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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2002)
May 01,2002 Page A8 Portsmouth Sets Cinco De Mayo Party Portsm outh M id d le School w ill be celebrating C inco de M ayo on Friday, M a y 3rd w ith speakers, singing and dancing. W e are w elcom ing our co m m u n ity to come and share w ith us in celebrating the proud Hispanic Culture. M any o f o u r H ispanic students, fam ilies and com m unity members w ill be there. M a rtin Gonzales w ill be o u r featured speaker. Several o f our students w ill read poems they created that share their history and culture. The Portsm outh C h o ir w ill sing several Spanish songs, in clu d in g the M exican N ational Anthem . F or more inform ation, contact Portsmouth M id d le School at 503-916-5666. Portsmouth is located at 5103 N W illis . Castro Lashes Out at Mexico (A P ) — For decades, Cuba counted on M e xico as a lo ya l friend, a neighbor that never ques tioned its socialist system and never succumbed to U.S. pres sures to cut d ip lo m a tic relations w ith the Caribbean island at the height o f the C o ld War. B u t a series o f incidents this year has le ft Fidel Castro feeling betrayed by the one country in the region he once knew he could depend upon in his defiance o f the U nited States. F ir s t, M e x ic a n P re s id e n t Vicente Fox met w ith p o litica l dis sidents du rin g a v is it to the island in February. Then the M exican fo re ig n secretary was accused o f in c itin g several young men to crash a stolen bus through M e x i can embassy’ s gates in Havana, h oping fo r p o litic a l asylum. A n d fin a lly , M e xico voted fo r a U .N . Hum an Rights C om m ission reso lu tio n condem ning Cuba, revers in g a tra d itio n o f abstaining from such votes. Last Tuesday, M exican Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda called C astro’ s governm ent an “ anti democratic and human rights-vio- lating regime” — an unthinkable stages Vicente Fox, a former Coca Cola executive and rancher from Mexico's pro-business National Action party, became the first Mexican president ever to meet with Cuban dissidents on Cuban soil. statement ju s t a few years ago. Fed up, an enraged Castro f i n a lly exploded. A ckn o w le d g in g he was riskin g 100 years o f d ip lo m atic relations, he aired a tape recording o f Fox suggesting that the Cuban leader not attend a U .N . poverty conference in M exico. C astro attended the M a rch conference, but le ft a b ruptly after his speech, c itin g a “ special situ ation” created by his presence there. F ox has n o t addressed the matter o f the tape recording pub lic ly , but Castaneda said Tuesday that the M exican governm ent had “ absolutely n othing” to apolo gize fo r — and that Fox never asked Castro to stay away from the summ it. It was clear, though, that the decades o f w arm th between the tw o governm ents had ended. The topic has already generated pro tests and violence, and a gasoline bom b was th ro w n against the Cuban Embassy in M e xico C ity last week but fa ile d to ignite. A lth o u g h Castro said M onday that “ the fraternal and h isto rica l bonds between the peoples o f M e xico and Cuba w ill last fo r ever,” he said that the M exican governm ent’ s human rights vote against his country last week had le ft h im “ despicably betrayed.” M e x ic o ’ s vote after years o f abstaining du rin g the annual ex ercise indicated that M e xico ’ s first opposition president is not w ill ing to turn the same b lin d eye that his predecessors d id to C uba’ s human rights record. House Votes to Abolish Immigration Service OHS® (A P )— The House overwhelm in g ly agreed to abolish the em battled Im m ig ra tio n and N atural iza tio n Service on Thursday and create tw o new agencies to handle enforcement and im m igration ser Friday Night Admission Adults $6 Seniors (62+) $3 Kids 10-12 $3.00 Children 9 snd under free M m < ti «*> «oo<a t» o m Entry free Thursday-Friday 11 am-5pm only. Thursday, May 2nd - Saturday May 4th 11am-11pm w , Sunday. May 5th 11am-9pm For more Information, go to www.dncodemayo.org or cal (503) 222-9807. Dus to high Isvsl ol Mcurtty. POSCA discourage» bringing personal Seme Io the event such ee backpacks and other Heme as they ere Sable to be searched. vices. The b ill passed the House 405- 9 ju s t hours after A tto rn e y Gen eral John A sh cro ft made a special trip up to the C apitol to endorse the legislation. House Republicans and D em o crats both got behind the b ill. “ I am convinced it is tim e fo r re fo rm ,” said House D em ocratic Leader D ick Gephardt, D -M o. “ W e w ill have taken a b ig step in h elp ing the federal governm ent m an age im m ig ra tio n ,” said Rep. John Linder, R-Ga. H ow ever, A sh cro ft said the W hite House w o u ld lik e ly w o rk w ith the D em ocratic-controlled Senate to get a plan m ore to its liking. The overhaul w o u ld scrap the IN S and create one agency to enforce laws and keep out un q u a lifie d people and another to smooth the w a y to possible c iti zenship fo r legal im m igrants. The new agencies w o u ld stay under A s h c ro ft’ s co n tro l at the Justice Department. Rep. M e lv in W att, D -N .C ., called the proposal a “ two-headed monster.” “ Y o u ’ ve got one in e ffic ie n t unproductive IN S now. It seems to me w hat y o u ’ re going to end up w ith is tw o in e ffic ie n t agencies,” said W att, w ho acknow ledged he d id not have enough votes to stop the b ill. viva el Cinco de Mayo ! / . • • ■ ■ : • . ■ ‘ S ' ■ -t... .. Todas las familias de American Family Insurance celebran orgullosamente la tradición de la fiesta del Cinco de Mayo. ízí American Family Mutual Insurance Company and its Subsidiarles Noms Odios ■ Msálson, Wlsoonsln 53783 www.smfsm.com 02003 4702 Ajy /o« pnjQcflun unctor on» foot
