Texas Civil Rights Review

Category: Uncategorized

  • Ramsey Muniz In Exile

    Dear Friends:

    The enclosed letter was recently received from
    Ramsey Muniz. Please distribute.–Irma L. Muniz

    In Exile

    Before sharing the essence of the above subject
    matter, it is of importance that I share with nuestra
    raza that we, who are confined in the dungeons of the
    oppressor, have recently concluded fasting and spiritual Mexicano prayers for our sisters and brothers from our Holy Land of Mexico who continue to journey into Aztlan, regardless of how many national troops or guards reside at the borders of America. To us, they are the true 21st Century spiritual warriors because of their courage and valor in seeking a better life for their families. We constantly fast and pray for them because we realize that others here in Aztlan have not arrived at the true realization that those who risk their lives in this drastic human journey are our own blood, race, and nation.
    We as Mexicanos must not ever permit that our sisters
    and brothers from the Holy Land of Mexico be treated in an inhumane manner. History reveals that we must be vocal and share with the entire world that at one time we took the same journey from Aztlan to our Promised Land (Tenochtitlan). At the heights of civilization in Tenochtitlan, the first Moctezuma selected four spiritual Mexicano disciples to return to Aztlan and share with that part of the world that the journey had truly become a success and that one day we would once more return to the land of our creation (Aztlan). So in reality, it doesn’t matter how high the walls and/or fences are built or how many troops are stationed at the border. Our people, our sisters and brothers will continue to come to Aztlan simply because the power of our ancient spirituality of the land calls upon our hearts. Our Mexika cultura and spirituality have all the force and power of a profound, kept secret. We know that our time has come.

    Our present struggle of humanity is not against
    each other or against our sisters and brothers from
    Mexico, even though at times we find it hard to
    understand the motives and realities in other hearts.
    In this mode of darkness, I continue to read where
    Hispanic and Latino political leaders will soon become
    the shining stars of the two-party system for our raza.
    I know deep in my heart that this reality will never
    become a destiny. Yes, it saddens me, yet I do not ever find hatred, jealousy, or envy for them. The truth and political direction and destinies for our people were
    revealed long before the words Hispanic and/or Latino
    came into existence. Besides, how can an oppressed
    Mexicano in the 21st Century be jealous or envious of
    another oppressed Mexicano? We must never forget that history reveals that we as a people were created from the beginning within the spirits of liberation. It’s
    nature and guess what. Nature is also on our side. It
    is not about my liberation from these dungeons. It’s
    all about the liberation of nuestra raza!

    “Stealing the bread from others means placing one’s
    own sustenance in certain danger. Snatching the happiness of others means chaining oneself. Destroying other people’s happiness in order to fabricate our own from its remains is nonsense. Because to attempt to raise one’s own happiness over the misery and grief of others is comparable to wanting to fortify a building by destroying its foundation. Nevertheless, most of the people deceived by the appearances of their false interests walk through the world like that, in search of their welfare under the banner of this absurd principle: to harm in order to benefit.”

    –To Die on Your Feet: The Life, Times, and Writings of Praxedis G. Guerrero. By Ward Albro

    Mi raza, mi gente Mexicana owes me nothing. I’m yesterday, today, the Mexicano spiritual brother of tomorrow. No fame. No fortune. Pure Mexicano/spiritual cultural liberation.”

    R. Muniz (Tezcatlipoca)
    6/20/06

    In conclusion, I must share that we continue the
    political struggle of having me transferred back to Texas. Those who are deeply involved in this struggle for justice have found that in reality and truth the only reason for having my body and soul in exile for the last 12 ½ years is because I’m a Mexicano political prisoner. Instead of having me transferred from a federal medical facility to Texas to be closer to my family and people, I was chained and shackled, and delivered to one of the highest security penitentiaries in the United States of America.

    I continue to pray for the souls of those who with
    malice and ill intentions refused to ever submit a small
    piece of bread for my hunger or a drop of water to wet
    my lips while I was shackled in the dungeons of America.

    The love that I have for my people is the same love that brings forth forgiveness, understanding, patience, and truth for those who continue to seek harm in order to benefit themselves in the eyes of nuestra gente. I’m not a stranger to these mountains in Colorado that surround the penitentiary that confines me. I can feel the ancient spirituality of our ancestors as they bring forth strength, courage, dignity, respect, truth, and love into my Mexicano
    corazon. Aztlan shall rise once more!

    In exile,
    Tezcatlipoca
    “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
    http://www.freeramsey.com

  • 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