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<> LA VOZ DE AZTLAN NEWS BULLETIN <>
<>.<>.<> Los Angeles, Alta California <>.<>.<>April 27, 2006
Alta California Senate and 12 Mexican State Governors Support Monday's Boycott
The Alta California state senate, by a vote of 24-13, passed a resolution yesterday in support of Monday's boycott by Mexican and other immigrants. The Monday May 1st "Gran Boicot" calls for "No School - No Work - No Purchases" and instead urges people to participate in marches, rallies and demonstrations. The state resolution stresses the importance of educating Americans "on the tremendous contribution immigrants make on a daily basis to our society and economy."
The resolution's author, Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero of Los Angeles said, "Immigrants make up a third of California's labor force and a quarter of its residents". Senator Romero added, "Segregation was ended in part because of the public bus boycott by Blacks in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955." Other state senators of Mexican descent made comparisons between the emerging "Immigrant Human Rights Movement" and the civil rights movement of the 1960s and other major events in American history. Senator Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles compared the immigrant rights movement to the struggle over slavery, women's suffrage, the internment of Japanese during World War II, and the Vietnam War. Senator Richard Alarcon of Van Nuys said, "America wouldn't have been created without illegal action. They dumped a bunch of tea in Boston harbor, illegally. God bless them."
Meanwhile, political support for "El Gran Boicot" has grown tremendously in neighboring Mexico. The governors of the Mexican states of Zacatecas, Michoacán, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Durango, Sonora and San Luis Potosi have already issued formal requests to its immigrants in the USA to support the boycott and to its citizens in their respective states not to purchase products or services from USA owned stores, companies and businesses.
More devastating to the US economy are decrees from Mexican state governors along the US/Mexico border. The governors of Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas have already issued statements to its citizens not to cross the border on May 1st to make purchases. The economic blow to US border cities like San Diego, Mexicali, El Paso, Laredo and others will be huge.
In addition, the Catholic Bishops of the border cities of Ciudad Juarez , Tijuana , Mexicali , Nogales , Reynosa , Nuevo Laredo , and Piedras Negras have all endorsed the May 1 action. The economic losses just along the border region will have a large impact on the US economy . McDonald's and Burger King, for example, have 330 and 155 establishments, respectively, in Mexico. Chihuahua state consumers alone spend approximately $5 billion dollars every year in neighboring Texas.
Related La Voz de Aztlan article:May 1st Pro-Immigrant Boycott Gaining Extraordinary Momentum
