Protesters gathered outside the Hotel Presidente Intercontinental in the swank Mexico City district of Polanco as US President Barack Obama [2] arrived April 14 to deliver a letter demanding rights for immigrants in the United States. The letter calls for far-reaching immigration reform, an end to raids and deportation of undocumented migrants, and a halt to the border wall. It rejects a "bracero [3]" or guest worker [4] program, and also calls for a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.
María García, leader of the Casa Aztlán Chicago and a candidate for federal deputy with the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) led the protest with Fernando Suárez del Solar, father of a Mexican immigrant soldier killed in Iraq in March 2003; Gerardo Trejo of the US-based League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC [5]) and the Iniciativa Mexicana contra la Guerra. They expressed support for deported Chicago activist Elvira Arellano [6], who held public protests demanding immigration form after Obama's election. Meanwhile, the campesino [7] movement "Sin Maíz no hay País [8]" delivered a letter to the US embassy demanding the renegotiation of NAFTA [9]. (CIMAC [10], April 14)
See our last posts on Mexico [11], the politics of immigration [12] and the struggle for the border [13].
Please leave a tip [14] or answer the Exit Poll [15].
