La Voz de Aztlan, November 6 1984
Item
Title
La Voz de Aztlan, November 6 1984
Creator
Associated Students of Fresno State
Relation
La Voz de Aztlan (Daily Collegian, California State University, Fresno)
Coverage
Fresno, California
Date
11/6/1984
Format
PDF
Identifier
SCUA_lvda_00154
extracted text
La V oz de Aztlan
CSU,FRESNO
Tuesday November 6, 1984
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Religious lay worker tackles INS
On June 27, 1984, Stacey Lynn
Merkt was sentenced· to a 90-day
suspended sentence and two years
probation on three counts of
transporting illegal aliens. Merkt, a
religious lay worker, is employed by
the Catholic diocese of Brownsville,
Texas, which runs Casa Oscar
Romero, a shelter for Central
American refugees in San Benito.
Merkt, 29, was arrested near McAllen
Texas in February while driving
three Salvadoran refugees from San
Benito to San Antonio to meet with
a Lutheran pastor who had offered
to help the refugees try to obtain
status as political refugees.
Merkt was convicted on May 13,
after the jury deliberated for several
days. She faced a sentence of up to
· 15 years in federal prison. The charge
of transporting illegal aliens is
usually reserved for "coyotes"
people who financially exploit
refugees to bring them across the
border from Mexico. When
sentencing her, Federal District
Judge Filemon B. Vela
acknowledged that Merkt was a
person of "high principle." The
sentence she received was
unexpectedly lenient.
Merkt and her attorney, Dennis
Riordan, have filed an appeal on the
conviction of several grounds, the
primary grounds being that the refugees were not in this country
illegally, according to the Refugee
Act of 1980 and the United Nations
High Commission for Refugees, and
thus their transportation was not
illegal.
Brenda, one of the refugees arrested with Stacey Lynn Merkt, was
16 years old and attending school in
San Salvador when one day in 1980
a public demonstration was held.
Her teachers closed the school and
told everyone to go home. As Brenda
ran for safety, the military went
through the streets, shooting anyone
•INS, Se" page 4
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Page2
La Voz de Aztlan
November 6, 1984
Editorial
·Coors company boycott continues
Despite Coors' promises to invest millions in
Latino and Black businesses, Chicano and Black
community organizations and labor unions have
pledged to continue the boycott of Coors. Coors
has promised in a cash settlement with the National
Association For The Advancement of Colored
People (N.A.A.C.P.) and other Black groups to
spend $325 million on Black businesses over the
next five years, increase Black employment at the
brewery and to grant some distributionaries to
Blacks. This includes Coors having several million
dollars of operating capital on deposit in Blackowned banks, and to spend $8.8 million this year in
buying advertisement in Black controlled media.
Coors' similar settlement with a few Latino
groups, including the American G.I. Forum, promises that eight percent of sales will go towards hiring
a Hispanic vice-president, increasing Latino employees and increasing Latino distributionaries. ,
Coors will also make contributions to Latino educational groups, increase contracting with Latino
suppliers and insurer, and increase advertising in
Spanish-language media.
Chicano and Black activists involved in the
Coors boycott which began in 1966, states that the
motives behind these settlements are no secret.
Coors has been trying to "buy their way" into Chicano and Bla~k commun!ties for several years, and
has now found a few Black and Latino opportunists
to undermind the successful Coors boycott.
The racist and right-wing actions of Coors cannot be masked by settlements that will only benefit
a thin layer of the Black and Latino community.
The issues behind the boycott, including William
Coors' remark in February 1984 that Black people
"lack the intellectual capacity to succeed," and
more importantly on going contributions to rightwing groups such as the Heritage Foundation,
which has recommended to Reagan devastating
cutbacks in social services and educational programs, have not been settled. For the community
labor activists, the struggle continues. Our dignity
cannot be bought. We shall not sell our community
for personal gain. The boycott of Coors shall continue as long as the anti-women and anti-people
activity of Coors continues.
Jerry Gonzalez
S.E.I.U. LOCAL 250
Former M.E.Ch.A.
chairperson
Letters to La V oz
Proposition 36
Howard Jarvis, a Reagan Republican, has spent $2 million to
place Proposition 36 on the November
ballot. Jarvis has appealed to voters
to "Save Proposition 13 . ., Only
recent]y have state and local governments stabilized Prop 13's devastating
~ffects. Jarvis has said to vote on
Proposition 36 before "They double
your taxes." He also purports to
create tax reform in California.
However, the truth is that Proposition
36 will once again create a tax shift,
not reform. With Proposition 36,
the majority of property owners will
receive a tax increase. At the same
time, Proposition 36 will cut $1.3
billion in state and local revenue
causing a devastating impact on
essential services. Schools, including
colleges and universities, will suffer
over $750 million in revenue losses.
Thousands of jobs in the city,
county, and state services will be
eliminated including public transportation, mental health, and other
social services.
Renters will receive no benefits.
Students and workers stand to lose
the most, if Proposition 36 passes.
Ttiat is why a solid coalition of
labor, student, professional, and
community organizations have united
to defeat Proposition 36.
WE STRONGLY URGE YOU
TO VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION
36.
Jerry Gonzalez
Education
Propsition 41
Assemblyman Ross Johnson, (R)Fullerton, author of Proposition 41
must believe that the old, disabled
and young children do not deserve
the human rights that the more
abled bodied deserve. His proposition, if passed, would cut aid to the
old by cost-sharing. Old people
would have to make the choice either
to pay for food or medicine. Proposition 41 would affect over 700,000
people and 60 percent of Medi-Cal
funds that pay for medical care for
this group. If Proposition 41 passes
more than 250,000 aged and disabled
people will have to live on as little as
$292 per month to qualify for MediCal.
Foster care would be cut by 50
percent. This means that over 27,000
abused and neglected children cannot be placed in safe homes. In California one out of four children, at
one point or another, benefit from
AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). If Proposition
41 passes this will affect 1,000,000
children.
Training for employment or opportunities to get a formal education
for women heads of households will
be eliminated if Proposition 41
passes. What type of future would
the children of these women have? Is
Mr. Johnson trying to hurt those
who can least defend themselves?
Mr. Johnson promises welfare re-
form by cutting aid from those who
need it the most but this is far from
reform. Taxes will not be lowered, in
fact the cuts that will occur at the
state and federal level will have to be
subsidized at the local level. Please
join those who will vote no on Proposition 41 at the polls.November 6.
Lily Martinez
Regional Coordinator of
Californians Against Prop. 41
Former M.E.Ch.A chairperson
Reagan's
Budget
Reagan's military budget is $1.6
trillion. Reagan has allocated more
of our tax dollars to the military in
the last 4 years than what the U.S.
spent in World War II, the Korean
War, and Vietnam War. How much
is a $1.6 trillion military budget? If
you· have to get a million dollars a
day since Jesus Christ was born
which was 2000 years ago, you
would have $74 billion short of half
of todays military budget. That is
ridiculous and unnecessary!
Get Reagan out of office and stop
the inflation on the military budget.
Ralph Gonzalez
In the area of education the
Republicans say they are for a good
and basic education for all people.
Yet the Republican governor of this
state has cut education to colleges
and universities .which resulted in a
13-16% reduction of students services in the C.S. U. system. Now we
have children learning the golden
rule on an empty stomach. One
might say it is just a few anyway, but
most people are not hungry. Go tell
that to the Chicano and Latino
children in the Fresno Unified
School District who have been found
taking their meager Federal founded
lunches home to feed their younger
brothers and sisters at dinner time.
The fact is that the Republicans
allow this to happen and through
their policies they promote this. This
is shameful, embarrassing and espcially disrespectful to the children to
force them to do this because of the
ill economy. Also the Republican
platform does not deal with the 50%
nation-wide Latino and Chicano
high school dropout rate. Locally in
the past 10 yrs. the Chicano student
population at C.S. U. F. has increased
only by a few hundred. We need
more progress. Republicans are
absolutely establishing higher education for the rich.
Rick Chacon
Page3
November 6, 1984
La Voz cle Aztlap
·M • E.Ch.A .
DEAR STUDENTS:
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano
de Aztlan - MECHA- is a Chicano
student organization dedicated to
the political, economic, educational,
and social improvement of the Chicano
community. We hope you will take a
few minutes of your time to consider
how you can help in this effort.
The political activities of MECH A
are important and necessary. MECHA
has long been the advocate for equal
rights, Chicano Student representation, Chicano student funding, and
against racism. But political activities is only one side of MECH A.
MECHA has two. standing committees: The Chicano Youth Conference and Semana de la Raza.
The Chicano Youth Conference is
an educational and cultural event
which has been held annually at
California State University, Fresno,
for the past eleven years. The Chicano Youth Conference is organized
by MECHA students.
The purpose of the Chicano Youth
Conference is to recruit, encourage,
motivate, and serve as a tool towards
gaining more knowledge about higher
education. In regards to our heritage,
the Chicano Youth Conference serves
to instill pride and cultural awareness
among our Chicano youth.
The CYC is a one-day event in
which various educational and cultural activities take place. The conference is free to all students who
attend. Approximately 1600 students
from over seventy high schools
throughout California attend.
A variety of career and general
interest workshops are given during
the day. There is also a College Fair,
where the students can receive information about various colleges,
universities, and community service
organizations.
The Twelfth Annual Chicano
Youth Conference will be held during
the Christmas break, in January.
Semana de La Raza celebrates the
battle of May 5, 1862 (Cinco de
Mayo) in which Mexican forces under
President Benito Juarez defeated a
French army and established selfdetermination for the country.
Semana de La Raza is a time of
celebration and reflection of what
liberation is and the price one has to
pay for it. It is also a reminder that
we must make a commitment to
continue the struggle for equality
and freedom for all people.
The purpose of Semana de La
Raza is to learn about the history of
the Chicano, and to provide California State University, Fresno, and
the community with an opportunity
to learn about major current issues
faced by the Chicano. Issues range
from education to health, anC1 from
feminism to politics.
An additional purpose is to provide CSU, Fresno and the community with an opportunity to
visually define the Chicano experience through films, theatre, dance,
music, art exhibits and poetry pre-
sentations.
MECHA has a long history tied
to the roots of the Chicano Movement. MECHA evolved from a
number of Chicano student organizations, such as the Mexican-American Student Association (MASA),
and the United Mexican-American
Students (UMAS). These organizations were active on college campuses
in the late sixties. In 1969, students,
faculty and community activists met
at a conference at the University of
Santa Barb~ra for the purpose of
developing a plan for the Chicano
community. It was at this conference
that "El Plan de Santa Barbara,"
was developed to ensure an equal
educational opportunity. This educational opportunity would allow
Chicanos to return to the community
to organize and educate against the
struggle of racism and discrimination.
MECHA has been involved and
has participated in many issues, in. eluding the walk-outs or "blowouts, .. in the early seventies involving
thousands of Chicano students
against racial discrimination in
schools. MECHA was also active in
the 1970 Chicano Moratorium in
which 25000 Chicanos marched in
Los Angeles against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and
the Draft. ( 19 percent of the casualties or dead were Chicano, this is· an
overrepresentation of the general
Latin<:> population of 5.3%). Mecha
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played a major role on the development of the Educational Opportunity Program and La Raza Studies.
MECHA also led the protests against
the Bakke decision which was a
racist attack on affirmative action in
Universities.
Presently MECHA continues to
participate in many causes for justice
and equality such as the Coors boycott, the stuggle against social service
cuts that effect our community, the
fight against student financial aid
cuts, student budget cuts and the
U.S. involvement in Central America.
MECH A would like to invite you
to join our organization. We understand how busy students can get
during the school year, but we must
insure the educational opportunities
for our younger brothers and sisters
and our people as a whole just as
previous Chicano students did for
us. We know that you will find
MECH A interesting and educational.
We ·ask you to contribute to the
movement of the people.
If you are interested in coming to
the regular MECHA meetings here
is the schedule:
MECHA-Thursday 12:30-2:00 p.m.
CYC-Thursday 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Semana-Tuesday 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Sinceramente,
M.E.Ch.A.
Lt Voz de Aztlap
Neveme, t, J?§t
HEP-------~---
By Maria Bergon
Staff Reporter
Ignacio Cachu quit high school at now under the Department of
17 to work in the fields to help his Education.
HEP's $40,000 annual budget helps
family. After 11 years, he grew tired
of driving tractors up to 12 hours a pay for the student's tuition, room
and board and extra educational
day.
expenses.
HEP also pays for the
Eighteen year old Domitile Gutierrez
student's
transportation
to the area
migrated with her parents to follow
they
are
relocated
to
and
from.
the crops for work. She never stayed
After
several
years,
the
Departin one place long enough to complete
ment
of
Labor
conducted
a
study
on
a school year. At that rate she would
HEP
graduates
and
found
that
after
have been 21 by the time she received
the three month intensive HEP
her high school diploma.
Hermelinda and Salvador, forced program, students often went back
to work in the fields because of their to the fields. Villon said, a placeinability to speak English, are only ment program was implemented so
two of the forty students attending students wouldn't return to harvestthe High School Equivalency Program ing the crops.
Leonard Adame, Hep English teacher,
on California State University, Fresno's
said
the problems of leaving the
campus.
fields
and breaking the barrier that
HEP is designed to help field
workers and their dependents recieve keeps them there is a vicious circle
a high school diploma, and an that is hard to get out of. "This gives
opportunity to continue into higher them an opportunity to break the
circle and leave an environment
education.
Fernando Rivera, C.S.U.F. HEP that's 'incredibly negative'," he said.
The Hep student is moved out of
Director said the program is also
aimed at reducing the 45 percent of his environment, which can mean
high school dropouts among anywhere from the Fresno/ Madera
California field workers. He said, in county line to as far south as San
the areas of Salinas, Hollister and Diego, and placed in a setting where
Kings City there is a 65 percent rate strict schedules and academic perof dropouts amoung Mexican- formance are stressed.
Every day HEP students follow a
Americans.
Aurora Villon, HEP counselor, schedule of eight hours of classes,
said the program was created in two hours of supervised study hall
1967 by the Department of Labor and three hours of breaks. By ten
after a study revealed that many p.m., they must be in their apartfarmworkers were not finishing their ments and lights out by 11 p.m.
The classes taught at HEP are
high school education.
Constant migration to seasonal based on preparing the student to
field-work caused children to attend pass the General Education Developseveral schools. Eventually these ment (GED) exam. However, destudents would fall behind, and pending on each student's skill levels
and needs, he receives such classes as
finally drop out, said Villon.
The HEP program came to Fresno reading, writing, math, natural sciState in 1980 after being located in ence, social science, physical eduSan Luis Obispo for ten years. It cation and gr~mp counseling.
The study by the Department of
recieves its funding through the
University Foundation, and it is Labor also showed that many farm-
Letters
The economy is obviously an
important factor in this country.
The Republicans say that the economy is recovering. This is simply not
true at all. A recent study reported in
the Fresno Bee showed that 25% of
the population in Fresno County is
below the poverty rate. Last year, 48
banks in the U.S. went bankrupt,
this is the highest since the depression. In the first six months of 1984,
42 banks declared bankruptcy. Now
we are experiencing the largest debt
in the world's history. We are no
longer the producer, we are the
purchaser.
The GOP is now tar getting the
Latino vote. They are saY.ing that
Latinos should identify with their
party because our community tends
to be conservative and - religious.
Both factors may be true as far as
our Raza is concerned, but we have
to look beyond political rhetoric.
The Republican Party's true base is
not one of fundamental ideals but
economics. We must not confuse
being conservative with right-wing
politics.
Under the Reagan Administration
JO percent more Latinos and Chicanos have been pushed below the
poverty line. Latino business failures have increased. And according
to the Hispanic Research Institute,
education standards for our youth
have decreased. For the majority of
Chicanos and Latinos, the past four
years have been ones filled with
increasing hardships. We cannot
afford four more years of Reagan.
Irma Alcorta
INScontinue
from page 1
they found. Brenda, with more than
a hundred other people, sought
refuge in a first-floor garage. As the
garage door was closed, Brenda
heard the government tank come
down the street toward their hiding
place, and saw the fear in the eyes of
the others in the garage as they
confronted what was about to
happen.
The tank rolled up to the garage
door, stopped, and a Salvadoran
soldier ordered the door opened.
The people inside began passing the
children and babies to the back of
the garage over the heads of the
crowd. When the door was not
opened, the tank opened fire into the
crowd with American supplied 50caliber machine guns. Scores of
people died and Brenda and the
workers did not know English said
Villon. Because of this, English as a
Second Language (ESL) was incorporated into the classes.
Group counseling on the other
hand provides the motivation needed
to help the student continue with his
studies, said Rivera.
The sessions are directed to show
the students how to choose a career
and which college is best for them.
Other students who enter the program with above-average potential
and want to obtain college degrees
after the GED diploma, are given
special projects in preparation for
higher education. "We have one
student who entered this program
ready to pass the math section of the
GED exam, so we complemented
his math class with algebra," said
Villon.
"We are trying to teach them
more than just the five subjects. We
are teaching them how to make it in
life," said Rivera. He also added that
he feels HEP has to advocate and
motivate education.
The stress for academic performances includes not only knowing
how to spell correctly or adding
math figures precisely, but it also
involves the student's attitude ,
promptness and his over all growth
process.
By the third week into the program, the HEP students are evaluated by Rivera.
The student prepares for the evaluation as ifbe was being interviewed
for a job. The student prepares to
enter Rivera's office with a resume,
application, and dressed accordingly
for the simulated interview.
Rivera also prepares himself for
the simulated interview by reading
the reports each teacher has made
on the students.
This is an important moment for
the student for if he doesn't obtain
more than 70 points, he is asked to
leave the program.
"The first three weeks, is their
probationary period," Rivera said.
"If they cannot cut it, I just put them
on a Greyhound and send them
home."
However, only one student this
semester has been asked to leave the
program after the probationary
period, because she failed to achieve
the 70 points, said one student who
was interviewed.
Rivera said they are learning what
the real world is like-hard work a nd
no second chances. He also added
that monetary incentives are offered
to the students. At the beginning of
each week, the student is credited
with $14.50. If they miss one assignment, five dollars is deducted
from the amount. Fifty cents is
deducted for any missed assignment
thereafter. The same is applied to
attendence and cooperation.
"There are some students who feel
sick during class, but they sta y
because they -don't want to lose
points," said Rivera.
The strictness of the program
doesn't seem to scare the students
away. The majority of students interviewed felt positive about attending
HEP.
Even though there are twenty HEP
centers throughout the United States
including Puerto Rico, (there are
two in California) the students felt
that very few people know about the
program.
Ignacio Cachu, 28 , said they don't
advertise enough. He learned about _
the program through his sister. She
received her high school diploma
last Spring through HEP and is no w
a nursing student in Salinas.
"And that's a shame, because it is
a good program," he continued.
other children lay among the piles of
dead. The soldiers broke down the
door and took away three
truckloads of bodies, warning the
survivors to say nothing of what had
happened or their families would be
killed.
Brenda decided then to leave
school and as a medical assistant in
order to work at a refugee center
near her town. One
day, Salvadoran troops came and
took away one of the doctors to the ·
Police Headquarters where he was
held for six months and tortured for
giving aid to subversives. After his
release, he left the country. Brenda's
best friend was kidnapped, and her
body was later found cut in half, as
was her three month old fetus. One
night another of Brenda's co-workers
was arrested, and taken to National
Guard Headquarters. After a night
of gang-rape and torture, she was
taken to the town square where a
soldier pushed a machine gun into
her rectum and pulled the trigger.
co-worker was three months pregnant.
Brenda heard this story from
witnesses and decided to flee the
country with her one-year-old baby,
leaving all of her personal
belongings. She had been told that
she could apply for political asylum
in Mexico under the Refugee Act of
1980, but upon her arrival learned
that only 1% of Salvadoran
applications were approved. With
the
help
of
the
Christian church, she crossed the
Rio Grande into the United States,
where she believed the law entitled
her to safety. She was taken to Casa
Oscar Romero in San Benito, Texas
and there informed that the Director
of the district U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service was not accepting applications for Political
Refugee Status from Salvadorans
who entered without a visa, despite
the fact that the U.S. Embassy in El
Salvador only issues visas to the
very wealthy and friends of the
military. Brenda learned that it was
the practice of the Harlingen
District director to immediately
arrest any applicant from El
Salvador who entered without an
inspection, to hold the applicant in
lieu of a very high bond ($3 ,000$8 ,000), and that not a single
application for political asylum had
ever been granted to a Salvadoran.
Brenda, like all the others who had
applied before her, would be
classified as a Deportable Alien and
ordered deported.
Brenda decided to try to get to
San Antonio where some
applications for Political Asylum
had been granted. On February 16, 1984,
Brenda, her year-old-baby, a third
Salvadoran refugee, and Stacey Lynn
Merkt began the journey that would
lead to their arrest.
CSU,FRESNO
Tuesday November 6, 1984
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Religious lay worker tackles INS
On June 27, 1984, Stacey Lynn
Merkt was sentenced· to a 90-day
suspended sentence and two years
probation on three counts of
transporting illegal aliens. Merkt, a
religious lay worker, is employed by
the Catholic diocese of Brownsville,
Texas, which runs Casa Oscar
Romero, a shelter for Central
American refugees in San Benito.
Merkt, 29, was arrested near McAllen
Texas in February while driving
three Salvadoran refugees from San
Benito to San Antonio to meet with
a Lutheran pastor who had offered
to help the refugees try to obtain
status as political refugees.
Merkt was convicted on May 13,
after the jury deliberated for several
days. She faced a sentence of up to
· 15 years in federal prison. The charge
of transporting illegal aliens is
usually reserved for "coyotes"
people who financially exploit
refugees to bring them across the
border from Mexico. When
sentencing her, Federal District
Judge Filemon B. Vela
acknowledged that Merkt was a
person of "high principle." The
sentence she received was
unexpectedly lenient.
Merkt and her attorney, Dennis
Riordan, have filed an appeal on the
conviction of several grounds, the
primary grounds being that the refugees were not in this country
illegally, according to the Refugee
Act of 1980 and the United Nations
High Commission for Refugees, and
thus their transportation was not
illegal.
Brenda, one of the refugees arrested with Stacey Lynn Merkt, was
16 years old and attending school in
San Salvador when one day in 1980
a public demonstration was held.
Her teachers closed the school and
told everyone to go home. As Brenda
ran for safety, the military went
through the streets, shooting anyone
•INS, Se" page 4
4
...
Page2
La Voz de Aztlan
November 6, 1984
Editorial
·Coors company boycott continues
Despite Coors' promises to invest millions in
Latino and Black businesses, Chicano and Black
community organizations and labor unions have
pledged to continue the boycott of Coors. Coors
has promised in a cash settlement with the National
Association For The Advancement of Colored
People (N.A.A.C.P.) and other Black groups to
spend $325 million on Black businesses over the
next five years, increase Black employment at the
brewery and to grant some distributionaries to
Blacks. This includes Coors having several million
dollars of operating capital on deposit in Blackowned banks, and to spend $8.8 million this year in
buying advertisement in Black controlled media.
Coors' similar settlement with a few Latino
groups, including the American G.I. Forum, promises that eight percent of sales will go towards hiring
a Hispanic vice-president, increasing Latino employees and increasing Latino distributionaries. ,
Coors will also make contributions to Latino educational groups, increase contracting with Latino
suppliers and insurer, and increase advertising in
Spanish-language media.
Chicano and Black activists involved in the
Coors boycott which began in 1966, states that the
motives behind these settlements are no secret.
Coors has been trying to "buy their way" into Chicano and Bla~k commun!ties for several years, and
has now found a few Black and Latino opportunists
to undermind the successful Coors boycott.
The racist and right-wing actions of Coors cannot be masked by settlements that will only benefit
a thin layer of the Black and Latino community.
The issues behind the boycott, including William
Coors' remark in February 1984 that Black people
"lack the intellectual capacity to succeed," and
more importantly on going contributions to rightwing groups such as the Heritage Foundation,
which has recommended to Reagan devastating
cutbacks in social services and educational programs, have not been settled. For the community
labor activists, the struggle continues. Our dignity
cannot be bought. We shall not sell our community
for personal gain. The boycott of Coors shall continue as long as the anti-women and anti-people
activity of Coors continues.
Jerry Gonzalez
S.E.I.U. LOCAL 250
Former M.E.Ch.A.
chairperson
Letters to La V oz
Proposition 36
Howard Jarvis, a Reagan Republican, has spent $2 million to
place Proposition 36 on the November
ballot. Jarvis has appealed to voters
to "Save Proposition 13 . ., Only
recent]y have state and local governments stabilized Prop 13's devastating
~ffects. Jarvis has said to vote on
Proposition 36 before "They double
your taxes." He also purports to
create tax reform in California.
However, the truth is that Proposition
36 will once again create a tax shift,
not reform. With Proposition 36,
the majority of property owners will
receive a tax increase. At the same
time, Proposition 36 will cut $1.3
billion in state and local revenue
causing a devastating impact on
essential services. Schools, including
colleges and universities, will suffer
over $750 million in revenue losses.
Thousands of jobs in the city,
county, and state services will be
eliminated including public transportation, mental health, and other
social services.
Renters will receive no benefits.
Students and workers stand to lose
the most, if Proposition 36 passes.
Ttiat is why a solid coalition of
labor, student, professional, and
community organizations have united
to defeat Proposition 36.
WE STRONGLY URGE YOU
TO VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION
36.
Jerry Gonzalez
Education
Propsition 41
Assemblyman Ross Johnson, (R)Fullerton, author of Proposition 41
must believe that the old, disabled
and young children do not deserve
the human rights that the more
abled bodied deserve. His proposition, if passed, would cut aid to the
old by cost-sharing. Old people
would have to make the choice either
to pay for food or medicine. Proposition 41 would affect over 700,000
people and 60 percent of Medi-Cal
funds that pay for medical care for
this group. If Proposition 41 passes
more than 250,000 aged and disabled
people will have to live on as little as
$292 per month to qualify for MediCal.
Foster care would be cut by 50
percent. This means that over 27,000
abused and neglected children cannot be placed in safe homes. In California one out of four children, at
one point or another, benefit from
AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). If Proposition
41 passes this will affect 1,000,000
children.
Training for employment or opportunities to get a formal education
for women heads of households will
be eliminated if Proposition 41
passes. What type of future would
the children of these women have? Is
Mr. Johnson trying to hurt those
who can least defend themselves?
Mr. Johnson promises welfare re-
form by cutting aid from those who
need it the most but this is far from
reform. Taxes will not be lowered, in
fact the cuts that will occur at the
state and federal level will have to be
subsidized at the local level. Please
join those who will vote no on Proposition 41 at the polls.November 6.
Lily Martinez
Regional Coordinator of
Californians Against Prop. 41
Former M.E.Ch.A chairperson
Reagan's
Budget
Reagan's military budget is $1.6
trillion. Reagan has allocated more
of our tax dollars to the military in
the last 4 years than what the U.S.
spent in World War II, the Korean
War, and Vietnam War. How much
is a $1.6 trillion military budget? If
you· have to get a million dollars a
day since Jesus Christ was born
which was 2000 years ago, you
would have $74 billion short of half
of todays military budget. That is
ridiculous and unnecessary!
Get Reagan out of office and stop
the inflation on the military budget.
Ralph Gonzalez
In the area of education the
Republicans say they are for a good
and basic education for all people.
Yet the Republican governor of this
state has cut education to colleges
and universities .which resulted in a
13-16% reduction of students services in the C.S. U. system. Now we
have children learning the golden
rule on an empty stomach. One
might say it is just a few anyway, but
most people are not hungry. Go tell
that to the Chicano and Latino
children in the Fresno Unified
School District who have been found
taking their meager Federal founded
lunches home to feed their younger
brothers and sisters at dinner time.
The fact is that the Republicans
allow this to happen and through
their policies they promote this. This
is shameful, embarrassing and espcially disrespectful to the children to
force them to do this because of the
ill economy. Also the Republican
platform does not deal with the 50%
nation-wide Latino and Chicano
high school dropout rate. Locally in
the past 10 yrs. the Chicano student
population at C.S. U. F. has increased
only by a few hundred. We need
more progress. Republicans are
absolutely establishing higher education for the rich.
Rick Chacon
Page3
November 6, 1984
La Voz cle Aztlap
·M • E.Ch.A .
DEAR STUDENTS:
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano
de Aztlan - MECHA- is a Chicano
student organization dedicated to
the political, economic, educational,
and social improvement of the Chicano
community. We hope you will take a
few minutes of your time to consider
how you can help in this effort.
The political activities of MECH A
are important and necessary. MECHA
has long been the advocate for equal
rights, Chicano Student representation, Chicano student funding, and
against racism. But political activities is only one side of MECH A.
MECHA has two. standing committees: The Chicano Youth Conference and Semana de la Raza.
The Chicano Youth Conference is
an educational and cultural event
which has been held annually at
California State University, Fresno,
for the past eleven years. The Chicano Youth Conference is organized
by MECHA students.
The purpose of the Chicano Youth
Conference is to recruit, encourage,
motivate, and serve as a tool towards
gaining more knowledge about higher
education. In regards to our heritage,
the Chicano Youth Conference serves
to instill pride and cultural awareness
among our Chicano youth.
The CYC is a one-day event in
which various educational and cultural activities take place. The conference is free to all students who
attend. Approximately 1600 students
from over seventy high schools
throughout California attend.
A variety of career and general
interest workshops are given during
the day. There is also a College Fair,
where the students can receive information about various colleges,
universities, and community service
organizations.
The Twelfth Annual Chicano
Youth Conference will be held during
the Christmas break, in January.
Semana de La Raza celebrates the
battle of May 5, 1862 (Cinco de
Mayo) in which Mexican forces under
President Benito Juarez defeated a
French army and established selfdetermination for the country.
Semana de La Raza is a time of
celebration and reflection of what
liberation is and the price one has to
pay for it. It is also a reminder that
we must make a commitment to
continue the struggle for equality
and freedom for all people.
The purpose of Semana de La
Raza is to learn about the history of
the Chicano, and to provide California State University, Fresno, and
the community with an opportunity
to learn about major current issues
faced by the Chicano. Issues range
from education to health, anC1 from
feminism to politics.
An additional purpose is to provide CSU, Fresno and the community with an opportunity to
visually define the Chicano experience through films, theatre, dance,
music, art exhibits and poetry pre-
sentations.
MECHA has a long history tied
to the roots of the Chicano Movement. MECHA evolved from a
number of Chicano student organizations, such as the Mexican-American Student Association (MASA),
and the United Mexican-American
Students (UMAS). These organizations were active on college campuses
in the late sixties. In 1969, students,
faculty and community activists met
at a conference at the University of
Santa Barb~ra for the purpose of
developing a plan for the Chicano
community. It was at this conference
that "El Plan de Santa Barbara,"
was developed to ensure an equal
educational opportunity. This educational opportunity would allow
Chicanos to return to the community
to organize and educate against the
struggle of racism and discrimination.
MECHA has been involved and
has participated in many issues, in. eluding the walk-outs or "blowouts, .. in the early seventies involving
thousands of Chicano students
against racial discrimination in
schools. MECHA was also active in
the 1970 Chicano Moratorium in
which 25000 Chicanos marched in
Los Angeles against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and
the Draft. ( 19 percent of the casualties or dead were Chicano, this is· an
overrepresentation of the general
Latin<:> population of 5.3%). Mecha
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played a major role on the development of the Educational Opportunity Program and La Raza Studies.
MECHA also led the protests against
the Bakke decision which was a
racist attack on affirmative action in
Universities.
Presently MECHA continues to
participate in many causes for justice
and equality such as the Coors boycott, the stuggle against social service
cuts that effect our community, the
fight against student financial aid
cuts, student budget cuts and the
U.S. involvement in Central America.
MECH A would like to invite you
to join our organization. We understand how busy students can get
during the school year, but we must
insure the educational opportunities
for our younger brothers and sisters
and our people as a whole just as
previous Chicano students did for
us. We know that you will find
MECH A interesting and educational.
We ·ask you to contribute to the
movement of the people.
If you are interested in coming to
the regular MECHA meetings here
is the schedule:
MECHA-Thursday 12:30-2:00 p.m.
CYC-Thursday 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Semana-Tuesday 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Sinceramente,
M.E.Ch.A.
Lt Voz de Aztlap
Neveme, t, J?§t
HEP-------~---
By Maria Bergon
Staff Reporter
Ignacio Cachu quit high school at now under the Department of
17 to work in the fields to help his Education.
HEP's $40,000 annual budget helps
family. After 11 years, he grew tired
of driving tractors up to 12 hours a pay for the student's tuition, room
and board and extra educational
day.
expenses.
HEP also pays for the
Eighteen year old Domitile Gutierrez
student's
transportation
to the area
migrated with her parents to follow
they
are
relocated
to
and
from.
the crops for work. She never stayed
After
several
years,
the
Departin one place long enough to complete
ment
of
Labor
conducted
a
study
on
a school year. At that rate she would
HEP
graduates
and
found
that
after
have been 21 by the time she received
the three month intensive HEP
her high school diploma.
Hermelinda and Salvador, forced program, students often went back
to work in the fields because of their to the fields. Villon said, a placeinability to speak English, are only ment program was implemented so
two of the forty students attending students wouldn't return to harvestthe High School Equivalency Program ing the crops.
Leonard Adame, Hep English teacher,
on California State University, Fresno's
said
the problems of leaving the
campus.
fields
and breaking the barrier that
HEP is designed to help field
workers and their dependents recieve keeps them there is a vicious circle
a high school diploma, and an that is hard to get out of. "This gives
opportunity to continue into higher them an opportunity to break the
circle and leave an environment
education.
Fernando Rivera, C.S.U.F. HEP that's 'incredibly negative'," he said.
The Hep student is moved out of
Director said the program is also
aimed at reducing the 45 percent of his environment, which can mean
high school dropouts among anywhere from the Fresno/ Madera
California field workers. He said, in county line to as far south as San
the areas of Salinas, Hollister and Diego, and placed in a setting where
Kings City there is a 65 percent rate strict schedules and academic perof dropouts amoung Mexican- formance are stressed.
Every day HEP students follow a
Americans.
Aurora Villon, HEP counselor, schedule of eight hours of classes,
said the program was created in two hours of supervised study hall
1967 by the Department of Labor and three hours of breaks. By ten
after a study revealed that many p.m., they must be in their apartfarmworkers were not finishing their ments and lights out by 11 p.m.
The classes taught at HEP are
high school education.
Constant migration to seasonal based on preparing the student to
field-work caused children to attend pass the General Education Developseveral schools. Eventually these ment (GED) exam. However, destudents would fall behind, and pending on each student's skill levels
and needs, he receives such classes as
finally drop out, said Villon.
The HEP program came to Fresno reading, writing, math, natural sciState in 1980 after being located in ence, social science, physical eduSan Luis Obispo for ten years. It cation and gr~mp counseling.
The study by the Department of
recieves its funding through the
University Foundation, and it is Labor also showed that many farm-
Letters
The economy is obviously an
important factor in this country.
The Republicans say that the economy is recovering. This is simply not
true at all. A recent study reported in
the Fresno Bee showed that 25% of
the population in Fresno County is
below the poverty rate. Last year, 48
banks in the U.S. went bankrupt,
this is the highest since the depression. In the first six months of 1984,
42 banks declared bankruptcy. Now
we are experiencing the largest debt
in the world's history. We are no
longer the producer, we are the
purchaser.
The GOP is now tar getting the
Latino vote. They are saY.ing that
Latinos should identify with their
party because our community tends
to be conservative and - religious.
Both factors may be true as far as
our Raza is concerned, but we have
to look beyond political rhetoric.
The Republican Party's true base is
not one of fundamental ideals but
economics. We must not confuse
being conservative with right-wing
politics.
Under the Reagan Administration
JO percent more Latinos and Chicanos have been pushed below the
poverty line. Latino business failures have increased. And according
to the Hispanic Research Institute,
education standards for our youth
have decreased. For the majority of
Chicanos and Latinos, the past four
years have been ones filled with
increasing hardships. We cannot
afford four more years of Reagan.
Irma Alcorta
INScontinue
from page 1
they found. Brenda, with more than
a hundred other people, sought
refuge in a first-floor garage. As the
garage door was closed, Brenda
heard the government tank come
down the street toward their hiding
place, and saw the fear in the eyes of
the others in the garage as they
confronted what was about to
happen.
The tank rolled up to the garage
door, stopped, and a Salvadoran
soldier ordered the door opened.
The people inside began passing the
children and babies to the back of
the garage over the heads of the
crowd. When the door was not
opened, the tank opened fire into the
crowd with American supplied 50caliber machine guns. Scores of
people died and Brenda and the
workers did not know English said
Villon. Because of this, English as a
Second Language (ESL) was incorporated into the classes.
Group counseling on the other
hand provides the motivation needed
to help the student continue with his
studies, said Rivera.
The sessions are directed to show
the students how to choose a career
and which college is best for them.
Other students who enter the program with above-average potential
and want to obtain college degrees
after the GED diploma, are given
special projects in preparation for
higher education. "We have one
student who entered this program
ready to pass the math section of the
GED exam, so we complemented
his math class with algebra," said
Villon.
"We are trying to teach them
more than just the five subjects. We
are teaching them how to make it in
life," said Rivera. He also added that
he feels HEP has to advocate and
motivate education.
The stress for academic performances includes not only knowing
how to spell correctly or adding
math figures precisely, but it also
involves the student's attitude ,
promptness and his over all growth
process.
By the third week into the program, the HEP students are evaluated by Rivera.
The student prepares for the evaluation as ifbe was being interviewed
for a job. The student prepares to
enter Rivera's office with a resume,
application, and dressed accordingly
for the simulated interview.
Rivera also prepares himself for
the simulated interview by reading
the reports each teacher has made
on the students.
This is an important moment for
the student for if he doesn't obtain
more than 70 points, he is asked to
leave the program.
"The first three weeks, is their
probationary period," Rivera said.
"If they cannot cut it, I just put them
on a Greyhound and send them
home."
However, only one student this
semester has been asked to leave the
program after the probationary
period, because she failed to achieve
the 70 points, said one student who
was interviewed.
Rivera said they are learning what
the real world is like-hard work a nd
no second chances. He also added
that monetary incentives are offered
to the students. At the beginning of
each week, the student is credited
with $14.50. If they miss one assignment, five dollars is deducted
from the amount. Fifty cents is
deducted for any missed assignment
thereafter. The same is applied to
attendence and cooperation.
"There are some students who feel
sick during class, but they sta y
because they -don't want to lose
points," said Rivera.
The strictness of the program
doesn't seem to scare the students
away. The majority of students interviewed felt positive about attending
HEP.
Even though there are twenty HEP
centers throughout the United States
including Puerto Rico, (there are
two in California) the students felt
that very few people know about the
program.
Ignacio Cachu, 28 , said they don't
advertise enough. He learned about _
the program through his sister. She
received her high school diploma
last Spring through HEP and is no w
a nursing student in Salinas.
"And that's a shame, because it is
a good program," he continued.
other children lay among the piles of
dead. The soldiers broke down the
door and took away three
truckloads of bodies, warning the
survivors to say nothing of what had
happened or their families would be
killed.
Brenda decided then to leave
school and as a medical assistant in
order to work at a refugee center
near her town. One
day, Salvadoran troops came and
took away one of the doctors to the ·
Police Headquarters where he was
held for six months and tortured for
giving aid to subversives. After his
release, he left the country. Brenda's
best friend was kidnapped, and her
body was later found cut in half, as
was her three month old fetus. One
night another of Brenda's co-workers
was arrested, and taken to National
Guard Headquarters. After a night
of gang-rape and torture, she was
taken to the town square where a
soldier pushed a machine gun into
her rectum and pulled the trigger.
co-worker was three months pregnant.
Brenda heard this story from
witnesses and decided to flee the
country with her one-year-old baby,
leaving all of her personal
belongings. She had been told that
she could apply for political asylum
in Mexico under the Refugee Act of
1980, but upon her arrival learned
that only 1% of Salvadoran
applications were approved. With
the
help
of
the
Christian church, she crossed the
Rio Grande into the United States,
where she believed the law entitled
her to safety. She was taken to Casa
Oscar Romero in San Benito, Texas
and there informed that the Director
of the district U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service was not accepting applications for Political
Refugee Status from Salvadorans
who entered without a visa, despite
the fact that the U.S. Embassy in El
Salvador only issues visas to the
very wealthy and friends of the
military. Brenda learned that it was
the practice of the Harlingen
District director to immediately
arrest any applicant from El
Salvador who entered without an
inspection, to hold the applicant in
lieu of a very high bond ($3 ,000$8 ,000), and that not a single
application for political asylum had
ever been granted to a Salvadoran.
Brenda, like all the others who had
applied before her, would be
classified as a Deportable Alien and
ordered deported.
Brenda decided to try to get to
San Antonio where some
applications for Political Asylum
had been granted. On February 16, 1984,
Brenda, her year-old-baby, a third
Salvadoran refugee, and Stacey Lynn
Merkt began the journey that would
lead to their arrest.
La V oz de Aztlan
CSU,FRESNO
Tuesday November 6, 1984
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Religious lay worker tackles INS
On June 27, 1984, Stacey Lynn
Merkt was sentenced· to a 90-day
suspended sentence and two years
probation on three counts of
transporting illegal aliens. Merkt, a
religious lay worker, is employed by
the Catholic diocese of Brownsville,
Texas, which runs Casa Oscar
Romero, a shelter for Central
American refugees in San Benito.
Merkt, 29, was arrested near McAllen
Texas in February while driving
three Salvadoran refugees from San
Benito to San Antonio to meet with
a Lutheran pastor who had offered
to help the refugees try to obtain
status as political refugees.
Merkt was convicted on May 13,
after the jury deliberated for several
days. She faced a sentence of up to
· 15 years in federal prison. The charge
of transporting illegal aliens is
usually reserved for "coyotes"
people who financially exploit
refugees to bring them across the
border from Mexico. When
sentencing her, Federal District
Judge Filemon B. Vela
acknowledged that Merkt was a
person of "high principle." The
sentence she received was
unexpectedly lenient.
Merkt and her attorney, Dennis
Riordan, have filed an appeal on the
conviction of several grounds, the
primary grounds being that the refugees were not in this country
illegally, according to the Refugee
Act of 1980 and the United Nations
High Commission for Refugees, and
thus their transportation was not
illegal.
Brenda, one of the refugees arrested with Stacey Lynn Merkt, was
16 years old and attending school in
San Salvador when one day in 1980
a public demonstration was held.
Her teachers closed the school and
told everyone to go home. As Brenda
ran for safety, the military went
through the streets, shooting anyone
•INS, Se" page 4
4
...
Page2
La Voz de Aztlan
November 6, 1984
Editorial
·Coors company boycott continues
Despite Coors' promises to invest millions in
Latino and Black businesses, Chicano and Black
community organizations and labor unions have
pledged to continue the boycott of Coors. Coors
has promised in a cash settlement with the National
Association For The Advancement of Colored
People (N.A.A.C.P.) and other Black groups to
spend $325 million on Black businesses over the
next five years, increase Black employment at the
brewery and to grant some distributionaries to
Blacks. This includes Coors having several million
dollars of operating capital on deposit in Blackowned banks, and to spend $8.8 million this year in
buying advertisement in Black controlled media.
Coors' similar settlement with a few Latino
groups, including the American G.I. Forum, promises that eight percent of sales will go towards hiring
a Hispanic vice-president, increasing Latino employees and increasing Latino distributionaries. ,
Coors will also make contributions to Latino educational groups, increase contracting with Latino
suppliers and insurer, and increase advertising in
Spanish-language media.
Chicano and Black activists involved in the
Coors boycott which began in 1966, states that the
motives behind these settlements are no secret.
Coors has been trying to "buy their way" into Chicano and Bla~k commun!ties for several years, and
has now found a few Black and Latino opportunists
to undermind the successful Coors boycott.
The racist and right-wing actions of Coors cannot be masked by settlements that will only benefit
a thin layer of the Black and Latino community.
The issues behind the boycott, including William
Coors' remark in February 1984 that Black people
"lack the intellectual capacity to succeed," and
more importantly on going contributions to rightwing groups such as the Heritage Foundation,
which has recommended to Reagan devastating
cutbacks in social services and educational programs, have not been settled. For the community
labor activists, the struggle continues. Our dignity
cannot be bought. We shall not sell our community
for personal gain. The boycott of Coors shall continue as long as the anti-women and anti-people
activity of Coors continues.
Jerry Gonzalez
S.E.I.U. LOCAL 250
Former M.E.Ch.A.
chairperson
Letters to La V oz
Proposition 36
Howard Jarvis, a Reagan Republican, has spent $2 million to
place Proposition 36 on the November
ballot. Jarvis has appealed to voters
to "Save Proposition 13 . ., Only
recent]y have state and local governments stabilized Prop 13's devastating
~ffects. Jarvis has said to vote on
Proposition 36 before "They double
your taxes." He also purports to
create tax reform in California.
However, the truth is that Proposition
36 will once again create a tax shift,
not reform. With Proposition 36,
the majority of property owners will
receive a tax increase. At the same
time, Proposition 36 will cut $1.3
billion in state and local revenue
causing a devastating impact on
essential services. Schools, including
colleges and universities, will suffer
over $750 million in revenue losses.
Thousands of jobs in the city,
county, and state services will be
eliminated including public transportation, mental health, and other
social services.
Renters will receive no benefits.
Students and workers stand to lose
the most, if Proposition 36 passes.
Ttiat is why a solid coalition of
labor, student, professional, and
community organizations have united
to defeat Proposition 36.
WE STRONGLY URGE YOU
TO VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION
36.
Jerry Gonzalez
Education
Propsition 41
Assemblyman Ross Johnson, (R)Fullerton, author of Proposition 41
must believe that the old, disabled
and young children do not deserve
the human rights that the more
abled bodied deserve. His proposition, if passed, would cut aid to the
old by cost-sharing. Old people
would have to make the choice either
to pay for food or medicine. Proposition 41 would affect over 700,000
people and 60 percent of Medi-Cal
funds that pay for medical care for
this group. If Proposition 41 passes
more than 250,000 aged and disabled
people will have to live on as little as
$292 per month to qualify for MediCal.
Foster care would be cut by 50
percent. This means that over 27,000
abused and neglected children cannot be placed in safe homes. In California one out of four children, at
one point or another, benefit from
AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). If Proposition
41 passes this will affect 1,000,000
children.
Training for employment or opportunities to get a formal education
for women heads of households will
be eliminated if Proposition 41
passes. What type of future would
the children of these women have? Is
Mr. Johnson trying to hurt those
who can least defend themselves?
Mr. Johnson promises welfare re-
form by cutting aid from those who
need it the most but this is far from
reform. Taxes will not be lowered, in
fact the cuts that will occur at the
state and federal level will have to be
subsidized at the local level. Please
join those who will vote no on Proposition 41 at the polls.November 6.
Lily Martinez
Regional Coordinator of
Californians Against Prop. 41
Former M.E.Ch.A chairperson
Reagan's
Budget
Reagan's military budget is $1.6
trillion. Reagan has allocated more
of our tax dollars to the military in
the last 4 years than what the U.S.
spent in World War II, the Korean
War, and Vietnam War. How much
is a $1.6 trillion military budget? If
you· have to get a million dollars a
day since Jesus Christ was born
which was 2000 years ago, you
would have $74 billion short of half
of todays military budget. That is
ridiculous and unnecessary!
Get Reagan out of office and stop
the inflation on the military budget.
Ralph Gonzalez
In the area of education the
Republicans say they are for a good
and basic education for all people.
Yet the Republican governor of this
state has cut education to colleges
and universities .which resulted in a
13-16% reduction of students services in the C.S. U. system. Now we
have children learning the golden
rule on an empty stomach. One
might say it is just a few anyway, but
most people are not hungry. Go tell
that to the Chicano and Latino
children in the Fresno Unified
School District who have been found
taking their meager Federal founded
lunches home to feed their younger
brothers and sisters at dinner time.
The fact is that the Republicans
allow this to happen and through
their policies they promote this. This
is shameful, embarrassing and espcially disrespectful to the children to
force them to do this because of the
ill economy. Also the Republican
platform does not deal with the 50%
nation-wide Latino and Chicano
high school dropout rate. Locally in
the past 10 yrs. the Chicano student
population at C.S. U. F. has increased
only by a few hundred. We need
more progress. Republicans are
absolutely establishing higher education for the rich.
Rick Chacon
Page3
November 6, 1984
La Voz cle Aztlap
·M • E.Ch.A .
DEAR STUDENTS:
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano
de Aztlan - MECHA- is a Chicano
student organization dedicated to
the political, economic, educational,
and social improvement of the Chicano
community. We hope you will take a
few minutes of your time to consider
how you can help in this effort.
The political activities of MECH A
are important and necessary. MECHA
has long been the advocate for equal
rights, Chicano Student representation, Chicano student funding, and
against racism. But political activities is only one side of MECH A.
MECHA has two. standing committees: The Chicano Youth Conference and Semana de la Raza.
The Chicano Youth Conference is
an educational and cultural event
which has been held annually at
California State University, Fresno,
for the past eleven years. The Chicano Youth Conference is organized
by MECHA students.
The purpose of the Chicano Youth
Conference is to recruit, encourage,
motivate, and serve as a tool towards
gaining more knowledge about higher
education. In regards to our heritage,
the Chicano Youth Conference serves
to instill pride and cultural awareness
among our Chicano youth.
The CYC is a one-day event in
which various educational and cultural activities take place. The conference is free to all students who
attend. Approximately 1600 students
from over seventy high schools
throughout California attend.
A variety of career and general
interest workshops are given during
the day. There is also a College Fair,
where the students can receive information about various colleges,
universities, and community service
organizations.
The Twelfth Annual Chicano
Youth Conference will be held during
the Christmas break, in January.
Semana de La Raza celebrates the
battle of May 5, 1862 (Cinco de
Mayo) in which Mexican forces under
President Benito Juarez defeated a
French army and established selfdetermination for the country.
Semana de La Raza is a time of
celebration and reflection of what
liberation is and the price one has to
pay for it. It is also a reminder that
we must make a commitment to
continue the struggle for equality
and freedom for all people.
The purpose of Semana de La
Raza is to learn about the history of
the Chicano, and to provide California State University, Fresno, and
the community with an opportunity
to learn about major current issues
faced by the Chicano. Issues range
from education to health, anC1 from
feminism to politics.
An additional purpose is to provide CSU, Fresno and the community with an opportunity to
visually define the Chicano experience through films, theatre, dance,
music, art exhibits and poetry pre-
sentations.
MECHA has a long history tied
to the roots of the Chicano Movement. MECHA evolved from a
number of Chicano student organizations, such as the Mexican-American Student Association (MASA),
and the United Mexican-American
Students (UMAS). These organizations were active on college campuses
in the late sixties. In 1969, students,
faculty and community activists met
at a conference at the University of
Santa Barb~ra for the purpose of
developing a plan for the Chicano
community. It was at this conference
that "El Plan de Santa Barbara,"
was developed to ensure an equal
educational opportunity. This educational opportunity would allow
Chicanos to return to the community
to organize and educate against the
struggle of racism and discrimination.
MECHA has been involved and
has participated in many issues, in. eluding the walk-outs or "blowouts, .. in the early seventies involving
thousands of Chicano students
against racial discrimination in
schools. MECHA was also active in
the 1970 Chicano Moratorium in
which 25000 Chicanos marched in
Los Angeles against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and
the Draft. ( 19 percent of the casualties or dead were Chicano, this is· an
overrepresentation of the general
Latin<:> population of 5.3%). Mecha
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played a major role on the development of the Educational Opportunity Program and La Raza Studies.
MECHA also led the protests against
the Bakke decision which was a
racist attack on affirmative action in
Universities.
Presently MECHA continues to
participate in many causes for justice
and equality such as the Coors boycott, the stuggle against social service
cuts that effect our community, the
fight against student financial aid
cuts, student budget cuts and the
U.S. involvement in Central America.
MECH A would like to invite you
to join our organization. We understand how busy students can get
during the school year, but we must
insure the educational opportunities
for our younger brothers and sisters
and our people as a whole just as
previous Chicano students did for
us. We know that you will find
MECH A interesting and educational.
We ·ask you to contribute to the
movement of the people.
If you are interested in coming to
the regular MECHA meetings here
is the schedule:
MECHA-Thursday 12:30-2:00 p.m.
CYC-Thursday 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Semana-Tuesday 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Sinceramente,
M.E.Ch.A.
Lt Voz de Aztlap
Neveme, t, J?§t
HEP-------~---
By Maria Bergon
Staff Reporter
Ignacio Cachu quit high school at now under the Department of
17 to work in the fields to help his Education.
HEP's $40,000 annual budget helps
family. After 11 years, he grew tired
of driving tractors up to 12 hours a pay for the student's tuition, room
and board and extra educational
day.
expenses.
HEP also pays for the
Eighteen year old Domitile Gutierrez
student's
transportation
to the area
migrated with her parents to follow
they
are
relocated
to
and
from.
the crops for work. She never stayed
After
several
years,
the
Departin one place long enough to complete
ment
of
Labor
conducted
a
study
on
a school year. At that rate she would
HEP
graduates
and
found
that
after
have been 21 by the time she received
the three month intensive HEP
her high school diploma.
Hermelinda and Salvador, forced program, students often went back
to work in the fields because of their to the fields. Villon said, a placeinability to speak English, are only ment program was implemented so
two of the forty students attending students wouldn't return to harvestthe High School Equivalency Program ing the crops.
Leonard Adame, Hep English teacher,
on California State University, Fresno's
said
the problems of leaving the
campus.
fields
and breaking the barrier that
HEP is designed to help field
workers and their dependents recieve keeps them there is a vicious circle
a high school diploma, and an that is hard to get out of. "This gives
opportunity to continue into higher them an opportunity to break the
circle and leave an environment
education.
Fernando Rivera, C.S.U.F. HEP that's 'incredibly negative'," he said.
The Hep student is moved out of
Director said the program is also
aimed at reducing the 45 percent of his environment, which can mean
high school dropouts among anywhere from the Fresno/ Madera
California field workers. He said, in county line to as far south as San
the areas of Salinas, Hollister and Diego, and placed in a setting where
Kings City there is a 65 percent rate strict schedules and academic perof dropouts amoung Mexican- formance are stressed.
Every day HEP students follow a
Americans.
Aurora Villon, HEP counselor, schedule of eight hours of classes,
said the program was created in two hours of supervised study hall
1967 by the Department of Labor and three hours of breaks. By ten
after a study revealed that many p.m., they must be in their apartfarmworkers were not finishing their ments and lights out by 11 p.m.
The classes taught at HEP are
high school education.
Constant migration to seasonal based on preparing the student to
field-work caused children to attend pass the General Education Developseveral schools. Eventually these ment (GED) exam. However, destudents would fall behind, and pending on each student's skill levels
and needs, he receives such classes as
finally drop out, said Villon.
The HEP program came to Fresno reading, writing, math, natural sciState in 1980 after being located in ence, social science, physical eduSan Luis Obispo for ten years. It cation and gr~mp counseling.
The study by the Department of
recieves its funding through the
University Foundation, and it is Labor also showed that many farm-
Letters
The economy is obviously an
important factor in this country.
The Republicans say that the economy is recovering. This is simply not
true at all. A recent study reported in
the Fresno Bee showed that 25% of
the population in Fresno County is
below the poverty rate. Last year, 48
banks in the U.S. went bankrupt,
this is the highest since the depression. In the first six months of 1984,
42 banks declared bankruptcy. Now
we are experiencing the largest debt
in the world's history. We are no
longer the producer, we are the
purchaser.
The GOP is now tar getting the
Latino vote. They are saY.ing that
Latinos should identify with their
party because our community tends
to be conservative and - religious.
Both factors may be true as far as
our Raza is concerned, but we have
to look beyond political rhetoric.
The Republican Party's true base is
not one of fundamental ideals but
economics. We must not confuse
being conservative with right-wing
politics.
Under the Reagan Administration
JO percent more Latinos and Chicanos have been pushed below the
poverty line. Latino business failures have increased. And according
to the Hispanic Research Institute,
education standards for our youth
have decreased. For the majority of
Chicanos and Latinos, the past four
years have been ones filled with
increasing hardships. We cannot
afford four more years of Reagan.
Irma Alcorta
INScontinue
from page 1
they found. Brenda, with more than
a hundred other people, sought
refuge in a first-floor garage. As the
garage door was closed, Brenda
heard the government tank come
down the street toward their hiding
place, and saw the fear in the eyes of
the others in the garage as they
confronted what was about to
happen.
The tank rolled up to the garage
door, stopped, and a Salvadoran
soldier ordered the door opened.
The people inside began passing the
children and babies to the back of
the garage over the heads of the
crowd. When the door was not
opened, the tank opened fire into the
crowd with American supplied 50caliber machine guns. Scores of
people died and Brenda and the
workers did not know English said
Villon. Because of this, English as a
Second Language (ESL) was incorporated into the classes.
Group counseling on the other
hand provides the motivation needed
to help the student continue with his
studies, said Rivera.
The sessions are directed to show
the students how to choose a career
and which college is best for them.
Other students who enter the program with above-average potential
and want to obtain college degrees
after the GED diploma, are given
special projects in preparation for
higher education. "We have one
student who entered this program
ready to pass the math section of the
GED exam, so we complemented
his math class with algebra," said
Villon.
"We are trying to teach them
more than just the five subjects. We
are teaching them how to make it in
life," said Rivera. He also added that
he feels HEP has to advocate and
motivate education.
The stress for academic performances includes not only knowing
how to spell correctly or adding
math figures precisely, but it also
involves the student's attitude ,
promptness and his over all growth
process.
By the third week into the program, the HEP students are evaluated by Rivera.
The student prepares for the evaluation as ifbe was being interviewed
for a job. The student prepares to
enter Rivera's office with a resume,
application, and dressed accordingly
for the simulated interview.
Rivera also prepares himself for
the simulated interview by reading
the reports each teacher has made
on the students.
This is an important moment for
the student for if he doesn't obtain
more than 70 points, he is asked to
leave the program.
"The first three weeks, is their
probationary period," Rivera said.
"If they cannot cut it, I just put them
on a Greyhound and send them
home."
However, only one student this
semester has been asked to leave the
program after the probationary
period, because she failed to achieve
the 70 points, said one student who
was interviewed.
Rivera said they are learning what
the real world is like-hard work a nd
no second chances. He also added
that monetary incentives are offered
to the students. At the beginning of
each week, the student is credited
with $14.50. If they miss one assignment, five dollars is deducted
from the amount. Fifty cents is
deducted for any missed assignment
thereafter. The same is applied to
attendence and cooperation.
"There are some students who feel
sick during class, but they sta y
because they -don't want to lose
points," said Rivera.
The strictness of the program
doesn't seem to scare the students
away. The majority of students interviewed felt positive about attending
HEP.
Even though there are twenty HEP
centers throughout the United States
including Puerto Rico, (there are
two in California) the students felt
that very few people know about the
program.
Ignacio Cachu, 28 , said they don't
advertise enough. He learned about _
the program through his sister. She
received her high school diploma
last Spring through HEP and is no w
a nursing student in Salinas.
"And that's a shame, because it is
a good program," he continued.
other children lay among the piles of
dead. The soldiers broke down the
door and took away three
truckloads of bodies, warning the
survivors to say nothing of what had
happened or their families would be
killed.
Brenda decided then to leave
school and as a medical assistant in
order to work at a refugee center
near her town. One
day, Salvadoran troops came and
took away one of the doctors to the ·
Police Headquarters where he was
held for six months and tortured for
giving aid to subversives. After his
release, he left the country. Brenda's
best friend was kidnapped, and her
body was later found cut in half, as
was her three month old fetus. One
night another of Brenda's co-workers
was arrested, and taken to National
Guard Headquarters. After a night
of gang-rape and torture, she was
taken to the town square where a
soldier pushed a machine gun into
her rectum and pulled the trigger.
co-worker was three months pregnant.
Brenda heard this story from
witnesses and decided to flee the
country with her one-year-old baby,
leaving all of her personal
belongings. She had been told that
she could apply for political asylum
in Mexico under the Refugee Act of
1980, but upon her arrival learned
that only 1% of Salvadoran
applications were approved. With
the
help
of
the
Christian church, she crossed the
Rio Grande into the United States,
where she believed the law entitled
her to safety. She was taken to Casa
Oscar Romero in San Benito, Texas
and there informed that the Director
of the district U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service was not accepting applications for Political
Refugee Status from Salvadorans
who entered without a visa, despite
the fact that the U.S. Embassy in El
Salvador only issues visas to the
very wealthy and friends of the
military. Brenda learned that it was
the practice of the Harlingen
District director to immediately
arrest any applicant from El
Salvador who entered without an
inspection, to hold the applicant in
lieu of a very high bond ($3 ,000$8 ,000), and that not a single
application for political asylum had
ever been granted to a Salvadoran.
Brenda, like all the others who had
applied before her, would be
classified as a Deportable Alien and
ordered deported.
Brenda decided to try to get to
San Antonio where some
applications for Political Asylum
had been granted. On February 16, 1984,
Brenda, her year-old-baby, a third
Salvadoran refugee, and Stacey Lynn
Merkt began the journey that would
lead to their arrest.
CSU,FRESNO
Tuesday November 6, 1984
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Religious lay worker tackles INS
On June 27, 1984, Stacey Lynn
Merkt was sentenced· to a 90-day
suspended sentence and two years
probation on three counts of
transporting illegal aliens. Merkt, a
religious lay worker, is employed by
the Catholic diocese of Brownsville,
Texas, which runs Casa Oscar
Romero, a shelter for Central
American refugees in San Benito.
Merkt, 29, was arrested near McAllen
Texas in February while driving
three Salvadoran refugees from San
Benito to San Antonio to meet with
a Lutheran pastor who had offered
to help the refugees try to obtain
status as political refugees.
Merkt was convicted on May 13,
after the jury deliberated for several
days. She faced a sentence of up to
· 15 years in federal prison. The charge
of transporting illegal aliens is
usually reserved for "coyotes"
people who financially exploit
refugees to bring them across the
border from Mexico. When
sentencing her, Federal District
Judge Filemon B. Vela
acknowledged that Merkt was a
person of "high principle." The
sentence she received was
unexpectedly lenient.
Merkt and her attorney, Dennis
Riordan, have filed an appeal on the
conviction of several grounds, the
primary grounds being that the refugees were not in this country
illegally, according to the Refugee
Act of 1980 and the United Nations
High Commission for Refugees, and
thus their transportation was not
illegal.
Brenda, one of the refugees arrested with Stacey Lynn Merkt, was
16 years old and attending school in
San Salvador when one day in 1980
a public demonstration was held.
Her teachers closed the school and
told everyone to go home. As Brenda
ran for safety, the military went
through the streets, shooting anyone
•INS, Se" page 4
4
...
Page2
La Voz de Aztlan
November 6, 1984
Editorial
·Coors company boycott continues
Despite Coors' promises to invest millions in
Latino and Black businesses, Chicano and Black
community organizations and labor unions have
pledged to continue the boycott of Coors. Coors
has promised in a cash settlement with the National
Association For The Advancement of Colored
People (N.A.A.C.P.) and other Black groups to
spend $325 million on Black businesses over the
next five years, increase Black employment at the
brewery and to grant some distributionaries to
Blacks. This includes Coors having several million
dollars of operating capital on deposit in Blackowned banks, and to spend $8.8 million this year in
buying advertisement in Black controlled media.
Coors' similar settlement with a few Latino
groups, including the American G.I. Forum, promises that eight percent of sales will go towards hiring
a Hispanic vice-president, increasing Latino employees and increasing Latino distributionaries. ,
Coors will also make contributions to Latino educational groups, increase contracting with Latino
suppliers and insurer, and increase advertising in
Spanish-language media.
Chicano and Black activists involved in the
Coors boycott which began in 1966, states that the
motives behind these settlements are no secret.
Coors has been trying to "buy their way" into Chicano and Bla~k commun!ties for several years, and
has now found a few Black and Latino opportunists
to undermind the successful Coors boycott.
The racist and right-wing actions of Coors cannot be masked by settlements that will only benefit
a thin layer of the Black and Latino community.
The issues behind the boycott, including William
Coors' remark in February 1984 that Black people
"lack the intellectual capacity to succeed," and
more importantly on going contributions to rightwing groups such as the Heritage Foundation,
which has recommended to Reagan devastating
cutbacks in social services and educational programs, have not been settled. For the community
labor activists, the struggle continues. Our dignity
cannot be bought. We shall not sell our community
for personal gain. The boycott of Coors shall continue as long as the anti-women and anti-people
activity of Coors continues.
Jerry Gonzalez
S.E.I.U. LOCAL 250
Former M.E.Ch.A.
chairperson
Letters to La V oz
Proposition 36
Howard Jarvis, a Reagan Republican, has spent $2 million to
place Proposition 36 on the November
ballot. Jarvis has appealed to voters
to "Save Proposition 13 . ., Only
recent]y have state and local governments stabilized Prop 13's devastating
~ffects. Jarvis has said to vote on
Proposition 36 before "They double
your taxes." He also purports to
create tax reform in California.
However, the truth is that Proposition
36 will once again create a tax shift,
not reform. With Proposition 36,
the majority of property owners will
receive a tax increase. At the same
time, Proposition 36 will cut $1.3
billion in state and local revenue
causing a devastating impact on
essential services. Schools, including
colleges and universities, will suffer
over $750 million in revenue losses.
Thousands of jobs in the city,
county, and state services will be
eliminated including public transportation, mental health, and other
social services.
Renters will receive no benefits.
Students and workers stand to lose
the most, if Proposition 36 passes.
Ttiat is why a solid coalition of
labor, student, professional, and
community organizations have united
to defeat Proposition 36.
WE STRONGLY URGE YOU
TO VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION
36.
Jerry Gonzalez
Education
Propsition 41
Assemblyman Ross Johnson, (R)Fullerton, author of Proposition 41
must believe that the old, disabled
and young children do not deserve
the human rights that the more
abled bodied deserve. His proposition, if passed, would cut aid to the
old by cost-sharing. Old people
would have to make the choice either
to pay for food or medicine. Proposition 41 would affect over 700,000
people and 60 percent of Medi-Cal
funds that pay for medical care for
this group. If Proposition 41 passes
more than 250,000 aged and disabled
people will have to live on as little as
$292 per month to qualify for MediCal.
Foster care would be cut by 50
percent. This means that over 27,000
abused and neglected children cannot be placed in safe homes. In California one out of four children, at
one point or another, benefit from
AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). If Proposition
41 passes this will affect 1,000,000
children.
Training for employment or opportunities to get a formal education
for women heads of households will
be eliminated if Proposition 41
passes. What type of future would
the children of these women have? Is
Mr. Johnson trying to hurt those
who can least defend themselves?
Mr. Johnson promises welfare re-
form by cutting aid from those who
need it the most but this is far from
reform. Taxes will not be lowered, in
fact the cuts that will occur at the
state and federal level will have to be
subsidized at the local level. Please
join those who will vote no on Proposition 41 at the polls.November 6.
Lily Martinez
Regional Coordinator of
Californians Against Prop. 41
Former M.E.Ch.A chairperson
Reagan's
Budget
Reagan's military budget is $1.6
trillion. Reagan has allocated more
of our tax dollars to the military in
the last 4 years than what the U.S.
spent in World War II, the Korean
War, and Vietnam War. How much
is a $1.6 trillion military budget? If
you· have to get a million dollars a
day since Jesus Christ was born
which was 2000 years ago, you
would have $74 billion short of half
of todays military budget. That is
ridiculous and unnecessary!
Get Reagan out of office and stop
the inflation on the military budget.
Ralph Gonzalez
In the area of education the
Republicans say they are for a good
and basic education for all people.
Yet the Republican governor of this
state has cut education to colleges
and universities .which resulted in a
13-16% reduction of students services in the C.S. U. system. Now we
have children learning the golden
rule on an empty stomach. One
might say it is just a few anyway, but
most people are not hungry. Go tell
that to the Chicano and Latino
children in the Fresno Unified
School District who have been found
taking their meager Federal founded
lunches home to feed their younger
brothers and sisters at dinner time.
The fact is that the Republicans
allow this to happen and through
their policies they promote this. This
is shameful, embarrassing and espcially disrespectful to the children to
force them to do this because of the
ill economy. Also the Republican
platform does not deal with the 50%
nation-wide Latino and Chicano
high school dropout rate. Locally in
the past 10 yrs. the Chicano student
population at C.S. U. F. has increased
only by a few hundred. We need
more progress. Republicans are
absolutely establishing higher education for the rich.
Rick Chacon
Page3
November 6, 1984
La Voz cle Aztlap
·M • E.Ch.A .
DEAR STUDENTS:
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano
de Aztlan - MECHA- is a Chicano
student organization dedicated to
the political, economic, educational,
and social improvement of the Chicano
community. We hope you will take a
few minutes of your time to consider
how you can help in this effort.
The political activities of MECH A
are important and necessary. MECHA
has long been the advocate for equal
rights, Chicano Student representation, Chicano student funding, and
against racism. But political activities is only one side of MECH A.
MECHA has two. standing committees: The Chicano Youth Conference and Semana de la Raza.
The Chicano Youth Conference is
an educational and cultural event
which has been held annually at
California State University, Fresno,
for the past eleven years. The Chicano Youth Conference is organized
by MECHA students.
The purpose of the Chicano Youth
Conference is to recruit, encourage,
motivate, and serve as a tool towards
gaining more knowledge about higher
education. In regards to our heritage,
the Chicano Youth Conference serves
to instill pride and cultural awareness
among our Chicano youth.
The CYC is a one-day event in
which various educational and cultural activities take place. The conference is free to all students who
attend. Approximately 1600 students
from over seventy high schools
throughout California attend.
A variety of career and general
interest workshops are given during
the day. There is also a College Fair,
where the students can receive information about various colleges,
universities, and community service
organizations.
The Twelfth Annual Chicano
Youth Conference will be held during
the Christmas break, in January.
Semana de La Raza celebrates the
battle of May 5, 1862 (Cinco de
Mayo) in which Mexican forces under
President Benito Juarez defeated a
French army and established selfdetermination for the country.
Semana de La Raza is a time of
celebration and reflection of what
liberation is and the price one has to
pay for it. It is also a reminder that
we must make a commitment to
continue the struggle for equality
and freedom for all people.
The purpose of Semana de La
Raza is to learn about the history of
the Chicano, and to provide California State University, Fresno, and
the community with an opportunity
to learn about major current issues
faced by the Chicano. Issues range
from education to health, anC1 from
feminism to politics.
An additional purpose is to provide CSU, Fresno and the community with an opportunity to
visually define the Chicano experience through films, theatre, dance,
music, art exhibits and poetry pre-
sentations.
MECHA has a long history tied
to the roots of the Chicano Movement. MECHA evolved from a
number of Chicano student organizations, such as the Mexican-American Student Association (MASA),
and the United Mexican-American
Students (UMAS). These organizations were active on college campuses
in the late sixties. In 1969, students,
faculty and community activists met
at a conference at the University of
Santa Barb~ra for the purpose of
developing a plan for the Chicano
community. It was at this conference
that "El Plan de Santa Barbara,"
was developed to ensure an equal
educational opportunity. This educational opportunity would allow
Chicanos to return to the community
to organize and educate against the
struggle of racism and discrimination.
MECHA has been involved and
has participated in many issues, in. eluding the walk-outs or "blowouts, .. in the early seventies involving
thousands of Chicano students
against racial discrimination in
schools. MECHA was also active in
the 1970 Chicano Moratorium in
which 25000 Chicanos marched in
Los Angeles against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and
the Draft. ( 19 percent of the casualties or dead were Chicano, this is· an
overrepresentation of the general
Latin<:> population of 5.3%). Mecha
\
,
.
'
~\
,\,,
.
-~~,
.\\
\,
:{~
,·, ... \ '
·-·~
-.,
. . \
\
~
.
·---~:~
.~ .•, ~:\
\ ·. \ \ .'.
:l
\
•
.
\
,_.
' ·.
played a major role on the development of the Educational Opportunity Program and La Raza Studies.
MECHA also led the protests against
the Bakke decision which was a
racist attack on affirmative action in
Universities.
Presently MECHA continues to
participate in many causes for justice
and equality such as the Coors boycott, the stuggle against social service
cuts that effect our community, the
fight against student financial aid
cuts, student budget cuts and the
U.S. involvement in Central America.
MECH A would like to invite you
to join our organization. We understand how busy students can get
during the school year, but we must
insure the educational opportunities
for our younger brothers and sisters
and our people as a whole just as
previous Chicano students did for
us. We know that you will find
MECH A interesting and educational.
We ·ask you to contribute to the
movement of the people.
If you are interested in coming to
the regular MECHA meetings here
is the schedule:
MECHA-Thursday 12:30-2:00 p.m.
CYC-Thursday 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Semana-Tuesday 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Sinceramente,
M.E.Ch.A.
Lt Voz de Aztlap
Neveme, t, J?§t
HEP-------~---
By Maria Bergon
Staff Reporter
Ignacio Cachu quit high school at now under the Department of
17 to work in the fields to help his Education.
HEP's $40,000 annual budget helps
family. After 11 years, he grew tired
of driving tractors up to 12 hours a pay for the student's tuition, room
and board and extra educational
day.
expenses.
HEP also pays for the
Eighteen year old Domitile Gutierrez
student's
transportation
to the area
migrated with her parents to follow
they
are
relocated
to
and
from.
the crops for work. She never stayed
After
several
years,
the
Departin one place long enough to complete
ment
of
Labor
conducted
a
study
on
a school year. At that rate she would
HEP
graduates
and
found
that
after
have been 21 by the time she received
the three month intensive HEP
her high school diploma.
Hermelinda and Salvador, forced program, students often went back
to work in the fields because of their to the fields. Villon said, a placeinability to speak English, are only ment program was implemented so
two of the forty students attending students wouldn't return to harvestthe High School Equivalency Program ing the crops.
Leonard Adame, Hep English teacher,
on California State University, Fresno's
said
the problems of leaving the
campus.
fields
and breaking the barrier that
HEP is designed to help field
workers and their dependents recieve keeps them there is a vicious circle
a high school diploma, and an that is hard to get out of. "This gives
opportunity to continue into higher them an opportunity to break the
circle and leave an environment
education.
Fernando Rivera, C.S.U.F. HEP that's 'incredibly negative'," he said.
The Hep student is moved out of
Director said the program is also
aimed at reducing the 45 percent of his environment, which can mean
high school dropouts among anywhere from the Fresno/ Madera
California field workers. He said, in county line to as far south as San
the areas of Salinas, Hollister and Diego, and placed in a setting where
Kings City there is a 65 percent rate strict schedules and academic perof dropouts amoung Mexican- formance are stressed.
Every day HEP students follow a
Americans.
Aurora Villon, HEP counselor, schedule of eight hours of classes,
said the program was created in two hours of supervised study hall
1967 by the Department of Labor and three hours of breaks. By ten
after a study revealed that many p.m., they must be in their apartfarmworkers were not finishing their ments and lights out by 11 p.m.
The classes taught at HEP are
high school education.
Constant migration to seasonal based on preparing the student to
field-work caused children to attend pass the General Education Developseveral schools. Eventually these ment (GED) exam. However, destudents would fall behind, and pending on each student's skill levels
and needs, he receives such classes as
finally drop out, said Villon.
The HEP program came to Fresno reading, writing, math, natural sciState in 1980 after being located in ence, social science, physical eduSan Luis Obispo for ten years. It cation and gr~mp counseling.
The study by the Department of
recieves its funding through the
University Foundation, and it is Labor also showed that many farm-
Letters
The economy is obviously an
important factor in this country.
The Republicans say that the economy is recovering. This is simply not
true at all. A recent study reported in
the Fresno Bee showed that 25% of
the population in Fresno County is
below the poverty rate. Last year, 48
banks in the U.S. went bankrupt,
this is the highest since the depression. In the first six months of 1984,
42 banks declared bankruptcy. Now
we are experiencing the largest debt
in the world's history. We are no
longer the producer, we are the
purchaser.
The GOP is now tar getting the
Latino vote. They are saY.ing that
Latinos should identify with their
party because our community tends
to be conservative and - religious.
Both factors may be true as far as
our Raza is concerned, but we have
to look beyond political rhetoric.
The Republican Party's true base is
not one of fundamental ideals but
economics. We must not confuse
being conservative with right-wing
politics.
Under the Reagan Administration
JO percent more Latinos and Chicanos have been pushed below the
poverty line. Latino business failures have increased. And according
to the Hispanic Research Institute,
education standards for our youth
have decreased. For the majority of
Chicanos and Latinos, the past four
years have been ones filled with
increasing hardships. We cannot
afford four more years of Reagan.
Irma Alcorta
INScontinue
from page 1
they found. Brenda, with more than
a hundred other people, sought
refuge in a first-floor garage. As the
garage door was closed, Brenda
heard the government tank come
down the street toward their hiding
place, and saw the fear in the eyes of
the others in the garage as they
confronted what was about to
happen.
The tank rolled up to the garage
door, stopped, and a Salvadoran
soldier ordered the door opened.
The people inside began passing the
children and babies to the back of
the garage over the heads of the
crowd. When the door was not
opened, the tank opened fire into the
crowd with American supplied 50caliber machine guns. Scores of
people died and Brenda and the
workers did not know English said
Villon. Because of this, English as a
Second Language (ESL) was incorporated into the classes.
Group counseling on the other
hand provides the motivation needed
to help the student continue with his
studies, said Rivera.
The sessions are directed to show
the students how to choose a career
and which college is best for them.
Other students who enter the program with above-average potential
and want to obtain college degrees
after the GED diploma, are given
special projects in preparation for
higher education. "We have one
student who entered this program
ready to pass the math section of the
GED exam, so we complemented
his math class with algebra," said
Villon.
"We are trying to teach them
more than just the five subjects. We
are teaching them how to make it in
life," said Rivera. He also added that
he feels HEP has to advocate and
motivate education.
The stress for academic performances includes not only knowing
how to spell correctly or adding
math figures precisely, but it also
involves the student's attitude ,
promptness and his over all growth
process.
By the third week into the program, the HEP students are evaluated by Rivera.
The student prepares for the evaluation as ifbe was being interviewed
for a job. The student prepares to
enter Rivera's office with a resume,
application, and dressed accordingly
for the simulated interview.
Rivera also prepares himself for
the simulated interview by reading
the reports each teacher has made
on the students.
This is an important moment for
the student for if he doesn't obtain
more than 70 points, he is asked to
leave the program.
"The first three weeks, is their
probationary period," Rivera said.
"If they cannot cut it, I just put them
on a Greyhound and send them
home."
However, only one student this
semester has been asked to leave the
program after the probationary
period, because she failed to achieve
the 70 points, said one student who
was interviewed.
Rivera said they are learning what
the real world is like-hard work a nd
no second chances. He also added
that monetary incentives are offered
to the students. At the beginning of
each week, the student is credited
with $14.50. If they miss one assignment, five dollars is deducted
from the amount. Fifty cents is
deducted for any missed assignment
thereafter. The same is applied to
attendence and cooperation.
"There are some students who feel
sick during class, but they sta y
because they -don't want to lose
points," said Rivera.
The strictness of the program
doesn't seem to scare the students
away. The majority of students interviewed felt positive about attending
HEP.
Even though there are twenty HEP
centers throughout the United States
including Puerto Rico, (there are
two in California) the students felt
that very few people know about the
program.
Ignacio Cachu, 28 , said they don't
advertise enough. He learned about _
the program through his sister. She
received her high school diploma
last Spring through HEP and is no w
a nursing student in Salinas.
"And that's a shame, because it is
a good program," he continued.
other children lay among the piles of
dead. The soldiers broke down the
door and took away three
truckloads of bodies, warning the
survivors to say nothing of what had
happened or their families would be
killed.
Brenda decided then to leave
school and as a medical assistant in
order to work at a refugee center
near her town. One
day, Salvadoran troops came and
took away one of the doctors to the ·
Police Headquarters where he was
held for six months and tortured for
giving aid to subversives. After his
release, he left the country. Brenda's
best friend was kidnapped, and her
body was later found cut in half, as
was her three month old fetus. One
night another of Brenda's co-workers
was arrested, and taken to National
Guard Headquarters. After a night
of gang-rape and torture, she was
taken to the town square where a
soldier pushed a machine gun into
her rectum and pulled the trigger.
co-worker was three months pregnant.
Brenda heard this story from
witnesses and decided to flee the
country with her one-year-old baby,
leaving all of her personal
belongings. She had been told that
she could apply for political asylum
in Mexico under the Refugee Act of
1980, but upon her arrival learned
that only 1% of Salvadoran
applications were approved. With
the
help
of
the
Christian church, she crossed the
Rio Grande into the United States,
where she believed the law entitled
her to safety. She was taken to Casa
Oscar Romero in San Benito, Texas
and there informed that the Director
of the district U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service was not accepting applications for Political
Refugee Status from Salvadorans
who entered without a visa, despite
the fact that the U.S. Embassy in El
Salvador only issues visas to the
very wealthy and friends of the
military. Brenda learned that it was
the practice of the Harlingen
District director to immediately
arrest any applicant from El
Salvador who entered without an
inspection, to hold the applicant in
lieu of a very high bond ($3 ,000$8 ,000), and that not a single
application for political asylum had
ever been granted to a Salvadoran.
Brenda, like all the others who had
applied before her, would be
classified as a Deportable Alien and
ordered deported.
Brenda decided to try to get to
San Antonio where some
applications for Political Asylum
had been granted. On February 16, 1984,
Brenda, her year-old-baby, a third
Salvadoran refugee, and Stacey Lynn
Merkt began the journey that would
lead to their arrest.