Annotations for Communities: Puerto Ricans

This is news from Latino USA. I'm María Martin. Hearings have begun on the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. While concurrently in Washington, Latino leaders held a national Latino seminar on NAFTA. Andres Jimenez of the University of California at Berkeley says this is the first time Latino organizations attempt to formulate a common strategy on a major national question because of NAFTA's far-reaching impact on US Latinos.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm María Martin. Hearings have begun on the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. While concurrently in Washington, Latino leaders held a national Latino seminar on NAFTA. Andres Jimenez of the University of California at Berkeley says this is the first time Latino organizations attempt to formulate a common strategy on a major national question because of NAFTA's far-reaching impact on US Latinos.

The impact of job displacement, environmental concerns, and not just protection of spotted owls, but protection of water in the air where people live along the border.

The impact of job displacement, environmental concerns, and not just protection of spotted owls, but protection of water in the air where people live along the border.

Latino organizations, including the National Council of La Raza, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Puerto Rican Institute for Policy Studies have signed on to a Latino consensus position on NAFTA, which calls for parallel agreements on immigration, job retraining, the environment, and for a North American Development Bank. Other organizations, including the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, accept NAFTA as negotiated.

Latino organizations, including the National Council of La Raza, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Puerto Rican Institute for Policy Studies have signed on to a Latino consensus position on NAFTA, which calls for parallel agreements on immigration, job retraining, the environment, and for a North American Development Bank. Other organizations, including the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, accept NAFTA as negotiated.

Long before the word “multicultural” came into popular usage, it was reflected on the public television's children's program, Sesame Street. Now the program is making an extra effort targeting minority children with special cultural curricula. This year, the Emmy award-winning show is placing an emphasis on Latino culture as Mandalit del Barco reports from New York.

Long before the word “multicultural” came into popular usage, it was reflected on the public television's children's program, Sesame Street. Now the program is making an extra effort targeting minority children with special cultural curricula. This year, the Emmy award-winning show is placing an emphasis on Latino culture as Mandalit del Barco reports from New York.

[Cheerful Sesame Street Music]

[Cheerful Sesame Street Music]

As Sesame Street becomes more bilingual, even the theme song incorporates Latino rhythms. With this season's emphasis on Latino cultures, viewers can watch Big Bird leading a Mariachi band, and Oscar the Grouch dancing the Mambo with Tito Puente. Sesame Street is visited by Chicano rock band Los Lobos and New York's Puerto Rican folk music group, Los Pleneros de la 21. The show goes on location to barrios in Los Angeles where kids paint a Mexican mural, and in New York where they make Puerto Rican masks and visit a community center known as a Casita. This year, the spotlight will also be on the new fluffy blue bilingual muppet, Rosita.

As Sesame Street becomes more bilingual, even the theme song incorporates Latino rhythms. With this season's emphasis on Latino cultures, viewers can watch Big Bird leading a Mariachi band, and Oscar the Grouch dancing the Mambo with Tito Puente. Sesame Street is visited by Chicano rock band Los Lobos and New York's Puerto Rican folk music group, Los Pleneros de la 21. The show goes on location to barrios in Los Angeles where kids paint a Mexican mural, and in New York where they make Puerto Rican masks and visit a community center known as a Casita. This year, the spotlight will also be on the new fluffy blue bilingual muppet, Rosita.

¡Hola Amigos! ¿Cómo están?

¡Hola Amigos! ¿Cómo están?

Muppet Rosita is played by Mexican puppeteer Carmen Osbahr.

Muppet Rosita is played by Mexican puppeteer Carmen Osbahr.

Sí, sí…yes, yeah I'm trying to help my friends to speak Spanish and all of my other friends that they're watching us. I'm trying to let them know that if they speak Spanish like me and English, they have to feel proud because they're very lucky to speak two languages.

Sí, sí…yes, yeah I'm trying to help my friends to speak Spanish and all of my other friends that they're watching us. I'm trying to let them know that if they speak Spanish like me and English, they have to feel proud because they're very lucky to speak two languages.

¿Abierto?

¿Abierto?

Yes, certainly! Abierto is the Spanish word for open! Abierto.

Yes, certainly! Abierto is the Spanish word for open! Abierto.

For many years now, Sesame Street has been teaching kids a few words in Spanish, like “hola” and “adios”, but what's different is that with its new Latino curriculum, preschool viewers will also be taught an appreciation of the diversity of Latino cultures.

For many years now, Sesame Street has been teaching kids a few words in Spanish, like “hola” and “adios”, but what's different is that with its new Latino curriculum, preschool viewers will also be taught an appreciation of the diversity of Latino cultures.

El mundo.

El mundo.

That's the world all right, and we are moving into...

That's the world all right, and we are moving into...

Puerto Rico!

Puerto Rico!

Puerto Rico it is! But look...

Puerto Rico it is! But look...

¡Cotorra!

¡Cotorra!

In studies of preschoolers, researchers for Sesame Street found Puerto Rican children have poorer self-images than white or African-American children. The Latino kids had negative feelings about their hair and skin color, and the majority of white and African-American children in this study said their mothers would be angry or sad if they were friends with a Puerto Rican child. Actress Sonia Manzano, who plays the character María on the show says that's why the Sesame Street producers decided to devote the season to addressing issues of self-esteem and pride among Latinos.

In studies of preschoolers, researchers for Sesame Street found Puerto Rican children have poorer self-images than white or African-American children. The Latino kids had negative feelings about their hair and skin color, and the majority of white and African-American children in this study said their mothers would be angry or sad if they were friends with a Puerto Rican child. Actress Sonia Manzano, who plays the character María on the show says that's why the Sesame Street producers decided to devote the season to addressing issues of self-esteem and pride among Latinos.

I had the opportunity to write a show where María's family comes to visit, and I wanted everyone in María's family to be a different skin color because that occurs in a lot of Hispanic families. Puerto Ricans especially, is that, there are people of different skin colors in the same family so…and actually have a puppet say, "Wow! But he's darker than you. How could he be related?" or "She's lighter than you. How could she be related to you?"

I had the opportunity to write a show where María's family comes to visit, and I wanted everyone in María's family to be a different skin color because that occurs in a lot of Hispanic families. Puerto Ricans especially, is that, there are people of different skin colors in the same family so…and actually have a puppet say, "Wow! But he's darker than you. How could he be related?" or "She's lighter than you. How could she be related to you?"

For the last 20 years, María and Luis have been two of the human characters on the show. In that time, they got married, had a child, and are partners in Sesame Street's Fix It Shop.

For the last 20 years, María and Luis have been two of the human characters on the show. In that time, they got married, had a child, and are partners in Sesame Street's Fix It Shop.

Here, Luis and María, who are both Latinos, are regular people. I mean… they own a business; they have a family. You know… they're just regular people. They work like everybody else… you know. They brush their teeth, they comb their hair, you know…. whatever. The role model is, "Hey, they're just like everybody else.” You know… and that's important to show.

Here, Luis and María, who are both Latinos, are regular people. I mean… they own a business; they have a family. You know… they're just regular people. They work like everybody else… you know. They brush their teeth, they comb their hair, you know…. whatever. The role model is, "Hey, they're just like everybody else.” You know… and that's important to show.

Actor Emilio Delgado, who plays Luis, says, since its beginning, Sesame Street was way ahead of most US television shows in realistically portraying Latinos.

Actor Emilio Delgado, who plays Luis, says, since its beginning, Sesame Street was way ahead of most US television shows in realistically portraying Latinos.

20 years ago when we first started doing this, I don't remember any Latinos on a regular basis on television. As a matter of fact, I can't think of any right now either.

20 years ago when we first started doing this, I don't remember any Latinos on a regular basis on television. As a matter of fact, I can't think of any right now either.

[Kid singing about his cultural roots]

[Kid singing about his cultural roots]

Sesame Street is now in its 24th season. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

Sesame Street is now in its 24th season. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

Oh, that was great! Well, this is Big Bird leaving you with one final word: "¡Viva!"

Oh, that was great! Well, this is Big Bird leaving you with one final word: "¡Viva!"

Every culture has its special days, Diaz de Fiesta. Most often, they're related to a special date in history: Fiestas Patrias, Puertorriqueños celebrate El Grito de Lares on September 23rd. Dominicanos celebrate on February 27th, the Dominican Republic's independence from Haiti. In Mexico and among Mexican Americans, Cinco de Mayo is one such day of celebration, not an Independence Day, but in memory of a battle which took place in 1862. However, as producers Laura Valera and Arthur Duncan found, the historical significance of the holiday is often lost in the midst of cultural festivities. Here's their Cinco de Mayo audio essay.

Every culture has its special days, Diaz de Fiesta. Most often, they're related to a special date in history: Fiestas Patrias, Puertorriqueños celebrate El Grito de Lares on September 23rd. Dominicanos celebrate on February 27th, the Dominican Republic's independence from Haiti. In Mexico and among Mexican Americans, Cinco de Mayo is one such day of celebration, not an Independence Day, but in memory of a battle which took place in 1862. However, as producers Laura Valera and Arthur Duncan found, the historical significance of the holiday is often lost in the midst of cultural festivities. Here's their Cinco de Mayo audio essay.

You bet. There's a battle of somewhere… I forget now.

You bet. There's a battle of somewhere… I forget now.

[Transitional Drum Music]

[Transitional Drum Music]

Cinco de Mayo has to do with the French forces attempting to occupy Mexico. Essentially what it deals with is the defeat of the French forces by the liberal forces of Benito Juarez in the city of Puebla, in the state of Puebla.

Cinco de Mayo has to do with the French forces attempting to occupy Mexico. Essentially what it deals with is the defeat of the French forces by the liberal forces of Benito Juarez in the city of Puebla, in the state of Puebla.

Do you know why we celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

Do you know why we celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

All I know is it's a Mexican holiday. I don't really know what the reason is.

All I know is it's a Mexican holiday. I don't really know what the reason is.

I don't know, is it somebody's birthday?

I don't know, is it somebody's birthday?

Ah…for me, Cinco de Mayo is a pretty good… good day.

Ah…for me, Cinco de Mayo is a pretty good… good day.

A big event?

A big event?

A big Fiesta.

A big Fiesta.

That's when the Mexicans took over. They kicked the French out of Mexico!

That's when the Mexicans took over. They kicked the French out of Mexico!

Y ganamos los mexicanos.

Y ganamos los mexicanos.

The independence of Mexico.

The independence of Mexico.

From?

From?

Spain.

Spain.

And one last thing. Do you know why we celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

And one last thing. Do you know why we celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

[Transitional Music in Spanish]

[Transitional Music in Spanish]

Cinco de Mayo did not lead to the ouster of the French. It would represent a significant victory for the Mexicans because it taught them that they could create a real sense of nationalism for them, that they could defeat invading forces and the like. It was significant on the basis of… you know, sort of a moral strength that gave the Mexicanos.

Cinco de Mayo did not lead to the ouster of the French. It would represent a significant victory for the Mexicans because it taught them that they could create a real sense of nationalism for them, that they could defeat invading forces and the like. It was significant on the basis of… you know, sort of a moral strength that gave the Mexicanos.

[Transitional Mariachi Music]

[Transitional Mariachi Music]

We just know it as a celebration, as a fiesta. Aside from it being a festival event, it's an educational event because it is the time of the year that, for some reason, many of our people put our political agendas, our turf agendas aside, and realize that we are all one of a large majority of people in this hemisphere.

We just know it as a celebration, as a fiesta. Aside from it being a festival event, it's an educational event because it is the time of the year that, for some reason, many of our people put our political agendas, our turf agendas aside, and realize that we are all one of a large majority of people in this hemisphere.

Do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

Do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

Well, doesn't every Hispanic?

Well, doesn't every Hispanic?

Bueno, cuando celebramos el Cinco de Mayo vamos aquí a las fiestas que tienen en el Fiesta Garden.

Bueno, cuando celebramos el Cinco de Mayo vamos aquí a las fiestas que tienen en el Fiesta Garden.

Yes, a big party.

Yes, a big party.

Con Mariachi, es una fiesta mexicana.

Con Mariachi, es una fiesta mexicana.

Bueno… el parque.

Bueno… el parque.

The typical barbecue con unas cervecitas aquí y allá. I just have a good time with the friends and family.

The typical barbecue con unas cervecitas aquí y allá. I just have a good time with the friends and family.

The most things that I do is dance.

The most things that I do is dance.

[Corrido Music]

[Corrido Music]

During these festivals, we also realize that there are no borders.

During these festivals, we also realize that there are no borders.

[Corrido Music]

[Corrido Music]

[Crowd chanting]

Many Latinos from across the country were among the hundreds of thousands of gays and lesbians who recently converged on Washington, D.C. They gathered in the nation's capital to celebrate their identities and demand lesbian and gay rights. In the wake of that event, Mandalit del Barco in New York spoke with several gay and lesbian Latino activists, and she prepared this report.

It's very, very difficult just to be lesbian or gay and be Latino, but I guess that at the same time, it's very beautiful.

Gay activists like Hector Seda are becoming more politically active, out there proclaiming their identities and working on issues like AIDS and equal rights. Seda is a board member of LLEGO, a national organization of lesbian and gay Latinos. He sees in this country and in Latin America an emerging political force.

It's beginning. It's happening in Puerto Rico. It's happening in general, all…I mean, it's happening in this country right now. Everybody, us, general Latinos and gays in this country, we're fighting for basic human rights.

We also have to be ready for the backlash because with visibility, there comes a very strong backlash, and usually, it's very violent.

Juan Méndez is a gay Puerto Rican who documents cases of gay bashing for the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. Méndez rejects the stereotype that Latinos traditionally have more difficulty acknowledging homosexuality than do other cultures.

Homophobia is not any more or any less than in any other community, and I think that when people start talking about the taboos and machismo, you know, and things that, really, we have a very…I would call it a racist slant or context, because, you know, I don't see any other culture that has it any different.

Many gay Latinos, like Méndez, believe that the issues important to them are not necessarily reflected in the agenda of the gay movement as a whole. For instance, he says, the issue of including gays in the military was declared an issue by white gay activists.

I, as a gay person, have no interest in being part of a military core that has invaded not only my country, but has also supported dictatorships, right-wing dictatorships in many Latin American countries, and no one in the gay and lesbian community has stopped to think about what this means for non-white lesbians and gays.

The emphasis on this issue also bothers Terry, a New York City lesbian who declined to give her last name for fear of alienating her Cuban abuelita, her grandmother. She says that when she was at the march in Washington, she was so offended that she found herself booing when they called out the names of gay military men.

Clearly, I see that the mainstream gay and lesbian movement has become more and more focused on their primary desire is to be regular Americans. That is what is happening in this gays and the military thing. They want the right to be regular Americans. Well, we're not regular Americans, no matter what we do, so I don't fit into that agenda, and I don't want to, and I never would, even if I tried.

These activists say that while some differences exist over so-called gay and lesbian issues, what is important is for lesbian and gay Latinos to develop their own unique political agendas, and not only within gay political circles, says Méndez.

We have to fight within the gay and lesbian community at large for our issues as Latinos, but we cannot forget to fight within our Latino community at large for our issues as gay and lesbian people.

For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

In New York City, Mayor David Dinkins is calling for amnesty for Puerto Rican political prisoners. Mandalit del Barco reports.

Today, there are more than 45 Puerto Ricans in federal prisons across the country, some of them in jail for 10 years or more because of their work to free Puerto Rico from its U.S. ties. Three years ago, New York City mayor David Dinkins called three of the most famous Puerto Rican Independentistas assassins. Recently, however, he announced a support for freeing more than 21 political prisoners. Dinkins agreed with an amnesty resolution approved last fall by the New York City Council, and he said he's even written to President Clinton on behalf of the prisoners, asking for freedom as a humanitarian gesture. In November, the city council called on the United Nations to declare a general amnesty for the Puerto Ricans now in jail. Their status is a continuing issue for the Senate and Congress as hearings on a Puerto Rican plebiscite continue. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

A delegation from the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, the site of a US naval base, came to Washington to ask Congress to close that base. Robert Rabin, head of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques says the Navy's presence on the island has had a negative impact on the economy and environment.

The US Navy has been bombing the island of Vieques for the last 50 years, and they also use the Western and the Vieques as giant ammunition depot. So we are asking now that the Vieques Navy bases be included in the base closure program, which is part of the Clinton administration's plan for reducing military expenditures.

A spokesperson for the Navy says moving the personnel station on Vieques could cost the Navy much more than it paid for the base in 1940. You're listening to Latino USA.

Puerto Rico's governor, Pedro Rosselló, also came to Washington to lobby Congress. Rosselló wants the US government to maintain Section 936 of the US tax code. Section 936 allows US companies operating in Puerto Rico to go without paying taxes for 10 years. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe has more.

Section 936 was originally planned as a post-World War II economic incentive to industrialize the once agricultural economy of Puerto Rico. Section 936 is viewed by many lawmakers, including President Clinton, as an unnecessary tax shelter. According to congressional figures, eliminating Section 936 would add more than 6 billion to the US Treasury. President Clinton has proposed eliminating Section 936, but Puerto Rico's governor Pedro Rosselló believes that would spell economic disaster for the island. Rosselló says Puerto Rico's unemployment rate, now at 18%, double the US average, would rise sharply. Over a third of the island's workforce is employed by Section 936 companies. Rosselló met with New York Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

What we asked him to do was to include a two-option plan. Also, that the level of contribution from Section 936 is new revenues to treasury be kept in the range of 3 billion dollars over the next five years.

Some proposals include keeping Section 936 revenues in Puerto Rico to help pay for a national healthcare plan. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

In New York, a veteran Latino politician has surprised that city's political establishment. Herman Badillo, Longtime democrat is endorsing the Republican mayoral candidate Rudolph Giuliani. Mandalit Del Barco reports.

As the elder statesman of New York's Latino politicians, Democrat Herman Badillo says he's hoping to attract a large Latino vote and democratic support for Republican challenger Rudolph Giuliani. Last election, Latinas were a crucial factor in electing Democrat Mayor David Dinkins, giving him two-thirds of their votes. This time, Latinos are being seen as a crucial voting block. Together, Badillo and Giuliani are calling theirs the Fusion Party, linking Liberals and Republicans. Others have called it the Confusion Party. 63 year old Badillo is the first Puerto Rican born congressman in the country. He was also the city's first Latino housing commissioner, burrow president and deputy mayor. Earlier this year, Badillo had hopes of running for mayor himself under the Democratic ticket, but he dropped out, citing his inability to raise enough money to be taken seriously.

Now in a bid for city controller, Badillo has been highly critical of Mayor Dinkins, and his endorsement of Giuliani is seen as a defection and a blow to other Democrats. So far, none of the other Latino elected officials in New York City have joined Badillo in supporting Giuliani. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

New Yorkers go to the polls to elect a new mayor in September. You're listening to Latino USA.

In the poverty-stricken South Bronx, a controversy has erupted over the alister of an activist Puerto Rican minister. Supporters of Episcopalian priest, Father Luis Barrios, who preaches liberation theology want him reinstated at St. Anne's Church. But his superiors say Father Barrios has gone beyond the boundaries of a good Episcopalian minister. From the South Bronx, Mandalit del Barco reports.

[Background--Sounds--Crowd chanting] Supporters of Reverend Luis Barrios have been rallying with protest songs and prayers in front of the city's episcopal cathedrals, St. John The Divine. On May 19th, the popular priest was suspended from his parish at St. Anne's Church without explanation by Episcopal Bishop Richard Green. Parishioners of the mostly working-class Puerto Rican parish are furious over Barrios's suspension from a church that's been politically active since the 1960s.

Es una injusticia y te lo que estan hacienda con el porque el padre barrio… [Translation--Dub--English]

Other priests have been doing exactly what Luis Barrios has been doing, and they have not been removed, they have not been taken out, they have not been suspended, and that's our concern that it's because he is the Puerto Rican priest at South Bronx that he's being removed.

Episcopal Bishop Richard Green, who notified Barrios of his suspension in the letter has been unavailable for comment and he reportedly refused to discuss his reasons with St. Anne's vestry, but his spokesman told the New York Times that Barrios had displayed vocational immaturity when he blessed the unions of gay couples and when he allowed a Roman Catholic priest and bishops from so-called schismatic churches to use St. Anne's. [Background--Sounds--Crowd chanting] On a recent Sunday, Barrios's supporters calling church leaders homophobic and racist rush the altar of St. Anne's Church chanting in solidarity and forcing a replacement priest to cancel mass. Meanwhile, this protest continued, Father Barrios has been waiting it out in another church, St. Mary's in Harlem. Looking back, Barrios says his troubles began in January after he delivered a sermon critical of the church.

My concern in that a particular moment in that sermon was that we talking about justice and transforming this society and the church need to play a very important role in changing society and getting into something that we call justice, but we need to start doing some cleaning inside the church. So my biggest concern, and it's still my biggest concern, is that we are in a church that is racist and homophobic, and if we are not going to deal with this, how we going to deal with the society preaching what we are not really practicing.

As a black Puerto Rican, Barrios wonders of his work for independence of the island led to his suspension, or perhaps he says it was his support for gay and lesbian rights, but being politically active is something he's always believed in, even as a child in Santurce, Puerto Rico.

The whole point was that I grew up in a church where the priest was a member of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and at the same time a very respectful priest in the denomination. And I never saw the contradiction between politic and religion. And of course he always told me that do not believe that there is a separation between politic and religion. So I grew up with that in my mind.

Barrios is still waiting for church superiors to communicate with him directly. He also believes church leaders underestimated the impact of their action on St. Anne's worshipers.

This is a Latino Black priest. Nobody's going to do nothing or sometimes is this racism that do not let you see that this person has some capacity or some organizational skill. So they took it for granted that nothing was going to happen and said, oh God, that's very dangerous to commit that kind of stupid mistakes.

Supporters say they plan to keep the pressure on until Father Barrios gets a public apology and is reinstated. Church officials, meanwhile, still decline to comment on the case. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

President Clinton say some recent polls is rapidly losing popularity with the American public. The president, for his part, says it's just that people don't understand his economic plan. Well, here at Latino USA, we wondered how US Latinos, who in November voted overwhelmingly for candidate Clinton, feel about the President's performance so far. Our first informal sampling comes from the small border community of Clint, Texas, just outside El Paso.

I'm Maria Martin. Clint Texas is a small working-class border community, quiet on a warm Saturday afternoon. Those people I spoke with fell into two categories. One, the politically apathetic, and two, those who felt that any judgment on the President is premature.

It's going to take time. It can be done in one day.

To me, it's all the same. I'm just waiting to see what kind of taxes he brings up because I am opening up my own business.

Yeah, I'm happy. We need a change. He's doing a good job.

Well, he's doing okay in some things and the other things he's not because well, he needs people to back him up.

He can't do everything the way it was. I tell you one thing, he was messed up. Our nation was pretty messed up. How can he fix in less than a year. He can't.

[Background--Sounds--Nature] I'm Emilio San Pedro in Wynwood, a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood just north of downtown Miami, Florida. Here, reaction to President Clinton's performance was mixed.

I don't know if it's too early in the year to feel the effects, but up to now I haven't felt any and I haven't seen that my community has felt anything that he's promised. I don't think he's made any changes, and we haven't felt any in the Hispanic community.

[Translation--Dub--English] Well, I think he's doing all right because it's only his first months in office.

[Translation--Dub--English] Well, I'll tell you with all my heart. I voted for Clinton because I hoped for a change, but the truth is I see things worse every day.

[Translation--Dub--English] He's going to have to raise taxes. I voted for Bush. Don't blame me.

People here in suburban Monterey Park, in Eastern LA County, are divided over the issue of President Clinton's performance on the job, with most willing to give him more time. Some felt he needed more on-the-job experience.

I think he's doing well. Everyone's saying that he's doing bad, but I think he's going to go through with it. He's going to take care of everything and improve it. They'll see, everyone's going to see how he's going to do good.

I think he's doing in between. I'm not really satisfied with everything he's doing, but he's our president, so we have to pull for him, stay together with him.

Since I saw him that he was elected, I like him because he is sincere and he tells you, he says what he thinks, and it's right for the people.

[Spanish speaking--sounds--dubbing] But with the country the way it is, it's impossible for things to get fixed in a moment. Really. It's too soon to say whether he's a good or a bad president.

In Monterey Park, reporting for Latino USA, this is Alberto Aguilar.

Four years after he was convicted in the shooting deaths of two African American men, Miami police officer William Lozano was acquitted of those same charges. After a second trial held in Orlando, Florida, the not guilty verdict in this racially charged case did not set off the widespread racial violence that many had predicted. In a round table of Latino reporters, Miami-based correspondent Ivan Roman, Nancy San Martin, and Emilio San Pedro say that's because many things have begun to change in Miami's minority communities.

The symbolic leader and the man who speaks for the African American boycott of tourism, HT Smith. He says that there have been a lot of changes in the last four years for African Americans, things that have made a difference, things that have made them feel that perhaps there is some hope, for example, that there are two Congress people representing African Americans from Florida, and that makes a statement for African Americans, the changes in the county commission. So, the situation he feels, and a lot of African Americans feel that the situation now in 1993 is not the same as it was in 1989. That's not to say that everything is fine and that everybody is, and that no one has any problems. But the point is that there is some sign that there can be some hope and that there isn't that feeling of despair that may lead people out into a riot-type situation, and that's the kind of thing that they were looking for with the boycott to bring up all these topics.

Let's talk a little bit about the background. What was at the heart of the tensions between Latinos and African Americans in the area? And in fact, there were many efforts by the local government there to ease those tensions. Have they been effective? Do the same problems still exist, and do the misunderstandings still abound, or is there, as you say, Emilio, there's a move now to say, well, things have really changed between African Americans and Latinos in the area?

There have been efforts, continuous efforts by community groups to get together to discuss their differences, and the key issue really is economic empowerment. The key issue is hopelessness because of economics, because Blacks many times are stuck in communities in day county that are basically the communities that are deprived economically and socially. They're the first communities that they want to get the schools out of. They're the first communities that they don't pick up the garbage. They're all these things that are starting to get addressed, and so people feel, okay, well let's give it another chance. Let's see what happens. Let's figure out ways to try to diminish these tensions. And they have worked a lot on it since 1989. I'm not telling you they're all the way there, but at least they've made some efforts and they're definitely trying to get rid of or quell the opportunists who will go out and riot anyway because they always are, but at least they've made some effort and people see that.

I was going to say that I think the biggest change since the riots has been that there's been a lot of communication, and I think that's the key factor. The county has a board called the Community Relations Board, and it consists of community leaders from all facets of the community who meet periodically to discuss precisely that and vent out frustrations that the community may be feeling. Since the beginning of the Lozano trial, that group has been meeting monthly to discuss ways to prevent violence and create a understanding between the various communities. And I think that's been real effective because people have been able to say what's on their mind and get the anger out before it's too late.

What's interesting is that, I don't think that across the country people necessarily look to the Miami area as one that was breeding this new kind of multicultural acceptance and living together. Do you guys sense that there's a possibility that Miami and what's happening there may in fact, have some kind of a national impact?

People tend to put Miami in a certain perspective and they don't think that maybe there is a whole sector of people that are starting to learn and appreciate each other's cultures, and I think that is something that's starting to happen in Miami. It took a while, but I think that there are Latinos who attend events in the Haitian community cultural events. There are Haitians that go to Miami Beach and take part in the South Beach environment. That's not to say that everything is coming together rapidly, but I think that there's an appreciation of other cultures in Miami that perhaps does not exist around the United States. And I think yes, in some ways Miami can become a model for people getting along.

Thank you all very much, Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, general assignment reporter for the Sun Sentinel, and Emilio San Pedro of WLRN Public Radio.

75 year 75-year-old Rosada Vaquerano calls Barrios's suspension an injustice, saying his work has empowered the South Bronx, one of the poorest communities in the country. As a proponent of liberation theology, Barrios believes it's a church's duty to work for social justice. Besides establishing a gay and lesbian ministry, Barrios created programs for Puerto Rican political prisoners and immigrants. He helped start a needle exchange program to fight AIDS and protested a medical waste incinerator in the neighborhood. St. Anne's church runs the only soup kitchen in the South Bronx and it's the home of the Pregones Theater Company. United Methodist Reverend Eddie Lopez is one of many clergy supporting Barrios.

The new Cesar Center for Chicano Studies will be part of UCLA Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction, which the university says has been in the works now for several years.

After stealing the show in movies like Do the Right Thing, White Men Can't Jump and Untamed Heart, actress and dancer, Rosie Perez will soon star in films with Jeff Bridges and Nicholas Cage. Perez is also starring in an HBO special which puts the spotlight on rap music. From New York, Mandalit Del Barco profiles Rosie Perez, the multi-talented Nuyorican.

Hi! Oh, I know where that is. That's in this neighborhood, babe. [nat sound]

At Fort Green Park in Brooklyn, up the street from Spikes Joint where filmmaker Spike Lee sells clothing and memorabilia, Rosie Perez sits on a park bench to talk about growing up not far from here. She remembers living with a big extended family in a low income area of Brooklyn called Bushwick. That's where she caught the dancing bug that eventually made her famous.

Because they used to go to the disco all the time with the hustle and everything. So, they used to use us as their partners and stuff and they would burn holes in our stockings and then our socks. They would twirl us around so much. I'm like, "All right, man, I'm tired." "Get up!" They wanted to be the king of the disco, you know, and stuff. And that's how we started.

[highlight hip hop music]

After high school, Rosie moved to Los Angeles to study biochemistry and ended up choreographing for singer Bobby Brown, rapper LL Cool J and Diana Ross. Her big screen break came in 1989 when Spike Lee cast her as Gloria, who danced like a prize fighter and cursed up a storm as his girlfriend in Do the Right Thing.

That's it. All right? [movie excerpt]

I have to get my money from Sal. I'll be back. All right? [movie excerpt]

Shits to the curb, Mookie, all right? And I'm tired of it, all right? Because you need to step off with your stupid ass self, okay? And you need to get a fucking life, Mookie, all right? Because the one you got, baby, is not working, okay? [movie excerpt]

After Do the Right Thing, Rosie landed a gig choreographing the Fly Girls on TVs In Living Color, where she brought hip hop dancing from the New York streets and nightclubs into mainstream America. After stints on TV shows like 21 Jump Street, Rosie's film career took off, playing rather loud characters like she did in the film Night on Earth. To avoid being stereotyped, Rosie says she fought hard to win roles like the Jeopardy! game queen in White Men Can't Jump.

Jeopardy! is going to call Billy. It is my destiny that I triumph magnificently on that show. [film excerpt]

Who is Peter the Great? Who is the Emperor Constantine? [film excerpt]

It's like when people think of Latin women, they think of kind of just sex-crazed maniacs that are kind of lightheaded and not really that smart. You know what I mean? And everything. And I hate that. And that's why I went after White Men Can't Jump with a vengeance because you got to be smart to get on jeopardy and win money. And, to my agents, I said, "I got to get this role, man. And I got to keep her Puerto Rican, man." I know they wanted a white girl, an Irish girl from Boston, initially for the role. I said, "But, yo, if I get in there, I got to represent, man. You got to keep her Puerto Rican, man." Look at films, look at TV. We're always the maid. We're always the one that's having the extramarital affair. Wearing the tight dress and ay... You know, all that and everything. That's fine, but don't pigeonhole us and don't have that represent us as a whole.

Soon Rosie Perez will be starring with Jeff Bridges in Fearless and with Nicholas Cage and Bridget Fonda in Cop Gives Waitress $2 Million Tip. She's also producing her own projects, including a possible film about the Puerto Rican independence movement. Comedian David Alan Grier works with Rosie on In Living Color.

The thing I like about her is that she's a hustler. I mean, she has this plan. She's building this power base. And she's got her own company, she's managing groups. I'm going to be asking her for a job in just about two or three years. She's a powerful woman.

[hip hop music highlight] [nat sound]

Grier also calls Rosie the harbinger of hip hop, youth culture that includes street dancing, graffiti and rap music. HBO, in fact, is now airing a series on hip hop that she executive-produced. The show Rosie Perez Presents Society's Ride features cutting edge rappers before a live audience at a New York nightclub. While Leaders of the New School, Brand Nubian, and Heavy D and others rock the crowd. Rosie gives the flavor backstage and on the dance floor. [background hip-hop music]

Hi!

Hi!

Society's Ride means... Leaders of the New School, the Electric Records recording artists, they gave me the name. Because I said, "I want to take people on a ride to my world. I want them to see what I feel and what I do and how I be living and everything." And they were like, "Society's ride. Society's ride." And so it just stuck and everything. And the hip hop community gets it. Everybody else goes, "what?" But that's cool. But that's what the show is about. We're showing you real. We'll teach you. We'll take you on the ride. We're in the driver's seat this time.

Rosie says HBO was nervous about the rap special at first, thinking the material would be too racy for TV. But at a time when radio and TV waters down or sensors rap lyrics, she says she fought the network to let the artists show the real deal, uncensored. With this latest project, Rosie hopes to be taken seriously as a Hollywood producer because being boss is something she loves.

I feel great. I keep all the money.

The show Rosie Perez presents, Society's Ride is airing Friday nights on HBO. For Latino USA. I'm Mandalit Del Barco in New York.

You're listening to Latino USA. Section 936 of the US Tax Code, which gives a break to US companies operating in Puerto Rico, has become a victim of budget cuts.

President Clinton says 936 is an unnecessary tax shelter, which slaps the US Treasury of billions of dollars in revenue. Government officials in Puerto Rico disagree. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

Puerto Rico's Governor Pedro Rosselló has formed a task force to lobby the Senate, where talks on Section 936 are currently underway. Heading up the task force is Clifford Myatt, director of Fomento, Puerto Rico's economic development agency. Myatt says he's found tremendous confusion on Capitol Hill concerning the issue.

We need 936, so I don't know where that logic comes from. There are others on the other hand who say that any kind of a change in 936 will destroy the island, destroy the economy of Puerto Rico. I don't believe that. To destroy the economy of Puerto Rico just by making a change in 936 is, I think far-fetched.

Puerto Rican Congress members, Jose Serrano and Nydia Velasquez of New York and Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois, together represent almost 2 million Puerto Ricans, a greater number than those living in Puerto Rico's capital. They recently met with President Clinton. Congressman Jose Serrano.

Considering the political status of Puerto Rico, where Puerto Rico is not equipped to have members of Congress discuss their situation, that it falls on us both emotionally and in every other way to discuss this issue. And we brought to the president, again, the concern that we have.

President Clinton told the Congress members he would reexamine his position. According to the White House, they've received more mail on this issue than any other since Clinton became president. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

Recently, San Francisco-based comedian and performance artist, Marga Gomez received rave reviews for her one-woman off-Broadway show called Memory Tricks. Now, Gomez is working on a television adaptation of Memory Tricks, which looks back at her New York childhood with a showbiz family. From New York, Mandalit Del Barco reports.

Marga Gomez is the funniest simulated lesbian comic and performance artist who describes herself as somewhat of a misfit Latina.

My name is Gomez, and I look Latina and I feel that. I mean, I can eat spicy food, but I can't dance salsa or speak Spanish.

Marga is the daughter of a Puerto Rican exotic dancer and a Cuban impresario. Her solo show Memory Tricks is set in her precocious New York City childhood, when her flamboyant mom and dad were considered the Lucy and Ricky of New York's Latin vaudeville scene. [highlight music]

[background music] I thought of them as big, big stars. You know, you couldn't get to be bigger stars than my parents. Actually, they were stars in their community, and their community was a very poor community, so they were like poor stars, but I thought we were just like royalty. [highlight music]

In the 1960s, Marga's dad, Willy Chevalier, was a comic actor who produced theater reviews known as Spanish Spectaculars, [background music] featuring salsa stars like Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, female contortionists, magicians and other acts. He put together sketches called La Familia Comica, which sometimes showcased her mom's Afro-Cuban dancing, they're pet chihuahua, and little Marga Gomez.

[background music] I had delusions of grandeur from a young age, because my father would just tell me all these fantastic things, I was going to be the next Shirley Temple and all that. You know? I couldn't sing, couldn't dance, but somehow I was going to be the non-singing, non-dancing, Puerto Rican-Cuban Shirley Temple.

[background music] Marga says when they got divorced, she had to choose between her dad and her mother, Margarita Estremera, also known as Margo the Exotic. Memory Tricks is Marga's tribute to a bleach blonde, fem fatal mom who used to try to teach Marga to be a perfumed lady, how to hold her pocketbook and glide, glide, glide on high heels. In a scene from a recent off-Broadway show, she remembers going on a picnic with her glamorous mom.

Let me tell you about the picnic. Remember the picnic, the one I sold my father out for? My mother promised that we would go that Sunday, right after church. I was so excited. I prayed extra hard in church. "Father, God, please, don’t let her see any stores on the way." When the priest said, "The mass is over. Go in peace," [snapping] I was gone. I ran all the way home, ran upstairs to my room, changed into my play clothes. That's what I wear all the time now, my play clothes. Then, I ran to my mother's room to see if she was awake. See, my mother couldn't go to church with me on Sundays. She was a good Catholic, but after a hard night of belly dancing, you need your rest.

In Memory Tricks, Marga talks about not wanting to grow up to be like her mom, who always wanted a Caucasian nose like Michael Jackson's. But she's found you can't escape your roots, even if they are dyed.

She'd sing all the time in the house, but she'd sing like this. [Singing] What a difference, la la la besame, besame la la She'd sing--She knew so many songs and none of the words. So that's sort of, the way I sing, too, so don't sit next to me at a rock concert. [Singing] I can’t get no la la la la la la.

Marga now lives in San Francisco where she began her adult career in show business with the feminist theater company, Lilith. She honed her comedy talents with the San Francisco Mime Troupe and is one of the original stand-up comics with Culture Clash. [Piano playing “I feel Pretty”] Not long ago, for the biennial celebration of New York's Whitney Museum, she performed her second show, "Marga Gomez is Pretty, and Witty and Gay", which deals with her sexuality.

[Piano playing] It has to do, some of it with my relationship and jealousy. My parents were very jealous of each other, and just because I'm not in a traditional relationship doesn't mean that I can't be dysfunctional. So, I talk about being a jealous girlfriend. I also have this little interlude where I'm reading from the Diary of Anaïs Nin, and I read from her Lost Diaries where she goes to Disneyland and has a tryst with Minnie Mouse.

Marga continues to do stand-up comedy and is reading for movie parts.

[background piano music] I've heard about a Frida Kalo project, and I'd like to do that because I got the eyebrows and everything, little mustache too. I'll just stop bleaching that sucker.

This summer, marga Gomez is writing the screenplay of Memory Tricks for the PBS series "American Playhouse". For Latino USA, I'm Madalit Del Barco in New York.

And finally, to get a poet's perspective on this year's National Association of Hispanic Journalist Conference, we turned to José Burciaga. He watched and listened as journalists mingled. Burciaga found a feisty network of Latino media professionals and evidence in the form of a fruit that there is still much more work to be done in consciousness raising.

It was a study of appreciation and diversity. Latino journalists could not take each other at face value. Blonde, blue-eyed, or African-American journalists could have easily been of Mexicano, Puerto Rican, or Colombian descent. The presence of women was strong, beginning with association president, Diane Alverio, who did express a lack of diversity in news media management. Only 3% of Latino journalists are managers.

At a noontime luncheon, Leonard Downie, executive editor of "The Washington Post," lamented the lack of training among all journalists. Despite the diversity of the term "all," he was taken to task for something Latinos hear a little too often: "You are ill prepared."

There was networking, interviewing for new jobs, old jobs, and workshops on everything from covering the Supreme Court to how to write a book. The conference was dedicated to the memory of Cesar Chavez with United Farm Worker Vice President Dolores Huerta giving a plenary session speech. Organizers had made sure no grapes would be served at the hotel, this to honor the United Farm Worker grape boycott. Nevertheless, an evening reception hosted by the "Chicago Tribune" featured the typical hors d'oeuvre fare crowned with a pineapple surrounded by two luscious mounds of forbidden grapes. Bothered by the hypocrisy and insensitivity, I placed the grapes on a silver tray, covered them with a napkin, laid the tray on the floor, and applied gentle foot pressure on the plump, juicy grapes. With a boycott sign over the squashed grapes, I placed the tray at the floor entrance, but this was not the end.

The word spread, and grapes were spotted at another reception on the terrace of the Freedom Forum office building. Hispanic Link News Service publisher Charlie Ericksen, carefully dumped them over the side of the 25th-floor terrace. No grapes were reported to have survived. And still, this was not the end. At another reception given by the Organization of American States, grapes were again served. This time I gave them a gentle warning, and the grapes were removed.

The OAS reception and grape boycott were a fitting end to the NAHJ conference. As I looked across the Grand Halls bedecked with the many colorful flags representing our mother countries, we invoked the memory of Cesar Chavez.

Poet José Antonio Burciaga lives, writes, and paints in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Long before the word ‘multicultural’ came into popular usage, it was reflected on the public television children's program, Sesame Street. Now, the program is making an extra effort targeting minority children with special cultural curricula. This year, the Emmy award-winning show is placing an emphasis on Latino culture as Mandalit del Barco reports from New York.

Long before the word ‘multicultural’ came into popular usage, it was reflected on the public television children's program, Sesame Street. Now, the program is making an extra effort targeting minority children with special cultural curricula. This year, the Emmy award-winning show is placing an emphasis on Latino culture as Mandalit del Barco reports from New York.

[Latino Sesame Street Music]

[Latino Sesame Street Music]

As Sesame Street becomes more bilingual, even the theme song incorporates Latino rhythms. [Latino Sesame Street Music Highlight] With this season's emphasis on Latino cultures, viewers can watch Big Bird leading a mariachi band and Oscar the Grouch dancing the Mambo with Tito Puente. Sesame Street is visited by Chicano rock band Los Lobos and New York's Puerto Rican folk music group, Los Pleneros de la 21. The show goes on location to barrios in Los Angeles where kids paint a Mexican mural, and in New York where they make Puerto Rican masks, and visit a community center known as La Casita. This year, the spotlight will also be on the new fluffy blue bilingual Muppet, Rosita.

As Sesame Street becomes more bilingual, even the theme song incorporates Latino rhythms. [Latino Sesame Street Music Highlight] With this season's emphasis on Latino cultures, viewers can watch Big Bird leading a mariachi band and Oscar the Grouch dancing the Mambo with Tito Puente. Sesame Street is visited by Chicano rock band Los Lobos and New York's Puerto Rican folk music group, Los Pleneros de la 21. The show goes on location to barrios in Los Angeles where kids paint a Mexican mural, and in New York where they make Puerto Rican masks, and visit a community center known as La Casita. This year, the spotlight will also be on the new fluffy blue bilingual Muppet, Rosita.

Hola amigos como estan?

Hola amigos como estan?

Muppet Rosita is played by Mexican puppeteer Carmen Osbahr.

Muppet Rosita is played by Mexican puppeteer Carmen Osbahr.

Si, si. Yes. Yeah. I'm trying to help my friends to speak Spanish. And all my other friends that they're watching us, I'm trying to let them know that if they speak Spanish like me, and English, they have to feel proud because they're very lucky to speak two languages.

Si, si. Yes. Yeah. I'm trying to help my friends to speak Spanish. And all my other friends that they're watching us, I'm trying to let them know that if they speak Spanish like me, and English, they have to feel proud because they're very lucky to speak two languages.

[Clip of Sesame Street] Abierto? Yes, certainly. Abierto is the Spanish word for open. Abierto!

[Clip of Sesame Street] Abierto? Yes, certainly. Abierto is the Spanish word for open. Abierto!

For many years now, Sesame Street has been teaching kids a few words in Spanish like hola and adios. But what's different is that with its new Latino curriculum, preschool viewers will also be taught an appreciation of the diversity of Latino cultures.

For many years now, Sesame Street has been teaching kids a few words in Spanish like hola and adios. But what's different is that with its new Latino curriculum, preschool viewers will also be taught an appreciation of the diversity of Latino cultures.

El Mundo.

El Mundo.

[Clip of Sesame Street] That's the word, all right? And we are moving into...

[Clip of Sesame Street] That's the word, all right? And we are moving into...

[Background music] Puerto Rico.

[Background music] Puerto Rico.

[Background music] Puerto Rico, it is, but look.

[Background music] Puerto Rico, it is, but look.

Cotorra!

Cotorra!

[Background sounds of Sesame Street]In studies of preschoolers, researchers for Sesame Street found Puerto Rican children have poorer self images than white or African-American children. The Latino kids had negative feelings about their hair and skin color, and the majority of white and African-American children in this study said their mothers would be angry or sad if they were friends with a Puerto Rican child. Actress Sonia Manzano, who plays the character Maria on the show says that's why the Sesame Street producers decided to devote the season to addressing issues of self-esteem and pride among Latinos.

[Background sounds of Sesame Street]In studies of preschoolers, researchers for Sesame Street found Puerto Rican children have poorer self images than white or African-American children. The Latino kids had negative feelings about their hair and skin color, and the majority of white and African-American children in this study said their mothers would be angry or sad if they were friends with a Puerto Rican child. Actress Sonia Manzano, who plays the character Maria on the show says that's why the Sesame Street producers decided to devote the season to addressing issues of self-esteem and pride among Latinos.

I had the opportunity to write a show where Maria's family comes to visit. And I wanted everyone in Maria's family to be a different skin color because that occurs in a lot of Hispanic families, Puerto Rican especially, is that there are people of different skin colors in the same family. And actually have a puppet say, "Wow, but he's darker than you. How could he be related? Or she's lighter than you. How could she be related to you?"

I had the opportunity to write a show where Maria's family comes to visit. And I wanted everyone in Maria's family to be a different skin color because that occurs in a lot of Hispanic families, Puerto Rican especially, is that there are people of different skin colors in the same family. And actually have a puppet say, "Wow, but he's darker than you. How could he be related? Or she's lighter than you. How could she be related to you?"

For the last 20 years, Maria and Luis have been two of the human characters on the show. In that time, they got married, had a child, and are partners in Sesame Street's fix-it shop

For the last 20 years, Maria and Luis have been two of the human characters on the show. In that time, they got married, had a child, and are partners in Sesame Street's fix-it shop

Here, Luis and Maria, who are both Latinos are regular people. I mean, they own a business, they have a family, they're just regular people. They work like everybody else. They brush their teeth, they comb their hair, whatever. It's the role model is, hey, they're just like everybody else. And that's important to show.

Here, Luis and Maria, who are both Latinos are regular people. I mean, they own a business, they have a family, they're just regular people. They work like everybody else. They brush their teeth, they comb their hair, whatever. It's the role model is, hey, they're just like everybody else. And that's important to show.

Actor Emilio Delgado, who plays Luis, says, since its beginning, Sesame Street was way ahead of most US television shows in realistically portraying Latinos.

Actor Emilio Delgado, who plays Luis, says, since its beginning, Sesame Street was way ahead of most US television shows in realistically portraying Latinos.

20 years ago, when we first started doing this, I don't remember any Latinos on a regular basis on television. As a matter of fact, I can't think of any right now either. [Background sounds of Sesame Street music]

20 years ago, when we first started doing this, I don't remember any Latinos on a regular basis on television. As a matter of fact, I can't think of any right now either. [Background sounds of Sesame Street music]

Sesame Street is now in its 24th season. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

Sesame Street is now in its 24th season. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

Oh, that was great. Well, this is big bird leaving you with one final word, Viva! [laughter] [Children yelling] [Wooshing sound]

Oh, that was great. Well, this is big bird leaving you with one final word, Viva! [laughter] [Children yelling] [Wooshing sound]

I am Maria Hinojosa on the 4th of July at the Spanish Colonial Governor's Palace in San Juan, Puerto Rico's pro-statehood governor Pedro Rosello, signed a bill which calls for a plebiscite to be held this November to decide Puerto Rico's political future. With us on the phone from San Juan to talk about what this latest step means for Puerto Rico is political analyst Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua. It seems that the Puerto Rican people are forever voting on or debating or talking about whether they want to be a state, remain a commonwealth, or be granted their independence. Now, is there anything different about the process that began with Pedro Rosello, the governor's, latest effort?

Number one, it's the first time ever that a prospective government controls the executive, both chambers of the legislature with an ample majority, and 60 of the 78 municipalities in the island. In other words, this is the first time again, since 1898 in which statehood is obviously the possible winner of a plebiscite in Puerto Rico. The second thing is that after Congress failed to implement a US oriented plebiscite, which died in the Senate two years ago, the United States has to get its act together to respond to what unilaterally, the people of Puerto Rico are going to say on the 14th of November of this year. I have said in my column in the Miami Herald that this is the moment in which finally the resistible force meets the movable object.

So what happens with the US Congress when they get the decision on November 14th of what the Puerto Rican people decide? What role does the US Congress have to play this time?

What's happening at this point is that Congressman Jose Serrano, a Puerto Rican from New York has introduced a resolution that will be discussed in the House Interior Committee that in effect, does two things. Number one, recognizes the right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination, and number two, commits the Congress to respond to the expression of the will of the people of Puerto Rico. So that the people of Puerto Rico will next year, know exactly what the reaction of the Congress has been to whatever wins in November of this Year.

Now, Juan Manuel, the fact is that Puerto Rico has been struggling with this issue for many years. [Interruption, “Absolutely”] It's an island where we've had Spanish declared the official language at times. Other times English has been taught forcibly in the schools.

That's right.

Can Puerto Rico in fact become the 51st state of the United States, and how does that look in the future?

Well, the state of movement itself, Maria has announced that only one senator, Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, has already committed himself to submit enabling legislation if statehood is voted on by the people. On the other hand, my own pulse of the Senate indicates that 29 senators will oppose the granting of stated offhand and from the very beginning. So here we have a very lopsided thing. I mean, we already have 29 names that will oppose statehood, only one that will favor it. But I think that the issue is not really whether the statehood will be granted or not. The issue is that the things will be forced to speak, that the Senate will, in effect, respond and take a position on the admission of Puerto Rico as a state of the Union.

Pues muchas gracias Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua, a columnist for the Miami Herald and a political commentator in Puerto Rico. Muchas gracias, Juanma.

Hector Lavoe, one of Salsa's superstars. Known worldwide as El Cantante de los Cantantes and the Latin Sinatra, died in New York City, June 29th, after a lifetime of music and tragedy. Thousands poured into the streets at his funeral in New York. Fans and musicians, they all came to pay tribute to Hector Lavoe. From New York, Mandalit del Barco prepared this remembrance of a salsa legend.

[Natural sounds of Hector Lavoe performing]

Hector Lavoe was known to his fans as La Cantante de los Cantantes and Sonero de los Soneros, the singer of singers.

[Highlight, Hector Lavoe performing]

On stage with Willie Colon's band and with his own orchestra. He would often urge the crowds to join him in celebrating the people of Latin America. Mi gente, he called them, my people.

He had a clear voice. Hector had very clear voice, diction was very clear.

Quatro player, Yomo Toro remembers being in Willie Colon's band with Hector Lavoe, who used to proudly call himself a jibaro, a hick from Puerto Rico.

Hector was a boy that used to love to be with the poor people. He don't mess with the big society. He don't go for that too much. Sometimes he joke, improvising. Sometimes, he came serious improvising. The town, El Pueblo, love it very much. So Hector was like an idol to the people.

Even Lavoe's reputation for making his fans wait for hours didn't affect his popularity.

The dance start 10 o'clock in the night, and Hector show up about 12 o'clock, two hours after. [Laughter] People was there waiting for Hector and the band was playing alone. When Hector came, they started screaming to Hector, very happy, and they forget about he came late. [Background music, Hector Lavoe] And then the first word that he used to say always was, "It's not that I came late, the reason is that you came too soon." [Laughter]

[Highlight, Hector Lavoe Salsa]

Hector Lavoe was born Hector Juan Perez into a musical family of singers in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1946. When he was barely six years old, he would sit by the radio, shouting out jibaro songs with singers like Daniel Santos, and Chuito El De Bayamon. [Background Music, Hector Lavoe] Eventually, he left for New York and was soon discovered by Johnny Pacheco of Fania Records who teamed him up with Willie Colon. Pianist Joe Torres worked with Hector Lavoe for 25 years. First in Willie Colon's band, then Lavoe's own orchestra.

And he was a good guy to work with. He would come in and he would party. You always enjoyed playing. That's one thing you did. You looked at his bands, guys were happy on the stage.

Percussionist Milton Cardona remembers how crazy the stage shows could get, like one New Year's Eve gig.

Hector comes out and says, "Well, the queen of welfare just asked us to play La Murga. It started a riot. Before we know it, we're up on the bandstand fighting off just about every guy in that club. I mean, it was like the Alamo, and that's when Hector got his jaw broken. Willie got knocked out unconscious. That was another good night too, yeah.

Former Latin New York magazine publisher, Izzy Sanabria, wrote a biography of Lavoe for a new compilation disc.

But all of a sudden, he was a nobody and boom, immediately made it, and all this attention was too much for him.

He says, while Lavoe sang of life in the streets of Puerto Rico and New York, his own life was filled with tragedies.

Well, his mother died when he was quite young. His brother died as a drug addict on the streets of New York. His 17-year-old son got killed by accident, I think gunshot. His mother-in-law was found stabbed to death in her apartment. I mean, it's just, his house burned down. All kinds of stuff. I think when he jumped, supposedly he jumped out of a window in Puerto Rico. I mean, that was probably some of the stuff that he couldn't take anymore. I mean, he just went through a lot of stuff.

Lavoe never quite recovered from his 1988 suicide attempt and his drug addiction. He spent his last years in hospitals with an amputated leg and living with AIDS. Lavoe was in the hospital listening to a radio tribute to his life and music when he suffered the first of two heart attacks that finally killed him. [Lavoe Music, background] After hearing of his old friend's death, Willie Colon said, "All of Latin America cried for the hero of poor people." He called him Salsa's Martyr, a monster we helped create. "Forgive us, Hector," he wrote in a statement from Spain.

[Highlight--Hector Lavoe music]

Nancy Rodriguez, co-host of New York's, WBAI Radio show, Con Sabor Latino, aired a tribute to Lavoe after his death. She was also at his wake.

I could not believe the outpour of fans that came to pay their respects to Hector Lavoe. It was, to me, like going to a parade, a Puerto Rican day parade. There were thousands and thousands of people waiting on line just to get in, with Puerto Rican flags. They were carrying flowers, everything that represented Puerto Ricans.

The funeral procession wound its way through El Barrio in the Bronx for almost three hours before getting to the cemetery, surrounded by fans. And true to form, Hector Lavoe was even late to his own burial. He might have said it wasn't that he was late, but that death came too early. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

Today on "Latino USA," Puerto Rico's political future discussed in the U.S. Congress.

We're trying to put once again on the congressional agenda the fact that the United States is a colonial power, that there is a unique and sad relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States.

And baseball goes bilingual.

[Sports Broadcast Recording] Y le muestra la señal, la manda, viene- strike!

Also, a farewell to Afro-Cuban jazz great Mario Bauzá.

Afro-Cuban is Cuban. That's why. I've got to keep a bunch of these Afro-Cuban rhythms.

That and more on "Latino USA." But first, Las Noticias.

I am Maria Hinojosa.

In November, residents of Puerto Rico will vote on whether they favor independence, statehood, or the current status of commonwealth. Right now, no matter what the result of that vote, it's the U.S. Congress who will decide the final outcome, but not if a resolution proposed by New York Congressman José Serrano is passed.

From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

Democratic Congressman José Serrano of New York said he introduced the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Resolution as a vehicle so that Congress will finally be forced to act on the status of Puerto Rico.

We're trying to put once again on the congressional agenda the fact that the United States is a colonial power, that there is a unique and sad relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States and that that relationship in a new world climate where the U.S. has been successful in pushing democracy throughout the world, that that democratic principle be extended to the island of Puerto Rico, that the people must have that right.

Supporting Serrano are the other Puerto Rican members of Congress as well as the influential New York Congressman Charles Rangel, who counts a large number of Puerto Ricans among his constituents. Rangel welcomes the resolution because he says Puerto Rico has never been clear in what they want. However, he fears that any changes from the current political situation may not go over well in Congress.

Of course, if they decide on commonwealth, then that's not changing anything and there's no profile encouraged for the Congress to support it. But when you start talking about adding senators, adding members of Congress, looking at the situation in the District of Columbia, revising the tax code, believe me, the prejudice and bigotry that exists in this country is going to be reflected in the Congress. I do hope that these biases can be overcome by legislative and executive leadership.

So when the stated bill is presented in Congress, that would then require a referendum.

All it would be is your bill, and I would treat it as a --

Discussions on the status of Puerto Rico have sometimes created tension between representatives of the island and the Puerto Rican counterparts on the mainland, particularly when it is centered on whether Puerto Ricans who don't live on the island can participate in the November island plebiscite.

At a hearing on the resolution, Democratic Congressman Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois became involved in an exchange with Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner, Carlos Romero Barceló. Barceló of the ruling statehood party believes only residents of Puerto Rico should participate in the November plebiscite.

Would you vote for it or not?

Would I vote for what?

For the statehood bill?

I would vote for a resolution of the colony of Puerto Rico in which there has been both participation of the Puerto Rican people in a very decolonizing process according to international law and principles.

In other words, you would not vote for the state under those conditions?

Under the conditions that --

The ones that I've expressed to you.

I want to make it categorically and absolutely clear to you and all the members of this body that I would never accept a decision that comes out of a non-binding vote in Puerto Rico, such as the one that is being. And no one suggests it. I think there are many people who are harmonious with me in that statement.

Ironically, this hearing was held on the 95th anniversary of the U.S. Marine invasion of Puerto Rico, shortly after which the island became a possession of the United States.

Carlos Gallisá, President of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, which favors independence for the island, says because of this, no U.S. president has taken Puerto Rico seriously, and a resolution isn't about to change that.

Puerto Rico is not in the agenda of the White House or the U.S. government, and they can care less about colonialism in Puerto Rico. They only move when the United Nations expresses about the Puerto Rican case and tell the Puerto Rican people, those representatives of the foreign countries, that Puerto Rican people exercise its right to self-determination many years ago. Well, it's politics of not confronting the issue, not facing the problem, and I don't see change in that position.

Puerto Rico's Governor, Pedro Rosselló, has said this type of resolution is not necessary. But Rosselló acknowledges that the Congress can do whatever it wants regarding Puerto Rico until there is a congressional mandate.

For "Latino USA," I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington,

This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture.

[Opening theme]

I'm Maria Hinojosa. Today on Latino USA, the border prepares for free trade.

And the question is how do you manage this process in a way that really leads to people's lives being better off?

Also, tackling border health problems and the perennial question, what do we call ourselves?

I'm Chicano.

I'm Puerto Rican,

I'm Cuban Argentine,

and now we have this new thing, non-white Hispanics. I mean, it's crazy.

[Transition Music]

That's all coming up on Latino USA. But first, las noticias.

This program is called Latino USA, but would a program by any other name, Hispanic, for instance, sound as sweet?

I consider myself a Hispanic. I don't like the term Latino.

When you say Latino, you get, I think, a warmer sense of who our people are; just a greater sense, a more comprehensive sense of culture.

What I call myself, I'm Chicano, seventh generation in this country.

I'm Puerto Rican. That's it, period.

I'm Cuban-Argentine, I'm Caribbean, and I'm South American.

And now we have this new thing, non-white Hispanics, non -- I mean, it's crazy.

I speak Spanish, but I'm not Spanish. I speak English. I'm not English, I'm Latina, I'm Hispanic, I'm Puerto Rican. I'm all of those things, just don't call me Spic.

I hate the categorizations. I really don't like them because I think that they pigeonhole us into a certain niche and we can't escape it.

It's not the most important issue facing Latinos or Hispanics or Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans or Mexican Americans. But the questions, what do we call ourselves, and why this label rather than the other, surfaces so regularly that it's almost an inside joke among Latinos or Hispanics or whatever. It's also one of the questions studied by a group of political scientists who conducted a study of political behavior called the Latino Political Survey.

The evidence that I see from the Latino National Political Survey and every other survey that I've seen that asks people to self-identify, demonstrates, I think conclusively that most people who we might choose to identify as Latino do not choose that as their first term of identification, who identify as Puerto Rican, as Mexican, as Mexican-American, as Cuban, as Cuban-American, and many other ways.

The term Latino is just a useful term in terms of describing the fact that there are all these different groups. The question is what does it mean politically? That's the significance of the term. Now, I guess the point is, if you put it all together, is that this is a very fluid kind of situation and it's something that changes over time in the sense that it depends on what kind of movement and context you have and what the leadership's saying, and it depends also on whether you have any kind of real social movement in place that does something with these kinds of symbols.

And right now, what we were falling into is mostly Hispanic being used by kind of a middle class of professionals by default because the term was either being used by the media or, I know in the Puerto Rican case, there were many Puerto Ricans that were using a term like Hispanic professionals because being Puerto Rican identified you as someone on welfare, that kind of thing. So it was a more acceptable kind of term, and those are kind of different political reasons that many of us would advance for using these types of terms.

Well, when I think of the term Latino, it brings to mind the diversity that exists within the Latino communities. It also brings to mind the fact that individual Latinos are not unidimensional, but they're multidimensional. I consider myself a Chicano, a Mexicano, a Mexican American, a Latino, a Hispanic, all depending on where I find myself, who I find myself with.

One of the other things I think about is there is a lot of out-group marriage that is occurring within the Latino community, and not necessarily to Anglos or African-Americans, but to other Latinos. I have two cousins who are Mexican American who married to non-Mexican American Latinos. What are their children? They're half Guatemalan, half Mexican? Are they going to go around saying, well, I'm half Guatemalan, I'm half Mexican? No, they go around saying, I'm Latino. When you're walking down the street in Los Angeles and an Anglo comes to you, he doesn't say, oh, excuse me, are you Mexican? Or Salvadorian? Or Nicaraguan? They see a brown face and they say, you are Mexican. So what's happening, while we have individual past histories as a Cuban, as a Puerto Rican, as a Central American, as a Mexican, our destinies are tied together as Latinos.

Over 60% of this country's Latinos, Hispanics, or... or whatever, are of Mexican descent. And as we hear in this audio essay, in their case, the issue of labels and identity takes on a whole other dimension.

[Chicano--Rumel Fuentes and Los Pinguinos del Norte]

When I was younger, we had to be Chicana/Chicano movement.

Hispanic is such a new term that it started off as nobody knew what it meant and now they know what it means and they like it.

Well, I really don't know why they call it Hispanic because we weren't Hispanics until recently.

Mexican American is fine. Chicana is fine.

The word Hispanic, I don't like. I'd rather use the word Indo-Hispanic.

I believe Hispanic is for the people from Spain.

Something for sure. We'd rather be called Hispanics than Chicana.

And the older generation thought that this was a derogatory term.

Actually Chicana, it's a slang word. It used to be a slang word for Mexicana.

I don't know why the Mexican American keeps changing names.

[Chicano--Rumel Fuentes and Los Pinguinos del Norte]

I am not Hispano. I'm not Latin American. I am not American or Spanish surname. I am not Mexican American. I am not any of those terms, those vulgar terms that come from Washington and the bureaucrats and the functionaries, and when they try to make sense of us and they make no sense of us. I do not label myself. I'm a Chicano.

Chicano has a lot of negative definitions. Chicano, I've been told it came from Mexico when they put the Chinese in Mexico in one certain area in Durango. So they called them Chinganos. They tell me Chicano means peon, the lowest class Mexican that there is. They tell me Chicano is a militant activist from the 60s that was a true radical on the extremist side. Also, I don't like people keeping themselves at one level when anybody can advance and should not be put into a class and kept there.

So when you have to fill out a form, what do you call yourself?

I call myself Caucasian. [Laughter]

You see, I'm not into that sort of thing really because I decided that I'm no longer a Latino. No, I'm a Hispanic, I'm a Hispanic dammit, and there is a difference. You see, when I was a Latino, my name was Ricardo Salinas, but now that I'm Hispanic, it's Brigardu Salinas.

I don't see that we have an identity crisis anymore. I think that we've overcome and passed that a long time ago. We know who we are and we're proud of it.

The more time that we spend on trying to identify ourselves, I think the more time it takes away from trying to do something about bettering our lives.

And hopefully then in the future we won't have to be concerned about what we want to call ourselves.

[unintelligible] Don’t you panic, it’s the decade of the Hispanic! [unintelligible] Don’t you panic, it’s the decade of the Hispanic!

Syndicated columnist, Roger Hernandez of New Jersey has his own views on the issue of labels. Today, Hernandez tells us why he thinks we should call ourselves Hispanic rather than Latino, and why sometimes we should reject both labels.

Over the course of history, every Spanish-speaking country developed its own idiosyncrasies, its own cultural sense of self. Argentina, for instance, is largely made up of European immigrants. Neighboring Paraguay is so influenced by pre-Colombian cultures that the official languages are Spanish and Guarani, and the Dominican Republic has roots buried deeply in the soil of Africa. We're all different, so it's more precise to say Merengue is specifically Dominican music and that Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday, not Hispanic, not Latino, too generic. The point is that the all-inclusive word, whether Hispanic or Latino, is often misused. Used, in other words, to cover over ignorance about who we are and how we differ from each other. But there is something else just as important. Our diversity does not erase the reality that we all do have something in common, no matter our nationality or the color of our skin or our social class.

And to talk about what we have in common, there is only one starting point; that which is Spanish, as in Spain. Language tops the list. Spanish is a common bond. Then there is culture. Why does an old church in the Peruvian Altiplano look so much like a mission church in California? You can find the answer in Andalusia. And why does a child in Santiago de Cuba know the same nursery rhymes as a child in Santiago, Chile? Listen to a child sing in Santa De Compostela, Spain and you'll hear Mambrú se fue a la guerra and arroz con leche.

Yet the word Spanish does not describe us. It is too closely tied to Spain alone. Latin and Latino lack precision. After all, the Italians and the French are Latin too. Hispanic derives from Spanish, but it's not quite the same. It suggests what we have in common without over-emphasizing it, so it leaves room for our diversity. And no, the word was not invented by the US census. The word Hispano has long existed in the Spanish language, and its English translation is Hispanic. What we all share and what no one else in the world has is being Hispanic. For Latino USA, I'm Roger Hernandez.

Commentator Roger Hernandez writes a syndicated column for the King Features Syndicate. It appears in 34 newspapers nationwide.

In Puerto Rico, Governor Pedro Rosselló has officially kicked off the campaign for the November vote on the island's political status. While the New York, Latino politicians have begun their own campaign to hold a vote in which New York Puerto Ricans could have a say in the future of their homeland. From New York City, Mandalit del Barco has more.

In November Puerto Ricans on the island will be choosing to endorse independence, continued commonwealth status, or a petition to Congress for statehood. But there are another 2.6 million Puerto Ricans on the mainland, who were born on the island or whose parents were. Many of them are in New York where Puerto Ricans are now the largest ethnic group. Organizers of the New York vote say the voices of Puerto Ricans on the mainland would significantly influence how Congress responds to the island's decision, although their votes would not be counted in the plebiscite. The vote in New York is scheduled for October 7th, 8th, and 9th. Organizers including Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer and city councilman Jose Rivera say they're talking to leaders in Florida, Illinois and New Jersey to urge them to have similar votes. Some Puerto Ricans on the island, however, including pro statehood governor, Pedro Rosselló oppose the so-called parallel plebiscite, but many Puerto Rican New Yorkers feel close ties to the island and they hope to play a role in what's regarded as a pivotal moment in their homelands' history. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York,

The musical style known as La Nueva Canción, the new song movement, was beginning in the mid sixties and for 20 years, the signature sound of Latin American music. Founded by singers Violeta Parra and Víctor Jara of Chile and Atahualpa Yupanqui in Argentina. La Nueva Canción sought to create an awareness of Latin America's Indigenous musical heritage while addressing the region's political situation. Today, as younger generations identify more with the Rock in español, or Rock in Spanish movement, La Nueva Canción has lost some of its popularity. But a group of Latin American musicians living in Madison Wisconsin, believes strongly that La Nueva Canción is still alive and well. Even as they strive for a new sound fusing musical styles. Betto Arcos prepared this profile of the musical group called Sotavento.

[Transition Music]

Founded in 1981 by a group of Latin Americans living in Madison, Wisconsin. Sotavento's early recordings focused on the legacy of the Nueva canción movement. Traditional music primarily from South American regions played on over 30 instruments, but as the group grew musically and new members replaced the old ones, their approach to music making also changed.

[Un Siete--Sotavento]

For percussionist. Orlando Cabrera, a native of Puerto Rico, the band search for a new sound helps each member bring his or her own musical background.

We get together and someone starts playing a rhythm based on some traditional music, let's say from Mexico, from Peru. This person might ask, why do you play something there? Some percussion, for example, and at least in my case, my first approach will be to play what I grew up with. The things I feel more comfortable with. So if it fits and it sounds good, then we'll just go ahead and do something.

We are a hybrid. I mean we're all kind of different flowers that are being sort of sewn together and planted together, and what comes out is a very, very different kind of flower.

[Flute music] The hybrid group always searching for its own sound is how founding member Anne Fraioli defines the music of Sotavento and in their last recording, mostly original compositions. Sotavento takes Latin American music one step ahead by blending instruments and styles to form a new one.

[Amacord--Sotavento]

Sotavento's approach to composing and playing music is the group's artistic response to a top 40 music industry that overlooks creativity and experimentation. For Francisco López, a native of Mexico, this commercial environment and the group's principles of Nueva Canción have a lot to do with Sotavento's search for a new sound.

Nueva Canción has always been alive and always been alive because there's always somebody out there that is trying to produce new stuff, and that's what Nueva Canción is all about. Somebody that is uncomfortable with situations. Say for example, the commercialization of music.

According to lead vocalist, Laura Fuentes. The fact that the group's music may be heard on a light jazz or new age radio station proves that Sotavento's music is what is happening right now and that it is not completely folkloric or passe.

[Esto Es Sencillo--Sotavento]

However, Laura Fuentes believes that Sotavento's music is not specifically designed to sell. Sharing what they feel as artists is hard.

But it's worth it. I can't see us putting on shiny clothes and high heels trying to sell somebody something that we are not, something that people seem to be more willing to buy. I'd rather challenge people to hear the beauty in something different, something new.

[El Destajo--Sotavento]

For Fuentes, a native of Chile, Sotavento is also a way of establishing a connection between an artistic musical expression and its historical background.

[El Destajo--Sotavento]

An example of this connection is a Afro Peruvian style, known as Festejo, a musical style created by a small black community in Peru as a result of the living conditions they experienced during slavery.

[El Destajo--Sotavento]

In keeping with the tradition of the new song movement, Sotavento arranged music for a poem by Cuba's Poet Laureate, Nicolás Guillén. The poem called, Guitarra is for Sotavento's and Farioli a symbol of the voice of the people.

[Guitarra--Sotavento]

Wherever people are, there's going to be a voice, and I think my guitarra represents that voice, that's music, and I think it's also saying that people have to hold on to their roots. They have to hold on to their musical traditions, because it's those traditions that are really going to allow them to express who they really are, where they really come from.

[Guitarra--Sotavento]

This summer Sotavento will perform in Milwaukee and Madison, and in the fall there will begin a tour of Spain. The recording called El Siete was released on Redwood records. For Latino USA, this is Betto Arcos, Colorado.

In Chicago, the city's park district has rejected the gift of a statue of Puerto Rican nationalist Pedro Albizu Campos. And as Tony Sarabia reports, this has sparked protests from the city's Puerto Rican community.

For some, Pedro Albizu Campos is a hero who fought for Puerto Rico's independence, but his philosophy has many of Chicago's Puerto Ricans opposed to honoring a man who was jailed for attempting to assassinate President Harry Truman. A park district board spokesperson says the board didn't want to contribute to the community's division, so it decided not to accept the statue. Supporters are incensed the board is censoring a monument when it has never done so in the past. Chicago alderman Billy Ocasio calls the action hypocritical.

Where were they when they had to censor the Robert E. Lee statue? Where were they when they had to censor the Balbo statue? They haven't censored anything. Now they want to censor the Puerto Rican community.

Ocasio says the vote isn't the end of the issue. He and other Puerto Rican community leaders plan on taking their fight to court. For Latino USA I'm Tony Sarabia in Chicago,

And from Austin, Texas you're listening to Latino USA.

In New York City mayoral candidates are campaigning for what many see as the crucial Latino vote. Recent polls show the Republican candidate ahead of the Democratic incumbent. From New York City, Mandalit del Barco has more.

The latest Harris Poll by the Daily News and WNBC Television shows Republican-Liberal candidate Rudolph Giuliani beating Mayor David Dinkins, 54 to 41% among Latino voters. Of the Latino registered voters surveyed the same percentage said they were optimistic about the city's future. Both Giuliani and Dinkins have been courting potential voters in New York's Latino communities, appearing at the Dominican Day Parade and shaking hands in El Barrio. Campaign watchers note that Latino support will be critical to either candidate's victory this fall. Giuliani is running for office with city controller candidate Herman Badillo, the elder statesman among New York's Puerto Rican politicians. Mayor Dinkins discounted the latest poll saying, "His own campaign survey show he's ahead of his opponent." Dinkins also got a boost from Brooklyn Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, who promised to campaign for the mayor's reelection throughout the city's Latino communities. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

The name Pedro Albizu Campos is a familiar one in Chicago's Puerto Rican neighborhoods. An alternative high school and a street bear the name of the Puerto Rican politician, who headed Puerto Rico's nationalist party in the first part of this century. But an effort to add one more symbol to honor Albizu Campos died recently when the Chicago City Park board voted down the donation of a bronze statue to the nationalist hero scheduled to be erected in the community's largest park. Indignant admirers of Campos say the board ignored the will of the community, but other Latinos say Campos was a controversial politician whose ideals don't deserve any more recognition. From station WBEZ in Chicago, Tony Sarabia sent this report.

The theme of the song is about a community united in an effort that is uncontainable. On a sweltering August afternoon, a throng of protestors stood on the steps of the Chicago Park District headquarters singing that and other songs as they awaited the outcome of the board's vote. Inside close to 200 people listen to community leaders who backed the effort to raise a statue in Campos's Honor. Absent however, were voices of opposition, which led many to argue that none exists. One prominent opponent however, the commissioner of the city's Human Services Department, Daniel Alvarez, says those who spoke out against Campos were intimidated with threats of violence.

Many people are afraid of talking. Many people didn't want to show up in meetings. They call me, they express opinions in the street, but they didn't want to go public.

Alvarez says only 5% of the city's Puerto Rican community support the idea of honoring a man he says relied too much on violence. Supporters however say it's more like 95% for and only five against. Pedro Albizu Campos began his fight for Puerto Rico's independence shortly after World War I. He led that Caribbean Island's only armed revolt against the US and was convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the US government. For those reasons part of Chicago's Puerto Rican community say Campos is a patriotic hero who deserves honor. Opponents argue a community that is already plagued with violence doesn't need a role model like Campos. But Magdalia Rivera, head of a Latino advocacy group in the city, counters the statue is exactly what the community needs.

It is of dire need that this community which exhibits by the way, according to the 1990 census, some of the lowest socioeconomic indicators amongst all groups within the Latino community even, needs to have its symbols. Needs to memorialize the memory of individuals who have provided models of valor.

But Alvarez says if that's the case, there are other Puerto Ricans who have done more for the island. But supporters maintain this is what the community wants. And as proof produced a petition with 3,000 signatures in favor of the statue. Chicago alderman Billy Ocasio, whose ward includes the Puerto Rican community says, "The park board has never turned down the donation of a statue."

And now here comes the statue of a Puerto Rican, one that this room here believes in. And you're saying, "No," you're saying, "No." Why is it that every time it comes down to the Puerto Rican community, you have to say no? Let me present to you that community. How many people in this room are in favor of the statue? [Cheering and applause]

But a spokesperson for the board says the commissioners had the whole community in mind when it decided not to accept the statue. And while the opposition is pleased with the board's decision supporters say their fight is far from over. They plan on taking the board to court to force them to erect the statue of Pedro Albizu Campos. For Latino USA, I'm Tony Sarabia in Chicago.

This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture.

Summer may be drawing to a close, but for as long as the warm weather lasts, Latinos in one area of New York City make their summer getaway to Orchard Beach. Located in the Bronx, Orchard Beach is the hottest spot every weekend for free outdoor salsa and merengue shows, and for Latino politicians to campaign for votes. Mainly, though, it's a place where Latino New Yorkers can just relax. Mandalit del Barco prepared this sound portrait of Orchard Beach.

Yo, this is Orchard Beach in the boogie-down Bronx, the Puerto Rican Riviera.

If you can't get out of the city on vacation, this is the place to go. This is our version of Cancun, our version of Puerto Rico.

Tell you about this beach. It's blacks, whites, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Indians, Iranians, you name it. [Laughter] But uh-

This beach is full of culture you know. This beach, you got all kind of Latin Americans. Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Cubans. Get all kind of heritage walking around and having a good time, dancing. There's music bands over there.

[Highlight--Music--Cuban music]

I love it here because you don't see your brother, your sister, for 20 years. Hey brother, remember me? Oh, remember, I was your wife a long time ago? [Laughter]

This is the only place that we come here to forget, and not be- right, enjoy the summer. Because it's good being here, you know away from things, away from problems, away from home.

What do you try to forget about when you're here?

Stress.

Stress. Stress. Problems. Stress.

Work, accounting. Living in the ghetto, which is the most toughest part.

Right. When you come here, everything is different. When you go back home, you're back to the same old thing, same old-

Mostly we're all in projects. You know bad neighborhood, worrying about looking over our shoulders. So, this is a place where we just get away. Everybody's just being themselves, hanging out. We don't have to worry about someone coming behind us and trying to do something. This is relaxing. That's why we come here.

Everybody's trying to get away from that bad environment out there. You know what I'm saying? The shooting and the drugs and all that. Over here, it's not a bad environment. I'm saying, you don't see too many fights over here. I haven't seen a fight broke out yet. If anything, everybody likes trying to help each other. I come here to try have a nice time with my family. Have a few beers, smoke a blunt. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Really. Forget about everyday work and get out of the hot steamy streets, dirty filthy streets and stuff.

Do you ever go into the water?

Not really. I don't like going in that water, cause it's filthy. That's the truth. Where's everybody at? Look, the sand. Very few in the water. And if they're in the water, they're only in up to their knees. That's about it.

I just got to say, the water is very polluted.

Look what happened to his face. It's all red. Jellyfish got in his face.

Yeah, it hurts. It hurts a lot.

I saw there was lot of suckers in there. I wouldn't get in the pool now. I wouldn't put my finger on the pool.

It's not about going in the water. The water's no good. It's just about hanging out on the boardwalk and meeting people.

That's America. You know what I mean? Turn loose. That's what it's all about. You could be you, here in Orchard Beach. It's a symbol of all cultures exposing and expressing what America's about in one little corner of the world. [Laughter]

[Highlight--Music--Cuban music]

Our summertime audio snapshot of Orchard Beach, the Bronx, was produced by Mandalit del Barco.

[Opening Theme]

I'm Maria Hinojosa. Today on Latino USA, Homestead, Florida, one year after Hurricane Andrew.

My God, it's been a year. Our lives have been affected so much that we were living so fast, so quickly.