California's Hispanic Press Braces for War in Iraq
Pacific News Service, Marcelo Ballve, Posted: Oct 09, 2002
Hispanics make up nearly a third of the population in the nation's most populous state, California. PNS contributor Marcelo Ballve examines the growing Spanish-language press across the state and finds a community fearful of anti-immigrant backlash should the United States go to war with Iraq. This is the third in a PNS series examining how California's ethnic press views the possibility of war with Iraq.
The administration's buildup to a possible armed conflict with Iraq has struck a dissonant chord within much of California's Spanish-language media. Editors, publishers and reporters express fear that many Hispanics' already tentative footholds on the lowest rungs of the U.S. economic ladder will be jeopardized by a costly war that could fan anti-immigrant sentiment.
Any escalation of the U.S. anti-terror campaign will probably accentuate the trend toward increased scrutiny and persecution of immigrants, said Roger Lindo, assistant editorial page editor at La Opinion, the largest Spanish-language daily in the country and the paper of record for more than 6 million Hispanics, most of Mexican descent, in the Los Angeles area. In wartime, Lindo said, "the totalitarian spirit prevails" leading to a "further deterioration of civil rights," especially for immigrants.
Lindo said the "overwhelming majority" of letters received by the paper expressed a "strong rejection" of military intervention in Iraq. "Many people think it would be counterproductive for the country and what it wants to do in the world," he said.
Still, Rafael Buitrago, editorial page editor, said the paper has not come out totally against war, and will wait to see how diplomacy progresses. He said what was clear was the Bush administration's woeful neglect of key domestic issues.
In an editorial titled "Iraq Is Not the Only Issue," La Opinion accused the administration of focusing on the war -- projected to cost over $100 billion -- while ignoring the sputtering economy.
In another editorial, "The Poor and the War," the paper called its readers to action. "It's time that public opinion awaken from its apathy and demand from the political class less bellicose demagoguery and more concern with the economic and social problems of this country," including the millions of poor lacking health care, housing and jobs. A budget crisis in Los Angeles County recently forced the closing of a network of health clinics that were the only source of care for thousands of Hispanic and African American families.
U.S. Hispanics hold a variety of political beliefs, and their media reflect this. In San Francisco, the 34-year-old El Bohemio News weekly has a loyal readership among the city's middle class and relatively conservative "old-timers," as more recent immigrants call them. The old-timers are Nicaraguans, Peruvians and Cubans who arrived as early as the 1960s; some are Republicans.
Edited by Cuban exile journalist Fernando Rosado, El Bohemio published an opinion piece recently by writer Marcos Antonio Ramos that urged readers to rally behind the president's final decision, whatever it is. But weeks before the op-ed, the paper also had published an article by contributor Ricardo Rosales Ramon, who cautioned strongly against an Iraqi war, saying it could spark a larger Middle East war.
A rival weekly, El Mensajero, with a bilingual format used to attract second-generation readers and a circulation of over 65,000, has also taken a neutral stance so far, mainly tracking the story in wire service articles. But Jose del Castillo, publisher, said he agreed a war climate would likely contribute to the erosion of Latino immigrants' civil liberties. "Since Sept. 11 there's been a microscope on all immigrants. There is a patriotism that goes along with war, a renewed patriotism, usually. That may make that magnifying glass a little hotter."
California's Hispanics, who now make up one-third of the state's population, traditionally have been the focus of anti-immigrant sentiment. Now California's undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans, estimated to number as many as 1 million, are feeling especially hit by the new security atmosphere. According to Bay Area immigration lawyer Randall Caudle, after the 2001 terror attacks the Social Security Administration sent "hundreds of thousands" of letters to employers warning them that workers' Social Security numbers did not match any in their files, or matched others' names. While there are no concrete figures on how many of them lost their jobs, the streets of Latino neighborhoods are rife with shared stories of sudden mass firings and employers wary of hiring any immigrants, even those with documents.
"I don't know what could be worse than the USA Patriot Act," said Pedro Tuyub, managing editor of the El Tecolote bimonthly, referring to new powers granted to law enforcement by Congress. Changes include expanded wire-tapping ability and the right to detain and hold any non-U.S. citizen for any reason during a 72-hour period.
"Totally against" war with Iraq, Tuyub said what worried him most was the common perception that the impeding conflict was a grab for Iraqi oil reserves. Tuyub said that while many U.S. Hispanics may be afraid to voice opposition for fear of being labeled unpatriotic or traitorous, a generation of young people worldwide, including in Latin America and the Middle East, are expressing growing resentment toward a United States perceived as an oil-hungry, imperialist power.
"More and more, the people who have the most resentment are the young," Tuyub said. "The administration doesn't consider these types of long-term implications."
Ballve (ballve@hotmail.com) is a former Associated Press reporter in Brazil and the Caribbean.
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