Texas Civil Rights Review

Category: Uncategorized

  • LITEMPO: The CIA in Mexico

    During the 1960s, the CIA station chief for Mexico, Winston Scott, cultivated sources of intelligence who justified their own hardline rise to power by reporting untrue stories of foreign, communist agitation, culminating in the military massacre of student demonstrators at Tlatelolco in 1968.

    At the time of the massacre, the CIA leader forwarded untrue reports to Washington that the shootings had been instigated by Trotskyites, although the truth would come out much later that the killings had been deliberately planned as a military operation.

    Biographer and columnist Jefferson Morley has posted documents online in support of his account at the NSA Archive of George Washington University.

    The information offers a telling model for the way that so-called CIA intelligence and FBI investigations can work in alliance with hardline ambitions against genuine grassroots movements.

    Substitute ‘terrorists’ for ‘communists’ in today’s so-called intelligence lingo, and you have a formula for history repeating itself.

    Meanwhile, those who live North of the Rio Grande may consider this story before preaching to Mexicans to ‘fix their own problems’ before they come looking for work.

    I’m reminded of what Marta Benavides said when she came to Austin. We don’t need you fix our problems in El Salvador, said the famed colleague of Archbishop Romero. We just ask that you take control of your own government. Excerpt from the NSA Archives:

    The massacre at Tlatelolco, says historian Sergio Aguayo, parted “the waters of Mexican history. It accented the turbulence of those years, served to concentrate power in the intelligence services dominated by a small group of men, hard and uncontrolled.”

    With Win Scott’s assistance, those men had entrenched themselves in power over the course of a decade, acting with impunity against an opposition that was, in Aguayo’s words, “weak but each time more bellicose and desperate to rebel against the apathy of an indifferent, if not complicitous, international community.” See LITEMPO: The CIA’s Eyes on Tlatelolco. CIA Spy Operations in Mexico. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 204. Posted – October 18, 2006.

  • Texas Border Lawmakers Question Guard Deployment

    Thanks to the AP for these quotes from a hearing in Mission, TX:

    State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said the committee must ensure that state funds newly dedicated to help border sheriffs are well-used.

    Mr. Hinojosa asked Gov. Rick Perry in May to create rules on how the sheriffs can spend the $367,500 awarded to each of 16 border counties under Mr. Perry’s “Operation Linebacker.”

    His letter to Mr. Perry expressed concern that El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego was using grant money to run roadblocks and raids aimed at ferreting out illegal immigrants. Sheriff Samaniego has denied that, saying his department’s checkpoints were part of a traffic safety program.

    State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said the panel also is concerned about National Guard deployment to assist the Border Patrol, which President Bush called for but is being directed by border state governors.

    “We want to make sure they serve their purpose without impeding rights,” she said.

    Cameron County Judge Gilberto Hinojosa testified that the deployment was perceived as a militarization. That could be upsetting to Mexican businessmen and shoppers who have made the Rio Grande Valley one of the top-performing retail areas in the U.S.

    When Ms. Van de Putte asked how the Valley could maintain that status, Mr. Hinojosa said, “We certainly don’t do it by sending in the National Guard.” Note: the AP reports that Operation Linebacker is being “directed by border state governors”. But we challenge the AP to document that fact. Our own public information requests have yet to prove that the Governor has any role in Operation Jump Start other than issuing press releases saying that the operation is going “according to plan”. Would the AP do us the favor of asking the Governor for a copy of the plan? We’ve asked, and the Governor’s Office says it doesn’t have one.

    SENATE
    NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

    COMMITTEE: Transportation & Homeland Security

    TIME & DATE: 10:00AM, Tuesday, August 8, 2006

    PLACE: Irving, Texas

    CHAIR: Senator John Carona

    ___________________________________________________________________________
    The Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security will meet on August 8, 2006, at 10 a.m. in the Irving Lecture Hall, Westin DFW Airport,
    located at 4545 West John Carpenter Freeway in Irving, Texas, to consider the draft interim report and legislative recommendations of the Committee. To listen to audio from the July 26 hearing of the Texas Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security in Mission, TX, go to the Texas Senate website.

  • LULAC Resolution for Release of Ramsey Muniz

    Resolution

    SUPPORT FOR THE RELEASE OF RAMSEY MUNIZ

    Whereas, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz is a native of Corpus Christi, Texas; and

    Whereas, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz contributed to the Chicano Movement during the 1970s as a leader fighting for justice and equality for all Mexican Americans throughout the United States; and
    Whereas, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz was a great Texas gubernatorial candidate for La Raza Unida Party – a political party established and developed solely by Mexican Americans; and

    Whereas, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz efforts and contribution are recognized and fully noted as part of our Mexican-American history; and

    Whereas, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz is serving a term of life without parole and was assigned to remain imprisoned in Leavenworth, Kansas, and now sits in the USP Florence High Penitentiary in Colorado; and

    Whereas, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz is serving a life sentence under the three strike rule which we feel is unconstitutional and inhumane; and

    Whereas, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz, now 64 years old, who was housed in the United States Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri, as a result of complication from a life- threatening surgery performed in August of 2005 and who has not fully recovered form his medical needs; and

    Whereas, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz is in need of further surgery and returning him to the penitentiary could worsen his already fragile condition; and

    Whereas, Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz has been a model prisoner for the past 11 years who was to be housed near his family in Three Rivers, Texas, as ordered by Federal Judge Paul Brown;

    THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the League of United Latin American Citizens Council 1 build support and unity to staunchly advocate and seek the immediate humanitarian release of Mr. Ramiro R. Muniz from prison.

    Adopted this 1st day of July 2006.

    Rosa Rosales
    LULAC National President

    http://www.lulac.org/advocacy/resolutions/2006/R28.html

    Caller.com


    http://www.caller.com/ccct/local_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_811_4818001,00.html

    Local LULAC issues favored
    Support for soldiers, Ramsey Muniz passes

    By Anthony Martinez Beven Caller-Times
    July 2, 2006

    Both local LULAC chapters reveled in support shown Saturday by the national organization for two resolutions tied to Corpus Christi.

    Delegates at the national League of United Latin American Citizens convention passed without dissent a resolution calling for the release of Ramsey Muniz, a former area lawyer and candidate for governor in the early 1970s.

    Muniz, 64, is serving a life sentence in federal prison after three drug-related felony convictions during a 17-year period. Arguing his health is failing and adequate health care services are lacking, LULAC approved a call for his release during the national convention in Milwaukee. The convention ended Saturday.

    LULAC Council 1, based in Corpus Christi, had been leading the initiative, and chapters across Texas have passed a similar statewide resolution.

    “For the state of Texas, I was very happy. For the national level, I was very surprised because 1,000 members voted unanimously for the humanitarian release of Ramsey,” said Gambi Gamboa, Council 1 civil rights chairman.

    The organization wants to see, for humanitarian reasons, that he gets let out and spends the last few years with his family, Gamboa said from Milwaukee. He said the national council is requesting the U.S. Justice Department intervene and help facilitate the release of Muniz.

    Another resolution passed that seeks community support, particularly among employers, for soldiers coming back from the war in Iraq.

    Nancy Vera, president of LULAC Council 4444, said national support for the resolution highlights that though LULAC is a Hispanic civil rights organization, it stands behind the United States.

    “We hold true our traditions and our heritage, there’s no question of our loyalty to the United States,” Vera said. “This is our home. This where we were born, many of us.”

    Vera said Council 4444 is working closely with the local chapter of Blue Star Mothers, a national group of moms whose sons and daughters are soldiers in Iraq and other places who offer support to families whose children have been killed in the war.

    A third resolution regarding the boycott of Telemundo television network and its advertisers after TV personality Johnny Canales claims he was discriminated against for his Mexican origin was tabled, said Gonzalo Tamez, Council 4444 vice president and a convention delegate.

    Joe Ortiz, district director for area LULAC chapters, recently said discrimination prompted Canales’ music show to be canceled earlier this year.

    “Because it’s under negotiation they think they are going to be able to come to some kind of agreement,” said Tamez, who attended the convention on behalf of Council 4444. However, if negotiations fail, LULAC may consider a national resolution in favor of Canales, he said.

    Contact Anthony Martinez Beven at 886-3792 or bevena@ caller.com

    Copyright 2006, Caller.com. All Rights Reserved.

  • Collecting 'Proof of Citizenship' Stories in Medicare

    The Center for Public Policy Priorities is looking for stories from Medicare patients who have been made to prove their citizenship first. Here’s the note at their website:

    Federal law now requires that states make U.S. citizens prove their status to get Medicaid. If you, or someone you are helping, has had Medicaid delayed or denied because of this new requirement, we want to know. If you or your client need help getting the documents required, or are not sure what is required, we will try to help you, or connect you with the help you need. If you are an agency or health care provider and want to track how this law is affecting your clients or patients, we would be happy to have your input.

    http://www.cppp.org/research.php?aid=572

  • NAFTA, not Tolls, Should Pay for Roads says Mayor of Mission, TX

    “Well I want to thank you all for coming to the City of Mission,” said Mayor Norberto Salinas in welcoming remarks before a hearing of the Texas Senate Committee on Transportation & Homeland Security.

    “We welcome you. This is your home, and we are very proud and happy that you all decided, Mr. Chairman, to have your hearing here.

    “This is a very important community now that we have been growing by leaps and bounds. The need for more money as far as our transportation is going to be needed in the future, connected to the bridge [see notes on Anzalduas Bridge under Read More below].

    “We are very happy and very thankful to TexDot (Texas Department of Transportation) for being so much and for you all to have helped us so much in expanding our expressway 1016 and Terry Road.

    “As you know we reconstructed the City of Mission to where it looks the way it looks now. We still have a little bit more to go. If we start construction of our bridge in December, we are going to have a connector that we would like to have, as a pass through toll road.

    “A lot of people know how I feel about toll roads. I really don’t like them. I really want the state to pay for it. I think it’s only fair that people, that NAFTA created our problem here, and I feel that NAFTA and the state should pay for some of our transportation.

    “Toll roads in this community, I think it’s out of the question, but I will abide by the decision that TexDot does. I would just like to not have them in Mission. But we are also very grateful for TexDot for doing so much for us, and the state, and the Governor, and of course you guys.

    “So welcome to Mission, and anything you all might need, we’re here.”

    New Anzalduas International Bridge

    Anzalduas Project Summary – The Anzalduas International Crossing is a project being jointly developed by the Cities of McAllen, Hidalgo and Mission. It is strategically located approximately 5 kilometers west of the existing Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge. This project is totally justified by the unprecedented growth in international traffic and business in our segment of the US Mexico border. Traffic origin and destination studies conducted by independent experts conclusively state the need for this project. After meeting all requirements of the federal inspection and regulatory agencies, a United States Presidential Permit to construct the bridge and border station was issued in July, 1999. The permit allows construction to begin in April of 2003 and the port can be operational at the start of 2005. The Anzalduas Bridge Board has engaged Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation to design the international span, the access road, and the toll plaza and outbound facilities. The design phase of Phase I of the project which is the bridge structure is complete and Dannenbaum Engineering will soon be authorized to continue with the design of Phase II which will be the outbound inspection facilities, toll plaza, and administration building.

    The General Services Administration will be responsible for designing and building the facilities to be utilized by the federal inspection agencies. GSA has engaged Marmon Mok to master plan the border station. After numerous meetings with all stakeholders in this project, the master plan is complete. In addition, GSA has indicated that they will likely utilize the design/build method in building their facilities. The congress has approved in the FY 04 budget, a total of $17,938,000. for the General Services Administratioin to build the inspection facilities.

    Adjacent to this project is approximately a six thousand acre site under single ownership which has all the required infrastructure for development. The owners of this project have also committed to a minimum of ninety acres for the development of the border station and all the necessary right of way required to build this project.

    This project is also being developed in Mexico. Promotora del Anzalduas, a private group, is developing this project and is responsible for acquiring all necessary permits. They have the total support of the City of Reynosa as well as the Governor of Tamaulipas and are very close to acquiring their presidential permit. Promotora del Anzalduas has completed all the required technical studies that the various Mexican federal agencies have requested. The Governor of Tamaulipas has officially requested the award of concession and that process is under review by the Secretariat of SCT. Promotora del Anzalduas as well as Reynosa Mayor Garcia Cabeza de Vaca are in support of this effort to award concession to the State of Tamaulipas. This award of concession will lead to the issuance of the final diplomatic note that will authorize construction. In fact, Mexico has officially committed in their latest diplomatic note that the construction will commence in the second semester of 2005 and that operations will begin at the end of 2006.

    We have a project, a team, and financial capacity to provide both the US and Mexico with a unique opportunity. It is our intent to develop a state of the art facility that will serve to accommodate changing technologies, speed, and accessibility to markets.

    Source:
    http://www.medc.org/community_transportation.aspx