Change? What change?

As I read today's El Tiempo here in Bogota, I am reminded of the story of a friend in Montreal whose father had visited Bogota in the 1960s. He visited again in the early 1990s and said, "Do they just keep printing the same newspaper over and over? Colombians are still arguing about building a metro and they are still talking about the guerrilla."
Well, things have changed...somewhat. Today's El Tiempo reports on the "divorcio expres" or quicky divorce that is now available. And divorce is a relatively new phenomenon in Colombia. It essentially became available after the Constitution of 1991. (Before that, Colombians could get a civil separation and some would remarry abroad.)
Yet, while access to divorce is undoubtedly an advance for the many who find themselves in matrimonial limbo, there are still so many mired in an endemic poverty in this country. The paper also reports on the case of a mother whose 14 year old son was murdered in 1997 by a serial killer, Luis Alfredo Garavito. Authorities here identified the boy and turned over his remains to his mother several months ago. The woman, a maid, has several other children; they all live in a single room. She has been unable to bury her son because she does not have the 400,000 pesos-about US $150- to do so. So she keeps his remains in a box next to the bed, the only bed in the house.
It struck me as such a poignant and tragic story. I also find it interesting that El Tiempo gave it so much play - on the front page, below the fold.

A homecoming, of sorts

It's been five years, five long years, since I've been in Colombia. I returned this evening to a country where I had spent 10 of the happiest years of my life, to the country where my children were born, to one of the most beautiful and fascinating places on earth.
I'm told the place has changed a lot-mainly for the better-in my absence (the two have nothing to do with each other, though.)
I flew from Miami to Barranquilla (impo$$ible to get a cheap direct flight today to Bogota) and spent an hour and a half in the airport before my flight to the capital. So easy to go through customs and immigration - no visa required, no bizarre questions that stress me out - and so nice to hear the familiar accent and feel the warm hospitality at every turn.
I whipped out my laptop and it picked up the WiFi right away. (Yes, Colombia has changed.)
As I sipped the best cafe con leche I've had in the last five years, I asked myself why the hell I left in the first place. (Such is my affinity for good coffee..)
I plan to see many old and dear friends while I am here. I want to know how they have been all these long years, how they see Colombia and its future.
Feeling the cold evening air here brings back many memories. Bogotanos are among the most cultured people around.They are wonderful conversationalists because they read, they know their (and other people's) geography and history. They are engaged in the world beyond their borders. I've missed that. I truly have.
But now I am feeling those 2,600 meters closer to the stars (soroche! altitude sickness) so I will call it a night.

WorldNetDaily: Illegal-alien activists target Lou Dobbs

"WASHINGTON Illegal-alien activists who have pulled off major rallies in several cities in recent weeks plan to shift part of their focus May 1 by targeting a newsman they see hurting their cause.
An 'Ax AOL' campaign is being organized to coincide with a national action by various groups defending illegal immigration, but the real target of their wrath is Lou Dobbs of CNN. "

For more info:
hispanic.cc/ax_aol.htm
www.prandmarketing.com/auth/forbidden/news/prnews/10386.html

Will One of Virginia’s Two Favorite Sons be Your Next President?

PREFACE: This is the first in a series of profiles we will have on potential U.S. presidential candidates for 2008.


From the glorious days of the American Revolution to the terrible years of the Civil War, and through modern times, Virginia has been a key player in U.S. history and politics for over 400 years. Today, Virginia just might provide the Democratic and Republican parties with their next
presidential candidates and the U.S. with its next president.

Virginia's Republican Senator George Allen and its former Democratic Governor Mark Warner are being heavily courted by their political parties and may well end up fighting it out with other contenders for their parties' nominations. At any rate, it's a safe bet that we will be seeing many more appearances by both men in the nation's television news shows, and in the nation's newspapers as the country gears up for the 2008 presidential race.

So far this year, Allen has visited Iowa, New Hampshire, Texas, South Carolina, and North Carolina in March and April, all key primary states. Through his many appearances, he has been able to capture the attention of many Republicans, who are talking about him as a potential presidential or vice-presidential nominee.

He is the son of the famous Washington Redskin's football coach, George H. Allen, and is regarded as an unpretentious "average Joe" who proudly shows off his Southern heritage by knocking about in his cowboy boots.

The seemingly easygoing Allen has an impressive political resume in his native Virginia where he first served in the state's House of Delegates from 1983 to 1991. That same year, Allen won a special election, which allowed him to represent Virginia's seventh district in the U.S. House of Representatives. After one term, he ran for governor and was elected as Virginia's 67th Governor in 1993. He then ran for the senate and defeated incumbent Democratic Virginia Senator Chuck Robb in 2000.

Allen says his personal role model is Ronald Reagan and just like the late president, he is a splendid orator with an amiable and politically astute approach to his profession. In fact, when he began his active involvement in politics in 1976 he was named state Chairman of Young Virginians for Reagan.

Conservatives in his state adore him. As governor, he took on the state bureaucracy. Even before taking office, he asked 400 public employees for their resignations. As governor, he eliminated parole for violent criminals and drastically reformed the state welfare program. He managed to push through a highly successful legislative agenda even though Republicans were the minority party in the State General Assembly.

There's no mistaking Allen's deep rooted conservatism. As Governor, Allen attracted businesses to Virginia by offering millions of dollars in tax incentives. As Senator, he voted for Bush's tax cuts. And although he has refused to say whether he is pro-life or pro-choice, or whether Roe v. Wade should be overturned, he is rated 100% by National Right to Life. He also supports a marriage amendment in Virginia and has stated his disregard for activist judges in the federal bench. But even many moderates love him because he has an unpredictable libertarian streak.

Mark Warner was born into a family of modest means. He was the first one to attend college, earning a law degree at Harvard. He was one of the co-founders of the telecommunications company Nextel and made a fortune estimated at $200 million before entering politics. In 2001, he was elected governor of Virginia by five points, he left in January 2006 with an approval rating of 75%. In 2005 Time magazine ranked Mark Warner as one of the top 5 governors of the United States.

Many Democrats are hoping Warner will be the party's next Bill Clinton -- a presidential candidate with Southern charm and a mix of conservative views on issues like budgets, bureaucracies and a liberal approach to civil rights, labor issues and education that will appeal equally to NASCAR dads and soccer moms.

Even though, Virginia has not voted for a Democrat since 1964, many on the Democratic side are hoping the state could be the starting point to recapture the South. The 11 states of the South plus Oklahoma, Kentucky and West Virginia, have 173 electoral votes between them, and for years now has been solidly Republican. If Democrats don’t manage to loosen the stranglehold Republicans' have on the south, they have to win at least 74% of the electoral votes in all other states to win the Presidency. Bill Clinton, a former Arkansas governor, was the last to pull it off in 1996 when he won West Virginia by a razor thin margin. Clinton also won Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, and Arkansas. Sen. John Kerry lost all of the southern state as well as the national election in 2004.

Many feel Mark Warner is the man to begin a era in the South for the Democratic faithful because of his recent achievements as governor of Virginia. He worked with Republican officials and the business community to reform the tax code, which resulted in a great decrease in food and income taxes and pushed through a school reform bill, which many believe improved the quality of high school education.

Warner’s much vaunted economic programs are credited with helping Virginia achieve a growth rate of 5.9 %, outpacing the national average of 4.8 %. During his tenure, Mr. Warner says he made "more cuts in state government than anyone in Virginian history."

Zell Miller, a former conservative Democratic Senator from Georgia who is notorious among Democrats for breaking ranks and speaking at the 2004 Republican National Convention in support of President George W. Bush for President, listed Mr. Warner as someone who would be an ideal candidate for President. When Warner served as chairman of the National Governors Association from 2004-2005, it gave him an opportunity to travel the country and expand his political contacts. He visited Iowa, a must for presidential contenders, and established a Political Action Committee or PAC. The PAC has raised $8.2 million dollars since Election Day 2005 according to published reports.

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, this election will be exciting to watch, in particular if the candidates are as talented and closely matched as Senator Allen and Governor Warner. Maybe they can compromise; one can be President and the other Vice-President?

Carlos de Cordoba, Page One Media staff
Daniel Garza, President of Hispanic and PODER group

Freelance Writing Panel

Please join us Monday, July 24, at Books n Books in Coral Gables for a panel on freelance writing.

http://www.mediabistro.com/courses/cache/crs1901.asp

Ruben Navarrette: Putting The Blame Where It Belongs

This month's column by Ruben Navarrete for Hispanic Trends.


In many countries in Latin America, the perpetual tension is political. Life is a series of closed suitcases, each offering a different mixture of freedoms and governance: Democracy? Oligarchy? Republic? Once or twice per century, you may get the chance to swap one for another. Deal, or no deal?

Not in Mexico. There, the tension is economic. It’s about dollars and cents. Life isn’t about competing ideologies as much as opportunities, lost and found.

It used to be that the economic story of Mexico could be told in broad strokes. There was no middle class. You were either rich, or you were poor. And the poor vastly outnumbered the rich. Many of the poor had no choice but to look for work in the United States. And the rich shrugged, and let it happen. For much of the 20th Century, Mexican migrants—once out of sight and living in Los Angeles or Denver or Kansas City—were completely out of mind.

Now some of that has changed. Thanks in part to the modest growth in small businesses and the debatable benefit of trade deals such as NAFTA and nearly $20 billion in remittances sent home annually by expatriates in the United States, more Mexicans are getting an economic foothold at home. Moreover, those who do wander across the border are not as easily forgotten. Much of the credit for that goes to Mexican President Vicente Fox who often called immigrant workers “heroes” for their contributions to their homeland. And whereas once there was no Mexican middle class to speak of, now there’s a tiny sliver of one.

Not that the Mexican economy isn’t still in bad shape. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, forty percent of Mexican households earn less than $4,100 per year. Only 15 percent of households fall into the category of what might be called “upper-middle class”—those who earn more than $11,000 a year. The remaining 45 percent fall into the middle.

For the most part, the drama south of the border is what it has always been: rich Mexican, poor Mexican. Mother Mexico still looks upon her children and plays favorites. The concept of Mexico still works for some of its citizens but not for others. And the number of migrants coming to the United States is higher than it has been in years.

There is one silver lining: Many Mexicans have come to see this mass exodus of human capital for what it is—a national tragedy. And they’re looking for leaders who recognize it as such and have a plan to end it. Mother Mexico may still not care that so many of her children can’t wait to flee the nest, but real mothers throughout Mexico care a great deal that their families have been broken apart because of government’s failure to provide gainful employment at home.

It’s no wonder that the recurring theme in this year’s presidential election in Mexico was jobs, jobs, jobs. It wasn’t just the Mexican economy, stupid. There was, throughout the electorate, an insatiable thirst for job creation. The hope was that, if there were suddenly well-paying jobs in Mexico, the young and daring would turn their ambitions inward and stay put in their cities, towns and villages. For the rich and middle class, there was the PAN as represented by Felipe Calderon, ex-member of the Mexican Congress and former Energy Minister. And going to bat for the poor, there was the PRD (Democratic Revolution Party) whose banner was carried by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the charismatic former mayor of Mexico City.

Leading up to the election, many Americans may have wondered why they should even concern themselves with the outcome of a presidential contest in another country.

The answer is obvious: This isn’t Las Vegas. What happens in Mexico does not stay in Mexico. The bleaker the economic picture, the more migrants will stream across the U.S.-Mexican border. Trade policy could also be affected if Mexican farmers and other producers suffer to the point where they find it difficult to compete abroad.

No matter how this election turns out, this is but a baby step on Mexico’s long march toward a full and functioning democracy.

Americans naturally want to know what it all means for them.

Here’s a better question: What will it mean for Mexicans? It could mean a lot—or not much at all. Elections come and go. But, until someone tackles the fundamental problem with Mexico—that the rich and powerful prey on the poor and weak—nothing will change.

What does this election mean for Mexicans and Mexico? The answer depends on whether the new president is honest enough to put the blame for the country’s predicament where it belongs and whether he’s bold enough to do something about it.

----
Ruben Navarrette is a member of the editorial board of the San Diego Union Tribune, a nationally syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group, and a regular commentator on National Public Radio.

"Pit Bull" of the House Latches On to Immigration - New York Times

"Pit Bull" of the House Latches On to Immigration - New York Times: "WASHINGTON, July 10 - Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. has no tolerance for illegal immigrants, either in his political life or personal life."

'My housekeeper in Wisconsin was born in Wisconsin,' says Mr. Sensenbrenner, the Republican congressman and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. 'My housekeeper here is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Nicaragua.'"

Bloomberg Testifies at Senate Hearing on Immigration - New York Times

Filed at 4:17 p.m. ET
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The economy of the country's largest city and the entire nation would collapse if illegal immigrants were deported en masse, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a Senate committee hearing Wednesday."

Down Mexico Way

The closeness of the race in Mexico has taken precedence in coverage of the election. With good reason, of course. But there is another, perhaps equally compelling, story, and that is voter turnout. An estimated 41 million people voted on Sunday, July 2. Those 41 million people represent almost 60 percent of eligible voters in Mexico, a country of 106 million people. I cannot recall an election in recent times, anywhere, with such a high turnout. (There are a number of countries in Latin America - Chile, Peru, Uruguay - where the vote is mandatory, but it is not in Mexico.)

What does that say about the Mexican electorate? Does it tell us that they value their democracy and the right to vote? Is it because voting for more than one candidate in Mexico is a relatively new phenomenon and Mexicans are more inspired to exercise their right to vote because of that?

I am watching the count not from the DF, where I'd love to be, but from Montreal (I also love being in Montreal, of course.) Canadians have access to a wide variety of media, including U.S. media, so it is kind of fun to contrast and compare.

Mexico is much more important to the day-to-day life of the United States than it is to Canada. The only really tangible connection Mexico and Canada have is NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement (...well, that and the hoardes of winter-weary tourists that invade Cancun from December to April.) Yet, there has been an appreciable amount of coverage of the Mexico election here. For on, The Globe and Mail, one of Canada's national newspapers, ran a front page story on Calderon "Calderon Declares Victory" on Tuesday, with a giant photo of Calderon above the fold. Montreal's highly regarded Le Devoir and The National Post have both been following developments closely with reports from their own correspondents and not just wire service copy.

Canadians have long been interested in events beyond their borders, so it is perhaps not surprising that they should be so interested in a near neighbor.

La Madre Patria is Living the Golden Years

As I write this blog article I am in the sun baked country of Spain traveling from the city of Burgos and on my way to Santander aboard a chartered bus I am sharing as part of cultural exchange program hosted by the Embassy of Spain. I have just spent two relaxing days in Burgos taking in the sights and sounds as its peoples celebrate the Fiesta of San Pedro, an annual town festival unique to this northern Castilian community.

It is the second occasion I have had to visit Spain - my wife and I traveled to Madrid back in 1990 for our honeymoon. And just like fifteen years ago, the first impression I get is probably the same as many other folks that have come before me: Europe is old. I mean the people seem collectively older than in those of the United States, the magnificent building are certainly older and even the land appears aged and tired. Maybe it's because Burgos is in fact a very old European city and of course, its civilized society has been around much longer than ours has. And yet, in spite of its age it is only recently that Spain is regaining the social, cultural and economic grandeur it once had back when it was funding projects to find new worlds.

In fact, I submit that Spain's recent economic rise in the past 20 years is a model for the rest of Latin American countries. Twenty years ago, Spain's economic and political situation was not unlike much of Latin America. In 1960 Spain's GDP represented only 4% of the European Union's Economic and Monetary system (UEM), but thanks to its rise, today Spain's GDP represents 12.5% of UEM total. In 1970, life expectancy in Spain was 71.9 years, but today life expectancy has remarkably risen to 78.3. Employment in the agricultural sector represented 18.4% in 1985, and today it only represents 5.4% of the total economy.

There are other glowing signs that demonstrate Spain's economic ascendance, its economy grew 3.4% last year, over twice the euro-zone average, and is expected to best the average again this year by a full percentage point. Telefónica, Grupo Ferrovial, real estate developer Metrovacesa, Santander and BBVA Banks are now premiere Spanish companies that are competing at the international level.

In contrast to the resurgence occurring in Spain, Latin American countries continue to struggle with social challenges such as persistent poverty, corruption in all sectors, unequal application of justice, and anti-business political regimes. In 1980, 20% of all Latin Americans lived in extreme poverty. Today, 19% continue to live in extreme poverty. In 2002, 71% of Hondurans lived under the poverty line and 56% of Guatemalans shared the same fate. In 2003, the mortality rate of women giving birth per 100,000 in Canada was 8, but in El Salvador the mortality rate per 100,000 was 173. In 2005, average life expectancy in Canada was 80.4, but in Bolivia the life expectancy was 64.9. That's correct; Bolivians on average will die 15 years ahead of Canadians while living under the same sun!

Chronic unemployment, rampant rise in homicides and other crimes, increased gang recruitment, dismal infant mortality rates, unfettered water contamination, lack of health and educational institutions, corrupt politicians, deficient property right laws, unstable monetary policies are just a few of the challenges that continue to plague much of Latin America, and help is far from sight.

My point is, Spain has proven that these conditions can be reverted. It long ago rejected the closed economic systems imposed by past fascist regimes and seized the talents of its people (In 1939 Franco initiated a program of reconstruction based on the concept of economic self-sufficiency or autarchy. The program, aimed at increasing national economic production, favored the established industrial and financial interests at the expense of the lower classes and the agricultural regions. Acute shortages and starvation wages were widespread in the early 1940s, a period which saw the worst inflation in Spain's history. By the end of the decade, Spain's level of economic development was among the lowest in southern Europe.)

The country has benefited greatly from the political discipline demonstrated under the Felix Gonzales and Jose Maria Aznar Administrations by instituting pro-entrepreneurial policies, investing in its educational institutions, took full advantage of their proximity to their highly developed European neighbors, put its monetary policy in order, set socially responsible public policies in motion, tightened property rights and has become the second most visited nation by tourist in the world (second only to France). Spain is now seeking to join the G-8 as it has now reached social and economic parity with many of the developed countries currently within the ranks of the organization.

Spain is showing that an old dog can teach new tricks.