Camelia la Texana’s Story Reaches Long Beach Opera

CNN Mexico, 3/12/2013

Camelia la Texana, the drug dealer whose story inspired a famous run popularized by the group Los Tigres del Norte, is now the star of an opera that will premiere this month at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California and is titled Camelia la Texana. Únicamente la Verdad.

Camelia is the central character of the corrido “Contrabando y Traicion”, written by Angel Gonzalez in 1972.

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Mexico to ask Senate for registry of US guns

The Washington Times, 2/20/2013

In the wake of a tense national clash over the issue of gun control, Mexico has taken an action sure to fan the flames of controversy. In January, the Mexico Permanent Commission reportedly voted to formally ask the United States Senate for a registry of all commercialized firearms in the border states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. According to Informador, the proposition was introduced by Senator Marcela Guerra, who stated he introduced the resolution in hopes that it would make it easier to trace guns used in violent crimes. InsightCrime explains,

“Close to 60,000 people were killed during the six-year presidency of Felipe Calderon, who left office in December. The US Southwest is a significant source of weaponry for Mexico’s criminal organizations, who typically purchase firearms from US gun stores via a middleman or ‘straw buyer.’”

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L.A. to Cease Transferring Some Immigrants

The New York Times, 10/4/12

The police in this city will soon stop turning over illegal immigrants arrested for low-level crimes to federal immigration officials for deportation, Police Chief Charlie Beck announced on Thursday.

At a news conference, Chief Beck said he hoped to put in place a set of protocols by the start of next year, under which the Los Angeles police will no longer honor requests from federal agencies to detain illegal immigrants who are arrested for nonviolent offenses like driving without a license, illegal vending or being drunk in public unless they were part of a street gang or had a criminal record.

Read more: http://ow.ly/efzUf

Op-ed: Mexican Food North of the Border

The New York Times, Julia Moskin, 4/30/12

ADMIT it, tortilla-chip fans: you are curious about Taco Bell Doritos Locos tacos, introduced in March. These salt bombs take the usual fast-food taco filling and stuff them inside a giant orange-dusted nacho-cheese chip. They have been so successful that the company has just introduced a Cool Ranch flavor.

But to truly grasp the significance of these creations, the taco must be eaten in the company of Gustavo Arellano, a journalist and Orange County, Calif., native who is perhaps the greatest (and only) living scholar of Mexican-American fast food.

And preferably, you will eat it here, in the birthplace of American fast food, while he explains to you precisely how the Frito, America’s first corn chip, was copied from the Mexican tostado, then evolved into the Dorito and eventually the Tostito.

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San Diego filmmaker to release documentary about Ramón “Chunky” Sanchez

Rising Souls, Singing Scorpions is a documentary film by award-winning filmmakers Paul Espinosa and Mark Day about Ramón “Chunky” Sanchez, a southern California musician and community organizer based in San Diego. It’s a moving story of individual perseverance and an engaging tale of how art and culture can play a role in achieving justice and social change.

The film examines how Chunky’s inspiring work as a musician is interwoven with the broader history of the U.S.-Mexican border, from the turbulent1960’s and the early days of the Chicano movement right through to today’s immigrant rights’ protests.

To watch the trailer, click here.

Osuna and Brown to meet about border agenda (in Spanish)

La Frontera, 1/3/2010

California y Baja California es una región estratégica y se tiene una agenda de temas de interés común en la que se trabajará y se dará continuidad, coincidieron los Gobernadores de ambas entidades, Jerry Brown y José Guadalupe Osuna Millán, respectivamente.

A través de un comunicado de prensa se informó que en el marco de la toma de protesta del nuevo Gobernador de California, Jerry Brown, los mandatarios estatales sostuvieron una entrevista en la que revisaron algunos de los proyectos estratégicos en materia de infraestructura, seguridad, medio ambiente, salud y energía.

Acompañado del Alcalde de Tijuana, Carlos Bustamante, el Gobernador del Estado destacó la importancia de darle continuidad a los proyectos para agilizar los cruces fronterizos, donde California y Baja California destacan al ser las únicas entidades de la en contar con un Plan Maestro conjunto.

Osuna Millán resaltó además el tema de la seguridad pública, donde será relevante la aportación del Gobernador de California, al haberse desempeñado anteriormente como Procurador de Justicia de dicha entidad.

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California Court Backs Illegal Immigrant Students

The New York Times, 11/15/2010

In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that illegal immigrants can be eligible for the same reduced tuition at public colleges and universities as legal residents of the state.

The ruling is the latest in a series of high-profile battles about stateimmigration policies. In addition to Arizona’s strict new immigration law, which the United States Department of Justice has challenged in court, nine other states have laws similar to California’s, with lawsuits pending in Nebraska and Texas.

Currently, students who attend at least three years of high school in California and graduate are eligible for in-state tuition at public schools, which can save them as much as $12,000 a year compared with students who come from other states.

Illegal immigrants remain ineligible for state or federal financial aid.

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Documents Show Mexico’s ‘King of Heroin’ Caught on Wiretaps

Fox News, 11/13/2010

California court documents show the man accused of being Mexico’s “King of Heroin” was caught on wiretap conversations talking to co-conspirators about drug transactions involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The documents obtained by the Ventura County Star show that 36-year-old Jose Antonio Medina Arreguin also discussed storing drugs at secret locations until they could be distributed.

The Mexican national was booked into county jail Oct. 13 after being extradited from his home country.

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Mexico applauds California rejection of pot legalization

AFP, 11/4/2010

Mexico on Wednesday welcomed a vote against the legalization of marijuana in the US state of California, after criticizing the United States for sending contradictory messages on drug use.

Californians rejected Proposition 19 – one of a series of referendums held simultaneously with mid-term polls – by 57 percent against 43 percent in favor, according to early projections.

“This result goes in the direction Mexico has followed on the prevention and treatment of addictions,” Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told the Televisa network, a day after the California vote.

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Californian Voters Reject Prop. 19

Hemispheric Brief, 11/3/2010

California voters rejected Proposition 19 Tuesday, a ballot initiative which would have made the state the first in the US to allow limited amounts of marijuana to be sold legally for recreational purposes. With ninety percent of precincts reportingthis morning, some 54% of voters voted against measure. Some 46% came out in favor.

According to the LA Times, the principal failure lay in the the fact that voters under the age of 25 – the initiative’s principal backers – “did not turn out in unusually high numbers” on election day. In fact, the San Francisco Bay area was the only part of the state to see a majority favor Proposition 19 – and even there the majority appears to have been slimmer than expected.

Nevertheless, drug policy advocates saw many bright spots in the California campaign which, using the LA Times words once again, “transformed talk about legal pot from a late-night punch line into a serious policy matter.” Stephen Gutwillig, the California director of the Drug Policy Alliance says Prop. 19, even in defeat, marked a “watershed moment” by “moving marijuana legalization into the mainstream of American politics.” Legalization advocates are expected to bring the measure up for a second vote in California in 2012 while it’s likely that similar initiatives will be placed before voters in Washington, Colorado, and Oregon as well. But to win two years from now, advocates may have to harvest more targeted in-state support. As I have written here, the measure drew significant national and international attention over the last months, but, quoting the Times:

“[T]he opposition was broad…Men and women opposed it. Voters of every race opposed it. The campaign had hoped black and Latino voters would see the measure as a way to end disproportionate arrests of minorities caught with marijuana.”

If nothing else, Prop. 19 has gotten people talking.

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