Annotations for Subject-headings: Elections

It's been two years since disturbances broke out in Washington DC's Mount Pleasant neighborhood, where most of the city's Latino population lives. At the time, Latino leaders blamed the violent outburst on neglect by the local city government of Hispanic residents. In the past 10 years, Washington DC's Latino community, mostly Central American, has grown rapidly. Since the violence of two years ago, the DC government has taken action to address community concerns, but Latino leaders say there's still much more to be done. From Washington, William Troop prepared this report.

[Transitional music]

A music vendor sets up shop at the corner of Mount Pleasant and Lamont Street, the heart of Washington's Latino community. He's one of at least a dozen Latino merchants doing business near Parque de las Palomas, a small triangular park at the end of a city bus line.

[Transitional music]

[Helicopter sounds]

Just two years ago, the worst riots the nation's capital had seen in over 20 years started right here. On May 4th, 1991, Daniel Gómez, a Salvadoran immigrant, was stopped by an African American police officer for drinking in public. There are differing accounts about what happened next. Police say Gómez launched at the rookie officer who shot him in self-defense, but many Latinos heard a different version, one that said Gómez was shot after being harassed and handcuffed by the officer. Gómez was seriously wounded and as news of the incident spread, outrage poured from the community.

…sangre fría frente a demasiados latinos. Eso no lo llevan todos porque en realidad esta es una comunidad latina. ¿Me entienden? y la discriminación ha ido tan lejos de que si alguien…

During the riots, these men looted a 7-Eleven store because they were angry at police for mistreating Latinos. The looting and burning in Mount Pleasant lasted three days. To calm people down, DC Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly arrived on the scene and promised to address Latino concerns as soon as the violence ended. It was a victory of sorts. Latino leaders had long complained that city officials ignored charges of discrimination and police brutality. The riots changed that.

To a certain degree, we had the best disturbance that we could have ever had. Although you had the destruction of public property, you had the destruction of private property, you had some injuries, nobody was killed. And overnight…Latinos were an issue in Washington DC.

Juan Milanés was a law student at the time. Today, he is legal counsel for the Latino Civil Rights Task Force, an organization created after the disturbances in Mount Pleasant.

Prior to May 5th, 1991, the Latino population of Washington DC, although it was 10% of the population, was unrecognized…just invisible…just a bunch of people who get on the bus in the evening to go clean buildings, but you know... There are just a few people here and there. Most of them are illegal anyway. Suddenly, we're there and there was now this group of people that were demanding that they be there.

A few months after the riots, the Latino Civil Rights Task Force issued a blueprint for action, detailing 200 specific steps the city could take to address Latino concerns. Task Force executive director Pedro Aviles says the city has not done enough to stop discrimination and police insensitivity.

The problems have not been solved yet. The police brutality cases, they continue. Certainly, the fact that we've been complaining, and we've been shaking the tree kind of thing…it's brought about little change, but I would say that it's a lot of stuff that needs to be done.

What has been done has been done slowly according to task force officials. One example, the city hired bilingual 911 operators a year and a half after the task force recommended it and only after a Latina who had been raped had to wait two hours for assistance in Spanish. Carmen Ramírez, director of the Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs, says the city has taken significant steps to address community concerns.

The recommendations, in many instances, are not recommendations that can just be met by one concrete action, although some of them are, but rather, it's a matter of putting into place policies and in many instances, mechanisms by which problems can continue to be addressed.

To do that, the city has created bilingual positions in almost all departments of DC government. Ramírez adds that DC's police department has hired more bilingual personnel and sent hundreds of police officers to Spanish classes and sensitivity training. But last year, Latino leaders complained they were excluded from developing the initial sensitivity training program and they say there are still plenty of police brutality cases. In January, the US Commission on Civil Rights agreed when it issued its report on the Mount Pleasant disturbances. Commission Chair Arthur Fletcher called the plight of Latinos in DC appalling.

Many Latinos in the third district have been subjected to arbitrary harassments, unwarranted arrests, and even physical abuse by DC police officers.

The commission also found that the District of Columbia still shuts off Latinos from basic services because it lacks bilingual personnel. Many DC Latinos feel that in a city dominated by African Americans, it's often hard to get a fair distribution of resources. BB Otero is chair of the Latino Civil Rights Task Force.

There is a prevalent feeling among the African American community, not just the leadership but the community at large that says, “we've struggled hard to get where we are, to have control of some resources in the city to begin to play a powerful role in the community.” And its um…“if we open it up to someone else, we may be giving something up.”

They still wanted them to be citizens of their own country and not registered to vote in the United States and still have the same measure of power and the same measure of participation as somebody who was a citizen. That, in my view, is a naive expectation and certainly is not something that the civil rights movement ever talked about.

African American council member Frank Smith represents Ward 1, the area where most DC Latinos live. He says, the struggle for civil rights is about citizenship and voting.

I think that the Hispanic community has got to work harder at getting their people registered to vote. If they want to win elections, they're going to have to get people registered to vote and get them out to the ballot boxes on election day in order to win. Nobody's going to roll over and give up one of these seats.

Civic activity comes once you have gained some sense of security of where you are or where you live. You still have a community that doesn't have that sense of security.

Over half of Washington's estimated 60,000 Latinos are undocumented, many of whom have fled war and unrest in El Salvador and most recently, Guatemala. BB Otero who ran unsuccessfully for a school board seat last fall says she's hopeful a Latino political base will develop as time goes by and as the community matures.

If they can survive the struggle that it is to be able to fight the odds basically and build that political base, then we will see, I think by '96, some other candidates in other areas beyond myself.

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Change, however slow some may consider it, seems to be happening at Parque de las Palomas, where the disturbances erupted two years ago. There are now more Latino officers walking the beat. Merchant José Valdezar says, even those stopped for drinking in public are now treated with respect by police.

First, they say hello to you, and I start to speak and they explain to you what's going on. Sometime, the person who own any store around here say, you know, they don't like drunk people around here. You know, that's why they say no. Just keep walking and everything will be okay.

[Transitional music]

Daniel Gómez, whose shooting sparked the disturbances in Mount Pleasant two years ago, recovered from his wounds and was later acquitted of assaulting the police officer who shot him. For Latino USA. I'm William Troop reporting from Washington DC.

Preparations are underway in Los Angeles for the June 8 mayoral runoff election. Chinese American councilmember Michael Woo is vying with millionaire Richard Riordan to succeed Tom Bradley as the city's top official. Only eight percent of registered Latinos voted in the April 20 primary election, and analysts say the candidates will have to work hard to inspire greater Latino participation in the upcoming mayoral race. From Los Angeles, Alberto Aguilar prepared this report.

Latino community could have turned out up to 70,000 voters very easily had candidates invested intelligently into the Latino community, but they chose not to.

Southwest Voter Registration Executive Director Richard Martínez said in Los Angeles that none of the front-runners captured the imagination of the Latino leadership nor the Latino voter.

The Latino community could not see itself in their issues. It's like looking in the mirror and seeing somebody different. So, I think the Latino community sent a message to the elected officials. "We are not for sale just because it's you. You have to show us that you care and you know us, or else, we're not going to give you our votes."

Latinos make up 10% of the city's registered voters. Their absence in this election may signal trouble for a city that is desperately trying to live with its own diversity. In Los Angeles, this is Alberto Aguilar reporting for Latino USA.

Latino voters in New York could be a key force in that city's upcoming mayoral race. That's what recent polls say, as Latino USA's Mandalit del Barco reports.

A New York Times WCBS poll shows more than 1200 Latino voters giving Mayor David Dinkins a 40% approval rating. They were split in their support between Dinkins and a Republican challenger, Rudolph Giuliani. But analysts say the results prove a growing political power in the city where one of every four New Yorkers is Latino. Another survey by the Hispanic Federation of New York City shows Latinos don't think the mayor's doing a good job, but if the election were held today, they would vote for Dinkins. In the last election, Dinkins got about 70% of the Latino vote. Some say that's because Latinos here believe they shared a political agenda with the city's first African-American mayor. The poll shows continued support for the mayor with a warning that the quality of life must improve for Latinos in the city. The picture that emerged from the thousand Latinos polled was one of anger and despair about discrimination, education, the economy, crime, and drugs. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

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.

From Austin, Texas. You're listening to Latino USA. Los Angeles, California, has elected its first Republican mayor in over 30 years. While most of the city's political establishment had supported the defeated candidate, Chinese American city council member Michael Woo, some analysts predict Latinos may stand to benefit politically under the new mayor Richard Riordan. Alberto Aguilar has this report.

Latinos took a keen interest in the mayoral campaign, with most of the political leadership, including a state assemblyman Richard Polanco, county supervisor of Gloria Molina, state Senator Art Torres supporting the defeated candidate Michael Woo. Only Councilman Richard Alatorre broke with fellow Democrats to yearn Republican, Richard Riordan. Loyola University political science professor Fernando Guerra believes having a Latino political operator inside the Riordan organization might be advantageous.

If Richard Alatorre had not gone over to Riordan's campaign, that means that every single Latino elected official who did endorse one of the two candidates would've endorsed Michael Woo. This way you have somewhat of an entree to the Riordan mayoral team.

Guerra believes the costliest race in the city's history may have helped Latinos come closer to the mayor's office.

With Mayor Bradley's leadership, Blacks have been at the forefront. At the congressional level, there are now more Latinos than Blacks from LA County. At the state level, there are now more Latinos than Blacks in LA County. So that Latinos have actually surpassed, in terms of absolute numbers, Blacks. And they are now, I would say, the dominant minority group in Los Angeles politics.

Whether the new mayor will help promote Latinos, still unclear. What is obvious, according to local observers, is that allegiances were clearly visible, especially on issues of interest to Latinos, something not seen around here in a long time. For Latino USA from Los Angeles, this is Alberto Aguilar reporting.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm Vidal Guzmán. California governor Pete Wilson is calling for major changes to limit undocumented immigration. The governor promoted a so-called program for recovery at press conferences in San Diego and Los Angeles. Alberto Aguilar reports.

Governor Wilson alleges that up to 2 million of California's 32 million people are here illegally, 1 million in Los Angeles alone.

In a state where we have within Los Angeles, a community of illegal immigrants the size of San Diego.

Governor Wilson, who will probably seek reelection next year, wants President Clinton to deny US-born children of undocumented parents citizenship and access to healthcare and education: proposals which have created a firestorm of controversy with state Senator Art Torres saying that the governor is using the wrong approach to a complex problem. Other immigration advocates say denying education to children goes against a 1982 US Supreme Court decision and keeping somebody from achieving citizenship will require a change in the 14th amendment to the US Constitution. For Latino USA, I'm Alberto Aguilar in Los Angeles.

We're here today as a coalition of Latinos, leaders in our community, leaders in business, and leaders in the political arena to hold Governor Wilson accountable for his recent proposals to President Clinton.

As politicians throughout the nation from Washington to Texas come up with proposals to curb illegal immigration. A coalition of Latino organizations in California warned that immigrants are fast becoming the scapegoats of bad economic times. From Los Angeles, Alberto Aguilar reports.

In just 12 hours, this week, US attorney Janet Reno, two US Senators, Governor Pete Wilson, the state Senate, and the assembly put aside other issues to promote laws against illegal immigration. The rush to legislate and castigate illegal immigration has created a great deal of concern in the Latino community, which responded with its own open letter decrying Governor Wilson's recent initiatives to strip immigrants of access to health, education, and constitutional protection.

We know well in our community that this is a historical cycle. During the depression in 1931, immigrants were made scapegoats. In 1954, immigrants were made scapegoats. During the inflationary periods of the seventies, immigrants were made scapegoats. And the 1990s, in today's recession, guess what? Immigrants are being made scapegoats.

Arturo Vargas is the vice president of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund. MALDEF is part of the coalition who responded to what they feel is an anti-immigrant hysteria. Representing the Latino Business Association, Ed Vasquez disputes that immigrants are a public charge.

There's a hundred thousand, 100,000 Latino owned businesses in Los Angeles alone generating six and a half billion dollars in revenues every single year. For the politicians to blame the economic problems on immigrants it sends out a dangerous message. Immigrants did not take away the jobs in the defense industry. Immigrants are not taking away jobs from corporate America, bad economic policies are.

California leaders aware of the upcoming state elections strongly decry what they call scapegoating of Latinos for the sorry state of California's economy by both Republicans and Democrats. For Latinos USA, I'm Alberto Aguilar in Los Angeles.

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.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. In New York City's, East Harlem, the Puerto Rican Barrio. A neighborhood marketplace known as La Marqueta has long been a symbol of the area's economic development or lack of it. The one's thriving market is now run down and in need of renovation, but as the political climate heats up in New York City for local elections, La Marqueta is beginning to become an issue. From New York Mandalit del Barco reports.

Beuno, aqui tengo platano maduro, platano verdes. Tengo Yucca, [inaudible], agua—aguacate.

The Banana King, Jose Luis Santiago sells fruit from a stand at La Marqueta. A warehouse under the old, elevated subway tracks in the heart of El barrio, Santiago has been here for 42 years in the business he took over from his father in that time, he says he is seen many changes.

Oh! Aqui la luna han cambiado.

[Inaudible.]

Como te dije al principio que la marqueta se cayeron, caer no, no limpieza toda via ven la marca.

La Marqueta fell into disrepair over the years. He says, leaving the place dirty and neglected. Luis the Banana King's just one of eight or nine vendors left at La Marqueta, along with a couple of butchers, fabric vendor, egg seller and botanica merchants. He's watched the once thriving marketplace deteriorate before his eyes.

No hay mucho publico, muy pco lo que nadie aqui, no hay nada que buscar--

Luis the Banana King laments that nobody shops at the marketplace anymore and there's not much to shop for. It's a far cry from 1936 when it was created by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia as an indoor space to keep the push cart pedalers off the streets. What started as the Park Avenue market with Italian and Jewish merchants slowly shifted to becoming La Marqueta as Puerto Rican started flooding into East Harlem in the 1950s, there were five Marqueta buildings where there now is barely one. Butcher Alex Garcet, a Puerto Rican New Yorker remembers how La Marqueta used to be.

30 years was different, was crowded you couldn't even... We used to open at five in the morning by six o'clock was people waiting outside the N 20. The bus used to be crowded. Everything, it's nothing, was different. Everybody was concerned.

In the 1970s, tenants at La Marqueta organized to run the marketplace and later several developers took over all without success. La Marqueta became the site of building code violations and neglect as small vendors retired or moved elsewhere and there was no one left to take their place. A year and a half ago, the city finally took charge again. Through the Economic Development Corporation. [Natural sounds of neighborhood] The city is fixing the one remaining building hoping to welcome new tenants by October. There's now a task force working on choosing a new developer to boost La Marqueta to a new future. The city is committed $5 million to the project and the task force is hoping for state and federal money in addition. East Harlem City council member Adam Clayton Powell IV envisions La Marqueta as a tourist attraction and an affordable neighborhood shopping center.

I would like to see like a flea market where different vendors can have their push guards and where we can have fruits, vegetables, t-shirts, magic, trick stores that that sort of thing, and I think it can be done.

But others, including Powell's rival in the current city council election, William Del Toro wonder about the viability of such a dream becoming reality given the marketplace's history and the neighborhood's lack of buying power. Also, the wisdom of spending so much money to revive a place that might simply be outmoded.

The goal is to create 20 stalls at a cost of $2,000,000.00 Do you know what we're talking about? $100,000.00 a stall. And you know what a stall is? A couple of pieces of plasterboard and a gate that rolls down.

[Archival sound] Temperatura en la cuidad de Nueva York en los 84 grados.

Those working to revitalize La Marqueta disagree that the place is doomed. They see a future mixed east marketplace complete with food vendors, clothing stores, movie theaters, and a community space with the smells, feel, and mood of East Harlem. Across from the banana stand, Alex Garcet sells fresh meat, accepting food stamps and allowing his customers to buy food on credit. He even has a whole index card catalog filled with IOUs like many in the neighborhood, Garcet considers where he works a landmark. Not long ago, he had to lay off 11 employees from behind the meat counter, still he says he'll stay. Why do you stay?

Well, listen, the reason we stand, because we have hope. Okay? Everybody have hope and I have a hope that one day we might be able to make it and we doing it by ourself.

Until La Marqueta becomes a sensation that's promised, Alex Garcet says the vendors will continue to wait for customers to return. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

In New York City, politics is heating up as the November mayoral election looms ahead. Incumbent Mayor David Dinkins easily won the recent primary, but the November race will be much more difficult as Mandalit del Barco reports.

David Dinkins is running for a second term in office as city's first African American mayor. Polls say he'll need a large turnout of Latino voters, many of whom say they may go for his opponent, Republican candidate Rudolph Giuliani. Despite harsh criticism by those like Fire Commissioner Carlos Rivera who quit his job and through his endorsement to Giuliani, Dinkins acknowledges the support he's gotten from many other segments of the Latino community. On primary night, he even peppered his nomination victory speech with Spanish.

A la victoria. Les quiero mucho. I love you all.

Cuatro años más.

Latino campaign workers and fans wish Dinkins has four more years in office, but Giuliani is also hoping for Latino support in his campaign, and he's running with former congressman and Deputy Mayor Herman Badillo. Badillo is the as the city's elder Latino politician and is on the November ballot on the Republican and Liberal lines. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. Nuyoricans, those who were born in Puerto Rico or whose parents were, went to the polls recently to cast their ballots in an unofficial plebiscite on the island's political status. Just as Puerto Ricans on the island will be doing in November. Nuyoricans voted on whether the island should be a state, gain independence or remain a US commonwealth. Mandalit del Barco was at several voting sites in New York City. She prepared this report.

With a little more than a third of the ballots counted, the majority of Nuyoricans, 59% voted for Puerto Rico to remain a commonwealth. 37% hope for Puerto Rico to become a state and only 4% want the island to be independent. At polling sites around the city, New York Puerto Ricans cast their ballots enthusiastically for the future of their choice.

Arriba Puerto Rico! Arriba! Que se quede como esta.

Viva Puerto Rico!

Que viva Puerto Rico. [Laughter]

Organizers of New York's Plebiscite were pleased with the turnout. It seems nearly 32,000 Puerto Rican New Yorkers were eager to have their voices heard.

Well, I decided to vote because I'm a Puerto Rican and I love my island and I think that the way it is, it's beautiful the way it is.

I feel good to vote for my country because we have to do something about it. I'm very proud of our people and to stay over here in New York and come and go- you know, like we used to do.

There's some people in Puerto Rico who say that the people in New York shouldn't be voting.

I disagree with them, a 100%. Because I was born there and I feel for both countries. So it is something that I just feel good about.

I'm voting for Puerto Rico. That's my country, that's my island. I need to vote, not just for me, for all the Puerto Rican. Tu naciste en Puerto Rico.

Yo nací en Puerto Rico, en Lares.

En Lares, pues tu eres Puerto Riqueño. Ok, fílmame aquí...

Showing their birth certificates and other ID, the New York voters proved they could participate in what's called a parallel plebiscite. Over the next few weeks, Puerto Ricans in Orlando, Florida, Springfield, Massachusetts and Chicago will be holding similar votes. Puerto Ricans living on the island will be voting for their future on November 14th. The plebiscites are non-binding on Congress, who will ultimately decide Puerto Rico's future. Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer says the higher than expected turnout in New York was a testament to the strong patriotic feelings of Puerto Ricans no matter where they live.

The thousands of people who presented themselves at the polling places to vote with crumbled up birth certificates that they had to search for, made an extraordinary effort to be voters. And this is historic. This vote has an unmistakable moral and political weight that will be felt far beyond the borders of New York City.

Ferrer is getting the New York election off the ground was almost a miracle. He was astounded by the number of obstacles in putting on the no budget vote, which was staffed by volunteers. Manny Mirabal who heads New York City's coalition Pro-Puerto Rican participation talked about some of those obstacles.

We were attacked by the leaders in Puerto Rico as having ulterior motives for the vote. We've been attacked from members of our own Puerto Rican community here for having political reasons for holding the vote. The bottom line is that we were not holding this vote so that when it was all over we could carry the banner of Ella and say, "That's what we want." We're not going to do that. If statehood should win, we're not planning on carrying the banner for statehood. What we are planning on carrying the banner for is that 30,000 plus people, came to the polls, cast their ballot, and they all said the one thing and they all said that together, "We want to be part of this process."

Congress knows that there is an election taking place on November 14th in Puerto Rico. Yet, officially or unofficially, they have sent out any signal that they're recognizing that election in Puerto Rico in any way.[Background, urban life]

City Councilman Jose Rivera and the organizers of the New York plebiscite say the outcome of the stateside votes could greatly influence Congress' decision. If the majority of mainland voters choose the same option as those on the island, they say Congress might be coaxed into declaring an official plebiscite.

By us participating in the mainland United States, we're able to vote for those who want to be members of Congress. We can also vote against those who wants to be member of Congress if they choose not to listen to us. So that's the difference. We have the power of electing and rejecting Congress person and that is the language that these people understand.

Final results of the New York vote won't be known for several weeks. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York.

More than a dozen big cities elect mayors on November 2nd. One of the most contested races is in Miami, where Cuban-born Commissioner Miriam Alonso is facing former mayor, Steve Clark. That race has been characterized by a great deal of mudslinging, with Clark being dubbed the marshmallow mayor, and Alonso's opponents calling her Castro's ambassador and a communist. Alonso's husband was Cuba's ambassador to Lebanon, before the couple defected from the island 27 years ago.

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.

In Miami's mayoral race, candidates Miriam Alonso and Steve Clark face a November 9th runoff. And as Melissa Mancini reports from Miami, voting there broke down largely along ethnic lines.

Former Metro Mayor Steve Clark dominated in white non-Hispanic areas and also won a sizeable share of young Hispanic votes. Challenger Miriam Alonso took two votes for every ballot captured by Clark in Miami's Hispanic areas. However, Alonso trailed Clark by big margins in non-Hispanic neighborhoods winning less than 15% of the vote. For the past two decades, Miami's mayor's job has been held by a Hispanic, a fact that Cuba born Alonso has repeated in Spanish language radio broadcasts. During election day radio appearances, Alonso exhorted Cuban voters to keep the mayor's office in their hands. Those appeals apparently succeeded in Miami's Little Havana community where voters turned out in greater numbers than in other neighborhoods. However, it remains to be seen if Alonso can broaden her base for the November 9th runoff. For Latino USA, I'm Melissa Mancini in Miami.

Voters in Hialeah, Florida meanwhile will also vote in a runoff election between State Representative, Nilo Juri, and suspended City Mayor, Raul Martinez. Martinez was convicted two years ago on corruption charges and suspended from his post by Florida Governor Lawton Chiles.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. The Latino vote had been predicted to play a significant role in recent mayoral elections in two major US cities, New York, where Republican Rudolph Giuliani defeated the city's first African-American mayor, David Dinkins in a very close race, and Miami were Cuban-born city Commissioner Miriam Alonso will face former Mayor Steve Clark in a runoff on November 9th. With us to talk about these elections and the role of the Latino vote are political analyst Gerson Borrero in New York, and from Miami, Ivan Roman, a reporter for El Nuevo Herald. Bienvenidos a los dos, welcome.

Let's take a look at the numbers in these two races and where the Latino vote went and what difference it made, if at all. Let's look at Miami first. What happened in Miami, Ivan?

Well, first of all, in Miami the Hispanics are a majority of the vote. Regardless of what happens with Hispanics, they are to play a major role. Interestingly enough, what you had was a race between Commissioner Miriam Alonso, who is Cuban, and an Anglo former Miami Mayor, Steve Clark, the vote was split amongst Hispanics. 60% for Alonso and 40% for Clark, and there are many reasons for that. Some analysts attribute a generational gap because Miriam Alonso resorted to shrill ethnic appeals in the last week that they say the younger generation and exit polls show that the younger generation of Cubans and Cuban Americans reject. So, there you have an interesting dynamic in which you have Hispanics and mostly Cubans who are splitting their vote and not necessarily voting Cuban, which is what the older time and the older Cubans tend to do.

Now in New York, Gerson, the Latino vote was talked about for a very long time as being the swing vote. Did it in fact make the difference for getting Republican Giuliani into office this time around?

Well, the Latino vote came out and danced, but it certainly didn't swing. It didn't move anybody. It really had no impact as far as I can tell from the figures that have come out. We did come out at around 20% of the electorate and it indicates to me that however, it was crucial to maintaining Dinkin's dignified loss. He got 60% of the vote. Mayor Dinkin is the incumbent as opposed to Republican Rudolph Giuliani who got around 38% of the Latino vote, which is less than what he expected. Certainly Latino vote in New York City turned out along the party lines and that is being Democrats. The majority of the votes here in New York City from the Latino population are of course from Puerto Ricans, and just as Blacks did, they voted along democratic lines.

Ivan, the interesting thing about Miami is that there is this generational split where you have younger Cubans going for the non-Cuban candidate and you have the older Cubans going for the Cuban candidate. This shows a lot about the complexity in this particular case of the Latino Cuban vote. Do you think that people are picking up on that down in Miami?

Definitely so. I mean, you could say there's a generational divide in which younger Cubans, for instance, would not go for these ethnic appeals that have been so common here in politics.

[interruption] Well, what kind of ethnic appeals are you talking about?

Well, basically Miriam Alonso and every Cuban politician you can think of was on the radio saying, "This seat belongs to us. We can't let this seat slip out of our hands." And one thing is to say that we deserve representation with the majority, and another thing is to say that the seat belongs to us because that was the kind of message that was rejected by Puerto Ricans and Nicaraguans who were saying, "Wait a minute, you're excluding everybody else. Why should I vote for somebody who is going to be so exclusive?"

Do both of you agree with the conventional wisdom that's being talked about, that this election was very bad news for the Clinton Administration and for the Democrats in general or are you a little bit more skeptical?

I don't agree with it. I think that this has nothing to do with the Clinton presidency. It's too early on in his administration. This is only his 10th month in office. We have to remember that neither Whitman in New Jersey or Giuliani in New York received a mandate. It was only 2% in each instance. So, there is clearly, it's not a mandate anywhere. I think people looked at the local issues and certainly our community voted as such. I mean you can stretch this and say that Clinton did have an effect and that the Latino community listened to the President, so that argument could be made also.

In Miami, that doesn't really apply because the race is not a partisan race. The dynamic happening here is mostly an anti-incumbency type of thing where voters seem to reject people who had either been at city hall before or who are currently in city hall, in favor of some newcomers that are giving them a struggle in the runoff next week. Here we have a different situation.

Well, thank you very much for joining us. Political analyst Gerson Borrero in New York and Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald in Miami. Muchas gracias.

Voters in Miami pulled together to elect a new mayor after one of the most divisive political campaigns in that city's history. For Miami, Melissa Mancini has more.

Rejecting ethnic appeals, Miami voters elected Steve Clark as their first non-Hispanic mayor in more than 20 years. By a landslide 59%, voters turned aside the Cuban vote Cuban requests at the heart of opponent Miriam Alonzo's campaign. Younger Cuban American voters rejected Alonzo as did black, white, and non Cuban Hispanic voters who voted two to one in favor of Clark. Younger Hispanic voters ignored Alonzo's appeals to stick with their parents and grandparents in backing her. An exit poll showed Clark winning solid majorities among Hispanic voters below age 49 while Alonzo won among those over 50 years of age. Alonzo ran an all-out ethnic campaign, calling the mayor's job, quote, "a Hispanic seat" and saying Latinos should retain the mayor's seat in Cuban hands. She continued that strategy through election day and many political analysts are blaming Alonzo's defeat in great measure on her racially-based campaigning. For Latino USA, I'm Melissa Mancini in Miami.

The Clinton administration has announced a major push to encourage legal residents to become US citizens. As Patricia Guadalupe reports from Washington, this represents a major policy shift by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The US Immigration and Naturalization Service, which spends only 10% of its budget on naturalization efforts, will be trying to persuade this country's more than 10 million legal residents to become US citizens. The INS says it hopes this will help to cut down on hostility towards immigrants. Policy Analyst, Cecelia Munoz of the National Council of La Raza said this is a step in the right direction.

Naturalization is about welcoming people as new Americans, not keeping people out, and there's too many people in INS who have a focus on the negative and not the positive, and that's a focus that's been needing to change for a long time.

INS Commissioner Doris Meisner has said that she intends to work with immigrant rights groups to promote the advantages of citizenship and to streamline the application process. Munoz added that if Commissioner Meisner follows through on her intentions and more residents become citizens, it could be especially beneficial to Hispanics, which make up the majority of these legal residents. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

The internationally known singer and actor, Ruben Blades is now officially a candidate for the presidency of his native Panama.

The scenario Panama will be determined by the Panamanian people, by its will and its desire to carry out a specific position and if you try...

Blades says he's willing to give up the comfort of life as a US entertainer to try to end political corruption in Panama. You're listening to Latino USA.

NAFTA is just one of the issues facing the man who's almost sure to be Mexico's next president. He's Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta, who as is the custom in Mexico, was named to be the candidate of Mexico's ruling institutional revolutionary party by the incumbent president, Carlos Salinas De Gortari. With us to speak about what Colosio's nomination means is David Ayon, director of the Mexico Roundtable at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Bienvenido David. Given all of the attention that's now focused on Mexico and NAFTA and Mexico's political system, why do you think it was Colosio who was chosen as the candidate of the PRI?

Well, I think it is now pretty plain that Salinas has been grooming Colosio for this moment, for this role for quite a number of years. Further than that, he also has an enormous amount of experience in knowing how to run a campaign all over the country. He was Salinas' own campaign manager when Salinas was a candidate in 1988, and subsequent to that, Salinas made Colosio the president of the PRI party. So Colosio is very well positioned and the ground has been prepared very carefully for him to be something of an ideal candidate, to be the PRI standard there.

What do you think Colosio is going to bring to the particular relationship between Mexico and the United States now that NAFTA has been approved though?

He's unlikely to represent any difference or modification of the basic project or trajectory that's been traced by Salinas, which is one of really transforming various levels, Mexico's attitude towards the United States and its relationship with the United States. This is the project that continues along the path of especially commercial and business integration.

In Mexico, Colosio has been chosen by what's called El Dedazo, by the pointing of the finger. In other words that people assume that he will be Mexico's next president and there's a lot of talk about pressuring Mexico to democratize the institutional party there. Do you think that Mexico will heed this call or do you think that there will be a kind of sense that they have to now bow down to the United States who is suddenly telling them what they have to do? How do you see this democratic process within the PRI.

It's very difficult to see how this is going to be democratized and they plainly have not achieved this at all. In fact, Colosio's own destape, his own unveiling and his being chosen, the dedazo, the pointing of the big finger by Salinas was handled perhaps in a more undemocratic fashion than in the previous two presidential successions. It was just simply announced suddenly, unexpectedly Sunday morning that he's going to be the guy without any pretense of a process whatsoever. So I think what this suggests to us is that they haven't figured their way out of a really complicated corner that historically the Mexican political system finds itself in.

Now the election takes place on August 24th, 1994, but the opposition candidate, the main opposition candidate, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, is surely expected to give Colosio a run for his money. Do you think that there's a possibility that this might be the first election in which the PRI actually loses and the opposition with Cuauhtemoc Cardenas actually has a chance to win or not?

Colosio is going to have a vast machine and a virtually unlimited budget behind him. He starts already, if we can go by most recent polls, there was a poll taken in October that measured a hypothetical matchup between Colosio and Cardenas. He already starts with a significant lead about a dozen percentage points over Cardenas, and that is before ever being named. This is such a mountain to overcome that it's really hard to conceive that Cardenas, popular as he genuinely is, will be able to really to surmount it.

Well, thank you very much for joining us. David Ayon teaches political science and specializes in Mexican policy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Muchas gracias.

In the aftermath of the defeat of New York City's first Black mayor incumbent, David Dinkins, Latino leaders in that city are beginning to assess the significance of Mayor-elect Rudolph Giuliani's election for their communities. As the transition period proceeds, both critics and supporters of Republican Giuliani are keeping a watchful eye as to how he might address Latino concerns. From New York, Mario Murillo reports.

New York City Mayor-elect Rudy Giuliani will take office in January, facing the same problems David Dinkins confronted in his four years as mayor, a massive budget deficit, high unemployment, an education system in crisis, and a crime problem that won't go away. Giuliani will also be facing an uneasy Latino electorate which overwhelming voted in favor of his Democratic opponent.

He's going to have to really demonstrate despite the fact that he has a good number of Latinos around him as part of his campaign that he's going to have to work hard at reaching our community.

Angelo Falcon is President of the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, a nonpartisan think take that explores issues affecting the Latino community. According to its statistics, Giuliani won the election, attracting only 27% of the Latino vote, down from the 33% he received in 1989. Falcon says Giuliani must avoid making some of the same mistakes of his predecessors when dealing with the Latino community.

One of the problems that Dinkins had, and I think any mayor is going to have, is that particularly dealing with Latino issues is that a lot of people don't understand the level of poverty and the level of problems. When I tell people that the poverty rate in the Puerto Rican community is higher than that in the African American community, a lot of people don't believe it.

Latino leaders are looking at three areas and measuring Giuliani's response to their concerns, his appointments, how he handles the police department, and his economic development agenda. One of the people making sure Giuliani doesn't overlook these concerns is Sada Vidal, Co-Chair of Dominicans for Giuliani and a member of the Meyaro Transition Team. Vidal says Giuliani got off to a good start by first asking every political appointment of Dinkins to step down.

The second is that his transition team will be reflective of New York City. We're included in that, and we know that he will include us. He's already doing so. By using our voice and our strengths, we know that we'll be able to build a government that will respond to the needs of our community.

But critics of Giuliani are concerned about what they call "business as usual" in the transition process.

One of our problems is that every time there's an election, we have sectors of our community that swear that the messiah has come, and are quick to denounce anything except accomodation-ism.

National Congress of Puerto Rican Rights spokesperson, Richie Perez, points to certain Latino members of the Giuliani transition team as evidence of a Conservative agenda being followed by the Mayor-elect.

These are people whose views are relative to the Right of Center, who have opposed a number of initiatives supported by the entire community and education. For example, HIV/AIDs curriculum in the public schools.

Another issue of concern is how Giuliani will deal with criminal justice and the police department. Some observers fear a Giuliani Administration would be insensitive to the issue of biased crimes against Latinos. Others express concern about how the former prosecutor would deal with police brutality, especially against the Latino and African American communities. Richie Perez recalled one moment during the campaign which he says may be an indication of things to come under a Guilani Administration.

We were asking him to respond to the firebombing of a home in Howard Beach, where he has a lot of constituents, where he got a lot of votes. We wanted him to go out there and speak on racial healing and harmony to his constituents. There's a major contradiction with being a candidate campaigning on safety and crime issues, and not speaking on biased crime and the safety of people to be free from buying a home in an area and getting bombed because they're Puerto Rican.

Yet supporters of Giuliani say he's been unfairly characterized as insensitive. They believe Giuliani will make the streets of New York safe by applying a strong law and order approach to crime across the board. Apaulinal Trinidal of Dominicans for Giuliani says that for him, this was the most important thing in the election.

I've been active in the community for many years, and I saw the condition of life in New York City, particularly in my neighborhood in Washington Heights, deteriorate and it was shocking to me, up to the point where my son was afraid to walk in the streets. When the pardon is confronted with our reality and you have a government that the only thing they'll find is excuses, and don't want to accept responsibility for the conditions which exist in our barrio, I say, this is enough.

So far, there have been mixed signals from the Guilani team. Immediately after his election night victory, he met with leaders of the Latino community, including Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, the highest Latino elected official in New York City. At the same time, he failed to initially make contact with representatives Jose Serano and Nidia Velasquez, Puerto Rican Congress members with a strong base in the community. Nevertheless, it's just a matter of time before we can see if the forecast, both supportive and critical of Giuliani, come true. For Latino USA, I'm Mario Murillo in New York.