Juanson World

The PC police (read, Jesse Jackson and company) is all over Vicente Fox, again. This time, the Mexican government has issued a series of stamps "commemorating" cartoon character Memin Penguin:


Source: Associated Press

Why the Mexican government would put this character on stamps is beyond me, but considering all of the wasted time and energy that went into apologizing last time, one would think that the Mexicans would be walking on eggshells for a while. In any event, this raises the larger question of racism in Latin America: are Latin Americans, in fact, more racist, or (as I believe), are acknowledgement of physical characteristics and racial differences simply more out in the open?

Larry Rohter writes about an interesting phenomenon: the post 9/11 influx of Brazilians entering the US illegally via Mexico. I found this point to be troubling:

Furthermore, many of those leaving are not poor peasants, but young people more educated than the general population, including architects, engineers and other professionals.

"What we have to accept that this flow has to do with lack of opportunity, not with poverty or unemployment," said Ana Cristina Braga Martes, a specialist in immigration issues at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, a leading research institution. "It's mainly the lower middle class from prosperous states, not the poor, who are going, and it's because they can't earn a fair wage here and have bought into the idea of the American dream."

I find this point to be critical when analyzing Latin American development. During my travels, I was fascinated by two questions: "If you go to college in this country, can you get a good job?" and "If you are born into a lower class family in this country, is it possible to move up in class?" In most cases, the answer to both of these questions was no. Without the incentive to graduate from college (if you can't beguaranteedd a good job) how can you encourage young students to stay in school? It is unfortunate that college-educated professionals cannot find employment in the region.

And while US television shows and movies have always been popular in Latin America, the theme of the following telenovela also has to influence the masses:

One sure sign that "making America" has entered the popular imagination is that in March, Brazil's largest television network began broadcasting a soap opera called "America," which follows a young woman's efforts to get to the United States through Mexico and to adjust to life in Florida.

The Washington Post ran an interesting article on Monday comparing the image of candidate Vicente Fox in 2000 to the unfulfilled hopes of his presidency. Fox's six year term will continue to be debated as the 2006 election approaches.

Yesterday, Mexican lawmakers passed a bill which would allow Mexicans living abroad to vote in said election via absentee ballot:

The bill passed the lower house by 455 votes to 6, after having been approved by the Senate in April by 91 to 2. President Vicente Fox said later he would sign the bill into law, calling it "a great achievement."

The lopsided victory reflected the growing political power of Mexican migrants, who in recent years have formed potent organizations to funnel money into political races and public works here. Some migrants have even won elected office on the state and local level in Mexico while maintaining homes in the United States.

By most estimates, there are about 10 million Mexican citizens or Mexicans with dual citizenship living in the United States, many illegally, accounting for some 14 percent of the country's electorate.

One interesting point that underlies all of this is whether these 10 million Mexicans plan on returning to Mexico at some point in their lives. Based on anecdotal evidence, I have found that most Latin American immigrants to the States tend to consider their stay as a temporary "visit" to earn some money and then return home. Hence Latino immigrants' desire to pass on Spanish to their offspring and their reluctance to fully "assimilate" to North America. Mexican immigrants, which account for the largest single nationality of Latin Americans in the US, can wield significant influence both in US elections (as I discussed below) and in what is gearing up to be a very important election in Mexico.

I had meant to blog on the recent Newsweek cover on Alvaro Villaraigosa's victory in the Los Angeles mayoral race, which proclaimed: "Latinos are making their mark on politics as never before. Get used to it."

In reaction to this so called "Latino Power Surge," Roberto Suro, of the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Research Center, cited a new study yesterday in the Washington Post Outlook section that indicates that the political clout of Latino voters has been overestimated. Suro contrasts the recent increase in the US Hispanic population with the actual increase in new voters, and has several interesting observations:

-Only one in four Hispanics added to the US population is an added voter, because many new Hispanic residents are illegal immigrants and will not obtain citizenship, as well as new Latino births that are not yet of voting age.

-Despite a lower population, black voters outnumber Hispanic voters by 7.5 million because 64 percent of the black population votes compared to 39 percent of Hispanics.

-Villaraigosa's victory can be explained by dissatisfaction with the incumbent and coalition building rather than his mobilization of LA's Hispanic population. Also, many prominent Hispanic politicians have been politically appointed to their positions by whites.

-Hispanics are more apathetic than whites or blacks, with only 58 percent of eligible voters registered, compared to 75 and 69 percent, respectively.

I agree with Suro's general argument that the current power of the Latino voting bloc is overrated, but the real question is, how to mobilize the Hispanic vote in the coming years? As Suro says, the Latino population is not a cliche, and cannot be easily grouped together. The party that is able to tap into the largest American minority group will reap dividends in the future.

Certainly, Patricia Harrison has the credentials to be the next president of PBS. But nominating a former chair of the Republican National Committee raises just too many questions for a position that should be as apolitical as possible. PBS remains one of the major news outlets in the US that is not controlled by corporate interests, and any indication that it might be controlled by a political party would complicate its mission. I also have an issue with those who accuse PBS of having a liberal bias; arguments like these are specious and not constructive.

The US badly needs a BBC: a media source that is publicly funded and commercial free, where journalism is more of a craft than the news-cycle "story of the day" format that dominates CNN/MSNBC/Fox.

Got back after over 24 hours of traveling, thanks to the bright folks at American Airlines. Kudos for not providing me with any sustenance on any of those flights.

In any event, I was having some trouble with my old format so I've changed it - for now - I am not too crazy about the orange (go tigers) but maybe I'll keep it.

In addition to a few barbs thrown at the French, Tom Friedman gives the usual reasons for supporting CAFTA. He makes one argument, however, that I hadn't seen yet, which is the juxtaposition between US policy towards Central America in the 80s and what free trade represents for the region in this decade:

In the 1980's, we were worried Central America was going to go communist. Now we are worried it is going to go capitalist? We spent billions fighting communism there. Now we have a chance to help consolidate these fragile democracies by locking in a trading relationship with the U.S. that is critical for their development. Shame on us if we balk.

While simplistic, it is an interesting point of view that I agree with.

Costa Rican president Abel Pacheco, whose term will mercifully end February of next year, recently named his five-member "Council of Notables" which will study how CAFTA will affect Costa Rica and present their recommendations. While Pacheco initially indicated that the council would only provide advice for him to make his decision, he has announced that the council will have the final word on whether CAFTA will be presented to the Legislative Assembly.

The council consists of Franklin Chang, a NASA astronaut, Rodrigo Gamez, head of the National Biodiversity Insitute (INBio), former UCR rector Gabriel Macaya, diplomat Alvar Antillon, and priest Guido Villalta.

Without question, these individuals represent some of the country´s most respected citizens, but would Bill Clinton call on Neil Armstrong to help him decide if NAFTA was good for the US? (Not to mention that Chang, a Costa Rican hero, is currently residing in Texas.) Pacheco, who in 2004 told the OAS that he knew nothing about economics and that learning trigonometry was useless, understandably relies on advisors to make most decisions. But his stalling through the naming of this council will only serve to cement his reputation as a laughingstock during his last months in office. Leadership is not debating an issue from every possible angle and trying to please all constituencies.

My friend Keith and I spent the weekend at a resort in Montelimar, on the Nicaraguan Pacific coast. Instead of taking the bus, we decided to accept our cab driver´s offer to drive us the 60 kilometers. We asked Rolando, our driver, whether he had ever been to the States, and he told us of the three month nightmare that was his "visit": arrest and deportation.

Whenever I meet a Latino illegal immigrant, I am always fascinated to hear their story: where they were going, why they left, and how they got there. Talking to Rolando reminded me of another cab driver Keith and I had met back in February of 2004, who also drove us to the Pacific, that time Jacó Beach in Costa Rica.

Douglas was a Tico who had spent the last four years off and on living in Maryland. His story was a bit different from most since he would return to Costa Rica fairly regularly, instead of establishing a permanent residence in the States. Like many immigrants, however, he went up north by himself, leaving his wife and children behind.

Douglas was an intrepid and enterprising immigrant; he claimed to be making almost $50,000 a year holding down two jobs for UPS and for Cracker Barrel in western Maryland. He claimed to work 13-16 hour days, six days a week. With a salary of around $13 an hour, this indeed worked out to about $1000 a week, a lavish income for Costa Rica.

Douglas described the myriad ways in which he was able to lower his costs and maximize the the monthly remittances he sent home, which paid for his children´s college education. First of all, instead of taking a flight from San Jose direct to Washington, he would take Martin Air (a Dutch carrier) to Miami (a ticket generally in the $150-$200 range) and then take a Greyhound bus approximately 40 hours to DC. He split a house with 6 other roommates, and most of his meals were either cooked at home or he would eat leftovers from the Cracker Barrel. Instead of going out to the bar, he would "buy a six-pack and drink it on my couch."

The issue of his illegal status also intrigued me. Because his wife is a judge in Escazu, he was able to procure a tourist visa to enter the States. He purchased multiple Social Security numbers on the streets of Washington (Upper 16th St. NW is a good location to conduct this sort of business, he said). In order to make visits back to Costa Rica, he would FedEx his passport back to San Jose, indicating that he could board the international flight in Miami using his Costa Rican ID card. His wife would then meet him at the San Jose airport with the passport, and he would bribe the immigration officer to stamp his passport as if he had only been in the States for a few weeks.

With his fake Social Security number, he was able to gain low-wage employment at several locations over the years, using a fake name. He recalled one of his more awful assignments: working for the Don John´s, the portable toilet company. He would take a truck to the site the day after an event and extract all of the waste through a tube attached to the vehicle. "All they gave me was an oxygen mask and latex gloves," he recalled in disgust. "You could never get out the smell."

So even though that job offered the highest wage he could find ($16 an hour), he didn´t last long there.

Rolando told me of a far less successful immigration story. With a visa to enter Mexico, he left Managua by bus and ended up near the US border thirteen days later. He paid a coyote $1000 to smuggle him and five others across the border into Arizona. He described the arduous trip: "During the day it was hot and we were stuck in the back of the truck. At night, in the desert, it would be freezing. I was afraid, hungry, and thirsty."

Once in Arizona, the vehicle was stopped by immigration officials, and the coyote disappeared. Rolando and others hid in the truck for hours. With the coyote gone, he took the wheel, since none of the others knew how to drive. The next day, he was pulled over for speeding, and sans driver´s license, Rolando was taken to the police station in Phoenix. Since he was the driver, he was charged as a coyote. Unable to communicate in English, he was processed and held in jail, first in Phoenix, then transferred to San Francisco and finally to Los Angeles before being deported three months later.

I asked him about life in prison and he explained that the guards split up the Latinos into two different groups: paisas and sureños. These labels had nothing to do with nationality. "The paisas were like me," he said. "We aren't violent. The sureños have tattoos and will fight. They are gang members."

Rolando said that all of the guards and police spoke Spanish, many of them being immigrants themselves. He said that the treatment in the jail was adequate, and he was never physically harmed.

Rolando and Douglas, both cab drivers in Central America, had two distinct experiences as illegal immigrants. Back in Nicaragua, Rolando earns $400 a month as a cab driver, which supports his wife and two children. Douglas claims that he has learned "the meaning of hard work" in the States ("Ticos are lazy"), and is grateful for the opportunities that he has had, despite facing many racist Americans.

Which is better, I thought to myself. To be struggling to stay afloat within your own country, or to be away from your family nine months a year in order to provide them a better future?

Douglas's dream, he said, was to open a Cracker Barrel type restaurant in Costa Rica. "Then I'll be happy," he said.

The inscription reads: "Workers and campesinos onward until the end." The bronze soldier holds a pickax in his right hand and an assualt rifle in his left hand with a Sandinista flag protruding from the barrel.

Guatemala has asked the US for a "mini-Plan Colombia." The Guatemalan government wants helicopters, radars, and assistance from the DEA to fight narcotrafficking in the country.

I am especially critical of Plan Colombia's fumigation policies, as coca cultivation, in real terms, has not declined, nor has the price of cocaine on the streets of New York changed. However, in turbulent Guatemala (there have been over 3,500 homicides in the first five and a half months of 2005) this sort of assistance is needed, even if it is considered military aid.

In April I made the transition from Europeanized Buenos Aires to dusty Santa Cruz, Bolivia. I feel the same as I made the trip from the "Switzerland of Central America" to the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. While the landscape was similar, the human aspect of Nicaragua was a drastic contrast to Costa Rica - trash in the potholed streets, naked children wandering dirt roads, and rusty corrugated tin roofs sheltering "houses" throughout endless slums.

While I met with some activists who were trying to effect change in their country, my friend observed a march that consumed Managua all morning. Led by actors of civil society, the marchers were protesting "the Pact," which is the alliance between Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega and jailed ex-president Arnoldo Aleman which has paralyzed the government of Enrique Bolaños of the PLC. While the protest supposedly was led by members of civil society, the number of political party flags flying indicated the solid political undertones of the event. (Not to mention the fact that I found my friend passed on out the bed of our hotel room, the unlucky victim of teargassing.)

As the march raged on, I sat in the air-conditioned office of Monica Zalaquett, who has led the Center for Violence Prevention (CEPREV) for the last eight years. Using her innovative curriculum, CEPREV has intervened in 21 of the most dangerous barrios in Managua and drastically reduced the indicators of violence. "The government is not able to do this," she told me. "We can only acheive this outside the framework of the Nicaraguan state."

She told me that Nicaraguans had never expressed their political freedoms because they never existed. I asked her, then, if today's march was a step forward in the rights of the citizenry. She winced as she realized that her desire to accomodate our meeting had prevented her from marching herself.

Just arrived in sweltering Managua after an all-day bus trip from San Jose. My friend and I took the "luxury" bus from San Jose (Tica Bus). The advantages to this ride was air conditioning, which convenient broke down some 20km from the Nicaraguan border.

We arrived at the border and were confronted by some enterprising money changers. I was changing 20,000 colones (about $45) and got ripped off as the young Tico made off with about a $10 profit. My friend was the unfortunate victim of a larger swindle, having been given 1060 cordobas instead of the 1600 he should have received after changing $100. The two youngsters who ripped us off conveniently disappeared once we realized what had happened. I guess the bus drivers were in cahoots since we were mentally and physically exhausted from the hot and humid bus ride.

Upon arrival in Managua, we were escorted to our hotel by what must have been a 14 year old boy and a feeble, older man who was probably in his 40s but looked around 60. I asked him if he was a Sandinista and he promptly replied, "100 percent." He showed me scars from his three gunshot wounds and told of his detainment and torture at the hands of the National Guard: "They put a bag over my head, then shocked me in a puddle of water." Recalling the July 1979 revolutionary triumph, he pointed to his bony arm and showed me his goosebumps. On Reagan: "Malo, malo, malo, malo..."

Should be an interesting four days...

Andrew Sullivan expresses my views on the Jackson trial far more eloquently than I could:

The trial is about class in America at its most extreme - the topic Americans most want to avoid. Jackson represents an extreme case of the increasingly powerful and isolated over-class, the super-wealthy who, in a society where money is the ultimate source of power, have become used to creating gated, sequestered universes of their own. They are free from limits or middle-class morality. And they are never satisfied. But Jackson's accusers are also a symbol of the inverse phenomenon: a white underclass whose preferred method of self-enrichment is the victim culture of lawsuits and celebrity manipulation. Ask yourself what virtues or values Jackson shares with his accusers and you uncover an obsession with material wealth, a never-slaking thirst for fame, an ethics-free approach to the shakedown of others. The Jerry Springer culture embraces the very high and the very low. It's what they have in common.

The case is also subtly about race, another taboo. The key fact about Michael Jackson is that he is the first true black celebrity in America who has literally turned himself into a Caucasian. African-American culture has long been obsessed with varying degrees of blackness. Light-colored men and women have historically enjoyed social status in African-American society and we have learned from the exhaustive biographies of Jackson that his father ridiculed him in his youth for having a flat nose and stereotypical black features. Jackson's response? To take the valuation of lighter skin to its logical conclusion.

The way in which celebrity has become, after money, the ultimate American poison is illustrated in a particularly poignant way by the case of Michael Jackson. Forced into unimaginable exposure as a pre-pubescent boy, hounded by a brutal father, denied any natural childhood or adolescence, Jackson became the hideous caricature that pure celebrity spawns. Like Gollum with his ring, young Jackson became twisted into unrecognizable malignity by celebrity itself. No one ever said no; no limits helped secure reality for this boy in the media bubble; parents were part of the problem; and money on a mind-boggling scale kept any sanity or balance at bay.

Some may find it hard to feel pity for someone as wealthy as Jackson, but if you view wealth, as I do, as a potential prison of pitiless isolation, then the damage to the man's psyche and soul must have been and still is immeasurable. And damaged people damage others - even in the pathetic, sick way in which Jackson obviously wounded some of the children who foolishly came into his care. The parents of these boys should have known better, but they too were mesmerized by the fantasy of eternal wealth and youth. What you see in this case, then, is the cold, heartless core of American celebrity: a Faustian trade-off between instant, fathomless attention and the maintenance of any sort of psychological or spiritual perspective.

Not much for me to add to this, but I feel bad for him. I can't imagine what sort of treatment he would have gotten from other felons in jail. Hopefully this will not get blown out of the water as some litmus test for the American justice system. Let's forget about this as quickly as possible.

I've been trying to catch up on almost two weeks of Latin American news and views. Ostensibly, the two major stories are Bolivia and the OAS summit. Rather than to try to recap these big stories, I am going to post an excerpt from an email an American friend wrote from La Paz:

Firstly, please take the images and messages that you may be receiving from cnn with many grains of salt. There have been no gunshots, and the loud booms that they love to capture are really from the tear gas they are using to disperse crowds. "Violence" has been limited thus far to a three block radius in the center of La Paz, and to places where marchistas clash either with those trying to cross blockaded areas or with other marchistas (this has been happening more in Santa Cruz than here).

La Paz is being described as "under seige." There are reports that there is no bread or meat, no gas, etc. Food is coming through from the rural areas to the south of La Paz, and any shortages are the result of pre-snow storm type shopping sprees rather than the result of food (at least the basics) not arriving. In addition, in the
central areas of El Alto, the markets are still full of fruits and vegetables (though in areas further out this may not be the case). The gas stations no longer have gasoline, that is true, but at the plant in El Alto where reserves of gasoline are kept (temporarily controlled by those blockading in El Alto) at night they are selling gasoline at twice the price, so for those that can pay, there is a way to get it.

This explains why, though technically gas ran out on Monday, there is still some transportation available throughout La Paz, only at elevated prices. All of this is important for several reasons....1) the situation is angering the middle classes of La Paz as Altenos are controlling to a certain extent what is and is not reaching them. This makes the cries for military intervention only that much louder and that much more forceful. 2) People in La Paz keep asking, how much longer can those in El Alto stand this....without food, without gasoline, without gas for their stoves?

The reality of the situation, however, is that a)the Altenos can withstand much much more than people in La Paz and b) the basics are still available, if slightly difficult to obtain. Though the campesinos and Altenos are getting tired, and some are wanting to return home, if necessity dictates I believe they could withstand the situation a while longer.

All of the above is only one small part of what is happening, both in terms of the country as a whole and in terms of the aspects of the struggle here in La Paz and El Alto. Almost every city in the country is blockaded (this is not as difficult as it sounds as there are usually only two or three highways coming out of each city). The hydrocarbons issue has taken center stage but it isn't really just about hydrocarbons. You have campesinos who truly want a different order, a different kind of state, but have not elaborated exactly what kind of state they want....just not this one. The president resigned, the Congress has not yet accepted his resignation, the social movements are not happy with any of the options for who might temporarily step into the presidency until there is enough calm to hold elections (the options are the head of the Senate, the head of the equivalent of a house of reps, or the head of the judiciary). No one wants to stain their hands with blood by being the one to call in the military. But most see that (a short stint of martial law, for instance....or whatever military involvement would be necessary in order to bring an end to the veritable chaos that is reigning here) as the only option, because there is no charismatic leader that might unite, or at least pacify, the country right now.

Since my friend wrote this, a new president has been installed (New York Times), as Eduardo Rodriguez steps forward with the unenviable task of leading a polarized, divisive Bolivia. I wish him luck.

I'm back in San Jose after 8 days on vacation. The trip was excellent - we saw the Irazu Volcano, Cahuita, Puerto Viejo, Montezuma, and Mal Pais. We avoided rain until the final two days, which was quite fortuitous given the nature of Central America's rainy season.

One thing that stood out from this trip was the degree of anti-American sentiment I encountered from Europeans, Canadians, and sadly, other Americans. I will describe a few anecdotes from my trip:

The first episode occurred when I encountered a group of ignorant, liberal, self-hating Americans. After a night in Cahuita's only bar, a group of us headed to some rocks by the ocean for a nightcap. I met a woman who claimed that was Mexican. I asked where in Mexico she was from and she responded, "from the state of Jalisco." After speaking to her and to her friends for a while, I picked up on the fact that she had to have lived in the States - her accent and vernacular gave it away. I asked her where she was born, and she admitted that she was born and raised in central California. Nevertheless, she stubbornly refused to admit that she was Mexican-American, much less American.

Two of her friends caught on to the conversation and accused me of being ignorant and rude. Why are you trying to put her in a box, they said, we're all citizens of the world (insert whiny hippie accent here). I responded that even if she denied it, who she was - how she spoke, her education, her perception of the world - was profoundly influenced by the fact that she had grown up in the States, and this made her an American, like it or not. Slowly, she and her two friends warmed up to me, and they admitted that not only did they not consider themselves Americans, but they were also ashamed to admit where they lived. I asked them if they hated America, and they replied in the affirmative. They were liberal to the point of extreme shortsightedness - they could not separate America from the foreign policy of George W. Bush, and they wanted nothing from that. It was sad that they were unable to appreciate what advantages they had simply from having grown up in the United States.

My second encounter was the following night at a bar in Puerto Viejo. I struck up a conversation with a British woman who was in the midst of the "Gringo Trail" - taking a year off to backpack through Latin America. She had already done the South American circuit and was on her way up north to Mexico. She said that she liked Costa Rica but she was getting ready to leave before she had anticipated because there were too many Americans. She hated America and Americans to the point of hostility. As I tried to steer the conversation towards an analysis of the French's recent rejection of the EU consitution, apparently fed up with having to listen to me speak, she exclaimed, "You don't know anything about Europe. That's just your biased American perspective. You don't just go to war."

The last epidode involved another European myopic blonde. In Montezuma, I met a Norweigan girl who had studied abroad in CR three years ago and was back visiting her host family. She told me, without a moment's hesitation, that she hated Americans. I asked her if she was capable of differentiating between a country's foreign policy and the citizens of that country, and she replied in knee-jerk fashion, "did you vote for Bush?" When I told her I hadn't (as if that were some barometer of my worthiness), she said, "well I didn't like Kerry either."

Each one of these encounters stung. It makes me realize that my generation of Americans is facing a world with indoctrinated animosity towards the United States. As the world's economic superpower, America has a moral responsibility as the ship's captain. Well, it appears that mutiny is fomenting, and it's up to this generation to regain our reputation. While several of my conservative friends would be content to tell the world to go to hell, I find it sadder that the level of hatred has extended towards the citizens who benefit from living in the best country in the world.

My blogging has been light due to my vacation these 8 days - I am on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Right now I am writing this from an internet cafe in sweltering Puerto Viejo de Limon.

My three friends and I arrived here today from Cahuita, a smaller town 15 km west of here. We arrived at Playa Cocles this afternoon and noticed a crowd gathered in front of the ocean. At first we thought that someone was giving a surf lesson on the sand. However, we looked closer and we noticed that a lifeguard was administering CPR. A local surfer told us that the lifeguards had rescued an older overweight man who had gone under after getting pulled out by the riptide. Apparently he had already swallowed a lot of water and he had not regained consciousness.

We stood in silence, watching this unfold with the other onlookers. Within a few minutes an ambulance had arrived and the man was carried away on a stretcher.

I had read about several drownings in my time living in Costa Rica, yet viewing it firsthand really hit home. As we sat down on the beach, we all felt humbled by what we had just witnessed. Hours before, this man had been enjoying his vacation with his wife and daughter, just like the four of us. Now, their lives had been shattered in a matter of minutes.

As someone who often feels invincible, this event was quite sobering. I am a big believer in the power of constantly altering my environment in order to keep perspective on life. It seems like quite a selfish way of looking at such an unfortunate tragedy, but hopefully it is something I can take away from this self-indulgent vacation.