LATINOS FEEL EMPOWERED. A national survey shows that Latinos believe discrimination has increased since the start of the congressional debate on immigration. They also feel more energized and empowered after the pro-immigrant marches.

Guest:

Robert Suro, director, Pew Hispanic Center, Washington DC.

MEXICO: VOTE BY VOTE. Hundreds of thousands gathered in Mexico City’s main plaza urging a vote recount in the recent presidential election. Opposition candidate López Obrador charges the voting was rigged with fraud. This is an analysis about the problems during the election process.

Guests:

Silvia Alonso, director, Alianza Cívica, Mexico City; Ted Lewis, founding director of Mexico program, Global Exchange, San Francisco, CA; election observers.

MEXICO EDITION. Martha Elena Ramírez hosts this edition of the Voz Pública series from Mexico City. She provides news and analysis on the contested Mexican presidential election.

TEXAS EDITION – BELEN ROBLES. From El Paso, TX, Carlos Spector-Calderón hosts this interview with Belen Robles, first woman elected to the highest leadership position with the League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Latino organization. A resident from El Paso, Robles also comments on the recent election of another Texan woman, unionist Rosa Rosales, to chair the League of United Latin American Citizens. Robles also comments on the immigration debate and non citizen immigrant soldiers and naturalization applications in the military.

ROSENDA MATAKA. A former migrant farm worker, Rosenda Mataka is now an active force in the environmental movement of Northern California. Mataka organized against the burning of tires and plans to import medical waste to develop a Stanislaus facility into the largest of its kind in the state. She is currently organizing community-based groups to help reduce pesticides in the air. This is a pre-taped interview.

ALSO, PESTICIDE VICTIMS IN COURT. Almost 30 farm workers who got sick after being exposed to pesticide drift are suing a grower and the pesticide application company. Plaintiffs and company representatives are invited to comment. Farm worker Erika Arellano and attorney Silas Sawver from California Rural Legal Assistance talk about the lawsuit. Representatives from the companies that are targetted by the lawsuit were not available for this program.

DOLORES HUERTA: THE MARCH CONTINUES. This is a conversation with Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union and civil rights pioneer. Huerta is organizing a march for higher salaries in California’s Central Valley. She is also announcing plans for a boycott against Kimberly Clark, a company co-owned by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, author of anti-immigrant legislation.

ALSO, INITIATIVE 946 FAILS. Tomás Villlanueva, a decades-long farm worker organizer and current candidate to the Washington state senate, talks about Initiative 946, a failed measure that would have restricted public services for undocumented residents. Sponsors of the initiative failed to raise enough signatures to make the initiative qualify for the November ballot in Washington. The former farm worker also talks about his uphill campaign to unseat an entrenched state senator from the Yakima valley.

MEXICO EDITION. Martha Elena Ramírez hosts this special election edition. In this program, the news director explains Radio Bilingüe’s civic journalism, a database expert interprets the election’s preliminary results, and a high official of the oppositionist PRD talks about their call for a legal probe and mass mobilizations.

CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS. House Republican leaders are conducting legislative hearings along the border in response to the immigration bill sent by the Senate. The hearings are announced as a public consultation about the vulnerability of the border to international terrorism. This program coincides with the day of the public hearing in Laredo.

Guest:

Rep. Henry Cuellar, Democrat, Laredo, TX.

VOTING RIGHTS ACT RENEWAL. Conservative members of Congress blocked action to renew and restore the Voting Rights Act. Civil rights groups are urging Congress to complete work on reauthorizing the landmark act, which is set to expire next year.

Guests:

Lydia Camarillo, vicepresident, South West Voter Registration and Education Project, San Antonio, TX; Peter Zamora, legislative staff attorney, MALDEF, Washington, DC.

MEXICO EDITION. Martha Elena Ramírez hosts this edition of the Voz Pública series from Mexico City. Ramírez interviews congressman Agustín Rodríguez Fuentes, (PRD) who is also president of the Union of Workers of UNAM. He calls for the electoral court to probe the voting results. Listeners joined in with split opinions about the challenges to the polling and the climate of uncertainty.

TEXAS EDITION – INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES. Former state comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and country music singer Kinky Friedman are running as independent candidates in the Texas gubernatorial race and have began to split the Republican vote. Veteran activist Jose Angel Gutiérrez, co-founder of La Raza Unida Party, comments on these and other electoral developments.

REDRAWN DISTRICTS REJECTED. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected part of the Texas congressional redistricting plan arguing that the new political map violated the rights of Latino voters. Civil rights group MALDEF, group that challenged the electoral map, has been invited to comment the decision.

IMMIGRATION EDITION – NEW VOTERS. A broad coalition of Latino leaders, unions and religious groups are launching this week a nationwide campaign to encourage immigrants to become citizens and register to vote. The drive “Democracy Summer” aims to register a million new voters and sway the November elections in congressional districts with lawmakers identified as anti-immigrant. Chicago attorney Rosalba Piña hosts this edition.