Note:  You are invited to a press conference with Father Alejandro Solalinde at Pomona City Hall this Wednesday, Feb. 18th, at 10 A. M..  We know that this is short notice and we need your help in doing one-to-one contact and outreach to ensure a good turn-out for this press conference. 

THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT, LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES AND INTERCOLLEGIATE DEPARTMENTOF CHICANO/A LATINO/A STUDIES AT THE CLAREMONT COLLEGES; LATINO AND LATINA ROUNDTABLE OF THE SAN GABRIEL AND POMONA VALLEY; AND COALICION LATINOAMERICANA POR AYOTZINAPA

Media Advisory                                              Media Contacts:

February 15, 2015                                         Jose Calderon, (909) 952-1640

                                                                        Miguel Tinker Salas, (909) 374-7847

                                                                        Angela Sanbrano, (323) 371- 7305

Father Alejandro Solalinde, a Mexican priest, who is a leading voice on international human rights, will speak on the steps of Pomona city hall on efforts to address social justice and human rights issues in Mexico.  Solalinde has chosen the Pomona City Hall site for a press conference because of its significance as the first city in the United State to pass a resolution requesting an international investigation into the disappearance of the 43 Mexican students of Ayotzinapa. 

 Since a December 1 Pomona city council meeting, adopting a resolution calling for an independent international investigation into the disappearance of the 43 college students, a number of government bodies on both sides of the Mexican border, including the California Senate and the San Francisco board of supervisors, have taken up similar resolutions. Last week, the U. N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances, in reference to the presumed killing of the 43, focused on the disappearances as being part of worsening human rights problems caused by the police, military, and government inaction. 

Father Solalinde, a Catholic priest who has devoted his life to the plight of Central American immigrants traveling through Mexico, is doing this press conference at the beginning of a three day tour with university, community, and religious organizations and leaders in the Los Angeles region.   In 2012, he received the National Human Rights Award from the Mexican government for his work as the founder and director of Hermanos y Hermanas en el Camino (Brothers and Sisters on the Road), a shelter for migrants in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

WHAT:          Press Conference to highlight the serious crisis that Mexico is facing in terms of the prevention, investigation and punishment for enforced disappearances and recognizing the significance of a Pomona City Council resolution calling for an independent investigation of the 43 Ayotzinapa students.

When:             Wednesday, February 18, 2015, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Where:            Pomona City Hall,  505 South Garey Ave. Pomona, CA 91766

Who:               Father Alejandro Solalinde, from Mexico

                        Cristina Carrizosa, Pomona City Council Member

                        John Nolti,  Pomona City Council Member

                        Jose Calderon, President of the Latino/a Roundtable

                        Comunity representatives and students

Smithsonian Latino Center Accepting Applications for 2015 Young Ambassadors Program

February 13, 2015

Deadline: April 6, 2015 Continue reading →

  POMONA VALLEY REENTRY COALITION

Ex-Offender & Reentry Resource Fair

Wednesday, February 18, 2015 Continue reading →

We would like to invite representatives from your community organization to a community summit and reception that our Local union is hosting this coming Thursday, February 12 from 6pm to 8pm in Downtown LA, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles 90012).

At this community summit we will brief community allies about our largest contract campaign that affects over 145,000 homecare workers living throughout L.A. County, the vast majority of which are women, women of color, and many thousands also immigrants.

The attached letter has more information about our “We Care LA” Contract campaign and this community summit but feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions.

The event is free and you can bring guests we just need to RSVP who is coming. If you can RSVP with myself Just call, email, or text me any time to RSVP.

If you cannot attend feel free to invite other representatives from your organization or please help me by forwarding this email to the best correct contact person for your organization.

Also feel free to invite other leaders, activists, and organizers, from other community groups you know just have them RSVP with me also. Anybody can do that by simply texting me at 213-359-3283.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Sincerely,

Juan Carlos Garcia

SEIU ULTCW Invitation to Community Partner

Invitation from Professor Miguel Tinker-Salas:

Father Alejandro Solalinde will be at the Claremont Colleges on Wed February 18 speaking at 7:00 pm in Lyman Auditorium, Thatcher Music Building to address the crisis  in Mexico.

A flyer is attached.

He is an advocate for immigrants in Mexico, he operates a shelter in Oaxaca and is one of the leading voices demanding social justice in Mexico.

Along with Archbishop Vera and multiple social forces he has joined to movement to “re-found” Mexico.

Saludos

Miguel

Solalinde

El Senado Estatal de California aprobó la Resolución 7 (SR 7) del senador Lara para que el Senado pueda agregar su voz a aquellos en la comunidad internacional que condenan las desapariciones y las muertes de los estudiantes normalistas desaparecidos, como una violación de sus derechos humanos.

Hoy, la Comisión Nacional Mexicana de Derechos Humanos presentará un reporte al Comité de las Naciones Unidas sobre las desapariciones forzadas, declarando que México tiene un “serio problema.”

Para más información acera de esta medida, también agregué el comunicado de prensa en ingles del Senador Lara.

Veronica Rodriguez

February 2, 2015

Contact: Jesse Melgar 916-651-4033/Jesse.Melgar@sen.ca.gov

Lara Resolution Condemning Deaths of Mexico’s 43 Students Approved Unanimously By CA Senate Same Day UN Committee Holds Hearing on Enforced Disappearances

SACRAMENTO, CA — The California Senate today passed Senate Resolution 7 authored by Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) urging the government of Mexico to support further dialogue between the international community and human rights organizations in light of the disappearance and deaths of the forty-three students in Iguala, Mexico. The resolution comes the same day that Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission presents to the United Nations (U.N.) Committee on Enforced Disappearances a report that underscores the country’s “serious problem” with disappearances and lacking a comprehensive national list of those missing to effectively address the problem.

“California joins the international community in voicing our concerns against human rights violations in Mexico and throughout the world,” said Senator Ricardo Lara. “At least forty three young lives have been lost for standing up for what they believed in and many questions about how they went missing remain. I urge the Mexican government to support further dialogue between the international community and human rights organizations to implement human rights reforms that protect free speech and eliminate retribution of any sort for individuals expressing their opinions.”

On September 26, 2014, forty-three college students from the Ayotzinapa Normal School in Guerrero, Mexico disappeared in Iguala, Mexico. According to Mexico’s Attorney General, Jesus Murillo Karam, evidence indicates the forty-three missing students had been executed and incinerated in the municipal dump of Cocula, Mexico by the Guerreros Unidos cartel.  It has been estimated that 25,000 to 26,000 people have disappeared in Mexico since 2006 and that those disappeared often include vulnerable, such as poor migrants, indigenous people and women and children.

Today, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission presented to the U.N.’s Committee on Enforced Disappearances in Geneva a report that finds the country has a “serious problem” with disappearances and lacks a comprehensive national list of the missing to effectively deal with the problem. Mexico’s Ambassador to the U.N. Jorge Lomonaco faced questioning from the Committee and stated that the country is making a priority of passing laws against forced disappearances and perfecting a database to track the missing.

“It is promising to see Mexican officials take note of this problem and acknowledge that proactive measures are needed to implement positive change,” added Senator Lara. “I stand in solidarity with the families of the forty-three students and commend their courage for speaking out and pushing for increased accountability in Mexico and worldwide.”

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Senator Ricardo Lara was elected in 2012 to represent the 33rd Senate District, which includes the cities and communities of Bell, Bell Gardens, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Lakewood, Long Beach, Lynwood, Maywood, Paramount, Signal Hill, South Gate, South Los Angeles, Vernon, and Walnut Park.