news about braceros & settlements in Mexico and Texas

[Guest guest]

Of interest. Tina Castañares

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August 22, 2005Mexicali NewsBracero Protests Heat Up AgainHundreds of former Mexican guestworkers known as braceros staged a protest during the weekend outside the offices the federal Interior Ministry in Mexicali. Spokesman Rogelio Pantoja Mendez said the braceros were showing their opposition to last Wednesday's arrests in Mexico City of their international leader, Ventura Gutierrez, and 9 other members of the Alianza Braceroproa organization. All were jailed after Gutierrez and the other mainly, elderly activists reportedly attempted to storm the Interior Ministry, breaking a window in the mayhem. While most of the detained braceros posted bail and were released, Gutierrez, a U.S. citizen, initially refused to follow suit and solicited the intervention of US Ambassador Tony Garza. The Mexico City demonstrators were demanding individual payments of about $10,000 dollars from a compensation fund approved earlier in the year by the Mexican Congress for ex-guestworkers who labored in the US decades ago. The money is slated to make up for paycheck deductions that were supposed to go into a savings account set aside for returning braceros in Mexico, but which mysteriously disappeared. In Mexicali, the protest ended after local Interior Ministry official Ruiz Manriquez announced Gutierrez had been freed and negotiations over the pay-outs scheduled. Withdrawing their protest contingent, the braceros nevertheless vowed to be back if their demands are not met or retaliations take place. The demonstration drew the support of the Mexicali Civic Front, United Against Impunity and hundreds of wheat producers, who have been staging weeks-long protests of their own in the Baja California city for better prices. Besides the Mexcali protest, Alianza Braceroproa conducted similar demonstrations on Friday, August 19, in Guerrero, Michoacan, Jalisco and Aguascalientes. In the Guerrero state capital of Chilpancingo, about 1,000 braceros blocked two streets in front of the state office of the Interior Ministry. In addition to demanding the freedom of the Mexico City protestors and the delivery of official documents needed to collect compensation payments, they called on Guerrero Governor Zeferino Torreblanca to contribute his state's share of the bracero fund created by the federal congress. Tensions surrounding which braceros will get the anticipated pay-outs-and when-have grown recently as rumors are rife the money might be disbursed as soon as September. Emerging as a mass movement in the late 1990s, the former guestworkers, who labored on US farms and railroads from 1942 to 1964, are divided into different organizations across Mexico and the southwestern US. Gutierrez's Alianza Braceroproa made international headlines last year when thousands of its supporters overran President Vicente Fox's ranch in Guanajuato. A rival organization, the Binational Union of Ex-Bracero Workers 1942-67, is led by federal deputy Valentin Bautista. In a letter last week, the group dissociated itself from the Mexico City protest outside the Interior Ministry and expressed support for dialogue as the means to strengthen the federal compensation process. In El Paso, Texas, another organization, the Bracero Project, held an informational meeting for about 300 braceros and family members on Sunday, August 21. Prior to the gathering, Project Director Marentes, said confusion reigned over the pending operation of the federal compensation fund. Marentes said unnamed individuals in Chihuahua state- including some politicians- were muddying the situation further by trying to set themselves up as intermediaries between braceros and the federal government. At Sunday's meeting, a referendum also was held to determine whether Marentes should continue to lead the Bracero Project. Sources: La Voz de la Frontera (Mexicali), August 21, 2005. Article by Alma Parra s. La Jornada, August 21, 2005. Article by Heras. lapolaka.com, August 21, 2005. La Cronica (San Rio Colorado), August 20, 2005. Article by Razzo. El Sur (Acapulco), August 20, 2005. Article by Zacarias Cervantes. La Jornada, August 20, 2005. Article by Gustavo Castillo and other reporters and correspondents. El Diario de Juarez, August 20, 2005. Article by Figueroa. El Universal/Notimex, August 19, 2005. Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border newsCenter for Latin American and Border StudiesNew Mexico State University Las Cruces, New MexicoFor a free electronic subscription email fnsnews@...