NewsTaco

March 21 commemorates the birth of former Mexican President Benito Juárez, a man who clearly outlined the rights of his country’s inhabitants.

• What did he think about respect?  Respecting the rights of others is peace.
• What did he think about principles? Men are nothing, principles are everything.
• What did he think about democracy? Democracy is the destiny of humanity: freedom is its indestructible arm.

History has taught us many lessons about what one country can live through.  Now, it seems like only a dream that at one time the principles of respect, peace, democracy and liberty existed.  Mexico has become a slave to itself, no stranger is destroying it.

From Mexico’s very inside comes self-destruction and the collapse of its principles, security, and, most importantly, the lives of its inhabitants, which worsen everyday.  The war that lives in Mexico today is a war that affects everyone, but it’s not everyone’s war.  Civilians live wondering what will happen to themselves and their families, as they are the victims of those who fight only for their own selfish interests and by their own rules, robbing and stripping innocent people of their most precious treasure: life.

The pain, grief, and threat of death have created citizens in crisis, people without hopes or dreams, without options or alternatives or expectations for change.

• How do we remind them what respect is?
• How do we reclaim the right to be alive?
• How do we demand security for our families?
• How do we teach them these principles?

This is not our Mexico, for we must bring back the struggle that we lived through before.  Freedom is a right that is exercised, not given away. Mexico deserves all that it once achieved and no one has the right to take it away.

[Photo By ErIcK]

The video of the men dressed in camouflage, casing the American forces flag that flew over Baghdad, was barely a few seconds long, but it signaled the end of almost 9 years of combat. A group of American and Iraqi diplomats and military personnel held a relatively small ceremony at the Baghdad airport on Thursday that formally and finally shut down the war in Iraq.

There will be plenty of time to assess the impact of the war on our nation – the distance of time will will provide a better perspective for that. But in the immediate space following the end of the war there is room for an initial rendering of facts. There is, for practical purposes, a free Iraq. And with that a sense of stability in that nation. A tyrant was deposed.

Our motives for entering the war, and the cost in lives and to our treasury that it took to pursue those motives,  will be analyzed, discussed and pondered for years to come. But here are some basic facts, as compiled by Fox News Latino:

• the war claimed 4,500 American lives and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives.
• 32,000 Americans were wounded
• at a cost of more than $800 billion.
• 447 of those killed in action were of Latino descent.
• There are currently 140,000 Latinos enlisted in the U.S. military – close to 12% of the total force.

The end of the war has been long awaited, the draw down a long time in coming.

As of Thursday, there were two U.S. bases and about 4,000 U.S. troops in Iraq — a dramatic drop from the roughly 500 military installations and as many as 170,000 troops during the surge ordered by President George W. Bush in 2007, when violence and raging sectarianism gripped the country. All U.S. troops are slated to be out of Iraq by the end of the year, but officials are likely to meet that goal a bit before then.

The cost, by any measure, has been much too high.

[Photo by The U.S. Army]

Part of what has been called the “Greatest Generation,” 87-year-old Texas native Abelardo R. Navarrette was inducted into the 35th Infantry Division Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Missouri earlier this month for his service and bravery exhibited in battle during World War II.

The only non-military careered individual to achieve the recognition, Navarrette was also the recipient of the Legion of Honor medal in 2009 by the French consulate in El Paso, Texas — one of the highest awards given to French nationals or foreigners considered to have served the country and defended the ideas it champions.

Navarrette was also awarded a Purple Heart after having his skull fractured in 1944 in an offensive against Germany, in which two months later he was back out on the field as part of the Battle of the Buldge, fought during one of what he would later describe as the coldest winter of his life.

Stories like Navarrette’s serve to remind us of why his generation remains so historically significant. Born around the time of the Great Depression, they came of age during the second World War and, according to the script read at his induction ceremony:

They abandoned everything in the name of freedom and progress not only for our Nation
but to defend the rights of others to be free. They made the ultimate sacrifice and commitment. Their tenacity and dedication to making the world a better place was not only seen on foreign shores on fields of battle, but in the factories and fields where a new and viable work force of mothers, wives, and sisters paid a different kind sacrifice.

As their numbers dwindle, first hand accounts like Navarrette’s are less common. Listen to his story in his own words or read more about the 35th Infantry Division.

Spread the word! Our weekly Bien Hecho segment, highlights the good deeds and achievements of Latinos across the U.S. If you feel that someone you know is deserving of recognition, let us know at tips@newstaco.com.

[Photo By David Quintanilla]

Today marks the tenth year of the beginning of the war effort in the Middle East.  On October 7th 2001, the U.S. government sent combat troops into Afghanistan, and would later invade Iraq in 2003.  A decade of war has taken a heavy toll on our nation, Afghans, Iraqis, and the soldiers who offer themselves up to fight in the wars, even though they may not agree that the wars are worth fighting.

Between the duration and the intensity of the wars, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a new study published in the Miami Herald states that “nearly 20 percent of the more than 2 million troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from mental health conditions.”  The study also reports that many of the servicemen and women who have sought treatment suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, otherwise known as a signature injury of the conflicts.

As the wars drag on, more and more veterans return home seeking medical care for physical and mental health issues, flooding a system that isn’t prepared to treat their large numbers.

According to the story:

The Department of Veterans Affairs, which is trying to grapple with the wave of new and damaged veterans, has been under considerable stress. In a related development this week, an internal VA survey requested by Murray’s committee found that its staff doesn’t think it has the resources to handle the growing demand from new veterans for mental health services.

Some other alarming statistics from the report include:

• A prediction by Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, that they expect “More than 1 million total patients from the wars by the end of 2013″
• Since the start of the wars, there have been  298 war-zone suicides, and overall an estimated 2,300 active-duty suicides reported
• In 2009, the number of suicides by soldiers was greater than the the number of those who died in combat

The study also mentioned that 42 percent, or nearly one million, troops had been deployed at least twice, meaning that with no real end to the wars in sight, the number of veterans seeking treatment will continue to rise.

[Photo By Matthew Woitunski]

Laura Varela said that it was her experience growing up in a violent neighborhood that ultimately led her to work as a documentary filmmaker. Her journey from El Paso, Texas to the University of Texas at Austin to her offices in San Antonio where she most recently produced a documentary about Latino Vietnam veterans has been interesting.

“I grew up seeing a lot of injustices in my neighborhood, being bullied by cholas, I grew up seeing a lot of heroin addicts in my neighborhood and family,” she told NewsTaco. “I saw the effects of the Vietnam War personally, some of my tíos went and made it back heroin addicts. There were a lot of murders, suicides, I saw my first murder when I was 5.”

But these experiences were not lost on Varela, as she told us, she grew up sensing that “something’s not right,” and so when she began to study Chicano history at UT that included documentaries, there was a big shift in her perspective.

“I wanted to cry because I had never seen anything like that my whole life. You grow up in El Paso with all these Mexicans but you never see anything about yourself,” she told NewsTaco in her San Antonio office. “I realized the power of media when I saw those films and how many people you can reach.”

Eventually she began to work in radio production and on film productions. Her desire to continue to do social justice work really took root in 1999 and her most recent production, “As Long As I Remember: American Veteranos” was first broadcast last year. We’ve previously discussed the importance of Latinos working on all levels in the media, and documentary films are no different because it is through these filmmakers that important historical and cultural experiences are highlighted, and hopefully understood.

“How often do we get a chance to talk about the PTSD, alcoholism, adjacent issues that veterans go through when they come back from war? In Vietnam, in particular, it really destroyed a lot of communities,” Varela told NewsTaco. “It’s not just about them, it’s about their families, their communities and how everybody suffers.”

And, ultimately, Varela told us, that’s why she does the work she does. “We try to fill in the gaps and tell the stories that probably wouldn’t be told.”

A new report commissioned by Texas’ next wannabe Lieutenant Governor and current Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples literally labels the border as a warzone. This, despite actual reality and statistics to the contrary.

Ultimately what this report represents is the theft of the daily reality lived by millions of people along the U.S.-Mexico border by partisan politicos who are invested not in the best interests of Texas, but in their own selfish ends. Making the border into a war zone is fodder not just for political campaigns, but for untold gobs of money to be used for “border security,” by say, retired military men and overzealous politicians?

The report, “Texas Border Security: A Strategic Military Assessment” is bogus for many reasons. First, why is a state-sponsored report that cost taxpayers $80,000 taking a militaristic point of view? Is this about public safety or employing two retired military men with connections? The report’s authors, retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales and Gen. Barry McCaffrey, actually claim that their anecdotal evidence is more important than actual statistical proof (that comes from agencies like, say, the Texas Department of Public Safety) because, ”You don’t wait for the statistics to be rolled out.”

Among the fallacies in the report from The Austin American-Statesman:

…McCaffrey raised eyebrows when he spoke of “hundreds of people murdered on our side of the frontier,” a statistic that far exceeded the 22 killings between January 2010 and May 2011 identified by the Department of Public Safety as being related to drug cartels. When asked about the number, McCaffrey pointed to statements from a Brooks County rancher, who told reporters that hundreds of bodies had been found in the county in recent years.

Most of the bodies were those of illegal immigrants crossing the brush trying to avoid the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias and not victims of direct assaults, according to the Brooks County sheriff’s department.

That these fools made more for one fabricated report than some Texas families make in a year is laughable, but what’s tragic is that this is actually a state-sanctioned action. Half of the report is made up of “attachments” of other agencies’ documents and includes (predictably) untold numbers of military-style acronyms and scary-sounding phrases like, “ Mexico: Our Vulnerable Center of Gravity” (How does that even make sense?). Now, ignoring the fact that normal reports include appendices and references, as opposed to attachment and bibliographies, I’m going to venture to say that these guys are not who we need to be either investigating or prescribing policy for the State of Texas. The fact that the state’s Agricultural Commissioner is sacrificing the dignity and actual pressing needs of millions of Texans to promote some sort of wacko fantasy of two retired military guys that they are going to help prevent war along the border.

And, as I mentioned earlier, the people hurt the most by this are ultimately border residents themselves, who may not be living in the midst of a drug-fueled war zone, but are suffering from other tangible problems, such as poverty, unemployment, lack of health care, under-funded schools and other less sexy, less military-like problems. It’s too bad that Staples and his buddies are too busy playing war games to notice that the closest thing to a war being played out on the border is the one between fantasy and reality.

[Photo By Semhur]

A new documentary chronicles the experiences of several Latino Vietnam veterans, who made up 20% of the casualties in that war but were only 10% of the U.S. population at the time. The documentary seems to serve as a word of caution as we proceed into a future with more Latino veterans from the current two wars being fought by the U.S. “As Long As I Remember: American Veteranos” was made by Laura Varela, who according to her website:

is a San Antonio-based documentary filmmaker and media artists whose work as a storyteller is shaped by her roots growing up on the US/ Mexico Border in El Paso, Texas.  Her work navigates between ideological, cultural, linguistic and physical borders through the use of film and contemporary art installations.

The documentary itself, according to a synopsis:

 examines the steep personal toll and enduring legacy of the Vietnam War on three artists from south Texas: visual artist Juan Farias, author Michael Rodriguez and actor/poet Eduardo Garza. Through the personal histories and experiences of these Chicano veterans, the film examines the role art plays in the sorting of memories, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), activism and the current conflict in Iraq. AS LONG AS I REMEMBER chronicles their upbringing in the Mexican-American community, their military service in Vietnam, and their lives after the war. Farias, Rodriguez and Garza’s poignant and powerful recollections illuminate the minority experience in the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps at a time when Mexican Americans accounted for approximately 20 percent of U.S. casualties in Vietnam, despite comprising only 10 percent of the country’s population.

Here’s the trailer:

We’ve written before about Latino casualties in Vietnam, whether Latinos are included in documentaries about the war and how other Latino projects are working to include Latino vets in the history of Vietnam.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD.

[Video By LPBMedia; Photo By Chefranden]

By Dan Arellano

In all of the wars that this great country has been involved in Americans of Mexican/Spanish descent have always been amongst the first to fight, the most to die, the last to leave but unfortunately the ones least appreciated.

With all of the anti-Latino hate legislation being passed across the country, it is more important now than ever to remind others of the contributions of our ancestors to the development of this country. After WWII it was Senator Dennis Garza from New Mexico who described our plight best of all ,“When we march off to war we are Americans, but upon our return we are merely Mexicans.”

In 1779 General George Washington sends a courier with a letter to the then-Governor of Spanish Louisiana, Bernardo de Galvez requesting aid and assistance in fighting the British. A voluntary contribution was collected from the Tejano citizens of Texas which we believe to have been approximately 10,000 pesos. Galvez also orders that cattle be rounded up and driven north to feed the armies of George Washington.

A hundred years before the famous Goodnight and Chisholm Trails Tejano Vaqueros, Tejano Rancheros and Mission Indians were driving cattle up El Camino Real all the way to Louisiana and continuing further north. Many of these vaqueros were to remain and fight against the British in the army of Don Bernardo de Galvez.  Galvez, for whom Galveston Texas and Galveston Bay are named, was successful in defeating the British in key battles including the Battle of New Orleans, Pensacola and Mobile, Alabama. Don Bernardo was successful in preventing access to the Mississippi River thus preventing the British the use of the river to supply their troops

Many Americans believe that they alone were responsible for the defeat of the British during the War of Independence, but that is not so.

While Bernardo de Galvez was planning his assault on Pensacola word is received on April 18, 1781 that his father Don Matías de Galvez, Captain General of Guatemala, had received the surrender of all British forces in Honduras. These forces were prevented from joining the British armies  already in America.  Don José de Galvez, Field Marshal of the Spanish Army, and later, Visitor General of New Spain, had commissioned his brother Don Matías to engage and defeat all British forces from the area of the Gulf of Honduras, which he executed with a splendid military victory. Although he did not participate in the war against the British, Antonio Miguel Joaquín de Galvez rose to the rank of Military Commander to the port of Cádiz and oversaw the shipment of supplies and aid to the American colonists

There were other Spaniards that contributed to the American Revolution but I believe there was no other family that contributed more than the Galvez family, especially Don Bernardo de Galvez.

Dan Arellano is a writer who lives in Austin, Texas and previously wrote about Cinco de Mayo.

Reference:

• Bernardo de Galvez: Spanish Hero of the American Revolution by G. Roland Vela Muzquiz, Acacia Press 2006.

[Photo By wallyg]

By Richard G. Santos

Texas, the geographic area now called the U. S. Southwest and Northern Mexico, in 1776 was a war zone.

The Spanish settlements, ranchos, haciendas and missions were besieged by hostile Native Americans tribes and clans of the Apache, Comanche, Karankawa, Yaqui, Tarahumara, Seri nations and the non-aligned groups of the Sierra Madre Oriental commonly called Chichimeca. Local militia units had to escort travelers as well as periodically mount campaigns against marauding tribes and clans. Cattle, horse, sheep and goat ranchos were frequently raided as were merchants and small groups traveling on the caminos real. Peace or trading treaties signed by local governments with a specific tribe or clan were not respected by other tribes and clans even when they belonged to the same Native American Nation. Hence the continuous war zone status.

Complicating matters was the fact that politically and militarily, the provinces and their respective city councils were governed and answered to the Vice Regal government located in Mexico City. The Viceroy distributed whatever laws and regal orders were issued by the Spanish Crown and the Council of the Indies that overlooked the governance of the Spanish American colonies. Laws, edicts, proclamations and taxing orders issued by the crown in Spain and distributed by the Viceroy in Mexico City were not always applicable to settlements far from the centers of government. Hence distant Bexar, Goliad, Nacogdoches, El Paso, Taos, Santa Fe, Tucson, San Francisco and Los Angeles frequently reacted by holding the law or order in hand, making the sign of the cross and stating cumplo pero no obedezco (I comply but will not obey). The document had been acknowledged, properly read, and set aside not to be enforced.

The plight of the local militias so far from the seats of government in Spain and Mexico City forced them to contract middle men to collect their salaries and get their weapons, ammunition and armament. Hence the troops on the frontier were poorly armed and equipped resulting in adopting Native American weapons and tactics. At the same time, some Governors and militia captains were charged and found guilty of corruption in selling the weapons, munitions, armament and supplies to their troops at a profit.

Wishing to correct the dismal situation on the northern frontier of New Spain, in May 1776 the Crown created the Military Commandancy of the Interior Provinces of New Spain. The frontier provinces of Texas, Coahuila, New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, Sinaloa, Sonora, Baja California and Alta California were placed under the command of the Commandancy General of the Interior Provinces. The first to hold the post was Brigadier General Theodoro de Croix. He held the post until 1782 when he was appointed Viceroy of Peru and turned the Interior Province to Phelipe de Neve. From that date until Mexico gained independence in 1821, the Interior Provinces saw the restructuring into the Interior Province of the north, east and west, and then only east and west with Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas added to the Interior Provinces of the East including Texas and Coahuila. The four Spanish colonial provinces, later Mexican states thus formed a regional identity with little loyalty to Madrid and Mexico City. Regional rebellions and separatist movements were to follow until the 20th Century.

During the same fateful year of 1776, the British American colonies declared themselves independent. Today people in Texas and the U. S. Southwest forget that events in 1776 in the British colonies were a foreign affair. The July 4th Declaration of Independence, rebellion and eventual union of the thirteen former British Colonies into a new country called the United States all occurred in a foreign country.

Spanish American citizens from Texas and Louisiana might have assisted the British American rebels but it was nonetheless intervention in a foreign affair in a foreign country. So why celebrate the Fourth of July in Texas and the U. S. Southwest? After all, many of us are descendants of families that settled in Texas and the U. S. Southwest long before the creation of the United States and Mexico. So why celebrate an incident that occurred in 1776 in a foreign country?

What we celebrate – with or without fireworks and speeches – is the preached but not always practiced political belief that “all men are created equal”. We also celebrate the thought that all people have the inherent right of self government, freedom of religious expression and freedom of the press. Bottom line, we celebrate the thoughts written on a piece of paper that changed not only the British American colonies, but the world. Unfortunately there are those among us who betray the principles written in 1776. Special interest political parties and religious groups are currently doing their best to deny through Legislative, social and religious acts those thoughts and principles set in the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. I strongly recommend the holier- than-thou fundamentalists, Tea Party members, right wing ultra conservative Republicans and state legislators consider reading the two documents in detail.

In closing we urge you to consider the significance of 1776 when the Spanish North American frontier provinces, settlements and residents got their first taste of independence from Madrid and Mexico City. Also consider the principles set in writing by British American colonists that many today tend to ignore and betray. So with or without fireworks, enjoy your Fourth of July activities and remember the historical significance of 1776.

Richard G. Santos is a writer who lives in Pearsall, Texas.

[Photo By Big C Harvey]

For decades, Latino veterans in the Rio Grande Valley border region in South Texas have been fighting the good fight to urge lawmakers and the Veteran’s Administration to build a hospital that’s accessible to them. The nearest VA hospital is in San Antonio — four or five hours by car. And, for veterans who are already wounded or suffering from debilitating diseases, the long drive may just be a bit much.

Despite promises from a litany of politicos, including Texas senators, congressional representatives and presidential candidates, there is no hospital. But because of the efforts of these tireless veterans, there is at least something available to them for their service to this country:

The VA dedicated a $40 million outpatient surgery center in Harlingen last month (February 2011) that significantly increases the local availability of health care services for Valley veterans who previously were forced to travel to San Antonio for specialty care. The 120,000-square-foot center includes nearly a dozen specialty clinics and six surgical suites, but it doesn’t house an emergency room or outpatient beds.

Here’s hoping that these heros not only get their hospital, but that it happens quickly. Our weekly segment, “Bien Hecho,” highlights the good deeds and achievements of Latinos across the U.S. If you feel that someone you know is deserving of recognition, let us know at tips@newstaco.com.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

[Photo By chefranden]

In case you never heard about Ken Burns, “The War,” and the resulting controversy, let me try to break it down quickly. Ken Burns created this massive documentary about World War II for PBS, worked on it for a long time, and it was set to launch until a group of Latino veterans cried out, “Hey, what about us?” You see, Ken Burns had created his documentary, finished and ready to air, without including Latinos at all.

For those not in the know, WWII was very important for Latinos in the U.S., partly because it helped give rise to service organizations like the American G.I. Forum, but mostly because the G.I. Bill allowed Latinos to pursue higher education in numbers not previously seen in the U.S. at the time. In other words, Latino participation in WWII fundamentally changed the way that Latinos were able to live in this country because of the opportunities it afforded them — not to mention the many that served, died, sacrificed.

Well, now Ken Burns is set to make another documentary about the Vietnam War and the fear is that the past will be repeated. A group called Defend The Honor is updating people about it, click here for more information, and they sent out a press release recently that said in part:

Unlike the 2007 Ken Burns/PBS WWII documentary debacle that left out the Latino and Latina experience, this time they might have a different interest in filming a documentary on the Vietnam War. Many of our Defenders of the Honor are rightfully outraged that Burns, who had a track record of excluding Latinos in his work long before the 2007 WWII documentary, is still being allowed to document an important event in American history. Many feel that he has failed repeatedly and that he should never again be trusted. (He still thinks the protests of 2007 were a “misunderstanding” on our part. And one high-placed public broadcasting official called it a “dust-up” – an indication that she still does not get it.) They also question the sincerity of PBS’ commitment to diversity, after the disastrous handling of The War.

Defend the Honor welcomes attempts to include stories of Latinos and Latinas in our nation’s historical narrative. However, DTH also believes that those who choose to collaborate with Florentine Films, Burns’ production company– or with any others– should proceed with caution.

The questions, concerns and reservations surrounding Ken Burns venture into the Vietnam War are many, especially when it comes to the “human stories” of Latino and Latina veterans who served during the Vietnam War era, as well as those involved in the Chicano movement who protested the war.

We must never forget that over 170,000 Latinos and Latinas served or fought in Vietnam, of which, more than 3,070 made the ultimate sacrifice. Thousands more were wounded, exposed to Agent Orange and/or suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The toll taken on our Vietnam veterans and their families continue to be felt to this day.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas where veterans have been demanding the building of a veteran hospital.  The absence of a veteran hospital forces veterans to travel 250 miles to San Antonio for medical treatment.

There’s a lot more information at the website, the group also issued warnings for those interested in collaborating with Burns on his new Vietnam documentary, which basically amounted to: do not give them any information that’s not copyrighted, do not enter into agreements with them, if you allow them access to your information make sure you both know exactly how it may be used.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD

[Photo By Chefranden]

[Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in The Texas Observer and was written by Eugene Richards.]

Carlos Arredondo:

I remember the war in Nicaragua in the 1980s, the Contra scandal, the weapons for hostages. Oliver North took the blame for Ronald Reagan. I remember when a bomb blew up in Beirut and kill about two hundred Marines. I watch them on the TV searching for them, carrying the bodies out on stretchers, pieces of them. And what I learned of Vietnam in my country? I never understood what they was fighting for. Costa Rica, it was my home when I was a boy, and we have the same climate, same weather, and I was afraid the United States would someday come to Costa Rica and do the same thing. So, when my son told me at age seventeen that he was going to join the service, I said, “Oh, no,” and he said, “Don’t worry, Dad.”

His mother knew the whole time, was supportive the whole time. They told me last, I guess because they know how I was feeling. The Marines had an office in the high school and the recruiters know everything, know who comes from divided families, especially when the father’s not around. They offer Alex thousands of dollars for signing up and help with college. Though we share custody, one parent can sign; his mother sign the paper. From that moment on, of course, I had U.S. Marine bumper stickers on my car, flags in my home, you know, supporting, letting people know, even though I didn’t want him to go. Alex went to basic training, then more training in California. Then, because he wasn’t being told anything by the military, he began asking me for information about the Middle East, about what the president is saying.

Next thing I know, my son is being made ready for urban combat. Next thing, he’s on the way to Kuwait, on the way to Iraq, and I’m at home learning there’s no nuclear armaments there; there’s none of them. I’m starting to learn all this and my son is on the way there. So much happen. I have two TVs at the same time, the radio on. I can’t go to sleep. I’ve been married with Melida seven years, used to drive a bus, to New York City, and sometimes I worked as landscaper and painter. I stop working. I was worried, very worried, by reading all the newspapers and concentrating too much on the war on the TV. I see how my son got from here to Iraq, see them prepare for invasion, see sandstorms, how they reach the Tigris River, and two Marines got killed, and my son was traveling inside a tank that was very noisy, a lot of fuel smells. All along, I see the Minister of Information for Saddam Hussein on TV say, “I’m going to kill all of them.” I see all the sadness, see how they kill, see how the Marines move through the dark alleyways, kick doors, blindfold people, while afraid most of the time for snipers and bombs. I was all the time calling the Marines and the Red Cross, asking them about the situation. I hear nothing about my son for days and days. It was too much, too much for parents.

Next thing I know, I see pictures of soldiers rolling into Baghdad, people at the side of the road saying hello, welcome, and I was very happy. And I say, “Thank God.” The statue go down, then they catch Saddam, and I see the President of the U.S. landing on the air carrier with big signs saying, “Mission Accomplished.” And I say, “Oh my God, it’s over. The war is over.”

It was the 25th of August in 2004. It was the day of my birthday and I was expecting a phone call from Alex, which he never miss to say, “Happy Birthday, Dad.” My mother start baking a cake, and I was working outside with my cell phone in my pocket waiting for that phone call when I saw the Marines get off the van. For a moment, it was an exciting moment, for I thought it was a surprise on my birthday. And my happiness was overwhelming. Next thing, the Marines are approaching and asking me if I was Carlos Arredondo. I don’t understand why they was asking me that, and I don’t see my son anywhere. I ask them, “Are you guys here to recruit some kids, because I have a second son, named Brian, my sixteen-year-old?” And they answer, “No, we’re here to see the family.” The Marine said, “I’m sorry, I’m coming to notify you that Alexander Arredondo got killed in combat.”

At that moment, not expecting those words, my world tumbled and I stopped breathing. I felt my heart go down to the ground and rush up through my throat. I just run from my house, first to the backyard, looking for my mother to tell her what these men were saying. And she run to try to talk to them—but she only speaks Spanish—while I was trying to call Maine to reach Alex’s mother. Brian answer the phone, but all I could say, because I was in tears, was, “Sorry, I’m sorry, they’re telling me Alex got killed.” And Brian said, “I know that, I know.” “How do you know that? How do you know?” “Because the Marines, they’re here right now, and when I saw them coming, I know.”

Then I run back into the house, and I remember grabbing Alex’s picture to give it to my mom. And I remember seeing the uniforms and I ask the Marines to please leave, leave. “Can you please leave.” Maybe I thought if they did leave then none of this was happening and everything would be normal again. I don’t know. I went to the backyard and I cried, then call my wife Melida, who was working down the street, to tell her what happened. I told her to come home please. Then, with all these feelings of confusion in my head, I once again ask the Marines to leave the house. And they answer that they are waiting for my wife. But at that moment, I wasn’t exactly sure what they said, so I went into the garage and got a hammer. I got a hammer and ask them again to leave, then walk towards the van, wanting to smash it, all the time hearing the Marines telling me, “Sir, don’t do that, don’t do that,” and my mother yelling in Spanish, “Carlos, Carlos, we already lost Alex.” And I’m asking myself, “What’s going on, what’s going on, help me God,” and I saw the hammer in my hand and pounded it hard into the ground. I sat behind a tree crying, when I think to call Alex’s recruiter, Sgt. Martinez. I have his number in my phone. I call him, said, “This is Carlos Arredondo, Alex’s father,” and ask him to please help me. “The Marines are telling me Alex has died.” The voice on the other side say, “Sir, you’ve got the wrong number.” I look and the phone say,  “Sgt. Martinez.” Pretty sure it was his voice, I call back and by the time I say the words, “Sgt. Martinez,” he hung up on me again. I got so angry, and I can’t believe it was happening, and I went to my garage and get a five-gallon can of gasoline that I keep for my lawn mower, also grab the acetylene torch like they use for welding. And with one in each hand I walked out, and I once again ask for the Marines to leave my house. And they… I don’t really remember what was the answer, but they didn’t move from there. So I approach the van, pick up the hammer, and there was my mother screaming and yelling, and I bang at that window so hard I cut my arms and lost the hammer. And there’s my mother pulling the gasoline can away. I chase her, got it back, open the van door, pick up the hammer and begin banging everything inside the van—the computer, the dashboard, the seats, the roof, throwing everything, everything from the van. When I have nothing else to throw, I find the five gallons of gasoline on the floor and began pouring it everywhere, everywhere. I was splashing my body, my legs, my clothing. The fumes were so strong I couldn’t breathe, though the windows were broken.

I am with one leg out of the van, holding the acetylene torch, with my mother pulling at me, when I lost my balance. I tried to grab the handle on the van, but what happens was I press the button, which ignite the torch. Next thing was an explosion that threw me out with a lot of fire, and I was falling head down on the ground, involved in flames. And not knowing all this time what happen to my mom, I stand up, run across the street, until one of the Marines jump on top of me, on my back. And I was screaming, “Momma, Momma, Momma,” because my socks and my feet are burning, my shirt is on fire. As they drag me away from the van, something blew up. A big bang. And I continue screaming, yelling for my son, Alex. “Are you sure that was Alex? Are you sure?”

The day of my son Alex’s wake, I was on a stretcher because of the burns, on lots of medication, so I don’t remember many people. I remember hugs, shaking hands, and I remember sitting in the ambulance outside of the funeral home for two hours, waiting for my ex-wife, not wanting to see my son’s body by myself. When I first approach the casket, I thought it might be hard to recognize him, because we didn’t know yet how he died, what killed him. We hadn’t learn yet that he had a wound in the temple of his head, so that he had a three-inch-wide hole in back of his head. But it was him. And seeing him laying flat in a casket, I thought, he’s not breathing and that he looks a little different, a little older, that his hair is a little bit longer. Wanting to reach him, I was lifted off the stretcher and climb up to kiss him, to touch his head, his hands, his fingers, his shoulders, his legs, to see if they were still there. I lay on top of the casket, on top of my son, apologizing to him because I did nothing for him to avoid this moment. Nothing.

This piece was excerpted from War is Personal (Many Voices Press). One of America’s greatest documentary photographers, Eugene Richards is the author of books including Cocaine Time, Cocaine Blue (1994) and The Blue Room (2008), and the recipient of awards including the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Journalism Award for coverage of the disadvantaged.

[Photos By Beverly & Pack, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy]

The last WWI veteran died Sunday. Frank W. Buckles was 110 when he died but only 16 when he lied to enlist in the Army to fight in WWI.

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Congress is set to pass a temporary stopgap budget, since there’s still fighting about what to cut and by how much; the temporary budget lasts for two weeks.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is set to unveil his state budget today, which simultaneously works to end collective bargaining rights for public employees, even as the majority of people in the country support these unions.

Libya is still in turmoil, pro-government and rebel forces are clashing, and the U.S. is getting closer to making a move.

[Photos By Library of Congress]

[Editor's Note: The following is an edited version of a blog from LatinoPoliticsBlog.com blogger Seneca. Re-posted with permission.]

The “state of the union” of the Latino community appears to be one of confusion or uncertainty in what awaits it. The public discourse this year has been replete with talk of: The Latino impact at the polls; the future of immigration reform; the DREAM Act; increasing deportations; the Arizona “profiling” law; the increasing anti-immigrant and anti-Latino tone in the public discussion; the social, political and economic divisions among the Latino communities; the lack of clear leadership in the national community, the impact of the deep economic recession in terms of the menacing debt, credit and unemployment, and the way forward.

Yet not much seems to have been resolved.

Immigration, educational achievement and equal economic opportunity are the most important and pressing issues on the Latino agenda. They remain unresolved or unmitigated. The Latino socio-economic indicators reveal a huge underclass in the making. Though, some progress is also apparent: More college graduates and an increasing middle class; the vast influx of immigrants in the last three decades has raised the numbers in poverty. Educational statistics show a startling under-achievement among Latinos. Health and income conditions among Latinos are most unsettling. They continue to confront the Latino community.

Moreover, the upcoming release of the 2010 census will probably provoke a debate on the accuracy of the Latino population numbers and the statistical definitions of the overall Latino community. The Latino community’s challenges persist and often appear to become even more muddled.

This past election Latino GOP candidates achieved better results than their Democratic counterparts. As the political passing of Democrat Governor Bill Richardson occurred, with the end of his tenure, there were no Latino Democrats running for governor in any of the 50 states, yet, Republican Latino candidates for Governors were elected in Nevada with Brian Sandoval and in New Mexico with Susana Martinez.

About three new Mexican-American GOP Congressmen: Jaime Herrera of Washington State, Kiko Canseco and Bill Flores. In Idaho, another Republican, Raul Labrador, was elected to Congress (he’s Puerto Rican). The GOP also sent three Florida Cuban Americans to Congress, two were re-elected (Ileana Ross-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz Balart) and one was newly elected (David Rivera).

While Marco Rubio, the newly elected GOP Senator from Florida, restored the number of Cuban-Americans in the US Senate (2), after Mel Martinez’ departure; Senator Bob Menendez is the only Latino (Cuban-American) Democrat in the Senate. Although two Democrat Latino congressmen from Texas lost their seats (both Mexican-American) Solomon Ortiz and Ciro Rodriguez; three Democrat Puerto Ricans Congressmen were re-elected (Serrano, Velazquez and Gutierrez).

The sum of all these musical chairs further suggests that neither party has nor will have, any time soon, a solid in-run into the Latino community.

While the Democratic Party still appears to garner more Latino support over all, the question is whether this may hold solidly in the out years. The growing willingness of Latinos to vote for either party makes them most attractive to court since this vote will increasingly be “up for grabs.” Lately we have seen some GOP leaders seeking to augment their outreach to Latinos by restating their outlook on issues such as immigration reform.

The most immediate challenge to the Hispanic/Latino community is the conduct in addressing the undocumented or illegal conundrum: How do you satisfactorily resolve the status of over ten million undocumented people? The Latino community faces a formidable challenge in making the case for amnesty. An expanded Cuban Adjustment Act is not in the cards for the rest of the undocumented Latino immigrants. Getting to the front of the line is politically unacceptable. Plainly, politically, the conditions for a reasonable and just resolution are distant. Especially when while the economic conditions are bleak or at best uncertain the mantra from some quarters seems to be: Blame “the illegals.”

Obama is now weakened and is in no position to take up the Latino agenda. In sum, the national Latino leadership should be readying itself for a monumental struggle in addressing the key issues confronting the community.

Moreover, the bruising political effort to attain some rational discussion and resolution of the tangled issue of immigration will not be swift. Success or failure will serve test the Latinos’ ability to manage formidable issues.
Lastly, Latinos seem to be totally disengaged from the global agenda. When a Latino soldier’s body is brought back home from war seems to be only occasion we discuss the war and the security challenges facing the country. Security policy is virtually absent from the Latino national agenda. Hence, it seems almost premature to discuss the Latino participation in globalization or its engagement in foreign policy and trade. The way forward is indeed a true challenge.

[Image Via Pew Hispanic Center]