La Voz de Aztlan, April 17 1985
Item
Title
La Voz de Aztlan, April 17 1985
Creator
Associated Students of Fresno State
Relation
La Voz de Aztlan (Daily Collegian, California State University, Fresno)
Coverage
Fresno, California
Date
4/17/1985
Format
PDF
Identifier
SCUA_lvda_00157
extracted text
a Voz de Aztlan
April 17, 1985
Chicano/Latino Newspaper
Wednesday
Forum:
Sanctuary
Movement
N.E.S.T
By Marcella Martinez
Editor
By Ben Zayas
Staff Writer
In the last of a five part series on
Central America, the Campus
Sanctuary Coalition sponsored a
forum on sanctuary.
Presenting a correlation between
the campus sanctuary movement
and the church sanctuary movement
were Ann Johnston, chairperson of
the campus sanctuary coalition at
CSU, Fresno and Sister Angela ·
Mesa, C.S.J., of the Apostolado
Hispano.
Speaking in reference to the
church's role in the sanctuary
movement, Sister Angela began with
her own personal reasons for becoming involved in the movement.
"People will not help people unless
they know the need," said Sister
Angela.
her own personal reasons for becoming invoJved in the movement.
She said she became a ware of the
injustices and illegal deportation·s of
Central Ame1 :.:an refugees while
working with a multitude of immigrant workers.
"It [the sanctuary movement] has
become socially and politically connected with our ministry," she said.
According to Sister Angela, sanctuary has three dimensions: a Judeo
Christian tradition; a historical notion; and sanctuary within the state.
"We as Christians accept J udeo
hospitality in a very strong way, and
as Chicanos hospitality is overlapped," she said.
Supporting her "ingrained" theory of hospitality with an excerpt
from Sojournors, a Christian tabloid, Sister Angela quoted it as saying "sanctuary is quite literally a sign
and space of nonviolence ... .in the
early church, it [nonviolence] by far
preceded any public or civil acknowledgement of Christian sanctuary."
She added that sanctuary-a/orm
of civil disobedience-points to a
higher law, and as a higher law it
takes precedence.
Addressing her second point that
sanctuary has an important historical role in America, She mentioned
that America is based on the idea,
that it is a land of refuge where people seeking political and religious
freedom have traditionally been
granted asylum.
She cited the "Freedom Trains"
during slavery as a perfect example
of people fighting for sanctuary in a
nonviolent way.
In her third point, "sanctuary with
in the State," she defends the position of the 16 people charged with
transporting refugees on January
14, I 985, by reading a statement
from the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops/ United States
Catholic conference:
" ... the conference deplores the fact
that various policy issues concern.......
See Sanctuary,. page 8
Each and everyday concerned
Americans are reminded of the iniquitous actions taken by our own
government-more specifically the
Reagan Administration-against the
peoples of Central America in the
name of democracy.
As millions of smug Americans
revel in the current "kick-ass" policy expounded by the administration, there are those that can no
longer be represented in such a
manner.
Various groups hav·e taken a stand
against aggressive U.S. foreign policy by providing food, clothing,
agricultural and medical supplies,
and more importantly, "moral"
support to the very countries that
Uncle Sam sends millions of dollars
in military aid to destroy.
One such organization is New El
Salvador Today (NEST), which
attempts to meet the needs of the
Salvadorean people that are constructing a new society.
After hundreds of years of exploitation and the denial of most most
human rights, the Salvadorean people have decided to take their lives
into their own hands.
The condition under which the
Salvadorean people have been living
are ones that are unimaginable for
many of us:
-50% of children die before they
•
·
Akemi Miyama/ IA Voz de Azt/an
reach of age of 5
Children learn about themselves and the world they live in with teacher
-50%
of the population is malMaria Huerta, during their stay at La Hacienda de lo; Amigitos a
nourished
bilingualbicultural child care center.
'
-There are only 3 doctors for
every 10,000 Salvadoreans
-life expectancy is 40 years
-2% of the population owns 60%
of the land
-60% of the rural population can
neither read nor write
of CHO, is the coordinator of the
By Christopher Soliz
-80% of the rural population
project. Through her own experience
Special to La Voz
lacks drinkable water
in related health care positions, she
-64% of the population lacks
It is estimated tht over 95% of all has successfullly trained bilingual
sewage facilities
Americans will need blood, or a CHO members on ways to approach
-unemployment and undercomponent of it at some point in people and handle various situemployment combined are 60%
their life. In Central California alone, ations.
-90% ofthe population earns $150
"You have to have a positive
150 units of blood is needed to
per month or less
service five counties daily, including attitude. To the students, I stress
While a small minority of U.S.
Fresno county. Unfortunately this 'sensitivity' in approaching [peo- back~d "puppets" bask in opulple]," said Guzman. "It's a
q~ota is not always met.
ence-North American style-the
Members of the Chicano Health matter of piaying it by ear."
majority bf Salvadoreans live in
Thus far, the project has been a
Organization of CSU, Fresno, in
extreme
poverty.
conjuncton with the Central California growing success. Within the first
NEST, a non-profit corporation,
Blood Bank, are involved in a project month of the project, CHO members is developing and growing rapidly
promoting the donation of blood have already obtained over 200 among American people in an effort
potential donors.
from the Chicano community.
Guzman attributes this ! uccess to to achieve the following objectives:
Recent studies have shown that
1. to provide the people of the
the Chicano community has the highest several reasons. "We ar_( able to U.S. with the opportunity to give
percentage of "type 0," a blood type provide them with information on humanitarian and economic assistwhich. is in largest demand; more- heaith issues, and at the same time ance those living in areas ofpopular
over, as the fastest growing com- give them a 'health awareness' of our control, through the local popular
munity in California, there is greater community.
The project has not only benefited governments presently protected by
possibility for being a reserve of
VMC and the Blood Bank, but it has FMLN forces;
"type O" blood donors.
2. to deepen and strengthen the
To reach potential Chicano donors, also been a learning experience for
bonds offriendship, understanding,
30 students from CHO have volunteered CHO members.
They are learning how to deal and cooperation between the peoto work in all visitor wings at VMC,
of the U.S. and El Salvador;
with the public, and also how to ples
to ask for blood donations.
·
See N.E.S. T ., page 8
See CHO, p~g~ 8
Maria Guzman,.an active member
Students launch Blood
Drive In The Community
page 2
Wednesday
La Voz de Aztlan
Resolution Demanding Moratorium on 1988 Admission Requirements
WHEREAS, Board of Trustees of the California State University system is proposing to increase admission
requirements that will adversely effect the eligi~ility of and reduce the population of incoming
disadvantages and non-traditional students to the CSU system; and,
WHEREAS, The CSU Board of Trustees has failed to conduct a study on the impact of admission
requirement changes adopted in 1982 as promised; and,
WHEREAS, The CSU's efforts to impose admission requirements exceeding those- of the University of
California violates the California Master Plan for post-secondary education which separates
the mission of the UC and CSU systems (UC: upper 12.5% of high school seniors and CSU:
upper 33.3%); and,
WHEREAS, Recently the CSU was mandated to lower its elfgibility index to comply with the Master Plan,
serving as an indicator of how the present requirements are adversely effecting the admissibiiity
of the upper 1/ 3 of high school seniors;
and,
WHEREAS, The CSU Board of Trustees and the Chancellor have adopted a "get tough" posture regarding
education and admission policies-a posture not based on any scientific evidence that the
so-called quality of students has declined; and,
.
WHEREAS, According to data extracted.from the Fresno Uµified School District, it can be concluded that as
the socio-economic level increases in high school districts, more college prep courses are
offered and without adequate minority enrollment in the lower socio-economic districts fewer
college prep courses are offered period; and,
WHEREAS, The Board of Trustees has failed to incorporate a meaningful cross sec.tion of professionals who
can represent the population of disadvantaged and minority students, who would be most
negatively affected, into the boards and commission which set the policies and standards
affecting the status of all students; and,
WHEREAS, The Board of Trustees has chosen to ignore the recommendation of the Hispanic Commission
Report on Underrepresentation, which called for a study on how present and proposed
requirements have or will affect Chicano,, Black and Native American students; and,
WHEREAS, We philos9phically agree that high school students must be prepared for college, we do not
.
agree that the Chancellor's office can guarantee that every high school student in grades nine
through twelve will be equally informed, counselled, and encouraged to take and complete a
college preparatory program; and,
WHEREAS, We, the students of today are the vanguard of accessible education for furture generation of
CSU students and must do everything in our power to se~ accessible education maintained;
.. herefore be it,
RESOLVE, That the California State University, Fresno, Associated Students diligently and actively oppose
the proposed 1988 CSU admission requirements and demand a moratorium on the imposition
of those requirements until an extensive impact study on present and proposed requirements is
ma~e; be it,
FURTHER
RESOLVED, That the Associated Students president immediately present the issue to the California State
Student Association and utilize this body to meet the aforementioned imperative, and provide
means by which persons who may accurately and adequately present and support the opposition
of requirements to the CSSA, be present at all applicable CSSA conferences and committee
meetings. These persons will be subjected to approval by the Associated Students Senate.
I
-La Voz Endorsement
La Voz de Aztlan officially
endorses the resolution oppossing the 1988 College
Entrance Requirements.
We encourage our Raza to
support the student organizations that have come out
against this racist attack
upon our community. The
c;,n\y Y(~y...t~ .. c_
~u ~t~er~~t
such a move·iswith a united
front. Beware that our
community is not only
limited to Fresno, and as
such Chicano communities
in other areas are also
being attacked. We cannot
lose what we have work so
hard to again--access
to higher education, and
equality.
1
Salvadoran Health.Worker Tells Her Story
By Sherry Boschert
She is in her late 20's, a mother
of two, and a doctor. But she hasn't
.seen her children in a long time,
and was forced to leave her post at
the medical school in the capital of
El Salvador when the National
Guard attacked it in 1980, a group
of them chasi1lg her for nearly a
mile with their machetes.
Today her children are still in El
Salvador, and thP -uedical school is
still in ruins, but Veronica
Mercado (not her real name) has
come from Mexico to the U.S. with
a message of hope, and a plea for
help. As a representative of
CO PROSAL, the association of
health workers in El Salvador, she
is meeting with groups across the
United States to tell them of the
past year's accomplishments, and
to ask for continued support.
Veronica described COPROSALs program of training people
to be health promoters during an
interview · in San Francisco with ·
the Committee for Health Rights in
·central ' Ameri,ca. Similar to
Nic;:aragua's training for health ,
brigadistas, CO PRO SAL provides
health education for the general shift its focus from preventive
population, many of whom cannot medicine to acute care, dealing
with injuries and the effects of the
read or write.
Three levels of training advance war.
from sanitation and preventive
medicine to ~urgery and work in
hospitals. Two objectives guide
this work, says Veronica: "To help
relieve the scarcity of doctors in El
Salvador, and to involve the
COPROSAL people themselves in
health, .education , and production."
The scarcity of health care is an
every-day crisis in El Salvador.
"Two hundred doctors and nurses
~··. ··:~f ..
have been killed since 1980,'' says
Veronica. "We're playing a larger
,· .·1
.
1
~,,.·.·.'.·.·.,......
role in tending to people ... The
.
='·
"
popuTar war has intensified, and
.~ - _ _ fliJt
the resp<;mse of the government
has been to increase repression,
especially the paramilitary groups
that Duarte doesn't have direct
control over.''
Though most of its work is done
Increased government bomb- in the liberated zones and areas of
ings, she asserts, have
· dispute where people h·ave no other
multiplied the demands on health access to health care, COPROSAL
providers by killing or wounding also provides some health care in
tnar:y bri~adista~ and civilians. A~ . , i½e citie~ q( ~1 .$?\\.'.qQ<;n: ..ThroµgJ-i. .
a result, CO'PROSAL has had to their main office in Mexico,
E
:.
~- ,1,:· ,•..._
llllD
Veronica works in a collective of
two women and four men to raise
medicines and materials.
"The work I'm doing is the best I
can do for the improvement of the
people as a whole, for the ones who
a re s u ff e r i n g . T h.i s i s t h e
motivation that many women
have in El Salvador today ," she
says. Many of the brigadistas
trained by COPROSAL are
women, and she points out that
when the medical school was open,
40 percent of students were female.
From · her experiences in the
liberated zones, Veronica feels that
there is a greater acceptance of
women's participation there than
has traditionally been allowed in
the rest of El Salvador. "Before, the
woman was left aside, but now
they've created a mechanism for
women to participate directly, and
women are developing capacities
they didn't know they had," she
says. ''In the zones of control, most
of t h e , ,pop. u 1~.t.i o, r:i h as a
consciousn'ess of the revolutionary
process . Tney riot only accept, but
they promote the full incorporation
of. the woman. We can't say that
.
.
. . .See Worker, page 7
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
page 3
Hernandez RemembersThe P-ast
By Jaime Juarez
Staff Writer
Name: Robert Hernandez
Position: Director of EOP
Birthplace: Dinuba California
Birthdate: September 27, 1948
Education: B.A., M.A.-- CSUF
Years on staff: 14
Robert Hernandez is the youngest
of six children born to farm laboring
parents. He grew up in the barrio of
Dinuba and as a result has come to
know the importance of education.
"When I was growing up, all the
guys went into the army after [high]
school; it was just a given," Hernandez recalls, "but I wanted to go
to·[college]."
Hernandez did just that. Despite
the increasing war effort in Vietnam,
he enrolled into Reedley College in
1967. After two years and a little
encouragement from is sister, he
Transfered to Fresno State College
under the newly created Educational Opportunity Program.
"Coming to Fresno State back
then scared the heck out of every-
Robert Hernandez
EOP Director
one," said Hernandez, "especially
those of us coming from small
communities."
Hernandez received h_is bachelors
degree in Enviromental Health in
1971 and took a staff position at
EOP. In 1980, Hernandez received
his M.A. in Health Education and
the same year became acting Director of EOP, after Manuel Perez left
to become assistant Dean of
Students.
The following year, Hernandez
applied for the permanent position
of director and received the job.
Over the last sixteen years at
CSU-Fresno, Hernandez has seen
many changes; however, one thing
which pleases Hernandez is the stability of programs like EOP, Black
Studies, and La Raza Studies.
"I remember one year the President fired all the faculty of the La
Raza and Black Studies programs;
and if it hadn't been for the student
movements and protests, we wouldn't
have those programs ....
From 1969 to 1971 there were
four different directors at EOP.
Now La Raz~, Black Studies, and
EOP have been around for fifteen
years," said Hernandez.
Another change Hernandez has
seen has been the devisification of
students.
"Today we're not as clqse as we
were back in the early '70s," said
Hernandez, "but that doesn't mean
the students aren't as involved or
interested as they were back then."
He mentioned that "we have had
two EOP Students become Associated Student Body Presidents ...
back then, if you were involved in
student government you were a sellout or a ·vendido. "
Today [Chicano and Black] students are deeply involved in their
-0wn areas; we have a former EOP
student who will soon graduate from
medical school and another who is
among the top of his class at law
school."
With admiration, Hernandez said
"that's really good to see.",! '
The problem Hernandez foresees,
however, is that, "the potential is
The problem Hernandez foresees,
however, is that, "the potential is
·here for people to forget what others
did in the past.
"Back then some students sacrificed
themselves to create opportunities,"
says Hernandez, "but for many students today, who were only four or
five years old back then, that's
ancient history."
For a husband and father of two,
there is too much at stake to forget.
He has learned the importance of
educational opportunity, and now
he teaches it to others.
For Robert Hernandez, the key
word in education has been opportunity.
Central American Women's Movement
Albert Robles
Staff Writer
"Women and Liberation" was the
focus of a panel examining the
various struggles of Central American
women.
_The panel w~ part.of ~h~ edu~ftonal
forums on Latin America sponsored
by Las Adelitas, Campus Latin American
Support Committee, MEChA, and
the Student Christian Movement
(i.e. the Campus Sanctuary Coalition).
Consisting of three women, the
panel presented views on the situation
facing women in Nicaragua and Ej
Salvador, the roles they play within
their respective country's revolution;
and the worK oone through solldanty
activity in the U.S.
Carol Wells; a representative of
the Nicaragua Task Force, opened
her presentation with a historical
synopsis of Nicaragua's economic
and political development. She
described Nicaragua as the most
underpopulated nation in Central
America with an overall population
density comparable to that of Iowa.
When U.S. Banking corporations
took over much of the country's
land during the early 1920s, she
stated that the Marines invaded ten
times in order to maintain "economic
access."
An uprising that Wells desribed as
the first guerrilla war in the western
hemisphere took place in 1926 as a
response to the Marines'presence in
the country.
In 1934, the Marines were forced
to withdraw and Somoza was installed,
as Wells stated, with financial backing
from the Rockefeller Corporation.
Under Somoza, illiteracy was as
high as 56% (80% for women in the
countryside), and health care was
nearly non-existant. After the revolution, Well said that illiteracy was
reduced to less than twelve
percent and a public health
campaign succeded in •eliminating
polio in 1982.
· Wells went on to describe the
triple exploitation common to most
third world women: high unemployment and unequal pay, sexual
harassment, and forced steril
ization.
The women's movement in
Nicaragua pre-existed the
revolution itself unlike those of
Cuba and Chile.
- W_ells
'
She also called attention to drugs
(i.e. birth control) that are banned in
the U.S. getting dumped into the
third world, anq to the high rate
male abandonment of their families.
According to Wells it wasn't
unusual, in Nicaragua, for a man to
have had twenty or thirty children
from different women.
However, after the revolution, she
TARGET
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said that female headed households
had dropped from 33% down to
15%.
The women's movement in Nicaragua,
said Wells, pre-existed the revolution
itself unlike those in Cuba and Chile.
She cited the myriad of social reforms
established by the government, which
abolished capital punishment;
outlawed prostitution; and outlawed
the exploitation of images of women.
In 1982, one of Nicaragua's more
controversial laws was passed which
_gave men equ~l responsibility for
the sha~-ing of domestic household
chores. Refering to a statement by
Tomas Borge, "we ne·ed to make
men share housework," Wells said
that this law (similar to the one in
Cuba) serves as a conscious·ness
raising tool.
·
Anna Foster, who is from San
Francisco,representingLaAsociacion
de Mujeres Progresistasde El Salvador,
an organization with roots in El
See movement, page 6
La Yoz de .A ztlan
Editor
Marcella Martinez
Staff
Maria Bergeron, Jaime Juarez,
Raul Moreno, Pat Reyes, Albert
Robles, Ben Zayas,
Photography
Akemi Miyama
Letters, short stories, poems, and articles, are welcome. We reserve the right to
edit materials. All material must be signed
and typed and remain property of La
Voz. Deadline/or submission is one week
be/ore printing.
.
We are located at C5U, Fresno, c/o
Daily Co/leigan, Keats Bid.
For more information, call 294-2486. ,
Page 4
Wednesday
La Voz de Aztlan
EXPRESIONE
(S
Ay, ·
Rern
We '
RELATO
Witl
Of o
Al apretar las tijeras de podar para cortar las 6ltimas ramas de
la ultima vifia del surco, sent{ que el dolor se hada mis y mls
intenso. Quise hacer un esfuerzo para terminar de podar. Todo
doblado pude cortar todas las ramas que quedaban, 'todas,
menos una, la mas bromosa, la que apuntaba a mi y que por eso
no pude cortar.
N o aguante mas. Ese dolor agudo, clavado en el lado derecho
del est6mago, me vencib y ca{ doblado, gemiendo de dolor y de
ansiedad para ver si alguien me escuchaba.
Fu_e mi ~ompadre Ram~n quiep me levanto' y m~ llevo al
hospital mas cercano que encontro. Entramos por un pasadiso
que tenfa miles y miles de letreros que creo dedan
"EMERGENCY"pero ten{an muchas flechas que ni mi compadre
ni yo podfamos saber cual seguir. Mi compadre me dejo all{
tirado y corrio siguiendo las flechas. Creo que lo vi pasar por
donde yo estaba unas dos o tres veces. Creo que no lograba saber
donde era quedaba "ENERGENCY."
,
I
A m1. se me h ac1an
eternas las horas. Me sent1a deshecho por
dentro, con ~n dolor intenso que no aminoraba un solo instante.
Al fin llego mi com padre gustoso de haber encontrado el lugar
buscado. Me tomo por los brazos y me abraz~ para asfuevarme
con el. Dimos tantas vueltas y seguimos tantas flechas que· yo
termine por perder el sentido.
. Pe~? pronto me ~espertaron. La mufhacha que interpretaba
me d1J?, que neces1t~~an saber si tema dinero para pagar la
operac1on, pues me dtJeron que eso necesitaba.
Nose me ocurrio nada l. fue mi compadre quien le prometi6
pagar si no yo, lo harfa el por m1. La secretaria nos vlia con
des~onfianza y dijo que para nosotros era mejor pedirle ayuda al
gob1erno, pero que en ese hospital no s~ admit(a eso.
No recuerdo exactamente como paso todo. S~lo me acuerdo
que mi ~ompadre les alego un rato, hasta que llego un policia y
nos saco del hospital.
--Y or~ q~e hacemos, dijo mi compadre.
--Aqm deJeme compadre. Yo ya no puedo seguir.
--Ya se--dijo mi compadre.
Me ll~v6 hasta otro hospital donde despu/s de buscar por largo
rato, ~u. com padre me llev6 a un sitio parecido al anterior. Todo
parec1a 1gual, todo menos mi compadre queen una vuelta al bafio
's~ habfa cami~do de camisa y se hab(a ,:trreglado el pelo. Hasta lo
v1 con la cam1sa abotonada hasta el ultimo boton. Pobre de il.
Ahora me recuerdo que por poco se ahorca de tan apretada que
✓
Rem
We
Fie!
Sat
with
Byt
✓
You
Lik1
Slia
Gre
Qu
Sou
traia la camisa. y pensar que lo hac(a todo por mC
Se acerco' a las secretarias y les habl6 de mr y de mi dolor. Yo ya
no pod(a ni hablar, tan solo miraba con la expresi6n de un
moribundo.
. Cuando le,reguntaron por el dinero, mi compadre respondi&
que el pagana y presento SUS papeles. Ademas, recuerdo que les
ofec(o un primer pago. Y lo vi sacar un fajo de billetes que con
gusto le aceptaron.
/
Nunca antes me hab1an atendido tan bien y tan rapido. Unas
amables
y me. prepararon
. enfermeras
, . me avudaron. a acostarme
.
.
tan b1e1. i tan rap1do que en vemte mmutos ya me poman a
dormir para operarme.
La pase bien en el hospital. Me trataban comoa todo un senor
ilustre. Pero pronto se llego el d(a de salida, dfa en que mi
compa<lre tenra que traer los miles y miles de dolares que faltaban
para pagar la operacion. Y pues de donde los sacaba el pobre si ni
sequiera hab(a tenido suficiente dinero para pagar su dorde y
renta ~e, la semana. Les e~plic6 que no tenfa dinero, pero
prometlo pagar
en pagos.
'ii
,
Se armo un gran ho, pues a los doctores no les gustaba nada lo
que mi compadre les sugida.
Am{que ya me tra1an en una silla de ruedas para llevarme a la
I
puerta, me empezaron allegar unos mareos de nuevo. Me sentla
mal, pero le dije a mi compadre, con voz alta para que me
escucharan todos, que all( me dejara, que al fin y al ·cabo la
pasaba bien all{. Al saber de mi voluntad los doctores y
enfermeras pusieron cara de muertos, pero tuvieron que dejarme
ir pues no iban a tenerme al11 toda la vida.
A mi compadre le dieron unos papeles que creo era la cuenta
que se deb{a. Le dijeron que se no pagaba pronto la cuenta subirfa
mucho porque los intereses estaban muy altos. El nomas bajo la
cabeza.
Ya ni siquiera me llevaron a la puerta en la silla de ruedas. El
doctor dijo que ya pod1a caminar. Y si pude, pues mi compadre
me ayudb.
En u9os d(as, me fui con mi compadre a trabajar. Mi com padre
empezo a podar un surco nuevo 'j yo me puse a buscar la rama
que me faltaba podar. Pero hab1a tanta niebla que no la pude
encontrar. Tuve que resignarme, y opte por empezar otro surco,
haciendome pensar que algun d[a ajustarfa las cuentas.
Raul Z. Moreno
Ay,
Rei
La.
An
1n 1
Lik',
Re
Th
In i
An
Lil
Y( '
S(
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
Page 5
CHICANAS
ogelio
in Michoacan)
n
backs of lizards
es
es?
m
e south
ermelon?
ed
ads
ts bottom
1ther
,r us all,
nd red
1 your
country
en
s?
en
SOY MUCHO MAS
No pasa semana alguna sin que alguien me pregunte, " De
donde eres?" Al oi'r mi respuesta, "Naci en los Estados Unidos.
Soy mexico-americana," casi siempre salen con otra pregunta: "
Pero de donde eres? · Que consideras mas, mexicana
o estadounidense?"
Por mucho tiempo preguntas como estas me hacfan dudar de
mi existencia. La inseguridad , causada por la bur la de los demAs,
ocasionaba preguntarme, " Quien soy? -E n d6nde pertenezco?"
espues de mucha angustia, mis preguntas por fin ban sido
respondidas. Yo soy de dos naciones; soy de dos culturas;
simplemente tengo el poder de ser dos personas en una.
Es posible ser de dos naciones? Claro que si. Aunque no pueda
vivir en dos lugares al mismo tiempo, puedo tener parte de los dos
en mi. Las dos razones mas obvias son las siguientes.
· En primer lugar, soy ciudadana de los Estados Unidos por
nacimiento. A la vez tambien soy de Mexico porque mis raices
estan atadas a el.
La cuestion de la identidad, en mi caso, nose puede contestar
tan facilmente. Decir que pertenezco a dos naciones implica que
de las dos he sido creada.·Porque no quiero negar ninguna de las
culturas de estos dos paises tan diferentes, he tenido que aprender
a vivir con las dos.
En mi manera de pensar cada cultura tiene valores e ideas que
son unicos y que a ia vez los caracterizan.
Por ejemplo, el nino mexicano aprende desde chico lo que es
tener union familiar. De esta union nace el respeto a los padres ya
las personas mayores.
De la cultura america11,a, de mi experiencia, aprendi que
cuando quiero algo tengo que pedirlo. Con esto no quiero decir
que no me va a importar el dano que haga para satisfacer mis
deseos.
(
u
~OU
elon?
e blood
mr hand
lue lips,
~
to Morelia
n my cou_n try
Perry Angle
Aqui es donde se ve lo bueno de la interaccion de las dos
culturas. Por ejemplo, cuando quiero expresar mis ideas, especialmente a personas como mis hermanos, lo puedo hacer de la
misma forma. Como? Con el respeto que aprendi de la cultura de
Mexico y el valor de expresar en voz alta mi opinion de·la cultura
de este pais.
·
Para poder seguir adelante es preciso mencionar otros aspectos que son parte de la palabra cultura. Esto envuelve algo mas
que los valores. Tambien la musica, la comida, las festividades,
etc. hacen, o mejor dicho, son parte de la cultura. Que
afortunada me siento cuando puedo decidir entrehuevos rancheros o huevos con tocino para mi desayuno! Y e:i la noche cuando
escucho musica para dormir:ne puedo escoger entre eJ cantante
mexicano EMMANUEL o el grupo popular de lqs E.b.U.U.
JOURNEY.
Quizas algunos se imaginen que vivo una vida de confusion; de
identidades opuestas que siempre estan en conflicto. Al con
trario, cuando partae de mi se encuentra perdida siempre esta l&.
otra para orientarme. Y son muy raras las,veces que mis oidos no
estan c,ie acuerdo en la musica _que quieren escuchar.
Asi que, cuando me vuelvan a decir que no tengo identidad ni
cultura y que nunca sabre quien soy, ya se lo que les voy a
contestar. No, no tengo una identidad, tengo dos. No, no tengo
una cultura, tengo dos. No soy solo una persona. Soy mucho mas!
Jovita Castillo
Page 6
La Voz de Aztlan
Wednesday
"Most Outstanding Member"
they were the only club to give out a
student award, setting a precedent
for other l. T. student organizations
to follow.
The award is based on the students contributions to the club, and
this year the a ward was presented to
Adam Almazan. He has been active
in Mex-Tech now for a number of
years, and has spent much of his
time recruiting and organizing various activities.
He played a very important role
this year, along with other club
members, coordinating the publicity
for the LT. banquet. Adam has also
helped out with the Chicano Youth
Conference (Industrial Technology
Career Workshop) in January during the winter break; and he is presently looking forward to "Children's
Day," during Semana de la Raza.
Mex-Tech is here to help its students graduate from the I. T. program, but recruitment is also a concern of the club, even at the high
school level. Therefore, school visits
are being planned in the near future
to encourage minority students to
pursue a college education. At the
college level scholarships are an
added incentive for club members.
Business company presentations
are arranged at the meeting, and
representatives either come to school
or students visit the companies.
The club also plans to continue to
stay involved in Chicano cultural
activities on campus. Students are
encouraged to attend all meetingsThursdays at 6:30 p.m. in the college
union-it's never too late to join!
tragedy, or they have a romantic
image of being a guerrilla.
She's often asked about communism
about whether Cubans and Nicaraguans are involved in the struggle.
To this she says that "if being a
communist means struggling for
houses, food, land and their lives,
then I'm a communist." She also
declared that "I never saw one Cuban
or Nicaraguan, and that if the U.S.
found one Soviet gun the intervention [U:S; troop mobiiizati0n] would
have already begun."
By Jaime Nunez
Special to La Vaz
Mex-Tech (Mexican American
Students in Industial Technology)
participated in the annual banquet
of the Industrial Technology department,, on March 22, 1985. In the
past, the banquet's primary purpose
has been to honor students in various areas of interest, such as interior design, construction, manufacturing education, and the graducate
program.
But in the last few years, the original purpose to honor students, has
been enhanced with the presence of
various representatives from numerous companies.
This year the banquet was held at
Torino's Banquet hall, and 40 diffenent companies sponsored "a successful event." It was possible for
enthusastic students to have some
kind of formal contact with prospective employers.
To organize the program for the
eventful night, seven clubs, including Mex-Tech, helped with the
logistics.
This year Mex-Tech was in
charge of publicity and registration
forms. They also donated a door
prize and designated individuals to
Movementc
Akemi Miyama/ La Voz de Aztlan
Jaime Nunez, member of Mex-Tech, presents "The Most Outstanding
Member"award to Adam Almazan_at the annual Industrial Technology
Banquet.
serve as hosts to greet the company
representatives as they arrived.
At the awards banquet, the club
was one of four I. T. organizations to
present a student award. Last year
Mex-Tech presented the very first
"Most Outstanding Member"award
and a $100.00 scholarship. In fact,
and indifferent from this struggle,"
said Foster.
continued from page 3
She also mentioned that 40% of
Salvador, offered an analysis of the the FMLN is composed of women
situation faced by Salvadoran women; and enjoys a great deal of international
the history of AMPES; and the support.
Within the zones of control, she
necessity of sanctuary activity.
She stated that Salvadoran women stated that policies have been implemented
suffer one of the highest rates of to provide humane pyschological
malnutrition with a life expectancy conditions for raising orphaned children.
of 46 years. Moreover, like Nicaragua Women are also active within local
before the revolution, illiteracy is as government and cooperative brigades.
The final speaker, a Salvadoran
high as 80% for most women. There
is basically one doctor for every women, who only identified herself
I 0,000 women, 40% of whom are as Marta in order to keep her family
concentrated in the capital, and the background secret, spoke about the
third most common cause for hospital situation at the University of El
admission is botched abortions.
Salvador and her personal experience
Foster said that the Salvadoran as a Salvadoran Woman.
Through an interpreter, she stated
army practices a policy of genocide
upon its peasant population and that being a women in El Salvador is
that female prisoners are routinely different than in most other countries,
subjected to the most brutal tortures because Salvadoran women suffer
the same torture as do the men.
including rape and mutilation.
At 17, Marta was a student in El
These are the reasons~ she said,
why thousands of Salvadoran women Salvador when she came to identify
flee to the U.S. every year. Yet, only with the student and worker's movements.
2.45% ofthe applications for Salvadoran She spoke of her involvement in
refugees are approved, and mostly unions and strikes and her efforts in
to former Salvadoran military officials. organizing solidarity activities among
"In that sense the sanctuary movement students.
She said that being young is a
is crucial,"said Foster, "it is the only
crime
in El Salvador as the government
guarantee to life for thousands of
persecuted refugees from El Salvador see an enemy in every student. The
and other Central American countries." way one dresses can also be dangerous
AMPES, Fosters second point, because such things as jeans and
was formed in 1975 as a coalition of sneakers are regarded as rebel attire.
In 1980, the National Guard surrounded
other groups and organizations
active around different issues ofconcern th! University, and as a result students
to women and their families. Women couldn't leave the campus. More
in AMPES come from every sector than one thousand people were detained,
of Salvadoran society including as Marta claimed, without any food
peasants, factory workers, profes- available.
She said that the students received
sionals slum dwellers, mothers,
a lot of moral support from the
and housewives.
The organization's _politics ce1'ter mothers of the disappeared, many of
around, what Foster referred to as
whom never found their missing
an anti-racist, anti-imperialist perspective children (they would typically search
which views its struggle as playing for their children in clandestine
an integral part in the revolution.
cemeteries where security forces
"Faced with the suffering of their
would pile corpses.)
people, women in El Salvijdor k,n_qw
Marta said that people in,tpe U.S:
that they cannot remain detached · often fail to comprehend the .total
MEChA
Statewide
Conference
April 27-29, 1985
at
CSU, Sacrament
For more information contact:
Fresno State MEChA ,at
_____________________________
294-~8~8 (La 1:{aza St~~~es) _,
·
••..
t.
•
.
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
Page 7
Photo-journalist Visits Nicaragua
A Wise old man once said, that
what one reads in the paper is only
half the truth, and to get the whole
picture one has to to see it for
himself
Felix Contreras, Channel 24 's
photo-editor, f o/lowed the advice
of the wise old man. He went to
Nicaragua to see for himself what
happens to a country in political
termoil.
In a recent interview with La Voz,
Contreras talked about his two weeks
in Managua, Nicaragua last
November. He talked about buying
cheese, toothpaste, and toilet paper
in the blackmarket, the only place
on~ can buy those commodities in
Nicaragua.
He spoke about the tension he felt
during the Nicaraguan elections;
meeting students preparing for the
coffee harvest; and about participating in political rallies, where music
by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson were heard, just before the
speakers arrived.
But, mostly about what every
Nicaraguense must feel, after a sonic
boomfrom one of the U.S. reconaissance planes was heard throughout
the city.
Tell us about the sonic boom.
"We were visiting the Sandinistas'
War Museum one day; and we went
outside to rest, when all of a sudden
there's this loud explosion. The soldiers stationed at different points outside the museum, quickly clicked off
the 'rifle safety' of their guns and just
tehS'ed ·ap. Feit- just a -second there
was total silence every where, and
then the curator of the museum
came out and dipatched them to go
search the area.
It was in the evening, when we
found out it was the first sonic boom
from the reconaissance plane that the
U.S. sent over.
Worker
My first reaction was fear, because
we thought of invasion. My second
reaction was just anger. Anger. .. at
Reagan; at his advisors; and at the
government, beause it was just psychological harassment.
[The sonic boom] continued for
four days. Each time it happened, it
was really frustrating not being able
to say to do anything about it. It
would happen at eight o'clock and
shake the whole house, ruining the
tranquility of the morning,"
There must be a strong antiAmerican feeling in Nicaragua?
·
"There really isn't an antiAmerican feeling at all. I detected a
lot of anti-Reagan. They know what
is responsible for what the problem
is. The government there makes it
specific when they talk about the
problem; it's always Reagan.
I'm assuming they don't want to
get an anti-American thing going,
because if you look at it in terms of
geopolitics they (the government)
need trade, and they need money to
build the country. We are one of the
richest countries in the world, and
they can't afford to alienate the people toward the U.S.
In blaming Reagan, they are correct, in a sense, because after all he is
the one making the policies.
Do Reagan's policies have such a
big influence in Nicaragua as we are
lead to believe?
"Oh yeah, it really does. It's very
stong. The sonic boom, and the
blockade are only some examples.
There's a shortage of a lot of stuff.
You can't get the bacis commodities,
because it's rationed. They are in a
state _of emergency and have been
for a number of years. That's the
effects of his policies.
Another direct result is that Nicaragua is putting money into defense
Akemi Miyama/ Lil Voz de Aztlan
- --
Felix Contreras, photo...:.editor for channel 24, speaks candidly about his
two week trip to Managua, Nicaragua last November.·
instead of into the country. There's
little money for reconstruction. They
still haven't rebuilt Mangua after the
earthquake in 1972. That was 12
years ago. Today there are sections
of Managua with destroyed buildings, and vacant lots filled with rubble where a house once stood. The
city looks like it did after the earthquake.
Also every week all around the
barrios in Managua and•the country, families are losing kids. We
know that there are contras and
Sandinistas. What we don't know is
See Contreras, page 8
RALLY
continued from page 2
everything is perfect, but it's
getting better.''
Though she is driven by the need
for the work done · through the
Mexico office , Veronica's
separation from her children colors
her life there with an ongoing
sadness. "This is the least sacrifice
I can make," she says quietly when
asked about her kids. "There are
plenty of people who have lost their
lives. For years, women have lost
their children to hunger and to the
Guardia. The Guardia look at
every single person , and if one
person in the family looks
suspicious, they kill everyone.
Their idea is to pull out the ideas by
the roots.''
Like many in her country,
Veronica is sustained by thoughts
of the future, and by hope: "That
some day my children will have
opportunities -- that all children
will have opportunities -- to
participate, to go to the University ..
Tha.t they will never have to suffer
.the effects of a government that is
a military dictatorship.''
· excerpt from "El Tecoloie,"
March, 1985
11
Public Hearing"
for
Higher College Entrance Requirements
Thursday April 18, 1985
starting at 9:30
a.m.
(Press Conference)
_/ AJRPORT.HOLIDAYJNN··
La Voz de Aztlan
Page8
N.E.S.T
of Directors issue assignments to
local FMLN supporters in an effort
to raise funds.
Pam Whalen of Fresno is one
continued from page 1
such support active in NEST
and
3. to strengthen the moral opposi- fundraisers that have been and will
tion to the U.S. interventionin El be held in the Central Valley.
Though NEST has supplied several
Salvador;
NEST will work jointly with organ- sister-cities with the necessities to
izations, individuals, and institu- grow corn and other agricultural
tions to raise funds to meet the needs products, Whalen said those crops
of the Salvadoreans who are slowly are ironically devastated by U.S.
but surely observing "The dawn of a huey helicopters.
According to Whalen, Berkeley
New Society."
Based in Berke~y, Nest's Board Mayor Eugene 'Gus' Newport re-
SANCTUARY.
continued from page 1
ing the situation in Central America
create conditions which evoke
humanitarian and religious-based
responses, and entangle people of of
good faith in criminal prosecution."
The Bishops statement continues
with "[the granting] of extended
voluntary departure to the victims... would be consistent with past
extensions of blanket extended
voluntary departure to nationals of
other strife-torn countries, such as
Poland, Uganda, and Hungary .... "
Sister Angela elaborating further
on the movement, stressed the need
for sanctuay, especially when
migrants from Mexico tend to shield
refugees at their place of employment · by answering questions for
them, thus keeping the INS from
confronting the refugees.
"They have a conscious understanding of the plight that Central
American refugees face," she said.
She also stressed the need for educational programs for people who
may not want to work with in the
movement, but who will support it. ,
"People will not people unless
they know the need," said Sister
Angela.
Ann Johnston, speaking about
the student role in the · sanctuary
movement, said it was two-fold.
"Basically what we are saying it
that the INS pr~ctises are illegal,
and that refugees, under the Refugee
Act of 1980, have the right to enter
the country for political asylum.
We are also saying that the policy in
Central America, especially El
Salvador and Guatemala,'are brutal
and unjust," Said Johnston.
She said that the campus sanctury
movement at Fresno State will
provide help to the refugees, and will
be prepare with bond money and
legal advice should the INS try to
apprend them.
Johnston will with a coalition of
four student groups and La Raza
Studies. She said the need for
sanctuay is vital, if the American
citizen are really going to learn about
an issue relavent to them.
Read
.. ,,.
LaVoz de .
Aztlan
cently declau~d San Antonio de los
Ranchos a sister-city and within a
month it was totally destroyed.
· "Lots of other American cities
were getting ready to support a
sister-city in El Salvador, but since
that happened we've all been
hesitant."
Despite these unfortunate occurances, Wbalen said that material
support has been given to hundreds
of towns within "liberated areas"
controlled by the FMLN.
While Reagan asks the American
people to support the escalation of
April 17, 1985
military aid to the Salvadorean
government, a growing number of
Americans are working diligently to
aid in the construction of strong,
self-sufficient, and liberated El
Salvador.
The Salvadoreans will inexorably
pursue their vision of a new and just
·society as they continue to expand
the area of popular .control and
establish local popular governments.
American imperialists will one day
find that they are not only unwelcome
in Cental America, they will also
discover that they are no longer able
to control an enlightened third worfd.
CHO
important for the students to learn, the development of "short
if they plan to enter any health educational films."
field."
"I think the Chicano community,~'
·s
h
t
f
th
·
d
,
said
"being more visuallyf
There l ope o ur er expan _ . Guzman, Id
continued from page 1
the proiect and ·
·1t f£ t •
onented, wou get more out · o
• J •
improve s e ec tve- seeing how easy it ·is to donate
enhance their communication skills. nesFs m_diftferentGways.
blood, rather than reading it from a
The students are becoming more proficient
or ms ance, uzman w~uld like pamphlet."
as bilingual speakers, while learning to see ~he do~ors have thetr blood
The number of pledge donation,
how to become assertive and competent drawn 1mmed1ately at VMC, rather she said continue to increase and
health care attendances.
than ple~~e. a ~loo~ donation. But, "we ho~e [that] the Chicano com~
According to Guzman, realizing the p_oss1b1hty 1s shght, because the munity, as well as the other sectors
"some will say no when asked to hosp1t~l lacks staff personal and of the community, will [continue] to
donate [blood], we quickly accept - financial funds.
.
increase the quality of health care to
their answer with no [more] quesS~e. wo_uld also hke to see more their commuities by ... donating ...
tions asked. I think this is extremely pubhc1ty m the Media to promote blood,"
really mention that she was mur- attitude toward these groups?
"It is a two sided answer. They are
dered or the reasons for her murder.
·
going
good w9rk, and the objective
But regarding Nicaraguense
of
the
work is good. If it weren't for
news ... sure there is news, but it is
Continued from page 7
these
groups
then people wouldn't
rest~icted. You have to take into
be
aware
or
educated
of the situaconsideration that the press is restion.
Because
of
these
groups
there
tricted because of the war. Because
are
many
Americans
there.
They
are
of the state of emergency the Sandibecause·there's a war going on, but nistas are critical as to what is printed working in house cooperatives. They
we (the Americans) don't see it as a
are teaching, cutting sugar cane, and
about the war on the border. building schools. So you see they are
war. We see it as skirmishes."
Then the U.S. media isn't protray- It is also restrictive of what is printed doing good.
about the government. But it (press
ing the situation accurately?
. __
The other side of the coin is a lot
"Some of it does and some of it restriction) is one of the thing that ·of these groups don't have accurate
doesn't. It depends on what you must be done in order to obtain the facts. For example, just after I
read, or which television station you end goal [building the revolution]. returned from Nicaragua, I went to
watch. You are not going to get an
How is Reagan treated by the a workshop on Latin America. The
accurate picture if you rely just on press? Have they taken an anti- people there said that the newly
CBS, the Nightly News, or NBC, as Reagan stance like the people or is it elected president was a priest. They
opposed to watching something like pro-Reagan?
_ were misinformed. There are two
PBS or listening to the _McNiel"Like I said before there are three priests in the junta, but the president
Leher report. They have people that newspapers_in Nicaragua. One is the isn't one.
are doing very accurate reporting. official voice of the Sandinista party
I don't know if it's because of the
You can get a pretty good picture of (La Barricada). The other is an sources they are relying on, or
what's going on down there, but not independent (El Nuevo Diario), and because ... they don't have enough
totally."
the third is La. Prensa, the opposi- time to get all their information
right. Their information isn't accuWhat about the Nicaraguense tion.
press, how is it treating its own
The Sandinista and independent rate, but that isn't to say, it all wrong.
situation?
Groups, like the Latin American
paper are more or less on the same
"Well .. .in the first place the three line: anti- Reagan. The opposition Support Committee, bring in the
newspapers down there are shoppers. is not so much anti-Reagan as they La.tin Americanfilm series-getting
They have more information on are critical of the government. They the information from the bottom line.
where sales are and what you can dedicate more space to criticizing
My attitude toward these groups
buy in those sales, than actual news. the Sandinistas than they do criticiz- is that it's a place to start from. You
For example, while I was down ing Reagan."
don't get the whole picture, just like
there, Indira Gandhi was murdered.
Reagan also receives hard criti- with the U.S. mainstream media,
The papers printed short pieces on cism from civil groups supporting but it's a_starting point."
her funeral and her son. They didn't Latin American causes. What is your
-Interviewed by Maria Bergeron
CONTRERAS
April 17, 1985
Chicano/Latino Newspaper
Wednesday
Forum:
Sanctuary
Movement
N.E.S.T
By Marcella Martinez
Editor
By Ben Zayas
Staff Writer
In the last of a five part series on
Central America, the Campus
Sanctuary Coalition sponsored a
forum on sanctuary.
Presenting a correlation between
the campus sanctuary movement
and the church sanctuary movement
were Ann Johnston, chairperson of
the campus sanctuary coalition at
CSU, Fresno and Sister Angela ·
Mesa, C.S.J., of the Apostolado
Hispano.
Speaking in reference to the
church's role in the sanctuary
movement, Sister Angela began with
her own personal reasons for becoming involved in the movement.
"People will not help people unless
they know the need," said Sister
Angela.
her own personal reasons for becoming invoJved in the movement.
She said she became a ware of the
injustices and illegal deportation·s of
Central Ame1 :.:an refugees while
working with a multitude of immigrant workers.
"It [the sanctuary movement] has
become socially and politically connected with our ministry," she said.
According to Sister Angela, sanctuary has three dimensions: a Judeo
Christian tradition; a historical notion; and sanctuary within the state.
"We as Christians accept J udeo
hospitality in a very strong way, and
as Chicanos hospitality is overlapped," she said.
Supporting her "ingrained" theory of hospitality with an excerpt
from Sojournors, a Christian tabloid, Sister Angela quoted it as saying "sanctuary is quite literally a sign
and space of nonviolence ... .in the
early church, it [nonviolence] by far
preceded any public or civil acknowledgement of Christian sanctuary."
She added that sanctuary-a/orm
of civil disobedience-points to a
higher law, and as a higher law it
takes precedence.
Addressing her second point that
sanctuary has an important historical role in America, She mentioned
that America is based on the idea,
that it is a land of refuge where people seeking political and religious
freedom have traditionally been
granted asylum.
She cited the "Freedom Trains"
during slavery as a perfect example
of people fighting for sanctuary in a
nonviolent way.
In her third point, "sanctuary with
in the State," she defends the position of the 16 people charged with
transporting refugees on January
14, I 985, by reading a statement
from the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops/ United States
Catholic conference:
" ... the conference deplores the fact
that various policy issues concern.......
See Sanctuary,. page 8
Each and everyday concerned
Americans are reminded of the iniquitous actions taken by our own
government-more specifically the
Reagan Administration-against the
peoples of Central America in the
name of democracy.
As millions of smug Americans
revel in the current "kick-ass" policy expounded by the administration, there are those that can no
longer be represented in such a
manner.
Various groups hav·e taken a stand
against aggressive U.S. foreign policy by providing food, clothing,
agricultural and medical supplies,
and more importantly, "moral"
support to the very countries that
Uncle Sam sends millions of dollars
in military aid to destroy.
One such organization is New El
Salvador Today (NEST), which
attempts to meet the needs of the
Salvadorean people that are constructing a new society.
After hundreds of years of exploitation and the denial of most most
human rights, the Salvadorean people have decided to take their lives
into their own hands.
The condition under which the
Salvadorean people have been living
are ones that are unimaginable for
many of us:
-50% of children die before they
•
·
Akemi Miyama/ IA Voz de Azt/an
reach of age of 5
Children learn about themselves and the world they live in with teacher
-50%
of the population is malMaria Huerta, during their stay at La Hacienda de lo; Amigitos a
nourished
bilingualbicultural child care center.
'
-There are only 3 doctors for
every 10,000 Salvadoreans
-life expectancy is 40 years
-2% of the population owns 60%
of the land
-60% of the rural population can
neither read nor write
of CHO, is the coordinator of the
By Christopher Soliz
-80% of the rural population
project. Through her own experience
Special to La Voz
lacks drinkable water
in related health care positions, she
-64% of the population lacks
It is estimated tht over 95% of all has successfullly trained bilingual
sewage facilities
Americans will need blood, or a CHO members on ways to approach
-unemployment and undercomponent of it at some point in people and handle various situemployment combined are 60%
their life. In Central California alone, ations.
-90% ofthe population earns $150
"You have to have a positive
150 units of blood is needed to
per month or less
service five counties daily, including attitude. To the students, I stress
While a small minority of U.S.
Fresno county. Unfortunately this 'sensitivity' in approaching [peo- back~d "puppets" bask in opulple]," said Guzman. "It's a
q~ota is not always met.
ence-North American style-the
Members of the Chicano Health matter of piaying it by ear."
majority bf Salvadoreans live in
Thus far, the project has been a
Organization of CSU, Fresno, in
extreme
poverty.
conjuncton with the Central California growing success. Within the first
NEST, a non-profit corporation,
Blood Bank, are involved in a project month of the project, CHO members is developing and growing rapidly
promoting the donation of blood have already obtained over 200 among American people in an effort
potential donors.
from the Chicano community.
Guzman attributes this ! uccess to to achieve the following objectives:
Recent studies have shown that
1. to provide the people of the
the Chicano community has the highest several reasons. "We ar_( able to U.S. with the opportunity to give
percentage of "type 0," a blood type provide them with information on humanitarian and economic assistwhich. is in largest demand; more- heaith issues, and at the same time ance those living in areas ofpopular
over, as the fastest growing com- give them a 'health awareness' of our control, through the local popular
munity in California, there is greater community.
The project has not only benefited governments presently protected by
possibility for being a reserve of
VMC and the Blood Bank, but it has FMLN forces;
"type O" blood donors.
2. to deepen and strengthen the
To reach potential Chicano donors, also been a learning experience for
bonds offriendship, understanding,
30 students from CHO have volunteered CHO members.
They are learning how to deal and cooperation between the peoto work in all visitor wings at VMC,
of the U.S. and El Salvador;
with the public, and also how to ples
to ask for blood donations.
·
See N.E.S. T ., page 8
See CHO, p~g~ 8
Maria Guzman,.an active member
Students launch Blood
Drive In The Community
page 2
Wednesday
La Voz de Aztlan
Resolution Demanding Moratorium on 1988 Admission Requirements
WHEREAS, Board of Trustees of the California State University system is proposing to increase admission
requirements that will adversely effect the eligi~ility of and reduce the population of incoming
disadvantages and non-traditional students to the CSU system; and,
WHEREAS, The CSU Board of Trustees has failed to conduct a study on the impact of admission
requirement changes adopted in 1982 as promised; and,
WHEREAS, The CSU's efforts to impose admission requirements exceeding those- of the University of
California violates the California Master Plan for post-secondary education which separates
the mission of the UC and CSU systems (UC: upper 12.5% of high school seniors and CSU:
upper 33.3%); and,
WHEREAS, Recently the CSU was mandated to lower its elfgibility index to comply with the Master Plan,
serving as an indicator of how the present requirements are adversely effecting the admissibiiity
of the upper 1/ 3 of high school seniors;
and,
WHEREAS, The CSU Board of Trustees and the Chancellor have adopted a "get tough" posture regarding
education and admission policies-a posture not based on any scientific evidence that the
so-called quality of students has declined; and,
.
WHEREAS, According to data extracted.from the Fresno Uµified School District, it can be concluded that as
the socio-economic level increases in high school districts, more college prep courses are
offered and without adequate minority enrollment in the lower socio-economic districts fewer
college prep courses are offered period; and,
WHEREAS, The Board of Trustees has failed to incorporate a meaningful cross sec.tion of professionals who
can represent the population of disadvantaged and minority students, who would be most
negatively affected, into the boards and commission which set the policies and standards
affecting the status of all students; and,
WHEREAS, The Board of Trustees has chosen to ignore the recommendation of the Hispanic Commission
Report on Underrepresentation, which called for a study on how present and proposed
requirements have or will affect Chicano,, Black and Native American students; and,
WHEREAS, We philos9phically agree that high school students must be prepared for college, we do not
.
agree that the Chancellor's office can guarantee that every high school student in grades nine
through twelve will be equally informed, counselled, and encouraged to take and complete a
college preparatory program; and,
WHEREAS, We, the students of today are the vanguard of accessible education for furture generation of
CSU students and must do everything in our power to se~ accessible education maintained;
.. herefore be it,
RESOLVE, That the California State University, Fresno, Associated Students diligently and actively oppose
the proposed 1988 CSU admission requirements and demand a moratorium on the imposition
of those requirements until an extensive impact study on present and proposed requirements is
ma~e; be it,
FURTHER
RESOLVED, That the Associated Students president immediately present the issue to the California State
Student Association and utilize this body to meet the aforementioned imperative, and provide
means by which persons who may accurately and adequately present and support the opposition
of requirements to the CSSA, be present at all applicable CSSA conferences and committee
meetings. These persons will be subjected to approval by the Associated Students Senate.
I
-La Voz Endorsement
La Voz de Aztlan officially
endorses the resolution oppossing the 1988 College
Entrance Requirements.
We encourage our Raza to
support the student organizations that have come out
against this racist attack
upon our community. The
c;,n\y Y(~y...t~ .. c_
~u ~t~er~~t
such a move·iswith a united
front. Beware that our
community is not only
limited to Fresno, and as
such Chicano communities
in other areas are also
being attacked. We cannot
lose what we have work so
hard to again--access
to higher education, and
equality.
1
Salvadoran Health.Worker Tells Her Story
By Sherry Boschert
She is in her late 20's, a mother
of two, and a doctor. But she hasn't
.seen her children in a long time,
and was forced to leave her post at
the medical school in the capital of
El Salvador when the National
Guard attacked it in 1980, a group
of them chasi1lg her for nearly a
mile with their machetes.
Today her children are still in El
Salvador, and thP -uedical school is
still in ruins, but Veronica
Mercado (not her real name) has
come from Mexico to the U.S. with
a message of hope, and a plea for
help. As a representative of
CO PROSAL, the association of
health workers in El Salvador, she
is meeting with groups across the
United States to tell them of the
past year's accomplishments, and
to ask for continued support.
Veronica described COPROSALs program of training people
to be health promoters during an
interview · in San Francisco with ·
the Committee for Health Rights in
·central ' Ameri,ca. Similar to
Nic;:aragua's training for health ,
brigadistas, CO PRO SAL provides
health education for the general shift its focus from preventive
population, many of whom cannot medicine to acute care, dealing
with injuries and the effects of the
read or write.
Three levels of training advance war.
from sanitation and preventive
medicine to ~urgery and work in
hospitals. Two objectives guide
this work, says Veronica: "To help
relieve the scarcity of doctors in El
Salvador, and to involve the
COPROSAL people themselves in
health, .education , and production."
The scarcity of health care is an
every-day crisis in El Salvador.
"Two hundred doctors and nurses
~··. ··:~f ..
have been killed since 1980,'' says
Veronica. "We're playing a larger
,· .·1
.
1
~,,.·.·.'.·.·.,......
role in tending to people ... The
.
='·
"
popuTar war has intensified, and
.~ - _ _ fliJt
the resp<;mse of the government
has been to increase repression,
especially the paramilitary groups
that Duarte doesn't have direct
control over.''
Though most of its work is done
Increased government bomb- in the liberated zones and areas of
ings, she asserts, have
· dispute where people h·ave no other
multiplied the demands on health access to health care, COPROSAL
providers by killing or wounding also provides some health care in
tnar:y bri~adista~ and civilians. A~ . , i½e citie~ q( ~1 .$?\\.'.qQ<;n: ..ThroµgJ-i. .
a result, CO'PROSAL has had to their main office in Mexico,
E
:.
~- ,1,:· ,•..._
llllD
Veronica works in a collective of
two women and four men to raise
medicines and materials.
"The work I'm doing is the best I
can do for the improvement of the
people as a whole, for the ones who
a re s u ff e r i n g . T h.i s i s t h e
motivation that many women
have in El Salvador today ," she
says. Many of the brigadistas
trained by COPROSAL are
women, and she points out that
when the medical school was open,
40 percent of students were female.
From · her experiences in the
liberated zones, Veronica feels that
there is a greater acceptance of
women's participation there than
has traditionally been allowed in
the rest of El Salvador. "Before, the
woman was left aside, but now
they've created a mechanism for
women to participate directly, and
women are developing capacities
they didn't know they had," she
says. ''In the zones of control, most
of t h e , ,pop. u 1~.t.i o, r:i h as a
consciousn'ess of the revolutionary
process . Tney riot only accept, but
they promote the full incorporation
of. the woman. We can't say that
.
.
. . .See Worker, page 7
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
page 3
Hernandez RemembersThe P-ast
By Jaime Juarez
Staff Writer
Name: Robert Hernandez
Position: Director of EOP
Birthplace: Dinuba California
Birthdate: September 27, 1948
Education: B.A., M.A.-- CSUF
Years on staff: 14
Robert Hernandez is the youngest
of six children born to farm laboring
parents. He grew up in the barrio of
Dinuba and as a result has come to
know the importance of education.
"When I was growing up, all the
guys went into the army after [high]
school; it was just a given," Hernandez recalls, "but I wanted to go
to·[college]."
Hernandez did just that. Despite
the increasing war effort in Vietnam,
he enrolled into Reedley College in
1967. After two years and a little
encouragement from is sister, he
Transfered to Fresno State College
under the newly created Educational Opportunity Program.
"Coming to Fresno State back
then scared the heck out of every-
Robert Hernandez
EOP Director
one," said Hernandez, "especially
those of us coming from small
communities."
Hernandez received h_is bachelors
degree in Enviromental Health in
1971 and took a staff position at
EOP. In 1980, Hernandez received
his M.A. in Health Education and
the same year became acting Director of EOP, after Manuel Perez left
to become assistant Dean of
Students.
The following year, Hernandez
applied for the permanent position
of director and received the job.
Over the last sixteen years at
CSU-Fresno, Hernandez has seen
many changes; however, one thing
which pleases Hernandez is the stability of programs like EOP, Black
Studies, and La Raza Studies.
"I remember one year the President fired all the faculty of the La
Raza and Black Studies programs;
and if it hadn't been for the student
movements and protests, we wouldn't
have those programs ....
From 1969 to 1971 there were
four different directors at EOP.
Now La Raz~, Black Studies, and
EOP have been around for fifteen
years," said Hernandez.
Another change Hernandez has
seen has been the devisification of
students.
"Today we're not as clqse as we
were back in the early '70s," said
Hernandez, "but that doesn't mean
the students aren't as involved or
interested as they were back then."
He mentioned that "we have had
two EOP Students become Associated Student Body Presidents ...
back then, if you were involved in
student government you were a sellout or a ·vendido. "
Today [Chicano and Black] students are deeply involved in their
-0wn areas; we have a former EOP
student who will soon graduate from
medical school and another who is
among the top of his class at law
school."
With admiration, Hernandez said
"that's really good to see.",! '
The problem Hernandez foresees,
however, is that, "the potential is
The problem Hernandez foresees,
however, is that, "the potential is
·here for people to forget what others
did in the past.
"Back then some students sacrificed
themselves to create opportunities,"
says Hernandez, "but for many students today, who were only four or
five years old back then, that's
ancient history."
For a husband and father of two,
there is too much at stake to forget.
He has learned the importance of
educational opportunity, and now
he teaches it to others.
For Robert Hernandez, the key
word in education has been opportunity.
Central American Women's Movement
Albert Robles
Staff Writer
"Women and Liberation" was the
focus of a panel examining the
various struggles of Central American
women.
_The panel w~ part.of ~h~ edu~ftonal
forums on Latin America sponsored
by Las Adelitas, Campus Latin American
Support Committee, MEChA, and
the Student Christian Movement
(i.e. the Campus Sanctuary Coalition).
Consisting of three women, the
panel presented views on the situation
facing women in Nicaragua and Ej
Salvador, the roles they play within
their respective country's revolution;
and the worK oone through solldanty
activity in the U.S.
Carol Wells; a representative of
the Nicaragua Task Force, opened
her presentation with a historical
synopsis of Nicaragua's economic
and political development. She
described Nicaragua as the most
underpopulated nation in Central
America with an overall population
density comparable to that of Iowa.
When U.S. Banking corporations
took over much of the country's
land during the early 1920s, she
stated that the Marines invaded ten
times in order to maintain "economic
access."
An uprising that Wells desribed as
the first guerrilla war in the western
hemisphere took place in 1926 as a
response to the Marines'presence in
the country.
In 1934, the Marines were forced
to withdraw and Somoza was installed,
as Wells stated, with financial backing
from the Rockefeller Corporation.
Under Somoza, illiteracy was as
high as 56% (80% for women in the
countryside), and health care was
nearly non-existant. After the revolution, Well said that illiteracy was
reduced to less than twelve
percent and a public health
campaign succeded in •eliminating
polio in 1982.
· Wells went on to describe the
triple exploitation common to most
third world women: high unemployment and unequal pay, sexual
harassment, and forced steril
ization.
The women's movement in
Nicaragua pre-existed the
revolution itself unlike those of
Cuba and Chile.
- W_ells
'
She also called attention to drugs
(i.e. birth control) that are banned in
the U.S. getting dumped into the
third world, anq to the high rate
male abandonment of their families.
According to Wells it wasn't
unusual, in Nicaragua, for a man to
have had twenty or thirty children
from different women.
However, after the revolution, she
TARGET
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2:00 p.m.
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Life on Planel Earth-Paso Robles-805-238-5011
said that female headed households
had dropped from 33% down to
15%.
The women's movement in Nicaragua,
said Wells, pre-existed the revolution
itself unlike those in Cuba and Chile.
She cited the myriad of social reforms
established by the government, which
abolished capital punishment;
outlawed prostitution; and outlawed
the exploitation of images of women.
In 1982, one of Nicaragua's more
controversial laws was passed which
_gave men equ~l responsibility for
the sha~-ing of domestic household
chores. Refering to a statement by
Tomas Borge, "we ne·ed to make
men share housework," Wells said
that this law (similar to the one in
Cuba) serves as a conscious·ness
raising tool.
·
Anna Foster, who is from San
Francisco,representingLaAsociacion
de Mujeres Progresistasde El Salvador,
an organization with roots in El
See movement, page 6
La Yoz de .A ztlan
Editor
Marcella Martinez
Staff
Maria Bergeron, Jaime Juarez,
Raul Moreno, Pat Reyes, Albert
Robles, Ben Zayas,
Photography
Akemi Miyama
Letters, short stories, poems, and articles, are welcome. We reserve the right to
edit materials. All material must be signed
and typed and remain property of La
Voz. Deadline/or submission is one week
be/ore printing.
.
We are located at C5U, Fresno, c/o
Daily Co/leigan, Keats Bid.
For more information, call 294-2486. ,
Page 4
Wednesday
La Voz de Aztlan
EXPRESIONE
(S
Ay, ·
Rern
We '
RELATO
Witl
Of o
Al apretar las tijeras de podar para cortar las 6ltimas ramas de
la ultima vifia del surco, sent{ que el dolor se hada mis y mls
intenso. Quise hacer un esfuerzo para terminar de podar. Todo
doblado pude cortar todas las ramas que quedaban, 'todas,
menos una, la mas bromosa, la que apuntaba a mi y que por eso
no pude cortar.
N o aguante mas. Ese dolor agudo, clavado en el lado derecho
del est6mago, me vencib y ca{ doblado, gemiendo de dolor y de
ansiedad para ver si alguien me escuchaba.
Fu_e mi ~ompadre Ram~n quiep me levanto' y m~ llevo al
hospital mas cercano que encontro. Entramos por un pasadiso
que tenfa miles y miles de letreros que creo dedan
"EMERGENCY"pero ten{an muchas flechas que ni mi compadre
ni yo podfamos saber cual seguir. Mi compadre me dejo all{
tirado y corrio siguiendo las flechas. Creo que lo vi pasar por
donde yo estaba unas dos o tres veces. Creo que no lograba saber
donde era quedaba "ENERGENCY."
,
I
A m1. se me h ac1an
eternas las horas. Me sent1a deshecho por
dentro, con ~n dolor intenso que no aminoraba un solo instante.
Al fin llego mi com padre gustoso de haber encontrado el lugar
buscado. Me tomo por los brazos y me abraz~ para asfuevarme
con el. Dimos tantas vueltas y seguimos tantas flechas que· yo
termine por perder el sentido.
. Pe~? pronto me ~espertaron. La mufhacha que interpretaba
me d1J?, que neces1t~~an saber si tema dinero para pagar la
operac1on, pues me dtJeron que eso necesitaba.
Nose me ocurrio nada l. fue mi compadre quien le prometi6
pagar si no yo, lo harfa el por m1. La secretaria nos vlia con
des~onfianza y dijo que para nosotros era mejor pedirle ayuda al
gob1erno, pero que en ese hospital no s~ admit(a eso.
No recuerdo exactamente como paso todo. S~lo me acuerdo
que mi ~ompadre les alego un rato, hasta que llego un policia y
nos saco del hospital.
--Y or~ q~e hacemos, dijo mi compadre.
--Aqm deJeme compadre. Yo ya no puedo seguir.
--Ya se--dijo mi compadre.
Me ll~v6 hasta otro hospital donde despu/s de buscar por largo
rato, ~u. com padre me llev6 a un sitio parecido al anterior. Todo
parec1a 1gual, todo menos mi compadre queen una vuelta al bafio
's~ habfa cami~do de camisa y se hab(a ,:trreglado el pelo. Hasta lo
v1 con la cam1sa abotonada hasta el ultimo boton. Pobre de il.
Ahora me recuerdo que por poco se ahorca de tan apretada que
✓
Rem
We
Fie!
Sat
with
Byt
✓
You
Lik1
Slia
Gre
Qu
Sou
traia la camisa. y pensar que lo hac(a todo por mC
Se acerco' a las secretarias y les habl6 de mr y de mi dolor. Yo ya
no pod(a ni hablar, tan solo miraba con la expresi6n de un
moribundo.
. Cuando le,reguntaron por el dinero, mi compadre respondi&
que el pagana y presento SUS papeles. Ademas, recuerdo que les
ofec(o un primer pago. Y lo vi sacar un fajo de billetes que con
gusto le aceptaron.
/
Nunca antes me hab1an atendido tan bien y tan rapido. Unas
amables
y me. prepararon
. enfermeras
, . me avudaron. a acostarme
.
.
tan b1e1. i tan rap1do que en vemte mmutos ya me poman a
dormir para operarme.
La pase bien en el hospital. Me trataban comoa todo un senor
ilustre. Pero pronto se llego el d(a de salida, dfa en que mi
compa<lre tenra que traer los miles y miles de dolares que faltaban
para pagar la operacion. Y pues de donde los sacaba el pobre si ni
sequiera hab(a tenido suficiente dinero para pagar su dorde y
renta ~e, la semana. Les e~plic6 que no tenfa dinero, pero
prometlo pagar
en pagos.
'ii
,
Se armo un gran ho, pues a los doctores no les gustaba nada lo
que mi compadre les sugida.
Am{que ya me tra1an en una silla de ruedas para llevarme a la
I
puerta, me empezaron allegar unos mareos de nuevo. Me sentla
mal, pero le dije a mi compadre, con voz alta para que me
escucharan todos, que all( me dejara, que al fin y al ·cabo la
pasaba bien all{. Al saber de mi voluntad los doctores y
enfermeras pusieron cara de muertos, pero tuvieron que dejarme
ir pues no iban a tenerme al11 toda la vida.
A mi compadre le dieron unos papeles que creo era la cuenta
que se deb{a. Le dijeron que se no pagaba pronto la cuenta subirfa
mucho porque los intereses estaban muy altos. El nomas bajo la
cabeza.
Ya ni siquiera me llevaron a la puerta en la silla de ruedas. El
doctor dijo que ya pod1a caminar. Y si pude, pues mi compadre
me ayudb.
En u9os d(as, me fui con mi compadre a trabajar. Mi com padre
empezo a podar un surco nuevo 'j yo me puse a buscar la rama
que me faltaba podar. Pero hab1a tanta niebla que no la pude
encontrar. Tuve que resignarme, y opte por empezar otro surco,
haciendome pensar que algun d[a ajustarfa las cuentas.
Raul Z. Moreno
Ay,
Rei
La.
An
1n 1
Lik',
Re
Th
In i
An
Lil
Y( '
S(
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
Page 5
CHICANAS
ogelio
in Michoacan)
n
backs of lizards
es
es?
m
e south
ermelon?
ed
ads
ts bottom
1ther
,r us all,
nd red
1 your
country
en
s?
en
SOY MUCHO MAS
No pasa semana alguna sin que alguien me pregunte, " De
donde eres?" Al oi'r mi respuesta, "Naci en los Estados Unidos.
Soy mexico-americana," casi siempre salen con otra pregunta: "
Pero de donde eres? · Que consideras mas, mexicana
o estadounidense?"
Por mucho tiempo preguntas como estas me hacfan dudar de
mi existencia. La inseguridad , causada por la bur la de los demAs,
ocasionaba preguntarme, " Quien soy? -E n d6nde pertenezco?"
espues de mucha angustia, mis preguntas por fin ban sido
respondidas. Yo soy de dos naciones; soy de dos culturas;
simplemente tengo el poder de ser dos personas en una.
Es posible ser de dos naciones? Claro que si. Aunque no pueda
vivir en dos lugares al mismo tiempo, puedo tener parte de los dos
en mi. Las dos razones mas obvias son las siguientes.
· En primer lugar, soy ciudadana de los Estados Unidos por
nacimiento. A la vez tambien soy de Mexico porque mis raices
estan atadas a el.
La cuestion de la identidad, en mi caso, nose puede contestar
tan facilmente. Decir que pertenezco a dos naciones implica que
de las dos he sido creada.·Porque no quiero negar ninguna de las
culturas de estos dos paises tan diferentes, he tenido que aprender
a vivir con las dos.
En mi manera de pensar cada cultura tiene valores e ideas que
son unicos y que a ia vez los caracterizan.
Por ejemplo, el nino mexicano aprende desde chico lo que es
tener union familiar. De esta union nace el respeto a los padres ya
las personas mayores.
De la cultura america11,a, de mi experiencia, aprendi que
cuando quiero algo tengo que pedirlo. Con esto no quiero decir
que no me va a importar el dano que haga para satisfacer mis
deseos.
(
u
~OU
elon?
e blood
mr hand
lue lips,
~
to Morelia
n my cou_n try
Perry Angle
Aqui es donde se ve lo bueno de la interaccion de las dos
culturas. Por ejemplo, cuando quiero expresar mis ideas, especialmente a personas como mis hermanos, lo puedo hacer de la
misma forma. Como? Con el respeto que aprendi de la cultura de
Mexico y el valor de expresar en voz alta mi opinion de·la cultura
de este pais.
·
Para poder seguir adelante es preciso mencionar otros aspectos que son parte de la palabra cultura. Esto envuelve algo mas
que los valores. Tambien la musica, la comida, las festividades,
etc. hacen, o mejor dicho, son parte de la cultura. Que
afortunada me siento cuando puedo decidir entrehuevos rancheros o huevos con tocino para mi desayuno! Y e:i la noche cuando
escucho musica para dormir:ne puedo escoger entre eJ cantante
mexicano EMMANUEL o el grupo popular de lqs E.b.U.U.
JOURNEY.
Quizas algunos se imaginen que vivo una vida de confusion; de
identidades opuestas que siempre estan en conflicto. Al con
trario, cuando partae de mi se encuentra perdida siempre esta l&.
otra para orientarme. Y son muy raras las,veces que mis oidos no
estan c,ie acuerdo en la musica _que quieren escuchar.
Asi que, cuando me vuelvan a decir que no tengo identidad ni
cultura y que nunca sabre quien soy, ya se lo que les voy a
contestar. No, no tengo una identidad, tengo dos. No, no tengo
una cultura, tengo dos. No soy solo una persona. Soy mucho mas!
Jovita Castillo
Page 6
La Voz de Aztlan
Wednesday
"Most Outstanding Member"
they were the only club to give out a
student award, setting a precedent
for other l. T. student organizations
to follow.
The award is based on the students contributions to the club, and
this year the a ward was presented to
Adam Almazan. He has been active
in Mex-Tech now for a number of
years, and has spent much of his
time recruiting and organizing various activities.
He played a very important role
this year, along with other club
members, coordinating the publicity
for the LT. banquet. Adam has also
helped out with the Chicano Youth
Conference (Industrial Technology
Career Workshop) in January during the winter break; and he is presently looking forward to "Children's
Day," during Semana de la Raza.
Mex-Tech is here to help its students graduate from the I. T. program, but recruitment is also a concern of the club, even at the high
school level. Therefore, school visits
are being planned in the near future
to encourage minority students to
pursue a college education. At the
college level scholarships are an
added incentive for club members.
Business company presentations
are arranged at the meeting, and
representatives either come to school
or students visit the companies.
The club also plans to continue to
stay involved in Chicano cultural
activities on campus. Students are
encouraged to attend all meetingsThursdays at 6:30 p.m. in the college
union-it's never too late to join!
tragedy, or they have a romantic
image of being a guerrilla.
She's often asked about communism
about whether Cubans and Nicaraguans are involved in the struggle.
To this she says that "if being a
communist means struggling for
houses, food, land and their lives,
then I'm a communist." She also
declared that "I never saw one Cuban
or Nicaraguan, and that if the U.S.
found one Soviet gun the intervention [U:S; troop mobiiizati0n] would
have already begun."
By Jaime Nunez
Special to La Vaz
Mex-Tech (Mexican American
Students in Industial Technology)
participated in the annual banquet
of the Industrial Technology department,, on March 22, 1985. In the
past, the banquet's primary purpose
has been to honor students in various areas of interest, such as interior design, construction, manufacturing education, and the graducate
program.
But in the last few years, the original purpose to honor students, has
been enhanced with the presence of
various representatives from numerous companies.
This year the banquet was held at
Torino's Banquet hall, and 40 diffenent companies sponsored "a successful event." It was possible for
enthusastic students to have some
kind of formal contact with prospective employers.
To organize the program for the
eventful night, seven clubs, including Mex-Tech, helped with the
logistics.
This year Mex-Tech was in
charge of publicity and registration
forms. They also donated a door
prize and designated individuals to
Movementc
Akemi Miyama/ La Voz de Aztlan
Jaime Nunez, member of Mex-Tech, presents "The Most Outstanding
Member"award to Adam Almazan_at the annual Industrial Technology
Banquet.
serve as hosts to greet the company
representatives as they arrived.
At the awards banquet, the club
was one of four I. T. organizations to
present a student award. Last year
Mex-Tech presented the very first
"Most Outstanding Member"award
and a $100.00 scholarship. In fact,
and indifferent from this struggle,"
said Foster.
continued from page 3
She also mentioned that 40% of
Salvador, offered an analysis of the the FMLN is composed of women
situation faced by Salvadoran women; and enjoys a great deal of international
the history of AMPES; and the support.
Within the zones of control, she
necessity of sanctuary activity.
She stated that Salvadoran women stated that policies have been implemented
suffer one of the highest rates of to provide humane pyschological
malnutrition with a life expectancy conditions for raising orphaned children.
of 46 years. Moreover, like Nicaragua Women are also active within local
before the revolution, illiteracy is as government and cooperative brigades.
The final speaker, a Salvadoran
high as 80% for most women. There
is basically one doctor for every women, who only identified herself
I 0,000 women, 40% of whom are as Marta in order to keep her family
concentrated in the capital, and the background secret, spoke about the
third most common cause for hospital situation at the University of El
admission is botched abortions.
Salvador and her personal experience
Foster said that the Salvadoran as a Salvadoran Woman.
Through an interpreter, she stated
army practices a policy of genocide
upon its peasant population and that being a women in El Salvador is
that female prisoners are routinely different than in most other countries,
subjected to the most brutal tortures because Salvadoran women suffer
the same torture as do the men.
including rape and mutilation.
At 17, Marta was a student in El
These are the reasons~ she said,
why thousands of Salvadoran women Salvador when she came to identify
flee to the U.S. every year. Yet, only with the student and worker's movements.
2.45% ofthe applications for Salvadoran She spoke of her involvement in
refugees are approved, and mostly unions and strikes and her efforts in
to former Salvadoran military officials. organizing solidarity activities among
"In that sense the sanctuary movement students.
She said that being young is a
is crucial,"said Foster, "it is the only
crime
in El Salvador as the government
guarantee to life for thousands of
persecuted refugees from El Salvador see an enemy in every student. The
and other Central American countries." way one dresses can also be dangerous
AMPES, Fosters second point, because such things as jeans and
was formed in 1975 as a coalition of sneakers are regarded as rebel attire.
In 1980, the National Guard surrounded
other groups and organizations
active around different issues ofconcern th! University, and as a result students
to women and their families. Women couldn't leave the campus. More
in AMPES come from every sector than one thousand people were detained,
of Salvadoran society including as Marta claimed, without any food
peasants, factory workers, profes- available.
She said that the students received
sionals slum dwellers, mothers,
a lot of moral support from the
and housewives.
The organization's _politics ce1'ter mothers of the disappeared, many of
around, what Foster referred to as
whom never found their missing
an anti-racist, anti-imperialist perspective children (they would typically search
which views its struggle as playing for their children in clandestine
an integral part in the revolution.
cemeteries where security forces
"Faced with the suffering of their
would pile corpses.)
people, women in El Salvijdor k,n_qw
Marta said that people in,tpe U.S:
that they cannot remain detached · often fail to comprehend the .total
MEChA
Statewide
Conference
April 27-29, 1985
at
CSU, Sacrament
For more information contact:
Fresno State MEChA ,at
_____________________________
294-~8~8 (La 1:{aza St~~~es) _,
·
••..
t.
•
.
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
Page 7
Photo-journalist Visits Nicaragua
A Wise old man once said, that
what one reads in the paper is only
half the truth, and to get the whole
picture one has to to see it for
himself
Felix Contreras, Channel 24 's
photo-editor, f o/lowed the advice
of the wise old man. He went to
Nicaragua to see for himself what
happens to a country in political
termoil.
In a recent interview with La Voz,
Contreras talked about his two weeks
in Managua, Nicaragua last
November. He talked about buying
cheese, toothpaste, and toilet paper
in the blackmarket, the only place
on~ can buy those commodities in
Nicaragua.
He spoke about the tension he felt
during the Nicaraguan elections;
meeting students preparing for the
coffee harvest; and about participating in political rallies, where music
by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson were heard, just before the
speakers arrived.
But, mostly about what every
Nicaraguense must feel, after a sonic
boomfrom one of the U.S. reconaissance planes was heard throughout
the city.
Tell us about the sonic boom.
"We were visiting the Sandinistas'
War Museum one day; and we went
outside to rest, when all of a sudden
there's this loud explosion. The soldiers stationed at different points outside the museum, quickly clicked off
the 'rifle safety' of their guns and just
tehS'ed ·ap. Feit- just a -second there
was total silence every where, and
then the curator of the museum
came out and dipatched them to go
search the area.
It was in the evening, when we
found out it was the first sonic boom
from the reconaissance plane that the
U.S. sent over.
Worker
My first reaction was fear, because
we thought of invasion. My second
reaction was just anger. Anger. .. at
Reagan; at his advisors; and at the
government, beause it was just psychological harassment.
[The sonic boom] continued for
four days. Each time it happened, it
was really frustrating not being able
to say to do anything about it. It
would happen at eight o'clock and
shake the whole house, ruining the
tranquility of the morning,"
There must be a strong antiAmerican feeling in Nicaragua?
·
"There really isn't an antiAmerican feeling at all. I detected a
lot of anti-Reagan. They know what
is responsible for what the problem
is. The government there makes it
specific when they talk about the
problem; it's always Reagan.
I'm assuming they don't want to
get an anti-American thing going,
because if you look at it in terms of
geopolitics they (the government)
need trade, and they need money to
build the country. We are one of the
richest countries in the world, and
they can't afford to alienate the people toward the U.S.
In blaming Reagan, they are correct, in a sense, because after all he is
the one making the policies.
Do Reagan's policies have such a
big influence in Nicaragua as we are
lead to believe?
"Oh yeah, it really does. It's very
stong. The sonic boom, and the
blockade are only some examples.
There's a shortage of a lot of stuff.
You can't get the bacis commodities,
because it's rationed. They are in a
state _of emergency and have been
for a number of years. That's the
effects of his policies.
Another direct result is that Nicaragua is putting money into defense
Akemi Miyama/ Lil Voz de Aztlan
- --
Felix Contreras, photo...:.editor for channel 24, speaks candidly about his
two week trip to Managua, Nicaragua last November.·
instead of into the country. There's
little money for reconstruction. They
still haven't rebuilt Mangua after the
earthquake in 1972. That was 12
years ago. Today there are sections
of Managua with destroyed buildings, and vacant lots filled with rubble where a house once stood. The
city looks like it did after the earthquake.
Also every week all around the
barrios in Managua and•the country, families are losing kids. We
know that there are contras and
Sandinistas. What we don't know is
See Contreras, page 8
RALLY
continued from page 2
everything is perfect, but it's
getting better.''
Though she is driven by the need
for the work done · through the
Mexico office , Veronica's
separation from her children colors
her life there with an ongoing
sadness. "This is the least sacrifice
I can make," she says quietly when
asked about her kids. "There are
plenty of people who have lost their
lives. For years, women have lost
their children to hunger and to the
Guardia. The Guardia look at
every single person , and if one
person in the family looks
suspicious, they kill everyone.
Their idea is to pull out the ideas by
the roots.''
Like many in her country,
Veronica is sustained by thoughts
of the future, and by hope: "That
some day my children will have
opportunities -- that all children
will have opportunities -- to
participate, to go to the University ..
Tha.t they will never have to suffer
.the effects of a government that is
a military dictatorship.''
· excerpt from "El Tecoloie,"
March, 1985
11
Public Hearing"
for
Higher College Entrance Requirements
Thursday April 18, 1985
starting at 9:30
a.m.
(Press Conference)
_/ AJRPORT.HOLIDAYJNN··
La Voz de Aztlan
Page8
N.E.S.T
of Directors issue assignments to
local FMLN supporters in an effort
to raise funds.
Pam Whalen of Fresno is one
continued from page 1
such support active in NEST
and
3. to strengthen the moral opposi- fundraisers that have been and will
tion to the U.S. interventionin El be held in the Central Valley.
Though NEST has supplied several
Salvador;
NEST will work jointly with organ- sister-cities with the necessities to
izations, individuals, and institu- grow corn and other agricultural
tions to raise funds to meet the needs products, Whalen said those crops
of the Salvadoreans who are slowly are ironically devastated by U.S.
but surely observing "The dawn of a huey helicopters.
According to Whalen, Berkeley
New Society."
Based in Berke~y, Nest's Board Mayor Eugene 'Gus' Newport re-
SANCTUARY.
continued from page 1
ing the situation in Central America
create conditions which evoke
humanitarian and religious-based
responses, and entangle people of of
good faith in criminal prosecution."
The Bishops statement continues
with "[the granting] of extended
voluntary departure to the victims... would be consistent with past
extensions of blanket extended
voluntary departure to nationals of
other strife-torn countries, such as
Poland, Uganda, and Hungary .... "
Sister Angela elaborating further
on the movement, stressed the need
for sanctuay, especially when
migrants from Mexico tend to shield
refugees at their place of employment · by answering questions for
them, thus keeping the INS from
confronting the refugees.
"They have a conscious understanding of the plight that Central
American refugees face," she said.
She also stressed the need for educational programs for people who
may not want to work with in the
movement, but who will support it. ,
"People will not people unless
they know the need," said Sister
Angela.
Ann Johnston, speaking about
the student role in the · sanctuary
movement, said it was two-fold.
"Basically what we are saying it
that the INS pr~ctises are illegal,
and that refugees, under the Refugee
Act of 1980, have the right to enter
the country for political asylum.
We are also saying that the policy in
Central America, especially El
Salvador and Guatemala,'are brutal
and unjust," Said Johnston.
She said that the campus sanctury
movement at Fresno State will
provide help to the refugees, and will
be prepare with bond money and
legal advice should the INS try to
apprend them.
Johnston will with a coalition of
four student groups and La Raza
Studies. She said the need for
sanctuay is vital, if the American
citizen are really going to learn about
an issue relavent to them.
Read
.. ,,.
LaVoz de .
Aztlan
cently declau~d San Antonio de los
Ranchos a sister-city and within a
month it was totally destroyed.
· "Lots of other American cities
were getting ready to support a
sister-city in El Salvador, but since
that happened we've all been
hesitant."
Despite these unfortunate occurances, Wbalen said that material
support has been given to hundreds
of towns within "liberated areas"
controlled by the FMLN.
While Reagan asks the American
people to support the escalation of
April 17, 1985
military aid to the Salvadorean
government, a growing number of
Americans are working diligently to
aid in the construction of strong,
self-sufficient, and liberated El
Salvador.
The Salvadoreans will inexorably
pursue their vision of a new and just
·society as they continue to expand
the area of popular .control and
establish local popular governments.
American imperialists will one day
find that they are not only unwelcome
in Cental America, they will also
discover that they are no longer able
to control an enlightened third worfd.
CHO
important for the students to learn, the development of "short
if they plan to enter any health educational films."
field."
"I think the Chicano community,~'
·s
h
t
f
th
·
d
,
said
"being more visuallyf
There l ope o ur er expan _ . Guzman, Id
continued from page 1
the proiect and ·
·1t f£ t •
onented, wou get more out · o
• J •
improve s e ec tve- seeing how easy it ·is to donate
enhance their communication skills. nesFs m_diftferentGways.
blood, rather than reading it from a
The students are becoming more proficient
or ms ance, uzman w~uld like pamphlet."
as bilingual speakers, while learning to see ~he do~ors have thetr blood
The number of pledge donation,
how to become assertive and competent drawn 1mmed1ately at VMC, rather she said continue to increase and
health care attendances.
than ple~~e. a ~loo~ donation. But, "we ho~e [that] the Chicano com~
According to Guzman, realizing the p_oss1b1hty 1s shght, because the munity, as well as the other sectors
"some will say no when asked to hosp1t~l lacks staff personal and of the community, will [continue] to
donate [blood], we quickly accept - financial funds.
.
increase the quality of health care to
their answer with no [more] quesS~e. wo_uld also hke to see more their commuities by ... donating ...
tions asked. I think this is extremely pubhc1ty m the Media to promote blood,"
really mention that she was mur- attitude toward these groups?
"It is a two sided answer. They are
dered or the reasons for her murder.
·
going
good w9rk, and the objective
But regarding Nicaraguense
of
the
work is good. If it weren't for
news ... sure there is news, but it is
Continued from page 7
these
groups
then people wouldn't
rest~icted. You have to take into
be
aware
or
educated
of the situaconsideration that the press is restion.
Because
of
these
groups
there
tricted because of the war. Because
are
many
Americans
there.
They
are
of the state of emergency the Sandibecause·there's a war going on, but nistas are critical as to what is printed working in house cooperatives. They
we (the Americans) don't see it as a
are teaching, cutting sugar cane, and
about the war on the border. building schools. So you see they are
war. We see it as skirmishes."
Then the U.S. media isn't protray- It is also restrictive of what is printed doing good.
about the government. But it (press
ing the situation accurately?
. __
The other side of the coin is a lot
"Some of it does and some of it restriction) is one of the thing that ·of these groups don't have accurate
doesn't. It depends on what you must be done in order to obtain the facts. For example, just after I
read, or which television station you end goal [building the revolution]. returned from Nicaragua, I went to
watch. You are not going to get an
How is Reagan treated by the a workshop on Latin America. The
accurate picture if you rely just on press? Have they taken an anti- people there said that the newly
CBS, the Nightly News, or NBC, as Reagan stance like the people or is it elected president was a priest. They
opposed to watching something like pro-Reagan?
_ were misinformed. There are two
PBS or listening to the _McNiel"Like I said before there are three priests in the junta, but the president
Leher report. They have people that newspapers_in Nicaragua. One is the isn't one.
are doing very accurate reporting. official voice of the Sandinista party
I don't know if it's because of the
You can get a pretty good picture of (La Barricada). The other is an sources they are relying on, or
what's going on down there, but not independent (El Nuevo Diario), and because ... they don't have enough
totally."
the third is La. Prensa, the opposi- time to get all their information
right. Their information isn't accuWhat about the Nicaraguense tion.
press, how is it treating its own
The Sandinista and independent rate, but that isn't to say, it all wrong.
situation?
Groups, like the Latin American
paper are more or less on the same
"Well .. .in the first place the three line: anti- Reagan. The opposition Support Committee, bring in the
newspapers down there are shoppers. is not so much anti-Reagan as they La.tin Americanfilm series-getting
They have more information on are critical of the government. They the information from the bottom line.
where sales are and what you can dedicate more space to criticizing
My attitude toward these groups
buy in those sales, than actual news. the Sandinistas than they do criticiz- is that it's a place to start from. You
For example, while I was down ing Reagan."
don't get the whole picture, just like
there, Indira Gandhi was murdered.
Reagan also receives hard criti- with the U.S. mainstream media,
The papers printed short pieces on cism from civil groups supporting but it's a_starting point."
her funeral and her son. They didn't Latin American causes. What is your
-Interviewed by Maria Bergeron
CONTRERAS
a Voz de Aztlan
April 17, 1985
Chicano/Latino Newspaper
Wednesday
Forum:
Sanctuary
Movement
N.E.S.T
By Marcella Martinez
Editor
By Ben Zayas
Staff Writer
In the last of a five part series on
Central America, the Campus
Sanctuary Coalition sponsored a
forum on sanctuary.
Presenting a correlation between
the campus sanctuary movement
and the church sanctuary movement
were Ann Johnston, chairperson of
the campus sanctuary coalition at
CSU, Fresno and Sister Angela ·
Mesa, C.S.J., of the Apostolado
Hispano.
Speaking in reference to the
church's role in the sanctuary
movement, Sister Angela began with
her own personal reasons for becoming involved in the movement.
"People will not help people unless
they know the need," said Sister
Angela.
her own personal reasons for becoming invoJved in the movement.
She said she became a ware of the
injustices and illegal deportation·s of
Central Ame1 :.:an refugees while
working with a multitude of immigrant workers.
"It [the sanctuary movement] has
become socially and politically connected with our ministry," she said.
According to Sister Angela, sanctuary has three dimensions: a Judeo
Christian tradition; a historical notion; and sanctuary within the state.
"We as Christians accept J udeo
hospitality in a very strong way, and
as Chicanos hospitality is overlapped," she said.
Supporting her "ingrained" theory of hospitality with an excerpt
from Sojournors, a Christian tabloid, Sister Angela quoted it as saying "sanctuary is quite literally a sign
and space of nonviolence ... .in the
early church, it [nonviolence] by far
preceded any public or civil acknowledgement of Christian sanctuary."
She added that sanctuary-a/orm
of civil disobedience-points to a
higher law, and as a higher law it
takes precedence.
Addressing her second point that
sanctuary has an important historical role in America, She mentioned
that America is based on the idea,
that it is a land of refuge where people seeking political and religious
freedom have traditionally been
granted asylum.
She cited the "Freedom Trains"
during slavery as a perfect example
of people fighting for sanctuary in a
nonviolent way.
In her third point, "sanctuary with
in the State," she defends the position of the 16 people charged with
transporting refugees on January
14, I 985, by reading a statement
from the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops/ United States
Catholic conference:
" ... the conference deplores the fact
that various policy issues concern.......
See Sanctuary,. page 8
Each and everyday concerned
Americans are reminded of the iniquitous actions taken by our own
government-more specifically the
Reagan Administration-against the
peoples of Central America in the
name of democracy.
As millions of smug Americans
revel in the current "kick-ass" policy expounded by the administration, there are those that can no
longer be represented in such a
manner.
Various groups hav·e taken a stand
against aggressive U.S. foreign policy by providing food, clothing,
agricultural and medical supplies,
and more importantly, "moral"
support to the very countries that
Uncle Sam sends millions of dollars
in military aid to destroy.
One such organization is New El
Salvador Today (NEST), which
attempts to meet the needs of the
Salvadorean people that are constructing a new society.
After hundreds of years of exploitation and the denial of most most
human rights, the Salvadorean people have decided to take their lives
into their own hands.
The condition under which the
Salvadorean people have been living
are ones that are unimaginable for
many of us:
-50% of children die before they
•
·
Akemi Miyama/ IA Voz de Azt/an
reach of age of 5
Children learn about themselves and the world they live in with teacher
-50%
of the population is malMaria Huerta, during their stay at La Hacienda de lo; Amigitos a
nourished
bilingualbicultural child care center.
'
-There are only 3 doctors for
every 10,000 Salvadoreans
-life expectancy is 40 years
-2% of the population owns 60%
of the land
-60% of the rural population can
neither read nor write
of CHO, is the coordinator of the
By Christopher Soliz
-80% of the rural population
project. Through her own experience
Special to La Voz
lacks drinkable water
in related health care positions, she
-64% of the population lacks
It is estimated tht over 95% of all has successfullly trained bilingual
sewage facilities
Americans will need blood, or a CHO members on ways to approach
-unemployment and undercomponent of it at some point in people and handle various situemployment combined are 60%
their life. In Central California alone, ations.
-90% ofthe population earns $150
"You have to have a positive
150 units of blood is needed to
per month or less
service five counties daily, including attitude. To the students, I stress
While a small minority of U.S.
Fresno county. Unfortunately this 'sensitivity' in approaching [peo- back~d "puppets" bask in opulple]," said Guzman. "It's a
q~ota is not always met.
ence-North American style-the
Members of the Chicano Health matter of piaying it by ear."
majority bf Salvadoreans live in
Thus far, the project has been a
Organization of CSU, Fresno, in
extreme
poverty.
conjuncton with the Central California growing success. Within the first
NEST, a non-profit corporation,
Blood Bank, are involved in a project month of the project, CHO members is developing and growing rapidly
promoting the donation of blood have already obtained over 200 among American people in an effort
potential donors.
from the Chicano community.
Guzman attributes this ! uccess to to achieve the following objectives:
Recent studies have shown that
1. to provide the people of the
the Chicano community has the highest several reasons. "We ar_( able to U.S. with the opportunity to give
percentage of "type 0," a blood type provide them with information on humanitarian and economic assistwhich. is in largest demand; more- heaith issues, and at the same time ance those living in areas ofpopular
over, as the fastest growing com- give them a 'health awareness' of our control, through the local popular
munity in California, there is greater community.
The project has not only benefited governments presently protected by
possibility for being a reserve of
VMC and the Blood Bank, but it has FMLN forces;
"type O" blood donors.
2. to deepen and strengthen the
To reach potential Chicano donors, also been a learning experience for
bonds offriendship, understanding,
30 students from CHO have volunteered CHO members.
They are learning how to deal and cooperation between the peoto work in all visitor wings at VMC,
of the U.S. and El Salvador;
with the public, and also how to ples
to ask for blood donations.
·
See N.E.S. T ., page 8
See CHO, p~g~ 8
Maria Guzman,.an active member
Students launch Blood
Drive In The Community
page 2
Wednesday
La Voz de Aztlan
Resolution Demanding Moratorium on 1988 Admission Requirements
WHEREAS, Board of Trustees of the California State University system is proposing to increase admission
requirements that will adversely effect the eligi~ility of and reduce the population of incoming
disadvantages and non-traditional students to the CSU system; and,
WHEREAS, The CSU Board of Trustees has failed to conduct a study on the impact of admission
requirement changes adopted in 1982 as promised; and,
WHEREAS, The CSU's efforts to impose admission requirements exceeding those- of the University of
California violates the California Master Plan for post-secondary education which separates
the mission of the UC and CSU systems (UC: upper 12.5% of high school seniors and CSU:
upper 33.3%); and,
WHEREAS, Recently the CSU was mandated to lower its elfgibility index to comply with the Master Plan,
serving as an indicator of how the present requirements are adversely effecting the admissibiiity
of the upper 1/ 3 of high school seniors;
and,
WHEREAS, The CSU Board of Trustees and the Chancellor have adopted a "get tough" posture regarding
education and admission policies-a posture not based on any scientific evidence that the
so-called quality of students has declined; and,
.
WHEREAS, According to data extracted.from the Fresno Uµified School District, it can be concluded that as
the socio-economic level increases in high school districts, more college prep courses are
offered and without adequate minority enrollment in the lower socio-economic districts fewer
college prep courses are offered period; and,
WHEREAS, The Board of Trustees has failed to incorporate a meaningful cross sec.tion of professionals who
can represent the population of disadvantaged and minority students, who would be most
negatively affected, into the boards and commission which set the policies and standards
affecting the status of all students; and,
WHEREAS, The Board of Trustees has chosen to ignore the recommendation of the Hispanic Commission
Report on Underrepresentation, which called for a study on how present and proposed
requirements have or will affect Chicano,, Black and Native American students; and,
WHEREAS, We philos9phically agree that high school students must be prepared for college, we do not
.
agree that the Chancellor's office can guarantee that every high school student in grades nine
through twelve will be equally informed, counselled, and encouraged to take and complete a
college preparatory program; and,
WHEREAS, We, the students of today are the vanguard of accessible education for furture generation of
CSU students and must do everything in our power to se~ accessible education maintained;
.. herefore be it,
RESOLVE, That the California State University, Fresno, Associated Students diligently and actively oppose
the proposed 1988 CSU admission requirements and demand a moratorium on the imposition
of those requirements until an extensive impact study on present and proposed requirements is
ma~e; be it,
FURTHER
RESOLVED, That the Associated Students president immediately present the issue to the California State
Student Association and utilize this body to meet the aforementioned imperative, and provide
means by which persons who may accurately and adequately present and support the opposition
of requirements to the CSSA, be present at all applicable CSSA conferences and committee
meetings. These persons will be subjected to approval by the Associated Students Senate.
I
-La Voz Endorsement
La Voz de Aztlan officially
endorses the resolution oppossing the 1988 College
Entrance Requirements.
We encourage our Raza to
support the student organizations that have come out
against this racist attack
upon our community. The
c;,n\y Y(~y...t~ .. c_
~u ~t~er~~t
such a move·iswith a united
front. Beware that our
community is not only
limited to Fresno, and as
such Chicano communities
in other areas are also
being attacked. We cannot
lose what we have work so
hard to again--access
to higher education, and
equality.
1
Salvadoran Health.Worker Tells Her Story
By Sherry Boschert
She is in her late 20's, a mother
of two, and a doctor. But she hasn't
.seen her children in a long time,
and was forced to leave her post at
the medical school in the capital of
El Salvador when the National
Guard attacked it in 1980, a group
of them chasi1lg her for nearly a
mile with their machetes.
Today her children are still in El
Salvador, and thP -uedical school is
still in ruins, but Veronica
Mercado (not her real name) has
come from Mexico to the U.S. with
a message of hope, and a plea for
help. As a representative of
CO PROSAL, the association of
health workers in El Salvador, she
is meeting with groups across the
United States to tell them of the
past year's accomplishments, and
to ask for continued support.
Veronica described COPROSALs program of training people
to be health promoters during an
interview · in San Francisco with ·
the Committee for Health Rights in
·central ' Ameri,ca. Similar to
Nic;:aragua's training for health ,
brigadistas, CO PRO SAL provides
health education for the general shift its focus from preventive
population, many of whom cannot medicine to acute care, dealing
with injuries and the effects of the
read or write.
Three levels of training advance war.
from sanitation and preventive
medicine to ~urgery and work in
hospitals. Two objectives guide
this work, says Veronica: "To help
relieve the scarcity of doctors in El
Salvador, and to involve the
COPROSAL people themselves in
health, .education , and production."
The scarcity of health care is an
every-day crisis in El Salvador.
"Two hundred doctors and nurses
~··. ··:~f ..
have been killed since 1980,'' says
Veronica. "We're playing a larger
,· .·1
.
1
~,,.·.·.'.·.·.,......
role in tending to people ... The
.
='·
"
popuTar war has intensified, and
.~ - _ _ fliJt
the resp<;mse of the government
has been to increase repression,
especially the paramilitary groups
that Duarte doesn't have direct
control over.''
Though most of its work is done
Increased government bomb- in the liberated zones and areas of
ings, she asserts, have
· dispute where people h·ave no other
multiplied the demands on health access to health care, COPROSAL
providers by killing or wounding also provides some health care in
tnar:y bri~adista~ and civilians. A~ . , i½e citie~ q( ~1 .$?\\.'.qQ<;n: ..ThroµgJ-i. .
a result, CO'PROSAL has had to their main office in Mexico,
E
:.
~- ,1,:· ,•..._
llllD
Veronica works in a collective of
two women and four men to raise
medicines and materials.
"The work I'm doing is the best I
can do for the improvement of the
people as a whole, for the ones who
a re s u ff e r i n g . T h.i s i s t h e
motivation that many women
have in El Salvador today ," she
says. Many of the brigadistas
trained by COPROSAL are
women, and she points out that
when the medical school was open,
40 percent of students were female.
From · her experiences in the
liberated zones, Veronica feels that
there is a greater acceptance of
women's participation there than
has traditionally been allowed in
the rest of El Salvador. "Before, the
woman was left aside, but now
they've created a mechanism for
women to participate directly, and
women are developing capacities
they didn't know they had," she
says. ''In the zones of control, most
of t h e , ,pop. u 1~.t.i o, r:i h as a
consciousn'ess of the revolutionary
process . Tney riot only accept, but
they promote the full incorporation
of. the woman. We can't say that
.
.
. . .See Worker, page 7
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
page 3
Hernandez RemembersThe P-ast
By Jaime Juarez
Staff Writer
Name: Robert Hernandez
Position: Director of EOP
Birthplace: Dinuba California
Birthdate: September 27, 1948
Education: B.A., M.A.-- CSUF
Years on staff: 14
Robert Hernandez is the youngest
of six children born to farm laboring
parents. He grew up in the barrio of
Dinuba and as a result has come to
know the importance of education.
"When I was growing up, all the
guys went into the army after [high]
school; it was just a given," Hernandez recalls, "but I wanted to go
to·[college]."
Hernandez did just that. Despite
the increasing war effort in Vietnam,
he enrolled into Reedley College in
1967. After two years and a little
encouragement from is sister, he
Transfered to Fresno State College
under the newly created Educational Opportunity Program.
"Coming to Fresno State back
then scared the heck out of every-
Robert Hernandez
EOP Director
one," said Hernandez, "especially
those of us coming from small
communities."
Hernandez received h_is bachelors
degree in Enviromental Health in
1971 and took a staff position at
EOP. In 1980, Hernandez received
his M.A. in Health Education and
the same year became acting Director of EOP, after Manuel Perez left
to become assistant Dean of
Students.
The following year, Hernandez
applied for the permanent position
of director and received the job.
Over the last sixteen years at
CSU-Fresno, Hernandez has seen
many changes; however, one thing
which pleases Hernandez is the stability of programs like EOP, Black
Studies, and La Raza Studies.
"I remember one year the President fired all the faculty of the La
Raza and Black Studies programs;
and if it hadn't been for the student
movements and protests, we wouldn't
have those programs ....
From 1969 to 1971 there were
four different directors at EOP.
Now La Raz~, Black Studies, and
EOP have been around for fifteen
years," said Hernandez.
Another change Hernandez has
seen has been the devisification of
students.
"Today we're not as clqse as we
were back in the early '70s," said
Hernandez, "but that doesn't mean
the students aren't as involved or
interested as they were back then."
He mentioned that "we have had
two EOP Students become Associated Student Body Presidents ...
back then, if you were involved in
student government you were a sellout or a ·vendido. "
Today [Chicano and Black] students are deeply involved in their
-0wn areas; we have a former EOP
student who will soon graduate from
medical school and another who is
among the top of his class at law
school."
With admiration, Hernandez said
"that's really good to see.",! '
The problem Hernandez foresees,
however, is that, "the potential is
The problem Hernandez foresees,
however, is that, "the potential is
·here for people to forget what others
did in the past.
"Back then some students sacrificed
themselves to create opportunities,"
says Hernandez, "but for many students today, who were only four or
five years old back then, that's
ancient history."
For a husband and father of two,
there is too much at stake to forget.
He has learned the importance of
educational opportunity, and now
he teaches it to others.
For Robert Hernandez, the key
word in education has been opportunity.
Central American Women's Movement
Albert Robles
Staff Writer
"Women and Liberation" was the
focus of a panel examining the
various struggles of Central American
women.
_The panel w~ part.of ~h~ edu~ftonal
forums on Latin America sponsored
by Las Adelitas, Campus Latin American
Support Committee, MEChA, and
the Student Christian Movement
(i.e. the Campus Sanctuary Coalition).
Consisting of three women, the
panel presented views on the situation
facing women in Nicaragua and Ej
Salvador, the roles they play within
their respective country's revolution;
and the worK oone through solldanty
activity in the U.S.
Carol Wells; a representative of
the Nicaragua Task Force, opened
her presentation with a historical
synopsis of Nicaragua's economic
and political development. She
described Nicaragua as the most
underpopulated nation in Central
America with an overall population
density comparable to that of Iowa.
When U.S. Banking corporations
took over much of the country's
land during the early 1920s, she
stated that the Marines invaded ten
times in order to maintain "economic
access."
An uprising that Wells desribed as
the first guerrilla war in the western
hemisphere took place in 1926 as a
response to the Marines'presence in
the country.
In 1934, the Marines were forced
to withdraw and Somoza was installed,
as Wells stated, with financial backing
from the Rockefeller Corporation.
Under Somoza, illiteracy was as
high as 56% (80% for women in the
countryside), and health care was
nearly non-existant. After the revolution, Well said that illiteracy was
reduced to less than twelve
percent and a public health
campaign succeded in •eliminating
polio in 1982.
· Wells went on to describe the
triple exploitation common to most
third world women: high unemployment and unequal pay, sexual
harassment, and forced steril
ization.
The women's movement in
Nicaragua pre-existed the
revolution itself unlike those of
Cuba and Chile.
- W_ells
'
She also called attention to drugs
(i.e. birth control) that are banned in
the U.S. getting dumped into the
third world, anq to the high rate
male abandonment of their families.
According to Wells it wasn't
unusual, in Nicaragua, for a man to
have had twenty or thirty children
from different women.
However, after the revolution, she
TARGET
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At the front gate of Lemoore Naval Air Station on Highway 198
2:00 p.m.
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Life on Planel Earth-Paso Robles-805-238-5011
said that female headed households
had dropped from 33% down to
15%.
The women's movement in Nicaragua,
said Wells, pre-existed the revolution
itself unlike those in Cuba and Chile.
She cited the myriad of social reforms
established by the government, which
abolished capital punishment;
outlawed prostitution; and outlawed
the exploitation of images of women.
In 1982, one of Nicaragua's more
controversial laws was passed which
_gave men equ~l responsibility for
the sha~-ing of domestic household
chores. Refering to a statement by
Tomas Borge, "we ne·ed to make
men share housework," Wells said
that this law (similar to the one in
Cuba) serves as a conscious·ness
raising tool.
·
Anna Foster, who is from San
Francisco,representingLaAsociacion
de Mujeres Progresistasde El Salvador,
an organization with roots in El
See movement, page 6
La Yoz de .A ztlan
Editor
Marcella Martinez
Staff
Maria Bergeron, Jaime Juarez,
Raul Moreno, Pat Reyes, Albert
Robles, Ben Zayas,
Photography
Akemi Miyama
Letters, short stories, poems, and articles, are welcome. We reserve the right to
edit materials. All material must be signed
and typed and remain property of La
Voz. Deadline/or submission is one week
be/ore printing.
.
We are located at C5U, Fresno, c/o
Daily Co/leigan, Keats Bid.
For more information, call 294-2486. ,
Page 4
Wednesday
La Voz de Aztlan
EXPRESIONE
(S
Ay, ·
Rern
We '
RELATO
Witl
Of o
Al apretar las tijeras de podar para cortar las 6ltimas ramas de
la ultima vifia del surco, sent{ que el dolor se hada mis y mls
intenso. Quise hacer un esfuerzo para terminar de podar. Todo
doblado pude cortar todas las ramas que quedaban, 'todas,
menos una, la mas bromosa, la que apuntaba a mi y que por eso
no pude cortar.
N o aguante mas. Ese dolor agudo, clavado en el lado derecho
del est6mago, me vencib y ca{ doblado, gemiendo de dolor y de
ansiedad para ver si alguien me escuchaba.
Fu_e mi ~ompadre Ram~n quiep me levanto' y m~ llevo al
hospital mas cercano que encontro. Entramos por un pasadiso
que tenfa miles y miles de letreros que creo dedan
"EMERGENCY"pero ten{an muchas flechas que ni mi compadre
ni yo podfamos saber cual seguir. Mi compadre me dejo all{
tirado y corrio siguiendo las flechas. Creo que lo vi pasar por
donde yo estaba unas dos o tres veces. Creo que no lograba saber
donde era quedaba "ENERGENCY."
,
I
A m1. se me h ac1an
eternas las horas. Me sent1a deshecho por
dentro, con ~n dolor intenso que no aminoraba un solo instante.
Al fin llego mi com padre gustoso de haber encontrado el lugar
buscado. Me tomo por los brazos y me abraz~ para asfuevarme
con el. Dimos tantas vueltas y seguimos tantas flechas que· yo
termine por perder el sentido.
. Pe~? pronto me ~espertaron. La mufhacha que interpretaba
me d1J?, que neces1t~~an saber si tema dinero para pagar la
operac1on, pues me dtJeron que eso necesitaba.
Nose me ocurrio nada l. fue mi compadre quien le prometi6
pagar si no yo, lo harfa el por m1. La secretaria nos vlia con
des~onfianza y dijo que para nosotros era mejor pedirle ayuda al
gob1erno, pero que en ese hospital no s~ admit(a eso.
No recuerdo exactamente como paso todo. S~lo me acuerdo
que mi ~ompadre les alego un rato, hasta que llego un policia y
nos saco del hospital.
--Y or~ q~e hacemos, dijo mi compadre.
--Aqm deJeme compadre. Yo ya no puedo seguir.
--Ya se--dijo mi compadre.
Me ll~v6 hasta otro hospital donde despu/s de buscar por largo
rato, ~u. com padre me llev6 a un sitio parecido al anterior. Todo
parec1a 1gual, todo menos mi compadre queen una vuelta al bafio
's~ habfa cami~do de camisa y se hab(a ,:trreglado el pelo. Hasta lo
v1 con la cam1sa abotonada hasta el ultimo boton. Pobre de il.
Ahora me recuerdo que por poco se ahorca de tan apretada que
✓
Rem
We
Fie!
Sat
with
Byt
✓
You
Lik1
Slia
Gre
Qu
Sou
traia la camisa. y pensar que lo hac(a todo por mC
Se acerco' a las secretarias y les habl6 de mr y de mi dolor. Yo ya
no pod(a ni hablar, tan solo miraba con la expresi6n de un
moribundo.
. Cuando le,reguntaron por el dinero, mi compadre respondi&
que el pagana y presento SUS papeles. Ademas, recuerdo que les
ofec(o un primer pago. Y lo vi sacar un fajo de billetes que con
gusto le aceptaron.
/
Nunca antes me hab1an atendido tan bien y tan rapido. Unas
amables
y me. prepararon
. enfermeras
, . me avudaron. a acostarme
.
.
tan b1e1. i tan rap1do que en vemte mmutos ya me poman a
dormir para operarme.
La pase bien en el hospital. Me trataban comoa todo un senor
ilustre. Pero pronto se llego el d(a de salida, dfa en que mi
compa<lre tenra que traer los miles y miles de dolares que faltaban
para pagar la operacion. Y pues de donde los sacaba el pobre si ni
sequiera hab(a tenido suficiente dinero para pagar su dorde y
renta ~e, la semana. Les e~plic6 que no tenfa dinero, pero
prometlo pagar
en pagos.
'ii
,
Se armo un gran ho, pues a los doctores no les gustaba nada lo
que mi compadre les sugida.
Am{que ya me tra1an en una silla de ruedas para llevarme a la
I
puerta, me empezaron allegar unos mareos de nuevo. Me sentla
mal, pero le dije a mi compadre, con voz alta para que me
escucharan todos, que all( me dejara, que al fin y al ·cabo la
pasaba bien all{. Al saber de mi voluntad los doctores y
enfermeras pusieron cara de muertos, pero tuvieron que dejarme
ir pues no iban a tenerme al11 toda la vida.
A mi compadre le dieron unos papeles que creo era la cuenta
que se deb{a. Le dijeron que se no pagaba pronto la cuenta subirfa
mucho porque los intereses estaban muy altos. El nomas bajo la
cabeza.
Ya ni siquiera me llevaron a la puerta en la silla de ruedas. El
doctor dijo que ya pod1a caminar. Y si pude, pues mi compadre
me ayudb.
En u9os d(as, me fui con mi compadre a trabajar. Mi com padre
empezo a podar un surco nuevo 'j yo me puse a buscar la rama
que me faltaba podar. Pero hab1a tanta niebla que no la pude
encontrar. Tuve que resignarme, y opte por empezar otro surco,
haciendome pensar que algun d[a ajustarfa las cuentas.
Raul Z. Moreno
Ay,
Rei
La.
An
1n 1
Lik',
Re
Th
In i
An
Lil
Y( '
S(
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
Page 5
CHICANAS
ogelio
in Michoacan)
n
backs of lizards
es
es?
m
e south
ermelon?
ed
ads
ts bottom
1ther
,r us all,
nd red
1 your
country
en
s?
en
SOY MUCHO MAS
No pasa semana alguna sin que alguien me pregunte, " De
donde eres?" Al oi'r mi respuesta, "Naci en los Estados Unidos.
Soy mexico-americana," casi siempre salen con otra pregunta: "
Pero de donde eres? · Que consideras mas, mexicana
o estadounidense?"
Por mucho tiempo preguntas como estas me hacfan dudar de
mi existencia. La inseguridad , causada por la bur la de los demAs,
ocasionaba preguntarme, " Quien soy? -E n d6nde pertenezco?"
espues de mucha angustia, mis preguntas por fin ban sido
respondidas. Yo soy de dos naciones; soy de dos culturas;
simplemente tengo el poder de ser dos personas en una.
Es posible ser de dos naciones? Claro que si. Aunque no pueda
vivir en dos lugares al mismo tiempo, puedo tener parte de los dos
en mi. Las dos razones mas obvias son las siguientes.
· En primer lugar, soy ciudadana de los Estados Unidos por
nacimiento. A la vez tambien soy de Mexico porque mis raices
estan atadas a el.
La cuestion de la identidad, en mi caso, nose puede contestar
tan facilmente. Decir que pertenezco a dos naciones implica que
de las dos he sido creada.·Porque no quiero negar ninguna de las
culturas de estos dos paises tan diferentes, he tenido que aprender
a vivir con las dos.
En mi manera de pensar cada cultura tiene valores e ideas que
son unicos y que a ia vez los caracterizan.
Por ejemplo, el nino mexicano aprende desde chico lo que es
tener union familiar. De esta union nace el respeto a los padres ya
las personas mayores.
De la cultura america11,a, de mi experiencia, aprendi que
cuando quiero algo tengo que pedirlo. Con esto no quiero decir
que no me va a importar el dano que haga para satisfacer mis
deseos.
(
u
~OU
elon?
e blood
mr hand
lue lips,
~
to Morelia
n my cou_n try
Perry Angle
Aqui es donde se ve lo bueno de la interaccion de las dos
culturas. Por ejemplo, cuando quiero expresar mis ideas, especialmente a personas como mis hermanos, lo puedo hacer de la
misma forma. Como? Con el respeto que aprendi de la cultura de
Mexico y el valor de expresar en voz alta mi opinion de·la cultura
de este pais.
·
Para poder seguir adelante es preciso mencionar otros aspectos que son parte de la palabra cultura. Esto envuelve algo mas
que los valores. Tambien la musica, la comida, las festividades,
etc. hacen, o mejor dicho, son parte de la cultura. Que
afortunada me siento cuando puedo decidir entrehuevos rancheros o huevos con tocino para mi desayuno! Y e:i la noche cuando
escucho musica para dormir:ne puedo escoger entre eJ cantante
mexicano EMMANUEL o el grupo popular de lqs E.b.U.U.
JOURNEY.
Quizas algunos se imaginen que vivo una vida de confusion; de
identidades opuestas que siempre estan en conflicto. Al con
trario, cuando partae de mi se encuentra perdida siempre esta l&.
otra para orientarme. Y son muy raras las,veces que mis oidos no
estan c,ie acuerdo en la musica _que quieren escuchar.
Asi que, cuando me vuelvan a decir que no tengo identidad ni
cultura y que nunca sabre quien soy, ya se lo que les voy a
contestar. No, no tengo una identidad, tengo dos. No, no tengo
una cultura, tengo dos. No soy solo una persona. Soy mucho mas!
Jovita Castillo
Page 6
La Voz de Aztlan
Wednesday
"Most Outstanding Member"
they were the only club to give out a
student award, setting a precedent
for other l. T. student organizations
to follow.
The award is based on the students contributions to the club, and
this year the a ward was presented to
Adam Almazan. He has been active
in Mex-Tech now for a number of
years, and has spent much of his
time recruiting and organizing various activities.
He played a very important role
this year, along with other club
members, coordinating the publicity
for the LT. banquet. Adam has also
helped out with the Chicano Youth
Conference (Industrial Technology
Career Workshop) in January during the winter break; and he is presently looking forward to "Children's
Day," during Semana de la Raza.
Mex-Tech is here to help its students graduate from the I. T. program, but recruitment is also a concern of the club, even at the high
school level. Therefore, school visits
are being planned in the near future
to encourage minority students to
pursue a college education. At the
college level scholarships are an
added incentive for club members.
Business company presentations
are arranged at the meeting, and
representatives either come to school
or students visit the companies.
The club also plans to continue to
stay involved in Chicano cultural
activities on campus. Students are
encouraged to attend all meetingsThursdays at 6:30 p.m. in the college
union-it's never too late to join!
tragedy, or they have a romantic
image of being a guerrilla.
She's often asked about communism
about whether Cubans and Nicaraguans are involved in the struggle.
To this she says that "if being a
communist means struggling for
houses, food, land and their lives,
then I'm a communist." She also
declared that "I never saw one Cuban
or Nicaraguan, and that if the U.S.
found one Soviet gun the intervention [U:S; troop mobiiizati0n] would
have already begun."
By Jaime Nunez
Special to La Vaz
Mex-Tech (Mexican American
Students in Industial Technology)
participated in the annual banquet
of the Industrial Technology department,, on March 22, 1985. In the
past, the banquet's primary purpose
has been to honor students in various areas of interest, such as interior design, construction, manufacturing education, and the graducate
program.
But in the last few years, the original purpose to honor students, has
been enhanced with the presence of
various representatives from numerous companies.
This year the banquet was held at
Torino's Banquet hall, and 40 diffenent companies sponsored "a successful event." It was possible for
enthusastic students to have some
kind of formal contact with prospective employers.
To organize the program for the
eventful night, seven clubs, including Mex-Tech, helped with the
logistics.
This year Mex-Tech was in
charge of publicity and registration
forms. They also donated a door
prize and designated individuals to
Movementc
Akemi Miyama/ La Voz de Aztlan
Jaime Nunez, member of Mex-Tech, presents "The Most Outstanding
Member"award to Adam Almazan_at the annual Industrial Technology
Banquet.
serve as hosts to greet the company
representatives as they arrived.
At the awards banquet, the club
was one of four I. T. organizations to
present a student award. Last year
Mex-Tech presented the very first
"Most Outstanding Member"award
and a $100.00 scholarship. In fact,
and indifferent from this struggle,"
said Foster.
continued from page 3
She also mentioned that 40% of
Salvador, offered an analysis of the the FMLN is composed of women
situation faced by Salvadoran women; and enjoys a great deal of international
the history of AMPES; and the support.
Within the zones of control, she
necessity of sanctuary activity.
She stated that Salvadoran women stated that policies have been implemented
suffer one of the highest rates of to provide humane pyschological
malnutrition with a life expectancy conditions for raising orphaned children.
of 46 years. Moreover, like Nicaragua Women are also active within local
before the revolution, illiteracy is as government and cooperative brigades.
The final speaker, a Salvadoran
high as 80% for most women. There
is basically one doctor for every women, who only identified herself
I 0,000 women, 40% of whom are as Marta in order to keep her family
concentrated in the capital, and the background secret, spoke about the
third most common cause for hospital situation at the University of El
admission is botched abortions.
Salvador and her personal experience
Foster said that the Salvadoran as a Salvadoran Woman.
Through an interpreter, she stated
army practices a policy of genocide
upon its peasant population and that being a women in El Salvador is
that female prisoners are routinely different than in most other countries,
subjected to the most brutal tortures because Salvadoran women suffer
the same torture as do the men.
including rape and mutilation.
At 17, Marta was a student in El
These are the reasons~ she said,
why thousands of Salvadoran women Salvador when she came to identify
flee to the U.S. every year. Yet, only with the student and worker's movements.
2.45% ofthe applications for Salvadoran She spoke of her involvement in
refugees are approved, and mostly unions and strikes and her efforts in
to former Salvadoran military officials. organizing solidarity activities among
"In that sense the sanctuary movement students.
She said that being young is a
is crucial,"said Foster, "it is the only
crime
in El Salvador as the government
guarantee to life for thousands of
persecuted refugees from El Salvador see an enemy in every student. The
and other Central American countries." way one dresses can also be dangerous
AMPES, Fosters second point, because such things as jeans and
was formed in 1975 as a coalition of sneakers are regarded as rebel attire.
In 1980, the National Guard surrounded
other groups and organizations
active around different issues ofconcern th! University, and as a result students
to women and their families. Women couldn't leave the campus. More
in AMPES come from every sector than one thousand people were detained,
of Salvadoran society including as Marta claimed, without any food
peasants, factory workers, profes- available.
She said that the students received
sionals slum dwellers, mothers,
a lot of moral support from the
and housewives.
The organization's _politics ce1'ter mothers of the disappeared, many of
around, what Foster referred to as
whom never found their missing
an anti-racist, anti-imperialist perspective children (they would typically search
which views its struggle as playing for their children in clandestine
an integral part in the revolution.
cemeteries where security forces
"Faced with the suffering of their
would pile corpses.)
people, women in El Salvijdor k,n_qw
Marta said that people in,tpe U.S:
that they cannot remain detached · often fail to comprehend the .total
MEChA
Statewide
Conference
April 27-29, 1985
at
CSU, Sacrament
For more information contact:
Fresno State MEChA ,at
_____________________________
294-~8~8 (La 1:{aza St~~~es) _,
·
••..
t.
•
.
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
Page 7
Photo-journalist Visits Nicaragua
A Wise old man once said, that
what one reads in the paper is only
half the truth, and to get the whole
picture one has to to see it for
himself
Felix Contreras, Channel 24 's
photo-editor, f o/lowed the advice
of the wise old man. He went to
Nicaragua to see for himself what
happens to a country in political
termoil.
In a recent interview with La Voz,
Contreras talked about his two weeks
in Managua, Nicaragua last
November. He talked about buying
cheese, toothpaste, and toilet paper
in the blackmarket, the only place
on~ can buy those commodities in
Nicaragua.
He spoke about the tension he felt
during the Nicaraguan elections;
meeting students preparing for the
coffee harvest; and about participating in political rallies, where music
by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson were heard, just before the
speakers arrived.
But, mostly about what every
Nicaraguense must feel, after a sonic
boomfrom one of the U.S. reconaissance planes was heard throughout
the city.
Tell us about the sonic boom.
"We were visiting the Sandinistas'
War Museum one day; and we went
outside to rest, when all of a sudden
there's this loud explosion. The soldiers stationed at different points outside the museum, quickly clicked off
the 'rifle safety' of their guns and just
tehS'ed ·ap. Feit- just a -second there
was total silence every where, and
then the curator of the museum
came out and dipatched them to go
search the area.
It was in the evening, when we
found out it was the first sonic boom
from the reconaissance plane that the
U.S. sent over.
Worker
My first reaction was fear, because
we thought of invasion. My second
reaction was just anger. Anger. .. at
Reagan; at his advisors; and at the
government, beause it was just psychological harassment.
[The sonic boom] continued for
four days. Each time it happened, it
was really frustrating not being able
to say to do anything about it. It
would happen at eight o'clock and
shake the whole house, ruining the
tranquility of the morning,"
There must be a strong antiAmerican feeling in Nicaragua?
·
"There really isn't an antiAmerican feeling at all. I detected a
lot of anti-Reagan. They know what
is responsible for what the problem
is. The government there makes it
specific when they talk about the
problem; it's always Reagan.
I'm assuming they don't want to
get an anti-American thing going,
because if you look at it in terms of
geopolitics they (the government)
need trade, and they need money to
build the country. We are one of the
richest countries in the world, and
they can't afford to alienate the people toward the U.S.
In blaming Reagan, they are correct, in a sense, because after all he is
the one making the policies.
Do Reagan's policies have such a
big influence in Nicaragua as we are
lead to believe?
"Oh yeah, it really does. It's very
stong. The sonic boom, and the
blockade are only some examples.
There's a shortage of a lot of stuff.
You can't get the bacis commodities,
because it's rationed. They are in a
state _of emergency and have been
for a number of years. That's the
effects of his policies.
Another direct result is that Nicaragua is putting money into defense
Akemi Miyama/ Lil Voz de Aztlan
- --
Felix Contreras, photo...:.editor for channel 24, speaks candidly about his
two week trip to Managua, Nicaragua last November.·
instead of into the country. There's
little money for reconstruction. They
still haven't rebuilt Mangua after the
earthquake in 1972. That was 12
years ago. Today there are sections
of Managua with destroyed buildings, and vacant lots filled with rubble where a house once stood. The
city looks like it did after the earthquake.
Also every week all around the
barrios in Managua and•the country, families are losing kids. We
know that there are contras and
Sandinistas. What we don't know is
See Contreras, page 8
RALLY
continued from page 2
everything is perfect, but it's
getting better.''
Though she is driven by the need
for the work done · through the
Mexico office , Veronica's
separation from her children colors
her life there with an ongoing
sadness. "This is the least sacrifice
I can make," she says quietly when
asked about her kids. "There are
plenty of people who have lost their
lives. For years, women have lost
their children to hunger and to the
Guardia. The Guardia look at
every single person , and if one
person in the family looks
suspicious, they kill everyone.
Their idea is to pull out the ideas by
the roots.''
Like many in her country,
Veronica is sustained by thoughts
of the future, and by hope: "That
some day my children will have
opportunities -- that all children
will have opportunities -- to
participate, to go to the University ..
Tha.t they will never have to suffer
.the effects of a government that is
a military dictatorship.''
· excerpt from "El Tecoloie,"
March, 1985
11
Public Hearing"
for
Higher College Entrance Requirements
Thursday April 18, 1985
starting at 9:30
a.m.
(Press Conference)
_/ AJRPORT.HOLIDAYJNN··
La Voz de Aztlan
Page8
N.E.S.T
of Directors issue assignments to
local FMLN supporters in an effort
to raise funds.
Pam Whalen of Fresno is one
continued from page 1
such support active in NEST
and
3. to strengthen the moral opposi- fundraisers that have been and will
tion to the U.S. interventionin El be held in the Central Valley.
Though NEST has supplied several
Salvador;
NEST will work jointly with organ- sister-cities with the necessities to
izations, individuals, and institu- grow corn and other agricultural
tions to raise funds to meet the needs products, Whalen said those crops
of the Salvadoreans who are slowly are ironically devastated by U.S.
but surely observing "The dawn of a huey helicopters.
According to Whalen, Berkeley
New Society."
Based in Berke~y, Nest's Board Mayor Eugene 'Gus' Newport re-
SANCTUARY.
continued from page 1
ing the situation in Central America
create conditions which evoke
humanitarian and religious-based
responses, and entangle people of of
good faith in criminal prosecution."
The Bishops statement continues
with "[the granting] of extended
voluntary departure to the victims... would be consistent with past
extensions of blanket extended
voluntary departure to nationals of
other strife-torn countries, such as
Poland, Uganda, and Hungary .... "
Sister Angela elaborating further
on the movement, stressed the need
for sanctuay, especially when
migrants from Mexico tend to shield
refugees at their place of employment · by answering questions for
them, thus keeping the INS from
confronting the refugees.
"They have a conscious understanding of the plight that Central
American refugees face," she said.
She also stressed the need for educational programs for people who
may not want to work with in the
movement, but who will support it. ,
"People will not people unless
they know the need," said Sister
Angela.
Ann Johnston, speaking about
the student role in the · sanctuary
movement, said it was two-fold.
"Basically what we are saying it
that the INS pr~ctises are illegal,
and that refugees, under the Refugee
Act of 1980, have the right to enter
the country for political asylum.
We are also saying that the policy in
Central America, especially El
Salvador and Guatemala,'are brutal
and unjust," Said Johnston.
She said that the campus sanctury
movement at Fresno State will
provide help to the refugees, and will
be prepare with bond money and
legal advice should the INS try to
apprend them.
Johnston will with a coalition of
four student groups and La Raza
Studies. She said the need for
sanctuay is vital, if the American
citizen are really going to learn about
an issue relavent to them.
Read
.. ,,.
LaVoz de .
Aztlan
cently declau~d San Antonio de los
Ranchos a sister-city and within a
month it was totally destroyed.
· "Lots of other American cities
were getting ready to support a
sister-city in El Salvador, but since
that happened we've all been
hesitant."
Despite these unfortunate occurances, Wbalen said that material
support has been given to hundreds
of towns within "liberated areas"
controlled by the FMLN.
While Reagan asks the American
people to support the escalation of
April 17, 1985
military aid to the Salvadorean
government, a growing number of
Americans are working diligently to
aid in the construction of strong,
self-sufficient, and liberated El
Salvador.
The Salvadoreans will inexorably
pursue their vision of a new and just
·society as they continue to expand
the area of popular .control and
establish local popular governments.
American imperialists will one day
find that they are not only unwelcome
in Cental America, they will also
discover that they are no longer able
to control an enlightened third worfd.
CHO
important for the students to learn, the development of "short
if they plan to enter any health educational films."
field."
"I think the Chicano community,~'
·s
h
t
f
th
·
d
,
said
"being more visuallyf
There l ope o ur er expan _ . Guzman, Id
continued from page 1
the proiect and ·
·1t f£ t •
onented, wou get more out · o
• J •
improve s e ec tve- seeing how easy it ·is to donate
enhance their communication skills. nesFs m_diftferentGways.
blood, rather than reading it from a
The students are becoming more proficient
or ms ance, uzman w~uld like pamphlet."
as bilingual speakers, while learning to see ~he do~ors have thetr blood
The number of pledge donation,
how to become assertive and competent drawn 1mmed1ately at VMC, rather she said continue to increase and
health care attendances.
than ple~~e. a ~loo~ donation. But, "we ho~e [that] the Chicano com~
According to Guzman, realizing the p_oss1b1hty 1s shght, because the munity, as well as the other sectors
"some will say no when asked to hosp1t~l lacks staff personal and of the community, will [continue] to
donate [blood], we quickly accept - financial funds.
.
increase the quality of health care to
their answer with no [more] quesS~e. wo_uld also hke to see more their commuities by ... donating ...
tions asked. I think this is extremely pubhc1ty m the Media to promote blood,"
really mention that she was mur- attitude toward these groups?
"It is a two sided answer. They are
dered or the reasons for her murder.
·
going
good w9rk, and the objective
But regarding Nicaraguense
of
the
work is good. If it weren't for
news ... sure there is news, but it is
Continued from page 7
these
groups
then people wouldn't
rest~icted. You have to take into
be
aware
or
educated
of the situaconsideration that the press is restion.
Because
of
these
groups
there
tricted because of the war. Because
are
many
Americans
there.
They
are
of the state of emergency the Sandibecause·there's a war going on, but nistas are critical as to what is printed working in house cooperatives. They
we (the Americans) don't see it as a
are teaching, cutting sugar cane, and
about the war on the border. building schools. So you see they are
war. We see it as skirmishes."
Then the U.S. media isn't protray- It is also restrictive of what is printed doing good.
about the government. But it (press
ing the situation accurately?
. __
The other side of the coin is a lot
"Some of it does and some of it restriction) is one of the thing that ·of these groups don't have accurate
doesn't. It depends on what you must be done in order to obtain the facts. For example, just after I
read, or which television station you end goal [building the revolution]. returned from Nicaragua, I went to
watch. You are not going to get an
How is Reagan treated by the a workshop on Latin America. The
accurate picture if you rely just on press? Have they taken an anti- people there said that the newly
CBS, the Nightly News, or NBC, as Reagan stance like the people or is it elected president was a priest. They
opposed to watching something like pro-Reagan?
_ were misinformed. There are two
PBS or listening to the _McNiel"Like I said before there are three priests in the junta, but the president
Leher report. They have people that newspapers_in Nicaragua. One is the isn't one.
are doing very accurate reporting. official voice of the Sandinista party
I don't know if it's because of the
You can get a pretty good picture of (La Barricada). The other is an sources they are relying on, or
what's going on down there, but not independent (El Nuevo Diario), and because ... they don't have enough
totally."
the third is La. Prensa, the opposi- time to get all their information
right. Their information isn't accuWhat about the Nicaraguense tion.
press, how is it treating its own
The Sandinista and independent rate, but that isn't to say, it all wrong.
situation?
Groups, like the Latin American
paper are more or less on the same
"Well .. .in the first place the three line: anti- Reagan. The opposition Support Committee, bring in the
newspapers down there are shoppers. is not so much anti-Reagan as they La.tin Americanfilm series-getting
They have more information on are critical of the government. They the information from the bottom line.
where sales are and what you can dedicate more space to criticizing
My attitude toward these groups
buy in those sales, than actual news. the Sandinistas than they do criticiz- is that it's a place to start from. You
For example, while I was down ing Reagan."
don't get the whole picture, just like
there, Indira Gandhi was murdered.
Reagan also receives hard criti- with the U.S. mainstream media,
The papers printed short pieces on cism from civil groups supporting but it's a_starting point."
her funeral and her son. They didn't Latin American causes. What is your
-Interviewed by Maria Bergeron
CONTRERAS
April 17, 1985
Chicano/Latino Newspaper
Wednesday
Forum:
Sanctuary
Movement
N.E.S.T
By Marcella Martinez
Editor
By Ben Zayas
Staff Writer
In the last of a five part series on
Central America, the Campus
Sanctuary Coalition sponsored a
forum on sanctuary.
Presenting a correlation between
the campus sanctuary movement
and the church sanctuary movement
were Ann Johnston, chairperson of
the campus sanctuary coalition at
CSU, Fresno and Sister Angela ·
Mesa, C.S.J., of the Apostolado
Hispano.
Speaking in reference to the
church's role in the sanctuary
movement, Sister Angela began with
her own personal reasons for becoming involved in the movement.
"People will not help people unless
they know the need," said Sister
Angela.
her own personal reasons for becoming invoJved in the movement.
She said she became a ware of the
injustices and illegal deportation·s of
Central Ame1 :.:an refugees while
working with a multitude of immigrant workers.
"It [the sanctuary movement] has
become socially and politically connected with our ministry," she said.
According to Sister Angela, sanctuary has three dimensions: a Judeo
Christian tradition; a historical notion; and sanctuary within the state.
"We as Christians accept J udeo
hospitality in a very strong way, and
as Chicanos hospitality is overlapped," she said.
Supporting her "ingrained" theory of hospitality with an excerpt
from Sojournors, a Christian tabloid, Sister Angela quoted it as saying "sanctuary is quite literally a sign
and space of nonviolence ... .in the
early church, it [nonviolence] by far
preceded any public or civil acknowledgement of Christian sanctuary."
She added that sanctuary-a/orm
of civil disobedience-points to a
higher law, and as a higher law it
takes precedence.
Addressing her second point that
sanctuary has an important historical role in America, She mentioned
that America is based on the idea,
that it is a land of refuge where people seeking political and religious
freedom have traditionally been
granted asylum.
She cited the "Freedom Trains"
during slavery as a perfect example
of people fighting for sanctuary in a
nonviolent way.
In her third point, "sanctuary with
in the State," she defends the position of the 16 people charged with
transporting refugees on January
14, I 985, by reading a statement
from the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops/ United States
Catholic conference:
" ... the conference deplores the fact
that various policy issues concern.......
See Sanctuary,. page 8
Each and everyday concerned
Americans are reminded of the iniquitous actions taken by our own
government-more specifically the
Reagan Administration-against the
peoples of Central America in the
name of democracy.
As millions of smug Americans
revel in the current "kick-ass" policy expounded by the administration, there are those that can no
longer be represented in such a
manner.
Various groups hav·e taken a stand
against aggressive U.S. foreign policy by providing food, clothing,
agricultural and medical supplies,
and more importantly, "moral"
support to the very countries that
Uncle Sam sends millions of dollars
in military aid to destroy.
One such organization is New El
Salvador Today (NEST), which
attempts to meet the needs of the
Salvadorean people that are constructing a new society.
After hundreds of years of exploitation and the denial of most most
human rights, the Salvadorean people have decided to take their lives
into their own hands.
The condition under which the
Salvadorean people have been living
are ones that are unimaginable for
many of us:
-50% of children die before they
•
·
Akemi Miyama/ IA Voz de Azt/an
reach of age of 5
Children learn about themselves and the world they live in with teacher
-50%
of the population is malMaria Huerta, during their stay at La Hacienda de lo; Amigitos a
nourished
bilingualbicultural child care center.
'
-There are only 3 doctors for
every 10,000 Salvadoreans
-life expectancy is 40 years
-2% of the population owns 60%
of the land
-60% of the rural population can
neither read nor write
of CHO, is the coordinator of the
By Christopher Soliz
-80% of the rural population
project. Through her own experience
Special to La Voz
lacks drinkable water
in related health care positions, she
-64% of the population lacks
It is estimated tht over 95% of all has successfullly trained bilingual
sewage facilities
Americans will need blood, or a CHO members on ways to approach
-unemployment and undercomponent of it at some point in people and handle various situemployment combined are 60%
their life. In Central California alone, ations.
-90% ofthe population earns $150
"You have to have a positive
150 units of blood is needed to
per month or less
service five counties daily, including attitude. To the students, I stress
While a small minority of U.S.
Fresno county. Unfortunately this 'sensitivity' in approaching [peo- back~d "puppets" bask in opulple]," said Guzman. "It's a
q~ota is not always met.
ence-North American style-the
Members of the Chicano Health matter of piaying it by ear."
majority bf Salvadoreans live in
Thus far, the project has been a
Organization of CSU, Fresno, in
extreme
poverty.
conjuncton with the Central California growing success. Within the first
NEST, a non-profit corporation,
Blood Bank, are involved in a project month of the project, CHO members is developing and growing rapidly
promoting the donation of blood have already obtained over 200 among American people in an effort
potential donors.
from the Chicano community.
Guzman attributes this ! uccess to to achieve the following objectives:
Recent studies have shown that
1. to provide the people of the
the Chicano community has the highest several reasons. "We ar_( able to U.S. with the opportunity to give
percentage of "type 0," a blood type provide them with information on humanitarian and economic assistwhich. is in largest demand; more- heaith issues, and at the same time ance those living in areas ofpopular
over, as the fastest growing com- give them a 'health awareness' of our control, through the local popular
munity in California, there is greater community.
The project has not only benefited governments presently protected by
possibility for being a reserve of
VMC and the Blood Bank, but it has FMLN forces;
"type O" blood donors.
2. to deepen and strengthen the
To reach potential Chicano donors, also been a learning experience for
bonds offriendship, understanding,
30 students from CHO have volunteered CHO members.
They are learning how to deal and cooperation between the peoto work in all visitor wings at VMC,
of the U.S. and El Salvador;
with the public, and also how to ples
to ask for blood donations.
·
See N.E.S. T ., page 8
See CHO, p~g~ 8
Maria Guzman,.an active member
Students launch Blood
Drive In The Community
page 2
Wednesday
La Voz de Aztlan
Resolution Demanding Moratorium on 1988 Admission Requirements
WHEREAS, Board of Trustees of the California State University system is proposing to increase admission
requirements that will adversely effect the eligi~ility of and reduce the population of incoming
disadvantages and non-traditional students to the CSU system; and,
WHEREAS, The CSU Board of Trustees has failed to conduct a study on the impact of admission
requirement changes adopted in 1982 as promised; and,
WHEREAS, The CSU's efforts to impose admission requirements exceeding those- of the University of
California violates the California Master Plan for post-secondary education which separates
the mission of the UC and CSU systems (UC: upper 12.5% of high school seniors and CSU:
upper 33.3%); and,
WHEREAS, Recently the CSU was mandated to lower its elfgibility index to comply with the Master Plan,
serving as an indicator of how the present requirements are adversely effecting the admissibiiity
of the upper 1/ 3 of high school seniors;
and,
WHEREAS, The CSU Board of Trustees and the Chancellor have adopted a "get tough" posture regarding
education and admission policies-a posture not based on any scientific evidence that the
so-called quality of students has declined; and,
.
WHEREAS, According to data extracted.from the Fresno Uµified School District, it can be concluded that as
the socio-economic level increases in high school districts, more college prep courses are
offered and without adequate minority enrollment in the lower socio-economic districts fewer
college prep courses are offered period; and,
WHEREAS, The Board of Trustees has failed to incorporate a meaningful cross sec.tion of professionals who
can represent the population of disadvantaged and minority students, who would be most
negatively affected, into the boards and commission which set the policies and standards
affecting the status of all students; and,
WHEREAS, The Board of Trustees has chosen to ignore the recommendation of the Hispanic Commission
Report on Underrepresentation, which called for a study on how present and proposed
requirements have or will affect Chicano,, Black and Native American students; and,
WHEREAS, We philos9phically agree that high school students must be prepared for college, we do not
.
agree that the Chancellor's office can guarantee that every high school student in grades nine
through twelve will be equally informed, counselled, and encouraged to take and complete a
college preparatory program; and,
WHEREAS, We, the students of today are the vanguard of accessible education for furture generation of
CSU students and must do everything in our power to se~ accessible education maintained;
.. herefore be it,
RESOLVE, That the California State University, Fresno, Associated Students diligently and actively oppose
the proposed 1988 CSU admission requirements and demand a moratorium on the imposition
of those requirements until an extensive impact study on present and proposed requirements is
ma~e; be it,
FURTHER
RESOLVED, That the Associated Students president immediately present the issue to the California State
Student Association and utilize this body to meet the aforementioned imperative, and provide
means by which persons who may accurately and adequately present and support the opposition
of requirements to the CSSA, be present at all applicable CSSA conferences and committee
meetings. These persons will be subjected to approval by the Associated Students Senate.
I
-La Voz Endorsement
La Voz de Aztlan officially
endorses the resolution oppossing the 1988 College
Entrance Requirements.
We encourage our Raza to
support the student organizations that have come out
against this racist attack
upon our community. The
c;,n\y Y(~y...t~ .. c_
~u ~t~er~~t
such a move·iswith a united
front. Beware that our
community is not only
limited to Fresno, and as
such Chicano communities
in other areas are also
being attacked. We cannot
lose what we have work so
hard to again--access
to higher education, and
equality.
1
Salvadoran Health.Worker Tells Her Story
By Sherry Boschert
She is in her late 20's, a mother
of two, and a doctor. But she hasn't
.seen her children in a long time,
and was forced to leave her post at
the medical school in the capital of
El Salvador when the National
Guard attacked it in 1980, a group
of them chasi1lg her for nearly a
mile with their machetes.
Today her children are still in El
Salvador, and thP -uedical school is
still in ruins, but Veronica
Mercado (not her real name) has
come from Mexico to the U.S. with
a message of hope, and a plea for
help. As a representative of
CO PROSAL, the association of
health workers in El Salvador, she
is meeting with groups across the
United States to tell them of the
past year's accomplishments, and
to ask for continued support.
Veronica described COPROSALs program of training people
to be health promoters during an
interview · in San Francisco with ·
the Committee for Health Rights in
·central ' Ameri,ca. Similar to
Nic;:aragua's training for health ,
brigadistas, CO PRO SAL provides
health education for the general shift its focus from preventive
population, many of whom cannot medicine to acute care, dealing
with injuries and the effects of the
read or write.
Three levels of training advance war.
from sanitation and preventive
medicine to ~urgery and work in
hospitals. Two objectives guide
this work, says Veronica: "To help
relieve the scarcity of doctors in El
Salvador, and to involve the
COPROSAL people themselves in
health, .education , and production."
The scarcity of health care is an
every-day crisis in El Salvador.
"Two hundred doctors and nurses
~··. ··:~f ..
have been killed since 1980,'' says
Veronica. "We're playing a larger
,· .·1
.
1
~,,.·.·.'.·.·.,......
role in tending to people ... The
.
='·
"
popuTar war has intensified, and
.~ - _ _ fliJt
the resp<;mse of the government
has been to increase repression,
especially the paramilitary groups
that Duarte doesn't have direct
control over.''
Though most of its work is done
Increased government bomb- in the liberated zones and areas of
ings, she asserts, have
· dispute where people h·ave no other
multiplied the demands on health access to health care, COPROSAL
providers by killing or wounding also provides some health care in
tnar:y bri~adista~ and civilians. A~ . , i½e citie~ q( ~1 .$?\\.'.qQ<;n: ..ThroµgJ-i. .
a result, CO'PROSAL has had to their main office in Mexico,
E
:.
~- ,1,:· ,•..._
llllD
Veronica works in a collective of
two women and four men to raise
medicines and materials.
"The work I'm doing is the best I
can do for the improvement of the
people as a whole, for the ones who
a re s u ff e r i n g . T h.i s i s t h e
motivation that many women
have in El Salvador today ," she
says. Many of the brigadistas
trained by COPROSAL are
women, and she points out that
when the medical school was open,
40 percent of students were female.
From · her experiences in the
liberated zones, Veronica feels that
there is a greater acceptance of
women's participation there than
has traditionally been allowed in
the rest of El Salvador. "Before, the
woman was left aside, but now
they've created a mechanism for
women to participate directly, and
women are developing capacities
they didn't know they had," she
says. ''In the zones of control, most
of t h e , ,pop. u 1~.t.i o, r:i h as a
consciousn'ess of the revolutionary
process . Tney riot only accept, but
they promote the full incorporation
of. the woman. We can't say that
.
.
. . .See Worker, page 7
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
page 3
Hernandez RemembersThe P-ast
By Jaime Juarez
Staff Writer
Name: Robert Hernandez
Position: Director of EOP
Birthplace: Dinuba California
Birthdate: September 27, 1948
Education: B.A., M.A.-- CSUF
Years on staff: 14
Robert Hernandez is the youngest
of six children born to farm laboring
parents. He grew up in the barrio of
Dinuba and as a result has come to
know the importance of education.
"When I was growing up, all the
guys went into the army after [high]
school; it was just a given," Hernandez recalls, "but I wanted to go
to·[college]."
Hernandez did just that. Despite
the increasing war effort in Vietnam,
he enrolled into Reedley College in
1967. After two years and a little
encouragement from is sister, he
Transfered to Fresno State College
under the newly created Educational Opportunity Program.
"Coming to Fresno State back
then scared the heck out of every-
Robert Hernandez
EOP Director
one," said Hernandez, "especially
those of us coming from small
communities."
Hernandez received h_is bachelors
degree in Enviromental Health in
1971 and took a staff position at
EOP. In 1980, Hernandez received
his M.A. in Health Education and
the same year became acting Director of EOP, after Manuel Perez left
to become assistant Dean of
Students.
The following year, Hernandez
applied for the permanent position
of director and received the job.
Over the last sixteen years at
CSU-Fresno, Hernandez has seen
many changes; however, one thing
which pleases Hernandez is the stability of programs like EOP, Black
Studies, and La Raza Studies.
"I remember one year the President fired all the faculty of the La
Raza and Black Studies programs;
and if it hadn't been for the student
movements and protests, we wouldn't
have those programs ....
From 1969 to 1971 there were
four different directors at EOP.
Now La Raz~, Black Studies, and
EOP have been around for fifteen
years," said Hernandez.
Another change Hernandez has
seen has been the devisification of
students.
"Today we're not as clqse as we
were back in the early '70s," said
Hernandez, "but that doesn't mean
the students aren't as involved or
interested as they were back then."
He mentioned that "we have had
two EOP Students become Associated Student Body Presidents ...
back then, if you were involved in
student government you were a sellout or a ·vendido. "
Today [Chicano and Black] students are deeply involved in their
-0wn areas; we have a former EOP
student who will soon graduate from
medical school and another who is
among the top of his class at law
school."
With admiration, Hernandez said
"that's really good to see.",! '
The problem Hernandez foresees,
however, is that, "the potential is
The problem Hernandez foresees,
however, is that, "the potential is
·here for people to forget what others
did in the past.
"Back then some students sacrificed
themselves to create opportunities,"
says Hernandez, "but for many students today, who were only four or
five years old back then, that's
ancient history."
For a husband and father of two,
there is too much at stake to forget.
He has learned the importance of
educational opportunity, and now
he teaches it to others.
For Robert Hernandez, the key
word in education has been opportunity.
Central American Women's Movement
Albert Robles
Staff Writer
"Women and Liberation" was the
focus of a panel examining the
various struggles of Central American
women.
_The panel w~ part.of ~h~ edu~ftonal
forums on Latin America sponsored
by Las Adelitas, Campus Latin American
Support Committee, MEChA, and
the Student Christian Movement
(i.e. the Campus Sanctuary Coalition).
Consisting of three women, the
panel presented views on the situation
facing women in Nicaragua and Ej
Salvador, the roles they play within
their respective country's revolution;
and the worK oone through solldanty
activity in the U.S.
Carol Wells; a representative of
the Nicaragua Task Force, opened
her presentation with a historical
synopsis of Nicaragua's economic
and political development. She
described Nicaragua as the most
underpopulated nation in Central
America with an overall population
density comparable to that of Iowa.
When U.S. Banking corporations
took over much of the country's
land during the early 1920s, she
stated that the Marines invaded ten
times in order to maintain "economic
access."
An uprising that Wells desribed as
the first guerrilla war in the western
hemisphere took place in 1926 as a
response to the Marines'presence in
the country.
In 1934, the Marines were forced
to withdraw and Somoza was installed,
as Wells stated, with financial backing
from the Rockefeller Corporation.
Under Somoza, illiteracy was as
high as 56% (80% for women in the
countryside), and health care was
nearly non-existant. After the revolution, Well said that illiteracy was
reduced to less than twelve
percent and a public health
campaign succeded in •eliminating
polio in 1982.
· Wells went on to describe the
triple exploitation common to most
third world women: high unemployment and unequal pay, sexual
harassment, and forced steril
ization.
The women's movement in
Nicaragua pre-existed the
revolution itself unlike those of
Cuba and Chile.
- W_ells
'
She also called attention to drugs
(i.e. birth control) that are banned in
the U.S. getting dumped into the
third world, anq to the high rate
male abandonment of their families.
According to Wells it wasn't
unusual, in Nicaragua, for a man to
have had twenty or thirty children
from different women.
However, after the revolution, she
TARGET
LEMOORE
SAT. APRIL 20-VIGIL
At the front gate of Lemoore Naval Air Station on Highway 198
2:00 p.m.
Sponsored by:
Sequioa Alliance-Visalia-209-733-8051 or 528-3839
Life on Planel Earth-Paso Robles-805-238-5011
said that female headed households
had dropped from 33% down to
15%.
The women's movement in Nicaragua,
said Wells, pre-existed the revolution
itself unlike those in Cuba and Chile.
She cited the myriad of social reforms
established by the government, which
abolished capital punishment;
outlawed prostitution; and outlawed
the exploitation of images of women.
In 1982, one of Nicaragua's more
controversial laws was passed which
_gave men equ~l responsibility for
the sha~-ing of domestic household
chores. Refering to a statement by
Tomas Borge, "we ne·ed to make
men share housework," Wells said
that this law (similar to the one in
Cuba) serves as a conscious·ness
raising tool.
·
Anna Foster, who is from San
Francisco,representingLaAsociacion
de Mujeres Progresistasde El Salvador,
an organization with roots in El
See movement, page 6
La Yoz de .A ztlan
Editor
Marcella Martinez
Staff
Maria Bergeron, Jaime Juarez,
Raul Moreno, Pat Reyes, Albert
Robles, Ben Zayas,
Photography
Akemi Miyama
Letters, short stories, poems, and articles, are welcome. We reserve the right to
edit materials. All material must be signed
and typed and remain property of La
Voz. Deadline/or submission is one week
be/ore printing.
.
We are located at C5U, Fresno, c/o
Daily Co/leigan, Keats Bid.
For more information, call 294-2486. ,
Page 4
Wednesday
La Voz de Aztlan
EXPRESIONE
(S
Ay, ·
Rern
We '
RELATO
Witl
Of o
Al apretar las tijeras de podar para cortar las 6ltimas ramas de
la ultima vifia del surco, sent{ que el dolor se hada mis y mls
intenso. Quise hacer un esfuerzo para terminar de podar. Todo
doblado pude cortar todas las ramas que quedaban, 'todas,
menos una, la mas bromosa, la que apuntaba a mi y que por eso
no pude cortar.
N o aguante mas. Ese dolor agudo, clavado en el lado derecho
del est6mago, me vencib y ca{ doblado, gemiendo de dolor y de
ansiedad para ver si alguien me escuchaba.
Fu_e mi ~ompadre Ram~n quiep me levanto' y m~ llevo al
hospital mas cercano que encontro. Entramos por un pasadiso
que tenfa miles y miles de letreros que creo dedan
"EMERGENCY"pero ten{an muchas flechas que ni mi compadre
ni yo podfamos saber cual seguir. Mi compadre me dejo all{
tirado y corrio siguiendo las flechas. Creo que lo vi pasar por
donde yo estaba unas dos o tres veces. Creo que no lograba saber
donde era quedaba "ENERGENCY."
,
I
A m1. se me h ac1an
eternas las horas. Me sent1a deshecho por
dentro, con ~n dolor intenso que no aminoraba un solo instante.
Al fin llego mi com padre gustoso de haber encontrado el lugar
buscado. Me tomo por los brazos y me abraz~ para asfuevarme
con el. Dimos tantas vueltas y seguimos tantas flechas que· yo
termine por perder el sentido.
. Pe~? pronto me ~espertaron. La mufhacha que interpretaba
me d1J?, que neces1t~~an saber si tema dinero para pagar la
operac1on, pues me dtJeron que eso necesitaba.
Nose me ocurrio nada l. fue mi compadre quien le prometi6
pagar si no yo, lo harfa el por m1. La secretaria nos vlia con
des~onfianza y dijo que para nosotros era mejor pedirle ayuda al
gob1erno, pero que en ese hospital no s~ admit(a eso.
No recuerdo exactamente como paso todo. S~lo me acuerdo
que mi ~ompadre les alego un rato, hasta que llego un policia y
nos saco del hospital.
--Y or~ q~e hacemos, dijo mi compadre.
--Aqm deJeme compadre. Yo ya no puedo seguir.
--Ya se--dijo mi compadre.
Me ll~v6 hasta otro hospital donde despu/s de buscar por largo
rato, ~u. com padre me llev6 a un sitio parecido al anterior. Todo
parec1a 1gual, todo menos mi compadre queen una vuelta al bafio
's~ habfa cami~do de camisa y se hab(a ,:trreglado el pelo. Hasta lo
v1 con la cam1sa abotonada hasta el ultimo boton. Pobre de il.
Ahora me recuerdo que por poco se ahorca de tan apretada que
✓
Rem
We
Fie!
Sat
with
Byt
✓
You
Lik1
Slia
Gre
Qu
Sou
traia la camisa. y pensar que lo hac(a todo por mC
Se acerco' a las secretarias y les habl6 de mr y de mi dolor. Yo ya
no pod(a ni hablar, tan solo miraba con la expresi6n de un
moribundo.
. Cuando le,reguntaron por el dinero, mi compadre respondi&
que el pagana y presento SUS papeles. Ademas, recuerdo que les
ofec(o un primer pago. Y lo vi sacar un fajo de billetes que con
gusto le aceptaron.
/
Nunca antes me hab1an atendido tan bien y tan rapido. Unas
amables
y me. prepararon
. enfermeras
, . me avudaron. a acostarme
.
.
tan b1e1. i tan rap1do que en vemte mmutos ya me poman a
dormir para operarme.
La pase bien en el hospital. Me trataban comoa todo un senor
ilustre. Pero pronto se llego el d(a de salida, dfa en que mi
compa<lre tenra que traer los miles y miles de dolares que faltaban
para pagar la operacion. Y pues de donde los sacaba el pobre si ni
sequiera hab(a tenido suficiente dinero para pagar su dorde y
renta ~e, la semana. Les e~plic6 que no tenfa dinero, pero
prometlo pagar
en pagos.
'ii
,
Se armo un gran ho, pues a los doctores no les gustaba nada lo
que mi compadre les sugida.
Am{que ya me tra1an en una silla de ruedas para llevarme a la
I
puerta, me empezaron allegar unos mareos de nuevo. Me sentla
mal, pero le dije a mi compadre, con voz alta para que me
escucharan todos, que all( me dejara, que al fin y al ·cabo la
pasaba bien all{. Al saber de mi voluntad los doctores y
enfermeras pusieron cara de muertos, pero tuvieron que dejarme
ir pues no iban a tenerme al11 toda la vida.
A mi compadre le dieron unos papeles que creo era la cuenta
que se deb{a. Le dijeron que se no pagaba pronto la cuenta subirfa
mucho porque los intereses estaban muy altos. El nomas bajo la
cabeza.
Ya ni siquiera me llevaron a la puerta en la silla de ruedas. El
doctor dijo que ya pod1a caminar. Y si pude, pues mi compadre
me ayudb.
En u9os d(as, me fui con mi compadre a trabajar. Mi com padre
empezo a podar un surco nuevo 'j yo me puse a buscar la rama
que me faltaba podar. Pero hab1a tanta niebla que no la pude
encontrar. Tuve que resignarme, y opte por empezar otro surco,
haciendome pensar que algun d[a ajustarfa las cuentas.
Raul Z. Moreno
Ay,
Rei
La.
An
1n 1
Lik',
Re
Th
In i
An
Lil
Y( '
S(
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
Page 5
CHICANAS
ogelio
in Michoacan)
n
backs of lizards
es
es?
m
e south
ermelon?
ed
ads
ts bottom
1ther
,r us all,
nd red
1 your
country
en
s?
en
SOY MUCHO MAS
No pasa semana alguna sin que alguien me pregunte, " De
donde eres?" Al oi'r mi respuesta, "Naci en los Estados Unidos.
Soy mexico-americana," casi siempre salen con otra pregunta: "
Pero de donde eres? · Que consideras mas, mexicana
o estadounidense?"
Por mucho tiempo preguntas como estas me hacfan dudar de
mi existencia. La inseguridad , causada por la bur la de los demAs,
ocasionaba preguntarme, " Quien soy? -E n d6nde pertenezco?"
espues de mucha angustia, mis preguntas por fin ban sido
respondidas. Yo soy de dos naciones; soy de dos culturas;
simplemente tengo el poder de ser dos personas en una.
Es posible ser de dos naciones? Claro que si. Aunque no pueda
vivir en dos lugares al mismo tiempo, puedo tener parte de los dos
en mi. Las dos razones mas obvias son las siguientes.
· En primer lugar, soy ciudadana de los Estados Unidos por
nacimiento. A la vez tambien soy de Mexico porque mis raices
estan atadas a el.
La cuestion de la identidad, en mi caso, nose puede contestar
tan facilmente. Decir que pertenezco a dos naciones implica que
de las dos he sido creada.·Porque no quiero negar ninguna de las
culturas de estos dos paises tan diferentes, he tenido que aprender
a vivir con las dos.
En mi manera de pensar cada cultura tiene valores e ideas que
son unicos y que a ia vez los caracterizan.
Por ejemplo, el nino mexicano aprende desde chico lo que es
tener union familiar. De esta union nace el respeto a los padres ya
las personas mayores.
De la cultura america11,a, de mi experiencia, aprendi que
cuando quiero algo tengo que pedirlo. Con esto no quiero decir
que no me va a importar el dano que haga para satisfacer mis
deseos.
(
u
~OU
elon?
e blood
mr hand
lue lips,
~
to Morelia
n my cou_n try
Perry Angle
Aqui es donde se ve lo bueno de la interaccion de las dos
culturas. Por ejemplo, cuando quiero expresar mis ideas, especialmente a personas como mis hermanos, lo puedo hacer de la
misma forma. Como? Con el respeto que aprendi de la cultura de
Mexico y el valor de expresar en voz alta mi opinion de·la cultura
de este pais.
·
Para poder seguir adelante es preciso mencionar otros aspectos que son parte de la palabra cultura. Esto envuelve algo mas
que los valores. Tambien la musica, la comida, las festividades,
etc. hacen, o mejor dicho, son parte de la cultura. Que
afortunada me siento cuando puedo decidir entrehuevos rancheros o huevos con tocino para mi desayuno! Y e:i la noche cuando
escucho musica para dormir:ne puedo escoger entre eJ cantante
mexicano EMMANUEL o el grupo popular de lqs E.b.U.U.
JOURNEY.
Quizas algunos se imaginen que vivo una vida de confusion; de
identidades opuestas que siempre estan en conflicto. Al con
trario, cuando partae de mi se encuentra perdida siempre esta l&.
otra para orientarme. Y son muy raras las,veces que mis oidos no
estan c,ie acuerdo en la musica _que quieren escuchar.
Asi que, cuando me vuelvan a decir que no tengo identidad ni
cultura y que nunca sabre quien soy, ya se lo que les voy a
contestar. No, no tengo una identidad, tengo dos. No, no tengo
una cultura, tengo dos. No soy solo una persona. Soy mucho mas!
Jovita Castillo
Page 6
La Voz de Aztlan
Wednesday
"Most Outstanding Member"
they were the only club to give out a
student award, setting a precedent
for other l. T. student organizations
to follow.
The award is based on the students contributions to the club, and
this year the a ward was presented to
Adam Almazan. He has been active
in Mex-Tech now for a number of
years, and has spent much of his
time recruiting and organizing various activities.
He played a very important role
this year, along with other club
members, coordinating the publicity
for the LT. banquet. Adam has also
helped out with the Chicano Youth
Conference (Industrial Technology
Career Workshop) in January during the winter break; and he is presently looking forward to "Children's
Day," during Semana de la Raza.
Mex-Tech is here to help its students graduate from the I. T. program, but recruitment is also a concern of the club, even at the high
school level. Therefore, school visits
are being planned in the near future
to encourage minority students to
pursue a college education. At the
college level scholarships are an
added incentive for club members.
Business company presentations
are arranged at the meeting, and
representatives either come to school
or students visit the companies.
The club also plans to continue to
stay involved in Chicano cultural
activities on campus. Students are
encouraged to attend all meetingsThursdays at 6:30 p.m. in the college
union-it's never too late to join!
tragedy, or they have a romantic
image of being a guerrilla.
She's often asked about communism
about whether Cubans and Nicaraguans are involved in the struggle.
To this she says that "if being a
communist means struggling for
houses, food, land and their lives,
then I'm a communist." She also
declared that "I never saw one Cuban
or Nicaraguan, and that if the U.S.
found one Soviet gun the intervention [U:S; troop mobiiizati0n] would
have already begun."
By Jaime Nunez
Special to La Vaz
Mex-Tech (Mexican American
Students in Industial Technology)
participated in the annual banquet
of the Industrial Technology department,, on March 22, 1985. In the
past, the banquet's primary purpose
has been to honor students in various areas of interest, such as interior design, construction, manufacturing education, and the graducate
program.
But in the last few years, the original purpose to honor students, has
been enhanced with the presence of
various representatives from numerous companies.
This year the banquet was held at
Torino's Banquet hall, and 40 diffenent companies sponsored "a successful event." It was possible for
enthusastic students to have some
kind of formal contact with prospective employers.
To organize the program for the
eventful night, seven clubs, including Mex-Tech, helped with the
logistics.
This year Mex-Tech was in
charge of publicity and registration
forms. They also donated a door
prize and designated individuals to
Movementc
Akemi Miyama/ La Voz de Aztlan
Jaime Nunez, member of Mex-Tech, presents "The Most Outstanding
Member"award to Adam Almazan_at the annual Industrial Technology
Banquet.
serve as hosts to greet the company
representatives as they arrived.
At the awards banquet, the club
was one of four I. T. organizations to
present a student award. Last year
Mex-Tech presented the very first
"Most Outstanding Member"award
and a $100.00 scholarship. In fact,
and indifferent from this struggle,"
said Foster.
continued from page 3
She also mentioned that 40% of
Salvador, offered an analysis of the the FMLN is composed of women
situation faced by Salvadoran women; and enjoys a great deal of international
the history of AMPES; and the support.
Within the zones of control, she
necessity of sanctuary activity.
She stated that Salvadoran women stated that policies have been implemented
suffer one of the highest rates of to provide humane pyschological
malnutrition with a life expectancy conditions for raising orphaned children.
of 46 years. Moreover, like Nicaragua Women are also active within local
before the revolution, illiteracy is as government and cooperative brigades.
The final speaker, a Salvadoran
high as 80% for most women. There
is basically one doctor for every women, who only identified herself
I 0,000 women, 40% of whom are as Marta in order to keep her family
concentrated in the capital, and the background secret, spoke about the
third most common cause for hospital situation at the University of El
admission is botched abortions.
Salvador and her personal experience
Foster said that the Salvadoran as a Salvadoran Woman.
Through an interpreter, she stated
army practices a policy of genocide
upon its peasant population and that being a women in El Salvador is
that female prisoners are routinely different than in most other countries,
subjected to the most brutal tortures because Salvadoran women suffer
the same torture as do the men.
including rape and mutilation.
At 17, Marta was a student in El
These are the reasons~ she said,
why thousands of Salvadoran women Salvador when she came to identify
flee to the U.S. every year. Yet, only with the student and worker's movements.
2.45% ofthe applications for Salvadoran She spoke of her involvement in
refugees are approved, and mostly unions and strikes and her efforts in
to former Salvadoran military officials. organizing solidarity activities among
"In that sense the sanctuary movement students.
She said that being young is a
is crucial,"said Foster, "it is the only
crime
in El Salvador as the government
guarantee to life for thousands of
persecuted refugees from El Salvador see an enemy in every student. The
and other Central American countries." way one dresses can also be dangerous
AMPES, Fosters second point, because such things as jeans and
was formed in 1975 as a coalition of sneakers are regarded as rebel attire.
In 1980, the National Guard surrounded
other groups and organizations
active around different issues ofconcern th! University, and as a result students
to women and their families. Women couldn't leave the campus. More
in AMPES come from every sector than one thousand people were detained,
of Salvadoran society including as Marta claimed, without any food
peasants, factory workers, profes- available.
She said that the students received
sionals slum dwellers, mothers,
a lot of moral support from the
and housewives.
The organization's _politics ce1'ter mothers of the disappeared, many of
around, what Foster referred to as
whom never found their missing
an anti-racist, anti-imperialist perspective children (they would typically search
which views its struggle as playing for their children in clandestine
an integral part in the revolution.
cemeteries where security forces
"Faced with the suffering of their
would pile corpses.)
people, women in El Salvijdor k,n_qw
Marta said that people in,tpe U.S:
that they cannot remain detached · often fail to comprehend the .total
MEChA
Statewide
Conference
April 27-29, 1985
at
CSU, Sacrament
For more information contact:
Fresno State MEChA ,at
_____________________________
294-~8~8 (La 1:{aza St~~~es) _,
·
••..
t.
•
.
April 17, 1985
La Voz de Aztlan
Page 7
Photo-journalist Visits Nicaragua
A Wise old man once said, that
what one reads in the paper is only
half the truth, and to get the whole
picture one has to to see it for
himself
Felix Contreras, Channel 24 's
photo-editor, f o/lowed the advice
of the wise old man. He went to
Nicaragua to see for himself what
happens to a country in political
termoil.
In a recent interview with La Voz,
Contreras talked about his two weeks
in Managua, Nicaragua last
November. He talked about buying
cheese, toothpaste, and toilet paper
in the blackmarket, the only place
on~ can buy those commodities in
Nicaragua.
He spoke about the tension he felt
during the Nicaraguan elections;
meeting students preparing for the
coffee harvest; and about participating in political rallies, where music
by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson were heard, just before the
speakers arrived.
But, mostly about what every
Nicaraguense must feel, after a sonic
boomfrom one of the U.S. reconaissance planes was heard throughout
the city.
Tell us about the sonic boom.
"We were visiting the Sandinistas'
War Museum one day; and we went
outside to rest, when all of a sudden
there's this loud explosion. The soldiers stationed at different points outside the museum, quickly clicked off
the 'rifle safety' of their guns and just
tehS'ed ·ap. Feit- just a -second there
was total silence every where, and
then the curator of the museum
came out and dipatched them to go
search the area.
It was in the evening, when we
found out it was the first sonic boom
from the reconaissance plane that the
U.S. sent over.
Worker
My first reaction was fear, because
we thought of invasion. My second
reaction was just anger. Anger. .. at
Reagan; at his advisors; and at the
government, beause it was just psychological harassment.
[The sonic boom] continued for
four days. Each time it happened, it
was really frustrating not being able
to say to do anything about it. It
would happen at eight o'clock and
shake the whole house, ruining the
tranquility of the morning,"
There must be a strong antiAmerican feeling in Nicaragua?
·
"There really isn't an antiAmerican feeling at all. I detected a
lot of anti-Reagan. They know what
is responsible for what the problem
is. The government there makes it
specific when they talk about the
problem; it's always Reagan.
I'm assuming they don't want to
get an anti-American thing going,
because if you look at it in terms of
geopolitics they (the government)
need trade, and they need money to
build the country. We are one of the
richest countries in the world, and
they can't afford to alienate the people toward the U.S.
In blaming Reagan, they are correct, in a sense, because after all he is
the one making the policies.
Do Reagan's policies have such a
big influence in Nicaragua as we are
lead to believe?
"Oh yeah, it really does. It's very
stong. The sonic boom, and the
blockade are only some examples.
There's a shortage of a lot of stuff.
You can't get the bacis commodities,
because it's rationed. They are in a
state _of emergency and have been
for a number of years. That's the
effects of his policies.
Another direct result is that Nicaragua is putting money into defense
Akemi Miyama/ Lil Voz de Aztlan
- --
Felix Contreras, photo...:.editor for channel 24, speaks candidly about his
two week trip to Managua, Nicaragua last November.·
instead of into the country. There's
little money for reconstruction. They
still haven't rebuilt Mangua after the
earthquake in 1972. That was 12
years ago. Today there are sections
of Managua with destroyed buildings, and vacant lots filled with rubble where a house once stood. The
city looks like it did after the earthquake.
Also every week all around the
barrios in Managua and•the country, families are losing kids. We
know that there are contras and
Sandinistas. What we don't know is
See Contreras, page 8
RALLY
continued from page 2
everything is perfect, but it's
getting better.''
Though she is driven by the need
for the work done · through the
Mexico office , Veronica's
separation from her children colors
her life there with an ongoing
sadness. "This is the least sacrifice
I can make," she says quietly when
asked about her kids. "There are
plenty of people who have lost their
lives. For years, women have lost
their children to hunger and to the
Guardia. The Guardia look at
every single person , and if one
person in the family looks
suspicious, they kill everyone.
Their idea is to pull out the ideas by
the roots.''
Like many in her country,
Veronica is sustained by thoughts
of the future, and by hope: "That
some day my children will have
opportunities -- that all children
will have opportunities -- to
participate, to go to the University ..
Tha.t they will never have to suffer
.the effects of a government that is
a military dictatorship.''
· excerpt from "El Tecoloie,"
March, 1985
11
Public Hearing"
for
Higher College Entrance Requirements
Thursday April 18, 1985
starting at 9:30
a.m.
(Press Conference)
_/ AJRPORT.HOLIDAYJNN··
La Voz de Aztlan
Page8
N.E.S.T
of Directors issue assignments to
local FMLN supporters in an effort
to raise funds.
Pam Whalen of Fresno is one
continued from page 1
such support active in NEST
and
3. to strengthen the moral opposi- fundraisers that have been and will
tion to the U.S. interventionin El be held in the Central Valley.
Though NEST has supplied several
Salvador;
NEST will work jointly with organ- sister-cities with the necessities to
izations, individuals, and institu- grow corn and other agricultural
tions to raise funds to meet the needs products, Whalen said those crops
of the Salvadoreans who are slowly are ironically devastated by U.S.
but surely observing "The dawn of a huey helicopters.
According to Whalen, Berkeley
New Society."
Based in Berke~y, Nest's Board Mayor Eugene 'Gus' Newport re-
SANCTUARY.
continued from page 1
ing the situation in Central America
create conditions which evoke
humanitarian and religious-based
responses, and entangle people of of
good faith in criminal prosecution."
The Bishops statement continues
with "[the granting] of extended
voluntary departure to the victims... would be consistent with past
extensions of blanket extended
voluntary departure to nationals of
other strife-torn countries, such as
Poland, Uganda, and Hungary .... "
Sister Angela elaborating further
on the movement, stressed the need
for sanctuay, especially when
migrants from Mexico tend to shield
refugees at their place of employment · by answering questions for
them, thus keeping the INS from
confronting the refugees.
"They have a conscious understanding of the plight that Central
American refugees face," she said.
She also stressed the need for educational programs for people who
may not want to work with in the
movement, but who will support it. ,
"People will not people unless
they know the need," said Sister
Angela.
Ann Johnston, speaking about
the student role in the · sanctuary
movement, said it was two-fold.
"Basically what we are saying it
that the INS pr~ctises are illegal,
and that refugees, under the Refugee
Act of 1980, have the right to enter
the country for political asylum.
We are also saying that the policy in
Central America, especially El
Salvador and Guatemala,'are brutal
and unjust," Said Johnston.
She said that the campus sanctury
movement at Fresno State will
provide help to the refugees, and will
be prepare with bond money and
legal advice should the INS try to
apprend them.
Johnston will with a coalition of
four student groups and La Raza
Studies. She said the need for
sanctuay is vital, if the American
citizen are really going to learn about
an issue relavent to them.
Read
.. ,,.
LaVoz de .
Aztlan
cently declau~d San Antonio de los
Ranchos a sister-city and within a
month it was totally destroyed.
· "Lots of other American cities
were getting ready to support a
sister-city in El Salvador, but since
that happened we've all been
hesitant."
Despite these unfortunate occurances, Wbalen said that material
support has been given to hundreds
of towns within "liberated areas"
controlled by the FMLN.
While Reagan asks the American
people to support the escalation of
April 17, 1985
military aid to the Salvadorean
government, a growing number of
Americans are working diligently to
aid in the construction of strong,
self-sufficient, and liberated El
Salvador.
The Salvadoreans will inexorably
pursue their vision of a new and just
·society as they continue to expand
the area of popular .control and
establish local popular governments.
American imperialists will one day
find that they are not only unwelcome
in Cental America, they will also
discover that they are no longer able
to control an enlightened third worfd.
CHO
important for the students to learn, the development of "short
if they plan to enter any health educational films."
field."
"I think the Chicano community,~'
·s
h
t
f
th
·
d
,
said
"being more visuallyf
There l ope o ur er expan _ . Guzman, Id
continued from page 1
the proiect and ·
·1t f£ t •
onented, wou get more out · o
• J •
improve s e ec tve- seeing how easy it ·is to donate
enhance their communication skills. nesFs m_diftferentGways.
blood, rather than reading it from a
The students are becoming more proficient
or ms ance, uzman w~uld like pamphlet."
as bilingual speakers, while learning to see ~he do~ors have thetr blood
The number of pledge donation,
how to become assertive and competent drawn 1mmed1ately at VMC, rather she said continue to increase and
health care attendances.
than ple~~e. a ~loo~ donation. But, "we ho~e [that] the Chicano com~
According to Guzman, realizing the p_oss1b1hty 1s shght, because the munity, as well as the other sectors
"some will say no when asked to hosp1t~l lacks staff personal and of the community, will [continue] to
donate [blood], we quickly accept - financial funds.
.
increase the quality of health care to
their answer with no [more] quesS~e. wo_uld also hke to see more their commuities by ... donating ...
tions asked. I think this is extremely pubhc1ty m the Media to promote blood,"
really mention that she was mur- attitude toward these groups?
"It is a two sided answer. They are
dered or the reasons for her murder.
·
going
good w9rk, and the objective
But regarding Nicaraguense
of
the
work is good. If it weren't for
news ... sure there is news, but it is
Continued from page 7
these
groups
then people wouldn't
rest~icted. You have to take into
be
aware
or
educated
of the situaconsideration that the press is restion.
Because
of
these
groups
there
tricted because of the war. Because
are
many
Americans
there.
They
are
of the state of emergency the Sandibecause·there's a war going on, but nistas are critical as to what is printed working in house cooperatives. They
we (the Americans) don't see it as a
are teaching, cutting sugar cane, and
about the war on the border. building schools. So you see they are
war. We see it as skirmishes."
Then the U.S. media isn't protray- It is also restrictive of what is printed doing good.
about the government. But it (press
ing the situation accurately?
. __
The other side of the coin is a lot
"Some of it does and some of it restriction) is one of the thing that ·of these groups don't have accurate
doesn't. It depends on what you must be done in order to obtain the facts. For example, just after I
read, or which television station you end goal [building the revolution]. returned from Nicaragua, I went to
watch. You are not going to get an
How is Reagan treated by the a workshop on Latin America. The
accurate picture if you rely just on press? Have they taken an anti- people there said that the newly
CBS, the Nightly News, or NBC, as Reagan stance like the people or is it elected president was a priest. They
opposed to watching something like pro-Reagan?
_ were misinformed. There are two
PBS or listening to the _McNiel"Like I said before there are three priests in the junta, but the president
Leher report. They have people that newspapers_in Nicaragua. One is the isn't one.
are doing very accurate reporting. official voice of the Sandinista party
I don't know if it's because of the
You can get a pretty good picture of (La Barricada). The other is an sources they are relying on, or
what's going on down there, but not independent (El Nuevo Diario), and because ... they don't have enough
totally."
the third is La. Prensa, the opposi- time to get all their information
right. Their information isn't accuWhat about the Nicaraguense tion.
press, how is it treating its own
The Sandinista and independent rate, but that isn't to say, it all wrong.
situation?
Groups, like the Latin American
paper are more or less on the same
"Well .. .in the first place the three line: anti- Reagan. The opposition Support Committee, bring in the
newspapers down there are shoppers. is not so much anti-Reagan as they La.tin Americanfilm series-getting
They have more information on are critical of the government. They the information from the bottom line.
where sales are and what you can dedicate more space to criticizing
My attitude toward these groups
buy in those sales, than actual news. the Sandinistas than they do criticiz- is that it's a place to start from. You
For example, while I was down ing Reagan."
don't get the whole picture, just like
there, Indira Gandhi was murdered.
Reagan also receives hard criti- with the U.S. mainstream media,
The papers printed short pieces on cism from civil groups supporting but it's a_starting point."
her funeral and her son. They didn't Latin American causes. What is your
-Interviewed by Maria Bergeron
CONTRERAS