by protesting with high noise.

The noisy protest is aimed at stopping the auction of a home, and in this case, it was the house of Armando Ramos and Fernanda Cárdenas located on 63rd Avenue in Oakland, which they have owned for five years. About 30 protesters were able to prevent the Cárdenas home from being auctioned on March 12.

However, Cárdenas said they still fear that they could be evicted from their home some other time soon.

Cárdenas said when they first bought their house their interest rate was 6.5 percent but it was an adjustable rate that could go as high as 14 percent, so they got a second mortgage with a 9.9 percent rate.

However, he said their monthly payments jumped from $2,600 to $3,700 and they can’t afford to pay that amount. Their joint income is of about $5,000 per month.

Cárdenas said they have tried to negotiate with their lender but their lender hasn’t been responsive.

(KTVU.com contributed to this report).­

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by the El Reportero’s news services

President Hugo Chávez said on March 8 in his weekly Aló Presidente broadcast that Colombia’s hardline defense minister, Juan Miguel Santos, was “a threat to the region” and warned that he would respond “with tanks” to any Colombian military encroachment on Venezuelan soil.

Chávez’s comments, which play well at home, do not represent any real threat to bilateral relations with Colombia.

Indeed the president made a point of calling on his counterpart Alvaro Uribe to preserve relations between the two, which are dominated above all by trade.

However, the comments do come at an interesting moment: the first meeting of the new South American Defense Council, a Brazil -Venezuela initiative to formally boost regional defense co-operation for the first time in the history of the Southern Cone, takes place today and tomorrow in Santiago, Chile.

Farc and drugs scandal rattles Ecuador as elections loom

An investigation into a cocaine shipment seized in 2007 has revealed hitherto unreported contacts between a senior official from the government of President Rafael Correa and the ex number-two leader of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias

de Colombia (FARC) almost up to the eve of the Colombian raid on his camp inside Ecuador in which he was killed. Its ramifications, which have already affected a regional human rights NGO, could prove damaging to Correa in the run-up to the 26 April general elections.

Where’s the crisis heading?

The insouciance about the world ­economic crisis in Latin America’s bigger economies has proved shortlived.

In Brazil and Mexico companies are slashing costs and downgrading forecasts.

Among the middle sized economies, only Peru seems to believe that it will escape the crisis unscathed. Venezuela and Colombia have expressed worries about the crisis but barely touched the policy tiller. Chile, typically, has taken action. It has decided to raid its sovereign wealth fund to pay for a welter of new infrastructure projects.

Ecuador has gone back and opted for blunt protectionism.

by Grazia Salvemini

Maryland, one of only four remaining states that do not require proof of legal U.S, residency to obtain a driver’s license, may soon do so.

More than 60 members of that state’s House of Representatives sponsored House Bill 195, the “Proof of Lawful Presence Act 2009.” Hearings began Feb. 25.

The bill is cross-filed as Senate Bill 369. Hearings will begin March 18.

Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, has stated he will support the legislation.

O’Malley explained that thousands of undocumented persons, including many from North Carolina, travel to Maryland to obtain licenses, often entering fraudulent documents through the system.

Immigrant advocates claim that denying licenses to undocumented workers for whom such transportation is deemed essential is likely to cause thousands to drive without a license or insurance. Licensing also ensures that all drivers have passed state motor vehicle exams demonstrating that they know the rules of the road, beneficial to the safety of everyone, the advocates say.

Other states that do not check the immigration status of applicants are Hawaii, New Mexico and Washington.

Arizona rancher guilty again of abusing migrants

by Jonathan Higuera

TUCSON, Ariz.—A federal jury in Tucson ~as found that border vigilante Roger Barnett guilty of assault and intentionally inflicting motional distress on four people who were part of a group of migrants who had crossed into Arizona from Mexico without authorization. Barnett was ordered to pay a total of $77,600 to four of the six plaintiffs who testified in the two-week trial which ended Feb. 17.

The verdict stemmed from a March 7, 2004, incident on public land near Barnett’s ranch in southern Arizona. A group of 16 migrants were resting in a wash when Barnett found them and held them at gunpoint for about half an hour. During the incident, plaintiffs testified that Barnett kicked one of the women who was lying on the ground twice and ordered, “Levantarse, perros.”

While no criminal charges were ever filed in the case, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund fled a civil action against Barnett, his wife Barbara and his brother Donald, who were also present at some point during the incident. The judge dropped the charges against the latter two.

The jury dismissed three other charges against Barnett: violating the plaintiffs’ civil rights, false imprisonment and battery.

“We’re satisfied with the verdict,” Katie O’Connor, a staff member with Border Action Network, a human rights organization in southern Arizona, who sat through the trial, told Weekly Report.

“Jurors obviously connected with the plaintiffs, who had guns pointed at them and were in fear for their life. But they still couldn’t go the extra distance in recognizing that everyone in this country is entitled to certain rights, whether here legally or illegally.”

Border Action Network helped MALDEF locate the plaintiffs, which took months of work.

The verdict is the second successful civil case against Barnett. In 2006, a federal jury ordered him to pay nearly $100,000 to a Mexican-American family he detained while they were hunting on public land. The verdict was upheld last September by the ­Arizona Supreme Court.

In that 2004 incident, MALDEF reported Barnett pointed an assault rifle at the plaintiffs, including three girls ages 9 to 11. Witnesses testified that he held the family and a friend, all legal U.S. residents, at gunpoint, cursed them with racial slurs and threatened to kill them.

In an interview with Hispanic Link in 2000, Barnett claimed to have captured hundreds of undocumented migrants who, he described as “crossing the border like cockroaches in the night.”

Following the latest verdict, O’Connor said, “We hope the two large checks he has to write will persuade him not to engage in this activity in the future.” Hispanic Link.