Annotations for Subject-headings: Drugs

The New York City school system is still looking for a replacement for ousted Chancellor Joséph Fernandez. The controversial administrator will vacate his post in June. From New York, Mandalit del Barco reports.

The New York City school system is still looking for a replacement for ousted Chancellor Joséph Fernandez. The controversial administrator will vacate his post in June. From New York, Mandalit del Barco reports.

Joséph Fernandez returned to the city where he was born three years ago, vowing to turn around the nation's largest school system. In the end, it was his controversial reforms that put him at odds with his own board of education. His support for social issues created controversy, especially his programs to distribute condoms to high school students and his curriculum to teach respect for gays and lesbians. Fernandez had these words after a meeting in which board members voted not to renew his contract.

Joséph Fernandez returned to the city where he was born three years ago, vowing to turn around the nation's largest school system. In the end, it was his controversial reforms that put him at odds with his own board of education. His support for social issues created controversy, especially his programs to distribute condoms to high school students and his curriculum to teach respect for gays and lesbians. Fernandez had these words after a meeting in which board members voted not to renew his contract.

Some of my detractors have said, “Well, you didn't have to get into these issues of HIV AIDS…You didn't have to get into these issues of tolerance and bias program.” And that's a part of a… major part of educating our kids. I wouldn't have done it differently.

Some of my detractors have said, “Well, you didn't have to get into these issues of HIV AIDS…You didn't have to get into these issues of tolerance and bias program.” And that's a part of a… major part of educating our kids. I wouldn't have done it differently.

In a recently published autobiography, Fernandez details his years as a heroin addict and a gang member who went on to become a teacher and later Miami School superintendent. He also criticized New York's governor and mayor for not spending enough on education. Unless New York City's Board of Education reverses itself or is restructured, Fernandez's contract ends in June. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

In a recently published autobiography, Fernandez details his years as a heroin addict and a gang member who went on to become a teacher and later Miami School superintendent. He also criticized New York's governor and mayor for not spending enough on education. Unless New York City's Board of Education reverses itself or is restructured, Fernandez's contract ends in June. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

This is Maria Hinojosa. In February of 1991, a hard-hitting newspaper reporter and radio commentator was assassinated in New York City. Many theories have since surfaced as to who had reasons to kill Manuel de Dios Unanue. The combative journalist had written about corruption in Puerto Rico and angered anti-Castro groups by advocating better relations between the US and Cuba. Now, as Mandalit del Barco reports from New York, law authorities are linking the De Dios's murder to a Colombian cocaine cartel.

A special investigative team called Redrum, that's murder spelled backwards, is looking into reports that notorious drug lord, Joses Santacruz Londaño put out a $20,000 bounty on Manuelo De Dios Unanue. US attorney Mary Jo White announced the indictments of two Colombian men in the killing of the journalist known as an anti-drug crusader.

It is believed that the order for this murder came from the highest levels of the Cali cartel in Columbia. It is believed that De Dios was killed because of his vigorous reporting on the activities of the Cali cartel.

For years, De Dios worked to investigate and expose international reports of drugs and crime, first as editor of New York's largest Spanish language newspaper El Diario, and later as the publisher of two crime magazines. In 1991, he was shot point-blank while sitting in his favorite restaurant in Queens. Richard Brown is the district attorney from Queens who worked with federal agents on the case.

The same tactics repeatedly used by Colombian cocaine traffickers in South America to silence their critics, were used here. He was killed because he had the courage to speak out. Because he exercised his first amendment rights as a journalist.

After De Dios was killed, there was some concern that law enforcers had not moved enough to solve his murder. Some said that, had De Dios been an English language journalist, the investigation would've moved faster. Many journalists like Juan Gonzalez pressed for more action by the investigators.

If the people who they've arrested are the right people and are the guilty parties, then I think it's going to be, it's going to send a message, obviously, that you're not going to be able to get away with this kind of stuff in the United States. Hopefully that will have a deterrent effect on any kind of a drug syndicates in the future.

While killings of journalists in this country are rare, that's not the case in many Latin American countries. Blanca Rosa Vilchez reports out of New York for Univision Television, which broadcasts throughout the Americas.

When I left Peru in 1983, I thought that by leaving Peru and leaving Latin America, just the idea of getting killed in a mission was going to be gone and I was going to leave that feeling in the international airport in Lima, and actually I left, but the feeling still remains. And every time that a journalist gets killed, like in this situation, the feeling of being in a country like Peru or Colombia comes back to me and it's kind of difficult to say it, but the more they kill journalists, the more we fight back because we know that it has to be said. And even though it involves a great personal risk, this is what we are here for and we keep on doing it.

Some reporters and editors at De Dios's old newspapers say they're very much relieved by the investigation and the message this sends to would-be assassins. El Diario editor-in-chief Fernando Moreno says that the death of Manuel De Dios has actually inspired other reporters to follow his journalistic lead.

Because he was killed, many people who'd never dream of reporting on these issues are reporting now these issues. I mean, I think that's solidarity of the press show in this country and internationally with his killing has given new ideas and new investigators are coming out because they killed Manuel De Dios. So I think that instead of stopping the reporting on the issue has done completely the opposite.

Law enforcers are now trying to extradite the Colombians who allegedly ordered the killing of journalist Manuel De Dios Unanue. For Latino USA, I am Mandelita Delbarco in New York.

Perhaps no other site on the US-Mexico border sees more complaints regarding human rights abuses than the San Diego-Tijuana region. In recent years, the number of complaints of abuses has risen as a number of anti-immigrant groups have organized to protest the number of undocumented immigrants crossing the border. Observers in California, which has lost over 800,000 jobs in the last four years, point to a growing anti-immigrant climate in the state, particularly apparent in the San Diego area.

With us to discuss some of these issues are Muriel Watson of the organization Light Up the Border, which has drawn attention to the issue of the number of immigrants crossing the border by stationing cars with their headlights turned on facing Mexico. And Roberto Martinez, director of the American Friends Service Committee San Diego office. The AFSC has documented numerous cases of human rights abuses in the area. Welcome to Latino USA, both of you.

Thank you.

Muriel, let me start out with you. Would you like to see this border area right here between San Diego and Tijuana and this area here, would you like to see it closed? What would you like to see happen with the border?

I would like to see that border secured and I would like to see good business being transported back and forth between Mexico and the United States. I'm a member of the San Jacinto Chamber of Commerce and they're constantly saying that business is good between Mexico and the United States, but the drug smuggling and the alien smuggling distorts that good business and healthy climate. And unless we secure the border... No, I don't want it closed. I want it secure. I have no objections to legal immigration. But illegal immigration hurts everybody.

Roberto.

Well, before we address illegal immigration, as a human rights office, we're more concerned right now with the increase in human rights abuses by Border Patrol. These last few weeks, we've been receiving at least three to four cases a day of people coming across the border. [interruption]

Well, that's incredible.

Let me say my piece first. [interruption] With their heads split open. Two of them required surgery for internal injuries. We have two shootings right now, one in Calexico and one in MCC Jail right now by Border Patrol. These are all unarmed civilians. This doesn't even begin to address the day-to-day insults and racial remarks that Border Patrol uses on the buses and the trains. And I say this from firsthand experience, I don't say this from third-hand. I interview these people myself. Whether they're undocumented or coming across illegally or not, there still has to be respect for human rights, and then we'll address illegal immigration.

Well, then- [interruption]

What needs to happen on the border then, Roberto?

Well, like Muriel wants the border to become secure, we want Border Patrol to adhere to the policies that are already in place. There's laws right now that call for the respect of the rights and dignity of people crossing the border within IRCA, within the law- [interruption]

How about the immigration laws that are not being respected by Mexican nationals and others from South America? Those laws need to be respected, too. You can't ask for respect for the laws on the one hand and ignore the other laws

Well, see. You have to understand, and I know this is difficult, but hunger and poverty does not understand laws.

We understand that, but what about the Mexican government's responsibility on this?

Well- [interruption]

The host country has a responsibility.

Muriel, do you believe that this country which was built by immigrants and was a country-[interruption]

Hey, there's no denying that.

Do you believe that you can in fact completely closed down any kind of undocumented immigrants coming into this country? Do you think that that's realistic and that it's possible?

Yes, it is, because we haven't been doing it for the last 20 years.

So, how is it possible?

It's possible by the will of the people. Obviously, the Gallup Polls have said they want to put an end to illegal immigration. Those people who would like to immigrate to the United States, many of them want to come to just work. We have those facilities in hand to allow them to work legally, so that they can come back and forth. All of those mechanisms need to be brought forth by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor, and to do it legally. There is no reason why we as a nation have to cope with this kind of silent invasion and the abuse that goes on both sides of the border. Border patrol agents are abused too.

But to shoot 15-year-old kids for having a rock, in the back or in the stomach or whatever, you know. [interruption]

Yeah, well, the rock was the first form of execution in written history. And when you've got 15-year-old kids in a pack of 200 throwing rocks at one single Border Patrol agent, his life is in danger. I have friends who were in the helicopter that was shot down by the bandits who didn't want the helicopter flying over that international line. I have Border Patrol agents that are shot at, Border Patrol agents that are rocked. All of these kinds of abuses go on, and Congress just sort of sits back-

Nobody condones that.

At this point, you're saying, Roberto, that there's no accountability... When the Border Patrol in fact violates, as you say, unarmed civilians, there is no one who they must be accountable to?

That's not true.

This was brought out very clearly two weeks ago when they announced the introduction of this bill to create a federal civilian oversight, that there is no system of accountability, no system of complaints.

When you say that no complaints are recognized, every time there is something that goes on as far as the Border Patrol is concerned, depending on the jurisdiction, either the sheriff's investigators take over, or the FBI takes over, or the San Diego police take over.

How many agents have been prosecuted for abusing an undocumented person?

Many of them have. Internally, they have been prosecuted.

How many?

Not one has ever been- [interruption]

Well, you know, prosecution follows through-

Are you saying that no Border Patrol official has been prosecuted for their…

In the dozens of shootings that have taken place over the last 10 years, not one agent has been prosecuted for shooting or killing an undocumented or unarmed civilian. In the abuse types, maybe one or two. The last criminal prosecution was of a Border Patrol agent in El Centro earlier this year for raping and beating a 16-year-old girl. He was sentenced to 24 or 25 years in prison.

How many undocumented immigrants have been shot and killed by the Border Patrol?

Oh, I've lost track. I mean, there was 30 or 40- [interruption]

How many of many have been shot and killed by smugglers and bandits down on the border? We don't have any track of that either.

That-[interruption]

The Border Patrol is just simply a policing arm of the United States government. And like all police agencies, it's suffering the same form of criticism that every other police force in the country is facing. But it is one of the tightest, one of the firmest, one of the most obvious to the public. I mean, they work down there in a fishbowl.

Let's just end up on this point. Is there any point, Roberto and Muriel, where your opposing views can ever come together? You both live in San Diego, you both live in an area that's a border. These things are not going to change overnight. Will you continue to be as far apart as ever or is there anything that can bring together these opposing perspectives? Roberto?

I guess as long as people don't understand why people come here and the poverty that brings them here, and never promote the contributions that Mexican immigrants have made to this state, the 4 billion agribusiness that's sustained on millions of seasonal agricultural workers and just targets the negative part of it, I think we're always going to be opposed to it. But also I think my problem too is that the anti-immigrant sentiment is getting so focused on undocumented problems that I think that if we don't begin to realize that immigrants are the ones that built this country instead of focusing on the negative, I think there we're always going to be poles apart. But I think people have to accept their responsibility for the growing anti-immigrant sentiment. And I think until that is addressed, we're going to continue being on different sides of the fence.

Muriel.

Well, I think what I'm hearing from Mr. Martinez is the fact that he would like to have open borders, and I think that sort of debate has to take place on the floor of Congress. We cannot have a law and then not enforce it. We cannot expect anarchy not to be taking place at those ports of entry. I mean, it's happening in New York State, it's happening in San Francisco, happened right here in San Diego. As long as people seem to feel that they can come to this country without permission, then we're going to have constant anarchy and danger to the people involved and to the law enforcement officers who are put out there by Congress to maintain that law.

Okay, thank you very much. Muriel Watson with the organization Light Up the Border, and Roberto Martinez with the American Friends Service Committee Border Office, here in San Diego. Thank you for Latino USA.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Friday night I was hanging with my boys. We were chilling at this guy, Chino's house, drinking forties while he took care of his kid. I hadn't hung out in a while, so I didn't mind babysitting. But the rest of the guys seemed restless. When I finally asked what was up, they told me that they were expecting a delivery of skis, also known as cocaine. [hip hop music background]

John Guardo, who came to New York City when he was 12 years old, was a member of a crew for most of his teenage life. Crews are what gangs are called in New York City. Now Guardo is trying to leave that life behind. [hip hop music background]

It's hard for me to admit how much drugs have become a part of my life, but they have, and in a big way. The lyrics and the music I hear speak of drugs as a way to become popular or even rich. That idea is reinforced by how drugs are glamorized in the movies. Bad guys living large, selling cocaine, with women around them and money to burn. As a little kid, I fantasized about someday living like them. Walking home from school, I saw that crime did pay. Just like in the movies, the neighborhood dealers had cars, girls, money, and respect. Things I wanted. [hip hop music background]

Time passed by, though, and a pattern became visible. I watched yesterday's big shot dealers become the day's victim, whether they got shot or went to jail. It was always constant. I saw those who came around to buy drugs, deteriorate, transforming from regular people to beggars and criminals with each purchase. In the end, I realized everybody was a victim, that it wasn't worth it, because even if you ain't got nothing to do with drugs you can still be mugged by a crack head or catch a bullet from a dealer's gun. No one will ever really be safe unless this problem is solved. Until then, the only protection there is is to be educated. People like to sell or do drugs because they don't realize what harm they're inflicting on themselves or others. Not knowing leaves a void for curiosity to fill.

Anyway, that Friday, as my friends got high, I chose to ignore what they were doing, numbing myself to their actions. I felt compelled to talk to them, but was afraid they'd start dissing me. Feeling out of place, I went home, got to bed, and fell asleep with a bad feeling. The next day, I woke up to a phone call. One of the guys I was with the night before had OD’ed on cocaine and died of a heart attack. He was 21 years old, and also my friend. I'm John Guardo, speaking for the street.

The recent murder of a Roman Catholic cardinal in Guadalajara, Mexico is being linked to a gang in San Diego. Law enforcement officials say at least six members of the Calle Treinta gang were the hired killers for a Tijuana drug cartel led by the Ramon Arellano family. From San Diego, Marie Araña has more.

Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo and six other persons were accidentally killed when gunmen hired by a Tijuana drug cartel mistakenly opened fire on the cardinal's limousine. Law enforcement officials say that members of the Calle Treinta gang were hired by the Arellano brothers to kill a rival drug lord, Joaquin Chapo Guzman. Guzman was believed to be the target when Cardinal Posadas was shot last May 24th. For Latino USA, I'm Marie Araña in San Diego.

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.

From the barrios of the southwest to the gang turfs and immigrant enclaves of the inner cities to middle class Latino neighborhoods from Kansas to Washington state, drug and alcohol abuse are a troubling part of everyday life for many people. To better deal with this reality, Latino social workers who specialize in substance abuse recently came together in Denver. Ancel Martinez reports they're forming a new network called HART, Hispanic Addictions Resources and Training

[Background--Natural Sounds--University Campus] On the manicured campus of the University of Denver there's no hint of the troubles of South Central Los Angeles, the barrios of El Paso or the gang turf of West Denver. Yet the 200 people who have come here to attend seminars must return to those areas with strategies on how to address increasing social problems among immigrants as well as US born Latinos. Paul Cardenas, who specializes in alcohol abuse, co-founded the nationwide group called Hispanic Addictions Resource Training, also known as HART. Because, he argues, not only do Latinos have different needs than Anglos, but their numbers cannot be ignored.

[background sounds cont.] The Hispanic community is growing. In the last 10 years, we've doubled in size. By the year 2020, we will probably be one out of every four individuals in the entire United States. So there's a great economic force that we're all going to have to cope with whether we know it or not, whether we're prepared for it or not.

[bg sound cont.]The symposium was designed to address the myriad of issues facing Latinos. One problem begins here. [Microphone noise] There are not many Latinos in social work. For instance, hundreds finished Denver University's graduate school of social work every year, but only a handful are Hispanic Americans. HART wants more minorities to enter the field. Another problem arises when Latino professionals apply for government grants. There's little information on alcoholism or drug abuse among Hispanics. So justifying grants, say for aiding Latinas, is difficult. So the goal for many is tailoring programs for those they serve.

[bg sound] Women from El Salvador, from Puerto Rico, from Mexico, and they're like so separated because they don't know a thing about one another.

[bg sound] Mary Santos is a program director for the Boyle Heights Family Recovery Center in Los Angeles who works with the growing Central American population,

And I must educate them to share their cultures so that we can find the similarities so that we can get on with the process of recovery. I believe 98% of Hispanic women have a lot of core issues such as sexual abuse, domestic violence, alcoholism. It might not have just started with them, there's a history of alcoholism or chemical dependency, so to speak, that that has been embedded in the family.

[bg sound] Besides organizing comprehensive treatments, much work remains in the area of intervention before people become addicted to violence or drugs. David Flores, an LA-based gang counselor, warns society needs to offer treatment and not simply jail time for risk-prone youth. Flores has spent years documenting gang life in Southern California.

[bg sound] The number of gangs are continuing to grow. The number of kids getting involved in gangs are also growing, and what's kind of scary is that we're seeing the development of new gangs, which will probably dramatically add to the membership unless we intervene and do something about it like right away.

[bg sound] What are the differences between those new gangs and established gangs?

[bg sound] Well, the majority of the new gangs are really tagger/bangers, what we call tagger/bangers or kids who are tagging, then forming groups that tag as a group or a set and then become an actual gang. So we're seeing a significant increase in taggers, which will then add to the number of gang members that we will see in the future.

[bg sound] Flores workshop on how street gangs get a boost from young blood was one of the best attended during the three day symposium. Every workshop stressed the need, that the 3,800 members of HART from across the country need to map out their strategies on say how traditional spiritualism and Chicano or Caribbean cultures is part of the healing process. Or how non-profit agencies can stabilize a community confronted by low wages. By forming a nationwide group HART members say they're dedicated to changing what medical and social services will be available to Hispanic Americans for years to come. For Latino USA, I'm Ancel Martinez in Denver.

A much publicized gang summit recently wrapped up in Chicago. One theme of that gathering was unity between Blacks and browns. But as Tony Sarabia reports from Chicago, few Latino gang members took part.

According to summit organizers, the meeting was an effort to persuade gangs to make peace among themselves and in the neighborhoods they dominate, something critics say isn't possible. But Latino gangs made only a few appearances at the summit. Juan Rangel of United Neighborhood Organization, a social service agency in one of Chicago's Latino communities, says, "While the summit was more or less a publicity stunt, it still would've been helpful to formally include Latino gangs."

With anything, I think that you would try to include as many of the people that are involved, knowing that there are Hispanic gangs out in the neighborhoods that are having an impact, or negative impact, on our communities. We would have hoped to see their involvement, if anything, positive was going to come out of this.

Rangel also says it's important for Latino gangs to work for peace with their African American counterparts. But he says, "None of these efforts will work if all the gangs don't give up their guns or drug trade." For Latino USA, I'm Tony Sarabia in Chicago.

Mayoral elections are being held in the heavily Latino cities of Miami and New York. Dade County voters will decide between Miami Commissioner Miriam Alonso and former metro mayor, Steve Clark. While in New York, poll show incumbent Mayor David Dinkin's running neck and neck with challenger Rudolph Giuliani. And analysts say, the Latino vote could decide the election's outcome. From New York City, Mandalit del Barco reports.

Four years ago, David Dinkins won his job as mayor by beating Rudolph Giuliani by only 2% of the votes. Now, in the final days of the campaign, both mayoral candidates have been serenading Latino voters like never before.

“Papa, por quien tu vas a votar?”

“Eso no se pregunta mijo, los Latinos votamos por Dinkin.”[Latin music]

Presente! Latinas! Con Dinkins! Presente! Latinas! Con Dinkins!...

Outside City Hall recently, a group calling themselves Latinas for Dinkins rallied for the mayor, who listed some of his accomplishments.

We've made a lot of progress in the past four years, and we're not going to turn back now. I felt the sting of discrimination in my own life, and I know that unless all of us are free, none of us is free. And that's why I have appointed highly talented Latinos to top posts in my administration, more than any mayor in our city's history.

Dinkins' spokeswoman Maite Junco says Latinos have a clear choice between a progressive minority candidate and Giuliani, a conservative Republican who served in the Justice Department under Ronald Reagan.

[Background people speaking] The choice is clear. For us, it's clear, particularly for the Latino community. The mayor has done in four years what this man has not done in his lifetime.

Dinkins' has the support of Congress members, José Serrano and Nydia Velázquez, as well as Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer. El Diario La Prensa, along with the New York Times and the Village Voice has endorsed him. And wherever he campaigns, Dinkins make sure to throw in a little Spanish.

Vaya con Dios, y mantenga la fe. [Applause]

While Dinkins got a standing ovation when he addressed a conference of Puerto Rican elderly, his challenger, Rudolph Giuliani, also received a warm reception.

Do you speak any Spanish?

Un poco, [laughter]. I understand Spanish from understanding Italian. And I can read it, but my accent is so bad. I hate to speak it. I embarrass myself. [Background-People speaking]

Giuliani's bid to win the Latino vote has been boosted by running mate Herman Badillo, the grandfather of the city's Latino politicians. A longtime Democrat, Badillo's campaigning for city controller, this time around, on the Republican liberal ticket.

There's no way that Dinkins is going to get the same support in the Latino community that he got in 1989, and that's the reason he's going to lose. Every poll, while it may vary more or less some points, shows him nowhere near the 66% to 70% that he got last time. And I'm convinced that we're going to win the majority of the Latino vote. So that's the election right there.

Herman Badillo is not the only Latino Democrat to have defected from Dinkins' camp to Giuliani's. Fire Commissioner Carlos Rivera, along with prominent political figures, Ruben Franco and Elizabeth Colón, are now supporting Giuliani, citing disillusionment with the mayor.

He has failed us, and that is the cry of the Hispanic community around the city of New York. He has failed us, and we need a change.

Around the city, Giuliani voters seem more concerned about crime, while those who favor Dinkins feel a kinship with the city's first African-American mayor.

Dinkins look like he likes Spanish people. And Giuliani, he is going to go for Italian people. So we get together, the Black and Spanish, so I think we could get him thinking back. I think he's doing all right. We have to give him a chance.

Years back, we went to the street. We went to church. We went to different places at nighttime. Now we can't go out. We're scared. Drugs is number one. [Background-People Speaking]

And you think that Giuliani will take care of that?

I think Giuliani will take care of that, yes. Maybe a change would be better.

Giuliani.

Why?

Well, he looks like he'll take care of the crime, the crime and the drugs in the street. He'll do a better job, I think.

How do you know he will?

Well, I'm not too sure, but from people talking and everything.

Giuliani is not going to win and Dinkins is going to squeak by. That's what's going to happen.

Reporter Evido De La Cruz has been covering the election for the city's largest Spanish language newspaper, El Diario La Prensa. He says, at this point, the election and the Latino vote is just too close to call.

I believe that it is such thing as a Latino vote. But who's going to get it? Nobody's sure. A lot of people are really, really upset with the mayor, because they perceive him as somebody that he didn't live up to his promises, his commitments to the Latino community. And the other part of it is that, they don't trust. For some reason, they think that Giuliani is not sensible enough, doesn't know the community. He's perceived as somebody that's going to like everybody that has this mentality of prosecutor mentality. I interview a lot of people and that's what they say. I mean, they don't know how to vote. They haven't made their mind.

In the meantime, at least one segment of the city's so-called Latino swing vote has been trying to force both mayoral candidates to address issues such as racial violence against Latinos.

Madison Avenue! This Latino swing vote is in the middle of the monster, waving our flag, demanding...

At rallies outside City Hall and outside Giuliani's headquarters, community activist Richie Perez challenged Dinkins and Giuliani to act on the recent racial murder of a Dominican teenager and the fire bombing of a home belonging to a Puerto Rican family in Brooklyn. [Background-Person giving speech]

All the polls are saying that the community has not yet made up its mind. Two weeks ago went one way. This week is going another way. It's still a volatile situation. We are here to increase the volatility of the situation and say, "If you want our votes, you got to give something up,” because it is long past the time when our community was sleeping and our votes could be taken for granted. As far as we are concerned, this is a candidate accountability demonstration.

If nothing else, says Richie Perez, this mayoral campaign has forced the candidates to put Latino issues on the political agenda. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

[Background--Music--Hip-hop] Friday night I was hanging with my boys. We were chilling at this guy, Chino's house, drinking forties while he took care of his kid. I hadn't hung out in a while, so I didn't mind babysitting. But the rest of the guys seem restless. When I finally asked what was up, they told me that they were expecting a delivery of skis, also known as cocaine.

John Guardo, who came to New York City from Colombia when he was 12 years old, just turned 21. But for most of his teenage life, he was a member of a crew. Crews are what gangs are called in New York City. Now, while Guardo is trying to leave that life behind, he sees many of his friends staying behind.

It's hard for me to admit how much drugs have become a part of my life, but they have, and in a big way. The lyrics and the music I hear speak of drugs as a way to become popular or even rich. That idea is reinforced by how drugs are glamorized in the movies. Bad guys living large, selling cocaine with women around them and money to burn. As a little kid, I fantasized about someday living like them. Walking home from school, I saw that crime did pay. Just like in the movies, the neighborhood dealers had cars, girls, money and respect. Things I wanted.

Time passed by though, and a pattern became visible. I watched yesterday's big shot dealers become today's victim. Whether they got shot or went to jail, it was always constant. I saw those who came around to buy drugs deteriorate, transforming from regular people to beggars and criminals with each purchase.

And then I realized everybody was a victim, that it wasn't worth it because even if you ain't got nothing to do with drugs, you can still be mugged by a crack head or catch a bullet from a dealer's gun. No one will ever really be safe unless this problem is solved. Until then, the only protection there is is to be educated. People let us sell or do drugs because they don't realize what harm they're inflicting on themselves or others. Not knowing leaves a void for curiosity to fill.

Anyway, that Friday, as my friends got high, I chose to ignore what they were doing, numbing myself to their actions. I felt compelled to talk to them, but was afraid they'd start dissing me. Feeling out of a place, I went home, got to bed, and fell asleep with a bad feeling.

The next day I woke up to a phone call. One of the guys I was with the night before had OD'ed on cocaine and died of a heart attack. He was 21 years old and also my friend. I'm John Guardo, speaking for the street.