Latino leaders push voter turnout
Pepe Lozano
People's Weekly World Newspaper
Sep 19, 2006
LOS ANGELES — Dubbed as the first comprehensive gathering of Latino leaders since the civil rights movement of the 1960s and ’70s, over 3,000 participants assembled here Sept. 6-10 at the National Latino Congreso.
Antonio González, president of the Southwest Voter Registration Educational Project, cited a need “to unite across regions and reinvent the basic principles of unity in the Latino community.”
“The Congreso is going to be acting this week against the ugliness of the right wing,” added John Trasviña, interim president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The event, held at the downtown Sheraton Hotel, brought together people from the Latino, African American, Asian Pacific Islander, and Native American movements as well as other allies to develop a new direction for Latinos.
Union representatives and workers, business leaders, community development workers, members of nonprofit and religious groups, students and elected officials met to create a national policy platform and action-oriented agenda. There was a high presence of youth and students from the Los Angeles area.
Sponsors included the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the National Hispanic Environmental Council, the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities, and Earth Day Network.
Delegates at daily plenary sessions passed over 70 resolutions, including support for a moratorium on deportations of immigrants, voting rights, election reform, immigrant rights, LGBT rights, the Employee Free Choice Act, increasing the minimum wage, social justice and economic equality and mass voter mobilization drives to make an impact on Nov. 7.
Cecilia Muñoz of the National Council of La Raza warned that the Republican leadership in Congress is poised to try to push through repressive legislation in piecemeal fashion in the next several weeks.
