PROGRAM INFO
- Title:
- Mario Cantu, Chicano Exile
- Program #
- 1980-14
- Theme:
- Politics
- Series:
- Social Issues
- Host:
- Linda Fregoso
- Guest:
- Mario Cantu
- Date:
- Mar 5, 1980
Mario Cantu, Chicano Exile
Mario Cantu, the first U.S. citizen convicted of harboring undocumented workers, talks about his activism, politics and exile in Europe. Linda Fregoso conducts the interview in a Bexar county jail where Cantu awaits trial for a parole violation stemming from an earlier trip to Mexico where he filmed a land seizure in Oaxaca. Ignoring his subpoena, Cantu traveled to Paris to conduct a year-long campaign to denounce the violation of Chicano and Mexican human rights in the United States. Cantu explains that in the barrio he was constantly aware of discrimination and widespread poverty, but it was only after serving time in prison that he became politicized. On his return to San Antonio, he became involved in La Raza Unida and several farm worker boycotts. He also started organizing cultural awareness events. At these events, Cantu met with Mexican activists and realized both Chicanos and Mexicanos suffered from similar problems.
Cantu elaborates on his international perspective and argues that Chicanos need to identify with the Mexican people and not the government that oppresses them. He believes that if Chicanos really want to free themselves they need to understand what is happening in Latin America and join in solidarity with those who are struggling. He goes on to criticize the leadership of the Chicano movement who have been co-opted by the Carter administration. He also argues against amnesty program for undocumented workers because they ignore the root of Mexico’s problems: capitalism.
KEYWORDS
ActivismAfghanistan
Alternative Media
Amnesty International
Amnesty Programs
Barrios
Bexar County
Border Industrialization
Boycotts
Capitalism
Carter Administration
Central America
Chicano Leadership
Chicanos and Latin America
Chicanos and Mexico
El Salvador
Federation in Defense of the Rights of Man
Guatemala
Human Rights
Inflation
La Raza Unida
Land Seizures
League on Human Rights in New York
Leavenworth Prison
Luis Echeverria Alvarez
Mario Cantu
Marxism
Media
Mexican Immigration
Nicaragua
Oaxaca
Paris
Partido Proletaria de Mexico
Police brutality
Political ideology
Political Prisoners
Political repression
Prison
Puerto Rican Nationalism
San Antonio, Texas
Scapegoating
Semana de la Raza
Socialism
Solidarity movements
Third World Movement
Torture
Transnationalism
Undocumented workers
Vietnam