Latino USA; No. 2; 1993-08-08

[Maria Hinojosa]: This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture. I'm Maria Hinojosa. Today on Latino USA, the US Mexico border comes to the nation's capital. [Cynthia ?Viduardi?]:We're breaking a lot of preconceived ideas, a lot of biases that perhaps have been most influenced by the media. [Maria Hinojosa]: And remembering singer Hector Lavoe. [Nancy Rodriguez]: I could not believe the outpour of fans that came to pay their respects to Hector Lavoe. It was thousands and thousands of people waiting on line just to get in. [Maria Hinojosa]: And the voices of young playwrights. [teenager 2]: They're not all happy plays with happy endings. But we're not trying to say that the whole world is terrible. You know, that everything's terrible, that there's no hope for anything. [Maria Hinojosa]: That's all coming up on Latino USA. But first Las Noticias. [Maria Martin]: This is news from Latino USA. I'm Maria Martin. [man speaking]: Bienvenidos to [unclear] americanos... [Maria Martin]: History was made in Tucson, Arizona, when 76 Latino immigrants became naturalized U.S.

citizens in a ceremony conducted mostly in Spanish. [Man speaks Spanish in the background] English only groups had attacked the ceremony as unpatriotic. But Tucson immigration officials ruled it complied with laws allowing immigrants over the age of 50, in this country over 20 years, to take citizenship tests in their native language. [man speaking]: The law only requires that the oath of allegiance to the United States be taken in English. Anything else is permissible in another language. We thought it was only right that we do it in their language so they can understand the, and experience the full ceremony. [Maria Martin]: Nationwide, as many as six million Latino legal residents are eligible for U.S. citizenship. The seizure of a number of Florida based vessels in Cuban waters, including one incident in which three people reportedly lost their lives, has focused attention on the increasingly dangerous and lucrative business of smuggling people from that island. Emilio San Pedro reports. [Emilio San Pedro]: This year alone, more than 1100 Cubans have been rescued off the Florida coast by the U.S. Coast Guard. Many of these have received help from smugglers in the U.S.

In some cases, these smugglers have reportedly earned up to ten thousand dollars for smuggling refugees out of Cuba. Damian Fernandez of Florida International University says that in addition to the for profit operations, there are also many cases of families trying to help their relatives leave Cuba. [Damian Fernandez]: These operations break both Cuban law and U.S. law, as well as international law. One of their consequences is that they jeopardize and feed the fire and the tension between the United States and Cuba. [Emilio San Pedro]: So far, seven U.S. residents have been arrested by the Cuban government. Only one has been identified as a U.S. citizen by the State Department. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro. [Maria Martin]: The recent murder of a Roman Catholic cardinal in Guadalajara, Mexico, is being linked to a gang in San Diego. Law enforcement officials say at least six members of the Calle Treinta gang were the hired killers for a Tijuana drug cartel, led by the Ramon Arellano family

from San Diego. Maria ?Arana? has more. [Maria ?Arana?]: Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo and six other persons were accidentally killed when gunmen hired by a Tijuana drug cartel mistakenly opened fire on the cardinal's limousine. Law enforcement officials say that members of the Calle Treinta gang were hired by the Arellano brothers to kill a rival drug lord, Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Guzman was believed to be the target when Cardinal Posadas was shot last May 24th. For Latino USA, I'm Maria ?Arana? in San Diego. [Maria Martin]: You're listening to news from Latino USA. It may not be election time, but Democrats and Republicans are wooing Latinos. In a briefing held for the Hispanic press in Washington, Democratic National Committee Chair David Wilhelm announced A Salud Para Todos campaign to win Hispanic support for the president's health care plan and also a major drive to increase Latino voter participation.

[David Wilhelm]: We are going to be very much involved in encouraging citizenship and encouraging participation among that new huge voting bloc. [Maria Martin]: Meanwhile, several recent press reports say it's the Republicans who are making inroads among traditionally Democratic Latino voters. Cited are results of exit polls done in November by the Southwest Voter Research Institute in San Antonio. But institute director Robert Brischetto says the press reports misconstrue the data about Latino voter preferences. [Robert Brischetto]: There certainly was a change in party identification among Latinos that showed up on our exit polls both in California and Texas. But the shift was a decline in identification with either of the two major parties and an increase in independents. Independents more than doubled. Now, about one in four Latino voters are independent. [Maria Martin]: Brischetto also says recent electoral victories by Republicans in Texas and California, Kay Bailey Hutchison for the Senate and Richard Riordan for L.A.'s

mayor, had less to do with increased Latino support than with more Anglos coming out to vote and with greater polarization between Anglos and Latinos and other minorities along party lines. [Robert Brischetto]: Indeed Latino politics is still pretty much controlled by the Democrats but it certainly could change and I think that it depends a lot on the extent to which the parties make an effort to run Latino candidates and address Latino issues. [Maria Martin]: Robert Brischetto of the Southwest Voter Research Institute. I'm Maria Martin with news from Latino USA. [Maria Hinojosa]: I'm Maria Hinojosa. On the Fourth of July, at the Spanish Colonial Governor's Palace in San Juan, Puerto Rico's pro-statehood governor, Pedro Rosselló, signed a bill which calls

for a plebiscite to be held this November to decide Puerto Rico's political future. With us on the phone from San Juan to talk about what this latest step means for Puerto Rico is political analyst Juan Manuel García Passalacqua. It seems that the Puerto Rican people are forever voting on or debating or talking about whether they want to be a state, remain a commonwealth or be granted their independence. Now, is there anything different about the process that began with Pedro Rosselló, the governor's latest effort? [Juan Manuel García Passalacqua]: Number one, it's the first time ever that a pro-statehood government controls the executive, both chambers of the legislature with an ample majority and 60 of the 78 municipalities in the island. In other words, this is the first time, again, since 1898 in which statehood is obviously the possible winner of a plebiscite in Puerto Rico. The second thing is that after Congress failed to implement

the US oriented plebiscite, which died in the Senate two years ago, the United States has to get its act together to respond to what unilaterally the people of Puerto Rico are going to say on the 14th of November of this year. I have said, in my column in The Miami Herald, that this is the moment in which finally the irresistible force meets the immovable object. [Maria Hinojosa]: So what happens with the US Congress when they get the decision on November 14th of what the Puerto Rican people decide? What role does the US Congress have to play this time? [Juan Manuel García Passalacqua]: What's happening at this point is that Congressman Jose Serrano, a Puerto Rican from New York, has introduced a resolution that will be discussed in the House Interior Committee, that in effect does two things. Number one, recognizes the right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination. And number

two, commits the Congress to respond to the expression of the will of the people of Puerto Rico so that the people of Puerto Rico will next year know exactly what the reaction of the Congress has been to whatever wins in November of this year. [Maria Hinojosa]: Now, Juan Manuel, the fact is, is that Puerto Rico has been struggling with this issue for many years. [Juan Manuel García Passalacqua]: Absolutely. [Maria Hinojosa]: It's an island where we've had Spanish declared the official language at times. Other times, English has been taught forcibly in the schools. [Juan Manuel García Passalacqua]:That's right. [Maria Hinojosa]: Can Puerto Rico, in fact, become the 51st state of the United States? And how does that look in the future? [Juan Manuel García Passalacqua]: Well, the statehood movement itself, Maria, has announced that only one senator, Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, has already committed himself to submit enabling legislation if statehood is voted on by the people. On the other hand, my own polls of the Senate indicate that 29 senators will oppose

the granting of statehood offhand and from the very beginning. So here we have a very lopsided thing. I mean, we already have 29 names that will oppose statehood, only one that will favor it. But I think that, you know, the issue is not really whether statehood will be granted or not. The issue is that the Sphinx will be forced to speak, that the Senate will, in effect, respond and take a position on the admission of Puerto Rico as a state of the union. [Maria Hinojosa]: Pues muchas gracias Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua, a columnist for the Miami Herald and a political commentator in Puerto Rico. Muchas gracias, Juan. [music] [Maria Hinojosa]: Hollywood movies and television commercials often give us quick, concise images of people and places along the US Mexico border.

Going beyond those media made notions towards real understanding is difficult, even impossible, without firsthand contact. In the nation's capital. There was an attempt to go beyond those media images of the border. It was part of the Smithsonian Institution's Annual Festival of American Folklife. But as Frank Contreras reports from Washington, real cultural understanding required more than a taste of border foods or the sounds of border music. [Frank Contreras]: Some young guys from Mexicali were standing in a crowd between the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. They wore baggy pants. Some had dark glasses and others headbands pulled way down low. To some people they looked like gangsters. But they're not, they're cholos, with a distinctive style of dress that comes straight from the border. Suddenly, they started speaking Spanish out loud. [man speaking Spanish] [man speaking]: The Border Patrol goes through here every day.

Let's take our [unclear] out at them. [person speaking Spanish in background] [Frank Contreras]: Then from behind a food stand were some beans we're cooking. A guy came out wearing all white with a pointed hood, Klan style.[voices in background] It was the border patrol chasing down one of the cholos. People watching, realized it was a play by a theater group from Mexicali, a border town south of California. The actors were hitting one of the main issues on the border, immigration. Their translator is ?Kike Aviles?. [?Kike Alviles]: I know a lot of people complain that they don't understand, because the show is being done in Spanish. But at the same time, you know, that's what life is, you know? Well, Latinos come here. We don't understand either. So, you know, we're talking about that last night. It's sort of like returning the favor. [laughs]. [Frank Contreras]: A woman walked past us dressed like the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. She went past a display where a man was making guitars by hand, past a group of muralists from El Paso who were painting an eagle, and over to a food stand where a Black woman who speaks only Spanish was serving tamales and Tecate beer.

And next to her was a woman from Texas. [Cynthia ?Viduardi?]: We're breaking a lot of preconceived ideas, so a lot of biases that perhaps have been most influenced by the media. Cynthia ?Viduardi? teaches at the Southwestern Borderlands Cultural Studies and Research Center in Kingsville, Texas. She says the American Folklife Festival in Washington is an opportunity not only for people who've never seen the border, but also for people who've come here from the border to share their cultures. [Cynthia ?Viduardi?]: The rest of the world perceives us what the media makes us out to be, the movies, the news. And they're really thrilled to have a chance to say, this is who we are, we are living, breathing human beings that have the same needs as you do. We just take care of those things in a slightly different fashion. [Frank Contreras]: That sounds fairly straightforward. And some people walked away from here with more understanding about the people of the borderlands, but not without some effort. At one display, Romy Frias of El Paso was trying to explain to some people from Delaware what a low rider is. You know, a highly stylized car, usually an older model with small, thin tires, maybe a mural painted on the hood and lowered about

an inch from the pavement. [Romy Frias]:[laughing] I tell people that it's really going to mess you up. You're doing about 55 and there's this monster pothole and you've got about an inch clearance. I've had a lot of friends that faced that situation and unfortunately had to learn the hard way. [Frank Contreras]: Later, under a shaded area, there was a storytelling session. It was supposed to be about women on the border. An Indian woman from the Mexican side sat on the left. On the right was a white woman who works for the U.S. Border Patrol. In the middle of the two women, sat a university professor. He was monopolizing the discussion. Then, at another storytelling session about immigration, the professor was taking over again. Some people in the back were saying it was typical. Here's this white male, the expert, not letting the others talk. After the session, I went over to him and learned his name is Enrique Lamadrid, a man of mixed races whose family migrated to the Americas from France and Spain. Like many others along the border, his family goes back generations. Lamadrid says he saw many surprised people at the Folk Fest who learned of the amazing

cultural diversity along the border. [Enrique Lamadrid]: I mean, just the amazement that you can see in people's faces when they encounter these two black women over here from the from the black Seminole community. They are they are Mexicans. So this is, these are really, these are really complex cultural entities. [Frank Contreras]: Complex, like the land where they live. The border is often characterized by clashing cultural forces. Lamadrid says people living on the border cross the international boundary daily. But it's no big deal because it's part of their daily life. And, he said the people living along the 2000 mile separating line did not come to the border. It came to them. Then he mentioned a series of treaties between the U.S. and Mexico dating back to the late 1800s. It's a complex history, a balancing act, he says, because the needs of border people compete with the national needs of Washington and Mexico City. And the result of that struggle is border culture. [Enrique Lamadrid]: But culture isn't isn't in your blood. Culture is something that you that you learn

culture, culture and identities are things that are negotiated and and forged every day of our lives as we live our lives out in specific areas of the country. [Frank Contreras]: Lamadrid told me about a sewer line that broke during the festival Sunday morning. Smelly, dark sewer water flooded a small area around some of the exhibits. He and the others said it reminded them of some border towns where pollution has become a major problem. But on the day the sewer broke, people taking part in the American Folklife Festival this year continued their efforts to share their life's experiences as the smell and humidity surrounded them. For Latino USA, I'm Frank Contreras in Washington. [instrumental music] [instrumental music] [instrumental music continues] [Maria Hinojosa]: Esperanza or hope. It's said that's one thing young people living

in this day and age often lack. But in San Antonio, Texas, a group of teenagers is creating theater that expresses a measure of hope for the future, even admits the reality of drugs, gangs, identity questions, and homelessness. Along with Lucy Edwards, Latino USA's Maria Martin prepared this report. [male voice]: grupo animo [sound of gavel?] [Maria Martin]: It's the Friday afternoon at Fox Technical High School in San Antonio.[laughing in background] Young members of the acting troupe El Grupo Animo ages 13 to 18 have come together to start rehearsing their new production. The group's name derives from the Spanish word meaning spirit, energy, and a desire to inspire. And the drama they're preparing is written and performed by the kids themselves. [male voice]: "All the young women in the piece, over here" [various voices in background]: "identity? yeah." [Maria Martin]: The drama and production is called "I Have Hopes, Hopes That Keep Sacred in My Soul".

It's a series of vignettes, tales of young people, much like the members El Grupo Animo, facing life's challenges and learning to cope. [teenager 1]: It's about a young girl who gets pregnant and she has to tell her parents, because both of us know so many girls who have already gotten pregnant and it's it's not looking better or anything. [teenager 2]: I'm 17 years old and I wrote about the homeless. So much we can learn from our people. They've gone through rough times. And by that, a lot of them are on the streets and we don't even care about them. [teenager 3]: I decided to bring up the issue of teenage homosexuality because Hispanic, Mexican-American families, it's hard. It's harder for them to deal with it. There's a lot of tradition and a lot of the tradition is built around the male role model and the female role model. [Maria Martin]: 14 year old Michaela Diaz, along with Guadalupe Escovedo and Victoria Rivera, are among the nine playwrights who make up El Grupo Animo. 16 year old Priscilla ?Wyatt? wrote about a young gang member. [Priscilla]: He's dealing

with the pressures of being tied to his gang, but then wanting to get out and be free and lead the life that he wants to lead, that the gang doesn't allow him to. [male actor]: "You don't understand. Well, what if they come after me? They know where I live." [female actor]: "They're tearing you apart. They mess around with people's lives like it's nothing. You can't be afraid to be who you are. Don't keep it down forever. I hate them." [George Emilio Sanchez]: You know, it's really a lot of what's going on in their minds and in their lives, but they never have a place to talk about it. [Maria Martin]: Director George Emilio Sanchez of New York is working with the young playwrights and actors of El Grupo Animo. [George Emilio Sanchez]: It takes a lot of courage to be a young person. It takes a hell of a lot of courage to say, yeah, I'm I'm young, I don't know everything, and I want to be alive. Boom. That, to me is like heroic. I think individually, if you read the things they write, no, I don't think they have a lot of hope. [Maria Martin]: But still, say the kids, their stories do express hope as the title of their collective work indicates.

[teenager 3]: Even though we're sad and depressed about it I think there's always that that bright side and that hope that we have. And that's just what the whole play is about. [teenager 2]: That's why I think that the name of it "I Have Hope, Hopes I Keep Sacred In My Soul" is what we're using. They're not all happy plays with happy endings, but we're not trying to say that the whole world is terrible, you know, that everything's terrible, that there's no hope for anything, even though we know what reality is, you know, we still feel that there can be a change. You know, that there will be a change. And if anybody we'll be the ones who will do that, and that's our message, basically. [Maria Martin]: El Grupo Animo's production of "I Have Hopes, Hopes That Keep Sacred In My Soul" runs through July 17th at San Antonio's Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. The center's theater director, Jorge Pina, calls the troupe the next generation of Chicano teatristas. For Latino USA, with Lucy Edwards in San Antonio, I'm Maria Martin. [music] [Maria Hinojosa]: Hector Lavoe, one of salsa's superstars, known worldwide as

"el cantante de los cantantes" and the Latin Sinatra died in New York City, June 29th, after a lifetime of music and tragedy. Thousands poured into the streets at his funeral in New York. Fans and musicians, they all came to pay tribute to Hector Lavoe. From New York, Mandalit del Barco prepared this remembrance of a salsa legend. [voice in background and crowd noises] [Mandalit del Barco]: Hector Lavoe was known to his fans as "el cantante de los cantantes", el sonero de los soneros, the singer of singers. [song "Mi Gente]: "Mi gente, Lo más grande de este mundo, siempre me hacen sentir, un orgullo profundo" [Mandalit del Barco]: On stage with Willie Colón's band and with his own orchestra, he would often urge the crowds to join him in celebrating the people of Latin America. 'Mi gente', he called them, 'my people'. [Yomo Toro]:He had a clear voice, Hector style, beauty, very clear voice.

Diction was very clear. Cuatro player, Yomo Toro, remembers being in Willie Colón's band with Hector Lavoe, who used to proudly call himself a jibaro, a hick from Puerto Rico. [Yomo Toro]: Hector was a boy that used to love to be with the poor people. He don't mess with their big, you know, society, you know, he don't go for that too much. You know, sometimes he joke, improvising. Sometimes he came became serious, improvising. The town El Pueblo, love it very much. So Hector was like an idol to the people. [Mandalit del Barco]: Even Lavoe's reputation for making his fans wait for hours didn't affect his popularity, [Yomo Toro]: The dance start ten o'clock in the night. I had to show up about twelve o'clock, two hours after, you know. [laughs] People was there waiting for Hector and the band was playing along. And I hate to think they started screaming to Hector very happy. And they forget about he came late. And anyway [unclear] he used to say all his words. 'It's not that I came late it's because the reason is that you came

too soon.' [laughs] [song "La Murga"]: "Eeeh, vamos a bailar la murga, la murga de Panamá. Esto es una cosa fácil y muy buena pa' bailar". [Mandalit del Barco]: Hector Lavoe was born Héctor Juan Pérez into a musical family of singers in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1946. When he was barely six years old, he would sit by the radio shouting out jibaro songs with singers like Daniel Santos and Chuíto el de Bayamón. Eventually, he left for New York and was soon discovered by Johnny Pacheco of Fania Records, who teamed him up with Willie Colón. Pianist Joe Torres worked with Hector Lavoe for 25 years. First in Willie Colón's band, then Lavoe's own orchestra. [Joe Torres]: And he was a good guy to work with. You know, he would come in and he would party. You always enjoyed playing. That's one thing you did. You looked at his best. Guys were happy on the stage. [Mandalit del Barco]: Percussionist Milton Cardona remembers how crazy the stage shows could get, like one New Year's Eve gig. [Milton Cardona]: Hector comes out and says, well, the queen

of welfare just asked us to, you know, to play that [unclear]. It started a riot. Before we know it, we're up on the bandstand fighting off just about every guy in that club. I mean, it was like the Alamo. And that's when Hector got his jaw broken, Willie got knocked out unconscious. That was another good night too, yeah. [Mandalit del Barco]: Former Latin New York magazine publisher Izzy Sanabria wrote a biography of Lavoe for a new compilation disc. [Izzy Sanabria]: But all of a sudden he was he was a nobody and boom, immediately made it. And all this attention was too much for him. [Mandalit del Barco]: He says while Lavoe sang of life in the streets of Puerto Rico, in New York, his own life was filled with tragedies. [Izzy Sanabria]: Well, his mother died when he was quite young. As far as his brother died as a drug addict on the streets of New York. His 17 year old son got killed by an accident, the gunshot. His mother-in-law was found stabbed to death in her apartment. I mean, it's just, you know, his house burned down, you know,

all kinds of stuff that, you know. I think when he jumped, supposedly jumped out of a window in Puerto Rico. By Puerto Rico, I mean, that was probably some of the stuff that he couldn't take anymore. I mean, you know, he just went through a lot of stuff. [Mandalit del Barco]: Lavoe never quite recovered from his 1988 suicide attempt and his drug addiction. He spent his last years in hospitals with an amputated leg and living with AIDS. Lavoe was in the hospital listening to a radio tribute to his life and music when he suffered the first of two heart attacks that finally killed him. After hearing of his old friend's death, Willie Colón said all of Latin America cried for the hero of poor people. He called himself a martyr, a monster we helped create. Forgive us, Hector, he wrote in the statement from Spain. [song "La Cantante]: "Si no me quieren en vida cuando muera no me lloren. (Hoy te dedico mis mejores pregones) Yo te canto de la vida, olvida tus penas y tus ..." [Mandalit del Barco]: Nancy Rodriguez, co-host of New York's WBAI radio show Con Sabor Latino, aired a tribute

to Lavoe after his death. She was also at his wake. [Nancy Rodriguez]: I could not believe the the outpour of fans that came to pay their respects to Hector Lavoe. It was to me like going to a parade, a Puerto Rican Day Parade. It was thousands and thousands of people waiting on line just to get in with Puerto Rican flags. They were carrying flowers, everything that represented Puerto Rican. [Mandalit del Barco]: The funeral procession wound its way through el barrio in the Bronx for almost three hours before getting to the cemetery. Surrounded by fans, and true to form, Hector Lavoe was even late to his own burial. He might have said it wasn't that he was late, but that death came too early. For Latino USA, Mandalit del Barco in New York. [music] [Maria Hinojosa]: And for this week, y por esta semana, this has been Latino USA,

the radio journal of news and culture. Latino USA is produced and edited by Maria Emilia Martin. The associate producer, is Angelica Luevano. We had help this week from Vidal Guzman, ?Elena Casada?, John Carrillo, and Neal Rauch. Latino USA is produced at the studios of KUT in Austin, Texas. The technical producer is Walter Morgan. We want to hear from you. So why don't you call us on our toll free number? It's 1-800-535-5533. That's 1-800-535-5533. Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the University of Texas at Austin. Y hasta la proxima, until next time. I'm Maria Hinojosa for Latino USA. [Maria Martin]: Que tal stations, I'm Maria Martin with a modular segment for this week's edition of Latino USA.

Segment number one runs three minutes, 59 seconds. Latino USA host Maria Hinojosa speaks with Puerto Rican political analyst Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua about Governor Pedro Rosselló's recent signing of a bill calling for a plebiscite in November to decide the island's future political status. The suggested lead in three, two, one. On the 4th of July, Puerto Rico's pro-statehood governor Pedro Rosselló, signed a bill which calls for a plebiscite to be held this November to decide the island's political future. Latino USA host Maria Hinojosa talks to political analyst Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua about what this latest step means for Puerto Rico. [Maria Hinojosa]: It seems that the Puerto Rican people are forever voting on or debating or talking about whether they want to be a state, remain a commonwealth or be granted their independence. Now, is there anything different about the process that began with Pedro Rosselló, the governor's latest effort? [Juan Manuel García Passalacqua]: Number one, it's the first time ever that a pro-statehood government

controls the executive, both chambers of the legislature with an ample majority and 60 of the 78 municipalities in the island. In other words, this is the first time, again, since 1898 in which statehood is obviously the possible winner of a plebiscite in Puerto Rico. The second thing is that after Congress failed to implement a US oriented plebiscite which died in the Senate two years ago, the United States has to get its act together to respond to what unilaterally the people of Puerto Rico are going to say on the 14th of November of this year. I have said, in my column in The Miami Herald, that this is the moment in which finally the irresistible force meets the movable object. [Maria Hinojosa]: So what happens with the US Congress when they get the decision on November 14th of what the Puerto Rican people decide?

What role does the US Congress have to play this time? [Juan Manuel García Passalacqua]: What's happening at this point is that Congressman José Serrano, a Puerto Rican from New York, has introduced a resolution that will be discussed in the House Interior Committee that in effect does two things. Number one, recognizes the right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and number two, commits the Congress to respond to the expression of the will of the people of Puerto Rico so that the people of Puerto Rico will next year know exactly what the reaction of the Congress has been to whatever wins in November of this year. [Maria Hinojosa]: Now, Juan Manuel, the fact is, is that Puerto Rico has been struggling with this issue for many years. [Juan Manuel García Passalacqua]: Absolutely. [Maria Hinojosa]: It's an island where we've had Spanish declared the official language at times. Other times, English has been taught forcibly in the schools. [Juan Manuel García Passalacqua]: That's right. [Maria Hinojosa]: Can Puerto Rico, in fact, become the 51st state of the United States? And how does that look in the future?

[Juan Manuel García Passalacqua]: Well, the statehood movement itself, Maria, has announced that only one senator, Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, has already committed himself to submit enabling legislation if statehood is voted on by the people. On the other hand, my own polls of the Senate indicate that 29 senators will oppose the granting of statehood offhand and from the very beginning. So here we have a very lopsided thing. I mean, we already have 29 names that will oppose statehood, only one that will favor it. But I think that, you know, the issue is not really whether statehood will be granted or not, the issue is that the Sphinx will be forced to speak. That the Senate will in effect, respond, and take a position on the admission of Puerto Rico as a state of the union. [Maria Hinojosa]: Pues muchas gracias. Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua, a columnist for the Miami Herald and a political commentator in Puerto Rico. Muchas gracias, Juan.

[Maria Martin]?: Segment number two runs five minutes, 32 seconds. From Washington, Frank Contreras reports on the focus on border culture at the Smithsonian Institution's Annual Festival of American Folklife. The suggested lead in three, two, one. Hollywood movies, news reports and television advertising often give us quick, concise images of people and places along the US Mexico border. Going beyond those media made notions toward real understanding is difficult, even impossible, without firsthand contact. Recently in the nation's capital, there was an attempt to push past media images of the border. It was part of the Smithsonian Institution's Annual Festival of American Folklife. But as Frank Contreras reports from Washington, real cultural understanding required more than a taste of border food or the sounds of border music. [Frank Contreras]: Some young guys from Mexicali were standing in a crowd between the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. They wore baggy pants, some had dark glasses, and

others headbands pulled way down low. To some people they looked like gangsters. But they're not, they're cholos, with a distinctive style of dress that comes straight from the border. Suddenly, they started speaking Spanish out loud. [man speaking Spanish] [man speaking in Spanish, continues] [man speaking]: The Border Patrol goes through here every day. Let's take our [unclear] out at them. [person speaking Spanish in background] [Frank Contreras]: Then from behind a food stand where some beans were cooking. A guy came out wearing all white with a pointed hood Klan style. [voices in background] It was the border patrol chasing down one of the cholos. People watching realized it was a play by a theater group from Mexicali, a border town south of California. The actors were hitting one of the main issues on the border, immigration. Their translator is ?Kike Aviles? [?Kike Aviles?]: You know, a lot of people complain that they don't understand because the show is being done in Spanish. But at the same time, you know, that's what life is, you know? Well, Latinos come here. We don't understand either.

So, you know, we're talking about that last night and sort of like returning the favor. [laughs] [Frank Contreras]: A woman walked past us dressed like the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. She went past a display where a man was making guitars by hand, past a group of muralists from El Paso who were painting an eagle, and over to a food stand where a black woman who speaks only Spanish was serving tamales and Tecate beer. And next to her was a woman from Texas. [Cynthia ?Viduardi?]: We're breaking a lot of preconceived ideas, so a lot of biases that perhaps have been most influenced by the media. [Frank Contreras]: Cynthia ?Viduardi? teaches at the Southwestern Borderlands Cultural Studies and Research Center in Kingsville, Texas. She says the American Folklife Festival in Washington is an opportunity not only for people who've never seen the border, but also for people who've come here from the border to share their cultures. [Cynthia ?Viduardi?]: The rest of the world perceives us what the media makes us out to be, the movies, the news. And they're really thrilled to have a chance to say, this is who we are, we are living, breathing human beings that have the same needs as you do. We just take care of those things in a slightly different fashion.

[Frank Contreras]: That sounds fairly straightforward. And some people walked away from here with more understanding about the people of the borderlands, but not without some effort. At one display, Romy Frias of El Paso was trying to explain to some people from Delaware what a low rider is. You know, a highly stylized car, usually an older model with small, thin tires, maybe a mural painted on the hood, and lowered about an inch from the pavement. [Romy Frias]:[laughing] I tell people that it's really going to mess you up. You're doing about 55 and there's this monster pothole and you've got about an inch clearance. I've had a lot of friends that faced that situation and unfortunately had to learn the hard way. [Frank Contreras]: Later, under a shaded area, there was a storytelling session. It was supposed to be about women on the border. An Indian woman from the Mexican side sat on the left. On the right was a white woman who works for the U.S. Border Patrol. In the middle of the two women, sat a university professor. He was monopolizing the discussion. Then, at another storytelling session about immigration, the professor was taking over again. Some people in the back were saying it was typical. Here's this white male, the expert, not letting the others talk.

After the session, I went over to him and learned his name is Enrique Lamadrid, a man of mixed races whose family migrated to the Americas from France and Spain. Like many others along the border, his family goes back generations. Lamadrid says he saw many surprised people at the folk fest who learned of the amazing cultural diversity along the border. [Enrique Lamadrid]: I mean, just the amazement that you can see in people's faces when they encounter these two black women over here from the from the black Seminole community. They are they are Mexicans. So this is, these are really, these are really complex cultural entities. [Frank Contreras]: Complex, like the land where they live. The border is often characterized by clashing cultural forces. Lamadrid says people living on the border crossed the international boundary daily. But it's no big deal because it's part of their daily life. And, he said the people living along the 2000 mile separating line did not come to the border. It came to them. Then he mentioned a series of treaties between the U.S.

and Mexico dating back to the late 1800s. It's a complex history, a balancing act, he says, because the needs of border people compete with the national needs of Washington and Mexico City. And the result of that struggle is border culture. [Enrique Lamadrid]: But culture isn't isn't in your blood. Culture is something that you that you learn culture, culture and identities are things that are negotiated and and forged every day of our lives as we live our lives out in specific areas of the country. [Frank Contreras]: Lamadrid told me about a sewer line that broke during the festival Sunday morning. Smelly, dark sewer water flooded a small area around some of the exhibits. He and the others said it reminded them of some border towns where pollution has become a major problem. But on the day the sewer broke, people taking part in the American Folklife Festival this year continued their efforts to share their life's experiences as the smell and humidity surrounded them. For Latino USA, I'm Frank Contreras in Washington.

[Maria Hinojosa?]:Segment number three runs three minutes, 40 seconds. Latino USA's Maria Martin reports on Grupo Animo, a youth theater group in San Antonio. The group's new production is a series of plays dealing with issues such as teenage pregnancy, gangs and sexual orientation. The suggested lead in three, two, one. Hope, it is said that's one thing young people living in this day and age often lack. But in San Antonio, Texas, a group of teenagers is creating theater that expresses a measure of hope for the future, even amidst a reality of drugs, gangs, identity questions and homelessness. Along with Lucy Edwards, Maria Martin prepared this report. [male voice]: grupo animo [sound of gavel?] [Maria Martin]: It's the Friday afternoon at Fox Technical High School in San Antonio. Young members of the acting troupe, El Grupo Animo, ages 13 to 18, have come together to start rehearsing their new production. The group's name derives from the Spanish word meaning spirit, energy, and a desire

to inspire. And the drama they're preparing is written and performed by the kids themselves. [male voice]: "All the young women in the piece, over here" [various voices in background]: "identity? yeah." [Maria Martin]: The drama and production is called "I Have Hopes, Hopes That Keeps Sacred in My Soul". It's a series of vignettes, tales of young people, much like the members of El Grupo Animo facing life's challenges and learning to cope. [teenager 1]: It's about a young girl who gets pregnant and she has to tell her parents, because both of us know so many girls who have already gotten pregnant and it's it's not looking better or anything. [teenager 2]: I'm 17 years old and I wrote about the homeless. So much we can learn from our people. They've gone through rough times. And by that, a lot of them are on the streets and we don't even care about them. [teenager 3]: I decided to bring up the issue of teenage homosexuality because Hispanic, Mexican-American families, it's hard.

It's harder for them to deal with it. There's a lot of tradition and a lot of the tradition is built around the male role model and the female role model. [Maria Martin]: 14 year old Michaela Diaz, along with Guadalupe Escovedo and Victoria Rivera are among the nine playwrights who make up El Grupo Animo. 16 year old Priscilla ?Wyatt? wrote about a young gang member. [Priscilla]: He's dealing with the pressures of being tied to his gang, but then wanting to get out and be free and lead the life that he wants to lead, that the gang doesn't allow him to. [male actor]: "You don't understand. Well, what if they come after me? They know where I live." [female actor]: "They're tearing you apart. They mess around with people's lives like it's nothing. You can't be afraid to be who you are. Don't keep it down forever. I hate them." [George Emilio Sanchez]: You know, it's really a lot of what's going on in their minds and in their lives, but they never have a place to talk about it. [Maria Martin]: Director George Emilio Sanchez of New York is working with the young playwrights and actors of El Grupo Animo.

[George Emilio Sanchez]: It takes a lot of courage to be a young person. It takes a hell of a lot of courage to say, yeah, I'm I'm young, I don't know everything, and I want to be alive. Boom. That to me is like heroic. I think individually, if you read the things they write, no, I don't think they have a lot of hope. [Maria Martin]: But still, say the kids, their stories do express hope as the title of their collective work indicates. [teenager 3]: Even though we're sad and depressed about it, I think there's always that that bright side and that hope that we have. And that's just what the whole play is about. [teenager 2]: That's why I think that the name of it "I Have Hope, Hopes I Keep Sacred In My Soul" is what we're using. They're not all happy plays with happy endings, but we're not trying to say that the whole world is terrible, you know, that everything's terrible, that there's no hope for anything, even though we know what reality is, you know, we still feel that there can be a change. You know, that there will be a change. And if anybody we'll be the ones who will do that, and that's our message, basically. [Maria Martin]: El Grupo Animo's production of "I Have Hopes, Hopes That Keep Sacred In My Soul" runs through July 17th at San Antonio's Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. The center's theater director, Jorge Pina, calls the troupe

the next generation of Chicano teatristas. For Latino USA, with Lucy Edwards in San Antonio, I'm Maria Martin. Segment number four runs five minutes, 37 seconds. Mandalit del Barco in New York pays tribute to one of salsa's musical superstars, Hector Lavoe. Lavoe died June 29th. The suggested lead in three, two, one. Hector Lavoe, one of salsa's musical superstars known as the Latin Sinatra, died in New York City on June 29th. After a lifetime of music and tragedy, thousands poured into the streets at his New York funeral. Fans and musicians, they all came to pay tribute to Hector Lavoe. From New York, Mandalit del Barco prepared this remembrance of a salsa legend. And for this week's stations, this has been the modular segment of Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture. We appreciate your comments and suggestions. Our number is 1-800-535-5533.

Major funding for Latino USA comes from the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the University of Texas at Austin. And until next week, I'm Maria Martin for Latino USA.