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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061121/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/guatemala_market_blaze_7
Tue Nov 21, 2006 @4:32 AM ET
Guatemala market fire kills at least 15
By Rodrigo Estrada, Associated Press Writer
Guatemala City - An enormous fire at Central America's largest open-air market Monday killed 15 people, including three minors, and sent up columns of smoke visible six miles away. Witnesses said the blaze was sparked by a lit cigarette.
The fire broke out in an area of illegal fireworks stands set up temporarily near a section of the permanent market where corn and beans are sold year-round, said fire department spokesman Ricardo Lemus, who confirmed the number of deaths. He did not have the ages of the minors, all of whom worked in the permanent market.
The blaze quickly destroyed about 40 of the permanent market's hundreds of shops, which cover a 5- to 8-square-kilometer (2- to 3-square-mile) area.
Lemus said the cause of the fire was still under investigation. One of the fireworks merchants, Carlos Balam, however, told The Associated Press that it was started by a lit cigarette that he saw one of his fellow vendors throw into the street.
He said a strong wind blew the cigarette back into the stalls, setting off a package of fireworks and sparking a blaze that spread rapidly. "That's what started it all," he said.
Several merchants from the corn and bean markets, who did not identify themselves, told the same story.
Officials said they did not know the exact number of wood, plastic and cardboard stands that sold fireworks along a 100-meter (-yard) stretch of roadway close to the permanent market. None of them had permission to operate there. Fireworks are popular during the holidays.
Hundreds of firefighters manning 40 trucks arrived at the market, where some merchants stayed inside "instead of taking off running like I did when I heard the explosions," said vendor Roberto Marroquin.
Some of those who stayed behind were asphyxiated by toxic fumes, Lemus said, adding that two firefighters were treated for fume inhalation and burns. The fire also destroyed more than a half-dozen vehicles.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061121/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_oaxaca_unrest_2
Tue Nov 21, 2006 @12:24 AM ET
Protesters, police clash in Oaxaca
By Rebeca Romero, Associated Press Writer
Oaxaca, Mexico - Masked protesters armed with sticks, rocks and homemade gasoline bombs clashed with police and raided a downtown hotel Monday during a march by leftists seeking the governor's resignation.
The protesters began attacking police as they marched to the city's main central plaza, prompting the officers to fire back with tear gas and pepper spray. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the clashes.
The demonstrators were then seen taking vehicles away from motorists in the center of town, including a passenger bus, which they later set on fire. They also raided a hotel, breaking the windows and spraying graffiti on its walls.
The Camino Real hotel closed its doors shortly thereafter. In September, about 300 demonstrators armed with machetes, knives and pipes descended on the same hotel searching for Gov. Ulises Ruiz, whom they accuse of rigging the 2004 election to win office and violently repressing dissent.
Protest leader Cesar Mateos said police detained some of the demonstrators Monday, but couldn't say how many. Police did not release any information on the detentions.
In Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas, meanwhile, thousands of Indian sympathizers blocked highways throughout the state in support of the Oaxacan protesters.
Last month, Fox sent more than 4,000 federal police in an attempt to end a five-month siege of the city, once one of Mexico's top tourist destinations. The protests have led to at least nine deaths, mostly of leftists who have been shot dead by gangs of gunmen.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061121/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/peru_regional_elections_4
Tue Nov 21, 2006 @12:26 AM ET
Peru Cabinet chief downplays election loss
LIMA, Peru - President Alan Garcia's party suffered a resounding defeat in weekend regional elections but his Cabinet chief Monday downplayed its significance.
With nearly 80 percent of the vote counted, official results indicated independent candidates were the big winners, taking 22 of Peru's 25 regions as frustrated Peruvians shunned traditional parties. Voters chose nearly 12,500 governors, council members and mayors in Peru's 25 regions.
Garcia's center-left Aprista party held onto only two of the 12 regional governments it won in the 2002 ballot. But Garcia's Cabinet chief Jorge del Castillo said that in the new landscape of disparate political movements the president stands out as a strong national leader because of his high approval ratings.
"The president has more than 60 percent approval," he said. "What is important ... is that people see clear leadership in the president."
While Peru's economic growth has been strong, some regions have poverty rates nearing 90 percent and most of the country's wealth is still concentrated in Lima.
In municipal elections, incumbent Lima Mayor Luis Castaneda of the conservative National Unity coalition won with 47.8 percent of the vote, officials said.
A big loser in the races was the party of nationalist Ollanta Humala, who lost a June presidential runoff to Garcia. Aside from the mayor's post in Arequipa, most of Humala's candidates were handily defeated.
Since his presidential defeat, Humala's congressional bloc has fallen apart amid complaints he has drifted too far to the left and allegations of human rights abuses stemming from his 1992 command of a jungle counterinsurgency base.
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http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/16062126.htm
Posted on Mon, Nov. 20, 2006
Farmers Branch Hispanic leaders urge 'intelligent buying'
By Anna M. Tinsley: Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Email= atinsley@star-telegram.com +817-390-7610
They call it intelligent buying. Hispanic leaders are kicking off a campaign encouraging consumers to shop only at businesses in Farmers Branch that support immigrant rights and the Hispanic community.
This is the latest development in an ongoing controversy in the small Dallas suburb where city leaders last week approved ordinances preventing illegal immigrants from renting apartments; declaring English the city’s official language; and allowing police officers to be federally trained to target “criminal aliens.”
“We need to show them our money is important,” said Carlos Quintanilla, president of the Dallas-based Azteca Business Development Group, which is spearheading the effort. “We’re basically saying if you’re going to Farmers Branch, buy from businesses that support the Hispanic community and immigrant rights.”
His organization plans to give Farmers Branch businesses stickers to put on their windows to indicate that they support intelligent buying.
“I think we’re going to have a lot of impact,” said Quintanilla, also a member of the new Farmers Branch chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “There are a lot of companies that depend on immigrant revenues.”
Farmers Branch City Councilman Tim O’Hare, who initially suggested pursuing the measures locally, said he would never encourage people not to shop at a business whose owners have different political beliefs than he does.
“That’s not good for the city,” he said. “There is a forum to address these issues. It’s through government officials, through the voting process — not through a passive-aggressive stance against local businesses. This is another attempt to intimidate people and force their way on a majority that does not agree with their views.”
The issue has drawn national attention, shining a spotlight on Farmers Branch as the most recent city to adopt anti-illegal-immigration ordinances.
Hispanic leaders say they are still hammering out a legal strategy to try to prevent the Farmers Branch ordinances from going into effect. They say they don’t know when or where a lawsuit could be filed.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, area LULAC officials and the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union are among those reviewing legal possibilities.
“We are determined to litigate it and challenge it in court,” Quintanilla said. “. . . It’s not over. This will be an ongoing battle.”
Legal challenges abound: Some other communities where similar attempts have been made face legal challenges as well.
In Hazleton, Pa., which has been a leader in the nationwide anti-illegal-immigrant movement, city leaders passed ordinances that do things such as fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that employ illegal immigrants.
A federal judge last month temporarily blocked the city from putting the measures into place and later extended the temporary block, based on a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, for up to 120 days, saying the ordinances could create some “irreparable harm.”
In Escondido, Calif., a federal judge also put a temporary hold on similar laws this month after a lawsuit by the ACLU amid concerns such as those about fair housing. That judge indicated that the laws could cause irreparable harm and that he didn’t know whether they could survive legal scrutiny. But some communities are even going further.
In Pahrump, Nev., about 60 miles west of Las Vegas, the town council even took issue with foreign flags. Officials there passed a law recently making it illegal to fly a foreign nation’s flag higher than the U.S. flag — or alone. Violators of that ordinance could have to pay $50 and serve 30 hours of community service.
“All of the illegal alien protesters are waving Mexican flags and we just got tired of it,” Pahrump town board clerk Paul Willis told the Reuters wire service. “This is the United States, and the Stars and Stripes should fly supreme.”
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http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_4689708
Article Launched:11/20/2006 12:00:00 AM MST
Linebacker plan catches more immigrants than criminals
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Email= bgrissom@elpasotimes.com ;(512) 479-6606.
Austin -- An El Paso Times analysis of reports from state border security operations shows that border sheriffs are using federal dollars meant to fight drugs and violent crime to enforce federal immigration laws.
The reports show Operation Linebacker, the program one state security official called the "cornerstone" of Texas border safety efforts, caught suspected undocumented immigrants seven times more often than it apprehended criminals.
Gov. Rick Perry and border sheriffs insist state border security operations are used to deter crime and terrorism, not to enforce federal immigration laws. Yet, the reports do not show even one terrorism-related arrest in six months. The Times, under the Texas Public Information Act, obtained six months of Operation Linebacker reports from the 16 counties receiving federal money for the operation.
Civil rights activists say the analysis indicates that some sheriffs are likely misusing federal dollars by targeting immigrants and could jeopardize millions in funding meant to fight drug-related and violent crime.
"Money the governor is allocating is clearly being misused," said Will Harrell, Texas ACLU executive director.
Some lawmakers said the numbers raise serious concerns about whether the sheriffs warrant the $100 million Perry wants legislators to allocate for future border security efforts.
"To me, the statistics say that the operation has been, in effect, an immigration operation, not a serious crime operation," said state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso.
Some lawmakers and activists also worried the security operations could be creating an atmosphere of fear in immigrant communities, causing victims to stop reporting crimes because they are afraid to be deported.
"We in the Legislature don't mind providing them help to fight crime and target drug smugglers, but certainly the money is not intended for them to enforce immigration laws," said state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen.
Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said catching undocumented immigrants is a side effect of increased law enforcement presence on the border, and the governor is not concerned about losing funding for his border security programs.
"Law enforcement is sworn to uphold laws," Walt said. "They don't pick and choose which laws to enforce."
More immigrants than criminals: The Times analyzed Operation Linebacker reports from January through June of this year from all 16 counties participating in the program.
Perry gave border county sheriffs about $10 million in federal grants for the operation. The money was to fund overtime and equipment for sheriffs' deputies to patrol rural border areas the understaffed U.S. Border Patrol often cannot.
The reports indicate sheriffs' deputies in the 16 counties requested Border Patrol assistance with 4,756 undocumented immigrants. Nearly a quarter of those were stopped in El Paso County.
During the same period, according to the reports, border sheriffs arrested 702 individuals, 179 of them on drug charges. On average, for every one arrest the sheriffs made, analysis indicated they reported seven undocumented immigrants to the Border Patrol.
The sheriffs reported encounters with 85 undocumented immigrants from countries other than Mexico. Most were from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
During six months of patrols on the 1,200-mile border, deputies reported contact with one person from Syria, which the U.S. Department of Defense has identified as a country that sponsors terrorism. The Syrian was reported in Val Verde County but was not evidently considered dangerous because no arrest was reported.
Despite those numbers, Perry's director of state homeland security, Steve McCraw, said state border security operations are not intended to round up those who come to the U.S. simply to work or reunite with family. But, he said, if officers investigating whether an individual is a criminal or terrorist find out instead the person is in the country illegally, they are obligated to contact the Border Patrol.
"No one has figured out a way to look at someone and tell if they're a terrorist, a criminal or an economic émigré," he said. "You just don't know."
McCraw said if sheriffs' deputies were "just randomly pulling people over based on how people look" it would be inappropriate and a waste of time.
Linebacker in El Paso: Border lawmakers and immigrant rights activists have most harshly criticized El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego's border security work.
They lambasted Samaniego's traffic checkpoints, which he insists are not part of Operation Linebacker, saying officers are posted in areas around colonias and schools, that deputies target brown-skinned drivers and harass them for proof of citizenship.
"Vehicle stationary checkpoints are completely separate" from Operation Linebacker, El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rick Glancey said. "I don't know how many times I have to say this to you, to other reporters and to everyone else in this community."
It is impossible to decipher from the reports where and how deputies came in contact with immigrants. But the reports clearly show local deputies reported more undocumented immigrants than any of the other departments.
El Paso County deputies intercepted 1,076 undocumented immigrants.
Glancey was adamant that deputies do not target undocumented immigrants, do not conduct racial profiling and do not enforce federal immigration laws.
"You cannot, in many cases, conduct your own normal law enforcement duties without coming in contact with" undocumented immigrants, he said.
Glancey said Operation Linebacker money allows more patrols, increasing the likelihood that deputies contact undocumented immigrants.
During the first six months of the operation, local deputies made 161 arrests, four of them drug-related. For every one arrest they made, local deputies on average reported intercepting seven undocumented immigrants to the Border Patrol.
Money misuse and fear: Operation Linebacker money comes from a U.S. Department of Justice grant program that requires law enforcement officials to use the money to fight drug-related and violent crime.
The ACLU's Will Harrell said the numbers indicate some sheriffs are using the money mostly to track down undocumented immigrants. Perry "needs to rein in those departments," Harrell said.
Money from the same grant program was also used to form drug task forces across Texas. Federal money for those operations was nearly entirely cut off after investigations revealed dozens of black residents in Tulia were wrongly charged and convicted of drug offenses.
"The governor needs to withdraw and reallocate the money if he's convinced, as I am, that the money is being misused," Harrell said.
The governor is convinced that his programs are deterring crime, his spokeswoman said.
"These figures represent activities that occur as you are reducing crime," Walt said.
She cited numbers Perry touted during his campaign that indicate crime borderwide declined 60 percent.
The Times previously reported that the governor's own homeland security director acknowledged the state could not prove border operations created a sustained drop in crime from El Paso to Brownsville, that Perry's 60-percent figure did not include crime rates in major border cities and did not account for other factors that may have contributed to crime decreases.
Also disconcerting for civil rights activists and some lawmakers is that sheriffs' deputies who target undocumented immigrants could be causing more crime than they prevent in immigrant communities.
Luis Figueroa, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund staff attorney, said when immigrants are afraid local police will report them or their family members to federal immigration officials, they will not come forward to help authorities investigate serious crime.
"It promotes fear and forces them deeper into the shadows," Figueroa said.
Immigrant rights activists in El Paso report that is precisely what has happened in some colonias and other areas where sheriffs' deputies have set up checkpoints.
Harrell said one woman told ACLU interviewers in El Paso she was so afraid that she did not report that her daughter was raped.
Priests have reported drop-offs in church attendance, as some parishioners fret to leave their homes and risk being stopped at a checkpoint, turned over to Border Patrol and separated from their families.
Perry has said he is not concerned with the long-term ramifications of his border security operations in immigrant communities. He said he hopes the programs are short-lived and the federal government will step up border efforts so state funds can be directed elsewhere.
Until Congress acts, though, he wants legislators to approve $100 million from the state budget to continue his border security programs.
Some border legislators said they are hesitant to allow state money for border security operations if sheriffs are using it more to enforce immigration laws than to apprehend violent criminals.
"State resources should be targeted to serious crime, like drug dealing, human smuggling, murders and rapes, not to roadblocks around schoolhouses," Sen. Shapleigh said.
Sen. Hinojosa said sheriffs don't have training to enforce complex federal immigration laws. He wants to see additional accountability requirements attached to any legislation that approves border security money for sheriffs.
"They dilute their power when they lose focus on criminals and start doing immigration stuff," he said. "It defeats the whole purpose."
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http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061120/NEWS/611200441/1001
Home News Tribune Online 11/20/06
Latinos becoming educated on schools
By Gina Vergel / Staff Writer
Email= gvergel@thnt.com
Edison — Resident Olga Rincon is versed in English just enough for her to help her 7-year-old daughter do her homework on school nights. In fact, the 39-year-old Colombian native said she welcomes the opportunity to help Natalie, a pupil at John Marshall School, look up words in the dictionary as a way to practice English herself.
"But she's in the second grade," Rincon said in her native Spanish with a little English thrown in here and there. "Sometimes I worry about what I'll do when she moves up to the higher grades. I also think, how do those who know little or no English do it?"
Rincon moved from the seaport city of Cartagena, Colombia, to Jersey City nine years ago. After moving to Edison this year, she joined the many first-generation Latinos and parents from other foreign countries who sometimes struggle to keep up with their children's progress in school.
"At the Catholic School (in Jersey City) Natalie went to, a lot of parents and teachers spoke Spanish," Rincon said.
But while many school districts with high populations of Latino students provide parents with translated documents, such as permission slips or progress reports, Edison is just now beginning the practice.
The township's Latino population is just under 10 percent, which according to the latest Census American Community Survey, is up from 6 percent five years ago. But there's no denying that the overall population in Edison, of which 36 percent is Asian, is as diverse as ever and booming.
As such, school officials recently held two informal meetings — one for foreign-born parents and the other for teachers — to try and get Latino parents more involved with their children's academic careers.
John Marshall School Spanish Teacher Emily Zazanis said the parent meeting attracted moms and dads from various countries — not just those from Central and South America or the Caribbean.
"Their backgrounds amazed me," Zazanis said. "These were people who were eye doctors, nurses, lawyers in their native countries and now they are cleaning ladies, factory workers or stay-at-home moms that baby-sit."
Zazanis said she was struck by how many said they often feel looked down upon.
"They feel as if they're looked as being uneducated, when many are educated," Zazanis said. "It's just that in many Spanish-speaking countries, English is not . . . pushed."
Zazanis said many Latino parents tell of how they strive to learn English.
"Many go to (English as a Second Language) programs after they get off of their first shift of work," Zazanis said. "They come to the U.S. not knowing much about the American education system and they want to help their children and be involved but they understand that communication is the most difficult barrier."
Getting involved: Resident Dora Ramos is the coordinating force behind the meetings with parents and teachers. She wanted to become part of the group of Menlo Park School parents that chatted while they waited to pick up their children at the end of the school day years ago. That desire led her to get involved, and eventually get a job, with the Edison Township School District.
"I knew no Spanish," said Ramos, a Puerto Rican native who now serves as an attendance coordinator and Human Relations Committee liaison for the township school district. "So there I was by myself, standing in a corner and this woman with blue eyes and blond hair came up to me talking Spanish."
That woman, Ramos said, was Carol Buonomo, a Spanish teacher at John P. Stevens High school.
Manomo advised Ramos to participate at school events in whatever way she could, whether it was making coffee or distributing copies at parent-teacher events.
"She was my guardian angel," Ramos said.
The involvement resulted in Ramos being able to keep on top of her son's studies. Today, he's a third-year medical student at Columbia Medical School in New York. And Ramos serves as a liaison between Latino students, parents and school officials. She also translates memos, such as the Intervention and Referral Services form, into Spanish for Latino parents.
John Marshall Guidance Counselor Susan Stoltenberg said the translation of such an important document, which warns parents of a possible need to classify their child in a special-education class, is something educators will appreciate.
"I've definitely seen a growth of Latino students and the school, and this is something that we obviously need," Stoltenberg said.
Customs, curriculum: Edison High School student Maria Mena came to the United States from the Dominican Republic 14 years ago when she was 3, she said at a recent meeting with Edison teachers. Her mother, once a police officer in the her native country, is now a waitress at the Pines Manor.
"But she works hard. She has a house, a nice car," Mena said. "My father doesn't know a word of English, so he's not involved in my schoolwork. But my mother is and . . . the toughest thing is understanding curriculum, marking periods, etc."
Just a few years ago, Mena said, her mother would show up to Guidance Counselor Gladys Carasquillo Tavares' office unannounced whenever she had a question.
"She was the only person that my mother felt comfortable with," Mena said.
Carasquillo Tavares told teachers that when Latino parents show up in person to report an absence or ask a question, they aren't disregarding the rules.
"They might not know how to navigate the automated phone system," she said.
She also addressed Latino customs that may apply to students and their parents.
"Having two last names, like mine, is important . . . it is customary to keep your mother's maiden name before your father's last name until you get married," Carasquillo Tavares said. "And don't be surprised if a Latino parent shows up at a parent-teacher conference or meeting with a grandparent, an uncle and a godparent. Latinos are a collective society."
Carasquillo Tavares also told teachers not to be offended when a student looks down when getting reprimanded.
"Not looking you in the face is a sign of respect," she said.
John Marshall School Principal Gerald Young said the meetings were held so that school officials can learn more about the cultures in the Edison community.
"We want to know how to bridge this gap with the Hispanic population in our schools," Young said.
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http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_324192245.html
Nov 20, 2006 @6:19 pm US/Central
Latinos Upset Obama Voted For Border Fence
Rafael Romo Reporting
Direct Link to Video=
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=27832@wbbm.dayport.com
(CBS) CHICAGO While U.S. Sen. Barack Obama outlined his battle plan Monday for troops to gradually pull out of Iraq, a powerful group is criticizing the popular senator for his stance on another issue.
CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports on some Latinos who are upset that he voted for a fence to go up at the border with Mexico.
"I am confident that, if you look at my track record, there hasn't been a stronger friend to the Latino community than me," Obama said on Monday.
But Hispanic leaders say he has betrayed the trust of the people who always gave him their votes.
"He's lost his vision; he's lost his feet on the ground," said Hispanic leader Carmen Velasquez.
Obama is being criticized after siding with Republicans in the Senate to approve a 700-mile wall across the Mexican border. The vote happened almost two months ago.
But CBS 2 News has learned exclusively that Obama has met privately with Hispanic leaders in an effort to convince them that his vote is part of a larger strategy.
"It's a done deal, he did it. You know, what am I going to say? Well , I know you made a mistake and we were told it was part of a bigger strategy. What strategy?" Velasquez said.
Other Latino leaders say when it comes to the Latino community, you have to look at Obama's entire record and not just one vote.
"He has a good record of supporting immigrant issues, and I think that will continue. And so I'm confident that he will be able to mend those fences, no pun intended," said state Sen. Miguel Del Valle.
On Monday afternoon, Obama wouldn't get into the details of his vote on the border wall. When asked what he would do to regain the Hispanic vote, he stopped short of saying he's never lost it.
"Are you suggesting that I lost it?" he said.
In voting for the wall, Obama joined eight other Democratic senators who sided with Republicans to approve the bill, including Hilary Clinton.
Sen. Dick Durbin did not vote for the bill saying it was the wrong approach to deal with the immigration problem.
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http://dailynews.com/news/ci_4689822
Article Last Updated:11/19/2006 09:32:47 PM PST
Blacks, Latinos far behind despite school law
The New York Times
When President George W. Bush signed his sweeping education law a year into his presidency, it set 2014 as the deadline by which schools were to close the test-score gaps that have persisted between non-Asian minority students and non-Hispanic whites since standardized testing began.
Now, as Congress prepares to consider reauthorizing the law next year, researchers in half a dozen recent studies, including three issued last week, are reporting little progress toward that goal. Despite concerted efforts by educators, the test-score gaps are so large that, on average, African-American and Hispanic students in high school can read and do arithmetic at only the average level of whites in junior high school.
"The gaps between African-Americans and whites are showing very few signs of closing," Michael T. Nettles, a senior vice president at the Educational Testing Service, said in a paper he presented recently at Columbia University. One ethnic minority - Asians - continues generally to fare as well as or better than whites.
The reports and their authors, in interviews, portrayed an educational landscape in which test-score gaps between whites and black or Hispanic students appear in kindergarten and worsen
through 12 years of public education.
Some researchers based their conclusions on federal test results, while others have cited state exams, the SAT and other widely administered standardized assessments. Still, the studies have all concurred: The achievement gaps remain, perplexing and persistent.
The findings pose a challenge not only for Bush but also for the Democratic lawmakers who joined him in negotiating the original law, known as the No Child Left Behind Act, and who will control education policy in Congress next year.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Rep. George Miller of California, expected to be the chairmen of the Senate and House education committees, will promote giving more resources to schools and researching educational strategies to improve minority performance, according to aides.
"Closing the achievement gap is at the heart of No Child Left Behind and must continue to be our focus in renewing the act next year," Kennedy said in a printed statement.
The law requires states, districts and schools to report annual test results for all racial and ethnic groups. It imposes sanctions on schools that do not show annual improvements for each group.
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