Annotations for Places: United States--texas--austin

And for this week y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, a radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by María Emilia Martin. We had help from an Angelica Luévano, Vidal Guzmán, Radio Cali in Los Angeles, Teresa Acosta, and MEChA at UT Austin, and Manolita Wetherill. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you. So, llámenos on our toll-free number 1800-535-5533. Major funding for Latinos USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. The program is distributed by the Longhorn Radio Network. ¡Y hasta la próxima! Until next time. I'm María Hinojosa for Latino USA.

And for this week y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, a radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by María Emilia Martin. We had help from an Angelica Luévano, Vidal Guzmán, Radio Cali in Los Angeles, Teresa Acosta, and MEChA at UT Austin, and Manolita Wetherill. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you. So, llámenos on our toll-free number 1800-535-5533. Major funding for Latinos USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. The program is distributed by the Longhorn Radio Network. ¡Y hasta la próxima! Until next time. I'm María Hinojosa for Latino USA.

Commentator Luis Guillermo Guerra is an Austin artist who now resides in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. And for this week y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, a radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by María Emilia Martin; associate producer, Angelica Luévano. We had help from Karyl Wheeler in New York. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you. So, llámenos on our toll-free number, 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. The program is distributed by the Longhorn Radio Network. Y hasta la próxima. Until next time, I'm María Hinojosa for Latino USA.

And for this week y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emilia Martin; associate producer is an Angelica Luévano. We had help from Vidal Guzmán and David Gorin. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you, so llámenos on our toll-free number, 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. The program is distributed by the Longhorn Radio Network. Y hasta la próxima, until next time, I'm María Hinojosa for Latino USA.

And for this week y para este semana, this has been Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by María Emilia Martin. Associate producer is Angelica Luévano. We had help this week from Franc Contreras, Mandalit del Barco, Patricia Guadalupe, Manolita Wetherill, Karen Blackman, Radio Bilingüe in Fresno, California, Margo Gutiérrez, Linda Wedenoga, and the Chicago Cultural Center. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you, so llámenos on our toll-free number, 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. This program is distributed by the Longhorn Radio Network. Y hasta la próxima…I'm María Hinojosa for Latino USA.

According to a survey released May 11th in Washington DC by the National Parent Teachers Association, Hispanic parents are more confident than Anglo parents at the quality of public schools will improve. The survey, commissioned by Newsweek Magazine for the PTA, found that close to half of the Hispanic parents surveyed believe schools will improve over the next five years as compared to a third of Anglo parents. Carlos Sarsed, Director of News Stats in Austin, Texas compiled and analyzed the survey's Hispanic data.

This year's festival featured traditional Conjunto as well as its more modern musical cousin, Tejano music. As Elena Quezada reports from Austin, in the last few years, Tejano music is enjoying an unprecedented boom in popularity.

It's past midnight at Dance Across Texas, a popular dance club in Austin where nearly 2000 bodies are pressed up against the stage in anticipation of tonight's show.

UCLA Chancellor Charles Young says he stands by his decision to maintain Chicano studies as an interdisciplinary program rather than a department at the university.

Alfaro says that most of the estimated 200,000 Salvadorians in this country have no plans to return home, as many have established homes and families here. Others, he says, are still afraid to return to El Salvador after 12 years of war. Alfaro and other refugee advocates now plan to lobby to have Congress and the administration consider granting permanent US residency to qualified Salvadoran refugees.

Latino students in Texas are more than twice as likely to drop out as non-Hispanic white students. Vidal Guzman reports.

The Texas Education Agency says Latino students, who make up about a third of the overall student population in Texas, are more than 40% of dropouts. If current trends continue, more than 20% of all Texas students now in the seventh grade will drop out before graduating from high school. The education agency recommends increasing the number of minority teachers and instituting get back to school programs for expelled students. In Austin, I'm Vidal Guzman.

Latino USA commentator, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, a recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award, is based in California. In Brownsville, Texas, a group of Chicanos and elders from Indigenous populations in the US and Mexico gathered recently for what they called the 17th Encuentro of the National Chicano Human Rights Council. The group is part of a movement which began in the 60s to help Mexican Americans reconnect with their Indigenous roots. Today, the movement is taking a new turn involving Chicanos in a spiritual reawakening foretold in ancient Indian myths, which caused them to action on human rights and the environment. From Brownsville, Lillie Rodulfo and Lucy Edwards prepared this report.

[natural sound] This weekend, council members have brought their families to camp on the grounds of the Casa de Colores. The multicultural center sits on 360 acres of prime farmland along the U.S.-Mexican border order.

[conch chell sounds] With the sound of a conch shell, a Mexican shaman, Andre Segura, calls a group to worship in a sacred dance of the Indigenous that the Aztecs have practiced for thousands of years. They also are called to reunite with the Indians of Mexico in their common struggle for equal rights. Elders like Segura say when Chicanos answer the call of the Danza, they are joining in a revival of the Indigenous spirit that is happening throughout the Americas. [Ceremony natural sounds] "This reawakening of the spiritual traditions," the elders say, "was foretold by Indian leaders centuries ago. Danzas and other Indigenous ceremonies carry a strong message of preserving the earth and all its people."

Andre Segura's Danza Conchera contains the essence of Aztec or Toltec thought in the entire worldview.

Chicano author Carlos Flores explains what happens when a Chicano worships in the sacred tradicion of the Danza.

When the Mexican-American decides to call himself a Chicano, basically what he's doing is declaring publicly that he's an Indian. In effect, what we're seeing here then is Mexican-Americans through their connection with an Indian shaman, I guess you could say, practicing the sacred.

Susana Renteria of the Austin-based PODER, People Organized in Defense of Earth and its Resources, offered passionate testimony at the conference. Her group has worked hard to focus attention on environmental racism in the Mexican-American communities in Austin.

They take toxic chemicals and inject it into Mother Earth. They inject it. It's like when you put heroin in your veins, and you're contaminating your whole blood system. That's what they're doing to Mother Earth. The water is the blood in her veins, and they're injecting these chemicals into, and they wonder why we have so much illnesses, why we have so much despair.

[meeting natural sounds] The council heard hours of testimony like this on a wide range of issues, bringing into focus everyday realities for Chicanos, such as the disproportionate number of Mexican American prisoners sentenced to die and the alarmingly high incidents of babies born in the Rio Grande Valley with incomplete or missing brains. Opata Elder Gustavo Gutierrez of Arizona, one of the founders of the council, offers this prophetic warning.

The moment that we start losing our relationship between Mother Earth and ourselves, then is when we get into all this trouble, and I think that what has happened to the people that are in power, they have the multinational corporation. They have lost their feeling about what is their relationship between the Earth, and the only thing they can think about is how to make money, and once that is the main focus, how to make money, then I feel that we're really in a lot of trouble.

[Danza natural sounds] The shaman, Andre Segura, says, "The Indigenous ceremonies that are part of every council meeting provide a spiritual foundation to unite Chicanos, as they speak out for the rights and the rights of all Indigenous."

Buscar dientro de su corazon, dientro de su-

Search your heart and soul as to how you feel about the Indigenous. The Chicano roots come from Mexico, and accepting this will unite the Chicano people.

[Singing, natual sounds] The Chicano Human Rights Council was formed in the 1980s to address the human rights violations in the southwest. The council teaches Chicanos how to document abuses that affect their community. The testimony they hear in Brownsville will be presented at international forums, such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. (Singing) For Latino USA, with Lucy Edwards, I'm Lily Rodulfo. (Singing)

From Austin, Texas, you're listening to "Latino USA."

The movement to restrict immigration is reaching new levels. According to a "USA Today" CNN poll, 65% of those questioned want curbs on immigration. Perhaps nowhere is the anti-immigrant movement stronger than in California. In that state, two longtime supporters of immigrants have recently called for measures to limit immigration.

Armando Botello reports.

California State Senator Art Torres, a longtime supporter of immigrants, said that because of the lack of resources, California and the United States have reached a point where we have to be much more restrictive in terms of legal and illegal immigration. Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein has proposed steps to curb illegal immigration, including restrictions of undocumented women's access to maternity care, an increase in the number of border patrol agents, and deportation of undocumented immigrants who are serving prison sentences. To pay for her six-point program, the Senator has proposed a $1 fee for each person who comes into the United States at one of the international borders.

Reporting for "Latino USA," I'm Armando Botello in Sacramento, California.

And for this week, y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emilia Martin. The Associate Producer is Angelica Luevano. We had help this week from Vidal Guzman, Elena Quesada, and Karyl Wheeler. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The Technical Producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you. So why don't you call us on our toll-free number. It's 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin.Y hasta la proxima, until next time, I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA.

In the San Antonio federal court, former Texas Congressman Albert Bustamante has been found guilty on two counts of racketeering and using his office to obtain an illegal gratuity. Bustamante, who represented a South Texas district for seven years was acquitted on eight other counts. Migrant worker advocates say farm workers in the Midwest are being left out of the aid effort in that flood-devastated region.

They are viewed as nomads. They're viewed as people who are here to today and gone tomorrow, so it's much easier to focus FEMA funds, for example, on the severe loss that a farmer with 600 acres and millions of dollars worth of crops standing underwater. You can actually see the damage.

Bobbi Ryder is the director of the National Migrant Resource Center in Austin, Texas. The floods have left hundreds of farm workers without work in several Midwestern states. You're listening to Latino USA.

A bill now before Congress would create a commission to tackle health problems along the US-Mexico border. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

In some counties along the border, diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis and even cholera, occur at rates far higher than other US communities. Congress members representing border states have proposed a commission to tackle the special health needs along the 2000-mile stretch between the US and Mexico. Legislation recently introduced would establish the US-Mexico Border Health Commission to address those concerns. Democratic representative Ron Coleman of El Paso, chairs the Congressional Border Caucus, he is proposing the legislation.

I wanted to create a health commission to coordinate and direct an all-out effort to reduce the rates of illness in the border region. Those, as I say, are oftentimes caused by poor environmental conditions, and they need to be addressed.

Coleman says that part of the problem is just plain ignorance about the border.

I would point out that in Des Moines, Iowa, we have already passed several billion dollars worth of assistance. I wonder why? Because we have been directed by FEMA to know exactly where to spend the funds in the best way possible. The president himself visited that region and yet, along the US Mexico border, we have exactly the same problem of not having clean drinking water, and there are 350,000 Americans without clean water or sewage facilities along the US-Mexico border. And yet, why isn't there a crisis there?

The proposed commission would be made up of public health officials, physicians, and other professionals from both United States and Mexico. Representative Coleman is asking Congress for close to $1 million to set up the Border Health Commission. The legislation moves onto the foreign affairs and energy and commerce committees, but no action is expected before the summer recess. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

And this is news from Latino USA. In Austin, Texas, I'm Maria Martin.

And for this week,y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA. The Radio Journal of News and Culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emilia Martin. The associate producer is Angelina Luevano. We had help this week from Vidal Guzman, Elena Quesada and Neil Roush. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you. So why don't you call us on our toll-free number. It's 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. Y hasta la próxima, until next time, I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA.

More than 30 years ago after the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and the failed US backed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, the United States government imposed an economic embargo of that island. Trade and travel to Cuba were prohibited under most circumstances. Under the Trading With the Enemies Act, that policy has softened and then heartened over the years. Most recently, it was tightened under legislation sponsored by Representative Robert Torricelli of New Jersey, the Cuban Democracy Act. Now that policy is being challenged by a group led by several religious leaders. It's an effort known as Pastors for Peace.

I'm Sandra Levinson. I'm from New York, but I started on the Duluth route.

Joe Callahan from Minneapolis.

I’m Henry Garcia from Chicago.

Latino USA caught up with a group Pastors for Peace in Austin a few days before they defied US government policy by taking medicines, food, and other aid to the economically strapped island of Cuba.

We're taking such dangerous things as tons of powdered milk. We are taking pharmaceuticals because they are actually distilling their own pharmaceuticals out of the herbs and plants in the fields. I've seen that with my own eyes just in April. They don't even have sutures to close surgical wounds.

Like the Reverend George Hill, pastor of First Baptist Church in downtown Los Angeles. Every one of the approximately 300 people involved in the motley caravan of school buses, vans, and trucks that make up the Pastors for Peace eight caravan opposes the US economic embargo of Cuba. So much so that they refuse to obtain the license the Custom Bureau requires in order to ship anything to that island.

We refuse to ask for a license. We refuse to accept the license if the government extends one to us. Our license is really our command from God to feed the hungry, to give clothes to those who are naked, to visit those in prison, to give a cup of cold water. We must do this to the least and even to those with whom we may have differences.

The Reverend Lucius Walker of the Salvation Baptist Church in Brooklyn is the founder of Pastors for Peace. His stand on Cuba has not made him very popular among those opposed to the government of Fidel Castro. And he says he's received a number of threats.

Telephone calls to my office, threatening to come over with a pistol and take care of me.

Still. Walker insists he is not engaging in politics, only in the highest tradition of religious principles and civil disobedience.

Of Jesus Christ, of Martin Luther King, of Gandhi, and all of those who are the good examples of what it takes to make social progress in a world that if left to its own devices could be a very ugly place to live.

[Music] About 30 members of the Pastors for Peace Group sit around a television three days before they're set to rendezvous with more caravan members to cross the border at Laredo. They're watching a video about how the animosity between the governments of Cuba and this country have separated families for as long as 30 years.

No quiero vivir allá, no me gusta vivir allá. Pero me gusta vivir aquí, pero quiero ver a mi hermana, y a mis sobrinos que nacieron allá. Que son familia, que son sangre. [Translation: I don’t want to live there, I don’t like living there. I like living here, but I want to see my sister, and my nephews that were born over there. They are family, they are blood.]

I grew up myself with my family always saying, you know, that the only way to get out is to go to US to have a better life, to live like normal people, to wear jeans, to eat gum, chew gum. It's like very idiotic things to think of when I live here now, and you know, I have to learn the language.

Elisa Ruiz Zamora was born in Cuba. She came to this country with her family when she was 18. She's now a young mother and student making her life here in the States. But when she heard about the caravan of aid to Cuba, she brought her family down to meet with a group. Her mother, brother, and grandfather are still on the island and she hopes some of the caravan's aid gets to them. It's amazing, she says, to see Americans get together to help another nation, one their government has told them is a dangerous enemy.

Tell the opposite to their government. The government's like to me, it's like they want to be the judges of the world. Say, what should happen here? What shouldn't happen, how Cubans should live their lives. And we have a mind of our own and we always have. There's...

The Clinton administration has so far given little indication that it's ready to lift the blockade on Cuba. During his election campaign, Mr. Clinton received considerable support from anti-Castro organizations like the Cuban American National Foundation, but with the easing of telephone communications with the island, some now believe there might be a small window of possible change on other fronts. Sandra Levinson is the director of the Center for Cuban Studies in New York.

They are looking, I think, in Washington for a way to change policy, which does not really give anything to Cuba. Of course, we will never do that, but will ease the tension somewhat, perhaps make it possible for more people to travel legally to Cuba. Make it possible for AT&T to put down some new telephone lines and perhaps give some of the 80 million dollars in escrow, which is accrued for Cuba to the nation, which so desperately needs that money. They don't care how much they have to pay for a telephone call. They want to talk to their mama.

As this program went to air, most of the Pastors for Peace caravan had been able to get across the border, except for two school buses and a few other vehicles. Among the drivers of those vehicles was the delegation leader, the Reverend Lucius Walker, who in the non-violent tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, began a hunger strike in protest. For Latino USA, I'm Maria Martin reporting.

And for this week, por esta semana, this has been Latino USA. The Radio Journal of News and Culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emilia Martin. The associate producer is Angelica Luevano. We had help this week from Vidal Guzman, Elena Quesada, WNYC FM and National Public Radio. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you. So call us at (800) 535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the University of Texas at Austin. Maria Hinojosa will be back next week, y hasta la próxima, I'm Maria Martin for Latino USA.

And for this week, this has been Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emelia Martin. The associate producer is Angelica Luevano. We had help this week from Vidal Guzman, Elena Quesada, and Manolita Wetherill. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you, so why don't you call us on our toll-free number. It's 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. Y hasta la próxima, until next time, I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA.

And for this week, y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA. The Radio Journal of News and Culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by María Emilia Martin. The associate producer is Angelica Luévano. We had help this week from Vidal Guzmán, Elena Quesada, and Karyl Wheeler. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you. So why don't you call us, llámenos, on our toll free number. It's 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the University of Texas in Austin. Y hasta la próxima, until next time, I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA.

And for this week, y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emilia Martin. The associate producer is an Angelica Luévano. We'd like to acknowledge our administrative staff, Dolores Garcia, Vidal Guzmán, and Dr. Gilbert Cardenas. We had help this week from Elena Quesada, Belinda De La Rosa, and Karyl Wheeler. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We really want to hear from you. So why don't you call us, llámenos, on our toll-free number. It's 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. Y hasta la próxima, until next time, I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA.

[Closing Theme]

And for this week, y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by María Emilia Martin. The associate producer is Angelica Luévano. We had help this week from Vidal Guzmán, Karyl Wheeler, and the Hispanic Link News Service. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We really want to hear from you. So why don't you call us, llámanos, on our toll-free number. It's 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. Y hasta la próxima, until next time, I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA.

Un río dos Riveras, one river two Riveras is the title of a book written by Dr. Guadalupe Rivera, a writer and historian. Dr. Rivera is the daughter of famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Dr. Rivera is visiting this country, and she joins us now from Austin, Texas where an exhibition of her father's work is opening at the Mexic-Arte Museum. Welcome, Dra. Rivera.

Thank you, Maria Hinojosa. I am very pleased to meet you.

There are probably a lot of people who don't know all of the facts about your father, and they may have one question on their mind about you. And that question might be, are you the daughter of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo?

No, no, no. My father was married several times. And I am the daughter of Diego Rivera and Lupe Marin. She was the second wife that my father had.

Dr. Rivera, there is so much known about your father. I mean, his murals inspired a whole movement across the world. I mean, he's one of Mexico's most important artistic icons, but what is the one lasting memory that you have of your father that might tell us a little bit about who he was as a human being, as a person, as a father.

He was an extraordinary person because he allow my sister and I to become professionals and to go to university and to study and to learn how Mexico is and how revolution was and to be a real Mexican because he was very proud to be a real Mexican, and he teach us how to really appreciate who we are as member of a very important cultural movement.

One of the things, Dr. Rivera, about your father was that he really wasn't into... As far as I can tell and remember just from reading about him and seeing his work, which was very political, is that he really wasn't into the commercialization of art. I mean, he was really into art for communicating, what you've said, a history of the people of Mexico. But your father's work has now sold in this country and across the world for hundreds of thousands of dollars and really has an incredible market value. How do you think he would've reacted to this what is, I guess, the commercialization of his art in the art world?

Well, I think that he was not so proud of that as he was proud about the mural painting he realize in public buildings. He never want to commercialize his art. He painted paintings, let's say this small paintings, all canvas or all things like that or watercolors because he thought that he must have a way of life when he cannot paint murals. But in a way, his enormous desire was to paint murals much than everything in life.

Your father also of course loved Mexico, his country, and he was really quite radical in his politics and extremely nationalistic. What do you think your father, Diego Rivera, would've thought of NAFTA, the tratado de libre comercio- the free trade agreement?

I think that he was not very, very happy about it.

Why?

He always talk about that the necessity that each country keep his own identity. And maybe, he will realize that with NAFTA, the identity of Mexican people is going to be lost an enormous way.

And there's an interesting turn of events right now because on this celebration of el dies y seis de septiembre, or Mexican Independence Day, the 16th of September, you will be here in the United States. Your father's paintings will be on exhibit in Texas, and Governor Ann Richards of Texas will be in Mexico during the grito there. What does all of this say about Mexico y los estados unidors, the United States at this point in time?

Personally, I think it's a paradox, but at the same time, I am very pleased to be asking to come here as a guest to this exhibition because, in a way, my father is, again, a bridge between both countries as he was before in the '30s when he was asking to come to United States to paint the murals. It was in a special moment in the Mexican history in the '30s in which it was necessary for the Mexican government to establish a stronger contact with United States. And I consider that now, it's important to Mexico, to my country to establish a stronger contact with United States again.

Dr. Guadalupe Rivera is the daughter of Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera, the exhibit Diego Rivera and the Revolution in Mexico in Times of Change will be on view at Austin's Mexic-Arte museum through December 31st.

In Austin, Texas, this event was celebrated with a nighttime block party outside the Mexican consulate.

[transition music] And for this week, y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emelia Martin. The associate producer is Angelica Luevano. We had helped this week from Karyl Wheeler and the Hispanic Link News Service. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We really do want to hear from you, so ¿Por qué no nos llaman? Call us on our toll-free number. It's 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. Y hasta la próxima. Until next time, I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA.

And for this week, por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and Culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emilia Martin. The Associate Producer is Angelica Luévano. We had helped this week from Vidal Guzman. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. The Executive Producer is Dr. Gilbert Garenas. Please call us with your comments or questions. Our number is 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. Contributors include the Estrada Communications Group, the Hispanic Link News Service, and Tesoros trading company. Maria Hinojosa will be back next week. Y hasta la próxima, until next time, I'm Maria Emilia Martin for Latino USA.

1,500 Cubans holding US federal prisons will be repatriated to Havana. The prisoners who came to this country as part of the Mariel Exodus of 1980 are being deported under an agreement between the Clinton administration and the government of Fidel Castro. But some Cuban Americans are concerned about what could await the prisoners and fear that disagreement might signal the start of broader concessions between the governments of the United States and Cuba. I'm Vidal Guzman. From Austin, Texas, you're listening to Latino USA.

And for this week, y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and Culture. This week's edition of Latino USA was produced by Angelica Luevano and edited by Maria Emilia Martin. We had helped this week from Vidal Guzman and Karyl Wheeler. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. The executive producer is Gilbert Garenas. Please call us with your comments or questions, deberas at 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the University of Texas at Austin. Contributors include the Estrada Communications Group and the Hispanic Link News Service. Y hasta la próxima. Until next time, I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA.

And for this week, y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA. The Radio Journal of News and Culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emilia Martin. The associate producer is Angelica Luévano. We had help this week from Vidal Guzman and Karyl Wheeler. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. Theme music by Ben Tavera King. Why don't you call us with your comments or questions? Our number is 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the University of Texas at Austin. Contributors include the Estrada Communications Group and the Hispanic Link News Service. Y hasta la próxima. Until next time, I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA.

In the 90s, death for many in this country's Latino communities comes too early often as the result of preventable causes like gang and gun violence and AIDS. To call attention to this, some community groups are using the traditions of El Dia De Los Muertos or the Day of the Dead, a century's old ritual commemorating friends and family who've passed on as a springboard for social messages. From Austin, Texas, Latino USA's, Maria Martin prepared this report.

We have in this particular room, altars that have been built by people, members of the community. Este…

At an East Austin community center in the heart of the city's Mexican American barrio, Diana Gorham of the AIDS Outreach group in Informecida shows a visitor around an exhibit of altars created to honor those who have passed on in the tradition celebrated in Mexico and other Latin American countries. The structures are colorful with flowers and photographs, candles, ribbons, and incense. But some altars also have non-traditional decorations like condoms and anti aids messages.

This one was also built by a volunteer of Informecida who also lost her brother to AIDS in Houston, and she and her brother were very, very close.

[Natural sounds--community center] The altar exhibit in Austin isn't the only effort linking the traditional Mexican holiday to the reality of a growing cause of death in the Latino community where AIDS is now the leading killer of young Hispanic men, and the third leading cause of death among Latinas ages 25 to 44.

[Natural sounds--pop music performance] San Antonio artist David Zamora Casas does a performance piece for El Dia de Los Muertos called Cuentos de la Realidad or Tales of Reality, which tells of the painful death from AIDS of his friend Jesse.

[Singing] It’s time for the angels to take you away to a different place. Another time…

[Natural sounds--pop music performance] In the piece, Zamora Casas tries to make a connection between his loss to AIDS and all of the other losses, individual and collective, which may have been suffered by those in the audience.

I try to use things that bring people down to a very fundamental basic level and relate it to situations that I've encountered dealing with homophobia within a family that Chicano son has AIDS and these families don't know how to react because of all the machismo and stereotypes and all the baggage that we've carried on from our childhood. We've got to nurture and educate each other.

The traditions associated with the Dia de Los Muertos. According to AIDS educator, Diana Gorham provide an opportune forum in which to bring up difficult issues, ones often veiled in secrecy and denial.

There are mothers, for example, who go to the priest and say, "Please don't let any of the community know that this is what's killing my son or that's what my son died of." And so what we try to do in this particular event is to break that silence.

[Natural sounds--guitar playing] Good morning and welcome the Culture Warriors presents Dia de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead…

In a warehouse, housing an alternative high school called the Creative Rapid Learning Center, a diverse group of young people, white, Black, and Latino, all wearing Dia de Los Muertos t-shirts perform a series of skits which come from their own experiences with death and loss of family and friends.

Hey, Uncle Paul. I wonder where you are right now. I miss you. There are so many things that I wanted to learn from you. I've changed a lot since you left.

The kids who make up this theater group call themselves the Cultural Warriors. Many of them had dropped out of school before coming to the Creative Rapid Learning Center. As part of a writing project two years ago, they were asked to write letters to deceased friends and family members as a way to complete unfinished business. Cast member John Gonzalez says that project, which eventually led to a whole series of skits dealing with a range of issues affecting young people from AIDS to drugs to racism, has helped him to cope with the pain of loss.

Well, it helps us out bringing that stuff out in the open instead of just keeping it inside. You heard when they're in the picnic scene, they're saying about this guy that had died in a car crash. That was my friend.

Hey, what's up?

What's up, homes?

What you been up to?

Oh man. Just been lying around.

See you lost a little bit of weight, huh?

Yeah, man. Can't get nothing to stick to the bones around here, man.

[Natural sounds--acting performance] In this scene, a group of the kids visit the cemetery on the night of Dia de Los Muertos as is the tradition in Mexico. The kids say these presentations allow them to look at both life and death in a more positive way.

Metropolitan America or Cosmopolitan America does not like to talk about death. It's something you whisper about, you don't talk about it. And we're the kind people we like to put things bluntly.

Passion Fields is 19 years old and an energetic member of the Cultural Warriors.

But that's what we want to put everything forward and we thought that bringing the culture thing over with not too many people, even Hispanic know about Dia de Los Muertos, Day of the Dead. [Laughter] We thought that it was important that we bring this so everybody can know about it. Now there's white kids that know about it. There's Hispanic kids that know about it. There's Black kids that know about it, and that's what we think is important.

[Natural sounds--acting performance] And so an ages old traditional commemoration for the dead has become a relevant way to look at issues facing the living.

On this holiday of Dia de Los Muertos, we celebrate the Mexican folk tradition. For as we are born, we shall die. Life is temporary, so live it with honor, dignity, hope, and courage. Live it like a culture warrior.

[Natural sounds--applause] For Latino USA in Austin, Texas, I'm Maria Martin.

[Background--music--regional Mexican] Thanksgiving for commentator Bárbara Renaud González has never been a traditional type of holiday. Sometimes she goes out cumbia dancing in Austin's east side with friends and her swinging mom. So she was very surprised when her 60-something proud to be single mother called her recently to ask what she wanted with her turkey.

Pero, mami, why are we having turkey? I demanded. We never had turkey when we were growing up, when I wanted to play pilgrim fathers. "No, yo queiro plato de enchiladas con pollo, por favor. “No te entiendo, mijita she said in that superior Interior de Mexico, and you are just a pocha Spanish. You went to college, didn't you? And that school up north, what did you learn? I'm making pan gravy con giblets, cornbread dressing, the green beans Del Monte, cranberry relish, the potato salad too, the jello salad with real fruit cocktail, and the pumpkin pie. But I'll make rice and beans on the side if you want. The boys want their turkey. Mira, I am making 50 dozen tamales because I know how you love them, engordan." I was insulted by now. They make me fat. "I only use Crisco," she said, "that's not fat, that's Crisco." I still do not understand Thanksgiving. It doesn't translate well into Spanish. When I patiently explained about the pilgrims to my mother after a third-grade lesson, seeking some confirmation of our role in this event, she reminded me that every celebration has two faces.

Vaya, she said, "we don't celebrate it in Mexico, but I'll make a special guisada tomorrow just for you and you can have that 'Tricks are for kids' you like for breakfast." Perhaps I realized even then that no amount of turkey would make me belong with the pilgrim's descendants I sat with at school. Everyone but me seemed to have an ancestor on the Mayflower. Though I knew, I knew that the sepia skin of Texas with its sunset strung with a thousand pinatas embraced me too. Especially me.

Thanksgiving is not a day of giving, but of taking. We are grateful for another's tradition of generosity. One we cannot ever hope to match. A generosity that I liken to the Mexican Guelaguetza, that celebration of community founded in an ancient reciprocity that ensures the survival of the people. It is a ceremony of compadrazgo and more. It recognizes a solidarity that is symbolized with exchanges of the earth's bounty, which sustains us. It is not a day of thanksgiving, but a commitment to each other that we cannot survive alone. So let's celebrate that we are Americans and give thanks that there is room at the table for all of us.

Commentator Bárbara Renaud González is a writer living in Dallas, Texas.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. Since the death of farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, there's been a growing movement to name parks, streets, and libraries after the Mexican American leader. But in Fresno, California, the city council there has revoked an earlier decision to change the name of California Ventura and Kings Canyon Boulevard to honor the founder of the United Farm Workers. The decision came after a heated special session attended by over 1000 people.

Mexican American people, Scotch Irish people, Europeans, Middle Eastern people, people from Asia, people from all over the world came to this valley and built this valley, and I'm tired of hearing that Mexicans built this valley. It didn't happen that way.

The vote by Fresno City Council was four to three in favor of overriding their earlier decision regarding Cesar Chavez Boulevard. In Austin, Texas however, a similar effort has been much less controversial. In that capital city, East 1st Street was recently inaugurated as Cesar Chavez Street, with a march and other festivities.

[Background--natural sound--march] Led by a motorcycle policeman flying the red and black farm workers flag, and by a parade of low rider cars and Aztec dancers, about 1000 people marched to inaugurate Austin's new Cesar Chavez Street.

[Highlight--natural sound--march] ¡Viva la Raza! ¡Que viva!

[Background--natural sound--march] There were activists and politicians, farm workers from the Rio Grande Valley, members of the NAACP, and a very large number of young people.

[Highlight--natural sound--march] ... themselves can come and-

We're from Southwest University and-

... participate.

... and we can from San Marcos to celebrate this day. We're really proud and we really like to support this.

!Viva Cesar Chavez!

[Highlight--natural sound--crowd]

[Background--natural sound--crowd] These young students were not even born when Cesar Chavez began his efforts to organize farm workers and provide them a more humane existence in California, and here in Texas. Still, says Juana Nieto, he set an example that means a lot to young people.

We see him as a role model for us so when we grow up and we have our kids, we can teach them what we learned from him, to fight for what we want and for what we believe.

Unlike the controversy in Fresno, changing the name of Austin's 1st Street to honor the farm labor leader was a smooth process and, the vote, says City Councilman Gus Garcia, was unanimous.

It's appropriate that if any place would be the first place to have a street named after him, that it would be Austin because this is where the muscle of Latino politics is going to be flexed.

Members of Cesar Chavez's family, including his sister-in-law and the new President of the United Farm Workers Union, Arturo Rodriguez, joined the Austin inauguration.

For all of us, it shows us that we're not alone. We know that there's a lot of people that support it, the efforts of Cesar. When 50,000 people joined us in Delano, California on April 29th for Cesar's funeral, that gave us the spirit and encouraged us to continue right then on. All of these re-namings of schools, of streets, of libraries, of parks and so forth continue to give us that strength and courage, and show us and demonstrate to us that we're not alone by any means, and that there's millions of people that continue to support this movement.

[Highlight--natural sound--crowd]

This is Maria Hinojosa.