"Chicano writers from El Paso are the most progressive, open-minded, far-reaching, and inclusive writers of them all."

Octavio Romano

Monday, July 25, 2011

Lunes con Lalo -- Yo Soy Chicano



Lunes con Lalo --

Yo Soy Chicano


by Abelardo Delgado

I am a chicano and find it easy to explain

if my jefes and my better off carnales take the pain

to listen to my wounded barrio words,

let me start out by saying that

chicano is the name we have given ourselves

and consequently wherever we whisper,

speak or shout the word there's pride.

The word was in one of

those south el paso alleys

to add to our calo, it could

very well have been the daughter – word

of brain floating in mota clouds

and introduced among the cabula,

among the curses and marihuanic dry mouth giggles

and the frustrated moments

of a juventud oppressed,

maybe the late 50's or the early 40's when pachuco was the rebellious

expression of chicanos refusing

agringamiento forced...

the word is barrio and the word

is calo and as much as

academicians or sociologists may hunt

it is our word, it is our name, it

had its origin in us,

not mexican, not latin, no spanish,

not hispanic and not mexican-american

or as u.s. Government would have us be ,

a.s.s.,

americans of spanish surname...

no mires, none of that bullshit for us,

we are chicanos and i'm afraid not of those

who find the name vulgar,

and who listen to the gringo for a definition

instead of to us who bear the name,

the gringo would have you believe

chicano comes from the translation of the

word chicanery,

have you heard anything so absurd,

batos locos with chicanery in their vocabulary,

even I offer the academicians an out

for we chicanos are forever chopping

long words such as hijito to ito

and so with the word mexicano

we have xicano but the x sound

if you recall doña ximena in el cid

has the ch sound and so you

get chicano out of the last three

syllables of mexicano or look at

the x from an indian point of vocabulary,

in xochomilco or la reina xochitl,

another carnal says it means

hermano chico or chicano hermano

spliced together, so be it,

but I tell you the word

is a pachuco fabrication

just like carnal and bato

and jefe and ruca and canton and refin.

Merely suggesting the reason for our

pride in such a name.

We chicanos belong by and large

to the bottom of the socio-economic barrel

and identify ourselves best with the poor,

the deprived, the exploited, the abused

and for those reasons for centuries

people have been telling

what we are not content with

in one way or another, confined,

colonizing us in barrios, assigning those

jobs for mere survival no one else would have

and running us in one door and out the other

in the precious educational system

and so now that we are able for the first time

to know who we are, to arm ourselves,

to organize ourselves and to call a ya basta

on the continuous bending over,

now that we wine up to the beauty

of la familia and our whole cultura,

now that we speak of immediate

and adequate reparation,

they would brand us outcasts,

malcontents, and even suggest we

go back to mexico,

how beautiful that we at least

have a place to be sent back to,

I pity those who don't

so don't call our name in vain,

say it with respect

for it speaks of social revolution

and under it are filed

our struggles to be free.

Please, don't shout it wildly if

you do not understand our chicanismo,

rather roll in your tongue

and whisper it to yourself

like magic word and source of power

and then one day like

us who call our selves chicano

very casually announce to the whole world

yo soy chicano and feel your soul uncurl.



(c) Abelardo Delgado. Published with permision of the Lalo Delgado Estate



Bookmark and Share

Sunday, July 24, 2011

El Paso Writers Update for Week of July 24, Part I





El Paso Writers Update for Week of July 24, Part 1 and Los Lagartos Update
Share




Texas Higher Ed Chief


Several times, Raymund Paredes, Texas comissioner for Higher Ed has been in the news. Check out "Texas official: Higher ed can improve, cheaply" and "Raymund Paredes says higher education must be reinvented" and "Parsing the History of Perry's Higher Ed Battles"




Luis Jimenez, Jr.'s "Los Lagartos" Sculpture Controversy


Make sure to sign the petition asking El Paso's Mayor and City Council to Keep Luis Jimenez Jr.'s "Los Lagartos" (The Alligators) sculpture in El Paso's San Jacinto Plaza. SIGN PETITION NOW.





In case you have missed all the media on Luis Jimenez, Jr.'s "Los Lagartos" sculpture. Here's a few links:


‘Arbol de la Vida,’ alligators and art scene 
(El Paso Inc.)
By Betty Ligon


"I recall having talked with Luis when he expressed dismay a few years ago over the care the city failed to provide for his fiberglass alligators. He pointed out in no uncertain terms that he had designed it for San Jacinto Park as a site-specific installation. I agree wholeheartedly with his supporters to leave them leaping in the fountain."


Saving Luis Jimenez’ gators — El Pasoans won’t let go of a beloved city centerpiece(Borderzine)

"Downtown El Paso could soon lose one of its most beloved landmarks, created by one of the city’s most famous artists if a plan to renovate San Jacinto Plaza is approved and funded by the city council.

Luis Jimenez’s fiberglass sculpture, “Los Lagartos” has stood at the center of the plaza since 1995, would be replaced by shrubbery trimmed in the shape of alligators in the renovation plans donated by Mills Plaza Properties, owned by prominent El Paso businessman Paul Foster." (Borderzine)



 'Gator debate:' Luis Jimenez fans seek to keep sculpture Downtown 
(El Paso Times)
Ramon Renteria

Luis Jimenez's artwork still arouses controversy. This time, the famous Chicano sculptor's life-size fiberglass sculpture, "Plaza de los Lagartos," is in the middle of public debate about its future location.

Trish Long: Plaza first got alligator in 1889 
(El Paso Times)

There are many accounts of how alligators came to El Paso's San Jacinto Plaza, also known to generations of El Pasoans as Plaza de los Lagartos


New vision for San Jacinto Plaza presented 
(El Paso Times)

Bringing live alligators back to the San Jacinto Plaza is unlikely, as is keeping the existing Plaza de los Lagartos sculpture, according to a concept plan presented to the community Tuesday.

 Downtown evolution: Critics plan challenge of Plaza face-lift
(El Paso Times)

Tanny Berg, a longtime El Paso businessman, said that a legal challenge might be made to the method the city would use to improve the plaza.

(Pluma Fronteriza)
A man was ejected from City Council this morning after disrupting a controversial vote in which city representatives changed the name of San Jacinto Plaza to “Paul Foster Plaza.”


(Mayra Gallegos/Borderzine.com)
(El Paso What's Up)

Five years after Luis Jimenez, El Paso artist and favorite son, died tragically in an accident while building the “Mustang” sculpture for the Denver International Airport, he is still getting people’s dander up. You couldn’t have more fun if you dropped a slew of live alligators in San Jacinto Plaza and watched people run for cover.
Bruce Berman border-blog.com

This is the tra­di­tion and the Lagar­tos foun­tain has been sit­ting their since 1995 and from the moment it went up, the kids, and the vis­i­tors, the sol­diers, the Christ­mas and News Years cel­e­brants, the shop­pers, the peo­ple, have come to this plaza to be part of the Lagar­tos.




LUCHAR POR LOS LAGARTOS (Revista Juarez Dialoga)

Selfa Chew - Ante las batallas que libramos en la frontera por conservar nuestra vida, nuestras propiedades y nuestra dignidad, luchar por conservar la escultura de Los Lagartos en su sitio original en el centro de El Paso podría parecer un asunto superficial. Y sin embargo, el plan para remover esta pieza de arte es una manifestación más del poder que ejercen políticos y empresarios locales en ambos lados de lo que queda del Rio Bravo.

The Art of Luis Jiménez Inspires Mellon Fellow

(UNM Today)

The pub­lic art of sculp­tor Luis Jiménez has been an inspi­ra­tion for Eric Castillo, a Mel­lon Fel­low who recently com­pleted his dis­ser­ta­tion, “Expres­sions of Another Cen­ter: Bor­der­lands Visual the­ory & the Art of Luis Jiménez.” Castillo grad­u­ated in May.  

(El Paso Times)

For years, Plaza de los Lagartos was known as a central meeting point in El Paso. It was known for the live alligators and for the joy that it brought to people of all ages.

0058470_2 (El Paso Times) A light mist envelops the for alligators in San Jacinto Plaza, forming droplets on their fiberglass skin, One alligator reaches upward, snout open, as two others recline, contentment sculpted into their fiberglass faces.











(El Paso Times)
A 20-foot sculpture by Luis Jimenez that depicts a
Mexican cowboy was placed in front of the new Museum of Art Thursday, a bonus to help celebrate the opening of the $8 million facility.
0109913_2 












(El Paso Times) 03/22/1969 An award-winning El Paso sculptor is having a successful showing of his work at Graham Gallery in New York City, Luis Jimenez Jr., the son of Mr. and Mrs, Luis Jimenez Sr. of 401 Pocano lane, is showing 12.

The 20-foot "Vaquero" sculpture -- created by El Paso artist Luis Jimenez and an icon on the local arts scene -- is leaving.

09/01/1953 Jack and Jill, a pair of alligators who outgrew their backyard diggings, Monday were turned over to the City and joined the alligator family in the plaza pool. Mrs. Myrtle Price, of 3508 Bisbee St., who bought the alligators...


Salazar Archives to USC

Interesting comments on Ruben Salazar's assassination. Check out L.A. County Mexican Community gets Snowballed 40 years later over Ruben Salazar: "The problem is there is really no such office. The office is directly under the Sheriff. He has the power to fire in the independent reviewer at will. He even signs his paycheck."


Meanwhile, Ruben Salazar's family has donated his archives to the University of Southern California. Read more. Also see Salazar Archives Donated to USC and amily donates Ruben Salazar's archives to USC (LA Times).




Chavez Leyva and David Romo (Photo: El Paso Times)

Chavez Leyva and Romo Featured Re Museo Urbano

Yolanda Chavez Leyva, now the second Chicana to take the chairship of UT El Paso's History Department and Ph.D. candidate David Romo (and author of Ringside Seat of Revolution) are in a feature about El Paso's new Museo Urbano. Read UTEP Professor and Student Lead Opening of Museo Urbano in South El Paso.



Cinco Puntos Down in New Orleans the Land of Dreams


See Cinco Puntos Press blog on their visit to the Big Easy: Hello New Orleans!



Interview with Rich Yañez on Debut Novel


Check out Richard Yañez in an interview in El Paso's What's Up: ‘Cross Over Water’ a literary gem set in Lower Valley


Ray Gonzalez Poems


Five of Ray Gonzalez' poems are published on Diode:


The Wolf Table

The garden of shame grows two trees—
one a yellow thing that bristles with tears,

the second a willow from the river.
When the man falls in love,

the black Madonna enters the country
to give him a child who never plants

gardens, but lives under the trees, ignoring
the willow until its branches grow higher.

READ MORE.

Scholar to Give Talk on the former Rio Linda Neighborhood of El Paso's Segundo Barrio


Bookmark and Share
z

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

El Paso City Council Changes Name of San Jacinto Plaza to “Paul Foster Plaza”






Bookmark and Share

AP
El Paso City Council Changes Name of San Jacinto Plaza to 
“Paul Foster Plaza”
Mexicans to be allowed back into 'Plaza de el Ingrato'


by L. Caiman
Posted 11:00  pm, July 20, 2011 MDT


A man was ejected from City Council this morning after disrupting a controversial vote in which city representatives changed the name of San Jacinto Plaza to “Paul Foster Plaza.”

The names change comes as Mill Plaza Properties once again introduced a re-design of their redesign of San Jacinto Plaza.

“We are listening El Paso,” said Peter Small. “And we have asked Mr. Foster if Mexicans can once again be allowed into San Jacinto Plaza, and Mr. Foster gave a resounding 'yes'.”

However, the deal to let Mexicans back into San Jacinto Plaza does not come without some compromise. The agreement with city council includes changing the name of the plaza to Paul Foster Plaza, erecting a wall to keep Mexicans to their side, and allowing the building of condos right on the plaza grounds.

The city vote has brought criticism from all side. “This is ludicrous,” stated Tex Arkana for the El Paso chapter of Sons of the Texas Republic, “San Jacinto was our Texas Republic victory.”

Jorge Gomez, a dayworker, asked about the city's recent vote on San Jacinto Plaza, also known as "Plaza de Los Lagartos" said, "¿Que, Plaza de el ingrato?"

Nevertheless, Mexicans will now allowed into the plaza as long as they show identification. The watchtowers with machine gun nests are not the only new things to be installed at the Paul Foster Plaza. 

The redesign of the redesign includes a giant Paul Foster head made out of native bushes and an illuminated sign that will be lighted every December.



"The redevelopment of downtown is going full throttle," said Rep. Steve Ortega, "I'd like to thank all those helping to redevelop downtown like Paul Foster, William Sanders, Tom Lea, Sr. and other who help redevelop the Americas like Hernan Cortez, Juan de Onate, Francisco Pizarro, the 7th Calvary,  Colonel John Chivington, Rufus Ryker, and General Zod.

“The new redesign will satisfy Luis Jimenez' Los Lagartos fans,” says City Manager Joyce Wilson, “as it keeps the alligator motif with a giant alligator sculpture made out of flan which Mexicans will enjoy for generations.”



Bookmark and Share


Monday, July 18, 2011

Building that housed the Wigwam/State Theatre Burns




Former Wigwam/State Theatre Building Burns
Share

The El Paso Times reported today that the Alamo Shooters building burned. Probably does not ring a bell to many, but this building was once the location of the Wigwam Saloon, later converted into the Wigwam Theatre. Just a pace down San Antonio Ave from the Camino Real, the saloon was converted to a theatre in 1907 and according to Cynthia Haines, in her book Showtime! From Opera Houses to Picture Palaces in El Paso, it may have been the first theatre dedicated exclusively to showing films.

Farah writes that the theatre was purchased by Edgar E. Campbell and Will R. Winch in 1913. When it opened, it was next to the alleyway as it is today and had a Chinese restaurant next to it. 

In 1912, a new building was erected, being designed by famed El Paso architect Henry Trost. It is described as having an elegant lobby with tile mosaic. It was considered one of the most modern theatres in the West when it opened.

According to Farah, other events were also staged at the Wigwam including church services. After a short time under the name Rialto in 1921, it changed back to the Wigwam and by the 1940s, was sold to Interstate Theatres, who later owned the Texas Grand, the Palace, the Plaza, and the Pershing Theatres. It was also in 1948 that the theatre saw some major remodeling and its name change to the State Theatre (1949), the name it held until 1981.

Farah writes that television became stiff competition for theatres and theatre owners tried to draw people to their theatres. The State began showing thrill movies using a technique called thrillarama. The State was purchased by Movie One in 1975 and according to Farah, began showing "thrillers and children's movies" (59).

Wigwam opened in 1907 (Aultman Collection, El Paso Public Library)


As the 1960s and 70s saw malls and shopping centers spring up, fewer crowds went to Downtown El Paso for movies. In 1981, they began using the theatre to show X-rated films. According to Farah, this didn't bother Movie One so much. They still ran family films at their other theaters particularly the new Montwood Theatre 3 and the Lomaland Drive In. Farah states the theatre closed in November 1981 due to "'rising costs and dwindling receipts.'" (quoting the El Paso Herald-Post, Nov. 5, 1981).

Links:

Fire damages building that housed Wigwam Saloon, John Wesley Hardin was part owner

Downtown El Paso uniform, ammo store burns

 State Theatre entry on Cinematour.com 

Is the Plaza Theatre Enough (Deep Inside El Paso)

2011 Plaza Classic Film Festival Schedule 

 

 


Bookmark and Share

Lunes con Lalo: El Sol Esta de Luto



Lunes con Lalo
Poetic Wisdom to Start Off Your Week

Share


el sol está de luto

todo señores y señoras, es absoluto
el sol esta de luto
y la luna cuelga estrellas
en el tendedero.
todo, carnales es absoluto.
esprimiedo vida por mínuto
como limones con cáscara de cera
el preso su libertad espera.
todo, niños y niñas, es absoluto.
brama el dolor como un toro bruto
pero un dios de vaciones en el planeta pluto
no quiere saber nada – regresa el proximo martes.

ave maría purisima...válgame dios,
jesús, maría y josé....hare krisna
great spirit, jahway, ala, shazam,
tata dios, amen, ahjua...i pledge allegience...

todo es absoluto, espiritu, dios y metal,
sueño...realidad. sol y sombra. verdad y mentira.
todo es absoluto. todo es absoluto.
perdido, salvado. oprimido, opresor.
libre y prisionero.
último y primero.
dios y diablo.
hombre y mujer.
el cosmos, la energia.
la vida y la muerte.
todo, sordos y mudos, es aboluto.
el sol esta de luto
y una raiz muy orgulloza brinda buen fruto
mientras que un gusano verde come yerbabuena.
la fecha no es importante
solo absoluta
para que un partido, entre un comunista
ya un capitalista, de rebote mejicano
se juegue usando nuestras vidas de pared.

by Abelardo Delgado
(c) Abelardo B. Delgado

Published with permission of the Delgado estate and family.

Bookmark and Share

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Signers Needed for Petition to Save Luis Jimenez' "Los Lagartos" Sculpture


Please Sign the Save Luis Jimenez' 
"Los Lagartos" Sculpture Petition


Save Los Lagartos just created a petition entitled Everyone: Keep "Los Lagartos" in the Plazita de los Lagartos! (El Paso, Texas).

Native El Pasoan and internationally renown artist Luis Jimenez sculpted the sculpture which is now in danger of removal.
 

To read more about what I'm trying to do and to sign the petition, click here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/everyone-keep-los-lagartos-in-the-plazita-de-los-lagartos-el-paso-texas-2?share_id=DRurUWmjPm&pe=pce

It'll just take a minute!

Once you're done, please ask your friends to sign the petition as well. Grassroots movements succeed because people like you are willing to spread the word!

Saturday, July 09, 2011

New Books - Central American Topics


We are still trying to catch up folks. Here are some new fiction and non-fiction books from May and June on Central American Topics 

New Books - Central American Topics

Transnational Politics in Central America
Hardcover University Press of Florida; First edition (June 19, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0813036631 ISBN-13: 978-0813036632
Luis Roniger

"Finally, a study that moves beyond abstract assertions of the importance of a transnational perspective to demonstrate compellingly why transnationalism matters in the specific context of Central America. This is a rich, interdisciplinary look at regional history, politics, and society--of immense value for students of Latin American studies and transnationalism alike."--Thomas Legler, coeditor of Promoting Democracy in the Americas

Political theorists tend to write about the countries of Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) either as individual nation-states or as the pawns and victims of international intervention. What these approaches ignore is the shared history of these countries, which were a single nation until domestic and colonial forces dissolved it in the early nineteenth century.

In Transnational Politics in Central America, Luis Roniger argues for the importance of examining the connected history, close relationships and mutual impact of the societies of Central America upon one another. Eschewing well-trod theoretical approaches that do not account for the existence of transnational dynamics before the current stage of globalization, this landmark book identifies recurring trends of state fragmentation and attempts at reunification or social and political association in the region over the past two centuries.


Pensamientos de Sandino 2 (Volume 2) (Spanish Edition)
Paperback CreateSpace (June 6, 2011)
Language: Spanish ISBN-10: 1461131294 ISBN-13: 978-1461131298
carlos corea

Los Cuadernos Sandinistas son diseñados para ofrecer información actual sobre la figura del General Augusto C. Sandino y su legado en Nicaragua. En este número, presentamos una visión diacrónica del Programa Histórico del FSLN (de la versión original de 1969, la revisión del FER de 1972, y la actualización a finales de los años 90's del Siglo XX. Se presentan a si mismo, los logros de la Revolución Popular Sandinista (RPS) en sus dos etapas I (la década de los 80s), y II (el período de gobierno 2007-2011).


Pensamientos de Sandino # 3: Qué es un Sandinista? (Volume 3) (Spanish Edition)
[Paperback] CreateSpace (June 24, 2011)
Language: Spanish ISBN-10: 1461157129 ISBN-13: 978-1461157120
carlos corea

En este Cuaderno Sandinista se combinan una serie de textos Sandinistas pre-revolución y textos de la Segunda Etapa de la Revolución Popular Sandinista (RPS), dentro del contexto de la Historia del FSLN desde su creación hasta nuestros días. Qué es un Sandinista? Qué están haciendo los Sandinistas en esta Segunda Etapa? Cuál es el Proyecto Sandinista en esta Segunda Etapa? Son las preguntas que se intentan responder en este Cuaderno Sandinista #3.


Escritos de Sandino II (1931-1934): Pensamientos de Sandino # 5 (Volume 2) (Spanish Edition) 
Paperback CreateSpace (June 24, 2011) Language: Spanish
ISBN-10: 1463564902 ISBN-13: 978-1463564902
carlos corea

Augusto C. Sandino (1895-1934), el artesano convertido en líder de una guerrilla nacionalista y anti-imperialista que combatió la intervención usamericana en Nicaragua, escribió-durante sus 6 años de campaña político-militar, una cantidad de cartas, comunicados, partes de guerra y manifiestos, que nos permiten hoy en día-a casi un siglo de su gesta, conocer su pensamiento, su personalidad, sus ideas políticas, sociales y religiosas para poder evaluar su pensamiento y su legado, reflejado en las muchas luchas que se llevan a cabo hoy en día en la América Latina. Este volumen contiene los escritos del General Sandino desde 1931 a 1934.


Bosquejo Histórico De Las Revoluciones De Centro-America: Desde 1811 Hasta 1834 (Spanish Edition)
PaperbackNabu Press (May 25, 2011) Language: Spanish
ISBN-10: 1172823596 ISBN-13: 978-1172823598
Alejandro Marure (Author)


The Numismatic History of El Salvador
Paperback Alliance Limited Collectibles (May 6, 2011)
ISBN-10: 061548154X ISBN-13: 978-0615481548
Jose A Mejia

After the collapse of the Central American Federation in 1838, the former states of the federation had no problem minting coins; except for El Salvador. Due to politics and financial strains, El Salvador, relied heavily on foreign coins and estate tokens. It took the nation over 50 years for it to finally establish a mint and the colon coin. However, it took a matter of months for the entire financial system to be replaced with the dollar in 2001. 

The Numismatic History of El Salvador not only catalogs all coins minted by the state, but tells the story of the nation all the way to the 21st century and the adoption of the dollar economy. The book is perfect for the experience collector who wants to learn more about their collection or in learning about Salvadorian coins. 

However, The Numismatic History of El Salvador is a perfect read for anyone who is interested in learning about the history of the smallest country in Central America. Whether you’re a collector or a history buff, The Numismatic History of El Salvador has something for everyone to enjoy.

The Copan Sculpture Museum: Ancient Maya Artistry in Stucco and Stone (Peabody Museum)  
PaperbackbPeabody Museum Press (May 30, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0873658582 ISBN-13: 978-0873658584
Barbara W. Fash

The Copan Sculpture Museum in western Honduras features the extraordinary stone carvings of the ancient Maya city known as Copan. The city's sculptors produced some of the finest and most animated buildings and temples in the Maya area, in addition to stunning monolithic statues and altars. 

The ruins of Copan were named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980, and more than 150,000 national and international tourists visit the ancient city each year.

Opened in 1996, the Copan Sculpture Museum was initiated as an international collaboration to preserve Copan's original stone monuments. Its exhibits represent the best-known examples of building façades and sculptural achievements from the ancient kingdom of Copan. The creation of this on-site museum involved people from all walks of life: archaeologists, artists, architects, and local craftspeople. 

Today it fosters cultural understanding and promotes Hondurans' identity with the past. In The Copan Sculpture Museum, Barbara Fash — one of the principle creators of the museum — tells the inside story of conceiving, designing, and building a local museum with global significance. 

Along with numerous illustrations and detailed archaeological context for each exhibit in the museum, the book provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and culture of the ancient Maya and a model for working with local communities to preserve cultural heritage.



The Latin American Drug Trade: Scope, Dimensions, Impact, and Response
Paperback Rand Publishing (May 4, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0833051792 ISBN-13: 978-0833051790
Peter Chalk

Transnational crime remains a particularly serious problem in Latin America, with most issues connected to the drug trade. There are several relevant roles that the U.S. Air Force can and should play in boosting Mexico¹s capacity to counter drug production and trafficking, as well as further honing and adjusting its wider counternarcotics effort in Latin America.


Decentralization and Recentralization in the Developing World: Comparative Studies from Africa and Latin America
Hardcover Penn State Press (May 23, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0271037903 ISBN-13: 978-0271037905
J. Tyler Dickovick

In the 1980s and 1990s, much of the developing world experienced transitions to democracy accompanied by economic liberalization and decentralization of power to subnational governmental bodies. 

The process of decentralization has been studied intensively, but little attention has been paid so far to the recentralization that has occurred in some countries in the past decade. In this book, J. Tyler Dickovick seeks to illuminate how the processes of decentralization and recentralization are interrelated and what the dynamics of each is. 

He argues that decentralization occurs as a result of the decline in the power of the presidency, whereas recentralization occurs when the president resolves an extraordinary economic crisis. The processes of decentralization and recentralization, Dickovick further argues, have the same dynamics whether they occur in federal or unitary states. 

To test the theory, Dickovick compares a strong federal system, Brazil, with a weak one, South Africa, and compares these in turn with two unitary regimes, Peru and Senegal. Decentralization and Recentralization in the Developing World provides a much more nuanced understanding of when and why decentralization and recentralization happen, and what their importance is to intergovernmental shifts in power.

Enabling Peace in Guatemala: The Story of Minugua
Hardcover Lynne Rienner Pub (May 30, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1588266567 ISBN-13: 978-1588266569
William Stanley


From Douglass to Duvalier: U.S. African Americans, Haiti, and Pan Americanism, 1870-1964
(New World Diasporas Series) Paperback University Press of Florida; First edition (May 16, 2011) ISBN-10: 0813037638 ISBN-13: 978-0813037639
Millery Polyne

 Haiti has long been both a source of immense pride -- because of the Haitian Revolution -- and of profound disappointment--because of the unshakable realities of poverty, political instability, and violence--to the black diasporic imagination. 
Charting the long history of these multiple meanings is the focus of Millery Polyne's rich and critical transnational history of U.S. African Americans and Haitians. Stretching from the thoughts and words of American intellectuals such as Frederick Douglass, Robert Moton, and Claude Barnett to the Civil Rights era, Polyne's temporal scope is breathtaking. 

But just as impressive is the thematic range of the work, which carefully examines the political, economic, and cultural relations between U.S. African Americans and Haitians. From Douglass to Duvalier examines the creative and critical ways U.S. African Americans and Haitians engaged the idealized tenets of Pan Americanism--mutual cooperation, egalitarianism, and nonintervention between nation-states--in order to strengthen Haiti's social, economic, and political growth and stability. 

The depth of Polyne's research allows him to speak confidently about the convoluted ways that these groups have viewed modernization, "uplift," and racial unity, as well as the shifting meanings and importance of the concepts over time.


Broadcasting the Civil War in El Salvador: A Memoir of Guerrilla Radio
Paperback University of Texas Press (May 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0292728956 ISBN-13: 978-0292728950
Carlos Henriquez Consalvi (Author), Charles Leo, V Nagle (Translator), A.L. (Bill) Prince (Translator), Erik Ching (Introduction)

During the 1980s war in El Salvador, Radio Venceremos was the main news outlet for the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), the guerrilla organization that challenged the government. The broadcast provided a vital link between combatants in the mountains and the outside world, as well as an alternative to mainstream media reporting. In this first-person account, "Santiago," the legend behind Radio Venceremos, tells the story of the early years of that conflict, a rebellion of poor peasants against the Salvadoran government and its benefactor, the United States. 

Originally published as La Terquedad del Izote, this memoir also addresses the broader story of a nationwide rebellion and its international context, particularly the intensifying Cold War and heavy U.S. involvement in it under President Reagan. 

By the war's end in 1992, more than 75,000 were dead and 350,000 wounded -- in a country the size of Massachusetts. Although outnumbered and outfinanced, the rebels fought the Salvadoran Army to a draw and brought enough bargaining power to the negotiating table to achieve some of their key objectives, including democratic reforms and an overhaul of the security forces.

Broadcasting the Civil War in El Salvador is a riveting account from the rebels' point of view that lends immediacy to the Salvadoran conflict. It should appeal to all who are interested in historic memory and human rights, U.S. policy toward Central America, and the role the media can play in wartime.


Living with the Dead: Mortuary Ritual in Mesoamerica
Hardcover University of Arizona Press (May 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0816529760 ISBN-13: 978-0816529766
James L. Fitzsimmons (Editor), Izumi Shimada (Editor)

Scholars have recently achieved new insights into the many ways in which the dead and the living interacted from the Late Preclassic to the Conquest in Mesoamerica. The eight essays in this useful volume were written by well-known scholars who offer cross-disciplinary and synergistic insights into the varied articulations between the dead and those who survived them. 

From physically opening the tomb of their ancestors and carrying out ancestral heirlooms to periodic feasts, sacrifices, and other lavish ceremonies, heirs revisited death on a regular basis. The activities attributable to the dead, moreover, range from passively defining territorial boundaries to more active exploits, such as "dancing" at weddings and "witnessing" royal accessions. The dead were--and continued to be--a vital part of everyday life in Mesoamerican cultures.

This book results from a symposium organized by the editors for an annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 

The contributors employ historical sources, comparative art history, anthropology, and sociology, as well as archaeology and anthropology, to uncover surprising commonalities across cultures, including the manner in which the dead were politicized, the perceptions of reciprocity between the dead and the living, and the ways that the dead were used by the living to create, define, and renew social as well as family ties. 

In exploring larger issues of a "good death" and the transition from death to ancestry, the contributors demonstrate that across Mesoamerica death was almost never accompanied by the extinction of a persona; it was more often the beginning of a social process than a conclusion.


Networks of Power: Politcal Relations in the Late Postclassic Naco Valley, Honduras
(Mesoamerican Worlds: From the Olmecs to the Danzantes Series) Hardcover University Press of Colorado (May 23, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1607320622 ISBN-13: 978-1607320623
Edward Schortman (Author), Patricia Urban (Author)

Little is known about how Late Postclassic populations in southeast Mesoamerica organized their political relations. Networks of Power fills gaps in the knowledge of this little-studied area, reconstructing the course of political history in the Naco Valley from the fourteenth through early sixteenth centuries. 

Describing the material and behavioral patterns pertaining to the Late Postclassic period using components of three settlements in the Naco Valley of northwestern Honduras, the book focuses on how contests for power shaped political structures. 

Power-seeking individuals, including but not restricted to ruling elites, depended on networks of allies to support their political objectives. Ongoing and partially successful competitions waged within networks led to the incorporation of exotic ideas and imported items into the daily practices of all Naco Valley occupants. The result was a fragile hierarchical structure forever vulnerable to the initiatives of agents operating on local and distant stages.

Networks of Power describes who was involved in these competitions and in which networks they participated; what resources were mustered within these webs; which projects were fueled by these assets; and how, and to what extent, they contributed to the achievement of political aims.


The American Crucible: Slavery, Emancipation and Human Rights
Hardcover Verso (May 9, 2011) ISBN-10: 1844675696 ISBN-13: 978-1844675692
Robin Blackburn

A landmark history of the rise, abolition, and legacy of slavery in the New World.
This book furnishes a panoramic view of slavery and emancipation in the Americas from the conquests and colonization of the sixteenth century to the ‘century of abolition’ that stretched from 1780 to 1888. 

Tracing the diverse responses of African captives, The American Crucible argues that while slave rebels and abolitionists made real gains, they also suffered cruel setbacks and disappointments, leading to a momentous radicalization of the discourse of human rights.

In it, Robin Blackburn explains the emergence of ferocious systems of racial exploitation while rejecting the comforting myths that portray emancipation as somehow already inscribed in the institutions and ideas that allowed for, or even fostered, racial slavery in the first place, whether the logic of the market, the teachings of religion, or the spirit of nationalism. Rather, Blackburn stresses, American slavery was novel – and so too were the originality and achievement of the anti-slavery alliances which eventually destroyed it.

The Americas became the crucible for a succession of fateful experiments in colonization, silver mining, plantation agriculture, racial enslavement and emancipation. 

The exotic commodities produced by the slave plantations helped to transform Europe and North America, raising up empires and stimulating industrial revolution and ‘market revolution’ to bring about the pervasive commodification of polite society, work and everyday life in parts of Europe and North America. Fees, salaries and wages fostered consuming habits so that capitalism, based on free wage labor in the metropolis, became intimately dependent on racial slavery in the New World.

But by the late eighteenth century the Atlantic boom had sown far and wide the seeds of subversion, provoking colonial rebellion, slave conspiracy and popular revolt, the aspirations of a new black peasantry and ‘picaresque proletariat’, and the emergence of a revolutionary doctrine: the ‘rights of man’. The result was a radicalization of the principles of the Enlightenment, with the Haitian Revolution rescuing and reshaping the ideals memorably proclaimed by the American and French revolutions.

Blackburn charts the gradual emergence of an ability and willingness to see the human cost of the heedless consumerism and to challenge it. The anti-slavery idea, he argues, brought together diverse impulses — the ‘free air’ doctrine maintained by the common people of Europe, the critique of the philosophes and the urgency of slave resistance and black witness. The anti-slavery idea made gains thanks to a succession of historic upheavals. But the remaining slave systems — in the US South, Cuba and Brazi — were in many ways as strong as ever. They were only overturned thanks to the momentous clashes unleashed by the American Civil War, Cuba’s fight for independence and the terminal crisis of the Brazilian Empire.


El macahuitl y la espada: Novela Histórica (Spanish Edition)
Paperback Publisher: CreateSpace (May 5, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1461101948 ISBN-13: 978-1461101949
Mr Juan Carlos Morales (Author)

Esta novela histórica entrelaza la conquista de Guatemala con el romance que floreció entre la princesa Tecuelhuatzín y Pedro de Alvarado. En medio de las cruentas batallas entre k'ichés y españoles, sobresalen los verdaderos héroes que combatieron enfrentándose a la implacable invasión. 

Cada capítulo es en sí un cuento ameno que va preparando el escenario, introduciendo personajes y sucesos que tendrán profundas consecuencias a lo largo de la obra. Desde la impresionante estrategia de Hernán Cortés para derrotar al imperio Azteca, hasta la llegada de Pedro de Alvarado a Guatemala.


Poemas de toda mi vida (Spanish Edition)
Paperback Palibrio (May 4, 2011)
Language: Spanish
ISBN-10: 1617647489 ISBN-13: 978-1617647482
Salvador Rubén Diodonet Burgos (Author)

Amigo mío, el caminar por esta tierra, nos deja lleno de muchas experiencias vividas. Mis poemas, es como un tren que va recorriendo a muchas aldeas y en cada aldea que pasa recoge un recuerdo vivido. 

Así es nuestra mente, va recorriendo momentos vividos a través de nuestro corto tiempo aquí en la tierra. Estos momentos vividos, son expresados por varios temas como DIOS, LA MUJER, LA NATURALEZA, LA PATRIA, EL AMOR Y otros temas generales. Dedico pues, mi primer libro de poemas, a todo aquel que como yo, haya vivido los momentos que yo viví en esta tierra y ha sabido dejar su huella en cualquier medio literario, inclu- yendo la poesía que es mi especialidad, para una nueva generación.


Tyrant Memory
Paperback New Directions (June 29, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0811219178 ISBN-13: 978-0811219174
Horacio Castellanos Moya (Author), Katherine Silver (Translator)

The tyrant of Horacio Castellanos Moya’s ambitious new novel is the actual pro-Nazi mystic Maximiliano Hernández Martínez — known as the Warlock — who came to power in El Salvador in 1932.

An attempted coup in April, 1944, failed, but a general strike in May finally forced him out of office. Tyrant Memory takes place during the month between the coup and the strike. Its protagonist, Haydée Aragon, is a well-off woman, whose husband is a political prisoner and whose son, Clemente, after prematurely announcing the dictator’s death over national radio during the failed coup, is forced to flee when the very much alive Warlock starts to ruthlessly hunt down his enemies. 

The novel moves between Haydée’s political awakening in diary entries and Clemente’s frantic and often hysterically comic efforts to escape capture. Tyrant Memory — sharp, grotesque, moving, and often hilariously funny — is an unforgettable incarnation of a coun- try’s history in the destiny of one family


Bishop Oscar Romero
(Martyrs They Died for Christ Series) [Kindle Edition]
Format: Kindle Edition File Size: 95 KB
Publisher: Journeys of Faith (June 28, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English ASIN: B0058P4YIG
Lending: Enabled
Bob and Penny Lord (Author)

The story of Oscar Romero is one of transformation, from one born of poverty, to one living comfortably within the system, to one determined to change the system. The story of Oscar Romero is one of conversion, of Paul on the road to Damascus, of a man who was blinded, and whose eyes were opened by the Lord, to see his brothers and sisters in agony and misery. 

The story of Oscar Romero is one of a man who committed his life to right wrongs to his flock, or die trying. The story of Oscar Romero is one of a Martyr for Christ. The story of Oscar Romero is an affirmation of the power and mercy of God.

A boy from the poor side of town Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdamez was born on the Feast of The Assumption of Our Lady, August 15, 1917, in Barrios, a small, mountainous village high above sea level, in El Salvador, Central America. His father, Santos Romero and his mother Guadalupe de Jesus Galdamez, were not what you would call very religious people. 

The Church, and its rules were not uppermost in their minds. Proof of that is that the child Oscar wasn't even baptized until he was two years old. His father had to be given Marriage instructions before he and his fiancee could be married in the Church. And if that's not enough, the father, Santos, admitted to at least one illegitimate child, the fruit of a wild youth.


Dichos y diretes (Spanish Edition)
[Kindle Edition]
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 170 KB Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: Spanish ASIN: B0055EJ1QK
Ana del Carmen Alvarez (Author, Editor), Ana María Nafría (Editor)

Dichos y refranes del habla coloquial de El Salvador. Cuando lean este libro se acordarán de sus padres y abuelos; se reirán mucho y también se acordarán de su patria.


The Pattern of a Dependent Economy: The National Income of British Honduras
Paperback Cambridge University Press (June 9, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0521242010 ISBN-13: 978-0521242011
N. S. Carey Jones

First published in 1953, the basis of this study is shown by its subtitle: The National Income of British Honduras. It relates primarily to the financial year 1946. 

The author's preface illustrates the distinction of his survey: that as by-products he gives a shrewd critique of the former colony's statistics and some original and pertinent comments on colonial government and colonial policy in general. 

For this last he draws on his experience as an auditor in Northern Rhodesia and his personal knowledge of the Gold Coast. The book is therefore of interest to others besides specialist economists. It has valuable information for the colonial and commercial historian and the anthropologist studying the impact of colonial administration on native society.

Honduras: Through a Child's Eye
Paperback Infinity Publishing (June 10, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0741463407 ISBN-13: 978-0741463401
Ben Gatos (Author)

HONDURAS: through a childs eye is a photographic essay from 2009 depicting the children of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos in Honduras in their daily lives through difficult times and happiest moments.


Historia y Genealogia de la familia CARDENAL en Nicaragua (Spanish Edition)
Paperback Trafford Publishing (June 7, 2011)
Language: Spanish ISBN-10: 1426968604 ISBN-13: 978-1426968600
Roberto Cardenal Telleria

La familia Cardenal llego a Nicaragua a finales del siglo XVIII, del primero que se tiene conocimiento fue Don Juan Lorenzo de Cardenal, quien era marinero graduado, quien después de graduarse como piloto de brújula y timón, puesto que tenía grandes peligros y mayores responsabilidades; realizo su último viaje en 1795, dirigiendo el timón de un barco de más de quinientas toneladas y cien tripulantes, rumbo al Pacifico americano, pasando por el estrecho de Magallanes. 

Seguramente debió tocar puerto en Valparaíso, en el Callao, en Guayaquil y en Panamá, antes de llegar a su destino final: El Realejo, en Nicaragua. En 1796, Don Juan Lorenzo de Cardenal fue nombrado Regidor de la ciudad de Rivas, al sur de la Provincia de Nicaragua, que estaba bajo la jurisdicción del virreinato de Guatemala. 

El realejo era puerto y astillero de gran importancia para la Audiencia de los Confines. Llego al puerto de El Realejo debido a vientos huracano que dañaron parcialmente el barco. Debido a este percance, se dirigió a la ciudad de Leon, para gestionar ante las autoridades la reparación del barco. En ese tiempo, la ciudad colonial Leon Santiago de los Caballeros, era la capital de la Provincia de Nicaragua. 

Don Juan Lorenzo se quedo en Nicaragua. Muchos años después, su bisnieto, Carlos Cardenal Argüello, visito la casa de Don Juan Lorenzo de Cardenal. Volviendo a León, en ella habitaba una familia de origen vasco, que habían llegado años atrás y eran muy apreciados en la sociedad de León, estos eran los Ayerdi Ramiro, quienes tenían una casa grande y bien situada, localizada en la manzana de la iglesia de San Francisco. 

Es muy posible que a su llegada a la ciudad de León Santiago de los Caballeros, se contractara con Don Pedro Manuel Ayerdi, quien había sido Intendente de El Realejo, Alcalde de la ciudad y persona muy principal; era posible que ambas familias se conocieran en España, pues los Cardenal también eran vascos. Al encontrarse incapacitado de regresar a España, debido a que las tropas de Napoleón Bonaparte ya esteban ocupando las provincias de las vascongadas; se estableció en la ciudad de Rivas, en donde consiguió un trabajo y que posteriormente estableció un negocio. 

Llego a ser Regidor de la ciudad de Rivas por tres veces consecutivas, este cargo era por elección. Contrajo matrimonio con Manuela Ayerdi Zarate. Procrearon quince hijos, de los cuales sobrevivieron once. Aquí es donde nace la familia Cardenal en Nicaragua. Diseño de portada y contraportada por: Flavio Rivera Montealegre


Gringo Nightmare: A Young American Framed for Murder in Nicaragua
Paperback St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (May 10, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0312584172 ISBN-13: 978-0312584177
Eric Volz

Featured on Fox News and Univision and selected as Larry King’s Book of the Week, this is the harrowing true story of an American held in a Nicaraguan prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

In 2005, Eric Volz moved from California to Nicaragua. Volz met Doris Jiménez, a beauty from a small beach town, and they began a passionate relationship.  The relationship ended amicably less than a year later, and Volz moved to the capital city of Managua.

In 2006, Doris was found murdered in her seaside boutique. He rushed from Managua to be with her family, but before he knew it, he found himself accused of the crime.  Decried in the press and vilified by his onetime friends, Volz suffered horrific prison conditions, deadly inmates, sadistic guards, an angry lynch mob, and the merciless treatment of government officials. He soon found himself a pawn in an international arms deal.  It was only through his persistence, the tireless support of friends and family, and the assistance of a former intelligence operative that Eric was released, after more than a year in prison.

A story that made national and international headlines, this is the only book to tell Eric’s absorbing, moving account in his own words.


Cuentos ticos; short stories of Costa Rica
Paperback Nabu Press (May 25, 2011)
Language: English ISBN-10: 117283184X ISBN-13: 978-1172831845
Ricardo Fernández Guardia (Author), Gray Casement (Author)

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. 

We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.


Mal Pais
Paperback CreateSpace (May 26, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1456537539 ISBN-13: 978-1456537531
L R Spencer (Author)

The Spanish name, “Mal Pais,” literally translates to “Bad Country” in English. When Josh Sanders retired from the police department in Billings, Montana and purchased land near Mal Pais, Costa Rica in 1987, he planned to begin a second career as a gentleman rancher. He couldn’t imagine why a tropical paradise on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica would rate such a name. By the end of the first rainy season on his new property, after slogging through six months of mud, he began to see why Spanish colonists in the 17th century might have chosen the name.

He realized that rain and mud were minor inconveniences when he became embroiled in a perplexing murder investigation and the unsavory remnants of the Nicaraguan civil war. Jennifer Walther, the daughter of the slain gringo George Walther, stumbled into the same mess with no intention of settling in Costa Rica. She and Josh were thrown together by circumstances but fell in love.


Love Made Visible: Reflections on Writing, Teaching, and Other Distractions
Paperback CreateSpace (June 27, 2011)
Language: English ISBN-10: 146358069X ISBN-13: 978-1463580698
Silvio Sirias

Love Made Visible: Reflections on Writing, Teaching, and Other Distractions is a collection of the more noteworthy essays the award-winning novelist Silvio Sirias has published over the last eight-years. This compilation displays the author’s broad range of interests. Whether he’s writing about the craft, about being a teacher, about his unique and at times conflicting cultural outlook as a Nicaraguan-American, about growing up in Los Angeles and Nicaragua, about living in Central America, or about his favorite books and authors these essays are sweeping, insightful, and lively.


The Panama Canal (Illustrated Edition)
Paperback Echo Library (May 11, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1406869589 ISBN-13: 978-1406869583
J. Saxon Mills


The Best Baskets in the World - The Fine Art of Panama's Wounaan and Embera Indians 
Paperback Langdon Street Press (a division of Hillcrest Publishing Group, Inc.) (May 2, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1936183285 ISBN-13: 978-1936183289
Nancy Schermer

In Nancy Schermer's gorgeous The Best Baskets in the World, we are taken into the world of Panama's indigenous basket makers. Whether you are a collector -- or simply an admirer -- of these intricate, hand-made baskets, this book is sure to help you to enjoy the many levels of these remarkable objects.
In this astonishing display of baskets large and small, you will find:
  • Background information on the culture and lifestyle of the rainforest-based artisans who sculpt them
  • Intriguing profiles of a few of the basket weavers
  • A description of the detailed process of creating a fine basket
  • Descriptions of other innovative woven figures and masks
  • A helpful guide to selecting a basket or beginning a collection
With The Best Baskets in the World, your understanding of these unique and distinctive baskets will deepen, and the pleasure that comes along with owning these treasures is certain to enter your life. Soon, what you have thought of as souvenirs will become beautiful works of art.

Bookmark and Share