Annotations for Subject-headings: Transnationalism

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'm María Hinojosa. Trade talks are now underway regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. NAFTA perhaps, as no other US economic initiative, will have a significant impact on US Latinos. With us to speak about the future of the controversial free trade agreement are three journalists who cover Washington DC politics: Sandra Marquez of the Hispanic Link News Service; freelance journalist, Zita Arocha; and José Carreño, DC Bureau chief for the Mexican daily, El Universal.

The biggest misperception in this whole thing is that even if NAFTA is a new document, in a way, it is something that is already happening at the border, as well, the people who's in Texas and California can say. Now what is going to happen? I think that there will be a lot of pressures on Mexico and the United States mostly in the environment and labor problems. Congressman Gephardt and a number of other Democratic freshmen went to Tijuana to take a look at the ecological situation there. They came out saying, "No way that way. At least the actual treaty has to be upgraded." We'll see a lot of the arguments in the next few months about it.

In fact, we've seen a lot of arguments already. Sandra, how much has the debate over NAFTA divided the Latino community in particular?

I think there's tremendous division among US Latinos on the issue of NAFTA because primarily, the jobs that are expected to be lost as a result of this agreement are the low-skilled, low-paying jobs that so many Latinos in this country hold. So, there is concern that the jobs that Latinos have are going to be exported to Mexico, but at the same time, Latinos realize that they have this intrinsic link with their Mexican kin across the border. And so, they realize there's tremendous potential that because of Latinos' bicultural skills that they can really tap into this and benefit more so than other Americans in this country.

The Latino population is also divided in terms of convenience. For instance, in Texas, there is a lot of people who's in favor of NAFTA because most of the import-export businesses are going through Texas and of course, they're getting a boost out of it. But in California, for instance, where there is a lot of Latinos in this low end of the industry, they're having a lot of problems, a lot of hesitations about it. So, I think that it is also related a lot with where are the jobs.

I think the Mexican government has realized that US Latinos can be very good promoters of this plan. And they have started a NAFIN fund, a $20 million fund for US Latino business leaders to create joint ventures with business partners in Mexico. And US Hispanic chambers of commerce here in this country have also been leading in terms of creating these trade partnerships and expose and taking people from the United States to Mexico and really helping to create these links.

There's another benefit to Latinos and I think Latinos are beginning to see this, that if the agreement leads in less immigration from Mexico to the United States…from Latin America in general to the United States, then those low-end jobs will not be taken away as easily as they would be if we continue to see hundreds of thousands of people coming across the border every year. There is some resistance on the part of some Latinos for fear that a lot of the low-end jobs will go to Mexico, but at the same time, there is also a realization that there will be benefits long term that will come from fewer immigrants coming over and you know, taking US jobs at the low end.

Thank you very much, Sandra Marquez, Zita Arocha, and José Carreño for joining us here on Latino USA.

[Change in transitional music]

The roots of Latin jazz go back at least five decades to such artists as Machito, Chano Pozo, and Dizzy Gillespie. Latin jazz has lost many of its originators in recent years, but one of them, 81-year-old Mario Bauzá keeps going strong. From Miami, Emilio San Pedro prepared this profile of the legendary co-founder of the band Machito and his Afro-Cubans.

Mario Bauzá left his native Havana for New York in 1930. When he got to this country, Bauzá became one of those responsible for making Afro-Cuban music popular in the United States and around the world.

Had to happen outside of Cuba before the Cuban people convince themself what they had themself over there. When they got big in United States, Cuba begin to move into that line of music.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

Bauzá remembers his days at the Apollo Theater in Harlem where he helped to launch the career of Ella Fitzgerald. He recalls his days with the Cab Calloway Orchestra and the time that he and his friends, Dizzy Gillespie and Cozy Cole, played around with Afro-Cuban rhythm and jazz arrangements and created something new: Afro-Cuban Jazz.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

In the early 1940s, Bauzá formed the legendary band Machito and his Afro-Cubans, along with his brother-in-law, Frank Grillo, who was called Machito. Bauzá was the musical director of the band and he composed some of the group's most memorable songs.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

The sensation caused by Machito and his Afro-Cubans and by other Latin musicians in the '40s made New York the focal point of a vibrant Latin music scene.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

It's the scene of The Mambo Kings, you know, and that's why a lot of people will say Mambo is not Cuban music or is not Mexican music. Mambo is New York music.

Enrique Fernández writes about Latin music for the Village Voice. He's also the editor of the New York-based Más Magazine.

It was here that this kind of music became very hot…that it really galvanized a lot of people…that really attracted a lot of musicians from different genres that wanted to jam with it, and that created those great, you know, those great encounters between Latin music practitioners and the jazz practitioners, particularly Black American jazz practitioners. For that, you need to recognize that New York has been, since then, probably before then, but certainly since then, one of the great centers of Latin music.

Mario Bauzá takes great pride in the current popularity of Latin and Caribbean music, but he says people are wrong to call his music Latin jazz. He says that label doesn't give proper recognition to its musical roots.

Merengue, merengue from Santo Domingo. Cumbia is cumbia from Colombia. Afro-Cuban is Cuban. That's why I got to keep [unintelligible] Afro-Cuban rhythms, and Afro-Cuban rhythm…Danzón es cubano…la Danza es cubano…Bolero es cubano…el Cha-cha-cha es cubano…el Mambo es cubano…el Guaguancó es cubano y la Columbia es cubana. So, I got to call it Afro-Cuban Jazz.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

After seven decades in the music business, Mario Bauzá has come out of the shadows of the group Machito and his Afro-Cubans and is being recognized for his accomplishments as one of the creators of Afro-Cuban Jazz. This year, Bauzá plans to tour with his Afro-Cuban jazz orchestra featuring Graciela on vocals. The group also plans to release another album of Afro-Cuban jazz: Explosión 93. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

Yo crecí en Chicago. I grew up in Chicago, but every summer, my family would pack up an overloaded station wagon and drive across the border to visit my homeland, México. I have many wonderful memories of those trips to less urban settings. That was where I came into contact with nature, driving across the mountains and deserts of México. I often think that, like me, many Latinos who return to the land of their birth or where their parents or grandparents came from do so for the joy of going back to where the simple things of life are still valued. A few years ago, Texas artist Luis Guerra moved to a village in the state of San Luis Potosí in northern México. He says he was recently reminded of why he made the move as he took a long hike in the mountains in La Sierra.

La subida es dura. It's a steep climb, but after a few hours, the walking gets easier. The valleys and peaks of this beautiful, rocky Sierra spread out before you like a solid ocean suspended in time. This is a dry land, almost a desert, yet sometimes I'll find a tiny spring in a niche of a canyon wall. Or I'll happen upon a small shrine in a lonely valley. Almost every day, I'll come across a shepherd tending his flock or I'll hear the sounds of children and discover they are gathering wild herbs like oregano or rosa de castillo. Often, early in the morning, I'll see a woman or a man driving two or three burros loaded with mountain produce heading for a nearby town or city. I make it a point not to camp close to someone's home just out of respect and so as not to use up firewood that doesn't belong to me. Firewood is scarce around here. This day as I crested a hill, I spotted a ranchito, just a little two-room house, adobe walls with a flat roof.

Smoke was rising from the chimney. I was barely 300 yards from the ranchito and it would be dark soon. It was too late to move on. It was going to be a cold night and the only firewood I could find was already cut…tú sabes, for the rancho's wood stove. Ni modo. I used the firewood. I felt guilty, but warm that night. Anyway, I would make it up to them in the morning. After breakfast, as I was packing my things, the campesino from the ranchito showed up, a barrel-chested man with strong hands, a weathered face, and a scraggly beard. "Buenos días." I walked up to him and offered to pay for the wood. He brushed my words aside. "Mira, everything you see all around you is mine. Estás en tu casa. This is your home." To him, I was already his guest and my offer to pay was almost impolite. He reached into his bag and handed me a small bundle. "My wife packed this for you," he said. It was bread, goat cheese, and jamoncillo, a homemade candy made from fresh milk. We talked for a while.

I told him I was a painter who took inspiration from the Sierra. He told of his early life as a shepherd in these same mountains and of his many years as a minor in Zacatecas. "The mines are bad luck," he said. "Es muy duro, siempre en lo oscuro… always in the dark, digging with dynamite for God knows what or for whom. Here on top of the earth, we have everything a man can need. What more can one ask for? Dios provides the earth, the sun, wind, and rain. We provide the labor." He smiled. Somehow, my pack felt especially light that whole day.

A flotilla organized by a Florida humanitarian group called Basta, Spanish for "enough," recently sailed to Cuba to help feed malnourished Cubans who have been hit hard by the U.S. trade embargo and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. The flotilla delivered food and hospital equipment to the Cuban Red Cross and to church groups, but some Cuban exiles in Miami opposed a flotilla, saying the food would support Fidel Castro's regime. I'm Vidal Guzmán. This is news from Latino USA.

Welcome this evening, César Chávez of the United Farm Workers of America.

[Clapping]

Very early in our struggle, we found that…we really couldn't beat the growers at their own game…in their own turf. And taking a page from…Gandhi and Dr. King and others, we came to the conclusion that we had to involve half of the world to beat the growers and that we could not do it through public policy. Workers are not covered by any protective laws for collective bargaining. And…those local courts will issue out injunctions like…they were going out of style. We were going to strike. But we also found out that they couldn’t really…although they're very powerful, that they really couldn't reach out to Chicago or Boston or even San Francisco or [unintelligible] or other places…across the border to Canada or Mexico. And that there, we could begin to have a more level playing field.

I'm talking now of public action or the boycott. It is a boycott… public action…that saved this union. It is the only way we've ever made any progress, is through the boycott. We've never won anything without the boycott. The boycott or a threat of the boycott. It's a terrible irony that in our day and our age, our country produces more food than what it really needs…yet the men, women, and children whose labor harvests this food often go to bed hungry. That's a terrible irony, and that's why we're here, and we ask you to join us, to join us to put a stop to that. Thank you very much.

[Clapping]

[Corrido music about César Chávez]

A North American Free Trade Agreement has been signed by Canada, the US, and Mexico. Once it becomes law, we will be in the process of becoming the largest artificial economic community of the planet.

Negotiations between the US, Canada, and Mexico continue regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement. If the three parties should come to an agreement regarding environmental protection and labor issues, and if the US Congress approves NAFTA, free trade will be the economic order on the continent. But there are many opposing views on the impact NAFTA will have, should it become law. For performance artist and Latino USA commentator Guillermo Gomez Peña, many questions regarding the free trade agreement remain.

In terms of geography and demographics, it will be much larger than the European community or than the fashionable Pacific Rim. From the myriad possibilities of free trade agreements that could be designed and implemented, the neoliberal version we have is not exactly an enlightened one. It is based on the fallacy that the market will take care of everything. Avoiding the most basic social labor, environmental, and cultural responsibilities, there are many burning questions that remain unanswered. Given the endemic lack of political and economic symmetry between the three countries, will Mexico become, as Mexican artist Yareli Arizmendi says, the largest Indian reservation of the US? Or will it be treated as an equal by its bigger partners?

Will the predatory Statue of Liberty depower the Virgin of Guadalupe, or are they merely going to dance a sweaty cumbia? Will Mexico become a toxic and cultural waste dump of the US and Canada? Who will monitor the behavior of the three governments? Given the exponential increase of American trash and media culture in Mexico, what will happen to our indigenous traditions, social and cultural rituals, language, and national psyche? Will the future generations become hyphenated Mexican-Americans, brown-skinned gringos and Canochis or upside-down Chicanos? And what about our northern partners? Will they slowly become Chicanadians, Waspacks and Anglomalans?

Whatever the answers are, NAFTA will profoundly affect our lives in many ways. Whether we like it or not, a new era has begun and the new economic and cultural topography has been designed for us. We must find our new place and role within this new federation of US Republics.

My own feeling, my own personal feeling is that if we work at it, that we'll be able to get a treaty that's good for the country and good for Mexico.

That's Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, commenting on the present status of the North American Free Trade Agreement. At this point, congressional approval of NAFTA is still in question. Mexico and Mexico's president, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, have a lot at stake in NAFTA's becoming a reality, as do many Hispanic entrepreneurs in this country. In Dallas, Latino business and civic leaders recently met with the Mexican president trying to counter the arguments from a certain Texas politician that NAFTA will mean major job losses. Brian Shields prepared this report.

Dallas billionaire, Ross Perot is spending millions of dollars to go on national television to stir up opposition to NAFTA, but members of the Dallas Hispanic Chamber believe the treaty will be beneficial for their businesses. During a recent visit to Dallas, Mexican president, Carlos Salinas, asserted there's no time to waste.

I have been asked, "Why NAFTA?" Because this is the only way how we will be able to compete in the world in which we live. "Why now?" Because we are late, late when other regions in the world are getting together to increase the efficiency and competitive capacity.

To my business, it would probably help it tremendously. I've been in business now for 12 years, doing business back and forth through Mexico, and we have had quite a bit of product going back and forth. The prices generally will then be lowered on some of the items that we now are paying some duties in.

Opposition to NAFTA in the United States centers on concerns that higher paying jobs north of the border will disappear to be replaced by very low wage employment in Mexico. Such arguments are coming not only from supporters of Ross Perot, but also from grassroots Hispanic groups such as San Antonio's Fuerza Unida, if you're a loss of American manufacturing jobs that now employ Latinos here. However, President Salinas insists the treaty will have the opposite effect.

NAFTA is also a wage increase agreement, because with increases in productivity, we will be able to increase wages in Mexico more than they have been growing in the past four years.

Between Ross Perot and opponents of free trade in and out of the Congress, right now, the agreement appears to be in trouble, but Jorge Haynes with Laredo's International Bank of Commerce insists the opportunity is too important to allow it to slip away.

If we should decide not to adopt NAFTA, which is something I don't want to think about, I think we will be going backwards in our relationship with Mexico rather than forwards.

Even now, before NAFTA's implementation, business people in Texas are actively trading with their colleagues south of the border, and if the trade agreement is going to work, it will be up to individual entrepreneurs to lead the way. It's a trail already being blazed by many Hispanic-owned businesses, such as John Montoya's. He's the president of World Dallas International, a trading services company, and for him, the rewards of the agreement are quite clear.

The government of Cuba recently announced it's willing to compensate US companies for properties confiscated on the island more than 30 years ago. Also, a group of retired US military officers announced a visit to the island. Dialogue with Cuba has not been officially announced by the Clinton administration, but the mere possibility of dialogue has split the Cuban American community. With us from Miami to speak about the political climate in the Cuban community are reporters, Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and Latino USA correspondent Emilio San Pedro of WLRN Radio in Miami. Welcome. Is there a growing division between more conservative elements of the Cuban community in Miami versus more modern elements? And what are those divisions based on?

The government of Cuba recently announced it's willing to compensate US companies for properties confiscated on the island more than 30 years ago. Also, a group of retired US military officers announced a visit to the island. Dialogue with Cuba has not been officially announced by the Clinton administration, but the mere possibility of dialogue has split the Cuban American community. With us from Miami to speak about the political climate in the Cuban community are reporters, Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and Latino USA correspondent Emilio San Pedro of WLRN Radio in Miami. Welcome. Is there a growing division between more conservative elements of the Cuban community in Miami versus more modern elements? And what are those divisions based on?

Emotions are extremely high. We've had a couple of outbreaks between anti-Castro exiles and what we've termed sympathizers. And I think those incidents where there was actual fistfights surely indicate that there is a growing division between those who believe that peace talks are the way to go, and those who believe that tightening the embargo and perhaps only a violent overthrow is the way to go.

Emotions are extremely high. We've had a couple of outbreaks between anti-Castro exiles and what we've termed sympathizers. And I think those incidents where there was actual fistfights surely indicate that there is a growing division between those who believe that peace talks are the way to go, and those who believe that tightening the embargo and perhaps only a violent overthrow is the way to go.

So people in the area near Miami actually talk about the need to have a violent overthrow of Castro's Cuba that is put together by the United States? A military overthrow?

So people in the area near Miami actually talk about the need to have a violent overthrow of Castro's Cuba that is put together by the United States? A military overthrow?

[Interruption]I'm sorry. They don't only talk about it, but you have the paramilitary groups that actually plan for it.

[Interruption]I'm sorry. They don't only talk about it, but you have the paramilitary groups that actually plan for it.

I've always lived in Miami. And that's been a discussion in Miami for the last 30 years. I can guarantee you of that. But the thing is, I think primarily, that now you see people that have not been in the United States for 30 years or 25 years, people who came in 1980 from Cuba, people who came in the 80s, people who have recently arrived, and they feel a much deeper connection to Cuba in the sense of, I have a mother that lives in Cuba, or I have a sister that lives in Cuba and that I keep in contact with on a regular basis. And a lot of those people are the ones that are saying, "I want to be able to know that my relatives in Cuba are okay. I don't agree with the system over there. I don't like the system, but I don't want to punish the people who live there that are my relatives."

I've always lived in Miami. And that's been a discussion in Miami for the last 30 years. I can guarantee you of that. But the thing is, I think primarily, that now you see people that have not been in the United States for 30 years or 25 years, people who came in 1980 from Cuba, people who came in the 80s, people who have recently arrived, and they feel a much deeper connection to Cuba in the sense of, I have a mother that lives in Cuba, or I have a sister that lives in Cuba and that I keep in contact with on a regular basis. And a lot of those people are the ones that are saying, "I want to be able to know that my relatives in Cuba are okay. I don't agree with the system over there. I don't like the system, but I don't want to punish the people who live there that are my relatives."

And that's a very definitive group in the community that really feels strongly that there should be supplies, that there should be trade of some sort, so that the people receive just the basic essentials so that they can get back on their feet. And the anger is evident as it was outside of the radio station Radio Mambi recently when people really went at each other and they were all Cubans. Everybody that was punching each other for the first time, I think, really we're all Cubans fighting over this issue. And they were all beating each other up and screaming and calling each other communists or, you want to starve my kids, and all kinds of things like that. And the media, unfortunately, really hasn't helped much.

And that's a very definitive group in the community that really feels strongly that there should be supplies, that there should be trade of some sort, so that the people receive just the basic essentials so that they can get back on their feet. And the anger is evident as it was outside of the radio station Radio Mambi recently when people really went at each other and they were all Cubans. Everybody that was punching each other for the first time, I think, really we're all Cubans fighting over this issue. And they were all beating each other up and screaming and calling each other communists or, you want to starve my kids, and all kinds of things like that. And the media, unfortunately, really hasn't helped much.

The tensions continue because certain people who want a certain resolution in Cuba, who favor a hard line towards Cuba don't look toward very kindly towards any media that either advocates a different solution or simply tries to report the different points of view. And here in Miami, reporting two sides of the story can get you labeled as a communist in a second, and that happens, and that's happened for decades.

The tensions continue because certain people who want a certain resolution in Cuba, who favor a hard line towards Cuba don't look toward very kindly towards any media that either advocates a different solution or simply tries to report the different points of view. And here in Miami, reporting two sides of the story can get you labeled as a communist in a second, and that happens, and that's happened for decades.

And from your insider's perspective, who has President Clinton's ear on the issue? One group more than the other, or where does Clinton stand on this?

And from your insider's perspective, who has President Clinton's ear on the issue? One group more than the other, or where does Clinton stand on this?

Definitely the hardliners because they're the ones who got him some more Cuban votes, even though it wasn't overwhelming, but they're -- the most activist Cubans in his campaign who are speaking with the loudest voice are people who favor a hard line.

Definitely the hardliners because they're the ones who got him some more Cuban votes, even though it wasn't overwhelming, but they're -- the most activist Cubans in his campaign who are speaking with the loudest voice are people who favor a hard line.

At the same time, there are people who think that he can't possibly be as inclined towards a hard line as President Bush or Reagan may have been. And so there's that other group that is kind of waiting to see if there's some change in the policy from Washington, but really there hasn't been any significant policy since Clinton took office, so it's almost hard to gauge where he's going to come out.

At the same time, there are people who think that he can't possibly be as inclined towards a hard line as President Bush or Reagan may have been. And so there's that other group that is kind of waiting to see if there's some change in the policy from Washington, but really there hasn't been any significant policy since Clinton took office, so it's almost hard to gauge where he's going to come out.

I agree. I think he is playing both sides of the field. I think while he has publicly come out saying that he's not going to soften the embargo, at the same time, the State Department recently approved the humanitarian aid flotilla that left from Key West to Cuba in April. And that was the first time that a flotilla of that kind went to Cuba and the approval was almost immediately and a lot of people down here saw that as a shift in policy. So I think we're not exactly sure on how he's going to come out on this issue.

I agree. I think he is playing both sides of the field. I think while he has publicly come out saying that he's not going to soften the embargo, at the same time, the State Department recently approved the humanitarian aid flotilla that left from Key West to Cuba in April. And that was the first time that a flotilla of that kind went to Cuba and the approval was almost immediately and a lot of people down here saw that as a shift in policy. So I think we're not exactly sure on how he's going to come out on this issue.

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

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

The seizure of a number of Florida-based vessels in Cuban waters, including one incident in which three people reportedly lost their lives, has focused attention on the increasingly dangerous and lucrative business of smuggling people from that island. Emilio San Pedro reports.

This year alone, more than 1100 Cubans have been rescued off the Florida coast by the US Coast Guard. Many of these have received help from smugglers in the US. In some cases, these smugglers have reportedly earned up to $10,000 for smuggling refugees out of Cuba. Damian Fernandez of Florida International University says that in addition to the for-profit operations, there are also many cases of families trying to help their relatives leave Cuba.

These operations break both Cuban law and US law, as well as international law. One of their consequences is that they jeopardize and feed the fire and the tension between the United States and Cuba.

So far, seven US residents have been arrested by the Cuban government. Only one has been identified as a US citizen by the State Department for Latino USA. I'm Emilio San Pedro.

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

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

And baseball goes bilingual.

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

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

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

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

The Clinton administration plans to shut down phone services allowing people in this country to call Cuba through Canada. State Department officials say companies advertising toll-free numbers, which link callers to Cuba, may violate the U.S. trade embargo. The embargo against Cuba was established more than 30 years ago and has been expanded in recent years.

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

Mexican and U.S. commerce officials gathered in San Antonio, Texas, to discuss a North American Free Trade Agreement and infrastructure needs along the U.S.-Mexico border. Already without NAFTA, cross-border trade has quadrupled and the region's population nearly doubled in the last decade, taxing facilities on both sides of the border.

Domingo Gonzalez works with the Texas Center for Policy Studies in Brownsville.

If we increase industrial activity under NAFTA, all of the problems that we have now are going to increase. We hope at the very least that infrastructure is defined in a more beneficial way for us and that we don't get just bridges and more bridges and more bridges.

According to a recent poll, more than 40% of all Americans say they've never heard of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

I'm Maria Martin with news from "Latino USA."

I am Maria Hinojosa.

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

From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Would you vote for it or not?

Would I vote for what?

For the statehood bill?

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

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

Under the conditions that --

The ones that I've expressed to you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Latin jazz great Mario Bauzá died July 11 of cancer in his Manhattan home, just blocks from where I live. Mario Bauzá, an integral part of New York's Latin jazz scene, was 82 years old.

I remember this great musician sitting on a milk crate outside a bodega, surrounded by friends, drinking coffee, and enjoying the simple things of life. You would've never known it by seeing him that this small, tender, smiley man had totally revolutionized American music.

In the 1940s, he influenced popular music by innovating a new musical style which mixed popular Afro-Cuban rhythms with American jazz.

Emilio San Pedro prepared this remembrance of Latin jazz legend Mario Bauzá.

[Afro-Cuban jazz]

Mario Bauzá was first exposed to American jazz in 1926, when he visited New York. In 1930, anxious to become a part of that scene, Bauzá left his native Havana for New York, frustrated that in Cuba, Afro-Cuban music was considered merely the music of the streets, not the music of the sophisticated nightclubs, country clubs, and hotels of pre-revolutionary Havana.

Had to happen outside of Cuba before the Cuban people convinced themself what they had, themself over there. They didn't pay no attention to that. When I got big in United States, Cuba begin to move into that line of music.

[Afro-Cuban jazz]

In the 1930s, Bauzá performed with some of New York's best-known jazz musicians, like Chick Webb and Cab Calloway. In fact, in those days, Bauzá was responsible for introducing singer Ella Fitzgerald to Chick Webb, thus helping to launch her career. It was also Bauzá who gave Dizzy Gillespie his first break, with the Cab Calloway Orchestra.

During their time touring and working with Cab Calloway, Mario Bauzá and Dizzy Gillespie, along with the Afro-Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo, played around with Afro-Cuban rhythm and jazz arrangements and created something entirely new: Afro-Cuban jazz.

[Machito--Sopa de pichon]

In the early 1940s, Mario Bauzá formed the legendary band Machito and his Afro-Cubans, along with his brother-in-law, Francisco Perez, who was called Machito. Bauzá was the musical director of the band, and he composed and arranged some of the group's most memorable songs.

[Machito--Sopa de pichon]

The sensation caused by Machito and his Afro-Cubans and by other Latin musicians in the 1940s made New York the focal point of a vibrant Latin music scene.

It's the scene of the Mambo kings you know, and that's why a lot of people will say Mambo is not Cuban music or it's not Mexican music. Mambo is New York music.

Enrique Fernandez writes about Latin music for the Village Voice.

It was here that this kind of music became very hot, that it really galvanized a lot of people, that had really attracted a lot of musicians from different genres that wanted to jam with it, and that created those great encounters between Latin music practitioners and jazz practitioners, particularly Black American jazz practitioners, that brought all this stuff together that later on, generated salsa and it generated Latin jazz and a lot of other things.

[Machito--Si si no no]

Groups like Machito and his Afro-Cubans were responsible for sparking a Latin dance craze in the United States, from New York to Hollywood. Mario Bauzá's sister-in-law, Graciela Pérez, began singing with Bauzá's orchestra in 1943.

Pero jurate que la música de esta…[transition to English dub] The music made by Machito's orchestra created such a revolution that you could say people began to enjoy because dance schools sprang up to teach the mamba and the guaguanco and all that [transition back to original audio]…el guaguanco todo todo.

Graciela and Mario left Machito's band in 1976 to form their own group, Mario Bauzá and his Afro-Cuban jazz Orchestra. Achieving recognition came slowly for the new band as general audiences lost interest in the traditional Afro-Cuban jazz sounds.

But in the late 1980s, Bauzá's music experienced a resurgence in popularity. His orchestra played to packed houses in the United States, Canada, and Europe. And in the last two years, Bauzá still active and passionate about his music, recorded three albums worth of material.

Meringue, meringue from San Domingo. Cumbia's cumbia from Colombia. Afro-Cuban is Cuban. That's why I've got to keep a bunch of these Afro-Cuban rhythms. Danzón Cubano, la danza Cubano, el bolero Cubano, el cha-cha-cha Cubano, el mambo es Cubano, guaguanco Cubano, la Colombia es Cubana.So I've got to call it Afro-Cuban, yeah.

In a 1991 interview, I spoke with Mario Bauzá about his extraordinary musical output.

You've brought out these great musicians, you've helped create or created Afro-Cuban jazz, brought Latin music and Latins to Broadway.

That's it.

And you're 80 years old.

Yes.

Many people at 80 years old are sitting by the pool or in the rocking chair and whatever. You don't look like it.

You know me. It ain't going to be like that.

What else could you do at this point, what more?

I don't know. I ain't through, I ain't through. I just wanted my music to be elevated. That's why I want to record this suite now. I want to see the word, music is music. You tell me what kind of music. I like any kind of music that we're playing. And that's what I tried to do, present my music different way. Some people might don't like this, don't like that, but when they hear that, they have a right to choose for. That's what I want them to do.

[Mario Bauza--Carnegie Hall 100]

Mario Bauzá worked steadily until his death. He recently released a compact disc on the German record label Messidor called My Time is Now.

For "Latino USA," I'm Emilio San Pedro.

[Mario Bauza--Carnegie Hall 100]

As representatives from the US, Canada, and Mexico prepare to enter into the final round of negotiations regarding the final form of the North American Free Trade Agreement, in San Antonio, Texas, bankers from both countries met recently to discuss infrastructure needs along the 2000-mile stretch between the United States and Mexico. Latino USA's Maria Martin prepared this report.

There is always a lot of talk about what we're going to do and when we're going to do it, what the border does need and what the border does not need.

Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and his Mexican counterpart, Mexico Secretary of Social Development Luis Colosio, touted as a strong possibility to succeed President Salinas, convened the gathering of government officials and some 400 business executives. Represented were some of the largest corporations in the US and Mexico. They came to make deals and to discuss ways to bring badly-needed infrastructure to the border area. A region which, in the last 10 years has seen a dramatic increase in population along with rising environmental pollution and deteriorating roads, bridges and sewer and water systems.

It's a development problem is what it really is. We are dealing with a border that is unique in the world, that is a linkage between the most developed country in the world and relatively poor country of which gap you'll find nowhere else. In Europe, the largest gaps are about a four to one difference. In US/Mexico it's a 10 to 1 difference.

UCLA economist, Raul Hinojosa, says the current discussion regarding financing for border infrastructure in anticipation of NAFTA presents a major challenge, since neither the government of Mexico nor this country will be able to afford the steep price tag of cleaning up and building up the border.

The real issue is how do we get the economies of North America such that there's rising living standards and environmental standards on both sides of the border? That is a concrete problem that is not going to be solved by simply reducing tariffs. That's going to have to mobilize both government and the capitalists of the private sector to get involved jointly in solving the environmental problems and solving the infrastructure and social infrastructure, physical infrastructure, housing, all of these very serious problems

As a way of dealing with those problems, the coalition of Latino organizations calling itself the Latino Consensus on NAFTA has come up with a proposal to establish a North American development bank. According to its proponents, including the National Council of La Raza and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the so-called NAD Bank would be able to fund 20 billion dollars of infrastructure with 1 billion of startup investment. Antonio Gonzalez of the Southwest Voter Research Institute in Los Angeles was at the finance conference advocating for the development bank proposal.

This was the only viable proposal put on the table. People heard it. People saw it. The media grabbed onto it, and I think very soon the administration may indeed embrace the development bank as the kind of third pillar of his NAFTA package. First pillar being NAFTA. Second pillar being the supplementary negotiations on labor and environmental. Third pillar being the development bank or financing mechanism, and the still missing element would be the new package of current US laws to retrain and support displaced workers.

Legislation to establish a North American Development Bank has been introduced in Congress by California representative Esteban Torres. But others say the development bank may not be the best way to finance border infrastructure, that perhaps existing institutions such as the Inter-American Bank could do the job. Still another idea is to establish a border transaction fee. Economist Hinojosa, a proponent of the development bank believes this solution is not viable considering the present economic reality along the border.

These are already poor communities right now, and you're going to be taxing the trade that you're going to try to enhance, in fact, for the benefits on both sides of the border.

The next few weeks will be key for the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement. As negotiations on the treaty and supplementary agreements on labor standards and the environment continue, and as proponents and opponents of the treaty gear up for the final vote in Congress. Meanwhile, polls show many Americans haven't even heard of NAFTA and in the Latino community there's been a steady erosion in support for the treaty as concern has grown about the possibility of job losses to Mexico. Latino organizations lobbying for NAFTA have their work cut out for them. Andy Hernandez of San Antonio Southwest Voter Research Institute spent the day following the finance conference in San Antonio, planning a strategy to advocate for the Latino consensus position on NAFTA.

So, I think the way we answer is this; you don't solve the job flight problem by taking down NAFTA. You can build a NAFTA with the side agreements to protect workers' rights on both sides of the border. And frankly, what the opponents of NAFTA have not been able to answer to us and where Chicano labor is not [unintelligible]. How do things get better if NAFTA's defeated? Are we going to have fewer jobs leaving or are we going to have more political will to clean up the environment? Are we going to have any focus at all upon our populations along the border?

If NAFTA becomes the reality, it would create the world's largest free-trade zone, removing virtually all barriers to trade and investment throughout North America. From the Yukon to the Yucatan, I'm Maria Martin reporting.

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

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

You're listening to Latino USA. As a response to Cuba's economic crisis, premier Fidel Castro says Cubans may now legally possess American dollars and that more visas will be granted to exiles wishing to visit relatives on the island. Meanwhile, the State Department has issued new regulations permitting US phone companies to do business with Cuba. From Miami, Emilio San Pedro has more.

The new guidelines on telephone communications will make it easier for telephone companies to expand their service to Cuba. They also call for US phone companies to split revenues 50/50 with Cuba's telephone company. This has led some people to see this as a significant easing of the economic embargo against Cuba, but others in the Cuban exile community questioned the move because the government of Fidel Castro stands to earn in excess of 30 million dollars a year from improved telephone communications with the United States. According to businessman Teo Babun Jr. of Cuba USA Ventures, the guidelines just announced by the State Department were actually included in the Cuban Democracy Act signed into law last year. He says they don't really represent a softening of the economic embargo of Cuba.

A softening of the embargo would necessitate creating either a new bill or a retreating from some action that the United States had already announced. And in the case of this act, it is not a change, but rather it's just a development, if you will, or an announcement of the specific guidelines of a bill that had already been announced.

The State Department echoes the view that while the new guidelines do carve out a niche for Cuba to do business with the United States, they do not represent a departure from US law now governing the embargo. The next step is for us phone companies to begin negotiations with the Cuban telephone company using the new guidelines. Before that happens, the Cuban government wants the US to address its demand for the release of 85 million dollars of phone revenues earned by Cuba now being held in escrow in US banks. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro.

That's news from Latino USA, Vidal Guzman.

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

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

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

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

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

[Highlight--Music--Cuban music]

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

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

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

Stress.

Stress. Stress. Problems. Stress.

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

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

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

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

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

Do you ever go into the water?

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

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

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

Yeah, it hurts. It hurts a lot.

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

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

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

[Highlight--Music--Cuban music]

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

Before the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, jazz music flowed freely from this country to Cuba and back. That musical cross-pollination has been more difficult in recent years, though. However, Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba made history this summer when he was permitted to play in the United States for the very first time. Alfredo Cruz reports.

[Recordando a Tschaikowsky--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

During the first half of this century, Cuban music was a very popular source of entertainment in the United States. The Mambo y cha-cha-cha, and other rhythms dominated radio waves and dance halls across the country. Cuban music was being heard here, and jazz over there. But in 1959, following the Cuban Revolution, all cultural and political connections between the two countries were cut. And in Cuba, jazz became a Yankee imperialist activity. Playing or listening to jazz was done in an underground clandestine manner. Since then, things have changed. For one, the Havana International Jazz Festival, now in its 14th year, has attracted world-class musicians and helped raise the social and political acceptance of jazz in Cuba. But as pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba says, it wasn't easy.

Bueno, principio en los años sesenta, y parte de los setentas…[transition to English dub] In the early '60s and through part of the '70s, it was very difficult getting people to understand the importance of supporting jazz and the increasing number of young Cuban musicians heading in this direction. Today, however, there can not be, and there isn't any misunderstanding or political manipulation of jazz or Cuban jazz musician [transition to original audio] …interpretación por parte de los musico Cuba.

[Mi Gran Pasion--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

At 30 years of age, Gonzalo Rubalcaba is considered one of Cuba's premier pianists. His father played with the orchestra of Cha-cha-cha inventor Enrique Jorrín, and later became one of Cuba's most popular band leaders. Gonzalo himself played with the legendary Orquesta Aragón while still a teenager, but it is through his solo playing that Gonzalo has made his mark in Cuba and around the world. Because of political differences, however, the United States audience remained out of reach to Cuban jazz and musicians like Rubalcaba.

[Simbunt Ye Contracova--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

Bueno Estados Unidos debió ser uno de los primeros escenario…[transition to English dub] The United States should have been one of the first places for me to play. But since 1989, there's been a mystique and anticipation surrounding my not being allowed to enter this country. Very simply put, it's been a politically motivated maneuver to not grant me a performance visa, and has nothing to do with artistic or musical considerations. But now, my first appearance in this country, I think signals that we are entering a new era. But that doesn't mean I haven't had any contact with American musicians, because I've played with many in Cuba and in festivals around the world [transition to original audio]…contacto con músicos Norte Americanos.

American bassist Charlie Haden met and played with Gonzalo Rubalcaba in Switzerland at the 1989 Montreux International Jazz Festival and brought him to the attention of Blue Note Records. Haden, along with Blue Note executives and Lincoln Center in New York City, negotiated with the US State Department to grant the young pianist a performance visa. And finally, in what seems to have been a political icebreaker last May 14th, Gonzalo Rubalcaba made his US debut performance before a sold-out audience at Lincoln Center.

[No name (Live at Lincoln Center)--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

Nueva dirección, del viento, el aire lleva…[transition to English dub] There's been a change of wind, politically speaking, a relaxation of attitudes and perceptions that are now opening the doors to dialogue in an effort to eliminate tensions. And it seems to me that this is a common goal of both Cuba and the United States. Even though we still can't really speak of this in practical terms, but ideally, this could be the beginning of normalizing relations between the two countries [transition to original audio]…esto podría ser un pequeño parte de eso, un comienzo.

[Unknow Track--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

Many artists in both countries do agree that a relaxation of political policy between Cuba and the United States would be a positive development. And Rubalcaba's US debut has generated a renewed optimism within the cultural community, even though the visa he was issued allowed him to play only one concert, and on the condition that he would not be paid. Recently, Gonzalo Rubalcaba's recording, entitled Suite 4 y 20, was released in this country on the Blue Note record label. For Latino USA, I'm Alfredo Cruz in Newark, New Jersey.

When Congress reconvenes in September, they'll be taking up the merits of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. But free trade isn't just about consumer goods, and many artists and intellectuals are talking about a parallel structure to NAFTA, one that would deal with ideas and culture. Commentator Guillermo Gómez-Peña calls it a free art agreement for cross-cultural dialogue.

Mexican and Caribbean cultures can offer the North their spiritual strength, political intelligence, and sense of humor in dealing with crisis, as well as experience in fostering personal and community relations. In exchange, North American artists and intellectuals can offer the South more fluid notions of identity and their understanding of experimentation and new technologies. US and Canadian artists of color, in particular, can offer Latin America sophisticated discourse on race and gender. Through trilingual publications, radio, video and performance collaborations, more complex notions of North American culture could be conceived. This project must take into consideration the processes of diaspora, hybridization, and borderization that our psyches, communities and countries are presently undergoing. Chicanos and other US Latinos insist that in the signing of this new trans-American contract, it is fundamental that relationships of power among participating artists, communities, and countries be addressed. The border cannot possibly mean the same to a tourist as it does to an undocumented worker. To cross the border from north to south has drastically different implications than to cross the same border from south to north. Trans-culture and hybridity have different connotations for a person of color than for an Anglo-European. People with social, racial or economic privileges are more able to physically cross borders, but they have a much harder time understanding the invisible borders of culture and race. Though painful, these differences must be articulated with valor and humor. In the conflictive history of the north-south dialogue and the multicultural debate, American and European sympathizers have often performed involuntary colonialist roles. In their desire to help, they unknowingly become ventriloquists, impresarios, flaneurs, messiahs, or cultural transvestites. These forms of benign colonialism must be discussed openly without accusing anyone. Their role in relation to us must finally be one of ongoing dialogue and a sincere sharing of power and resources. As Canadian artist Chris Creighton Kelly says, "Anglos must finally go beyond tolerance, sacrifice, and moral reward. Their commitment to cultural equity must become a way of being in the world. In exchange, we have to acknowledge their efforts, slowly bring the guard down, change the strident tone of our discourse, and begin another heroic project, that of forgiving, and therefore healing our colonial and post-colonial wounds.

Commentator Guillermo Gómez-Peña is an award-winning performance artist based in California.

[Simbunt Ye Contracova--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

After a week of continuous protests in which Cuban exiles went on hunger strikes and burned Mexican flags and sombreros, the Mexican government reversed their stand and granted visas to the eight Cuban rafters they had originally repatriated to Cuba. Ninoska Perez of the Cuban-American National Foundation assisted the Cuban refugees in obtaining visas to come to the United States.

The Cuban exile community has shown that it does not forget the people in the island. It has shown that their voices and their actions were able to finally get something, which is really an unprecedented event, which is the return of refugees who had been deported to Cuba. This had never happened before.

But the protests against the Mexican government upset members of Miami's Mexican-American community. Susan Reina of South Dade was on a committee of Mexican-Americans that issued a press release expressing their anger at the Cuban exiles burning of the Mexican flag.

We understand that they were very upset of what happened, but they really acted very irresponsibly as far as that is concerned. I mean, what was the whole purpose of burning a Mexican flag? If they wanted to get back to President Salinas, you don't do it by burning a Mexican hat because number one, the president doesn't wear those kind of hat. Those hats are worn by common people.

Members of the Cuban-American community have apologized to the Mexican-American community for the negative reaction against Mexicans on the part of what they say is a small percentage of Cubans in Miami, but Mexican-American leaders in Miami say that healing the relations between the two Latino groups may take a while. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro in Miami.

We heard him speak at the White House with the three former presidents reassuring people. Now the question, is it going to be enough? If it's enough to...

Both sides in the ever-escalating battle over the North American Free Trade Agreement are rolling out their big guns with President Clinton calling on three former presidents to declare their support for NAFTA while opponents from Labor to Ross Perot garner more votes against the trade treaty. Latinos are on both sides of the issue playing critical roles according to NPR reporter Richard Gonzales.

In the pro-NAFTA camp, the major player is Congressman Bill Richardson of New Mexico. He is the chief deputy whip for the Democrats, one of the leaders trying to save the NAFTA. In the anti-NAFTA camp, I think that the one of the leading players is California Congressman Esteban Torres. Torres is interesting because he could possibly go over to the other side and support NAFTA if the administration were to accept his proposal for a North American Development bank, which would go to help fund border cleanup and worker retraining throughout the country for people who get hurt by NAFTA. But until now, the administration has been just kind of leading him along, saying, "Yes, Mr. Congressman Torres, we will consider your bill," but they've yet to sign onto it.

NPR reporter Richard Gonzales. He says, "Cuban American Congress members remain opposed to the trade agreement." In California, three of several bills seeking to limit immigration and access to services by the undocumented have been approved by the state legislature. Armando Botello has more.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. From mom-and-pop stores to computer corporations, the number of Latino-owned businesses in this country is growing rapidly. According to the US business census, 20 years ago, there were just over a hundred thousand such enterprises. Today, they number over a half a million with total revenues of over $34 billion. That figure is expected to rise to $49 billion by the year 2000. A number of CEOs of the top Latino-owned business firms were in Washington, DC recently for a dialogue with policy makers in the nation's capital. Latino USA's, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

Organized by Hispanic Business magazine, this gathering brought over 250 chief executive officers of top Hispanic companies to communicate their concerns and legislative priorities to members of Congress and President Clinton. Among their concerns, the North American Free Trade Agreement and healthcare reform. Nancy Archuleta, CEO of MEVATEC Corporation, a small aerospace company in Huntsville, Alabama, is concerned that available details from the President's healthcare plan indicate it may pose problems for many Latino businesses.

Almost a resounding message that we've received is that small to mid-size business America has not been heard. We currently provide full pay medical benefits to our employees, but given the tax reform, given healthcare as a mandate, those things would really make me consider seriously whether I would be able to even be profitable any longer. And if I can't be profitable, obviously, I can't stay in business.

Archuleta added that as part of their meetings with congressional leaders, the Hispanic CEOs will propose tax incentives for small businesses as a way to help pay for participation in the healthcare system.

I think there's a good compromise somewhere in there. It's a great start. I hope we can take our time with it.

A majority of the business leaders assembled support the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Many say that as Latinos, they can take advantage of the common language and cultural identification with Mexico. Gilbert Moreno, a senior partner for a telecommunications company in El Paso, Texas, says that even though he has problems with the enforcement powers of the labor and environmental site agreements to NAFTA, he feels those who are against the treaty don't realize it as beneficial overall.

I think there's a lot of issues, environmental, a lot of concerns that existed with or without the NAFTA environment here that I think are muddying the water relative to what's happening. And I think that we have no choice as American business people to use some provisions that are not to our liking as the excuse not to move forward. We have no choice, and what I'm afraid of is that most of the legislators who for political reasons may be making the decision not to vote for NAFTA are not taking a look at the big picture and the common ground that we can reach between the three nations.

According to the latest US Census and Department of Labor Statistics, new business growth, even in a recession, is greatest among Hispanics and even outpaces the population group in that community. Democratic representative, Lucille Roybal-Allard of California, one of the lawmakers meeting with the Latino business leaders says that with the growing influence of Latinos, more members of Congress are paying attention.

The Latino community and the business community is growing tremendously, and it has tremendous influence, not only in terms of the contributions that the Latino businesses will make to the economy of the United States but in terms of their political influence, their influence and a lot of the policy decisions that are going to be have been made and are being made today.

Those attending the business leaders conference also met with members of Clinton's cabinet. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.[transition music]

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.

Now that Missouri congressman Richard Gehart has announced his opposition to NAFTA, analysts say its proponents will have an even more difficult time gaining support for the North American Free Trade Pact. Andrew Hernandez, of the Latino consensus on NAFTA, agrees but believes many of the arguments being used against the treaty including the loss of jobs to Mexico obscure what he calls the real issues.

I think it's easy to scare the American workers about jobs leaving to Mexico because we are in a recession. People need a scapegoat when they start losing their jobs, when they start facing economic hardships and the most convenient scapegoat right now are immigrants and Mexico.

I would like to ask each and every one of you to please produce your birth certificates. We want to make sure that you're legally here in the United States. I doubt if any of you could do so.

California State Senator Art Torres was in Washington recently at a speech before the National Policy Council. Torres called for a cooling off period on anything having to do with the increasingly emotional issue of immigration.

A cooling off period on legal immigration, illegal immigration, legislation, legislative efforts in states and in the Congress until people get a realistic hold of what's in front of them.

Torres feels immigration should be dealt with in all of its complexities as an international issue.[Transitional Guitar Music]

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is proposing what they call the greatest reform of bilingual education. Congressman Jose Serrano, caucus chair, says their bilingual education program would concentrate funds on poor areas and on those with high numbers of limited English-proficient students. With this bill, Latino representatives hope to improve and expand educational opportunities for Latinos and other language minorities. According to a recent poll, almost half of public school teachers say students should be required to learn English before being taught other subjects. A coalition of Latino organizations is calling for an end to what they called the racist rhetoric surrounding the debate over NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

In a recent floor debate in Congress, an Ohio representative spoke out against the North American Free Trade Agreement by saying all the United States would get in return were two tons of heroin and baseball players. Others say they are against a treaty because Mexico is in their words "a pigpen." The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of over 20 Latino organizations, wants that to stop. They say they are putting people on notice that any racist and stereotypical comment will no longer be tolerated. MaryJo Marion, senior trade analyst at the National Council of La Raza, is a member of the coalition.

We think their statements are much like what's said about Jews in Eastern Europe. What was said about Black Americans here 20 or 40 years ago.

Marion added that the coalition is meeting with labor and political leaders about their concerns. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

Latino business owners and entrepreneurs met in New York City recently for the 14th Annual Convention of the US Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. The gathering took place as Latino business people ponder the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement and as more and more US companies try to make inroads in the rapidly expanding Latino market. Latino USA's Maria Martin was in New York for the business convention and prepared this report.

In one exhibit booth, you could call anywhere in the world from a giant telephone for free. At another a mega television screen blared out soft drink commercials.

With four floors of exhibits representing major corporations trying to reach the Latino market, like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Sprint and AT&T, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce International Business Expo was indeed a major marketplace for buying, selling and networking between Latinos and corporate America.

My name is Eduardo Lara. I work for Nabisco Foods Group in East Hanover, New Jersey.

I'm Evangelina Lopez. I'm with UPS.

Well, we have two primary reasons we are here. First, we're here to help the organization itself. The second reason is to market [unintelligible 00:11:02] products to the Hispanic community.

From small concerns to some of the largest enterprises, many of the more than 600,000 Hispanic-owned businesses were represented at the Business Expo. The combined sales of these companies are estimated to be some $38 billion annually. John Cortez of Goya Foods, the largest US Latino-owned business.

Today we are listed as the number one Hispanic food company in the United States of America. We are presently grossing about $450 million, and our growth for the last 20 years has been phenomenal. We are entering new markets in various other states every day. We're currently in about 42 other states.

Well, I'm working with Bustelo. We are here in the Bustelo booth. We've been very busy. People love Café Bustelo.

At the Café Bustelo booth, young Latinas portioned out small paper cups of espresso. Luis de la Mata is the marketing director for that top Hispanic owned company.

This is a fastest growth segment in the nation. Latinos and Hispanics spend more money, are more loyal to products than the Anglo counterparts. This is a country of immigrants and we foresee that the new wave, the wave of the future, is going to be heavily influenced by the Hispanic consumer and population.

Goya Foods and Bustelo coffee, both companies traditionally associated with Puerto Rican products, are branching out. Bustelo to salsas, Goya to guacamole and other Mexican products. Meanwhile, some major corporations like JC Penney have begun to make inroads into the so-called ethnic market. After several years of studying the tastes of its minority consumers, that giant retailer will start to offer lines of clothing and cosmetics designed to appeal to African American and Hispanic women. It's estimated that this country's 25 million Latinos have a combined annual purchasing power of over $185 billion. That fact isn't lost on the media industry. In many major Latino markets, the daily newspapers have begun to include weekly inserts aimed at their Latino readers, such as the case in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and now Chicago, where the publication called La Raza is now distributed by the Chicago Sun-Times. Alfredo Valderas is the communications director for La Raza.

For many years, it's been the intention of the larger newspapers to penetrate the Hispanic market. Our association with the Chicago Sun-Times is exclusively for distribution. We are totally editorial and novice publication independence. And this shows how important the Hispanic market has become for corporate America.

The increasing demand for products by Latino consumers, a diverse group, not easily categorized, calls for managers who know that market. Corporate recruiter, Manuel Abuedo, came to the conference to look for Spanish-speaking executives.

Certainly the number of companies interested in Spanish-speaking people has grown immensely. And not only they're interested in them as workers, but they're interested in them as executives, people in professional capacities, accountants, lawyers. I'm looking for a lawyer right now. I'm looking for a marketing director for an American company from Mexico. So even if NAFTA were defeated, which I don't think it will, you have such a powerful market so close to our borders, that why to bother with China and all these places if we can sell it down the border?

As deals were struck and business cards exchanged in the glorified atmosphere of the New York Hilton, Jose Niño, the president and CEO of the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, recalled a time when the situation for Latino business persons was very different, back when the Hispanic Chamber was founded 14 years ago.

Today we have over 400 exhibits here. 14 years ago, we held our first convention in a high school gym. In 1979, there were less than 250,000 Hispanic-owned businesses. Today, as I said, there are over 650,000. We have been organizing and helping Hispanic businesses get into areas they had never been before. Corrugated boxing, meat packaging, different type of advertising programs, different type of services program, franchising industry.

The members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce adopted resolutions strongly supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement and calling for more aggressive action to remedy the lack of Latino representation on corporate boards. Of the more than 10,000 board seats pertaining to Fortune 500 companies, only about one third of 1% are held by Latinos. In New York City, for Latino USA, I'm Maria Martin.

As the Census Bureau issued new figures showing the Latino population growing at a faster rate than previously projected, dozens of Latino leaders from across the country met to focus on the issues which most affect this growing population. Among them, education, health, and how to make Latino communities viable. Organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the three day meeting culminated with an electronic town hall meeting linking together San Juan, Miami, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Antonio. Latino USA's Maria Martin reports.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute presents threads of diversity, the fabric of unity.

In New York, Congressman Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, resident commissioner Carlos Romero Barcelo is in San Juan. We have Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Congressman Lincoln Diaz Ballard with an audience in Miami.

In their regional and national diversity, the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, its 20 members up from 14 since last November, mirrors this country's Latino community. Members don't always agree on issues, such as the embargo of Cuba and the North American Free trade Agreement. Yet at this conference, the congress members echoed the sentiment expressed by HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Yes, we are different national origins and yes we are are different partisan roots, Republicans, and Democrats, and independents, and radicals, and conservatives, and every sort of breed of political roots. And yes, we live in different parts of the country and we've already talked about that, but the truth is we have much more in common than the things that separate us.

To address issues in common, a survey was taken among those invited to the seventh City Electronic Town Hall. The results indicated education is the issue of greatest concern among Latinos followed by health community viability, that is jobs, and the environment. From politicians to students to grassroots organizers, they all had questions for their congressional representatives.

My question is language minority preschool-aged children do not have to be provided with equal educational opportunities. How is this issue going to be addressed?

Responding is California Congressman Xavier Becerra.

Mrs. Maria, I can tell you one thing that in Congress you will not be satisfied by the answer because those of us in Hispanic caucus are not satisfied. We will be spending something over $200 million this coming year on bilingual education, about 20 or 30 million more if the president has his way than was spent in the past year. That 250 or $230 million provides us with the funds to reach about 10 to 15% of all the children in this country who are in need of bilingual services. The states aren't doing much better-

I would like to know how the Hispanic Congressional Caucus intends to deal with the current anti-immigrant backlash. In general, its impact on K-12 education. In particular, its impact on children enrolled in federally funded bilingual education programs.

Responding to this question from Los Angeles, LA Congressman Esteban Torres.

At this time in our history we're undergoing a tremendous onslaught by those who would wish to blame all the economic ills on this country on immigrants. The immigrants I might say, didn't have a lot to do with the SNL scandal. They didn't have a lot to do with the Cold War issue.

Those questions and responses having to do with the prevalent anti-immigrant climate seem to get the most response from those in the town hall audience, not only in the area of education but regarding the exclusion of the undocumented from the administration's healthcare plan. Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez.

In Chicago, in our discussions, we understand that healthcare needs to become. Given any package that we approve in the Congress of the United States, needs to be looked at as a basic and fundamental human right. A basic and fundamental human right that is guaranteed to every human being who lives in the United States regardless of the color of their skin or their economic status, regardless of whether they arrived yesterday or today or they're going to arrive tomorrow. Cancer and tuberculosis and illness does not ask for a MICA card as to whether it can visit your home or your children.

Just very briefly say that on this issue and on every other issue, it is a caucus policy to include the undocumented as part of our community.

Caucus chair, New York Congressman Jose Serrano.

We are not immigration agents. We don't get involved in how people get here. Once they're here, we feel that they have to be protected. Number two, this caucus, for the first time is also addressing the fact that people who live in American territories are part of our American community. There are questions yet to be settled about those territories, but as far as fair play from Washington, this caucus believes that the members who represent those areas and the people who live in those areas, for American citizens that they are, must get equal treatment and that's the kind of approach that the caucus has taken.

There are no easy answers to all the questions and issues facing the Latino community and addressed during the three days of sessions on Capitol Hill, but what was perceptible in Washington was a new attitude. The Hispanic caucus has been energized by new leadership and by the additional members elected in November, including its first Mexican-American and Puerto Rican congresswomen. There was serious talk of coalitions between Hispanics and African-Americans in Congress at one of the sessions, and at the same time the issues forum was taking place, the 20 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus had an opportunity to show their new clout when they blocked a bill which would've extended unemployment insurance by cutting off benefits for blind and disabled legal immigrants. Congressman Xavier Becerra.

Chairman Serrano came into the discussions and it was through the efforts of the caucus, the name of the caucus, that we were able to say that Congressman Pastor who also came in, we were able to say that we as members of the Hispanic caucus, could not support this particular bill even though we knew we had many people in our districts who were unemployed, but this was not the way to do it. You don't rob Peter to give to Paul and we would not let it happen, and fortunately we had a leadership with the foresight to know that they should not do it either.

We have shown great progress and the fact that this caucus is being held here today is proved that the Mexican-American, the Hispanic can go forward. My question to you-

This new visibility and increasing political power for Latinos on Capitol Hill led one elderly participant to ask what those outside of Congress could do to help the members of the caucus be more effective. The answer came from representative Becerra.

Three important words Vote, vote, vote.

Finding an agenda which can unite the many diverse and regionally scattered Latino communities is what brought together some 800 invited guests and the Hispanic members of Congress for an electronic town hall meeting joining together seven cities.

The town hall session of the Issues forum sponsored by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus was broadcast over public television stations in New York, Washington, San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Chicago. For Latino USA, I'm Maria Martin.