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Profiles from the International Hispanic Community
Volume 2 Ashyia N. Henderson, Project Editor
Contemporary Hispanic Biography, Volume 2
Project Editor Ashyia N. Henderson
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Contemporary Hispanic Biography Advisory Board
Lemuel Berry, Jr. President National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies Dr. Pedro de Mesones President Hispanics and the New World, Ltd. Tey Diana Rebolledo Professor, Department of Modern and Classical Languages The University of New Mexico Shirlene Soto Author, professor, Department of Chicano(a) Studies California State University, Northridge
Contents Introduction ix Photo Credits xi Cumulative Nationality Index 229 Cumulative Occupation Index 231 Cumulative Subject Index 235 Cumulative Name Index 239 Aguilera, Cristina ......................................................1 Popular singer
Calderón Sol, Armando ...........................................54 Former president of El Salvador
Almendros, Nestor ....................................................4 Master cinematographer
Carbonell, Josefina..................................................58 Head of U.S. Administration on Aging
Alvarez, Luis Walter ..................................................7 Notable physicist
Chang-Díaz, Franklin ...............................................62 One of the first Hispanic Americans in space
Anaya, Rudolfo .......................................................11 Gifted author
Chávez, César.........................................................66 Dedicated labor leader
Arana, Marie ..........................................................15 Talented author
Chávez, Denise .......................................................70 Critically acclaimed writer
Arnaz, Desi ............................................................18 Charismatic entertainer
Clemente, Roberto ..................................................74 Baseball Hall-of-Famer
Baca, Judith F. ........................................................21 Creative muralist
Coca, Imogene .......................................................77 Hilarious comedienne
Baca Zinn, Maxine ..................................................25 Challenging Sociologist
Corpi, Lucha ..........................................................81 Civic-minded poet
Baez, Joan .............................................................29 Queen of Folk Music
Cugat, Xavier..........................................................84 The Rumba King
Barretto, Ray ..........................................................34 Acclaimed musician
de la Renta, Oscar...................................................87 Internationaly recognized fashion designer
Bermúdez, Carmen .................................................37 Pioneering financial services executive
de Moraes, Vinícius .................................................90 Innovative songwriter
Betancourt, Ingrid ...................................................40 Controversial politician
de Vega, Sonia de León...........................................93 Accomplished symphony conductor
Botero, Fernando....................................................43 Honored artist
Del Toro, Benicio....................................................95 Academy award winning actor
Bundchen, Gisele ....................................................47 Celebrated model
Derbéz Bautista, Luis Ernesto...................................98 Mexico’s Minister of the Economy
Calderon, Sila María................................................50 First female governor of Puerto Rico
Dominguez, Cari ...................................................101 Noted EEOC Chair vii
Escalante, Jaime ...................................................104 Esteemed educator
Pelli, César ...........................................................167 Remarkable architect
Fernandez, Joseph A.............................................108 Groundbreaking educational administrator
Perón, Juan ..........................................................170 Colorful Argentine president
García Márquez, Gabriel ........................................111 Nobel prize-winning novelist
Piñero, Miguel ......................................................174 Tragic playwright
Gilberto, João .......................................................116 Adored Brazilian guitarist
Ramos, Jorge .......................................................178 Successful journalist
Gomez, Scott........................................................119 First Hispanic American in the NHL
Reyes, Sylvestre ....................................................181 Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair
Gómez-Pompa, Arturo ..........................................121 Distinguished ethnobotanist
Rivera, Diego........................................................184 Larger-than-life artist
González, Henry B. ...............................................125 Respected politician
Rodriguez, Jennifer ...............................................188 Olympic speed skater
Guevara, Ché (Ernesto)..........................................129 Revolutionary leader
Romero, Alejandro ................................................191 Intense muralist
Hayek, Salma .......................................................134 Stunning actress
Sánchez, Poncho ..................................................194 Classic conguero
Huerta, Dolores ....................................................138 Compassionate union leader
Sandoval, Arturo ...................................................198 Versatile musician
Kanellos, Nicolás...................................................141 Devoted publisher
Saralegui, Cristina .................................................201 Media mogul
Machado, Eduardo ................................................144 Thought-provoking playwright
Selena ..................................................................205 Beloved Tejano vocalist
Mahuad, Jamil ......................................................149 Former president of Ecuador
Thalía...................................................................208 Global entertainment phenomenon
Marin, Rosario ......................................................152 U.S. Treasurer
Treviño, Jesus Salvador .........................................212 Best-known Chicano filmmaker
Mendes, Sérgio .....................................................155 Contemporary jazz musician
Valdes, Jesus “Chucho” .........................................215 Award-winning jazz musician
Mohr, Nicholasa ....................................................158 Lauded writer and educator
Valens, Ritchie ......................................................218 First Latino rock & roll star
Munoz, Anthony ...................................................161 Pro football Hall-of-Famer
Velasquez, Jaci......................................................221 Amazing vocalist
Neruda, Pablo .......................................................164 Influential poet
Vilar, Alberto ........................................................224 Philanthopic business executive
viii
Introduction Contemporary Hispanic Biography provides informative biographical profiles of the important and influential persons of Latino heritage who form the international Hispanic community: men and women who have changed today’s world and are shaping tomorrow’s. Contemporary Hisapnic Biography covers persons of various nationalities in a wide variety of fields, including architecture, art, business, dance, education, fashion, film, industry, journalism, law, literature, medicine, music, politics and government, publishing, religion, science and technology, social issues, sports, television, theater, and others. In addition to in-depth coverage of names found in today’s headlines, Contemporary Hispanic Biography provides coverage of selected individuals from earlier in this century whose influence continues to impact on contemporary life. Contemporary Hispanic Biography also provides coverage of important and influential persons who are not yet household names and are therefore likely to be ignored by other biographical reference series. Each volume also includes listee updates on names previously appearing in CHB. Designed for Quick Research and Interesting Reading •
Attractive page design incorporates textual subheads, making it easy to find the information you’re looking for.
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Easy-to-locate data sections provide quick access to vital personal statistics, career informa- tion, major awards, and mailing addresses, when available.
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Informative biographical essays trace the subject’s personal and professional life with the kind of in-depth analysis you need.
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To further enhance your appreciation of the subject, most entries include photographic portraits.
•
Sources for additional information direct the user to selected books, magazines, and newspapers where more information on the individuals can be obtained.
Helpful Indexes Make It Easy to Find the Information You Need Contemporary Hispanic Biography includes cumulative Nationality, Occupation, Subject, and Name indexes that make it easy to locate entries in a variety of useful ways. Available in Electronic Formats On-line. Contemporary Hispanic Biography is available on-line through Gale Group’s Biography Resource Center. For more information, call (800) 877-GALE. Disclaimer Contemporary Hispanic Biography uses and lists websites as sources and some of these websites may be obsolete. ix
We Welcome Your Suggestions The editors welcome your comments and suggestions for enhancing and improving Contemporary Hispanic Biography. If you would like to suggest persons for inclusion in the series, please submit these names to the editors. Mail comments or suggestions to: The Editor Contemporary Hispanic Biography Gale Group 27500 Drake Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535 Phone: (800) 347-4253
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Photo Credits PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS APPEARING IN CONTEMPORARY HISPANIC BIOGRAPHY, VOLUME 2, WERE RECEIVED FROM THE FOLLOWING SOURCES:
All Reproduced by Permission: Aguilera, Christina, photograph by Kevork Djansezian. AP/Wide World Photos. Almendros, Nestor, photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Alvarez, Luis W., photograph. The Library of Congress. Anaya, Rudolfo, photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Arnaz, Desi, photograph. Getty Images. Baca Zinn, Maxine, photograph. Courtesy of Dr. Maxine Baca Zinn. Baez, Joan, photograph by Dana Tynan. AP/Wide World Photos. Barretto, Ray, photograph by Ken Franckling. Corbis. Bermu ´ dez, Carmen, photograph. Courtesy of Carmen Bermudez. Betancourt, Ingrid, photograph by Luis Alvarez. AP/Wide World Photos. Botero, Fernando, photograph. Humberto Servin/Clasos Press/Corbis Sygma. Bundchen, Giselle, photograph by Dimitrios Kambouris. AP/Wide World Photos. Calderon, Sila Maria, photograph by Lynne Sladky. AP/Wide World Photos. Calderon Sol, Armando, photograph by Douglas Engle. AP/Wide World Photos. Carbonell, Josefina, photograph by Paul White. AP/ Wide World Photos. Chang-Diaz, Franklin, photograph. U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Chávez, Cesar, photograph. Arte Público Press Archives, University of Houston. Cha ´ vez, Denise, photograph by Georgia McInnis. Arte Público Press Archives, University of Houston. Clemente, Roberto, photograph. National Archives and Records Administration. Coca, Imogene, photograph by Reichenthal. AP/Wide World Photos. Corpi, Lucha, photograph. Arte Público Press. Cugat, Xavier, photograph. Getty Images. de la Renta, Oscar, photograph. Gregory Pace/Corbis Sygma. De Leon de Vega, Sonia, photograph. Courtesy of Sonia De Leon de Vega. Del Toro, Benicio, photograph by Jim Cooper. AP/ Wide World Photos. Derbez, Luis Ernesto Bautista, photograph by Jose Luis Magana. AP/ Wide World Photos. Escalante, Jaime, photograph. Arte Público Press, University of Houston. Fernandez, Joseph A., photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Garcı´a Marquez, Gabriel, photograph by David Cantor. AP/Wide World Photos. Gilberto, Joa ˜ o, photograph. Courtesy of Jack Vartoogian. Gomez, Scott, photograph by Ron Frehm. AP/Wide World Photos. Go ´ mezPompa, Arturo, photograph. Courtesy of Arturo Gmez-Pompa. Gonza ´ lez, Henry B., photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Guevara (Serna), Che (Ernesto), photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Hayak, Salma, photograph by Dimitrios Kambouris. AP/Wide World Photos. Huerta, Dolores, photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Kanellos, Nicolás, photograph. Arte Público Press Archives, University of Houston. Marin, Rosario, photograph by Hillery Smith Garrison. AP/Wide World Photos. Mendes, Se´rgio, photograph by Reed Saxon. AP/Wide World Photos. Mohr, Nicholasa, photograph by Cindy Grossman. Arte Público Press Archives, University of Houston. Munoz, Anthony, photograph. Arte Público Press Archives, University of Houston. Neruda, Pablo, photograph. Courtesy of Lutfi Ozkok. Pelli, César, photograph. Courtesy of Tracey Kroll. Perón, Juan, photograph. Corbis/Bettmann. Piñero, Miguel, photograph. Arte Público Press Archives, University of Houston. Ramos, Jorge, photograph. Courtesy of Jorge Ramos. Reyes, Sylvestre, photograph. Courtesy of Sylvestre Reyes. Rivera, Diego, photograph. The Bettmann Archive/Corbis-Bettmann. Rodriguez, Jennifer, photograph by Kevok Djansezian. AP/Wide World Photos. Sánchez, Poncho, photograph by Jeff Vespa. WireImage.com. Sandoval, Arturo, photograph by Reed Saxon. AP/Wide World Photos. Saralegui, Cristina Maria, photograph by Tony Gutierrez. AP/Wide World Photos. Selena, photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Thalía, photograph. Ariel Ramerez/Corbis Sygma. Treviño, Jesus Salvador, photograph. by Bruno Bebert. AP/Wide World Photos. Valdez, Luis, photograph.
xi
Arte Público Press Archives, University of Houston. Valdes, Jesus “Chucho,” photograph. Courtesy of Jack Vartoogian. Valens, Richie, photograph by. AP/Wide World Photos. Velasquez, Jaci, photograph. AP/Wide World Photos. Vilar, Alberto, photograph. Alberto Vilar/ AP/Wide World Photos.
xii
Aguilera • 1
Christina Aguilera 1980— Pop singer
Before her twenty-first birthday, Christina Aguilera claimed multiple platinum records, three Grammy Awards, and record sales well over twenty million copies. A former child actor on the Disney series The New Mickey Mouse Club, Aguilera made her first recording as a fourteen-year-old on a duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi. While the song was successful in Japan, Aguilera returned to the life of a high school student in Pennsylvania before gaining a recording contract with RCA Records in 1998. Her first single, “Genie in a Bottle,” sold over two million copies in 1999 and its Spanish-language version, “Genio Atrapado,” helped Aguilera become a rare crossover success from the pop mainstream to the Latino market. Her first album, Christina Aguilera, was also an immediate hit and eventually sold over eight million copies in the United States alone. Capping off an astounding debut, Aguilera took home the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1999, beating out competition that included her former Mickey Mouse Club cast mate Britney Spears. Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, New York. Her father, Fausto Aguilera, was born in Ecuador but had immigrated to
the United States and pursued a career in the military. Her mother, the former Shelley Fidler, was a talented violinist who toured with the Youth Symphony Orchestra as a teenager. During her early years, the Aguilera family followed her father’s assignments to Florida, Texas, New Jersey, and Japan. After having another daughter, Rachel, the Aguileras separated around 1986. The following year, Shelley Aguilera moved with her daughters back to her hometown of Wexford, a suburb northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After her mother remarried, Aguilera’s family included siblings Casey, Robert Michael, and Stephanie. For several years after the divorce, Aguilera had very little contact with her father. While growing up in Wexford, Aguilera began entering talent contests; with a voice that was unusually mature for her age, she usually won first prize. In 1988 she entered a regional talent audition for the syndicated show hosted by Ed McMahon, Star Search. Aguilera made it through the audition with a rendition of “The Greatest Love of All,” which she performed on the show. Although she failed to win in her appearance on Star Search, the experience helped Aguilera build confidence in her performing abilities. For the next
2 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Christina Maria Aguilera on December 18,
1980, in Staten Island, New York; daughter of
Fausto and Shelley Aguilera. Career: Recording artist: “Reflection” (single), 1998; Christina Aguilera, (album), 1999; Mi Reflejo, (album), 2000; My Kind of Christmas (album), 2000; “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely,” (single, with Ricky Martin), 2001; “Lady Marmalade” (single, with Missy Elliot, Mya, Pink, and Lil’ Kim), 2001. Awards: Grammy Award, Best New Artist, 1999; Recording Industry Association of America, Platinum Single, “Genie in a Bottle,” 1999; Recording Industry Association of America, Gold Single, “Come on Over Baby,” 2000; Recording Industry Association of America, Gold Single, “What a Girl Wants,” 2000; Latin Grammy Award, Best Female Pop Vocal Album, Mi Reflejo, 2000; Recording Industry Association of America, Eight Times Multi-Platinum Album, Christina Aguilera, 2000; Recording Industry Association of America, Gold Album, Recording Industry Association of America, Platinum Album, My Kind of Christmas, 2000; Recording Industry Association of America, Three Times Multi-Platinum Album, Mi Reflejo, 2001; Grammy Award, Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, “Lady Marmalade,” 2002. Addresses: Record company—RCA Records, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. Official fan club— P.O. Box 1396, Wexford, PA 15090- 1396.
couple of years she was a regular performer of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. Aguilera’s next big break came in 1990 when auditions for the cast of The New Mickey Mouse Club were announced. The show was a popular series on the Disney Network and included such future adult stars as Kerri Russell and Britney Spears, as well as Justin Timberlake and J. C. Chasez of N’Sync. In her initial audition, producers of the show judged Aguilera to be too young for the series; two years later, however, they called her to join the cast. Aguilera traveled to Orlando, Florida, with her mother to join the cast during her summer break from school in 1993. She returned the
following year to complete what turned out to be the final year of The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1994. While her two years on The New Mickey Mouse Club provided Aguilera with invaluable acting, dancing, and singing experience, it caused turmoil when she returned to school. After a number of incidents spurred on by classmates jealous of her new fame, Aguilera was forced to transfer to a new junior high school in Pittsburgh. She experienced similar problems during high school and was relieved when she was able to complete her secondary education with a tutor while recording her debut album, Christina Aguilera, in 1998. After her stint on The New Mickey Mouse Club, Aguilera’s agent secured an unusual opportunity for the young singer. Keizo Nakanishi, a Japanese singer, was looking for a duet partner to sing on his release “All I Wanna Do.” After submitting an audition tape, Aguilera was chosen for the assignment. She recorded her part of the song in a Pittsburgh studio; it was then mixed in with the final recording. The making of the video brought Aguilera to Japan, and she subsequently joined Nakanishi on tour to perform their song in concert. After returning to the United States in 1997, Aguilera worked on a demo tape to help her find a recording contract. Her Disney ties came in handy when the producers of the soundtrack for the studio’s Mulan were looking for someone to record a pop version of the film’s key song, “Reflection.” Aguilera got the job and a recording contract with RCA records in early 1998. Released as a single in the summer of 1998, “Reflection” became a modest hit on the adult contemporary chart. After completing some promotional appearances for the song, Aguilera entered a Los Angeles recording studio to make her debut album, Christina Aguilera. With a team of veteran songwriters and producers behind it, the album was a sophisticated yet accessible collection of songs that highlighted the power and range of Aguilera’s voice. The first single from the album, “Genie in a Bottle,” was released in the summer of 1999 and quickly went to number one, selling over two million copies in the process. The album itself debuted at number one on the Billboard chart and eventually sold over eight million copies, another remarkable feat for a new act. Two other singles from the album, “What a Girl Wants” and “Come on Over Baby,” also hit the top of the charts in 2000. Like teen singer Britney Spears, Aguilera endured some criticism as her records sold in the millions. While reviewers acknowledged her impressive vocal abilities—especially in comparison to Spears—images of the sexually provocative teenagers made others question the appropriateness of their videos. The protests peaked around Aguilera’s appearance in the video for the ‘Lady Marmalade’ track for the movie Moulin Rouge in 2001. Aguilera countered the criticism head
Aguilera • 3 on; as she told Allure in a May of 2002 interview, “Everybody said, ‘Don’t do “Lady Marmalade,” it’s too urban for you!’ But I wanted to do it. The girls [Pink, Lil’ Kim, Mya, and Missy Elliott] were great to work with—it was like, ’Let’s play dress-up for a day!’ If you’re doing a video for a movie like Moulin Rouge—I mean, it’s about a whorehouse—you have to get up there in some fun costumes. I love taking chances.” At the 1999 Grammy Awards Aguilera pulled an upset win over Britney Spears to claim the award for Best New Artist. Her album had only been out a few months at the time of the award, and most expected Spears to walk away with the Grammy. Aguilera herself appeared shocked at getting such recognition just months after her album’s release. The following year she claimed her second Grammy Award—this time from the Latin Recording Academy—for her Spanish-language release, Mi Reflejo. Although she had to record the album phonetically because she did not speak Spanish, Aguilera looked at the experience as a chance to reconnect with her father’s side of the family. The album was a major success and sold over three million copies in the year after its 2000 release. That year Aguilera released another platinum-selling album, My Kind of Christmas, a collection of holiday standards. After touring with the Lilith Fair and as the opening act for TLC in 1999, Aguilera headlined her own tour with opening act Destiny’s Child in 2000. She went back into the recording studio late that year to record a duet with Ricky Martin, “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely.” Aguilera’s attorneys were also making court appearances on her behalf to prevent the release of demo recordings that she had made several years earlier. Her court battle was unsuccessful, and Warlock Records released “Just Be Free” in 2001 over Aguilera’s objections. Aguilera won her third Grammy Award at the 2002 ceremonies for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for “Lady Marmalade.” In early 2002 she also put the final touches on her second album of original material with
help of producer Linda Perry. Aguilera told Time in a special fall of 2001 edition that the album would be much more emotional and aggressive than her first. “For me, in my heart, I have to move away from [teen pop],” she said. “Even if the label said I had to make another record like that, I don’t think I could. Getting older, you just don’t want to sing fluffy. You just have more things to say about real life and real people and the bitterness that you get from people.”
Selected discography Christina Aguilera, RCA Records, 1999. Mi Reflejo, RCA Records, 2000. My Kind of Christmas, RCA Records, 2000. Just Be Free, Warlock Records, 2001.
Sources Books Golden, Anna Louise, Christina Aguilera: An Unauthorized Biography, St. Martin’s Press, 2000. MacDermot, Molly, Christina Aguilera: The Unofficial Book, Billboard Books, 2000. Periodicals Allure, May 2002. Billboard, January 20, 2001. Time, March 6, 2000, p. 70. Time Special Issue, Fall 2001, p. 42. Variety, October 23, 2000, p. 62. On-line Christina Aguilera Official Artist Website, 2002, http://www.christina- a.com/bio.html Recording Industry Association of America Website, 2002, http://www.riaa.com —Timothy Borden
4 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Nestor Almendros 1930-1992 Cinematographer
The naturalistic look of modern dramatic films, from European art-house creations to mainstream Hollywood products, is in part the creation of cinematographer Nestor Almendros. A master in the use of natural lighting and in the visual composition of a scene in such a way as to reveal the emotions and motivations of a film’s characters, Almendros helped some of the most celebrated directors in modern cinema to realize their ideas. Almendros’s own life story was hardly less dramatic than those of many of the characters he recorded on film; his art was forged on the run from two of the twentieth century’s most notorious totalitarian systems.
Enrolling at Havana University shortly after arriving in Cuba, Almendros did not graduate until 1956. But he spent his time associating with young filmmakers and learning the cinematic trade. His first film was an eight-millimeter short subject made in 1950 in collaboration with Tomas Gutiérrez Alea, later a major Cuban director. Almendros came to the United States for further study at the City College of New York in 1956, staying on to teach Spanish at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, for two years. He also took a cinematography course at a film school in Rome, the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, but he chafed at the well-worn visual styles he encountered there.
Almendros was born in Barcelona, Spain on October 30, 1930, and grew up during the Spanish Civil War. The family opposed the takeover of right-wing dictator Francisco Franco, and their situation deteriorated. Almendros’s father left for Cuba in 1940, but Almendros himself did not follow until 1948. In the interim, the teenaged Almendros sought refuge from Spain’s increasingly bleak political situation by becoming a cinema buff. He developed a particular appreciation for silent films and their almost entirely visual language.
Almendros’s return to Cuba coincided with the ascent to power of Communist strongman Fidel Castro, and for several years Almendros tried to serve loyally as a cinematic soldier of the fledgling Communist state. The socialist-realist films on which Almendros worked actually influenced his later style; working on shoestring budgets, he often had to improvise set lighting by using natural light in innovative ways. He remained in Cuba until 1962, when he voted for François Truffaut’s French New Wave classic The 400 Blows in a critics’
Almendros • 5
At a Glance . . .
B
orn October 30, 1930, in Barcelona, Spain;
immigrated to Cuba, 1948; immigrated to
France, 1962; died March 4, 1992, in New York, NY. Education: Havana University, Ph.D., 1955; City College of New York (now City University), attended,1956; Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Rome, Italy, attended, 1957. Career: Taught Spanish language and literature at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1957-59; directed state-controlled documentaries in Cuba, 1959-61; cinematographer for French New Wave films, 1960s-70s; began to work on independent films in United States, early 1970s; cinematographer: Days of Heaven, 1978, Kramer vs. Kramer, 1980, Sophie’s Choice, 1982, Places in the Heart, 1984, Billy Bathgate, 1990; directed two documentaries on repression in Cuba: Mauvaise conduite (Improper Conduct), 1984, and Nadie escuchaba (Nobody Listened), 1989. Selected awards: Best Cinematography award, U.S. Association of Film Critics, for L’enfant sauvage, 1969; named chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters, 1976; Academy Award for best cinematography, Days of Heaven, 1979; New York Film Critics’ Society award for best cinematography, for Sophie’s Choice, 1982.
poll of the best films of the previous year—choosing it over the Castro-approved Russian entry. When official disfavor resulted, Almendros saw the handwriting on the wall and moved to France. With no contacts and not even a permit allowing him to do work of any kind in France, Almendros endured several difficult years in the early 1960s. He immersed himself, however, in the films of the French New Wave, whose natural style and focus on the everyday complemented the photographic style Almendros himself had developed. In 1964 he met one of the leading New Wave directors, Eric Rohmer, and happened to be on the set one day while Rohmer’s Paris Seen By ѧ was being shot. When the film’s contracted cinematographer walked off after a dispute, Almendros, as quoted in the London Independent, said, “I am a cameraman!” He was hired for the day and then, after acquitting himself well, for the remainder of the shoot-
ing. Due to his lack of a French work permit, his name was not included in the film’s credits. Soon, however, Almendros had become the favored cinematographer of both Rohmer and director François Truffaut, whose L’enfant sauvage (1969), a film about a child found in a forest, was shot by Almendros in black-and-white images that evoked the power of silent cinema. Almendros worked in France through much of the 1970s, doing much to define the style of such art-house classics as Rohmer’s Claire’s Knee (1971) and Truffaut’s The Story of Adèle H. (1975). As a result, his name became well known to a generation of young American directors who encountered these French classics during their student years. At first, as they had in France, bureaucratic regulations hampered Almendros’s American career; union regulations effectively shut him out of work for several years. But in 1979 he won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on the immigrant saga Days of Heaven, with Richard Gere in the lead role. One of the directors most impressed by Almendros’s European work was Robert Benton, who put Almendros behind the camera for the runaway hit Kramer vs. Kramer. That film brought Almendros another Academy Award nomination, and was the first of four films he made that featured actress Meryl Streep in the lead female role. Almendros won a New York Film Critics’ Circle award for his work on Sophie’s Choice (1981). Almendros has been recognized in the film industry for his use of natural light sources; he experimented with new types of color film that expanded his range of available lighting conditions, and he told the New York Times that “when I started, I found that my job consisted principally in de-lighting sets, that is, removing all the fake, conventional movie lighting that had been set up by lighting technicians.ѧ They believed in a very glossy kind of photography, that faces should never be in a shadow ѧ” Yet he also wrote in his autobiography, A Man with a Camera, that “the main qualities a director of photography needs are plastic sensitivity and a solid cultural background. So-called cinematographic technique is only of secondary importance.” Indeed, it was Almendros’s insight into character and emotional state that has defined much of his best work. Almendros directed few films of his own, but he was noted in the 1980s for two documentaries he made that explored the repressiveness of the Castro regime in Cuba: Improper Conduct (1985) detailed the persecution of Cuban homosexuals under Castro, and it was followed in 1988 by another indictment of Cuban human-rights violations, Nobody Listened. Almendros continued a fast pace of activity through the 1980s; by the time of his death he had worked on over forty films. Benton’s Places in the Heart (1984), starring Sally Field as a Depression-era farmer, was his own favorite.
6 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 The last film he worked on was the same director’s Billy Bathgate. Almendros was stricken with lymphoma and died on March 4, 1992, in New York City.
Sources
Selected works
Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale, 1996. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 4: Writers and Production Artists, St. James, 1996.
Selected filmography Paris vu par ѧ, 1964. La collectioneuse, 1967. L’enfant sauvage, 1969. L’histoire d’Adèle H., 1975. Days of Heaven, 1978. Kramer vs. Kramer, 1979. Sophie’s Choice, 1982. Places in the Heart, 1984. Mauvaise conduite (Improper Conduct, documentary, director), 1984. Nadie escuchaba (Nobody Listened, documentary, director), 1988. Billy Bathgate, 1990. Selected writings A Man with a Camera, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1984.
Books
Periodicals Film Comment, January-February 1994, p. 15. The Guardian (London, England), July 15, 1993, p. 5. The Independent (London, England), March 6, 1992, p. 20. Los Angeles Times, March 5, 1992, p. A18. National Review, June 1, 1984, p. 20. New York Times, March 5, 1992, p. B15. People, October 22, 1984, p. 13. Time, March 16, 1992, p. 49. Times (London, England), March 6, 1992, Features section. —James M. Manheim
Alvarez • 7
Luis Walter Alvarez 1911-1988 Nuclear physicist, inventor, educator
One of the most versatile scientists and inventors of the 20th century, Luis Walter Alvarez used his expertise to impact optics, flight, warfare, and the tracking and measurement of subatomic particles. During World War II, he joined the Manhattan Project to further the creation of the atomic bomb. Upon return to research and teaching, he created a bubble chamber for studying subatomic particles, a device that won him the 1968 Nobel Prize in physics. Always committed to problem-solving, Alvarez also investigated the construction of the Egyptian pyramid of Kefren and proposed a theory explaining the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago from the collision of a meteorite or comet with Earth.
Early Laboratory Experience As a child, Alvarez gained valuable experience wiring electrical circuits while working in the shop of his father, Dr. Walter Clement Alvarez, a medical researcher in physiology at the University of California at San Francisco. When the family moved to Rochester, Minnesota, Luis Alvarez attended Rochester High School and apprenticed under a machinist at the
instrument workshop at the Mayo Clinic, where his father was employed. In Alvarez’s junior year at the University of Chicago, he changed majors from organic chemistry to physics, the source of his interest in optics. While taking twelve physics courses in five quarters, he worked with technicians in the optical lab of Albert Michelson and, on his own, devoured Michelson’s articles. Alvarez’s first published paper explained how to measure light wavelength using a lamp, phonograph record, and yardstick. By studying Hans Geiger’s writings, Alvarez built one of America’s first Geiger counters, a device to measure radioactivity. Although Alvarez later criticized his basic education in the sciences, he appreciated having Nobel Laureate Arthur Compton for a mentor and learned on his own to build with glass and metal. Richard L. Garwin, who published a tribute to Alvarez’s career in a 1987 issue of Physics Today, quoted Alvarez’s version of how he learned to work independently by reading primary source materials: “I had the enormous self-confidence to be expected of a Robinson Crusoe who had spent three years on a desert island. I had browsed the library so thoroughly that I knew where to find the books I
8 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Luis Walter Alvarez on June 13, 1911, in San
Francisco, California; died August 31, 1988 in
Berkeley,
California;
married
Harriet
S.
Smyth
(divorced); married Janet Landis; children: (with Smyth)Walter, (with Landis) Donald, Helen. Education: University of Chicago, B.S., physics, 1932, M.S.,1934, Ph.D., 1936. Career: University of California, faculty member, 1936-78; MIT, 1940-43; radar research and develop-
in Berkeley, California and reared a son, Walter. For most of his life, Alvarez worked in the Radiation Laboratory, a university atmosphere that suited him. Before beginning any projects, he read all the library’s holdings on the subject of nuclear physics and memorized the equipment layout of every lab drawer and cabinet shelf. One of his first contributions to the laboratory was the reclamation of a neglected cyclotron, a device that accelerates charged particles. Nurturing his curiosity were Monday evenings spent with Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ernest Orlando Lawrence at the journal club and a subsequent introduction to Hans Bethe’s overviews of nuclear physics in Reviews of Modern Physics, which challenged Alvarez to disprove them.
ment, MIT, radar research and development, 1944-45; University of California, Berkeley, professor of physics,
Inventor and Researcher
1945-78; Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, associate
Some of Alvarez’s most significant contributions to physics were the process of K-electron capture, by which he discovered that nuclei gobble up their own electrons, and the development of the mercury vapor lamp, which produced a light wavelength that the U.S. Bureau of Standards adopted as its official measure of length. Among his breakthroughs was the discovery of the east-west effect of cosmic rays, which he and Arthur Compton studied while occupying the roof of Mexico City’s Geneva Hotel with a Geiger telescope mounted on a wheelbarrow. In collaboration with Nobel Prize-winning physicist Felix Block of Stanford University, Alvarez produced slow-moving neutrons to determine their magnetic moment.
director, 1945-59; University of California, Berkeley, professor emeritus, 1978-88. Memberships: American Physical Society, president, 1969; Institut D’Egypt, associate; National Academy of Scientists, National Academy of Engineering; American Physical Society, American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Phi Beta Kappa; Sigma Xi. Awards: National Aeronautical Associations’s Collier Air Trophy, 1946; Medal for Merit, 1948; the city of Philadelphia’s John Scott Medal and Prize, 1953; California Scientist of the Year, 1960; Einstein medal, 1961; Pioneer Award, 1963; National Medal of Science, 1964; Michelson Award, 1965; Nobel Prize in Physics, 1968; National Inventors Hall of Fame, 1978; Dudley Wright Prize in Interdisciplinary Science, 1981; Rockwell Medal, 1986; Enrico Fermi Award, U. S. Energy Department, 1987; honorary doctorates from the University of Chicago, 1967, Carnegie Mellon University, 1968, Kenyon College, 1969, Notre Dame University, 1976, Ain Shams University, Cairo, 1979, and Pennsylvania College of Optometry, 1982.
needed to learn almost anything I wanted to know.” His humble reflection omits the fact that, years later, he could recite data, journal issue, author, and page on which information appeared. At age 23 Alvarez mastered aviation with the same passion with which he tackled other new skills. After only three hours of dual instruction, he flew solo. His license was the beginning of a half century of flying. In 1936 he and his wife, Harriet S. Smyth Alvarez, settled
World War II placed Alvarez at an historic place and time and allowed him the opportunity to assist the war effort through research and invention. He introduced heavy-ion physics by identifying tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, and by deducing that helium-3 stabilized ordinary helium. In 1940 he developed radar systems for the U.S. military at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology radiation laboratory. He also developed a narrow radar beam to aid the landing of aircraft by a ground-based controller and produced Vixen, a system that diminished returning radar messages to convince German U-boat commanders that an attack plane was flying out of range. He created the Eagle high-altitude bombing system, a radar-guided means of sighting and dropping bombs on objects out of the pilot’s range of vision. His microwave earlywarning system solved the problem of sighting aircraft through fog, dust, or heavy cloud banks. Two years before the end of World War II, as American scientists raced to outmaneuver the Germans in creating deadlier bombs, Alvarez joined the Manhattan Project, a team effort located at Los Alamos, New Mexico. His contribution was a detonator to set off the first plutonium bomb. During the initial atomic test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, he flew with observers in a B-29 bomber. When the army dropped the “Fat Man” bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on
Alvarez • 9 August 6, 1945, Alvarez observed from the B-29 that followed the bomber Enola Gay. The terrifying destruction of the unsuspecting city below alarmed Alvarez, but he maintained that the device was essential to end the war before Japan inflicted lasting harm on the United States. He also supported the creation of a hydrogen bomb to ensure national security.
A Professor Once More After WWII, Alvarez returned to Berkeley to assume a full professorship and research high-energy nuclear physics. Applying the methods of Ernest Lawrence and Ernest Rutherford, he developed LINEAC, also called the Alvarez accelerator, which increased proton velocity. He tinkered with the mechanism until it became operational in 1947 and used it and the university’s Bevatron to advance post-war physics. His advancement of nuclear physics distinguished Berkeley as a center of subatomic particle study. In the college laboratory, he constructed a synchrocyclotron, which boosted particulate speed to new levels. After meeting with physicist Donald Glaser of the University of Michigan in 1953, Alvarez increased the capabilities of the first bubble chamber, a one-inch container of superheated ether in which observers could track the paths of subatomic particles. After replacing ether with liquid hydrogen, he invented equipment that recorded particle movements to within one billionth of a second. Within five years, he enlarged the bubble chamber to 72 inches and initiated its use in 1959, when he recorded a series of observations of baryons, mesons, and other minute particles in resonance states. As he worked on projects affecting national security, Alvarez received access to National Security Agency data, a trust that made him proud. His skillful problem-solving in the study of subatomic particles within cloud chambers earned him the 1968 Nobel Prize for physics, which he accepted in the company of his second wife, Janet Landis Alvarez, mother of their children, Donald and Helen. Sten von Friesen of the Swedish academy of Science credited Alvarez with opening paths to a whole field of discoveries in high-energy physics. Alvarez applied highly theoretical research to unusual problems. He joined the Warren Commission in 1963 to establish that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a lone gunman rather than a team of shooters. In 1965 he aided paleontologists of an American and Egyptian expedition in a study of King Kefren’s pyramid at Giza. By channeling subatomic particles called muons through the stone tomb, he deduced that there is no hidden burial chamber in the structure. In 1980 Alvarez worked with his son, Walter, a professor of geology at the University of California Berkeley, to determine and explain the existence of an inch-deep sediment of iridium-laced clay on rocky hillsides in Italy.
The presence of the rare metal convinced the two scientists that an asteroid or comet deposited it after colliding with earth 65 million years ago. They theorized that the impact raised so thick a cloud of dust and smoke that it blocked out sunlight and lowered temperatures, causing plants to shrivel and herbivorous dinosaurs to die of starvation and extreme cold. They surmised that the event obliterated 70 percent of earth’s species. Highly debated at first, the theory was eventually corroborated by scientists who located the Chiczulub crater in the Yucatan, Mexico. Goodhumoredly, Alvarez tweaked paleontologists for missing the telltale layer and called them poor scientists more suited to stamp collecting.
A Lifetime of Useful Work At his death from cancer in Berkeley on August 31, 1988, Alvarez left numerous discoveries and 22 patents, including a radio distance and direction indicator and the Tandem van de Graaff generator, a chargealtering electrostatic accelerator that was later produced commercially. He devised a color television system, a stabilizer for the binoculars and cameras marketed by Schwem Technologies, a variable-power lens for Polaroid and Humphrey Instruments, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s personal indoor golf practice machine. He directed projects for HewlettPackard and served IBM’s Science Advisory Committee. The Nobel-Prize winner’s contributions to American science were profound, and his many awards reflect the appreciation of the scientific community in which he found his intellectual home.
Sources Books Almanac of Famous People, 6th ed. Gale Research, 1998. Alvarez, Luis Walter. Adventures of a Physicist.Basic Books, 1987. American Decades CD-ROM. Gale Research, 1998. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. Gale Research, 1998. Notable Twentieth-Century Scientists. Gale Research, 1995. Trower, Peter, ed. Discovering Alvarez: Selected Works of Luis W. Alvarez. University of Chicago Press, 1987. Periodicals Albuquerque Journal, September 23, 2001, p. B3. American Scholar, October 1, 2000. Hispanic, September 1, 1996. Inter Press Service, November 12, 1999. National Academy of Engineering, Vol. 5, Washington, D. C.: National Academy Press, 1992. Physics Today, December 1987, pp. 83-84.
10 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Science News, March 1, 1997. Science World, November 17, 1997. Sciences, July 1999. Time, February 4, 2002, p. 13. Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, October 1, 2001. On-line Biography Resource Center, http://galenet.gale group.com/ servlet/BioRC Contemporary Authors Online. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale Group, 2000 Hall of Fame: Inventor Profile, http://www.invent .org/hall_of_fame/4.html. http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1968/alva rez-bio.html —Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Anaya • 11
Rudolfo Anaya 1937— Author
An acclaimed Chicano writer, Rudolfo Anaya has become best known for his award- winning novels, such as Bless Me, Ultima (1972), Tortuga (1979), and Alburquerque (1992). Anaya, who taught at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque for nineteen years before retiring in 1993, has also published epic poems, short stories, nonfiction, plays, and children’s books. He has been credited as a leader in the Latino literary community for his groundbreaking style and his success in writing stories that capture the essence of the Chicano experience. Rudolfo Alfonso Anaya was born on October 30, 1937, in the small town of Pastura, New Mexico, to Martín and Rafaelita (Mares) Anaya. Anaya’s father, who came from a family of cattle workers and sheepherders, was a vaquero, a horseman who worked on the ranches surrounding Pastura, and his mother came from a family of poor farmers, who were devote Catholics. Anaya, who was the fifth of seven children, saw his parents as the two halves of his life—the wildness and uncertainty of the windswept plains of east central New Mexico and the stable domesticity of farm life. Soon after he was born Anaya’s family moved to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, where Anaya
spent the next fourteen years. Later, his writings would be filled with images and memories of the people who affected his childhood. His fiction draws heavily on the superstitions and myths of the Mexican-American culture that commingled with the traditions of the Roman Catholic faith. In the community’s rich storytelling tradition, legend and history were blended together to create stories filled with mystery and revelation. Anaya spent his childhood on the llano, the plains, roaming the countryside with his friends, hunting, and fishing and swimming in the Pecos River. He was taught the catechism in Spanish, often asking the priest and his older sisters difficult questions about their faith. Spanish was spoken in the home, and Anaya was not introduced to English until he went to school. Despite the shock of changing languages, Anaya was motivated by his mother, who held education in high regard, to excel at his studies. For Anaya, life was filled with unanswered questions, but he knew that he had a place within the very mystery that belied his understanding. Life in the small, close-knit community of Santa Rosa gave Anaya a sense of security and belonging that was
12 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn October 30, 1937, in Pastura, New Mexico;
son of Martín and Rafaelita (Mares) Anaya; mar-
ried Patricia Lawless, July 21, 1966. Education: Attended Browning Business School, 1956-58; Univ. of NM, B.A., English, 1963; M.A., English, 1968; M.A., guidance and counseling, 1972. Career: Albuquerque Public Schools, teacher, 196370; Univ. of Albuquerque, director of counseling, 1971-73; Univ. of NM, associate professor, 1974-88; professor of English, 1988-93; professor emeritus, 1993–. Memberships: Modern Language Assn of America; Amer. Assn of Univ. Professors; Natl Council of Teachers of English; Trinity Forum; Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines, vp, 1974-80; Rio Grande Writers Assn, founder and first president; La Academia Society; La Compania de Teatro de Albuquerque; Multi-Ethnic Literary Assn; Before Columbus Foundation; Santa Fe Writers Co-op; Sigma Delta Pi, honorary member. Awards: Premio Quinto Sol literary award, for Bless Me, Ultima, 1970; NM Governor’s Public Service Award, 1978, 1980; Natl Chicano Council on Higher Education fellowship, 1978-79; NEA fellowships, 1979, 1980; Before Columbus American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation, for Tortuga, 1980; D.H.L., Univ. of Albuquerque, 1981; Corp. for Public Broadcasting script development award, for “Rosa Linda,” 1982; Award for Achievement in Chicano Literature, Hispanic Caucus of Teachers of English, 1983;
Kellogg
Foundation
fellowship,
1983-85;
D.H.L., Marycrest Coll., 1984; Mexican Medal of Friendship, Mexican Consulate of Albuquerque, 1986; PEN-West Fiction Award, 1992, for Alburquerque. Address: Office—5324 Canada Vista NW, Albuquerque, NM 87120.
torn from him when his family moved to Albuquerque in 1952. In Albuquerque Anaya was introduced to a cultural and ethnic diversity he had not previously experienced, as well as the painful reality of racism and prejudice aimed at Latinos. Nonetheless, Anaya’s teen-
age years were in many ways typical. He played football and baseball, and spent a significant amount of time with his friends discussing cars, girls, and music. In school he maintained good grades and avoided the troubles and dangers of gang life. When he was sixteen, while swimming in an irrigation ditch with friends, Anaya suffered a diving accident that changed the course of his adolescence. Diving into the ditch, Anaya broke two vertebrae in his neck and nearly died. His convalescence was long and painful, but after spending the summer in the hospital, Anaya, fiercely determined to return to his active lifestyle, eventually recovered from his injuries. The experience produced in the teenage boy a passion for life and an appreciation for the ability of adversity to either destroy or reshape one’s existence. After graduating from Albuquerque High School in 1956, Anaya attended a business school, intending to become an accountant. When his studies proved unfulfilling, he enrolled in the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque. If the move to Albuquerque as a young teenager had rocked Anaya’s world, university life sent him into a full-fledged identity crisis. He was a Mexican American in a social and academic setting dominated by a culture that was not his own. He found his classes devoid of relevance to his history or culture. Also, English was still his second language, and he often used speech patterns that were considered wrong by his English-speaking classmates and professors. He felt different, isolated, and alienated, with no mentors to guide or support him. Anaya’s own questions of his place in the world as a Latino, coupled with the traditional angst of moving into adulthood and the emotional pain caused by a recently failed relationship with a girl, pushed him to write as a cathartic exercise. Much of these early writings he later destroyed. Also a freshman English class sparked his interest in literature, and he began to read poetry and novels. Despite his growing love for reading, Anaya continued to lament the absence of any authors who could serve as mentors for his unique Mexican-American experience. In 1963 Anaya graduated from the University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He took a teaching position in a small New Mexico town and continued to practice his writing everyday. In 1966 he married Patricia Lawless, who supported her husband’s desire to write and served as his editor. During the 1960s, Anaya taught junior high and high school during the day and worked on his writing after school and in the evenings, struggling to find his literary voice. Although he conjured up images of his past, he found that he was writing in a style foreign to that past. The words and the characters would not mix. Then Anaya had something of a mystical experience that pushed him toward the development of his own unique Mexican-American style. As he labored over his writing
Anaya • 13 one night, he turned to see an elderly woman dressed in black standing in his room. This vision spurred the writer into action and a story began to flow from his pen, inspiring his first novel, Bless Me, Ultima. The old woman in black he had seen that night became Ultima, a healer who helps the story’s main character find his way in a coming-of-age story.
years after Anaya had first begun writing the novel. Critics responded enthusiastically to the book, noting that it provided a new, refreshing offering to Chicano literature, and it was awarded the Premio Quinto Sol Award for the best Chicano novel of 1972. The new author would find fame among Chicano readers and scholars.
Bless Me, Ultima tells the story of Antonio Juan Márez y Luna, a six-year- old boy growing up in rural New Mexico during World War II. Antonio is befriended by Ultima, a kindly curandera, healer, who has come to stay with Antonio’s family. Through Ultima, Antonio discovers the mysteries of the plains surrounding him and learns how to use its plants for medicinal purposes. But when Ultima heals Antonio’s uncle from curses placed on him by a family of witches, Tenorio Trementina, the witches’ father, declares war against Ultima. Much of the drama of the novel grows from the conflict between Ultima and Trementina, which plays out as a struggle between good and evil.
With his new-found acclaim, Anaya secured a faculty position at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, where he remained as teacher and adviser until he retired in 1993. He published his second novel, Heart of Aztlán, in 1976. The novel tells the story of the Chavez family, who is forced to moved from their family farm to the barrios of Albuquerque. Heart of Aztlán is a political novel that focuses on the struggles of a displaced family. While the father attempts to fight the oppressive forces that surround him, his children succumb to the temptations of sex, drugs, and alcohol, and the family is torn apart. Although it won the Before Columbus Foundation American Book award, Heart of Aztlán was not as well received as Bless Me, Ultima. Tortuga, Anaya’s third novel, published in 1979, completed a loosely tied trilogy that focused on the Chicano experience over several generations. Tortuga is set in a sanitarium for terminally ill teenagers. The main character is a teenage boy who lies in the hospital in a full body cast, partially paralyzed and unable to move. He is nicknamed Tortuga, which means Turtle in Spanish, because of his cast. In despair, he tries to kill himself, but through the wisdom of another boy who is terminally ill, Tortuga learns to accept and appreciate his life. The book was well received and was considered by some critics to be Anaya’s most complete and accomplished work.
Another theme of the book is Antonio’s struggle to understand his place in the world. Like Anaya’s own history, the boy is pulled between his father’s wandering life of a vaquero and his mother’s harmonic, grounded existence with the earth itself. He also contemplates his future—as a priest, as his mother desires, or as a scholar, as Ultima predicts. And, he questions the validity of his Catholic faith that seems helpless against pain and suffering while Ultima’s magic heals. His struggles are exemplified in his discovery of a golden carp in the river, which as told in local folklore is a god. To simply suppose the carp may share divinity with God becomes a question of meaning that feels to Antonio like a betrayal of his mother’s faith, yet it is a question he cannot help but ask. Although Bless Me, Ultima would receive wide acclaim upon its publication, Anaya faced serious struggles in finding a publisher who would accept his manuscript, which incorporated both English and Spanish words. Sending inquiries out to numerous publishers, he received back a rejection from all of them, most often because his writing was too Latino in style and language. “It was extremely hard,” Anaya told Publisher’s Weekly, “I sent the book to dozens of trade publishers over a couple of years and found no interest at all. The mainstream publishers weren’t taking anything Chicano and we had nowhere to go. For us, living in a bilingual world, it was very normal to allow Spanish into a story written in English—it’s a process that reflects our spoken language—but [in approaching mainstream publishers] I was always called on it. Without the small academic, ethnic, and university presses, we’d never have gotten our work published.” Finally, Anaya happened on an advertisement from Quinto Sol Publications, a small press in California, inviting authors to submit manuscripts. He sent in Bless Me, Ultima and Quinto Sol quickly agreed to publish it. Bless Me, Ultima became a reality in 1972, seven
Following the completion of Tortuga, Anaya branched out, experimenting with writing plays, short stories, poems, documentaries and travel journals, and children’s stories. His short stories were collected as The Silence of Llano, 1982. A Chicano in China, 1986 was a nonfiction account of Anaya’s travels to China. The Legend of La Llorona 1984 and Lord of the Dawn: The Legend of Quetzalcoatl, 1987 were both retellings of traditional Mexican folk stories, and The Farolitos of Christmas: A New Mexican Christmas Story, 1985, was Anaya’s first children’s story. In 1985 he published an epic poem, The Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas. Anaya also served as an editor for numerous publications, as well as a translator and contributor to other Chicano works. In 1992 Anaya published Alburquerque (the original spelling of the city’s name), the first in a new series of linked novels. The second novel, the highly praised murder mystery Zia Summer, followed in 1995. Rio Grande Fall was released in 1996, and the final installment of the loosely linked quartet was Shaman Winter, published in 1999. Jalamanta: A Message from the Desert, published in 1996 was yet another departure in style for Anaya. The story, which employed allegory to tell a mythical story, was panned by
14 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 critics, one of Anaya’s few missteps during his thirty years of writing. In 2000 Anaya wrote another epic poem, this time aimed at middle and high school students. Elegy on the Death of Cesar Chavez celebrated the life and struggles of the famed Chicano labor leader. The dust jacket and author notes provided factual details, and the poem moved the reader between grief and hope of a rallying cry for action. Following his retirement from teaching in 1993, Anaya has devoted his time to his writing and traveling. Like his mother before him, Anaya has remained tied to the land and in 2002 lived with his wife in Albuquerque, and like his father, he has satisfied his desire to wander by traveling extensively throughout South and Central America. Anaya, who spends several hours a day writing, told Publisher’s Weekly, “What I’ve wanted to do is compose the Chicano worldview—the synthesis that shows our true mestizo identity—and clarify it for my community and myself. Writing for me is a way of knowledge, and what I find illuminates my life.”
Selected Writings Novels Bless Me, Ultima, Quinto Sol, 1972. Heart of Aztlán, Justa, 1976. Tortuga, Justa, 1979. The Legend of La Llorona, Tonatiuh-Quinto Sol, 1984. A Chicano in China, University of New Mexico Press, 1986. Lord of the Dawn: The Legend of Quetzalcoatl, University of New Mexico Press, 1987. Alburquerque, Warner Books, 1995. Zia Summer, Warner Books, 1995. Rio Grande Fall, Warner Books, 1996. Jalamanta: A Message from the Desert, Warner Books, 1996. Rio Grande Fall, Warner Books, 1996. Shaman Winter, Warner Books, 1999.
Other The Silence of Llano, Tonatiuh-Quinto Sol, 1982. The Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas, Arte Publico Press, 1985. The Farolitos of Christmas, Hyperion, 1995. The Anaya Reader, Warner Books, 1995. Farolitos for Abuelo, Hyperion, 1998. Elegy on the Death of Cesar Chavez, Cinco Puntos Press, 2000. Anaya’s manuscript collection is located at Zimmerman Library, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
Sources Books Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volumes 7-26, Gale Research, 1992-99. Contemporary Novelists, 7th edition, St. James Press, 2001. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale Research, 1996. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 82: Chicano Writers, First Series, Gale Research, 1989. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 206: Twentieth-Century American Western Writers, First Series, Gale Research, 1999. Periodicals Melus, Fall, 1984; Summer, 1999. Publisher’s Weekly, May 25, 1992; March 21, 1994; April 10, 1995; June 5, 1995; September 18, 1995; January 1, 1996; July 29, 1996; September 27, 1999; October 11, 1999; November 20, 2000. World Literature Today, Spring, 1996; Fall, 1996. On-line American Decades CD-ROM, www.galenet.com/serv let/BioRC Contemporary Authors Online, www.galenet.com/ servlet/BioRC —Kari Bethel
Arana • 15
Marie Arana 1949— Writer and editor
The conflict between roots and assimilation is a staple in the literature of American immigrant experience, but rarely has it been so inventively explored as in American Chica, Marie Arana’s memoir of her PeruvianAmerican background and upbringing. Arana, the editor of the Book World section of the Washington Post, was inspired to write the book almost by accident, after finding herself overwhelmed by childhood memories in the course of a research project on the lives of Peruvian women. Undertaking an excavation of the buried layers of her own life and those of her parents and ancestors, she uncovered a one-of-a-kind story that earned her a finalist nomination for the National Book Award in 2001. Arana was born in the Peruvian capital of Lima on September 15, 1949, but the American aspect of her story had begun long before that. Her father, Jorge Enrique Arana, came to the United States to study engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jorge Arana seemed to be on a comfortable path toward becoming a U.S. citizen, landing a job with the industrial conglomerate W. R. Grace and marrying a woman from Wyoming named Marie Clapp. Unhappy in the States, however, he moved his family back to Peru for a period corresponding with much of Marie Arana’s childhood. He managed a W. R. Grace-owned sugar factory there. Marie’s American mother, in turn, was unhappy living in Peru. Thus American Chica is in part an account of a Peruvian childhood, of growing up in a country where the past, both Spanish and Native American, shadowed the present unusually closely. Arana wrote of
exploring an Inca fortress with her brother, of a fortune-telling witch with braids that “undulated like snakes,” of (as the Houston Chronicle put it) “a world of tradition, dust, animals, vines, bones, butterflies, earthquakes, stories and saints.” And the book likewise sketches the marriage of Arana’s parents, who, she told the Columbus Dispatch, “never go a day without bickering or without letting each other know just how much they love each other.” The Arana family returned to the United States in 1959 to a conventional middle-class American life in suburban Summit, New Jersey. “By the time I was grown,” Arana wrote in American Chica, “I knew there were two women I could be—the Latina or the gringa—and that at every juncture I would need to choose one.” For a time, she tried to bridge the gap by exploring new languages and cultures. She graduated from Northwestern University in Illinois with a B.A. in Russian language and literature in 1971, and went on to study Chinese. Living in Hong Kong for several years in the late 1970s, she earned a master’s degree in linguistics from the British University of Hong Kong and served as editor of an academic journal, Studies in Bilingualism. In the interim between her undergraduate and graduate studies, Arana married Washington banker Nick Ward and started a family. In 1980 Arana landed a job as an editor with the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich publishing firm and began an ascent in that business that brought her a vicepresidency at Simon & Schuster in 1989 and a writing and editing position at the Washington Post in 1992.
16 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
then won a one-month Stanford University fellowship to investigate the ways women in Peru coped with the poverty in which they lived.
orn September 15, 1949, in Lima, Peru; daughter
of Jorge Enrique Arana (a Peruvian-American
engineer) and Elverine (Clapp) Arana; immigrated to U.S. in 1959; married Wendell Ward, a banker, 1972 (divorced, 1998); married Jonathan Yardley (a book critic), 1999. Education: Northwestern University, B.A., Russian language and literature, 1971; Yale University in Hong Kong, studied Mandarin Chinese, 1976; British University of Hong Kong, M.A. in linguistics, 1977. Religion: Roman Catholic. Career: British University of Hong Kong, lecturer in linguistics, 1978-79; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich publishers, senior editor, 1980-89; Simon & Schuster publishers, vice president and senior editor, 1989-92; Washington Post, writer and editor, 1992-99; Book World editor-in-chief, Washington Post, 1999–; memoir American Chica published, 2001. Memberships: National Association of Hispanic Journalists; National Book Critics Circle. Awards: Finalist, National Book Award, for American Chica, 2001. Addresses: Office—Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071-0002.
In 1999 she became editor-in-chief of the newspaper’s weekly book review section, one of the most powerful critical posts in the journalistic world. Yet she felt unfulfilled. “You know that kind of clean emotion that you have as a child—that kind of pure fire?” she asked the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “By the time you get to middle age, it is so changed and compromised. I really wanted it back, so, so badly.” Furthermore, she wrote in American Chica, she felt that her high-flying editorial career reflected her American side, not the Latina woman who “burns incense, prays on her knees to the Virgin, feels auras, listens for the spirits of the dead.” Her journey back to that Latina side came in stages. One early hint came when a personnel officer at the Post inquired whether she could be considered a minority staff member. Arana answered yes, but began to reflect on how little she had thought about the question. She began to write about Washington’s Hispanic community for the Post and
In the course of doing that research, Arana discovered that she was related to Julio Cesar Arana, a ruthless South American rubber manufacturer who enslaved and slaughtered thousands of Native workers—a fact her family had always denied. And then, she told the Times- Picayune, “I had one of those experiences that people have, though it sounds silly. Sitting there in the dark corridors of the library, cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by books, I had a whole rush of memories. I had this series of flashbacks from my childhood— images of a woman I was convinced was a witch, and an old black man.” American Chica grew out of that experience; after going through several drafts, the book was published in 2001. Even beyond the range and originality of Arana’s narrative, the book was notable for its unusual style, seemingly influenced by South America’s Magical Realists. “As a child, I saw the obvious parallels: Jesus and the sun gods, witches and Buddhas,” Arana wrote. “What was Jesus if not inti, the Inca thresher of earthly light? What was a witch if not hunger, a longing for order, a hand in the dark?” Critical reviews were enthusiastic, and American Chica became a finalist for that year’s National Book Award, losing to Jonathan Franzen’s novel The Corrections. Arana’s family, however, was less easily won over. “My father was absolutely livid,” Arana told the Columbus Dispatch. “His copy of the manuscript was delivered back to me through my sister, and on the top of the first page was written in hot pink: ѧ ‘ Fantasmagoria!’ He said the book was a total hallucination. On almost every page of the manuscript he had scrawled in that same hot pink.” After some months, however, her father reached a point where he could quote from the book admiringly. The writing of the book also dissolved Arana’s marriage; she divorced Ward and married her Post colleague Jonathan Yardley—and this experience, too, she interpreted in bicultural terms. “I was a good Latina in my first marriage, going to the altar with the first man who ever touched me, hanging my future on his, never reaching for him in bed,” she told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “And then I was a good gringa in my second, throwing out all the rule books and following my heart.” Believing that, as she told the TimesPicayune, “I’ve written enough about myself now,” Arana was at work on her first novel in 2002.
Selected writings American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood (memoir), Dial Press, 2001.
Arana • 17
Sources Periodicals Columbus Dispatch, February 12, 2002, p. E8; February 16, 2002, p. E3. Houston Chronicle, July 29, 2001, p. Zest-18. Library Journal, April 15, 2001, p. 112. New York Times, June 14, 2001, p. E3. Los Angeles Times, August 12, 2001, p. Book Review-12. San Francisco Chronicle, May 27, 2001, p. Review68. Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), March 20, 2002, p. Living-1. —James M. Manheim
18 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Desi Arnaz 1917-1986 Bandleader, entertainer, producer
Desi Arnaz made his mark as the straight man of the comedic couple behind the popular 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy. A Cuban immigrant, Arnaz was also a very savvy businessman. Arnaz’s talents as a singer and entertainer helped to make I Love Lucy the first great television sitcom, but it was his skill as a businessman that built the Arnaz family empire. Arnaz was born Desiderio Alberto Arnez y de Acha on March 2, 1917, in Santiago, Cuba, to Desiderio, the mayor of Santiago and a wealthy land owner, and Dolores (de Acha) Arnaz, who was the daughter of a founder of the Bacardi rum company. The two later divorced. The Arnaz family were part of Cuba’s small but vastly privileged upper class—among their holdings were a cattle ranch, two dairy farms, and a villa on an island in Santiago Bay. As part of a distinguished political family, Arnaz was expected to attend college and pursue a career in law and politics. In 1933, when Arnaz was a teenager, the Cuban revolution against the corrupt regime of President Gerardo Machado changed the family’s course. The family home in Santiago was ransacked and burned, and his father, who recently had been elected to congress, was jailed. Informed that he would be allowed
to leave the country, Arnaz’s father fled to Miami, leaving their wealth behind and later sending for his son. By the time Arnaz arrived, his father had established an importexport company, and father and son scrimped, living at the company warehouse and eating canned beans. In Miami Arnaz got a job cleaning cages for a canary dealer that paid fifteen dollars a week, a good wage for a teenager during the Depression. He left his political future and his cage-cleaning job behind when he was offered a job with a Latin dance band at the Roney Plaza Hotel, for thirty-nine dollars a week. It was the first time he had considered a show- business life for himself. He had only previously used his five-dollar pawnshop guitar to serenade and woo women.
Young Latin Bandleader Xavier Cugat, then the king of Latin music in the United States, caught Arnaz’s act one night and hired him, but Arnaz had to accept a salary cut down to 25 dollars, on the understanding that, if he did well, they would renegotiate. Arnaz turned out to be very popular and soon was bumped to thirty-five dollars. Before long
Arnaz • 19
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Desiderio Alberto Arnez y de Acha on March
2, 1917, in Santiago, Cuba; died on December 2,
1986, in Del Mar, CA; married Lucille Ball, 1940 (divorced 1960), married Edie Hirsch; children: (with Ball) Lucie Desiree, Desi. Career: Producer, entertainer, bandleader. Played guitar in a band at the Roney Plaza Hotel; played with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra; formed Desi Arnaz Orchestra, 1937; appeared in the Rodgers and Hart Broadway musical Too Many Girls; reprised role in film version of Too Many Girls, performed in minor films, on the radio, and with his successful Desi Arnaz Orchestra, beginning 1940; formed Desilu Productions with Ball, 1948; produced and starred in I Love Lucy, 1951-60; bought RKO Studios, 1957; executive produced The Lucy Show, 1962; produced The Mothers-in-Law, 1967; published autobiography, A Book, 1976. Awards: Two Emmy awards for Best Situation Comedy,
was to take one look at Ball and faint dead away in ecstasy. It didn’t take much acting. He was the first man to call her Lucy, rather than her preferred Lucille. Six months later, the 28-year-old B-movie actress and the 23-year-old bandleader were married. They eloped in Connecticut with a ring bought at the last minute at a Woolworth’s. They settled just outside Los Angeles in Chatsworth, California, on a five-acre ranch they called Desilu. For the next few years, the couple—not yet Hollywood royalty—made their living with various projects in film, theater, and radio. Arnaz was drafted to serve in World War II in May of 1943, though an injury kept him on noncombat duty at a hospital near Chatsworth. Between touring with his band and his time away for military service, Arnaz, a notorious ladies’ man, had plenty of freedom for extramarital affairs. In September of 1944 Ball, fed up with her husband’s infidelity, filed divorce papers, but the couple reconciled and the process was never finalized. Arnaz received critical praise for his role in the film Bataan, and one columnist even predicted he would be the next Rudolph Valentino. Despite these successes, he was having a tough time breaking into film because of his thick accent. The now-22-piece Arnaz Orchestra was doing very well, though, and led to a role in the film Cuban Pete, which billed him as “The Rumba-Rhythm King.”
1952, 1953.
Happy TV Couple Arnaz decided he could do better on his own and told Cugat he intended to form his own band. Cugat offered instead to let him bill his new act as the Desi Arnaz and his Xavier Cugat Orchestra. Arnaz agreed to pay Cugat a royalty of 25 dollars per week to use his name. When Cugat asked why only 25 dollars, Arnaz—already displaying his business savvy—gave Cugat the same deal Cugat had given him. He told Cugat that if they did well, they would renegotiate. Arnaz debuted his new band in 1937. The opening was a disaster; two of the musicians were not even Latin. For the next night, Arnaz played the conga, an instrument then unknown in the United States. Before long, Arnaz was headlining at La Conga, a New York nightclub. He was discovered there by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, who put him in their new Broadway musical, Too Many Girls, in the role of a Latin exchange student. When Too Many Girls was made into a movie, Arnaz was asked to reprise his stage role. The film also starred a redheaded actress named Lucille Ball. When the two met, “Desi was in greasy makeup and old clothes, and I thought he wasn’t so hot,” she later recalled, according to People. Arnaz had the same impression of Ball, dressed in her bedraggled costume and sporting a fake black eye. Both of them quickly overcame their first impressions and, by all accounts, the chemistry between them was undeniable. In one of their first scenes together, Arnaz
By 1948, the year Milton Berle first appeared on television, television sets existed in one million American living rooms. In one year’s time, Uncle Miltie’s popularity had driven that number to four million. Arnaz and Ball formed Desilu productions in 1948 to handle their various appearances and projects. A year later, the two were remarried in an official Catholic ceremony. By 1950 they were both successful radio stars. Arnaz was the bandleader for Bob Hope’s radio show, then was the host of Your Tropical Trip, a game show. While still making films during the late 1940s, Ball starred as the flaky housewife in a hit radio comedy called My Favorite Husband. When CBS television decided to put My Favorite Husband on the air, Ball demanded that Arnaz be cast to play her husband. The studio balked—who would believe Ball married to a “wop?” one executive exclaimed, according to American Heritage, confusing his ethnic slurs. “What do you mean nobody’ll believe it?” Ball shot back, “We are married.” The pilot was shot and called The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show. On it, Arnaz played a bandleader, essentially recreating his real-life persona. Even still, CBS executives wanted to “Keep the redhead, but ditch the Cuban,” according to American Heritage. To appease CBS, Arnaz made an offer. Ball and Arnaz agreed to a huge salary cut, in exchange for sole ownership of the show. Thinking they weren’t giving up much, CBS executives quickly agreed. They could
20 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 not have been more wrong—the deal turned out to be the bargain of the century for Ball and Arnaz. Fifty years after the show’s premiere, a single episode of I Love Lucy cost $100,000 to air. It was a multi-million dollar error for CBS. For the first time in their marriage, Ball and Arnaz were working and living together for an extended period of time. Their new schedule provided a chance for them to work on their relationship and have children. “All their hopes, plans, and dreams for a happy future were wrapped up in that sitcom,” daughter Lucie Arnaz later wrote in the book I Love Lucy. Lucie Desiree Arnaz was born in 1951, before the show’s debut. Ball and Arnaz played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, a lovable couple who endeared themselves to the world through the television. Ball played the scatterbrained housewife and Arnaz was a Latin bandleader who acted as her straight man, bursting into fits of Spanish when exasperated with his wife. Through it all, Arnaz always attributed the show’s success to his wife, and stepped back and let Ball be the star. After Lucy became pregnant with the couple’s real-life son, Desi Jr., Little Ricky—their fictional son—arrived on the show. 44 million people— more than 70 percent of the American television audience—tuned in to watch the episode. Life was cheerful both onscreen and off for the Arnazes. The show won Emmy awards for Best Situation Comedy in both 1952 and 1953.
Always Loved Lucy
Arnaz worked long hours and spent weekends on his boat in the company of various females, his wife not among them. He drank heavily and his health was jeopardized by a colon condition. He also was known to explode in “abusive fits of anger,” according to People. One tale of the pair’s volatility included Ball aiming a gun at Arnaz’s head and pulling the trigger, only to have a tiny flame light from the end of the barrel, with which Arnaz then casually lit his cigar. “It got so bad that I though it would be better for us not to be together,” Ball reportedly said in divorce court in 1960, according to People. After twenty years of marriage, America’s favorite couple was splitting up— and there was no kiss-and-make-up reconciliation at the end of the show. I Love Lucy ran until 1959, and Ball and Arnaz continued as business partners after the divorce. They both remarried, Arnaz to his neighbor, Edie Hirsch. Ball went on to star in The Lucy Show, and Arnaz retired to his 45-acre horse ranch in Corona, California, though he took the occasional cameo role. In 1962 he sold his rights to Ball, who then ran Desilu on her own, producing such popular television shows as Star Trek and Mission: Impossible. Arnaz produced the television series The Mothers-In-Law in 1967. In his autobiography, titled A Book, published in 1976, Arnaz wrote: “All I can say is that I loved her very much and, in my own peculiar way, I will always love herѧ. I Love Lucy was never just a title.” Ball visited Arnaz’s bedside before he died of lung cancer in 1986.
With the show’s runaway success, the couple grew into an entertainment empire. In addition to I Love Lucy, Desilu produced such television hits as Our Miss Brooks, The Untouchables, and The Danny Thomas Show. The two appeared together in the films The Long, Long Trailer and Forever Darling. They made a fortune on reruns—the first of a current show in television history—that catered to new television owners who had missed the first episodes of the show. Desilu bought RKO Studios, where the couple had first met, in 1957. In its heyday, Desilu grossed about $15 million per year and employed 800 people.
Arnaz, Desi, A Book, Buccaneer Books., 1976. Larkin, Colin, editor, Encyclopedia of Popular Music, MUZE UK Ltd., 1998.
The success took its toll on the couple, and they struggled to maintain their happy persona on the air.
—Brenna Sanchez
Sources Books
Periodicals American Heritage, December 1998, p. 20. People, February 12, 1996, p. 74.
Baca • 21
Judith F. Baca 1946— Muralist, visual artist, educator
When most people think of art, their immediate response has been to imagine the kind of art found in museums. For instance, the works of Rembrandt or Chagall suggest great art of museum quality. In contrast, the kind of art that people could view on the streets of American cities has not always been considered to be great art. In fact, in the past, such art might have been simply labeled street art and dismissed as only a slightly more artistic representation of the graffiti that decorates so many city fences and businesses. But in recent years, public art, the art of the streets and communities, has begun to be valued as a significant representation of American cultural life. In large part this change in status can be attributed to one artist—Judith F. Baca. Over the past thirty years, Baca has created and led a movement to redefine the meaning of art. She has perhaps become best known for her seven year project, The Great Wall of Los Angeles, but in fact, Baca’s work has encompassed much more that just this one notable project.
Raised In A Female Household Judith Francisca Baca, a second-generation Chicana, was born in south central Los Angeles on September 20, 1946. As a young child, Baca was raised in a female-dominated household that included her mother, Ortensia Baca, her grandmother, and two aunts. Baca’s grandmother raised her, while her mother worked in a tire factory to support the family. Baca’s father, Valentino Marcel, was not a part of her life. Baca never knew her musician father, but has stated in interviews
that her childhood was quite happily spent in the women-only household. One of Baca’s aunts had developmental problems, and her mental age of five meant that Baca had a built-in playmate at home. When Baca was six years old, her mother married Clarence Ferrari, and the family moved from their Huntington Park neighborhood to Pacoima, California. The change was a dramatic one for Baca, whose grandmother and aunts remained behind in their south central Los Angeles home. Although the new town was only about twenty miles north of Los Angeles, it was a new and completely different world for Baca. In Pacoima, Baca entered a school where the primary language was English. Baca’s earlier childhood had been in a Spanish-speaking household, and now she struggled in school. Ironically, it was the struggle with language that led to Baca’s interest in art. Because of the language problems, Baca’s teacher permitted the young girl to sit at a corner desk and paint, while the other students continued with their studies. In spite of her initial language problems, Baca quickly mastered English, and in 1964 she graduated from Bishop Alemany High School, a Catholic school in Mission Hills, California. Baca married at age 19, but within six years the marriage ended, and she returned to Bishop Alemany to teach, after having received a bachelor’s degree from California State University at Northridge in 1969. This first teaching job served as a predictor for how Baca would connect art and community. Soon after she began teaching, Baca enticed a number of ethnically diverse students to paint a mural
22 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn September 20, 1946 in Los Angeles, CA;
divorced. Education: California State University
at Northridge, B.A., art, 1969; California State University at Northridge, M.A., art. Career: Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), founder, 1976; University of California, professor of Fine Arts, 1980–; UCLA’s Cesar Chavez Center, vice chair, 1996–; UCLA, professor of art for world arts and cultures, 1996–. Address: Office—Cesar Chavez Center for Chicano Studies, 685 Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90091.
at the school, thus anticipating the ways in which she would eventually interconnect art and social action. This first teaching job did not last long, however. Shortly after beginning her new job, Baca became involved in public protests against the Vietnam War. An administrative change at Alemany High School was less tolerant of these protests, and eventually Baca was fired, as were ten nuns and seven other lay teachers. Baca had thought that she would be unable to earn a living as an artist, and so she had gone into education to provide a means of support for herself and her art. Although initially the loss of her job was traumatic, in a sense, the loss of this first position opened new doors for Baca. Rather than rely on teaching as a career, she began to focus on her art.
Began Working With Underprivileged Children Baca’s next job was with the city of Los Angeles in a special program for artists. Baca’s new job was to travel from schools to parks, teaching art. She soon formed her own group, Las Vistas Nuevas, a group for children from four different gangs and neighborhood groups. Baca’s group painted her first mural for her, in Hollenbeck Park. The success of this mural led to recognition that Baca could use art to turn around the lives of children who other city workers had found unmanageable. Eventually, Baca’s work with the city of Los Angeles would lead to the creation of hundreds of murals, most of which were created by youths who might otherwise have never discovered art. The moment that really changed Baca’s life, though, was her discovery of the Mexican muralist tradition. This occurred when she received a book on “Los Tres Grandes,”—Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and
José Clemente Orozco. Reading about these three early Mexican muralists inspired Baca to learn more about the tradition of murals, and by the mid-1970s, she had traveled to Mexico to take classes in mural techniques and materials. After she returned to Los Angeles, and with the backing of the city, Baca began an ambitious project, the Citywide Mural Project. Under the auspices of this project, Baca supervised the painting of at least 250 murals. It became clear that Baca had a special talent for working with youths and for inspiring their creativity. She was taking multicultural youths, whom the community might otherwise condemn for defacing property with graffiti, and providing them with an acceptable outlet for their creative talents. In a statement that she provided on her website, Baca said that she has worked “to address social justice issues for ethnic neighborhoods.” The mural project, which employed more than 1000 youths, led to the creation of more than 500 murals in neighborhoods across Los Angeles. Baca’s artists were, in large part, teens whose work served to illustrate the uniqueness of their world. The result of Baca’s efforts were murals and walls that reflected the community’s diversity.
Launched Great Wall Project Baca’s next project, and the one for which she was best known, was the Great Wall of Los Angeles, a mural that provides 2,435 running feet of art. To create the Great Wall, more than 400 young people, ages 14 to 21, worked for seven summers, from 1976 to 1984. Baca described on her website how she “coordinated the efforts of scholars, oral historians, local artists, and hundreds of community members to create one of the nation’s most acclaimed monumental cultural projects dealing with interracial relations.” Baca conceived the Great Wall as a tribute to California. At more than 13 feet in height and nearly half a mile in length, the Great Wall tells the story of Los Angeles’s history from Neolithic times through the end of the 1950s. The wall also captures the ethnic diversity of the many groups that shaped California’s history, and thus, it narrates a story that is less well known than the stories of the gold rush era with which so many people associate California’s chronicle. In an essay that she wrote for Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, Baca told of the destruction of many of the old ethnic neighborhoods and landmarks as Los Angeles began to sprawl to meet population demands. In particular, Baca noted the concreting of the entire Los Angeles River, upon whose banks the city was originally founded. The site of all this concrete provided Baca with the site for her Great Wall: “Just as young Chicanos tattoo battle scars on their bodies, the Great Wall of Los Angeles is a tattoo on a scar where the river once ran. In it reappears the disappeared stories of ethnic populations that make up the labor force
Baca • 23 which built our city, state, and nation.” From these words, it is clear that Baca used her mural as a way to resurrect what the city was destroying in its everlasting expanse of cement—the city’s diverse ethnic and cultural history.
Times that they were planning another mural, “a mosaic of children’s images to be placed, they hope, on a future Israeli-Palestinian border.” Although the mural could not create peace, it might at least lead to a new dialogue and the promise of a future peace.
While still working on the Great Wall, Baca founded the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in 1976. Although located in Venice, California, SPARC has maintained a website that has provided extensive information about Baca’s commitment to public art. The creation of the website has helped to bring Baca’s work to both a national and an international audience, which further emphasized the value of her mural projects to an audience that extended beyond Los Angeles. For instance, the work on the Great Wall established the importance of working with diverse ethnic and social groups to create public art, and as such, it was an idea that could be applied to a more global project. This experience, which led to the creation of SPARC, then led to Baca’s plan in 1987 for the creation of a World Wall: A Vision of the Future Without Fear. Baca was inspired to undertake this huge project after reading Jonathan Schell’s, Fate of the Earth.
In addition to the work on the Great Wall, Baca has also been involved in several other mural projects. In 1988 the mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley, asked Baca to develop a mural program similar to that used in developing the Great Wall of Los Angeles. The result was a program called, Great Walls Unlimited: Neighborhood Pride, which included ninety new murals and involved nearly every ethnic group in Los Angeles.
The themes of the World Wall included global interdependence, peace, and an end to racial hatred. Unlike the Great Wall of Los Angeles, which was a permanent part of the Los Angeles landscape, the World Wall was a portable mural, consisting of seven 10-by30-foot panels, arranged in a 100-foot semicircle. The advantage of this portability was inherent in its themes—a mural that was global in nature must reach a global audience. As the World Wall traveled around the globe, new sections were added by artists in each of the countries it visited.
World Wall Established in Jerusalem One example of the effect of the World Wall was noted when it traveled to Jerusalem. The artists for this new section included an Israeli Jew, an Israeli Arab, and a Palestinian. A report in the New York Times related how, even though the artists worked well together, the many years of conflict could not be breached, especially between the Israeli Jew and the Palestinian. The Israeli Arab, Ahmed Bweerat, told the reporter that “throughout the work on the mural, I felt my role was as a go-between, to lower the fires on both sides.” Yet in spite of a mediator, the completion of this panel of the mural did not bring the hoped-for peaceful resolution to its artists. At its completion and at its first showing, the artists were bitterly divided about how each had represented his people. Yet in spite of these problems, Baca’s goals for the World Wall might actually have had a positive result. At the conclusion of the interview, the three artists told the New York
Baca has also been involved in creating several other murals. In 1996 Baca created a nine-foot by 23-foot mural at the University of Southern California. Titled, La Memoria De Nuestra Tierra (Our Land Has Memory), this mural depicted the role of the land in the historical memory of the inhabitants. In addition to this work, Baca had several other projects in progress. In Durango, Colorado, and with the use of the Internet, Baca has helped to design another mural with the same name and theme, with the Southern Ute and the Chicano youth of Durango. The Durango mural, which will be placed on the side of a building, will be constructed of enamel tiles and will cover an area 20-feet by 35-feet. Also in Colorado, a fifty foot digital mural, again called La Memoria De Nuestra Tierra was created in 2000 for the central terminal of the Denver International Airport. The purpose of the airport mural was to depict the historical stratigraphy of the area. Back in California, Baca created a tile mural on the Venice Boardwalk in 2001. The Venice mural consisted of 15 tile murals that depicted the history of the area. In a project that began in 2002, Baca has once again returned to The Great Wall of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, after nearly twenty years of neglect and exposure to smog, sun, rain, and floods, The Great Wall was in a serious state of disrepair. With paint chipping and peeling, the mural needed restoration. The New York Times, quoted Baca as saying that the large scale of murals are about “making it the voice of people who were excluded from history.” With that voice in need of repair, Baca set out to help raise some of the projected $500,000 needed to restore the mural. In addition to the repairs, Baca has planned to add another forty years of history to the wall, which would bring the history of the wall to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Since 1980 Baca has been a professor of fine arts at the University of California. She has concurrently held two academic appointments as vice chair of UCLA’s Cesar Chavez Center and as professor of art for world arts and cultures at UCLA since 1996.
24 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Selected works
The World Wall: A Vision of the Future Without Fear, a portable exhibition, on-going.
Writings “Whose Monument Where? Public Art in a ManyCultured Society,” Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, edited by Suzanne Lacy, Bay Press, 1995. Murals Danzas Indigenas (Indigenous Dance), Baldwin Park Metrolink Commuter Rail Station, 1993. La Memoria De Nuestra Tierra (Our Land Has Memory), University of Southern California, 1996. La Memoria De Nuestra Tierra (Our Land Has Memory), Denver International Airport, 2000. 15 Digital Tile Murals, Venice, California Boardwalk, 2001. La Memoria De Nuestra Tierra (Our Land Has Memory), Durango Mural Project, Durango, Colorado, in progress. The Great Wall of Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley Tujunga Wash, a flood control channel, begun in 1976 and still in progress.
Sources Books Lacy, Suzanne, editor, Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, Bay Press, 1995. Telgen, Diane, and Jim Kamp, Latinas: Women of Achievement, Visible Ink Press, 1996, pp. 25-30. Periodicals The New York Times, May 26, 2002, pp. 29, 34. On-line www.judybaca.com www.nytimes.com/library/world/04898israeli-mural .html www.sparcmurals.org www.sscnet.ucla.edu/chavez/jb_bio.html —Sheri Elaine Metzger
Baca Zinn • 25
Maxine Baca Zinn 1942— Sociologist
Sociologist Maxine Baca Zinn has been pivotal in incorporating the experiences of Hispanics into mainstream sociological thought. She has become a leading expert in the fields of family, gender, and ethnicity. Part of an elite group of female sociologists, Baca Zinn has changed the face of feminism by introducing the experiences of women of color to conventional perspectives on gender. She has dedicated her career to building a Latina feminism and has published extensively on the subject. In addition to her research, Baca Zinn has also been recognized for her contributions to teaching and to professional organizations.
was not really the case. In particular, some of the children refused to play with her or treated her differently. She was told that this was because of “her culture” but she did not really understand what that meant. In addition, she was trapped academically in “Mexican” classes where the educational expectations were lower than those of the white students. These early experiences of discrimination shaped Baca Zinn’s later career choices as she sought to reveal the false images of pluralism and expose Americans to the real experiences of Hispanics.
Maxine Baca Zinn was born on June 11, 1942, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her mother, Louise Duran Baca, was a first generation college student who earned a bachelor of arts degree and worked as a schoolteacher. Her father, Presente Baca, attended college for two years and then worked for the federal government. Baca Zinn has three siblings, all of whom earned college degrees. Santa Fe was a pluralistic society composed of Anglos, Native Americans, and Hispanics. The city gave the impression that these very different ethnic groups lived in harmony. When Baca Zinn began attending grade school she learned that this
Educational Experiences Baca Zinn played the clarinet as a child and earned a band scholarship to attend Texas Western College (which later became the University of Texas at El Paso). Baca Zinn thought she would escape the discrimination she felt in Santa Fe, but instead it was even more intensified in El Paso. Baca Zinn tried to participate in college activities, but was left out because of her ethnic heritage. In particular, she participated in the rush activities of several sororities but was very disappointed that she did not get an invitation to actually join one. A
26 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Maxine Baca on June 11, 1942, in Santa Fe,
New Mexico; married, Alan Zinn; children: one
son. Education: California State College, B.A., 1966; Univ. of NM, M.A., 1970; Univ. of OR, Ph.D., 1978. Career: Univ. of NM, instructor, New Careers Program, 1969-71, instr of Sociology, 1970-71; Univ. of MI at Flint, instr of Sociology and Chicano Studies, 1975-78, asst prof. of Sociology, 1978-80, assoc. prof. of Sociology, 1980-86, program faculty for the Master of Liberal Studies in American Culture, 1978-90, prof. of Sociology, 1986-90; Univ. of MI, faculty assoc., Survey Research Center, 1979-81; Memphis State Univ., visiting scholar, Center for Research on Women, 1984;, Univ. of CA at Berkeley, visiting prof. of Sociology 1986; Memphis State Univ., research prof. in residence, Center for Research on Women, 1987;Univ. of DE, distinguished visiting prof. in Women’s Studies, 1988-89; Univ. of CT, guest prof. of Sociology, 1988; Radcliffe College, visiting scholar, Henry A. Murray Research Center, 1997; MI State Univ., senior research assoc., Julian Samora Research Institute, 1990−, prof. of sociology, 1990–. Memberships: American Sociological Assn; Natl Chi-
After her second year of college Baca Zinn married her high school sweetheart, Alan Zinn. Her husband was an art student in Los Angeles, so Baca Zinn left El Paso and transferred to California State College (now California State University) in Long Beach. During her third year of college, Baca Zinn gave birth to their son, Prentice. In order to manage her family life and education at the same time, she and her husband divided their household responsibilities, and Baca Zinn continued going to college part-time. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in sociology in 1966. While her husband was still in school, Baca Zinn took a job as a fourth grade teacher in a Catholic school for two years. In 1968 the young family moved back to New Mexico so that Baca Zinn could pursue a master’s degree in sociology. She was not sure of the career path that she wanted to take, but she was interested enough in the subject matter to want to continue her studies. “I didn’t understand the maze of academia,” Baca Zinn told Contemporary Hispanic Biography (CHB). However, she knew that a master’s degree was the next step for her. Baca Zinn received a fellowship to study at the University of New Mexico. Her time studying there was “one of the most positive experiences I’ve ever had,” she told CHB. The social climate of the United States in the late 1960s was one of activism and Baca Zinn joined the movement in full force. At the University of New Mexico she learned to blend the progressive social movements of the time with progressive scholarship.
Determined to Set the Record Straight
cano Council on Higher Education; Midwest Sociological Assn; Sociologists for Women in Society; Society for the Study of Social Problems; Text and Academic Authors Assn; Western Social Science Assn. Awards: Faculty Achievement Awd for Scholarly Achievement, Univ. of MI Flint, 1983; Distinguished Faculty Award, MI Assn of Governing Bds, 1983; Academic Women’s Caucus Sarah Goddard Power Award, Univ. of MI Ann Arbor, 1988; Outstanding Alumnus Award, Dept. of Sociology, Univ. of NM, 1993; Meyers Center Book Award for the Study of Human Rights in North America, 1997; Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship and Research Awd, American Sociological Assn, 2000; Jessie Bernard Career Award, American Sociological Assn, 2000. Addresses: Office— Dept. of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824-1111.
school administrator later told her very bluntly that Mexicans were simply not accepted into sororities.
Baca Zinn became interested in sociology because this discipline gave her the intellectual tools to understand the ethnic discrimination that she had become aware of as a child. She was determined to expose the myths of pluralism and integration and to explain what life was really like for Hispanics. As she told CHB, her goal in studying sociology was “to attempt to set the record straight about ‘Spanish Americans,’” as Hispanics were called at that time. She was painfully aware in her sociology classes that her professors were not able to describe social life as she experienced it because they were predominantly white males. “There was very little consideration of the history of my people in the curriculum,” Baca Zinn told CHB. “I couldn’t relate to the descriptions of Hispanics that were being taught.” In an effort to address this problem, Baca Zinn wrote her master’s thesis on the study of power in a local urban barrio. She also introduced the first Chicano studies course at the University of New Mexico, which allowed her to expose many of the myths surrounding Hispanics. The course was well received at that time, and “Sociology of the Barrio” became a regular course at the University of New Mexico. Baca Zinn earned a master of arts degree in sociology in 1970 and decided to pursue her doctorate. Since the
Baca Zinn • 27 University of New Mexico did not have a doctoral program, Baca Zinn went to the University of Oregon on a fellowship. She once again found an academic environment that encouraged progressive thought, and she was encouraged to continue her work on Latinos. At this time feminist sociology was also becoming more popular, and Baca Zinn incorporated this line of thinking into her work on Hispanics. Her dissertation was an ethnographic study of eight Mexican-American families in New Mexico, focusing on marital power in changing Chicano families. In 1973 she received a dissertation fellowship from the Ford Foundation to support her work.
Challenged Mainstream Sociology Baca Zinn’s early work was considered “oppositional scholarship” because she challenged mainstream views about ethnic minorities. For example, one of her early published articles challenged the stereotype that Chicana women were passive and submissive. Instead, she showed examples of how powerful the role of a woman could be within the Chicano family structure. However, when Baca Zinn began to study feminism and racism together, she recognized the need for a completely different explanation of social relations. In the early 1980s Baca Zinn received an offer to join a budding research consortium, an offer that would change the shape of her academic career. Some women academics from Memphis State decided to build a research network on women of color, and they invited ten women researchers from across the country, including Baca Zinn, to a meeting on the subject. The goal of the group, Baca Zinn told CHB, was to “change feminist firmament.” This group of researchers recognized the need to inform feminism with research based on women of color. It was the first time that Baca Zinn had found a group of women studying both race and gender. The group consisted of such notable academics as Patricia Hill Collins, Bonnie Thornton Dill, and Lynn Weber, who would become the “foremothers of multiracial feminism.” This experience changed the way Baca Zinn thought about race, gender, and class issues, and she began to look at the ways in which these elements intersected social relations. She and her colleagues began to challenge traditional feminist views in which the experiences of white women set the standard, and instead worked on developing a Latina feminism, which builds from the experiences of Latinas. “In women’s studies, I think Latinas have been upsetting the apple cart,” Baca Zinn told the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, because their experiences have not fit into conventional feminist thought. In 1994 Baca Zinn co-edited a book with Bonnie Thornton Dill called Women of Color in U.S. Society, which challenged mainstream feminism with perspectives from women of color.
An Inspirational Teacher Baca Zinn got her first teaching job in 1975 at the University of Michigan at Flint. She was excited about this position because she was a part of both sociology and Chicano studies programs. In 1978 she completed her Ph.D. and continued working at Flint for the next fifteen years. This was primarily a teaching position, although Baca Zinn also continued her research on Hispanic families. She earned a reputation as an inspirational teacher and was recognized for this accomplishment with the Faculty Special Merit Award in 1975, the Faculty Achievement Award for Scholarly or Creative Achievement in 1982, and the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Michigan Association of Governing Boards in 1983. In addition to teaching, Baca Zinn published several articles derived from her dissertation and also worked on a large Chicano survey conducted at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Baca Zinn was able to combine her research interests and passion for teaching into a series of sociology textbooks. She believed that this was the best way to incorporate diversity into the sociological curriculum. Together with D. Stanley Eitzen, Baca Zinn has coauthored three textbooks: Social Problems, In Conflict and Order Understanding Society, and Diversity in Families, all of which have been published in multiple editions. As Baca Zinn was quoted in Liberation Sociology, “Textbooks need not be limited to the synthesis of dominant perspectives. Instead, texts have possibilities for constructing and transmitting liberatory knowledge.”
Became a Leading Expert in Her Field Baca Zinn has been very active in professional associations. She was elected to the council of the Western Social Science Association and then elected its president in 1985. She was the first Latino president of a regional professional association. From 1988 to 1991 she served on the board of directors for the Society for the Study of Social Problems. She has been an active member of the American Sociological Association, serving on the organization’s council from 1992 to 1995. She has served on the executive council of the Sociology of the Family Section and the Sex and Gender Section of the American Sociological Association. Because of her numerous publications as well as her other professional activities, Baca Zinn soon became recognized as an expert in her field. This led to invitations for visiting professorships by several prominent universities, including the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Connecticut, the Center for Research on Women at the University of Memphis, the Henry A. Murray Research Center at Radcliffe College, and the University of Delaware. She received
28 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 a permanent job offer from the University of Delaware, but before she was able to accept this position she was invited to visit Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan. Baca Zinn was impressed with the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State, which was the first research institute on Latinos located in the Midwest, and she decided to accept a permanent position there as a senior research associate. Baca Zinn also received a joint position with the sociology department. In addition to her research, Baca Zinn continued to teach. She taught fewer undergraduate courses than she did at the University of Michigan at Flint, but supervised more doctoral students. In 2000 the American Sociological Association recognized the work of Baca Zinn by giving her the Jessie Bernard Award for recognition of scholarly work that encompasses the role of women in society. “Her work on the intersection of race, class, and gender placed Professor Baca Zinn at the cutting edge of the discipline,” wrote the American Sociological Association when announcing its selection. Baca Zinn planned to continue her work on multicultural feminism and she sees her work becoming more theoretical. Her goal was to map out a structural inequality model of family life and write a definitive book on the subject that will incorporate the experiences of both white families and families of color.
Selected writings Books (Editor, with D. Stanley Eitzen) The Reshaping of America: Social Consequences of the Changing Economy, Prentice-Hall, 1989. (Editor, with Bonnie Thornton Dill) Women of Color in U.S. Society, Temple University Press, 1994. (Editor, with Esther Ngan Ling-Chow and Doris Wilkinson) Race, Class, and Gender: Common Bonds, Different Voices, Sage Publications, 1996. (Editor, with Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Michael A. Messner) Gender Through the Prism of Difference, 2nd edition, Allyn and Bacon, 2000. (With D. Stanley Eitzen) Social Problems, 8th edition, Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
(With D. Stanley Eitzen) In Conflict and Order, Understanding Society, 9th edition, Allyn and Bacon, 2001. (With D. Stanley Eitzen) Diversity in Families, 2nd edition, Allyn and Bacon, 2002. Periodicals American Sociologist, Summer 1993. Des Colores, Journal of Emerging Raza Philosophies, Winter 1975. Feminist Studies, Summer 1996. Gender and Society, March 1990. Harvard Educational Review, February 1980. Journal of Ethnic Studies, Summer 1982. Latino Studies Journal, January 1995. Michigan Family Review, Winter 1997. Michigan Sociological Review, Fall 1992. Pacific Sociological Review, April 1981. Sage Race Relations Abstracts, August 1984; 1999. Signs, Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Summer 1989. Teaching Sociology, April 1988, October 2000.
Sources Books Feagin, Joe R., and Hernán ,Vera, editors, Liberation Sociology, Westview Press, 2002. Telgin, Diane, and Jim Camp, editors, Latina: Women of Achievement, Visible Ink Press, 1996. Periodicals Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, February 27, 1998. USA Today, January 2001. Other Additional information for this profile was obtained from the American Sociological Association, 2002 Major Award Winners Announcement, and from a personal interview with Contemporary Hispanic Biography, May 20, 2002. —Janet P. Stamatel
Baez • 29
Joan Baez 1941— Singer, songwriter, activist
She began her career as a talented singer-songwriter, but Joan Baez became an icon of the 1960s civil-rights movement, and the “Queen of Folk Music.” Young, sincere, and talented, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine, launching her as a significant folk singer. Baez became one of the leading voices of social consciousness and the civil and human rights struggle of the 1960s and 1970s. Her singing the anthemic “We Shall Overcome” at concerts and protests virtually defined the era. Throughout her career, her commercial success has been greatly eclipsed by her political activism, though she released some of her most commercial music, “The Night They Drove Dixie Down” and Diamonds and Rust, in the early 1970s. Baez, the second of three daughters of Albert, a Mexican-American physicist, and Joan (Bridge) Baez, a Scottish drama teacher, was born on January 9, 1941, in Staten Island, New York, and raised in various parts of California and New York. She was a talented artist from an early age, drawing her family members and images of their travels, as well as popular Disney characters. Her father, a pacifist, struggled with his conscience as he tried to reconcile his work for de-
fense—for which he was well paid—with the implications of it. He eventually took a job with UNESCO, to teach and build a physics lab at the University of Baghdad. Recalling the violent and impoverished city of Baghdad, Baez speculated that this may be where her passion for social justice was born. Back in high school in Northern California, Baez was a sensitive and politically aware misfit in a school dominated by football players and cheerleaders. She also stood out for her skin color, a warm brown in a sea of white faces—even her sisters had fair complexions. Though she sang in her school choir, it was rejection from the girls’ glee club that moved Baez to improve her singing voice. While also studying the ukulele—country and R&B tunes were her favorites—it took her one summer of singing in the shower to achieve the “mature” voice she was after.
Met Martin Luther King, Jr. As her confidence grew, Baez began performing impromptu concerts in her school lunchroom, and her social standing changed from self-conscious outsider to popular entertainer. It was also during this era that she
30 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Joan Chandos Baez January 9, 1941, in
Staten Island, NY; married David Harris, 1968
(divorced 1972); children: Gabriel. Career: Singer, songwriter, activist, 1956-. Performed at the Newport Folk Festival, released first album, Joan Baez, on Vanguard, 1960; first three Vanguard releases certified gold-status for record sales, 1966; published memoir Daybreak, 1968, Memberships: Founder, Institute For The Study Of Nonviolence, 1965; founder and president, Humanitas International Human Rights Committee, 1979-92; National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS); National Academy of Popular Music; National Academy of Songwriters. Awards: Eight albums certified gold for record sales; one gold single; nominated for six Grammy awards; BAMMY (San Francisco Bay Area) Awards, 1978, 1979, 1996; two honorary doctorate degrees, 1980; Move For Vietnam Peace Award, Chicago Business Executives, 1971; Thomas Merton Award, 1976; Public Service Award, Third Annual Rock Music Awards, 1977; Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award, ACLU, 1979; Jefferson Award, American Institute of Public Service, 1980; Lennon Peace Tribute Award, 1982; Americans For Democratic Action Award, 1982; SANE Education Fund
Peace
Award,
1983;
Chevalier,
Legion
d’Honneur, France, 1983; Best Live Album, Academy Charles Cros, France, 1983; Leadership Award, ACLU of Southern California, 1989; Death Penalty Focus of California Award, 1992; Award of Achievement, The Gleitsman Foundation, 1994; Golden Achievement Award, WXPN-FM Radio, Philadelphia, 1996. Addresses: Office—Diamonds and Rust Productions, P.O. Box 1026, Menlo Park, CA 94026.
attended a three-day conference on world issues with the American Friends Service Committee, the Quakers’ social-action wing. She was inspired in a way she never had been, and soon found herself speaking forcefully before groups and being regarded as a leader. The conference’s main speaker was a 27- year-old black preacher named Martin Luther King, Jr. Baez
was exhilarated by King and his speech, which gave her a sense that she was “going somewhere” with her pacifism, she wrote in her autobiography, And a Voice to Sing With. The two would remain close and often protested together in the struggle for civil rights. It was also through the Quakers that she met Ira Sandperl, who would become her friend and political and spiritual mentor for the next few decades. Through high school Baez became more politically active. Her boycott of a school air-raid drill—on the grounds that it was false and misleading—landed her on the front page of the local paper and pleased her parents. She also traded in her ukulele for a guitar, and discovered Harry Belafonte and folk singers Pete Seeger and Odetta. As she performed more frequently— for friends and family, at school functions, in smoky dives, even out of town—she began to become nauseous and overwhelmed by stage fright that would stay with her throughout her career, though it only once kept her from the stage. After high school, the Baez family moved to Boston, where Joan attended Boston University’s School of Drama. She abandoned Boston University after one failed semester, and began her life as a troubadour, singing serious songs in the coffee houses around Harvard Square. Most notably, she drew a loyal following to Club 47. Her sister, Mimi, often took the stage with her, as she would for years to come. Baez performed barefoot and wearing knit tops from Latin America or India, and this was before the peasanthippie look of the 1960s had become fashionable. She was first “discovered” by Time magazine at the Newport Folk Festival when she was 18. Though she received an offer from Columbia Records, she opted for the classical Vanguard label, which was less intimidating to a nervous teen-aged newcomer.
Famous Songstress Gave Way to Impassioned Activist Baez’s self-titled debut album was released just as she left the East Coast—and her blossoming career there—to follow her parents to California. She was amazed as it rose to number three on the top 100 best-selling albums in the country. She ping-ponged back and forth from the East to West Coast to play sold-out concerts, and developed her reputation as an artist of strong moral conscience who was not interested in making commercial music. When Coca-Cola offered her $50,000 to appear in an ad, she declined on the principle that she did not even drink Coke. Her existence as a rebellious, anti-establishment young woman whose career was thriving almost totally out of context of the commercial music industry elevated her to the level of counterculture heroine. Her albums of the 1960s were highly influential. During this period, she was also battling the nervousness, anxiety, and self-described “demons” that had plagued her since her youth, visiting her psychiatrist up to four times a week.
Baez • 31 Soon after its release, Baez’s second album, Joan Baez, vol. 2, was doing better than her first. She toured often, and met a folk singer named Bob Dylan in 1961. She fell in love with him and the two performed together over the next few years, until the relationship dissolved. Baez has credited Dylan for moving her “out of the ethereal but archaic ballads of yore and into the contemporary music scene of the 1960s,” she wrote in her autobiography. Though she has been known to bristle when Dylan comes up in interviews, the two reunited onstage in 1975 for Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour, and she appeared in his 1978 feature film, Reynaldo and Clara. By 1963 Baez was drawing crowds of up to ten and twenty thousand, and had added songs of the civil-rights movement to her repertoire, including “Amazing Grace,” “Swing Low,” “Oh, Freedom,” and “We Shall Overcome.” She headlined her first Newport Folk Festival in 1963. Her final all-acoustic record, Joan Baez 5, was released the next year. It produced the Grammy-nominated single “There But for Fortune.” Her first three Vanguard recordings were certified gold in 1966. She published Daybreak, a memoir, in 1968.
a number of Baez’s own songs. Though her popularity had gotten to a point where she “could sing whatever the hell I pleased, put it out with a homegrown picture on the cover, and have it make it to the charts,” she wrote in And a Voice to Sing With, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” a single released in 1971 was her first big hit, earning gold-record status for sales. Parts of her highly political album Where Are You Now, My Son?, released in 1973, were recorded in North Vietnam. Baez herself edited 15 tapes, wrote one entire side of the album, played the piano, and sequenced recordings of bomb raids with her music. Where Are You Now, My Son? was the singer’s final recording for the Vanguard label, and she switched to the larger A&M label, which she felt could better accommodate her needs. In 1974, in reaction to the coup in Chile and the assassination of Socialist president Salvador Allende, Baez released an album recorded in Spanish. Gracias a la Vida (Here’s to Life), was intended as a message of hope for the people suffering under Pinochet. She began her affiliation with the human-rights organization Amnesty International in 1972.
As she became more successful, Baez began to realize that she could use her stardom to further her political beliefs. As she became increasingly politically active, Baez’s career as a popular folk singer took a backseat to her activism. In 1964 she began a ten-year battle with the I.R.S., refusing to pay 60 percent of her taxes, the amount determined to be used for military purposes. After performing for President Lyndon Johnson, she urged him to withdraw troops from Vietnam. She was threatened during civil-rights protests with Martin Luther King, Jr., but her presence often drew the news media, which prevented any actual violence. She was jailed twice for her support of the anti-draft movement. In 1965 Baez founded the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence near her home in Carmel, California. Scholars, speakers, and activists visited the institute, and students came to learn about world affairs and the pacifist movement. During the mid-to-late 1960s, Baez embarked on her first tours of Europe and Japan. She was denied permission to perform at Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall for her anti-war activities in 1967, only to respond by playing instead a free concert at the foot of the Washington Monument to a crowd of 30,000. Her albums would later be banned from sale at Army PXs for the same reason. Baez met peace activist David Harris during another brief stint in jail for supporting the anti-draft movement. He was incarcerated for his activism, as well. The two married in 1968—it was called “The Marriage of the Century” by Time magazine— and had one child, Gabriel, but divorced in 1972.
As Americans tried to put Vietnam behind them and try to feel good about life once again, there was less and less room for a socially conscious folk singer like Baez in mainstream culture. Baez committed herself further to protests against human-rights violations. She founded Humanitas International, a human-rights group, in 1979, and convinced President Jimmy Carter to respond to the plight of Cambodian refugees. She headed Humanitas until the organization ceased operation in 1992. She was met with bomb threats on a 1981 fact-finding tour of Latin America, where she was forbidden to perform publicly. She later met with U.S. government officials in Washington, D.C. to discuss the state of human rights in South America. In addition to countless solo performances around the world on behalf of the human-rights movement, she toured to support Amnesty International. She also was involved in the 2000 Honor the Earth Tour organized by the Indigo Girls. Baez has earned numerous awards and honorary doctorates for her efforts and influence in the struggle for global human rights.
Baez took the stage at Woodstock in the middle of the night, becoming part of history. Vanguard released a retrospective double-album in 1970 called The First Ten Years, and she headed back into the studio in 1971 to record Blessed Areѧ, the first album to feature
Made Music for Music’s Sake In 1975 Baez recorded an album that was decidedly non-political. For the first time, she devoted herself to the music “for the sake of the music alone,” she wrote in And a Voice to Sing With. Also for the first time, she “relaxed” and compromised with producers about what “would sell” and what would not. She even conceded to include an “up” song on the album, a break from her tradition of very serious songs. The result was Diamonds and Rust, which Baez wrote “in many ways ѧ is the best album I’ve ever made.” It eventually achieved gold status for record sales. Later that same year, she appeared at The War is Over! Rally in New York City’s Central Park. About this time Baez began having
32 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 trouble with her voice, which she ignored. Once known as an “achingly pure soprano,” her tone was deepening. 1976’s Gulf Winds was the first album written entirely by Baez. It was her last recording for A&M before making the move to an upstart record label called Portrait. Her first recording for Portrait, Blowin’ Away, was released in 1977, but fell relatively flat, as did 1979’s Honest Lullaby. It was during this time that Baez began to consider that her peacenik virtuosity might no longer be relevant in American culture. The hippies of the 1960s gave way to the activists of the 1970s, but for Baez, things really changed in the 1980s. No longer timely in the United States, Baez found a new audience among young, socially conscious Europeans, whom she dubbed “The Children of the Eighties” in song. She performed for these “children” at the Live Aid concert in 1985. In 1989 she strayed out of her range and released a pop record, Speaking of Dreams, on which she sang Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” in Spanish, and which featured guest appearances by Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, and the Gypsy Kings. In the 1990s she resumed her life as a folk singer, and toured regularly. Baez’s 1992 album, Play Me Backwards, put her squarely back with her folk roots. It was released to critical and commercial acclaim, and was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. She released her follow up, Gone From Danger, in 1997. Interestingly, the album was written by songwriters who credited Baez as a major influence in their artistic careers. Baez reinterpreted the songs of such singer-songwriters as Dar Williams, Mary ChapinCarpenter, the Indigo Girls, and Tish Hinojosa. These artists had previously joined Baez onstage at the Bottom Line nightclub in New York City for a series of shows that were recorded and later released as the live Ring Them Bells album, in 1995. Baez’s sister Mimi, Janis Ian, and Kate and Anna McGarrigle also appear on this recording.
Selected recordings
One Day at a Time, Vanguard, 1970. Sacco and Vanzetti (Original Soundtrack), RCA Victor, 1971. Blessed Areѧ, Vanguard, 1971. Carry It OnVanguard, 1971. Come from the Shadows, A&M, 1972. Joan Baez Ballad Book, Vanguard, 1972. Where Are You Now, My Son?, A&M, 1973. Gracias a La Vida (Here’s to Life), A&M, 1974. Live in Japan, Vanguard, 1975. Diamonds and Rust, A&M, 1975. The Lovesong Album, Vanguard, 1975. Gulf Winds, A&M, 1976. From Every Stage (live), A&M, 1976. Joan Baez in Concert (live)Vanguard, 1976. Blowin’ Away, Epic, 1977. House of the Rising Sun, Musidisc, 1978. The Joan Baez Country Music Album, Vanguard, 1979. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Vanguard, 1979. Honest Lullaby, Portrait, 1979. Live in Concert: European Tour, Portrait, 1980. Live in Europe ’83: Children of the Eighties, Ariola, 1983. The Contemporary Ballad Book, Vanguard, 1987. Recently, Gold Castle, 1988. Speaking of Dreams, Capitol, 1989. Diamonds and Rust in the Bullring (live), Gold Castle, 1989. Ballad Book, Vol. 2, Vanguard, 1990. Brothers in Arms, Capitol, 1991. Play Me Backwards, Virgin, 1992. Ring Them Bells (live), Grapevine, 1995. Live at Newport, Vanguard, 1996. Gone from Danger,Capitol, 1997. Joan Baez (Expanded), Vanguard, 2001. Joan Baez, Vol. 2 (Expanded), Vanguard, 2001. Dreams, Gold Castle.
Sources Books
Folksingers ‘Round Harvard Square, Veritas, 1959. Joan Baez, Vanguard, 1960. Joan Baez, Vol. 2, Vanguard, 1961. Joan Baez in Concert, Pt. 2 (Bonus Tracks) (live), Vanguard, 1963. Joan Baez in Concert, Pt. 1 (Bonus Tracks) (live), Vanguard, 1963. Joan Baez in Concert, Pt. 1 (live), Vanguard, 1963. Joan Baez in Concert, Pt. 2 (live), Vanguard, 1963. Joan Baez 5, Vanguard, 1964. Farewell, Angelina, Vanguard, 1965. Noël, Vanguard, 1966. Joan, Vanguard, 1967. Any Day Now, Vanguard, 1968. Baptism, Vanguard, 1968. David’s Album,Vanguard, 1969. In Concert 2 (live), Vanguard, 1970.
Baez, Joan, And A Voice to Sing With, Summit Books, 1987. George-Warren, Holly, and Romanowski, Patricia, editors, Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Rolling Stone Press, 2001. Larkin, Colin, editor, Encyclopedia of Popular Music, MUZE UK Ltd., 1998. Periodicals Boston Herald, February 19, 2002, p. 35. Denver Post, November 3, 2000, p. E15. New York Times, April 9, 2002, p. E1. San Francisco Chronicle, July 1, 2001, p. 50; October 12, 2001, p. C6. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 1, 2000, p. B3.
Baez • 33 Star Ledger (Newark, New Jersey), October 22, 2000, p. 8. Washington Times, March 9, 2002, p. D4. On-line The Joan Baez Web Pages, http://baez.woz.org (June 10, 2002). —Brenna Sanchez
34 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Ray Barretto 1929— Musician
Ray Barretto has explored and expanded the possibilities of Afro-Cuban Jazz for more than five decades. In the 1950s he introduced the conga drums to bebop, and during the 1960s he spread the sounds of salsa while keeping a busy schedule as a session player. In the 1970s he began experimenting with fusion, and during the 1980s he successfully straddled the worlds of Latin music and jazz. John Storm Roberts in Latin Jazz commented, “Ray Barretto is not an avant-gardist but an experienced and intelligent musician with excellent tastes on both sides of the aisle, and a particular talent for picking young players.” When Barretto began to feel that his music was growing stagnant in the early 1990s, he formed the adventurous New World Spirit. “Known for impeccable swing and a hard-hitting conga style,” wrote Jesse Varela in Latin Beat Magazine, “Baretto is one of Latin music’s most distinguished bandleaders. From salsa to Latin jazz, he has graced stages around the world and worked with a ‘who’s who’ in both worlds.” Barretto was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Spanish Harlem. Early in his life he was drawn to Latin and big band music. During the day his mother played her Puerto Rican records, and at night, when his
mother was attending classes, he listened to jazz. He fell in love with the swinging sounds of Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Harry James coming over the radio, and later recalled to Harvey Pekar in the Austin Chronicle, “It helped me survive spiritually.” To escape the poverty of Spanish Harlem, Barretto joined the army at age 17 and was stationed in Germany. There he heard Latin rhythms and jazz merge together for the first time, in the music of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca.” Gillespie’s secret ingredient was Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo. “That song blew my mind,” Barretto told Pekar. “It was the basis of my inspiration to become a professional musician.”
Became a Conguero When Barretto finished his stint in the army in 1949, he returned to New York. He bought conga drums and began to sit in on jam sessions with other musicians and perform at clubs like the Bucket of Blood. Barretto told National Public Radio, “What I did as a player was develop a style that suited jazz players [and] that worked in a straight ahead swing context.” He received his first steady job with Eddie Bonnemer’s Latin Jazz Combo,
Barretto • 35
Ventured Into New Directions At a Glance . . .
B
orn Ray Barretto on April 29, 1929, in Brooklyn,
New York; son of Delores Barretto.
Career: Played with Tito Puente, 1957-61; signed with Riverside Records, 1961; worked as session player, 1960s; achieved chart success with “El Watusi,” 1963; joined Fania and recorded Acid, 1967; directed Fania All-Stars; teamed with Adalberto Santiago for Rican/ Struction, 1979; teamed with Celia Cruz and Adalberto Santiago for Tremendo Trio!, 1983; formed New World Spirit and signed with Concord, 1991; signed with Blue Note, mid-1990s. Awards: Best Conga Player, Latin NY magazine poll, 1975, 1976; Best Conga Player, Musician of the Year, Latin NY, 1977; Album of the Year, Musician of the Year, Best Conga Player, Latin NY, 1980; won ACE (The Hispanic Association of Entertainment Critics of New
In 1972 lead singer Adalberto Santiago and four other band members left the Fania All-Stars to form the successful Típica 73. Barretto responded to this crisis as though it was an opportunity. He recalled to Ed Morales in Newsday, “When they left, I made a record called The Other Road, in which I took advantage of not having a particularly Latin band at that time. We made our first attempts at playing jazz, and the record stands out as the Fania era’s most unique record. It had no vocals, it had nothing to do with dance music, and it incorporated a lot of jazz.” In the late 1970s Barretto experimented with fusion, but found less commercial success. He re-united with Santiago in 1979 and recorded a progressive salsa album titled Rican/Struction, which Latin NY named album of the year. He continued to record salsa albums throughout the 1980s, including a collaboration with Celia Cruz, Ritmo En El Corazón, which won a Grammy in 1990. In the 1990s, however, Barretto began to tire of salsa, and he expressed a desire to concentrate on jazz. He told Morales, “With all the changes in Latin music ѧ I thought a return to jazz would be a good thing for my life, my career and my sanity.”
York) Award for Salsa Album of the Year for Tremendo Trio!, 1983; Grammy with Celia Cruz for Ritmo En El
Formed New Band
Corazón, 1990; inducted into International Latin Hall of Fame, 1999. Addresses: Office—6407 Overbrook Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19151.
and then joined José Curbelo for two years. Barretto received his big break in 1957 when he replaced Mongo Santamaría in Tito Puente’s band. After sitting in with the band for only one night, he was invited to participate in the recording of Puente’s classic, Dance Mania. He remained with Puente for four years, and then played with Herbie Mann for four months. In 1961 Barretto formed a band and recorded his first effort as a leader for Orrin Keepnews at Riverside Records. He also recorded a single, “El Watusi,” that reached the Top 20 U.S. pop charts in 1963. Besides recording his own dates during the 1960s, Barretto also became a busy session musician, participating on dates with Kenny Burrell, Lou Donaldson, Freddie Hubbard, and many others. In 1967 he moved to Fania Records, where he would eventually direct the Fania All-Stars. He recorded Acid the same year, a landmark album that combined a number of styles. “Barretto gained major popularity among Latin audiences for the first time with Acid, which ingeniously blended Latin, jazz, and rhythm-and-blues ingredients,” noted Roberts in The Latin Tinge.
In 1992 Barretto formed a sextet called New World Spirit, “which made some absorbingly unpredictable albums,” wrote Richard Ginell in All Music Guide. “There was also a remarkable power and tightness about the band, and a freshness about almost all the arrangements,” noted Roberts in Latin Jazz. New World Spirit recorded Handprints (1991), Ancestrial Messages (1993), and Taboo (1994) for Concord Picante, before switching to Blue Note for Contact (1997). Reviewing Contact for Latin Beat Magazine, Rico Raúl noted, “Each member of New World Spirit is a strong player, taking articulate, intelligent solos, and tunes like ‘Caravan,’ ‘Poinciana,’ and ‘Serenata’ are beautifully interpreted.” Barretto’s willingness to experiment has kept his music fresh for more than fifty years. “While Ray Barretto’s congas have graced more recording sessions than virtually any other conguero of his time,” noted Ginell, “he has also led some refreshingly progressive Latin jazz bands over the decades.” Besides jazz and Latin music, Barretto has also recorded with the Bee Gees, the Rolling Stones, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. Although his home base was in the United States, Barretto remained very popular in France and has toured Europe a number of times. In 1999 Barretto was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame. Pekar noted, “As a lifelong purveyor of AfroCuban jazz, Barretto has been a pivotal figure in the fusion of jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms, moving the musical hybrid toward the mainstream with his propulsive percussion work.”
36 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Selected discography Pachanga With Barretto, Riverside, 1961. Charanga Moderna, Tico, 1962. Acid, Fania, 1967. Together, Fania, 1969. The Other Road, Fania, 1973. Rican/Struction, Fania, 1979. Handprints, Concord, 1991. My Summertime, Owl; Blue Note, 1996. Contact!, Blue Note, 1998.
Sources Books Roberts, John Storm, Latin Jazz: The First of the Fusions, 1880 to Today, Schirmer Books, 1999.
Roberts, John Storm, Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States, Oxford University, 1979; Original Music, 1985. Periodicals Latin Beat Magazine, March 1998, p. 41; September 2000. Newsday, February 24, 2002, p. D37. On-line All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com National Public Radio, http://www.npr.org/pro grams/jazzprofiles/archive/barretto.html Weekly Wire, http://www.weeklywire.com —Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
Bermúdez • 37
Carmen Bermúdez 1943— Financial services executive
Carmen Bermúdez is one of the highest-ranking Latina executives in the American financial-services industry. As founder and chief executive officer of Mission Management & Trust Co. in Tucson, Arizona, Bermúdez is considered a pioneer in the asset management sector, for hers was the first such company in the country to be owned by a minority woman. What makes Bermúdez’s success all the more impressive is her origins as a teen immigrant to the United States who had never even heard English spoken. What should have been her college years were spent working as a secretary. “One of the things that I want to be is an example to all of the minority people, men and women, so they don’t let the fact that they’re poor or have a lack of education mean that they can’t do anything,” she told Tucson Citizen writer Zack Thomas. Bermúdez was born in 1943, in San Jose, Costa Rica. She was one of two brothers and a sister in a family abandoned by their father. Her mother did not have a high school education, and, to support her four children, sought work in rural areas. Bermúdez’s early years were marked by poverty and hunger, and she and her siblings often fought each other for what little food
was in their house in Guapiles, which had neither electricity nor indoor plumbing. Bermúdez later reflected in an article for the EntreWorld website that “the hunger and hardships of my youth were a blessing,” She continued, “I was happy and didn’t know we were poor because our life was no different from that of families around us.” Bermúdez later spent four years as a bullfighter in Costa Rica and Mexico. An admitted tomboy who disliked the way the women in her community were treated by husbands and brothers, Bermúdez liked to battle the other local boys in a contest they called “Tarzan.” It involved diving from a rock into a shallow river, as well as climbing one tree and jumping into another tree without climbing back down. The contest even included riding calves at night, and Bermúdez held the “Tarzan” title for two years running. She also fearlessly teased the bulls that are traditionally kept on Costa Rican farms to guard livestock from mountain lions. This proved her mettle to both others and herself. As she told Palm Beach Post writer Amy Martinez. “The bull doesn’t know if you’re a man or a woman, and that’s how it should be in corporate America.”
38 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn in 1943, in San Jose, Costa Rica; married Tom
Feeney.
Career: Picked coffee beans in Costa Rica as a teen; cleaned houses in Los Angeles area; became secretary; worked for Trans World Airlines for 18 years as flight attendant, purser, and in-flight service manager; Marathon Asset Management, treasurer, then chairman, early 1990s; Mission Management & Trust Co., chairman and CEO, 1994–. Awards: Athena Award, Arizona Chamber of Commerce, 1995; Women on the Move Corporate Award, Tucson YWCA, 1996; Supplier of the Year, Southwest region, National Minority Supplier Development Council, 1998; Avon Women of Enterprise Award, 2000; Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World award, the STAR Group, 2000; appointed honorary Consul of Costa Rica to the United States by the president of Costa Rica. Address: Office—Mission Management & Trust Co., 3567 E. Sunrise Drive, Suite 235, Tucson, AZ 85718.
Worked to Improve Herself The school she attended was poor, but that did not deter Bermúdez. She told Contemporary Hispanic Biography that getting an education is the most important thing, and that “it doesn’t matter what school you go to.” For those who do not have an education, Bermúdez told CHB, that “doesn’t mean that you should give up.” Never one to give up herself, Bermúdez told CHB that “It was my hunger to learn, my eagerness to improve myself, that made me do better in school.” Before following an aunt to California, Bermúdez picked coffee beans in Costa Rica for $2 a week as a teen. She arrived in Los Angeles with her mother at the age of 15; her brothers and sister were left with family in Costa Rica. She had never before seen a telephone, television, or even a large street filled with cars, and spoke no English. Her lack of language skills forced her into menial jobs on an assembly line and as a housecleaner. She and her mother did this for two years in order to save the money to bring the rest of the family from Costa Rica. Then Bermúdez was finally able to save enough for a $54 typewriter. She taught herself to type, vowing, as she told Martinez, “I don’t ever want to work [at labor jobs] again.”
Bermúdez indeed found work as a secretary, and was eventually hired by Trans World Airlines as a flight attendant. She was promoted to purser, then in-flight service manager, and spent 18 years in the business. She married Tom Feeney, who had worked in the investment management business for many years, and went to work for his La Jolla, California firm, Marathon Asset Management. She served as treasurer, ultimately becoming chairman. She came to realize that the industry was lacking a crucial component. “Interfacing with many of our clients’ custodial banks, I was appalled by the quality of service offered, and I thought: ‘I can do this better than they can,’” Bermúdez wrote in EntreWorld. She came to realize that most large banks were not interested in managing assets of small accounts.
Treated with Suspicion In 1994 she relocated to Tucson—believing the business climate for start-ups to be more favorable there— and founded Mission Management & Trust Co., named after the San Xavier Mission in the area. As a trust business, it manages the assets of charities, private citizens, and such major companies as Avon. She was determined that she could win clients and provide them with top-notch service. “If you don’t have [client] service, nothing matters,” she told Diana A. TerryAzíos in an interview for Hispanic Online. “It’s like a restaurant with great food and lousy service. Who wants that?” Bermúdez faced several obstacles as a company founder and industry pioneer. One major hindrance, she admitted in the EntreWorld article, was “a credibility hurdle.” Bermúdez explained, “Who would entrust millions of dollars in assets to a fledgling company owned and operated by a minority woman? We needed a financial heavyweight to lend us stature.” As fearless as she was as a child, Bermúdez approached Martha R. Seger, the first woman ever to win full-term appointment to the Federal Reserve Board, and asked her to join Mission’s board. Seger agreed, and her presence helped speed up the process for the granting of a state charter, which until then had been stuck in the bureaucratic approval process for an unduly long time. Bermúdez’s fledgling company faced other challenges: they were audited three times in six months by state regulators, and the bank that it used, The Bank of Arizona, closed her accounts without advance notice. Bermúdez believed they suspected her of money laundering. “The rest is history,” Bermúdez told the Palm Beach Post. “We’ve been recognized nationally and internationally, and that bank no longer exists.”
An Industry Pioneer In less than a decade, Mission Management & Trust grew to 19 employees, who manage more than $300 million in assets. It is the only independent trust
Bermúdez • 39 company in Tucson, and is believed to be the sole one to be run by a minority woman in the United States. A knack for making quick decisions, and for hiring the right people, has been her key to success. As Bermúdez said in the Palm Beach Post, “All of my employees know more than I do, and they teach me.” She added, “My best talent is hiring. I go by my guts. There are a lot of people with great qualifications, but if there’s no chemistry, it doesn’t work.” Bermúdez and her husband had a commuter marriage for two years, but he eventually joined her firm as chief investment officer. Mission Management donates a percentage of its revenues to charitable projects supported by clients, directors and staff, such as the YWCA. Bermúdez has also established the Martha R. Seger Work/Study scholarship for women and minorities considering business careers. She has won several industry awards, including the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World award sponsored by IBM and Chase Manhattan Private Banking, and an Avon Women of Enterprise Award, co-sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration. But Bermúdez is sanguine about such honors. She told Hispanic Online, “I didn’t do it for this or that title. What keeps me motivated is the commitment I made on Day One. Part of my mission is to leave a legacy, accomplish something, and fill a need. There is a fire underneath.” Bermúdez has one other impressive achievement to her name: she once took first place in her age group in a notoriously difficult athletic competition, the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. To prepare for the grueling swim in the frigid San Francisco Bay waters followed by a run to the Golden Gate bridge, Bermúdez bathed in ice-cube filled water daily for four months. She finished first in the women’s 40-49 group in 1993, and was the Triathlon’s oldest female finisher that year. Believing
that athletic pursuits boost success, she told vistamagazine.com, “Sports is the foundation people need to succeed in the business world. Both require focus, discipline, sacrifice and teamwork.” An inspiration to others, Bermúdez’s success can be attributed to the fact that, as she told CHB, “I always want to improve myself at all times.”
Sources Periodicals Los Angeles Times Business Journal, June 26, 2000, p. 24. Palm Beach Post, January 28, 2002, p. 1D. Tucson Citizen, August 25, 1997; January 5, 1998. On-line EntreWorld, February 2001, http://www.entreworld .org (May 28, 2002) Hispanic Online, http://www.hispaniconline.com/cc/ leading.html (May 23, 2002) Mission Management and Trust, http://www.mission trust.com (May 28, 2002) Vista Magazine, http://www.vistamagazine.com/aug pow/htm (May 23, 2002) Other Additional information for this profile was provided by Carmen Bermúdez and obtained from a personal interview with Contemporary Hispanic Biography, June 6, 2002. —Carol Brennan
40 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Ingrid Betancourt 1961— Politician
On February 23, 2002, a group of Colombian revolutionaries called the Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and her chief of staff, Clara Rojas. While the event received worldwide press coverage, reaction from the Colombian government was more subdued. Political officials had been abducted before, and a number of prominent figures, including presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan, had been assassinated. Betancourt herself had described such risks in her book, Until Death Do Us Part: “Now that I’ve arrived at this point, will they kill me, too? My relationship with death is like that of a tightrope walker: we’re both doing something dangerous, and we’ve calculated the risks, but our love of perfection invariably overcomes our fear.” Betancourt has built her reputation on a willingness to fight corruption in Colombia despite such hazards. She told Juan Forero of the New York Times, “Corruption is not abstract; it has a face, and it has a name and we have to say it.” Although born into privilege and educated in France, Betancourt returned to Colombia at age 30 to work in government. Her daring and abrasive style included handing out condoms (to sym-
bolize protection against corruption) in her campaign for a seat in Congress. While her methods have often been criticized, they have also gathered media attention that helped her win seats in the Colombian House of Representatives and the Senate in 1994 and 1998. Her victories also placed Betancourt in the position to launch a presidential campaign at the end of 2001.
Born Into Privilege Ingrid Betancourt was born in 1961 in Bogotá, Colombia, but she spent much of her youth in Paris. Her father, Gabriel Betancourt, intermittently served as the assistant director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and as minister of education, positions that moved the family between Colombia and France. Pope Paul VI administered Betancourt’s first communion, and she exchanged lines of poetry with Pablo Neruda, a family friend. However, as she recalled in her book, Until Death Do Us Part, a family maid informed Betancourt that she lived a privileged life, telling her: “You must not forget, Ingrid, that the world does not resemble the one you’re living in today. Reality is painful, life is difficult,
Betancourt • 41
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Ingrid Betancourt on December 25, 1961, in
Bogotá, Colombia; daughter of Gabriel Betan-
court (assistant director to UNESCO and Minister of Education) and Yolanda Pulecio (a legislator); married Fabrice Delloye (divorced); married Juan Carlos Lecomte; children: (with Delloye) Melanie, Lorenzo. Education: University of Political Science, France, B.A., political science. Career: Served one term in the Colombia legislature, 1994-97; formed Liberal Oxygen Party and elected senator, 1998; ran for office of president of Colombia, 2002. Addresses: Office—75 N 7-24, Bogotá, Colombia.
and someday it may be painful and difficult for you too.” Betancourt has related that much of her involvement in politics stemmed from her early life in Paris. As a child, she would hide and listen to her parents discuss Colombian politics with their friends. She also grew to believe that because of her own special status, she should give something back. In Until Death Do Us Part, she recalled her father telling her, “‘You know Ingrid, Colombia has given us a great deal.ѧ Because you’ve had so many opportunities, you now have a debt to Colombia.’” Betancourt attended the Institute of Political Science in Paris, where she laid the groundwork for her future involvement in government. She also met a French diplomat, Fabrice Delloye, and the two married. For the next ten years, Betancourt traveled with her husband as his work took him to France, Ecuador, the Seychelles, and the United States. The couple also had two children, Melanie and Lorenzo. Betancourt kept abreast of Colombian politics by keeping in contact with her mother, Yolanda Pulecio, who held a seat in the legislature. Although Betancourt expressed a desire to return to Colombia, her husband worried about the dangers. In 1986 she visited Colombia with her eldest child, reacquainting herself with her native land, and feeling more than ever the need to return and become involved in politics.
Returned to Colombia In 1989 Betancourt traveled with Lorenzo to Paris to visit Delloye’s family. Although she had found the trip relaxing, on August 18, 1989, she found herself unable
to sleep. The following morning she called her mother in Colombia and discovered that Luis Carlos Galan, the liberal candidate for the presidency, had been killed. “When they killed him, I had a single obsession: to come back to Colombia at whatever cost, even though it cost me my marriage,” she told Juanita Darling in the Los Angeles Times. “They killed Galan on August 17, 1989, and by the beginning of January 1990, I was in Colombia.” Leaving Los Angeles also came with a price. Betancourt and Delloye divorced, and he temporarily received custody of their two children. In Colombia she tentatively began her career in politics by becoming her mother’s advisor during her senatorial campaign in 1990. After the campaign Betancourt received a job at the finance ministry and later at commerce. During her three-year tenure in government service, she became aware of the harsh realities of Colombian politics. Drug money lined the pockets of politicians, blocking a number of reforms, and local officials often siphoned off government funds before they could be applied to housing or other projects. Jeremy Lennard of the Guardian (London) wrote, “Colombia produces 80% of the world’s cocaine and is taking an increasing share of the U.S. heroin market. The vast sums of money earned by the traffickers have spawned corruption at every level of society.” The exporting of drugs, along with Colombia’s unwillingness to respect patent laws, strained both political and business relationships with the international community. Meanwhile, Betancourt’s travels to outlying regions revealed that many Colombians lived in poverty with inadequate health and education facilities. She began to feel that her position as a bureaucrat limited her ability to propose and fight for the issues she cared about. In 1994 she resigned her position to run for a seat in the lower house.
Became a Politician In 1994 Betancourt ran as a liberal in the congressional elections, publicizing her anti-corruption stance. She gathered attention by handing out condoms on the street to strangers. “She dubbed corrupt Colombian officials carriers of ‘social Aids’ and called on the public to don a political condom by supporting her campaign,” Lennard commented. Although many disliked her directness, her grass roots campaign received more attention in the press because of her controversial methods. Though many believed that she had little chance of succeeding, Betancourt won her seat, receiving the highest vote totals of any congressional candidate in Bogotá. As a representative Betancourt ruffled the feathers of many legislators by fighting corruption wherever she found it. She launched a campaign against a government arms contract to purchase outdated weapons, and later, when it was revealed that the newly elected president, Ernesto Samper, had received campaign money from the Cali drug cartel, she worked to expose the affair. She also came face to face with the Rod-
42 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 riguez brothers, the principal leaders of the Cali drug cartel, who informed her that they had contributed to Samper’s campaign fund, and that they also provided funds for many other members of Congress. This meeting led her to believe that corruption permeated all levels of the Colombian government. Betancourt told the Los Angeles Times, “Between the drug traffickers and the guerrillas, we have been made almost ashamed to be Colombian, and a country that is ashamed of itself is a country without a future. We have to reconstruct our hopes and dreams.” Although the Samper affair, and a book she wrote about it, raised Betancourt’s profile, her fight against corruption also led to threats against her and her family. Because of these threats, she sent both of her children to live with Delloye in New Zealand in 1996. The following year Betancourt launched a new political party, the Liberal Oxygen Party, in an effort to offer a choice outside of the traditional Liberal and Conservative parties. She told Time International, “Our goal is to increase access to power and to curb the influence of an exclusive political class.” She also decided to run for a seat in the upper house. As with her previous campaign, Betancourt garnered votes through nonstop campaigning and atypical methods that included handing out anti-pollution masks. She won the election with the highest vote total ever achieved for a Colombian senate seat, but her attempts to push forward environmental, housing, and media ownership legislation ran into fierce opposition. Betancourt’s most radical piece of legislation recommended replacing Colombia’s Congress with a new legislative body. When the legislation failed, she resigned her seat and announced her plans to run for the presidency in 2002.
Colombian woman to head a corporation, also entered the race. Despite the competition and initial low poll numbers, Betancourt remained undeterred. “I will win and I will do it by taking my campaign directly to ordinary Colombians,” she told Lennard of the Guardian. “I can count on the regional media for good coverage and the rest is me, face to face with the people.” Betancourt’s willingness to take risks and offer assistance to Colombia’s rural population have made her a folk hero, but her direct methods have also made her unpopular with other politicians. Lennard wrote, “To her supporters, she is the only hope for a fairer Colombia. To her detractors, she is rude and hysterical, a self-promoting hypocrite who trumpets her concern for others while seeking power for herself.” Betancourt, however, seemed nonplussed by her critics. She told Damien Cave in Salon, “The criticism is really a way of undermining my struggle [against corruption].ѧ I’m fighting to clean my country to have a democracy that’s as strong and as effective as the one you have here in America, Europe and other countries.” Although she was still being held by FARC at the time of the election, Betancourt’s name remained on the ballet. She lost the May of 2002 election, and, despite diplomatic efforts, remained in captivity.
Sources Books Betancourt, Ingrid, Until Death Do Us Part, HarperCollins, 2002, pp. 18, 22, 228. Periodicals
Launched Presidential Campaign In the fall of 2001 Betancourt traveled throughout Colombia, accompanied by bodyguards, in a 25-yearold Dodge minibus as she campaigned for president. Her campaign once again utilized novel methods when she handed out Viagra pills to symbolize the need to reinvigorate Colombia. Several other candidates also entered the race, making her challenge difficult. Both Liberal Horacio Serpa, a former interior minister, and Alvaro Uribe, a former governor of the Antioquia province, were well-connected in Colombian politics. Former British Ambassador Noemi Sanin, the first
Dallas Morning News, May 27, 2002, p. 1A. Guardian (London), November 10, 2001, p. 97. Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1998, p. A1. New York Times, November 17, 2001, A4. New York Times Magazine, July 2, 2000, p. 37. Time International, May 24, 1999, p. 58. On-line Salon.com, http://www.salon.com/people/conv/ 2002/01/15/betancourt/print.html —Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
Botero • 43
Fernando Botero 1932— Artist
Considered one of the leading figures in contemporary Latin American art, Fernando Botero has become best known for robust figures whose immense size dominate the canvas. Botero has drawn upon Colombian folklore and history, especially that of his native Antioquia, for inspiration. In the 1990s, Botero paintings began commanding figures as high as $1 million at auction, and the artist found himself playing the role of a new standard-bearer for Colombian culture, though he had not lived in his violenceplagued homeland for many years. Colombian schoolchildren have come to know him as the painter of gorditas, or “fat ladies.” A fellow South American, novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, commented on Botero’s place in Latin American imagery in a monograph in the Great Modern Masters series, Botero. “You don’t need to have actually visited the Colombia towns of Antioquia in the 1940s to be able to identify the social reality against which Botero’s imagery is set,” Vargas Llosa asserted. “Any Latin American will recognize in this carousel of images certain manners of feeling, dreaming, and acting that are typical of the cities and towns of the interior of any country on our continent.”
Trained as Bullfighter Botero was born in Medellín, Colombia in 1932, where his mother worked as a seamstress to support the family after his father, a traveling salesperson, died when Botero was four. At the age of twelve he enrolled in an apprentice matador school for two years, but eventually pursued an education at a Jesuitrun academy that offered him a scholarship. He began painting at an early age, and the Colombian pastime of la corrida, or the bullfight, was a favorite subject matter. Botero made his first sale when he convinced a local merchant who sold tickets to the Medellín bullfights to display one of his works in the shop window. It sold for about $2. “He gave me the money, I put it in my pocket and ran home to tell my brothers,” he told Los Angeles Times journalist Juanita Darling. “I lost the money, and they didn’t believe me.” The conflict between his art leanings and his formal Roman Catholic education presented problems for Botero as a teen. He was reprimanded by his teachers for drawing nudes, and wrote an article for the school paper defending Pablo Picasso’s art that led to his expulsion. He finished at another liceo in 1951, and
44 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Fernando Botero Angulo, April 19, 1932, in
Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia; son of David
(a salesperson) and Flora Angulo (a seamstress) de Botero; married Gloria Zea, 1955 (divorced, 1960);
Florence, Italy, to learn fresco techniques at the Academy of Fine Arts. In both instances, Botero received little attention from his teachers. “Nobody ever told me: ‘Art is this,’” he later said in an interview with Americas writer Ana Maria Escallon. “This was good luck in a way because I would have had to spend half of my life forgetting everything that I had been told, which is what happens with most students in schools of fine arts.”
married Cedilia Zambrano, 1964 (divorced, 1975); children: (with Zea) Fernando, Lina, Juan Carlos. Education: Liceo de la Universidad de Antioquia, baccalaureate, 1950; studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes, San Ferdinando, Spain, 1952, and at the Accademia San Marco and the Universitá degli Studi, Florence, 1953. Career: Illustrator for Sunday literary supplement of El Colombiano, Medellín, 1948-51; painter, 1950–; first exhibition of paintings hosted by Galerias de Arte Foto-Estudio Leo Matiz, Bogotá, 1951; first exhibition outside of Colombia at Galeria Antonio Souza, Mexico City, 1957, and first in United States at Pan American Union, Washington, D.C., 1957; taught at Escuela de Bellas Artes in Bogotá, 1958; included in 1965’s “The Emergent Decade: Latin American Painting,” at the Guggenheim Museum of New York (toured the United States and Canada, 1965-67); first exhibition in Europe at Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, West Germany, 1966. Awards: First Prize for Painting, Salon Anual de Artistas Colombianos, Bogotá, 1958; Colombian Section Award, Guggenheim International Award Exhibition, New York, 1960; Andrés Bello Award, President of Venezuela, 1975; Cruz de Boyacá for service to Colombia, Government of Antioquia, 1977. Address: Office—900 Park Ave Ⲇ22A, New York, NY, 10021- 0231. Gallery—Nohra Haime Gallery, 41 E 57th St Fl 6, New York, NY, 10022- 1908.
moved to Colombia’s capital city, Bogotá. Its Galerias de Arte Foto-Estudio Leo Matiz was the first to show Botero’s paintings that same year. After winning a 1952 competition, he earned enough money to allow him to travel and study in Europe. He settled in Madrid for a time to study at the Academia in San Ferdinando, earning his living by selling copies of Spanish masters Velásquez and Goya on the street. Long fascinated by the work of Mexican muralists like Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, Botero then moved on to
Developed Signature Style Returning to Bogotá in 1955, Botero experienced a career setback when he showed a group of paintings, inspired by his time in Florence, and none sold. Between 1956 to 1958 he spent time in Mexico City and New York City. During this period he started painting larger human figures on his canvas, beginning with a work called Still Life with Mandolin. As he told the Los Angeles Times, “I was drawing a mandolin, and I made the sound hole very small, which made the mandolin look gigantic. I saw that making the details small made the form monumental. So in my figures, the eyes, the mouth are all small and the exterior form is huge.” The style would become his trademark, and make him one of the most recognizable artists of the twentieth century. Botero was feted with his first exhibition outside of Colombia at the Galeria Antonio Souza in Mexico City in 1957, and had another one that same year at the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. Critics dismissed his work, but many of the paintings sold. In 1961 Botero moved to New York City permanently. He kept a studio in Greenwich Village for the next dozen years, but his work continued to meet with rejection from the critical establishment. “As a quirky, classicising Colombian obsessed with volume, when flatness was the rage, he was cold-shouldered, or worse,” noted an Economist article. “One New York critic described his voluptuous nudes as ‘fetuses begotten by Mussolini on a peasant woman.’” In 1961 the Museum of Modern Art in New York City acquired his Mona Lisa at 12, which boosted his reputation in the art world immensely. But when his New York gallery suddenly closed, Botero faced further financial hardship. At the time, he was divorced and the father of three, and the children spent weekends with him. To entertain them cheaply, he took them to cemeteries and to Central Park. “I grew up believing that Tarzan lived in Central Park and that there were piranhas in the park ponds,” his son, Juan Carlos, told the Los Angeles Times. In 1965 Botero was included in “The Emergent Decade: Latin American Painting,” at the Guggenheim Museum of New York, which also toured several American and Canadian cities. He was honored the following year with his first exhibition in Europe, at the Staatliche Kunsthalle of Baden- Baden, West Germany, which marked another turning point in his career. With increasing financial success, Botero began dividing his time be-
Botero • 45 tween a house on Long Island, a summer place in Colombia, and Paris. Tragedy struck, however, when his young son from a second marriage died in a 1974 automobile accident. Botero himself was injured in the crash, losing a finger and some movement in his right arm. He commemorated the boy, Pedro, in several later paintings. Botero’s art evolved into a starkly recognizable style. Large men and women dominate his canvases, which are painted with a distinct flatness that emphasizes color and form. Nostalgic scenes from the everyday Colombian life are a favorite topic, but he has also become known for his still lifes. Medellín’s tile rooftops, slatternly maids, pompous military officers, and complacently bourgeois families—with equally distended household pets—have been some of Botero’s favorite subjects. In an interview with the Americas, Botero commented on this flatness found in his work, and believed it was a “a reflection of the art that I was exposed to as a child; it was the art you find in churches. It was the ritual of daily mass that I lived until I was twelve years old, and that was the way, I think, that I got the idea that smooth surface is linked to beauty in art.” Botero began exploring three-dimensional round forms in 1975, when he could afford to start casting in bronze. He gained further artistic tribute with a 1979 retrospective at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. In 1992 Botero’s The House of the Arias Twins set a record for the second-highest auction price paid for the work of a living Latin American artist. In the early 1990s he gained a great deal of public exposure when a series of large sculptures appeared in temporary installations on some of the world’s most famous streets. His fanciful bulls and reclining women amused passersby on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Manhattan’s Park Avenue, and Chicago’s Michigan Avenue.
Botero and the Medellín Cartel Over the years, Botero grew incensed that his hometown of Medellín became linked with an infamous drug-trafficking cartel of the same name. Run by Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar, the Medellín cartel gained an international reputation for cunning and violence. Botero was reportedly angered that two of his paintings were found in Escobar’s home after the kingpin was slain in 1993. The death of Escobar, however, did not end the violence in Medellín, and the artist himself was a victim of a kidnaping there in 1994. In June of 1995, a bomb attack in downtown Medellín targeted a statue of a dove that Botero had donated to the city. The symbol of peace exploded, killing 25. A guerrilla group claimed responsibility, calling Botero a symbol of oppression, and though he was initially angry, he cast a new dove for the plaza. Colombia’s political quagmire has even affected Botero’s relations with his son, also called Fernando. The
younger Botero was accused of accepting drug money when he served as campaign director for President Ernesto Samper’s successful 1994 election, and the two did not speak for a time. In 1996, however, the Harvard-educated younger Botero, then serving as the country’s defense minister, voiced public criticism of Samper and admitted that large sums had been donated to the campaign by drug kingpins. In 2000 Botero began showing a series of paintings that reflected the recent decade of political violence in Colombia. One depicted Escobar’s death, while others portrayed car bombings and bar massacres. Such subject matter was a distinct change from his usual bucolic style, he agreed in a Christian Science Monitor article. “Art should be an oasis, a place or refuge from the hardness of life,” Botero told the paper. “But the Colombian drama is so out of proportion that today you can’t ignore the violence, the thousands displaced and dead, the processions of coffins. Against all my principles, I had to paint [the violence].”
Donated Paintings to Colombia To help alleviate some of Colombia’s collective dispirit, Botero donated some $120 million worth of paintings and sculpture to revive the country’s visual-arts foundations. They included his own paintings as well as priceless works he had personally acquired by Picasso, Auguste Renoir, and Salvador Dali. The paintings were housed in a Bogotá museum and in a newly renovated showcase in Medellín, the Museum of Antioquia. The former city hall dominates a neighborhood that was once rife with crime and prostitution, but was rejuvenated with the help of government renovation and Botero’s largesse. “What I am doing here is a justification for my life,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I have the sensation of doing something good for people, more than being a trendy artist or a successful artistѧ. Thousands of people are going to enjoy this. That’s a tremendous pleasure.” Botero maintained homes in Tuscany, Colombia, Monte Carlo, New York City, and other places. Since 1976 the artist has been romantically linked with Greek-born sculptor Sophia Vari. He worked seven days a week, eight hours a day. “The truth is,” he told Darling in the Los Angeles Times, “I haven’t found anything more fun than work.”
Sources Books Contemporary Artists, fourth edition, St. James Press, 1996. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale, 1996. Faerna, José Marí, general editor, Botero, Cameo/ Abrams, 1997.
46 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Periodicals Americas (English Edition), November-December 1996, p. 50, p. 52; March 2001, p. 60. Art in America, November 1993, p. 50. Christian Science Monitor, January 8, 2001, p. 6. Dallas Morning News, February 5, 1996, p. 7A. Economist, February 17, 2001, p. 7. Florida Trend, August 1994, p. 57. Los Angeles Times, November 2, 2000, p. A1. People, December 13, 1993, p. 109. WWD, April 3, 2001, p. 3. —Carol Brennan
Bundchen • 47
Gisele Bundchen 1980— Model
The rise of Brazilian beauty Gisele Bundchen in the late 1990s startled many in the world of fashion. Bundchen’s robust, voluptuous looks seemed to mark the end of the era for the so-called “waif look” en vogue at the time, and her tanned, curvy figure was said to have sparked a search for copycat models. Bundchen’s stardom was also reportedly the cause for a spike in the number of plastic surgery procedures performed in Brazil. Recalling the international fame of the man considered the world’s greatest soccer player, Newsweek International writer Mac Margolis called Bundchen “the most celebrated Brazilian since Pelé.” Bundchen was born July 20, 1980, in Horizontina, Brazil, a town near the border with Argentina. She was a fraternal twin with her sister, Patricia, in a family that would eventually include five daughters. Her parents, Valdir and Vania, were descended from German settlers to Brazil a few generations back. Bundchen did not consider herself model material as a teen, and claimed that she was so tall and skinny that her classmates called her “Oli,” a nickname for the Popeye cartoon character Olive Oyl. She was athletic, however, and dreamed of playing professional volleyball, but a mod-
eling class she took to improve her posture led to an offer from an agency in São Paulo. She took a few modeling jobs, but was warned that her natural curvaceousness was a hindrance to any future career; insiders also told her that her nose was too big. She began working at the agency office as well, and one day, as she recalled in an interview with WWD writer Jessica Kerwin, “This editor called and was looking for girls for a shoot, and I wanted to do it. The editor said, ‘No, Gisele can’t be in the shoot,’ because she said that I have a big nose. I said, ‘One day, she’ll be sorry’—you know, just to make myself feel a little better.” Despite these first experiences, Bundchen came to the attention of others in the business who liked her fresh look. Quitting school at the age of 16, she was signed to Elite Models in New York, and invited by agency vice-president Massimo Redaelli to relocate to the United States. Bundchen’s mother accompanied her. She enrolled in a fast-paced English-language course, and once again, held out hope that her few jobs would soon come at a more steady pace. The fashion in 1997, however, was for a decidedly unhealthy, pallid
48 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn July 20, 1980, in Horizontina, Brazil; daugh-
ter of Valdir (a real estate agent) and Vania (a
retired bank clerk) Bundchen. Career: Fashion model. Has appeared in Vogue, Elle, and several other magazines, and appeared in collections showings from designers Alexander McQueen, Gianni Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, and Christian Dior; signed five-year deal with Victoria’s Secret in 1999. Awards: Named Vogue/VH1 Model of the Year, 1999. Address: Office—c/o IMG Models, IMG, 304 Park Ave. N., New York, NY 10010.
look, and the bronzed Bundchen seemed at odds with prevailing tastes. She was also told that she was too top-heavy, but a well-known photographer, Mario Testino, decided to shoot her for a job. Soon another industry name, Steven Meisel, was requesting Bundchen, and these tastemakers’ faith helped convince top magazines and stylists to book her. Avant-garde British designer Alexander McQueen also became an early champion, hiring her for her first runway job as part of his famous “Rain” collection in London. The year 1998 proved a far more successful one for Bundchen. She began appearing regularly in the world’s top fashion magazines, and modeled collections for the design houses of Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, and Dior. In one ten-month period alone, she appeared on six of ten American Vogue covers. She was hailed as the embodiment of the latest new trend in beauty. “She had breasts and hips and great hair,” James Scully, booking editor of Harper’s Bazaar, told Newsweek International. “Men want her. Women want to be her. We haven’t had that since Cindy [Crawford] and Naomi [Campbell].” Other industry insiders were also effusive in their praise. “She’s just an incredible, unrestrained beauty with the innate ability to be sensual and glamorous but very real and natural,” Buffy Birritella, an executive with Ralph Lauren, told Cosmopolitan writer J. D. Heiman. “That’s at the core of the American ideal of beauty.” Bundchen was soon nicknamed “The Body” and “Perfect 10,” and in December of 1999 she was awarded the Vogue/VH1 Award for Model of the Year. She had perfected what Margolis termed “her trademark runway walk,” a strut that was “sassy and high-stepping, like a filly in tall grass,” the writer remarked. “She’s a straightforward sex bomb,” an editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, told Sunday Times writer Eve McSweeny. “She’s got perfect looks and an absolutely
incredible figure, which makes even other models’ figures look slightly imperfect.” Bundchen has remained refreshingly modest for a woman who reportedly earning $10,000 an hour for runway shows in 2000. Her sisters have joined her at various times in New York City to keep her company, and she traveled back to Horizontina often as well. There have been no media reports of diva-like behavior, though she often coped with unruly admirers, even on the inside of the business. Those who know her claimed she is refreshingly down-to- earth. “She’s pure mannequin in a way,” New York Times fashion writer Cathy Horyn told the Sunday Times. “She does a job and she does it well, and I’m totally content seeing a pro on the runway, without all the trappings—the bad boyfriend, the attitude, the drug habit. I would be disappointed to hear that Gisele had a rock-star boyfriend.” Bundchen, who speaks Brazilian Portuguese, has been romantically linked with Joao-Paulo Diniz, scion of Brazilian supermarket fortune, and at one time was rumored to be engaged to American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. She is a major celebrity in Brazil, where her curvy figure was said to have sparked a spike in the number of breast-augmentation surgeries. Her fame was also linked to an aspiring-model craze among Brazilian teenagers, who enrolled by the thousands in the new modeling schools that sprung up overnight in the country in the late 1990s. Yet fame has also presented certain difficulties for her. “I like to go with my friends to the kind of bar only people from New Jersey and Queens like to go to, and just play the jukebox and dance to old songs,” she told WWD’s Kerwin. “No one looks at you, and there are no lies in the paper the next day.” Bundchen signed a five-year contract with Victoria’s Secret to appear in its lingerie, beauty, and hosiery campaigns across several media, ranging from television to print to its famed live Webcasts. Bundchen was signed for a reported $24 million sum. Her sole extravagances, she claimed, are horses and jewelry. “I don’t worry too much about clothes and accessories, but jewelry I love,” WWD quoted her as saying. She bought herself a four-carat diamond ring. “I love to wear it with jeans and flip-flops,” she told the magazine. She also adored her Yorkshire terrier named Vida, who accompanied her everywhere. Bundchen has been offered film roles, but was wary. “I don’t want to live in L.A. in a big house and go to parties, no way,” Cosmopolitan’s Heiman quoted her as saying. “I want to have a quiet, good life.” She did eventually acquire a house there that was near the beach and which allowed her to ride her horse, but she still kept her loft in the Tribeca of New York City. She claimed that her one goal is to finish school and then study veterinary science, noting that her sudden fame has not been altogether easy for her. “There are two kinds of people in this industry,” she told Daily Tele-
Bundchen • 49 graph writer Luella Bartley. “The people who do it because they want to be famous and the people who do it as a job and go home afterwards. I see what I do as just a job. I’m no better than anyone just because I’m famous. I just want to be a good person, but people automatically want to make it a different thing. People make up this crazy stuff about your life and they think they have a right to judge you. It’s awful.”
Sources Periodicals Cosmopolitan, March 2000, p. 264. Daily Telegraph (London, England), September 7, 2001. Entertainment Weekly, June 23, 2000, p. 18. Newsweek International, September 25, 2000, p. 58. Newsweek, October 2, 2000, p. 80. People, August 7, 2000, p. 64. Sunday Times (London, England), January 23, 2000, p. 4. Time International, July 9, 2000, p. 26. WWD, July 14, 2000, p. 12; August 29, 2000, p. 4; September 22, 2000, p. 6; July 3, 2001 p. 12. —Carol Brennan
50 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Sila María Calderón 1942— Governor of Puerto Rico
As the former mayor of San Juan, and as Puerto Rico’s first woman governor, Sila María Calderón has set goals to ally Puerto Rico with other Latin American nations and to establish national autonomy. To reduce poverty among 3.8 million mostly Hispanic citizens, she sought tax breaks for investors and fuller employment throughout the country. A fierce opponent of U.S. naval ordnance training on Vieques Island, she enlarged protests by enlisting political leaders from districts with large Latino constituencies. Born in San Juan on September 23, 1942, Calderón enjoyed the comfort and affluence provided by her father, César A. Calderón, a hotelier and ice cream manufacturer. An honor student educated in island history at Sacred Heart Academy in Santurce, she traveled Europe with her father and mother, homemaker Sila Serra Calderón. Calderón studied government at Manhattanville College in New York City, and public administration at the University of Puerto Rico. In 1973 Calderón became the executive assistant to her former labor relations professor, Luis Strong Silva, when he was appointed Puerto Rico’s secretary of labor. She then served as special assistant for economic
development to Governor Rafael Hernández Colón. In 1985 she was appointed chief of staff in the governor’s office—the first woman in Puerto Rico to hold that position. Over the next few years she held several different offices, including secretary of state and lieutenant governor. In 1989 she entered the private sector to become president of Commonwealth Investment Company and also serve as a vice president at Citibank. But in the early 1990s she returned to the political arena to begin a career in progressive politics.
Elected Mayor of San Juan In 1995 Calderón ran for mayor of San Juan as a Popular Democrat against the powerful New Progressive party. Unlike her predecessors, she spoke in straightforward terms. Against Pedro Rosselló’s call for island statehood, she favored commonwealth status. To Caribbean Business, she explained: “I appreciate and treasure my U.S. citizenship. I want my children and their children to always have it.” In November of 1996 she won the election, obtaining 51 percent of the vote. After two years Calderón began campaigning for governor. Boosting her appeal with voters were her plans
Calderón • 51
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Sila Maria Calderón on September 23, 1942,
in San Juan, Puerto Rico; daughter of César A. (a
hotelier and ice cream manufacturer) and Sila Serra Calderón; married Adolfo Krans, an insurance broker (divorced, 2001); children: one son and two daughters. Education: Manhattanville College, 1964; University of Puerto Rico, 1972. Religion: Roman Catholic. Politics: Popular Democrat. Career: Executive assistant to the secretary of labor, 1973; secretary of state, 1985; mayor of San Juan, 1996; governor of Puerto Rico, 2000–. Awards: Chamber of Commerce honoraria, 1985, 1987; Woman of the Year, Product Association of Puerto Rico, 1986; Order of Isabel, Catholic Church, 1987; Leader of the Year, American Public Work Association, 1988; honorary doctorate, Manhattanville College, 1989; distinguished graduate, University of Puerto Rico, 1989; dedicatee, New York City’s Puerto Rican Day, 2001. Address: Office—Governor’s Office, La Fortaleza, San Juan, PR 00901.
to upgrade the water system, provide more housing, and improve workers’ lives. On September 11, 2000, she delivered a Labor Day speech honoring Puerto Ricans and presenting her plans for a social contract promising greater sensitivity to workers’ needs. She opposed adversity between government and labor and commended productivity and company competition. She vowed to extend the collaborative spirit in a program she called the Puerto Rican Project for Century 21. Calderón attacked the poverty and isolation affecting more than forty percent of Puerto Ricans. In a speech on October 2, 2000, she denounced these ills as “unacceptable for any civilized society.” After visiting 426 communities, she resolved to make available the agencies of health, housing, financial aid, and employment, and pledged a minimum of $200 million for socioeconomic development. She used as a model the 1992 empowerment project she directed in Península de Cantera that rehabilitated communities by promoting citizen initiative. To fight crime, she planned to appoint a drug czar and to enhance municipal policing. Her plans also called for health reform, electronic libraries, a longer school year, and an office of women’s issues.
Fought Government Corruption as Governor Elected governor with 48.6 percent of the vote, Calderón defeated Carlos Pesquera and took office on January 2, 2001. She and her second husband, insurance broker Adolfo Krans, moved with their family into La Fortaleza, the governor’s residence. As she had promised, she demanded a free press and halted bureaucratic bribery and extortion. A year later she arrested the former governor’s personal aide, Maria de Los Angeles Rivera, and former Education Secretary Victor Fajardo. To preserve campaign honesty, she voluntarily opened the party’s accounts to public scrutiny. Calderón met with President George W. Bush to plot a business strategy that relied less on federal aid. She stated in an interview conducted by the Washington Times, “We want our people ѧ to have the dignity of holding a job. We do not want an Island dependent on welfare.” To achieve fiscal autonomy, she lowered operating costs, expedited business permits, and acquired economic aid to boost employment. She anticipated completion of El Puerto de las Americas, the island’s transshipment cargo consolidator, as a vital source of employment in the country. At her program’s core lay the need to compete with Ireland, Korea, and Singapore, which paid lower wages and offered investment incentives to business. Calderón proposed tax breaks to lure companies who were willing to become foreign-controlled corporations. Specifically, she called for extending the 1998 Tax Incentives Act, offering a 200 percent deduction for worker training and a tax rebate on newly purchased equipment, and lowering the capital gains tax for investors. She welcomed Eli Lilly & Company, which built a $250 million biotechnology plant to employ 300 people in the manufacture of Humalog, the first synthetic insulin.
Faced Off Against United States Calderón’s most volatile political endeavor was her battle to force the U.S. Navy to surrender use of the island of Vieques, the Atlantic Fleet’s only live-fire training range. In April of 1999, when a bomber accidentally killed civilian security guard David Sanes Rodriguez, islanders challenged a post-World War II deal with the Navy to allow ordnance testing. They cited as reasons for eviction the endangerment of life and health and the suppression of fishing and tourism. Calderón, in her inaugural address, had accused the United States of exploitation, stating, according to Insight in the News: “Sixty years of a menace to the health and security of our compatriots is unacceptable for any civilized and peaceful society.” In February of 2001 environmental lobbyists bolstered her protest with claims that bombing drills poisoned the atmosphere. Unlike previous governors, Calderón ordered the U.S. Navy off Vieques, emphasizing what she
52 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 felt were six decades of military imposition on islanders. She reasoned that detonation of live ammunition posed security risks and sapped residents’ health by disrupting the peace and spreading contamination from cadmium, copper, lead, and magnesium.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated that he was dismissing the Puerto Rican research out of hand, and prejudging health surveys before they were tabulated and reviewed by unbiased agencies.
Navy Secretary Robert Pirie informed Calderón that the military would resume inert bombing at Vieques after an agreed 90-day hiatus. To suppress more bombing, she imposed anti-noise-pollution laws, which a U.S. district court overturned. Locally, she drew criticism for the fiscal waste of paying ad agencies over $1 million to design campaigns supporting her antiordnance crusade. However, she found support from New York’s Governor George Pataki, a Republican who courted the Latino vote by backing protesters.
Worked to Improve Puerto Rico
U.S. Reneged on Promise to Withdraw Calderón obtained President Bush’s commitment to withdraw the Navy on May 1, 2003. She scheduled a referendum on Vieques to allow voters to choose between forcing the Navy to abide by the date or allowing the military to conduct ordnance exercises in return for $50 million in economic aid. She told the Washington Times she was fighting for people “whose health, security, and environment have been endangered for 60 years and who haven’t had a voice to speak for them because they are very poor.” Although 80 percent of Vieques residents voted for the Navy’s withdrawal, the results of the referendum were nonbinding. After terrorists launched the Pentagon and World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, President Bush retracted his earlier promise and insisted that the military continue training missions over Vieques to protect national security. A month later Calderón allied with protesters to force Bush to set a withdrawal date. After Calderón proposed a second referendum for November 6th, a month before the balloting, Superior Court Judge Sonia Velez Colon ruled the referendum unconstitutional. Colon also declared illegal the use of public funds for a non-binding vote. Calderón vowed to appeal the ruling while pressuring Congress to force the Navy off Vieques by May of 2003. Backing the governor was Puerto Rican Justice Secretary Annabelle Rodriguez, who sought settlement of the issue by the Puerto Rican Supreme Court. While the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services studied charges of illness on Vieques, Calderón publicized documents from the Puerto Rican health department reporting that islanders experienced an elevated risk of cancer, and that shelling noise caused a vibroacoustic disease that thickened the carotid artery. An April of 2001 cardiological study at Johns Hopkins had disputed Calderón’s claim that bombing compromised health, and the Centers for Disease Control disclosed that Vieques residents showed a normal cancer incidence. Calderón’s reply to
Calderón continued to work toward a better Puerto Rico. On April 11, 2002, she spoke at Rutgers University about her plans to register Puerto Rican voters in New Jersey to empower mainland Latinos. When she addressed a full house at Princeton University on the subject of commonwealth history, she declared, according to the Daily Princetonian: “The rules of commonwealth are both ideological and imminently practical. ѧ [allowing] us to affirm our own identity while cherishing our citizenship.” She affirmed that a special relationship with the United States had elevated housing, education, life span, and quality of life, but she balanced her praise with a warning that the United States had broken promises to Puerto Rico. Among her complaints with commonwealth status were detrimental tax laws and lax immigration rules. The crux of her speech returned to the exploitation of Vieques, which she characterized as “a violation of human rights.” As the Vieques question clouded island politics, Calderón held out hope to Puerto Ricans for a better life. On March 16, 2002, she announced plans to spend $102 million on water and sewer plants and an aqueduct extension in western Puerto Rico. A week later she pledged $165.5 million in urban renewal for 18 municipalities, and the generation of 2,591 jobs.
Sources Periodicals Caribbean Business, December 3, 1998. Daily Princetonian, April 12, 2002. Hispanic, January-February 1989, pp. 10-13; January-February 2001. Insight on the News, February 26, 2001, p. 47. Institutional Investor, March 2002. NACLA Report on the Americas, January 2001, p. 1. Navy News & Undersea Technology, April 16, 2001, p. 1. New York Times, November 12, 2000, p. 26; January 6, 2001, p. A7; January 14, 2001, p. 16; November 28, 2001, p. D3; January 3, 2002, p. A16; February 21, 2002, p. A23. Washington Post, January 20, 2001, p. A2; June 28, 2001, p. A31; July 29, 2001, p. A07; October 11, 2001, p. A31; October 18, 2001, p. A32. On-line Biography Resource Center Online, Gale Group, 2002
Calderón • 53 http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/2760/ sep1100.htm http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/2760/ oct0200.htm International Reports.net, http://www.international specialreports.com/theamericas/01/puerto%20ri co/ http://www.ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/viewArticle.phtml Online Insider, http://www.conway.com/ssinsider/ bbdeal/bd010514.htm http://www.silacalderon.com/index —Mary Ellen Snodgrass
54 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Armando Calderón Sol 1948— Former president of El Salvador
A wealthy lawyer from El Salvador, Armando Calderón Sol worked his way through the political system to serve first as mayor of the capital city, San Salvador, and later as president of the country from 1994 to 1999. Calderón Sol became the first peacetime president in El Salvador following a 12-year civil war between Communist and antiCommunist factions. Calderón Sol worked to improve the image of his party in particular, and Salvadoran politics in general, although his political career was controversial because his political party was associated with terrorist tactics, such as death squads. During his tenure as president, however, Calderón Sol implemented numerous economic reforms to help his country work towards economic prosperity and independence. Calderón Sol was born on June 24, 1948, in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. As the son of a conservative, powerful, land-owning family, his early education was provided by the Jesuits. In 1966 he graduated from college with a degree in science and literature from the Colegio Externado de San José. He then went on to study law, earning his J.D. in administrative law from the University of El Salvador in 1977.
Calderón Sol worked as an assistant justice in the civil court and as a justice of the peace at the Isidro Menéndez Judicial Center. He married Elizabeth Aguirre, and the couple had three sons. El Salvador has had a violent history, particularly in the last century, and from the 1930s to the 1980s the country was run primarily by the military. The country’s political and economic systems have been run by an oligarchy made up of 14 wealthy land-owning families. In the 1970s and 1980s El Salvador became a major battleground for the Cold War, the political and economic struggle between capitalized democracies, such as the United States and Western Europe, and Communist states, such as the Soviet Union and Cuba. Poor peasants in El Salvador joined guerrilla groups that were sympathetic to Communist reforms that they believed would distribute wealth and property more equally among all Salvadorans. In 1980 these guerrilla groups formed the Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación (FMLN), or National Liberation Front. In response to this movement, the United States spent $1.5 million a day supporting right-wing, antiCommunist political factions. The result was a 12-year civil war.
Calderón Sol • 55
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Armando Calderón Sol on June 24, 1948, in
San Salvador, El Salvador; married Elizabeth Agu-
irre; children: three sons. Education: Colegio Externado de San José, B.A., 1966; University of El Salvador,
J.D.,
1977.
Politics:
Alianza
Republicana
Nacionalista (ARENA), the Nationalist Republican Alliance. Career: Isidro Menéndez Judicial Center, assistant justice in the civil court and justice of the peace, 1978-80; ARENA, private secretary, legal counsel, vice president of ideology, parliamentary leader, member of the national directorate, 1981-84; Legislative Assembly of El
1986 Calderón Sol became president of the party. Although ARENA’s influence grew in the 1980s, it was difficult for the party to gain political legitimacy. In 1982 and 1984 the United States blocked D’Aubuisson from becoming president of El Salvador because of his terrorist tactics. Instead, Jose Napoleon Duarte, a Christian Democrat, served as president from 1984 until 1989. By the end of the 1980s ARENA was working to change its public image and distance itself from violence and terrorism. Calderón Sol became an important figure in this transformation. “While Calderón Sol’s close and continuing association with the D’Aubuisson group is well documented, his personal role in acts of violence was unclear,” the Washington Post reported. This ambiguous position helped to give Calderón Sol the power of the ARENA party without the taint of bloodshed.
Salvador, 1985-88; ARENA, president, political party, 1986; President of El Salvador, 1994-99. Awards: Trade Leader of the Year, Fifth Annual Bravo Business Awards, 1999. Address: Office—Casa Presidencial Auda Cuba, Calle Dario Gonzalez 806, Barro San Jacinto, San Salvador, El Salvador.
Joined Salvadorian Nationalist Movement Calderón Sol became involved in politics in the midst of this crisis. In the late 1970s he became a member of the Salvadoran Nationalist Movement (MNS), a group of upper-middle class men who supported antiCommunist politics. In 1981 an army intelligence officer, Major Roberto D’Aubuisson, unified the MNS and other right-wing militant groups under one party, the Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA), or Nationalist Republican Alliance. ARENA called for the extermination of the Communists, and was supported in this goal by the oligarchy. A violent organization that used terrorism to accomplish its goals, ARENA was linked to death squads that killed prominent supporters of the FMLN, as well as others who publicly criticized the movement. In 1980 Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated by a death squad, a tragedy which brought national attention to the violence in El Salvador. D’Aubuisson was believed to have ordered the murder. Calderón Sol was 31 years old when ARENA was founded. He worked as D’Aubuisson’s private secretary and held numerous other positions, including legal counsel, vice president of ideology, parliamentary leader, and member of the national directorate. In
Elected to Legislative Assembley From 1985 to 1988 Calderón Sol was a representative in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador. In the spring of 1988 he was elected mayor of San Salvador, the first mayor in 24 years to come from a political party other than the Christian Democrats. Calderón Sol campaigned on a platform of good government and anticorruption. “I want to show that honest, clean people are entering politics,” the New York Times quoted Calderón Sol as saying. Calderón Sol was also very vocal about his opinions regarding the role the United States had played in El Salvador’s economic and political problems. U.S. News and World Report quoted Calderón Sol as saying, “[The United States] has turned us into a country of beggars, dependent on the U.S. taxpayer.” ARENA’s political influence was strengthened in 1989, when its candidate won the presidential election for the first time. Instead of D’Aubuisson, whose image was closely associated with death squads, the candidate was 41-year-old Alfredo Cristiani, an American-educated millionaire businessman. Cristiani was sophisticated, well dressed, and spoke fluent English. He campaigned against the inefficiency and corruption of the Duarte government and promised honesty and efficiency. However, just after Cristiani’s victory in 1989, the conflict between the government and the FMLN heightened. On November 16, 1989, the FMLN stormed the capital with the help of the Salvadoran military, and assassinated six Jesuit priests and two women at the Central American University. International outcry over this event, coupled with the end of the Cold War in 1990, led to intervention by the United Nations. On January 16, 1992, the Peace Accords were signed in Chapultepec, Mexico, signifying the end of the civil war in El Salvador. The FMLN agreed to end the fighting and instead compete as a political party in the next election.
56 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 According to the Salvadoran constitution, the president is elected independently of the Legislative Assembly every five years. In November of 1993 Calderón Sol was officially nominated as ARENA’s presidential candidate for the 1994 elections. That same year Calderón Sol’s mentor, Major Roberto D’Aubuisson, died of cancer. According to a the Los Angeles Times, his legacy was a focal point of ARENA’s presidential campaign, as supporters wore shirts declaring, “D’Aubuisson, you will live forever,” and crowds cheered the slogan, “Fatherland, yes! Communism, no!” The first round of voting took place on March 20, 1994, and Calderón Sol received 49% of the vote. Since he did not receive a majority of the votes, he faced a runoff election against FMLN leader Ruben Zamora on April 24, 1994. Calderón Sol won the runoff with 68% of the vote. Some political observers and journalists called this event the election of the century because they were the most democratic elections in El Salvador’s history. However, low voter turnout of less than 50% of eligible voters as well as widespread charges of fraud meant that, despite his victory, Calderón Sol did not enjoy much support among the general population. According to the Washington Post, Calderón Sol stated in his acceptance speech, “We do not want more confrontation or polarization. We will work for collaboration among all social and political forces to carry forward our great national project.”
Reservations Among the Populus While Calderón Sol campaigned for “a better level of life for all Salvadorans,” many questioned whether he would be able to accomplish this goal. His association with D’Aubuisson led to public concern over a return to violent tactics. In fact, there were several assaults and assassinations related to the 1994 presidential elections, although they were not directly connected to Calderón Sol. In addition, Calderón Sol was not considered to be a strong leader with his own opinions. As one businessman told the Washington Post, “Cristiani was a statesman, while Calderón Sol is more of a populist, a demagogue, provincial in his outlook.” Despite the widespread reservations, Calderón Sol quickly used his new position to introduce radical economic reforms to El Salvador. He filled his cabinet with business leaders and his vice president, Enrique Borgo, was the former president of a major airline. In 1995 the Financial Times (London) reported Calderón Sol as saying, “Our vision as a nation is to transform El Salvador into a land of opportunity, with equity. We want to make the country attractive for local and foreign investment, and incorporate ourselves into the world production chain.” To this end, Calderón Sol introduced economic reforms, such as privatizing major national industries, including utility companies, introducing a currency board, and encouraging foreign trade. It was a bold and risky reform program that was sharply criticized by the FMLN.
By 1996 El Salvador’s economy was responding positively to Calderón Sol’s initiatives. “Once a symbol for Cold War conflict, this tiny Central American nation has suddenly become the staging ground for a different kind of battle: free competition,” reported the Wall Street Journal. The annual gross domestic product had grown from 2.1% to 5.3%, inflation had decreased, and the number of exports had increased. In a statement reported in the Institutional Investor, Calderón Sol boldly declared, “From now until the twenty-first century, El Salvador aims to achieve an economic miracle.”
Worked to Improve Foreign Relations Calderón Sol implemented financial reforms which aimed to decrease El Salvador’s economic dependence on the United States, but he also worked to improve foreign relations with the United States, despite the strong criticisms he had voiced earlier in his political career. In 1996 Calderón Sol met with then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher to discuss trade parity, immigration, and drug trafficking. According to the U.S. Department of State website, “U.S. policy toward El Salvador seeks to promote the strengthening of El Salvador’s democratic institutions, rule of law, judicial reform, and civilian police and national reconciliation and reconstruction, economic opportunity, and growth.” Calderón Sol also worked to strengthen foreign relations with other Central American countries. For example, in 1997 El Salvador agreed to build a “dry canal” highway with Honduras, a once unfriendly neighbor, in order to compete with the Panama Canal. Despite these successes, Calderón Sol faced other challenges. In particular, poverty and crime were still high in El Salvador. Calderón Sol’s economic reforms had not really addressed financial institutions such as banks, and in 1997 a savings and loan scandal cost Salvadorans millions of dollars. In addition Calderón Sol was under continuous scrutiny for not abiding by the 1992 United Nations Peace Accords. In particular, the police force was supposed to be transformed from a military to a civilian organization, land was to be more evenly distributed, and investigations and prosecutions were to be initiated on the death squads. Calderón Sol had only addressed these issues to a very limited extent. In 1999 Calderón Sol completed his five-year term as president and another ARENA candidate, Francisco Flores, won the position. Calderón Sol has continued to push for economic reforms in El Salvador. He has been especially vocal about favoring dolarization of the Salvadoran currency, even when other experts cautioned that it might be too soon. In 1999 Calderón Sol was recognized as Trade Leader of the Year at the Fifth Annual Bravo Business Awards. In the same year he told Latin Trade magazine, “I am motivated toward the free market by the reality of the tiny size of El Salvador: We either had to open ourselves to the world and
Calderón Sol • 57 competition, or to stay submerged in our little corner. The latter is not viable for us.”
Sources Books Current Leaders of Nations, Gale, 1998. Periodicals America, September 17, 1994, p. 4. Baltimore Sun, October 31, 1997, p. 19A. Boston Globe, April 24, 1994, p. 4. Chicago Sun-Times, June 5, 1994, p. 42. Christian Century (Chicago), May 18, 1994, p. 516. Commonweal, June 17, 1994, p. 7. Economist, April 23, 1994, p. 46. Financial Times (London), February 23, 1995, p. 6; May 19, 1999, p. 5. Guardian (London), March 23, 1994, p. 3.
Institutional Investor, January 1997, p. E2. Latin Trade, October 1999. Los Angeles Times, March 29, 1993, p. 14. New York Times, September 21, 1988, p. A4. U.S. Department of State Dispatch, March 4, 1996, p. 83. U.S. News and World Report, January 23, 1989, p. 30. Wall Street Journal, July 30, 1998, p. A15. Washington Post, April 17, 1994, p. C1; April 24, 1994, p. A21; June 2, 1994, p. A25; March 9, 1999, p. A9. On-line U.S. Department of State, www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/ bgn/2033.htm World History Archives, www.hartford-hwp.com/ archives/47/index-db.html —Janet P. Stamatel
58 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Josefina G. Carbonell 1950— Head of U.S. Administration on Aging
The top U.S. official serving the elderly, Josefina G. Carbonell has become a national leader in innovative community services. When she accepted this position in 2001, she became the highestranking Hispanic-American appointee to the Department of Health and Human Services. Carbonell has earned respect from Republicans while working as CEO of the Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Centers (LHANC) of Dade County, Florida, and as a national technical assistance team member of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which fostered health clinics and employment and housing programs for immigrants and refugees in Houston, Miami, and New Orleans. A federal appointment in 2001 made her the first local service provider to head the nation’s Administration on Aging (AoA). A native of Cuba, Carbonell emigrated from Havana to Miami, Florida in 1961. She attended Miami Dade Community College and studied public administration at Florida International University. With a Kellogg Fellowship in Health Management, she graduated from an executive program at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Carbonell gained firsthand knowledge of the multi-generational families she served
from her parents and son, Alfredo Carbonell, a physician. She has personally experienced the challenges of caring for aging parents and two maternal aunts, one homebound with Alzheimer’s disease. Carbonell commented on the difficulties of round-the-clock care in Today’s Caregiver: “Until it strikes you personally, you really don’t realize the tremendous impact and the challenges that lie ahead.”
Founded LHANC An advocate for thirty years, Carbonell worked to improve the quality of life for refugees and the dignity and well-being of elderly and handicapped Miamians. In 1972 she founded the Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Centers (LHANC), a multi-service agency that began with a single meal center for seniors. In 1984, two years after becoming the agency’s president, she organized Rainbow, a child-care program staffed by Little Havana’s elderly, she organized a Cuban Independence Day celebration and dance in Jose Marti Park, and aided Mariel Cubans in registering as aliens. Rapidly outgrowing its original headquarters in Hialeah, Florida, LHANC burgeoned into the country’s largest health and human services organization aiding elderly Hispanics.
Carbonell • 59
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Josefina G. Carbonell in 1950, in Cuba;
emigrated from Havana to Miami, Florida, 1961;
children: Dr. Alfredo Carbonell. Education: Miami Dade Community College, A. S.; Florida International University, public administration degree; state and local executive, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard. Politics: Republican. Career: Little Havana Activities and Nutrition Centers (LHANC) of Dade County, Florida, founder, 1972, president 1982; Office of Refugee Resettlement, national technical assistance team member; lobbyist for welfare and immigration reform, 1999; head of the U. S. Administration on Aging, 2001–. Awards: Kellogg Fellowship in Health Management; Miami Citizen of Year Award, 1992; Miami Herald Charles Whited Spirit of Excellence Award, 1993; City of Miami’s Women Worth Knowing Award, 1994; National Alliance for Hispanic Health Community Service Award, 1995; Social Security Administration Commissioner’s Team Award, 1997; United Way Monsignor Bryan Walsh Outstanding Human Service Award, 1997; named one of Hispanic Business’s 100 Most Influential Hispanics, 2001; Claude Pepper Community Service Award, 2001. Addresses: Office—330 Independence Ave. SW, Room 4760, Washington, DC 20201 (202) 401-4541. Email—
[email protected]. Website—http:// www.aoa.gov.
Carbonell launched Dade County health and social initiatives, supported elder care, and founded a volunteer citizenship program and meal delivery to homebound patients suffering with HIV/AIDS. She opened the Pro-Salud Clinic, Florida’s pilot program offering health screening, primary care, wellness management, and medication control to older adults and their families. She also implemented Florida’s Volunteer Health Professionals Program, which assists during national emergencies. In addition to volunteer resources, she secured a five-year grant of $186,000 from Proyecto HEAL, which assured basic, affordable medical care to the agency’s 41,000 clients. In early October of 2000, Carbonell helped deliver meals and water to elders isolated by flooding during Hurricane Irene.
Carbonell was interested in politics throughout her career as a social services advocate. In June of 1999, she organized support for a bill to restore Medicaid, Children Health Insurance Program, Supplemental Security Income, and food stamps to legal immigrants, focusing on children, the elderly, and the disabled. Because the bill affected the lives of 8,000 Miamians, Carbonell fought for vulnerable people who were disenfranchised by restrictions on the 1996 immigration and welfare reform laws. Under the slogan “Fix 96,” she championed civil rights organizations, religious institutions, and immigrants from Cuba, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. A year later, Carbonell lobbied Congress to reauthorize the Older Americans Act. Carbonell was a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Aging and to the 1999 White House Conference on Mental Health. She also served on the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the Florida Commission on Long Term Care, the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, and the Theodore Gibson Memorial Fund. She has been honored with numerous awards, including a 1992 Miami Citizen of Year Award, a 1993 Miami Herald Charles Whited Spirit of Excellence Award, a 1994 Miami Beach Women Worth Knowing Award, a 1995 National Alliance for Hispanic Health Community Service Award, a 1997 Social Security Administration Commissioner’s Team Award, and a 1997 United Way Monsignor Bryan Walsh Outstanding Human Service Award. In 2001 Carbonell was named one of Hispanic Business’s 100 Most Influential Hispanics and was the winner of a Claude Pepper Community Service Award.
Selected to Head the AoA Nominated to head the Administration on Aging (AoA) on June 7, 2001, Carbonell was unanimously accepted by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 1, 2001. Sworn in one week later, Carbonell became the first Floridian to serve in the AoA and the third Cuban American to hold a prominent position in the George W. Bush administration. By accepting this new challenge, Carbonell left a functioning geriatric service complex comprised of 500 volunteers staffing 21 sites and serving over 55,000 registered clients. One of her final accomplishments for LHANC was the founding of the first senior center dedicated to the care of Haitians in South Florida. In a United States government press release, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson lauded her “first-hand knowledge of the real issues faced by a dynamic population of older Americans and their families.” Carbonell brought to the AoA her considerable skill in refugee resettlement and in leading a family-centered agency that was both intergenerational and culturally diverse. She earned respect for publicizing the hardship of long-term caregiving and for recognizing the “gray-
60 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 ing of America.” Upon taking office, Carbonell began developing policy and planning service delivery for the elderly and their caregivers. Similar to the maze of networked and interdependent programs in Dade County, the AoA relied on state and local agencies, volunteers, and tribal organizations to answer the challenges raised by the increasing longevity of the U.S. population. A recognized expert on health, nutrition, and emotional support, Carbonell missed the personal touch of aiding elderly Miamians, but thrived on the demands of a federal job touching millions of lives. Her office developed plans for upgraded outreach and case management; the AoA handled referrals to existing service agencies, for transportation and personal care, and for daycare and meal preparation and delivery. Carbonell’s staff also surveyed methods of preventing elder abuse, declines in health and vigor, and financial and legal problems. For family caregivers, AoA bolstered support, education and demonstration, and research. In November of 2001, Carbonell observed National Family Caregiver Month with an appearance on the radio station WMKV-FM. She described her own family’s needs and expressed hope in a fully implemented federal aid program, National Family Caregiver’s Support Program (NFCSP), a $125 million boost to the Older Americans Act. The program, one of her first successes in Washington, is a flexible model based on first-person reports on nurturing the homebound and on current research into caregivers’ problems. NFCSP coordinates numerous sources of assistance at the community, local, and state levels. To gain information from frustrated families, Carbonell’s staff set up listening sessions to determine needs; they also collected data on inconsistencies in service by identifying communities that lack support and on those unaware of government aid. Carbonell envisioned the future of NFCSP as providing help for caregivers juggling home duties with jobs. Her concerns included stress from unrelieved stretches of tending the elderly and sick, the increasing costs of prescription drugs and medical treatment, and the fatigue, worry, and frustration that cause caregivers to make workplace errors and miss meetings and workdays. She asserted in Today’s Caregiver that “the business community needs to look at long-term care and support services as a benefit. So we will be working together with the private sector in developing ideas and coming up with solutions.” In the long-term, Carbonell proposed adding support for improved planning in the face of demands resulting from aging and debilitation. She advocated using faithbased communities, training sessions, youth assistance at household chores, and respite programs that replace caregivers temporarily with volunteers. In sympathy with hard-pressed families, she commented to Today’s Caregiver, “I think we struggle as we try to do everything, and we just have to realize that we’re not alone.”
She urged all citizens to network with other families, to talk honestly about hardships and to share experiences and advice.
Attended World Assembly on Aging Carbonell led a U. S. delegation to the Second World Assembly on Aging in Madrid, Spain. She and other representatives of United Nations member states established the International Plan of Action on Aging. The plan looked into global needs arising from changes in the environment and from migrations in a population rapidly rising in median age. Carbonell emphasized the urgent need for reasonable policies at the domestic level, which impact some 35 million elderly Americans. For Older Americans Month in May of 2002, Carbonell chose the theme “America: A Community for All Ages.” She paid tribute to the family as the nation’s strength and noted that 95 percent of personal care comes from the family. She saluted unselfish gifts of comfort, security, and sustenance, and honored the historical perspective that the elderly provide to young people as they seek self-affirmation and prosperity. For fiscal 2003, she requested $1.3 billion to fund the NFCSP as well as Medicare patrols, research and training, home services, and Meals on Wheels. As head of the AoA, Carbonell has also established goals to lessen language barriers, upgrade literacy and acculturation, and counter isolation and post-traumatic stress disorders among refugees. As a Cuban immigrant, she commiserated with the difficulty of adjusting to a foreign land and customs, and the fear of the elderly that they will die and be buried far from home. To reach people of retirement age often overlooked by community support groups, she proposed agency collaboration to build trust and enhance quality of life.
Sources Periodicals Claude Pepper Foundation Newsletter, Winter 2000. Elder Update, November 2000. Hispanic Business, April 3, 2002. Hispanic, July 2001. Miami Herald, September 1, 1984; June 22, 1999; June 8, 2001. National Journal, June 23, 2001. Today’s Caregiver, January/February 2002. U. S. Wire, April 3, 2002. Washington Post, June 11, 2001. On-line www.pbscaregiving.org/newsltr/111501.html http:// www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/orr/techasst/wk s-fam.htm http://wmkvfm.org/care/ carbonell.ram
Carbonell • 61 http://www.hhs.gov/about/bios/aoa.html http://www.ci.miami-beach.fl.us/newcity/press/ press00/pr031500.htm http://www.aoa.gov/may2002/theme.html http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/ 06/20010607-5.html http://www.rwjf.org/app/rw_grant_results _reports/ rw_grr/barrierse-r02.htm http://www.aoa.gov/pressroom/Pr2001/ confirmation.html http:// www.nimh.nih.gov/whitehouse/list.asp http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/woman/ Article_Detail.asp?Article_ID=5454 —Mary Ellen Snodgrass
62 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Franklin R. Chang-Díaz 1950— Astronaut, physicist
As one of the first Hispanic Americans to fly in space, astronaut and physicist Franklin R. Chang-Díaz has participated in seven space shuttle missions. He is a specialist in applied plasma physics and fusion technology, and has worked on experiments aboard the space shuttle that, it is hoped, will lead to significant improvements in the manufacture of medicines. His current research at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, which focuses on plasma propulsion technology, is expected to contribute toward achieving workable methods for human space flights to Mars.
Advice from von Braun Franklin R. Chang-Díaz was born on April 5, 1950, in San Josè, Costa Rica. His father, Ramòn Chang, was an oil worker whose own father had escaped China during the Boxer Rebellion. “I’m not only Hispanic, but I’m part Chinese,” the astronaut explained to Boston Globe writer Peggy Hernandez. “To define me only as Hispanic is too narrow.” One of six children, ChangDíaz wanted to become an astronaut since he was seven. He told Hernandez that he used to sit outside the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica listening to radio
broadcasts between Houston mission control and the Mercury and Gemini space crews. “I knew the names of all the astronauts,” he said, “[b]ut I thought, ‘Who is this guy Roger? Boy, this guy is lucky. He gets to go on all the flights.’” With his cousins, Chang-Díaz would often play astronaut, using an empty cardboard box in the yard as a space ship. “I would count down. The spaceship would lift off and we would land on a planet,” he told Hernandez. “Then, we would get out and we would explore the new world.” After the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in 1957, Chang-Díaz wrote a letter in Spanish to scientist Werner von Braun, the leading rocket researcher of the time, who was then living in the United States after an earlier career developing the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany. The boy asked for advice on how to become an astronaut, and von Braun recommended that he study math and science, but learn these subjects in English and in the United States. After completing high school in Costa Rica, Chang-Díaz—who had saved fifty dollars for the purpose—moved to Connecticut to further his education. He lived in Hartford with an uncle and cousins, but spoke no English and had insufficient academic credits to gain admission to an
Chang-Díaz • 63
At a Glance . . .
B
orn April 5, 1950, in San Josè, Costa Rica; son of
Ramòn A. Chang and Maria Eugenia Díaz; mar-
ried Peggy Marguerite Doncaster; four children. Education: University of Connecticut, B.S. in mechanical engineering, 1973; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sc.D. in applied plasma physics, 1977. Career: Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, researcher, 1977-83; MIT Plasma Fusion Center, visiting scientist, 1983-93; Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory,
necticut. There he obtained a B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1973. In 1977 he completed his doctorate in plasma physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While still an undergraduate, Chang-Díaz was part of a research team that developed experiments involving high energy atomic collisions. During his graduate studies at MIT, he worked on the U.S. controlled fusion program, with particular focus on the design and function of fusion reactors. After earning his Ph.D. in applied plasma physics, he joined the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, where he continued research on fusion reactor technology. His innovations there included a new concept for guiding and targeting fuel pellets inside a fusion reaction chamber.
Johnson Space Center, director, 1993–. Selected as astronaut by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 1980, veteran of seven space missions, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002; founded Astronaut Science Colloquium Program, 1987; cofounder and director, Astronaut Science Support Group, 1987-89. Adjunct professor of physics, Rice University and University of Houston. Awards: Outstanding Alumni Award, University of Connecticut, 1980; NASA Space Flight Medals, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998; NASA Distinguished Service Medals, 1995, 1997; NASA Exceptional Service Medals, 1988, 1990, 1993; Liberty Medal, awarded by President Ronald Reagan, 1986; Medal of Excellence, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, 1987; Cross of the Venezuelan Air Force, 1988; Flight Achievement Award, American Astronautical Society, 1989; honorary doctorates from Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, University of Connecticut, Babson College, and Universidade de Santiago de Chile; honorary faculty, College of Engineering, University of Costa Rica; “Honorary Citizen”, government of Costa Rica, 1995; Wyld Propulsion Award, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2001; Hispanic
Chosen by NASA In May of 1980 Chang-Díaz was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its elite astronaut corps—one of only 19 chosen from 3,000 applicants. He became an astronaut in August of 1981 and flew six space shuttle missions between 1986 and 1998. During his astronaut training at NASA, Chang-Díaz worked on flight software checkout at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. He also contributed to early design studies for the Space Station. In 1982 he was named to the support crew for the first Spacelab mission, and in 1983 was an orbit capsule communicator for that flight. In addition to his research at NASA, Chang-Díaz was active in astronaut support services. Chang-Díaz founded the Astronaut Science Colloquium Program in January of 1987. This program worked on building closer relationships between astronauts and scientists. Another organization, the Astronaut Science Support Group, was launched with Chang-Díaz’s help in 1988. Its purpose, according to a NASA release, was to improve data return and simplify equipment repairs in space by utilizing the expertise of astronauts who have flown Space Shuttle missions. The group also advised the National Space Transportation System and the Space Station programs on science and technology issues. Chang-Díaz served as director of the group until January of 1989.
Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference Hall of Fame, 2001. Address: Office—National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058.
American university. So he enrolled in transitional classes at Hartford High School, graduating in 1969 and earning a scholarship to the University of Con-
On January 12, 1986, Chang-Díaz began his first flight mission, STS 61-C. On this flight, the Space Shuttle Columbia completed 96 orbits of earth and launched the SATCOM KU satellite. Chang-Díaz participated in the deployment of the satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics; he also operated the materials processing laboratory. The Columbia landed safely on January 18, 1986. Chang-Díaz’s next flight was STS-34 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. On this mission, which was launched on October 18, 1989, the crew deployed the Galileo
64 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 spacecraft, which was programmed to explore the planet Jupiter. The crew also operated the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Instrument to map ozone in the earth’s atmosphere, and conducted various other experiments. The mission completed 79 orbits of earth and landed on October 23, 1989. On STS-46, also aboard the Atlantis, Chang-Díaz and other crew members launched the European Retrievable Carrier satellite and tested the first Tethered Satellite System. This mission involved 126 orbits of earth and lasted eight days, from July 31 to August 8, 1992. In 1994 Chang-Díaz began his fourth mission, STS-60, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. This was the first joint U.S.-Russian Space Shuttle mission to include a Russian cosmonaut as a crew member. It was also the first flight of the Wake Shield Facility and the second flight of the Space Habitation Module-2. On this flight, Chang-Díaz participated in several experiments involving biological materials, earth observation, and life science. The Discovery completed 130 orbits of earth on this mission and landed on February 11, 1994. Chang-Díaz’s next flight was STS-75, which completed 252 orbits of earth in 1996. On this mission, the shuttle crew conducted additional Tethered Satellite System experiments, showing that tethers produce electricity and provided researchers with much new information about the electrodynamics of tethers and plasma physics. Other research, on the U.S. Microgravity Payload, provided data helpful in the improvement of the production of medicines, metal alloys, and semiconductors. The mission completed 252 orbits of earth in fifteen days. On STS-91 in 1998, Chang-Díaz was a mission specialist. This was the ninth and final Shuttle-Mir docking mission, concluding the first phase of the joint USRussian Space Shuttle program. Chang-Díaz and other Discovery crew members conducted resupply of the Russian space station Mir, and also ran experiments on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which was the first research of its kind on antimatter in space. Chang-Díaz’s most recent flight, STS-111, was launched on June 5, 2002 and was the seventh space mission for the astronaut—tying a record set by Jerry Ross in April of 2002. “I’m just getting started,” Chang-Díaz commented in an article on Space.com. “I’m hoping that these kinds of records will be easily broken ѧ many times over.” During the 12-day mission, Chang-Díaz participated in three space walks.
Used Space Technology for Improving Drugs An interesting aspect of Chang-Díaz’s work in space is its possible role in finding new treatments for diseases. In 1991, while in Costa Rica to promote more Latin American participation in space projects, Chang-Díaz met with Dr. Jose Zaglul, president of Earth University
in Mercedes, Costa Rica. They began discussing the potential that tropical rainforests might have for the discovery of new drugs, including a possible cure for Chagas’s disease, a malady caused by the parasite Trypanosoma that kills some 45,000 people a year, mostly in Latin America. Because the microgravity of space creates ideal conditions for the production of crystals—the basic structure of some drugs—ChangDíaz theorized that the space shuttle could become an important lab for testing components of and treatments for Chagas’s disease. He persuaded NASA biochemist Dr. Lawrence J. DeLucas to help him develop and run experiments on the shuttle relevant to the disease. On STS-75, they attempted to study a protein made by the Chagas parasite, but did not have enough time to complete the experiment. Astronauts on four later flights, however, crystallized extracts of an enzyme produced in the disease and researched compounds that could be successful in treating it. This type of research, Chang-Díaz believed, will provide other kinds of benefits as well—including increased access for Latin-American countries to space technology. “The people of these countries may not have a lot of money,” he said in a New York Times article, “but they have brain power. In Latin America’s political environment, the correlation between economic development and access to space technology is not yet seen. But the Chagas project could change that.” In addition, the project could lead to other innovations. “There is a great connection between the rain forest, biodiversity, and space,” Chang-Díaz continued. “Earth University is developing revolutionary techniques for agriculture that take advantage of environmental conditions to grow crops in the framework of environmental wholeness. That’s exactly what we must do on long-term duration space missions.”
Travel to Mars Chang-Díaz’s research on plasma rocket engines could lead to technology that would significantly reduce the amount of time required to travel from Earth to Mars. With current technology, based on chemical propulsion, rockets can achieve a speed of only 10,000 miles per hour; this would make a trip to Mars take at least ten months each way. Higher rocket speeds could be reached if the spacecraft’s propellant were superheated—but this, Chang-Díaz has pointed out, would cause the rocket to melt. But the variable specific impulse magnetic resonance (VASIMR) propulsion system, on which Chang-Díaz has worked for more than 20 years, avoids this problem by using magnetic fields to contain and guide the propellant gases. Chang-Díaz described the process, in a New York Times article, as “like a microwave oven.” With the VASIMR engine, rockets could achieve speeds of 650,000 miles per hour. At the same time, ChangDíaz explained, VASIMR’s superior fuel efficiency would significantly reduce the weight of the space-
Chang-Díaz • 65 craft—and therefore the high cost of space missions. He has calculated that a VASIMR—powered mission to Mars, including one spacecraft for astronauts and another for supplies, would weigh only about 400 tons half the weight of an earlier design for a Mars mission. VASIMR technology could cut the time of a mission from Earth to Mars from ten months to only 93 days. Though VASIMR is not the only propulsion system being considered by NASA, Chang-Díaz said in the New York Times that “I think it’s the technology that’s going to take us to Mars.” The VASIMR propulsion system could be operational for a Mars mission by 2018.
sharing space-age technologies with developing nations.
Sources Periodicals Boston Globe, January 3, 1986, p. 9. Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1997, pp. B1, 5. MIT Tech Talk, February 3, 1999. New York Times, June 20, 2000, p. D5; November 28, 2000, p. D8. On-line
Active in promoting support for space programs, especially in Latin America, Chang-Díaz has also participated in community service work. He spent two and a half years as a house manager in an experimental residence for chronic mental patients who were being released from institutionalized care. He has also worked as an instructor and advisor for a Massachusetts rehabilitation program for Hispanic drug abusers. Chang-Díaz travels widely in the United States, Mexico, and Latin America, speaking on the importance of
Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference, http://www.henaac.org National Aeronautics and Space Administration, astronaut biography, http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios /htmlbios/chang.htm National Aeronautics and Space Administration, STS-111 information, http://www.spaceflight.nasa .gov/shuttle/ —Elizabeth Shostak
66 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
César Chávez 1927-1993 Labor leader
From his birth into brutal poverty as the son of Mexican immigrants, César Estrada Chávez dedicated his life to improving the lot of migrant farm workers in the United States. Through his courage and devotion to “La Causa,” he created the first union to successfully represent the interest of the farm laborers who had for generations been exploited because of poverty, ignorance, and racism. Although his first strike, in 1965 against California grape growers, was unsuccessful in its immediate aims, Chávez drew national attention to the abysmal living and working conditions endured by many migrant workers in Arizona, Texas, Florida, and California. In his role as the founder of the United Farm Workers labor union, Chávez marshaled grassroots support, and by the 1970s had motivated Americans from all walks of life to join in protests and boycotts in support of agricultural workers. After his union joined the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and he became executive director, Chávez broadened his support to environmental hazards in the workplace. His tireless efforts during the mid-twentieth century also made Chávez one of the first national role models for Hispanic Americans, who had until then been invisible to the U.S. media.
Grew Up In Poverty “A few men and women have engraved their names in the annals of change through nonviolence,” Arthur Jones wrote in an eulogy of Chávez published in the National Catholic Reporter, “but none have experienced the grinding childhood poverty that Chávez did.” Indeed, Chávez’s ability to represent the interests of migrant workers so effectively was a direct result of his early life. Born in Yuma, Arizona, in 1927, his earliest memories coincided with the Great Depression where, as one of five children born to farmers Librado and Juana Chávez, he experienced incredible privation. His parents, whose families had immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the wake of the country’s political upheaval during the first decades of the 20th century, ran a small farm near Yuma until the Depression forced them out of business. When Chávez was ten the bank foreclosed on his father, forcing the Chávez family to travel from farm to farm during the harvest season in search of work. In this manner they arrived in California in 1939, competing for back-breaking, low-paying jobs with thousands of other men, women, and children who lived in their cars or found temporary shelter in the tin shacks
C. Chávez • 67
At a Glance . . .
B
orn March 31, 1927, in Yuma, Arizona; died
April 23, 1993, in San Luis, Arizona; married;
eight children. Education: Attended public schools until age 12. Religion: Roman Catholic. Military Service: U.S. Navy, 1944-45. Career: Community Service Organization, field operative, then state director, 1952-62; National Farm Workers Association (later United Farm Workers Operations Committee), founder and director, 1962-93.
characteristic of migrant labor camps. Growing up in this type of life—working sometimes for as little as eight cents an hour and surviving the winter with no shoes and barely enough to eat—the Chávez children did not receive a regular education, and by César’s recollection, he attended over 35 different segregated schools before abandoning his education after the seventh grade to work full-time. However, his parents gave him a firm grounding in the Catholic faith, which helped him endure and overcome the circumstances of his childhood. In 1939 the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) began to send union organizers out into the fields near San Jose, California, where Chávez and his family worked, in an attempt to organize the region’s driedfruit industry workers. Librado Chávez and his brother risked their jobs and courageously joined other workers in picket lines. Although the CIO’s efforts ultimately failed, Librado’s belief in the power of workers banding together to improve their lot inspired his son, who joined the National Agricultural Workers Union in 1946. Because of the itinerant habits, grueling hours, and fear of reprisals endured by migrant workers, this union joined with several other agricultural labor unions in unsuccessful efforts to achieve solidarity among farm workers. During World War II Chávez joined the U.S. Navy and spent two years in the service. In 1945 he returned to California and to his life as a migrant worker. Three years later, at age 21, he married Helen Fabela, with whom he had eight children. Determined to break with his migrant past, Chávez put down roots in Delano and worked at local farms.
Risked Life Savings to Form Union As a farm worker with a wife and growing family, Chávez’s frustration over his treatment as a farm worker and the legacy he would leave his children inspired him to take up the union cause again. Through
Catholic Father Donald McDonnell, Chávez met union recruiter Fred Ross in 1952. This meeting sparked his active involvement in organized labor and his ten- year work on behalf of the Community Service Organization (CSO). Because he was himself a field worker, Chávez was effective in setting up local chapters of the CSO in ways that previous union organizers—such as politicians, clergymen, and intellectuals—had not been able to do. Working to build rural CSO membership through voter registration drives and assisting the organization’s Mexican and Mexican-American members with immigration- and welfare-related issues, Chávez rose in the organization to the position of statewide director. Still convinced that unionization was the best way to solve the problems of CSO members, Chávez ultimately left his post in 1962 after the CSO balked at supporting a farm workers union. Risking $900 of his own money, he formed the Farm Workers Association (FWA), basing the fledgling organization in his home in Delano, California. Chávez traveled from farm to farm throughout the rich agricultural valleys of southern California, working to convince migrant workers to join the FWA. A passionate and convincing speaker, he saw membership grow and, with the support of local Catholic priests and civil rights lawyers, he was soon able to assist workers in labor negotiations with growers in the fertile Imperial and San Joaquin valleys. Within three years FWA membership was almost 2,000; the union was now in a position to negotiate for wage increases among the region’s smaller growers. In the fall of 1965 the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC)—a small arm of the AFL-CIO led by Larry Itliang that represented the many Filipino grape pickers who had entered California beginning in the 1930s— went on strike against growers in Delano. They asked Chávez and his union to join them in solidarity. While Chávez knew his small union could not effectively strike on its own, it could be effective in helping the AWOC. His call to FWA members to strike for “La Causa” marked a pivotal point in union history. Inspired by his own strong Catholic principles as well as the nonviolence practiced by leaders such as India’s Mahatmas Gandhi and black civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Chávez and AWOC leaders used picket lines, a nationwide consumer boycott, and protest rallies as weapons in their economic war against agricultural interests. An outdoor mass or small prayer session preceded union marches and strike activity. In the spring of 1967, Chávez led a 300-mile march from Delano to Sacramento. By the time he and the 65 original farm workers reached Sacramento 25 days later, they had been joined by 10,000 supporters and attracted the attention of Americans all across the nation. Catching the momentum of the social protest movement that had been fueled by both the civil rights movement and disputes over U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, Chávez’s cause brought together blue collar workers and college students, Blacks and Latinos, Catholics and Jews, and even prompted partici-
68 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 pation from America’s middle class. In addition, radicalized young people of the barrios viewed Chávez and his cause as a crusade for La Raze—the Hispanic race. In 1966, mid-strike, the FWA merged with the AFLCIO to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC). With the power of the nation’s largest labor organization behind him, Chávez was able to negotiate labor agreements with Gallo and Christian Bros. wineries, acquiring better wages, pension and medical benefits, and better living conditions for those who worked the fields. Unfortunately, more powerful concerns with the money to ride out the effects of the strike refused to come to the bargaining table. In early 1968 Chávez spearheaded a new boycott, this time levied at the prime resisters: table grape growers— growers who produced 90% of the edible grapes consumed in the United States. Grape sales dropped 12% nationwide as a result. In 1969, as “La huelga”—the strike—entered its fourth year and violence began to escalate, California’s Catholic bishops attempted to aid in the negotiations through their ad hoc Committee on Farm Labor, with Msgr. Cardinal Roger Mahony attending negotiations between the two parties. Other supporters included U.S. congressmen Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy and the leadership of both the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO. Due to Chávez’s ability to marshal members in highly visible ways, the strike received extensive coverage by the national press, with many publications pressing for a resolution in favor of the workers.
Began Hunger Strike Mirroring Gandhi and his promotion of passive resistance, in the midst of the boycott, Chávez embarked upon 25 days of fasting as a way to publicize his boycott around the country, and also staged protest marches as far away as Texas and other agriculturebased states that employed migrant labor. In July of 1970, 26 growers signed agreements with the UFWOC, and within a few months over 80% of the table growers had entered into union contracts with their workers, establishing equitable wages and improving living conditions. Crediting his fast for promoting the UFWOC’s final negotiations, Chávez repeated the technique in later union efforts, saying in the National Catholic Reporter: ”I am convinced that the truest act of courage ѧ is to sacrifice ourselves in a totally nonviolent struggle for justice.“ With its first battle won, in 1970 the UFWOC focused its attention on iceberg lettuce growers in Arizona and Salinas, California, where lettuce pickers worked in unreasonable conditions for little money. Despite the collusion between growers, large corporations, and members of the Teamsters Union—then expelled from the AFL-CIO and acting independently—to derail UFWOC efforts, Chávez’s initiation of a strike and nation-
wide boycott of California lettuce in September of 1970 ultimately brought the growers to the table—and left Chávez briefly jailed in violation of a court order against such action. The publicity surrounding Chávez’s arrest illustrated to the nation the high-pressure tactics used by growers who allied with the Teamsters as a way to undermine the efforts of UFWOC operators. One result of his arrest was the passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which created the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. From then on union organizers had access to the field, and workers had the right to a secret ballot in union elections. Within two years the UFWOC had been legitimized; it had contracts with 147 growers and represented 50,000 farm workers.
Pressured by Larger Labor Union Although they were able to get initial contracts with major agricultural concerns, the UFWOC had difficulty in renewing them. Throughout the 1970s, as these labor contracts came up for renewal, the Teamsters Union—then the largest labor union in the country— continued to bypass Chávez and his group and negotiate directly with California’s largest growers. Ultimately, the AFL-CIO interceded and in 1979 the Teamsters agreed to cease its efforts to organize field hands; instead, it focused on canners, packers and truck drivers. By the early 1980s, at its peak, the UFWOC counted close to 100,000 agricultural workers among its members. In 1982, after the governorship of the state of California passed into new hands, the relationship between labor and government became less amicable. As a result, unions were no longer given input into legislation regarding labor matters, the pro-labor provisions of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act were eradicated through legislative means, and competition between the AFL-CIO, Chávez’s UFWOC, and other small unions became more intense. It was clear to Chávez that his union had lost its ability to enact positively on the lives of its members, and a declining membership base confirmed his assessment. In addition, his primary activities—boycotts, protest marches, and negotiations—were reactive, while union growth required a membership base gained only through converts in the fields.
Dissent, Changing Times Diminished Union Power Looking for a way in which he could continue to make a difference in the lives of agricultural workers, Chávez focused on health issues: the consequences of pesticide exposure on those people working in the fields. A four-year boycott of California-grown table grapes and a 36-day fast by Chávez in 1988 both helped focus
C. Chávez • 69 national attention on irresponsible pesticide use, but times had changed. While some environmentalists supported the UFWOC’s efforts, organizations such as the Sierra Club refused. The generation that had supported Chávez and his efforts during the 1970s was older and less liberal-minded now, and the boycott was not powerful enough to enact the changes Chávez desired. In addition, the UFWOC was increasingly embroiled in legislative issues, while its power struggle with the Teamsters had also drained its political energies. By the late 1980s union membership had fallen to 20,000. Chávez continued to dedicate himself to La Causa for the remainder of his life. He died near the Arizona town where he was born, on April 23, 1993, at age sixty-six. As a testimony to the effects of his efforts, over 30,000 mourners joined his four-mile funeral procession six days later, many viewing him as “a national metaphor of justice, humanity, equality, and freedom,” according to Richard A. García in Pacific Historical Review. Pope John Paul II, President Bill Clinton, and the president of Mexico also sent representatives to honor Chávez, who had become a symbol of not only the accomplishments of organized labor but also of Mexican Americans. During the decade following Chávez’s death, his efforts continued to be recognized. The César E. Chávez Foundation, founded in 1993 with the help of the Chávez family, is dedicated to promoting his life and the spirit of La Causa. 1999 saw the Texas House of Representatives pass a bill honoring Chávez and establishing March 31st (his birthday) as a state holiday. In 2001 the state of California honored him by marking March 30th as the annual César E. Chávez Day, the first celebration of which brought the state’s governor, Cardinal Mahony, Ethel Kennedy, and other notables together in the labor leader’s memory. In a New Yorker eulogy, novelist Peter Matthiessen wrote of Chávez: “Self sacrifice lay at the very heart of the devotion he inspired, and gave dignity and hope not only to farmworkers but to every one of the Chicano people, who saw for themselves what one brave
man, indifferent to his own health and welfare, could accomplish.”
Sources Books Ferriss, Susan, and Ricardo Sandoval, The Fight in the Fields: César Chávez and the Farmworkers Movement, Harcourt, Brace, 1997. Griswold del Castillo, Richard, and Richard A. Garcia, César Chávez: A Life of Struggle and Sacrifice, Norman, 1995. Kanellos, Nicolás, editor, Hispanic-American Almanac, Gale, 1993. Levy, Jacques E., César Chávez: Autobiography of La Causa, W. W. Norton, 1975. Meister, Dick, and Anne Loftis, A Long Time Coming: The Struggle to Unionize America’s Farm Workers, 1977. Legends in Their Own Time, Prentice-Hall, 1994. Taylor, Ronald B., Chávez and the Farm Workers, Beacon Press, 1975. Periodicals America, May 22, 1993, p. 4. Christian Century, May 12, 1993, pp. 513-14. Commonweal, June 4, 1993. Nation, July 26-August 2, 1993, pp. 130-35. National Catholic Reporter, May 7, 1993, pp. 5-7, 28. New Republic, November 25, 1985. Newsweek, May 3, 1993; July 24, 2000. New Yorker, May 17, 1993, p. 82. Pacific Historical Review, February 1, 1999; May, 1994. People, September 5, 1988, p. 52. PR Newswire, March 30, 2001. Progressive, July 1992, p. 14. Time, July 4, 1969, pp. 16-22; May 3, 1993. —P. L. Shelton
70 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Denise Chávez 1948— Writer
Inspired by the distinctive culture of the southwestern Borderlands where she was born, writer Denise Elia Chávez has gained critical recognition for her drama and fiction that explores themes of Chicano identity. Chávez writes about waitresses and handymen, hospital workers and bag ladies, and the complex social ties that both constrain and sustain them. As she explained in a Los Angeles Times article, “I know where my heart is and where my strength comes from: the landscape, the mountains, friendship, my cultura.”
Cultural and Literary Roots Chávez’s southwestern roots run deep. She still lives in the house on La Colonia Street in Las Cruces, New Mexico, once owned by her grandmother, where she was born on August 15, 1948. Her family placed great emphasis on education. Chávez’s mother, a schoolteacher, spoke flawless Spanish and English and insisted on the same for her children. From an early age, Chávez loved to read and write. She began keeping a diary, and also absorbed the stories she heard from extended family members during summer visits in west Texas. “The untold stories were always the ones that,
as kids, we found the most interesting,” she commented in a Los Angeles Times piece. “Like the one about why one of my uncles had only half an ear. The story was that he’d been in a terrible accident, but we knew there was more to it.” Her love of books was also a family affair. “My grandmother loved to read,” Chávez continued. “She found a joy in the language. These were people who had a love of literature and language.” After her parents divorced when she was ten, Chávez lived with her grandmother, mother, sister, and halfsister—an environment that Chávez credits for the strong female influences in her writing. Much as she loved hearing and telling stories, though, the young Chávez did not plan to become a writer. As a teenager she worked in a local hospital and aspired to be an actress. She attended Madonna High School, an allgirls Catholic school where, she told Boston Globe writer Alisa Valdes, “we learned we could do anything we wanted to, and were never told we couldn’t succeed.” There Chávez nurtured her budding interest in theater by performing in drama productions. She attended New Mexico State University, where she majored in drama and wrote her first play, The Wait,
D. Chávez • 71
At a Glance . . .
B
orn August 15, 1948, in Las Cruces, NM; daugh-
ter of Ernesto E. (an attorney) and Delfina (a
teacher; maiden name, Rede) Chávez; married Daniel Zolinsky. Education: NM State Univ., B.A., 1971; Trinity Univ., M.F.A., 1974; Univ. of NM, M.A., 1982.Religion: Roman Catholic. Politics: Democrat. Career: Northern NM Community Coll., Espanola, faculty member, 1975-80; playwright, 1977–; artist in the schools, NM Arts Division, 1977-83; Univ. of Houston, visiting scholar, 1988, faculty member, 1988-91; NM State Univ., faculty member, 1996–. American School of Paris, instructor, 1975-77; NM State Univ., visiting professor, 1992-93, 1995-96; Border Book Festival, artistic director, 1994–; Radium Springs Center for Women (medium security prison), teacher; one woman show Women in the State of
which won the New Mexico State University Best Play award. She went on to write several one-act plays in the 1970s and 1980s, and earned an M.F.A. in drama from Trinity University. In 1982 she earned an M.A. from the University of New Mexico. Many of Chávez’s plays have been produced in New Mexico; Plaza, one of her best-known dramas, has been produced at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and at Joseph Papp’s Festival Latino de Nueva York. Her one-woman show, Women in the State of Grace, in which Chávez herself has appeared, has been produced nationally since 1993. Chávez has acknowledged many influences in her work, from Anton Chekhov and Garcia Lorca to the New Mexican writer Rudolfo Anaya, who became a mentor and friend. It was Anaya who encouraged the aspiring writer to enroll in the University of New Mexico’s M.F.A. program. Perhaps more important, though, was that, as Chávez explained in a Publishers Weekly interview with William Clark, Anaya’s work “opened the door to the value of my own culture, language, background.”
Grace; writer-in-residence: La Compania de Teatro, Theatre-in-the-Red; artist-in-residence: Arts with Elders Program; Community Action Agency, co-director, senior citizen workshop in creative writing & puppetry 1986-89. Memberships: Natl Institute of Chicana Writers, founding mem.; PEN USA; PEN USA West; Author’s Guild; Western Writers of America; Women Writing in the West; Santa Fe Writers Cooperative. Awards: Best Play Award, NM State Univ., 1970; citizen advocacy awd, Dona Ana County Human Services Constorium, 1981; grants: NM Arts Divison, 1979-80,1981, 1988, NEA, 1981, 1982, Rockefeller Foundation, 1984, University of Houston, 1989; cre-
Confronted Issues of Sexuality Her experience in theater has also strongly influenced Chávez’s fiction. ”I consider myself a performance writer,” Chávez commented in Contemporary Authors. “My training in theater has helped me to write roles that I myself would enjoy acting.” Among the notable characters she has created is Rocio Esquibel, the young woman whose coming of age is told in the seven linked stories of the collection The Last of the Menu Girls. Though her background and aspirations are modest, Rocio is no stereotypical Chicana who accepts traditional gender boundaries, but a strong woman who insists on finding her own path. Indeed, Chávez herself sees the book—and all her work—as a chronicle of how women’s growing demand for independence challenges relationships between men and women.
ative writing fellowship, Univ. of NM, 1982; Puerto del Sol Fiction awd, 1986; creative artist fellowship, Cultural Arts Council of Houston, 1990; Favorite Teacher Awd, Univ. of Houston, 1991; Premio Aztlan Awd, American Book Awd, 1995; Mesilla Valley Writer of the Year Awd, 1995; NM Governor’s Awd in literature, 1995; Luminaria Awd, NM Community Foundation, 1996. Address: Home—80 La Colonia, Las Cruces, NM 88005.
This frank treatment of gender roles has brought Chávez critical acclaim. Her first novel, Face of an Angel, touches on such controversial subjects as incest, alcohol abuse, sexuality, religion, and macho traditions—issues that many Latino families prefer not to air in public. People might complain that “it’s too sexy, it has too much genitalia,” she observed of the book to Los Angeles Times writer Julio Moran. “But that in itself is a liberation for a woman to be able to speak the unspeakable. Latinas never talk about their sexuality.” But, Chávez continued, “women writers want to confront the issues of sexuality in the family, especially in their complexity, as opposed to presenting an image of what the family is. That runs the gamut from abuse to personal relationships.” She added, “[i]t’s not airing
72 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 dirty laundry. Latinos are human beings. We no longer need to create an image of what we’re supposed to be to make ourselves acceptable to other people.” Face of An Angel, which won an American Book Award, tells the story of Soveida Dosamantes, a waitress in a fictional New Mexico town. As she works on a handbook for newcomers to her profession, Soveida reflects on her relations with her family, friends, exhusbands, and lovers. Chávez, who had worked as a waitress herself for five years, drew on personal experience for the book and incorporated both Spanish and English into it to reflect the speech patterns of her native region. Creating the right kind of bilingualism in the novel was her most challenging task. She wanted the prose to move smoothly between English and Spanish without making the Spanish sections too elementary, but without having to provide English translations—a style that approximates the way people really speak in the region. The novel, hailed for its humor and earthiness, received widespread attention. World Literature Today contributor William Nericcio described it as a “literary tribute to servants” and an “antisentimental family history” that provides a powerful exploration of the bonds between generations of women. “Teeming with unforgettable characters and voices, laced with earthy humor, Face of an Angel is the story of the many faces women wear in their various lives as mothers, wives, lovers,” Publishers Weekly writer William Clark observed. No less sexy is Chávez’s second novel, Loving Pedro Infante, which recounts the story of Teresina “La Tere” Avila, a teacher’s aide, and her friend Irma. Both unhappily single and in their thirties, the pair develop a cultish worship of Mexican film idol Pedro Infante, who died decades earlier at age 40 in a plane crash, and who serves as the women’s ideal of masculinity. Like Face of an Angel, the novel deals frankly with women’s physical desires and with their frequent disappointments in love. In one passage describing a group of older women at a religious retreat, Chávez has Tere comment that “they were all losers, all of them, divorced, single or in bad marriages, with husbands who drank and knocked them around every weekend after the bars let out at two, or who had sons who rifled through their purses for drug money.” Though Tere is unhappy with her married lover, who treats her carelessly, she has enough intelligence and hope to keep looking for love. “Chávez’s spicy storytelling,” observed Maggie Galehouse in the New York Times Book Review, “reminds us that women today, fictional and real, have other options.” Galehouse also appreciated Chávez’s loving depiction of Tere’s social world. “In hyperspecific and tireless detail,” she wrote, “Chávez records the food, the hang-ups, the turn-ons and worldview of a thriving border culture. When she describes ѧ the way the women of the fan club band together when its only male member goes missing, the reader understands
how tightly these families and the community are bound up together.” Indeed, as Chávez noted in Contemporary Authors, “My characters are survivors, and many of them are women.ѧ They all have something in common: they know what it is to love and to be merciful.”
One of Las Girlfriends Her literary renown has placed Chávez firmly among the ranks of such important Latina writers as Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros, and Ana Castillo—a group that Cisneros has humorously dubbed “Las Girlfriends.” Chávez has enjoyed the rich literary friendships she maintains with these women and with other prominent Latino writers, including her beloved mentor, Rudolfo Anaya, as well as Dagoberto Gilb, Gary Soto, Aria Castillo, Antonya Nelson, and Ben Saenz. “I used to go to the Western Writers’ Conference and be the only Chicana in the room,” she told Clark, “but that’s changed now. Demographics are changing, we’re becoming more multiethnic, multicultural, global.” Indeed, Chávez’s work—which includes poetry as well as plays, essays, short stories, and novels—has found appreciative readers throughout the country. Face of an Angel was chosen as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, and her short stories, essays, and plays have been widely anthologized. “I’ve had Jewish people and blacks and Anglos all tell me that [my character] Mama Lupita sounds just like their grandmother,” she told Valdes with pride. Going on to observe that she used to wonder who would want to read about working class Chicanos, she added “Then I realized that these are not local stories, or even Mexican stories. They’re universal.” Chávez has taught writing in a variety of settings, from university creative writing programs to a senior center and a women’s prison. She has also been active in community arts projects, including the long-running Border Book Festival. She lived in Santa Fe for eight years but returned to Las Cruces in 1983 when her mother died. She has lived there since then, commuting to a job as professor of theater at the University of Houston from 1988 to 1991 and traveling frequently around the country to give lectures and workshops. In Las Cruces she cares for her elderly father, who has Alzheimer’s disease and lives a few doors down from the house that Chávez shares with her husband, sculptor and photographer Daniel Zolinsky. There, Chávez writes in the same room in which she was born. “My work is rooted in the Southwest, in heat and dust, and reflects a world where love is as real as the land,” Chávez commented in Contemporary Authors. “In this dry and seemingly harsh and empty world there is much beauty to be found. That hope of the heart is what feeds me, my characters.”
D. Chávez • 73
Selected writings Plays The Wait (one-act), 1970. Elevators (one-act), 1972. The Flying Tortilla Man (one-act), 1975. The Mask of November (one-act), 1977. The Adobe Rabbit (one-act), 1979. Santa Fe Charm (one-act), 1980. How Junior Got Throwed in the Joint (one-act), 1981. (With Nita Luna) Hecho en Mexico (one-act; title means “Made in Mexico”), 1982. The Green Madonna (one-act), 1982. La morenita (one-act; title means “The Dark Virgin”), 1983. Plaza (one-act), 1984. Plague-Time, 1985. Novena narrativas (one-woman show; title means “The Novena Narratives”), 1986. The Step (one-act), 1987. Women in the State of Grace (one-woman show), 1989. The Last of the Menu Girls (one-act; adapted from Chávez’s short story of the same title), 1990. Other Editor, Life is a Two-Way Street (poetry anthology), Rosetta Press, 1980.
The Last of the Menu Girls (stories), Arte Publico, 1986. The Woman Who Knew the Language of Animals (juvenile), Houghton Mifflin, 1992. (Selector) Shattering the Myth: Plays by Hispanic Women, edited by Linda Feyder, Arte Publico, 1992. Face of an Angel (novel), Farrar, Straus, 1994. Loving Pedro Infante (novel), Farrar, Straus, 2001.
Sources Books Contemporary Authors, Volume 131, Gale Group, 1990 Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Gale, Vol. 56, 1997, Vol. 81, 1999. Periodicals AZTLAN-A Journal of Chicano Studies, Spring 2001, p. 127. Boston Globe, September 30, 1994, p. 61; November 22, 1994, p. 58. Hispanic, April 2001, p. 88. Los Angeles Times, November 9, 1994; April 24, 2001. New York Times Book Review, May 13, 2001. Publishers Weekly, August 15, 1994, p. 77. —Elizabeth Shostak
74 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Roberto Clemente 1934-1972 Baseball player
The first Puerto Rican member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Roberto Clemente broke down many of the barriers against Latinos in baseball. Puerto Rican broadcaster and journalist Luis Mayoral was quoted in Sports Illustrated as saying, “Clemente was our Jackie Robinson. He was on a crusade to show the American public what a Hispanic man, a black Hispanic man, was capable of.” Clemente was a right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 18 years, and had a lifetime batting average of .317, hitting 240 home runs. Clemente was born in 1934, the youngest of Melchor, a sugarcane worker, and Luisa Clemente’s seven children. He grew up in Carolina, Puerto Rico, near the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan. As a boy he played softball in neighborhood lots, and also participated in other sports. He won medals for the javelin throw and short distance races, and was was so skilled at javelin throwing that some observers felt he might make the 1952 Puerto Rican Olympic team. However, baseball was his real focus. He played with the amateur Juncos Double A Club and then played in the Puerto Rican Winter League with the Santurce Crabbers. His talent was soon noticed. Brooklyn Dodger scout Alex Cam-
panis first saw Clemente at a try-out. “He was the greatest natural athlete I’d ever seen,” Campanis once said, according to Sports Illustrated. Just after graduating from high school in 1954, Clemente was signed with the Dodgers’ and sent to play with the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers’ minor-league affiliate in Montreal, Canada. He received a $5,000 salary and a $10,000 bonus. In the following year, however, a loophole in baseball signing rules allowed the Pittsburgh Pirates to draft him for $4,000. Clemente chose the number 21, the number of letters in his full name, for his jersey. When he made his major league debut on April 17, 1955, he was called “Bob Clemente” because management felt that “Roberto” was too foreign a name to appeal to American fans. That first season he batted .255, hitting five home runs and 47 RBIs. For his second season, Clemente batted .311. According to the Latino Sports Legends website, “In the 1960s no other player dominated the entire decade like Roberto Clemente.” There were four years— 1961, 1964, 1966, and 1967—in which had over 200 hits. In 1961 and 1967, he batted over .350. Also
Clemente • 75
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Roberto Walker Clemente on August 18,
1934, in Carolina, Puerto Rico; died in a plane
crash on December 31, 1972; son of Melchor (a sugarcane worker) and Luisa Clemente; married Vera Clemente, 1964; children: Roberto Jr., Luis Roberto, and Enrique Roberto. Career: Baseball player, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1955-72. Awards: Twelve Gold Glove Awards for defensive ability,1961-72; four Silver Bats for four National League batting titles; two World Series Championships, 1960, 1971; Most Valuable Player Award, World Series, 1971.
during this decade, he was a four-time league leader in batting. It has been said, according to the Latino Sports Legends website, that his play was “something close to the level of absolute perfection.” Clemente was often taunted because of his Puerto Rican heritage. Sports writers made fun of his accent and his use of English. One writer even asked if he wore a loincloth back home in Puerto Rico. In Sports Illustrated, Steve Wulf noted that sports writers routinely described Clemente as a “dusky flyer” and a “chocolate-colored islander.” According to George Diaz in the Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, “Clemente responded with dignity, occasionally returning fire with the same passion he applied as he stepped into the batter’s box, neck twitching with nervous energy.ѧ Moments later, he would smash the dickens out of a baseball.” The first Hispanic player in the major leagues was a Cuban student named Esteban Bellan, who played in 1871, but Clemente was the first to speak out for minority rights. Manny Mota, a coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was quoted by the Knight-Ridder/ Tribune News Service as saying, “He was a leader and controversial because he didn’t permit injustice in regard to race.ѧ He would not accept injustices with Latins nor with players of color. He was always there to defend them.” Clemente himself, according to the Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, noted, “I am Puerto Rican, I am black, and I am between the walls.” Prejudice against Clemente may have played a part in the National League’s Most Valuable Player voting in 1960. Although he had a .314 batting average and 94 RBIs that year, Clemente finished eighth in the voting. The winner was teammate Dick Groat, who hit .325 but only had 16 home runs and 94 RBIs. In 1961
Clemente threw out 27 runners and won the first of his twelve straight Gold Gloves. By 1966 his talent could no longer be ignored, and he finally received an MVP Award. Clemente met Vera Zabala in a drugstore in 1963, and the couple were married on November 14th of the following year. Their first son, Roberto, Jr., was born in 1965. The family later grew to include two more sons: Luis Roberto and Enrique Roberto. Clemente, proud of his Puerto Rican heritage, insisted that each of his children be born in Puerto Rico. When Clemente was not playing, he dressed with relative formality, always wearing a coat and tie, unlike most men in blue-collar Pittsburgh. He was a private person, and often quiet. According to the KnightRidder/Tribune News Service, former teammate Steve Blass said that Clemente seemed to feel, “I have a stature, and I have a responsibility to carry that stature.” Throughout his career, Clemente suffered a variety of injuries, including malaria, backaches, bone chips, insomnia, headaches, pulled muscles, and tonsillitis. Clemente freely complained about his injuries. When once asked how he felt, he responded, according to Sports Illustrated, “Well, my bad shoulder feels good, but my good shoulder feels bad.” On September 30, 1972, at the age of 38, Clemente made his 3,000th hit at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. When, during the fourth inning, this landmark ball was launched into a gap in left-center, a crowd of 13,119 fans leaped, cheering, to their feet. “I felt kind of bashful,” Clemente later told the Sporting News about the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction. “I’m a very quiet, shy person.“ Famed player Willie Mays shook his hand, and Clemente kept the ball as a souvenir of the hit. Clemente told the Sporting News, “I dedicated the hit to the Pittsburgh fans and to the people in Puerto Rico.” Clemente was the first Latin player to reach 3,000 hits, and only the eleventh player in history to do so. Teammate Nellie Briles recalled in Newsweek, “He had no more to prove—he’d won his batting titles and MVPs, and now he could play for the love of the game.” Briles continued, “After the hit all he did was stand on second base and tip his hat. It was a very regal moment.” In December of 1972, a devastating earthquake hit Nicaragua, killing thousands and leaving 100,000 homeless. Driven by his concern for the victims, Clemente decided to help in the relief efforts. Two planes had been sent to deliver emergency goods, but the supplies had not reached the stricken areas—Nicaraguan soldiers were stealing the supplies. Clemente decided to accompany the next shipment, hoping that his celebrity would deter would-be thieves. On December 31, 1972, the plane carrying Clemente, a crew,
76 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 and food supplies for the victims crashed into the ocean just off the Puerto Rican coast. Clemente and the four crew members were all killed. His body was never found.
summed up his attitude to life, quoted in Sports Illustrated: “If you have an opportunity to make things better, and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on this earth.”
Upon Clemente’s death, Puerto Rican Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon, according to the KnightRidder/Tribune News Service, said, “Our people have lost one of their great glories.” Although there is normally a five-year waiting period for Hall of Fame eligibility, this rule was waived in Clemente’s case, and he was inducted into the Hall in 1973, the first Latin player to receive this honor. That same year, baseball commissioner Bowie Kugh established the Roberto Clemente Award, given for sportsmanship and activism.
Sources
Clemente’s sons have carried on his athletic and humanitarian legacy. His oldest son, Roberto, Jr., was first signed to a professional baseball contract by a Philadelphia Phillies scout in 1984. A 1986 knee injury kept him from the game for three years, and, during spring training with the Baltimore Orioles in 1989, a back injury ended his baseball career. Clemente’s second son, Luis, also ventured into professional baseball. Signed in 1984 by the Pittsburgh Pirates, a shoulder injury necessitated his retirement after two years. Luis, has served as President and CEO of the Roberto Clemente Sports City in Puerto Rico, where 200,00 young people come each year to play sports and learn good citizenship, since the early 1990s. In 1993 Roberto, Jr. founded the Roberto Clemente Foundation. This organization reaches out to disadvantaged teenagers, providing baseball, softball, and educational opportunities. At a banquet in 1971 Clemente
Books Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale, 1996. Periodicals Fresno Bee, July 5, 1998. Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, March 5, 1998, p. 305K6854; March 30, 2002, p. K7277, K7278. Newsweek, October 25, 1999, p. 63. Pittsburgh Business Times, February 4, 2000, p. 1. Record (Bergen County, NJ), August 19, 2000, p. A4. Sporting News, October 14, 1972; October 27, 1997, p. 7; January 12, 1998, p. 9. Sports Illustrated, December 28, 1992, p. 114; September 19, 1994, p. 110; April 6, 1998, p. 33. On-line http://www.latinosportslegends.com/clemente.htm http://www.robertoclemente21.com http://www.robertoclementefoundation.org/ —Kelly Winters and Jennifer M. York
Coca • 77
Imogene Coca 1908-2001 Actress
Imogene Coca was best remembered as the elfin comedienne with the incredibly flexible face who starred with Sid Caesar on television’s Your Show of Shows. Her career spanned from the waning days of vaudeville through the comedy resorts of the Catskills and on through the beginnings of television, extending to a fondly remembered role as elderly Aunt Edna, strapped to the roof of a station wagon in National Lampoon’s Vacation. Coca’s greatest talent was subtle exaggeration; she could take a normal situation and just barely skew it, nudging it over the edge into hilarity.
A Born Trouper Coca was born in Philadelphia on November 18, 1908. The daughter of Josée (Joe) Fernandez de Coca, a prominent band leader and violinist, and Sadie Brady Coca, a dancer who “disappeared” each night in a magician’s act, Coca was truly a ‘born trouper’. She grew up accompanying her parents on the road, spending much of her time in the theaters where they performed. Her parents wanted her to be a serious performer. Coca began piano lessons at the age of 5, singing classes at 6, and at age 8 started learning
classical dance and ballet. Until 5th grade, Coca attended Philadelphia schools. When her family moved, she went to schools in Atlantic City and New York and completed school through the 8th grade. Coca’s career was ignited by her family. Her mother helped 11-year-old Coca land her first gig in a benefit performance. Coca did impressions, or as she put it “made faces”, and sang a comic song. At the age of 13, Coca made her vaudeville debut, singing “O, by Gee, by Gosh, by Golly, I’m in Love” at the Dixie Theater in Manyunk, Pennsylvania. Josée Coca, whose father had immigrated to America from Coca, Spain, helped obtain bookings for Coca at the vaudeville houses where he was the orchestra leader. Four of Coca’s aunts and uncles were also performers. In 1923, an aunt snuck underage 15-year-old Coca into a chorus line audition, where she won her first ‘adult’ role, performing in Jimmy Durante’s Silver Slipper Club in New York. She debuted on Broadway at age 17 in the chorus line of When You Smile in 1925. “I was out to sing and dance like nobody’s business,” said Coca. Coca spent the next several years appearing in a variety of musical revues, including a turn in the chorus
78 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn November 18, 1908 in Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania; died June 2, 2001 in Westport, Con-
necticut; married Robert Burton, 1935 (died, 1955); married King Donovan, 1960 (died, 1981). Religion: Catholic. Career: Vaudeville performer, 1919; actor, Dixie Theater, Manyunk, PA, 1921; debuted in New York chorus line, 1923; actress, When You Smile, 1925; New Faces of 1934, 1934; movie actress, Dime a Dance, 1937; television actress: Admiral Broadway Revue, 1949; Your Show of Shows, 1950-54; The Coca Coca Show, 1954-55; Sid Caesar Invites You, 1958; Grindl, 196364; It’s About Time, 1967; The Carol Burnett Show; Bewitched; The Brady Bunch; Moonlighting. Awards: Emmy Award, Best Actress, Your Show of Shows, 1951; Tony Award Nomination, On the Twentieth Century, 1978.
of Bubbling Over with another as-yet-unknown performer—Jeannette McDonald. In Flying Colors, another production Coca was part of, she was the understudy for Patsy Kelly; when Patsy couldn’t appear, Coca found herself on stage in her first speaking role. She hadn’t bothered to learn the lines, assuming that Patsy would never get sick. Fortunately, the first act was set at a hotel desk and she could read her part from a script lying on the desk. During the early 1930s, Coca starred in her own acts in clubs such as New York City’s famous Rainbow Room. She also began to appear in musical comedies. Nonetheless, she had to struggle to find roles and was relatively unknown.
“Pure Accident” One day when Coca was rehearsing New Faces of 1934 at the Fulton Theater, it was so cold that she borrowed a coat from another performer in the show— Henry Fonda. To keep warm, Coca started jumping and dancing around, performing a mock strip-tease while bundled in the long wool overcoat. Producer Leonard Silliman saw her and immediately decided to put the comic dance into the show. At first, the audience was silent, unsure of how to react, but soon they burst into laughter, and a comedienne was born. Coca, however, was never quite sure how her comic success happened. She told reporter Hans Knight of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, “It was pure accident. The first time I got laughs I was just scared,
terrified. I don’t try for effect consciously. I just try to be a good actress.” Coca established her reputation as a comedienne in her next roles, playing in minor plays such as Who’s Who and 1935’s flop, Fools Rush In. In the latter show, Coca met actor Robert Burton. They were married on the last day of the show’s run. Burton often arranged the music for Coca’s appearances and later became a record company executive. In 1939, Coca scored a big hit in Straw Hat Review. She received many glowing reviews, lauding her “sly sense of comedy” and her uncanny imitations of stars such as “Funny Girl” Fannie Brice and Carmen Miranda. Despite her success in the Straw Hat Review, Broadway roles were not easy to find. Throughout the late 1930s and 1940s, Coca worked the comedy clubs of the Catskills and Poconos. At Taminent, a Poconos resort created by Max Liebman, she perfected her comic routines with such performers as Danny Kaye and Carol Channing. Coca made her film debut in 1937’s comedy Dime a Dance. Her next film was The Bashful Ballerina, in which she played herself. She participated in the very beginnings of televison, starring in experimental television broadcasts performing favorite routines from New Faces.
Your Show of Shows Producer Max Liebman was inspired to team Coca with another Taminent alumnus, Sid Caesar. They appeared together for the first time in 1949 for the premiere broadcast of NBC’s Admiral Broadway Revue. The show did not last long, but the two were paired again in that autumn’s new television hit, Your Show of Shows. The 90-minute show was performed live and included comedy sketches, song and dance, and celebrity guests. Its writers included Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Larry Gelbart. Liebman often recycled material honed at Taminent. Skits typically satirized the commonplace, such as the much-loved Hickenloopers, an irreparably mismatched couple who bickered constantly. Another staple was movie parodies, such as “From Here to Obscurity” and “A Trolley Car Named Desire.” Coca put her dancing and singing training to good use in comic ballets and song parodies of French torch singers and Marlene Dietrich, among others. Both songs and dances were subtly exaggerated, yet expertly performed. In one famous sketch, she portrayed a nightclub singer who has four ardent suitors, each of whom threatens to kill her and then commit suicide if she doesn’t run away with him. She trills “I’m yours, exclusively yours”—to each of the four. Coca’s opera parodies started out normally enough, but somehow something went wrong. Mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens once said, “You’re always deathly afraid the young
Coca • 79 singer will never make the last note.” “With Coca, you’re always afraid she will.” Her rubber face was seen as its best on the small television screen, as Liebman said “her left nostril never knows what the right one is doing.” Coca’s “little somethings,” as she called her comic contributions to the show, helped make Your Show of Shows one of the most popular television programs of its time, watched by more than 30 million viewers, and won her the 1951 Emmy for best actress. Her work on Your Show of Shows inspired many upcoming comediennes, including Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg, and Tracey Ullman. Coca’s lasting claim to fame is through her extraordinary comic partnership with Sid Caesar. In his autobiography, Caesar tried to explain their success: “She’s a great actress and we grew so used to working together on stage that she could guess what I was going to say—and react to it—when the thought was still in my head.” Nonetheless, in 1954, Coca and Caesar split to pursue individual projects. Coca next appeared in her own half-hour television show The Imogene Coca Show on NBC. Unfortunately, the show was not a success. Coca’s husband, Robert Burton, died in 1955. After his death and through the remainder of her career, Coca performed in a variety of Broadway shows, traveling plays, television shows, and movies. In 1958, she teamed up again with Caesar on Sid Caesar Invites You, but it never had the magic of Your Show of Shows. While on the road with a 1960 summer theater tour, Coca met and married fellow actor King Donovan. The two frequently performed together in variety shows and touring theater companies. During the 1960s, Coca also appeared in movies, including Under the Yum Yum Tree with Jack Lemmon; television series, notably Grindle and It’s About Time; and television movies, such as The Incredible Incident at Independence Square, filmed in her home town of Philadelphia. Coca teamed with Sid Caesar again for the EmmyAward winning Sid Caesar-Coca Coca-Carl ReinerHoward Morris Show in 1967. The duo appeared together again in the 1970s, once in The Prisoner of Second Avenue on the Chicago stage, and again as headliners at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. In the 1970s, Coca made frequent appearances on talk shows, such as Dick Cavett’s, and as a guest on The Carol Burnett Show. Liebman and Caesar created and released Ten From ‘Your Show of Shows,’ to movie theaters in 1978; the collection of best sketches won a new, enthusiastic audience for the performers and the show.
Won a Tony Coca was nominated for a 1978 Tony Award for her last Broadway appearance, playing a religious fanatic in the acclaimed On the Twentieth Century, and continued with the part on a national tour. Throughout the remainder of the 1970s and 1980s, she performed only sporadically in parts as diverse as Granny’s “Maw” in The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies to the Cook in Alice in Wonderland, as well as Aunt Edna in National Lampoon’s Vacation. The year 1991 found Coca Together Again, with Sid Caesar, touring the country in the show of that name. When not performing, Coca lived a quiet life in Manhattan and Connecticut with her husband King Donovan until his death in 1987. Shy, gentle Coca was an animal lover, her pets included a crippled duck she had rescued, as well as a dog who was in love with the duck, and a cat, who was terrified of the duck. She founded the Imogene Coca Charitable Foundation, which donated proceeds to the Humane Society and some human and civil rights groups. Coca died quietly at her home in Westport, Connecticut on June 2, 2001, at the age of 92. Despite her fame and critical acclaim, Coca was always very insecure. She told Rex Polter of the Philadelphia Bulletin, “Actually, I never say anything witty ѧ I don’t like entertaining at parties, either. I prefer to watch. Even small gatherings of people scare me. The only time I’m not afraid of more than 3 or 4 people is when I am on stage. Paradoxically, her shyness was part of her appeal and made audiences sympathize with her. “The trouble with most comedians who try to do satire,” one critic wrote, “is that they are essentially brash, noisy, and indelicate people who have to use a sledge hammer to smash a butterfly. Miss Coca, on the other hand, is the timid woman who, when aroused, can beat a tiger to death with a feather.”
Sources Books Caesar, Sid, and Bill Davidson, Where Have I Been?, Crown, 1982. Kalter, J, Actors on Acting: Peforming in Theater and Film Today, Sterling, 1979 Periodicals Detroit News, June 3, 2001. Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia), January 20, 1979. Houston Chronicle, June 2, 2001. New York Times, June 3, 2001 Parade, June 4, 1978. Philadelphia Inquirer, June 3, 2001. Sunday Bulletin Magazine (Philadelphia), October 3, 1965. TV Digest, April 12, 1952 Variety, June 11, 2001.
80 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 On-line ABCNews.com, http://abcnews.go.com/sections/ community/DailyNews/chat_caesar0604.html Barnesandnoble.com, http://video.barnesand noble .com/search/interview.asp?ctr=208769 Blockbuster.com, http://www.blockbuster.com/bb/ person/details/0,7621,BIO-P+13845,00.html CNN.com, June 2, 2001, http://www.cnn.com/20 01/SHOWBIZ/News/06/02/obit.coca.02/ Hollywood.com, http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/ bio/celeb/345875 Internet Movie Data Base, http://us.imdb.com/ Name?Coca,+Coca http://www.koger.sc.edu/sid.html http://members.aol.com/deathpool/obits01/cocai mog.html
The Sid Caesar Collection, http://www.sidvid.com/ golden.html Streetswing Dancer Histories, http://www.street swing.com/histmai2/d2icoca1.htm Time.com, http://www.time.com/time/sampler/arti cle/0,8599,173494,00.html The Vault, http://www.emmys.com/foundation/ar chive/vault/win1999/page3.html Other Additional information for this profile was obtained from the William Morris Agency: Coca Coca. Press Release, Courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia Theater Collection and from Mark Wilson, Coca Coca. Press release, Shubert Organization, Courtesy of the Free Library of Philadelphia Theater Collection. —Ruth Savitz
Corpi • 81
Lucha Corpi 1945— Poet, novelist
Lucha Corpi has never viewed art and politics as two separate disciplines, but has infused her poetry, short stories, and novels with her experiences as a Hispanic, an immigrant, and as a woman. “I never intended to be a political writer,” she told Karin Rosa Ikas in Chicana Ways, “I wrote about what I wanted to write, and I never set limits of any kind in terms of expression or thematically.” Corpi became involved in the Chicano civil rights movement and was instrumental in forming Aztlán Cultural, an arts service organization. She won a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1979 and was awarded first prize in the Palabra Nueva competition for “Martyrs of the Soul” in 1983. In addition to writing poetry and prose, Corpi completed her first mystery novel, Eulogy for a Brown Angel, in 1992.
Immigrated to United States Lucha was born in Jáltipan, Mexico, a tropical region located along the Gulf Coast. At nine, she moved with her family to San Luis Potosí. She later poetically recalled these early environments in Where Fireflies Dance, an autobiographical book for children pub-
lished in 1997. Her father, Miguel Ángel Corpi, insisted that she and her sister receive the same education as their six brothers. In her interview with Ikas, she recalled her father’s words: “‘You have to do your homework, you have to study, you have to get good grades, you have to go to college, to the university, you have to have a career.’” Corpi trained for two years to become a dentist, but she told Ikas, “When I had to do my first molar extraction and the first ten fillings, I knew I was going to go crazy if I ever became a dentist.” She met Guillermo Hernández, who introduced her to philosophy and literature. In 1964 they married and immigrated to the United States so that he could study at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1967 their son, Arturo, was born. In 1970 Corpi and her husband divorced, leaving her devastated. She had very few friends, and there was a young son to support. Although she considered returning to Mexico, she feared that she would be marginalized as a divorced woman. She recalled to Ikas, “I was very angry at my own Mexican culture for not allowing me as a woman to have the possibility of a wholesome life.” In the 1970s Corpi resumed her studies at the
82 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Lucha Corpi on April 13, 1945, in Jáltipan ,
Mexico; immigrated to the United States, 1964;
married Guillermo Hernández, 1964 (divorced, 1970); children: Arturo. Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.A, 1975; San Francisco State University, M.A., comparative and world literature, 1979. Career: University of California, Berkeley, vice-chair of
need to articulate all the ambivalence, all the contradictions, all the sorrow and pain carried within me,” she recalled to Ikas. Her first work, Fireflight: Three Latin American Poets, appeared in 1976 in a collection with the work of two other poets. The MultiCultural Review commented, “Among the themes explored in this volume are the challenges of crossing cultures and living with two languages, the role of women, political commitment, love, and death.” In the critically praised “The Marina Poems,” Corpi began to explore the roles of women throughout Mexican history. Corpi continued to examine these themes in Palabras de mediodia/ Noon Words, published in 1980.
Chicano Studies executive committee, 1970-71, coordinator of Chicano Studies Library, 1970-72; Oakland Public Neighborhood Centers, Oakland, CA, teacher of English as a second language, 1973-; founding member, Aztlán Cultural, 1971, and Centro Chicano de Escritores, 1980; member, Oakland Museum and Latin American Commission; member, Sisters in Crime. Memberships: California Association of Teachers of English as a Second Language. Awards: Fellow of National Endowment for the Arts, 1979-80; winner of Palabra nueva literary contest, for short story ”The Martyrs of the Soul,” 1983; first place in the Chicano Literary Contest, University of California at Irvine, for short story ”Shadows of Ebbing Water,” 1984; awarded Creative Arts Fellowship in fiction by the City of Oakland, 1990; named poet laureate at Indian University, 1990. Addresses: Home—Oakland, CA. Office—Clinton Park Adult School, 655 East 14th St., Oakland CA 94606.
University of California, where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in comparative literature in 1975. She participated in the Chicano civil rights movement in the 1970s. During this period Corpi helped found Aztlán Cultural, a cultural arts service. She also worked with Comité Popular Educativo de la Raza to build a network of bilingual childcare centers in Oakland. She told Ikas, “Cities like Oakland I see as the lab where the American Dream is tested every day, for we have to figure out a way to handle that diversity of ethnicity every day.”
Became a Poet Corpi also began writing poetry in 1970 as an outlet for her feelings following her divorce. “There was a
After an uncomfortable poetic silence following her first work, Corpi turned to prose to break the tension. She wrote her first story in English in 1984 and the same year she received first place in the University of California at Irvine’s Chicano Literary Contest, for “Shadows of Ebbing Water.” In 1989 she completed her first novel, Delia’s Song. The novel tells the story of a woman who decides to leave home, attend college in California, and finally become a writer, mirroring many of the events in Corpi’s own life. In 1990 she was honored with an art fellowship by the City of Oakland, and was named poet laureate of Indian University Northwest.
Evolved as a Writer In 1992 Corpi wrote her first mystery novel, Eulogy for a Brown Angel, which won the Multicultural Publishers Exchange Best Book of Fiction award. As with her previous work, she continued to insert Mexican history into the settings and events of the fictionalized story. She followed with Cactus Blood in 1995 and Black Widow’s Wardrobe in 1999. The books all featured her Chicano detective, Damasco. “It’s her inclusion of Latino culture that distinguishes Corpi,” noted Valerie Menard in Hispanic. In 1999 Corpi edited Mascaras, a book of 15 autobiographical essays by Latina writers, a collection that investigated many of her own concerns. “In addressing the role of women as artists,” wrote Nan Alamilla in Signs, “Corpi’s collection explores the development of Latina consciousness and provides new insight into the sources of Latina feminisms.” Corpi has taught English as a second language at Oakland public schools since 1973 and also teaches at Vista Junior College. She told Ikas, “As a teacher in the Oakland schools, am a mediator between cultures.ѧ Being a writer is then just an extension of that view of the teacher as well.” Her mysteries have earned her a membership in the feminist writers’ organization, Sisters in Crime, and she won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award in 1993. A poet as well as a prose writer, Corpi’ two most common themes are the inescapable nature of fate and the concerns of women who find themselves trapped by the circumstances of
Corpi • 83 their own lives. Corpi’s ability to address these concerns continued to resonate, both in and beyond the growing Latino community.
Selected Writings (With Elsie Alvarado de Ricord and Concha Michel) Fireflight: Three Latin American Poets, Oyez, 1976. Palabras de mediodia/Noon Words, Fuego de Aztlan, 1980. Delia’s Song, Arte Publico, 1989. Cactus Blood, Arte Publico, 1995. Where Fireflies Dance, Children’s Book Press, 1997. Black Widow’s Wardrobe, Arte Publico, 1999.
Sources Books Ikas, Karin Rosa, Chicana Ways: Conversations with Ten Chicana Writers, University of Nevada, 2002. Lomeli, Francisco A., and Carl R. Shirley, editors, Chicano Writers First Series: Dictionary of American Literary Biography, Vol. 82, Gale, 1989. Rebolledo, Tey Diana, Women Singing in the Snow: A Cultural Analysis of Chicana Literature, University of Arizona, 1995. Periodicals Hispanic, May 2000, p. 80. MultiCultural Review, September 2001. Signs, Autumn 1999, p. 255. —Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
84 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Xavier Cugat 1900-1990 Musician, bandleader
Xavier Cugat, best known for his “percolating dance numbers [that] swept the country like tropical fever during the 1930s and ‘40s,” according to Time magazine, played and conducted in some of America’s most famous nightspots, including New York’s WaldorfAstoria Hotel and Los Angeles’s Coconut Grove. A classically trained violinist who conducted with his bow, he was known in his lifetime as the Rumba King. He is credited with pushing Latino music and dance into popularity in America during the first half of the 20th Century. Born Francisco de Asis Javier Cugat de Bru Mingall Deulofeo in Gerona, Spain to Juan Cugat de Bru, an inventor and handyman, and Avila Mingall, a seamstress, Cugat was one of four brothers. Not much is known about Cugat’s early life in Spain, but Cugat’s family moved to Cuba when he was very young. It was after the move to Cuba that Cugat started violin lessons. He soon discovered not only that he enjoyed these lessons, but showed a great aptitude for them. When he was a teenager he even traveled to Berlin, Germany where he studied with Carl Flesch, Willy Hess, and Franz Kneisel, according to The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives. Returning home in
the mid-1910s, Cugat had a stint playing with the Havana Symphony before Cugat and his family moved to New York City in 1912 and became American citizens in 1915. At that time he began touring America and eventually the world with musical troops, including Enrico Caruso’s group which featured him as a solo violinist. Caruso, also taught CugT how to draw cartoons and caricatures, and the two drew to while away the hours of travel. Cugat was famous later in life for his caricatures. In December of 1921 Cugat made his broadcast debut on WDY in Camden, New Jersey. According to The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives some historians considered this to be the first solo performance aired on the radio. Cugat continued to play music with various groups until the late 1920s when he received a rather mediocre review for his performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. There was little business for classical musicians at the time and he was forced for a while to put aside his music and instead worked for the Los Angeles Times for over a year doing cartoons and caricatures. After a short hiatus Cugat began to miss his music and started putting together a six-piece band to play Latin
Cugat • 85
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Francisco de Asis Javier Cugat de Bru Mingall
Deulofeo January 1, 1900 in Gerona, Spain; died
October 27, 1990 in Barcelona, Spain of arteriosclerosis; married Rita Montaner (divorced); married Carmen Castillo, 1929 (divorced); married Lorraine Allen, 1947 (divorced); married Abbe Lane, 1952 (divorced); married Charo Baeza, 1964 (divorced). Career: Actor/Musician. Films: Go West Young Man, 1936; Let’s Go Latin, 1937; You Were Never Lovelier, 1942; The Heat’s On, 1943; Two Girls and a Sailor, 1944; Week-End at the Waldorf, 1945; No Leave, No Love, 1946; This Time for Keeps, 1947; On an Island with You, 1948; Neptune’s Daughter, 1949; Moments in Music, 1950; Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra, 1952; Chicago Syndicate, 1955; The $64,000 Challenge, 1956; Susana y yo, 1957; Das Feuerschiff, 1962; The Monitors, 1969; Elvis: That’s the Way It Is, 1970; Nunca en horas de clase, 1978; Routes of Rhythm, 1984; Una Rosa al viento, 1984. Film composer: In Gay Madrid, 1930; White Zombie, 1932; The Man From Monterey, 1933; The Americano, 1955; Donatella, 1956; Tempo di villeggiatura, 1956; Das Feuerschiff, 1962; Tiger by the Tail, 1968. Albums include: Tropical Bouquets, 1949; Relaxing with Cugat, (Quiet Music, Vol. 6), 1952; The King Plays Some Aces, 1958; Viva Cugat!, 1961; Cugi’s Cocktails, 1963; Olé; Xavier Cugat Dance Parade; Anyone Can Cha Cha; Here’s Cugat; Cugat’s Favorites; Mambo!; Feeling Good; Dance Party; Bang Bang; Xavier Cugat Today; Mambo Mucho Mambo. Awards: Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.
dance music, including rumbas and tangos. When asked if he was upset about having to give up his classical music, Cugat said that playing dance music made people happy and he couldn’t be upset about that. The group was hired at Los Angeles’s Coconut Grove in 1928 as the relief band and began making appearances in films. Cugat’s first appearance on screen was in the movie Cugat and His Gigolos, in 1928. At this time the popularity of Latin dance music, particularly Cuban, was on the rise. Realizing the commercial potential for his small band, Cugat moved them to New York City. Cugat’s band helped open the new Starlight Roof club at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in
1933. Cugat’s band played there for 16 years and was the highest paid band to play at the time, even getting a cut of the cover charge. At this same time the band began playing on WEAF Radio. It is thought that it was these radio shows that led Cugat and his band to the national popularity it eventually attained, especially when he was signed to The Caramel Caravan, a national radio program. Cugat and the Gigolos were featured in more films, beginning in 1942. The first was the Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire classic, You Were Never Lovelier. Cugat’s appearance in the movies made him a household name, including such old favorites as Stage Door Canteen, (1943,) Bathing Beauty, (1944,) This Time for Keeps, (1947,) Neptune’s Daughter, (1949). Eventually Cugat was given a few speaking parts, most times playing himself. The band brought a fun, sophisticated Latin feel to movies during Hollywood’s most elegant and glamorous era. He also began recording and sold many albums. By the time he died, Cugat had made dozens of recordings of popular Latin dance music. His personal life was equally famous. He was married five times to Latin beauties, including Carmen Castillo, Abbe Lane, and the famous singer Charo Baeza. His affairs and fights often hit the papers, which he chalked up to his fiery Latin temper. When asked about his marriages, according to the Washington Post Cugat said, “If I had it to do all over, I’d marry the same ones. We always divorced for our careers. You cannot play the violin in Philadelphia when your wife is in Rome making a movie with Marcello Mastroianni.” In 1970 Cugat was forced, for health reasons, to give up his band and go into retirement. In 1987, however, he rallied himself and put together another band. He told People, “I can’t wait to get back in the swing.” He was happiest while he was entertaining, and he did so from 1987 until he died of arteriosclerosis on October 27, 1990. Cugat brought Cuban music to America, along with a liveliness and vitality that brightened many lives. Quoted at the Vinyl Safari website, Perez Prado said of Cugat in 1951, “All Latin-American musicians owe a great debt to Xavier Cugat. Cugat deserves appreciation from all fans of Latin music.” Having accomplished so much in his life, it is doubtful that he will ever be forgotten.
Sources Books Contemporary Musicians, Volume 23, Gale Group, 1999. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale Research, 1996. Newsmakers 1991, Gale Research, 1991. The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 2: 1986-1990, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1999.
86 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Periodicals People, Febraury 9, 1987, p. 57 Time, November 5, 1990, p. 99. Washington Post, October 28, 1990. On-line All Music Guide, www.allmusic.com Internet Movie Database, www.imdb.com Vinyl Safari www.wildssene.com/music/latin_xc.html Justin Time Records www.justin-time.com/artists/ xaviercugat/ —Catherine Victoria Donaldson
de la Renta • 87
Oscar de la Renta 1932— Fashion designer
Oscar de la Renta is an internationally recognized fashion designer, known for his opulent creations of exotic high fashion for women. Although de la Renta has toned down his offerings to appeal to the more practical needs of working women, he continues to be the designer of choice for the rich and famous, including first ladies Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush. His innate sense of color, material, and style, combined with his business savvy, have created a fashion dynasty that few in the industry can match.
From Painter to Designer De la Renta was born on July 22, 1932, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to Oscar and Maria Antonia deFiallo de la Renta. As a child, de la Renta grew up in the protective environment of seven women—a strict, loving mother and six sisters. His father hoped his only son would someday take over the family’s successful insurance business, but from an early age de la Renta knew he wanted to be a painter, a career choice not approved by his father. Despite his father’s objections, after graduating from Escuela Normal in 1950, de la Renta enrolled in Santo Domingo’s National School of Art.
De la Renta, who had already held a one-man show when he was 17 years old, stayed at the National School of Art for a year before moving to Madrid, Spain, to continue his studies at the San Fernando Art School. After his mother’s death, his father refused to continue to pay his son’s tuition and de la Renta turned to fashion. As de la Renta later told Hispanic magazine, “If I would have told my father I wanted to be a fashion designer, probably he would have dropped dead right there on the spot.” Just eighteen years old, de la Renta used his newly discovered aptitude for fashion to support himself by selling sketches to fashion magazines. After seeing some sketches of de la Renta’s original dress designs, Mrs. John Lodge, the wife of Spain’s U.S. ambassador, commissioned de la Renta to design a debutante gown for her daughter, Beatrice. When Beatrice appeared on the cover of Life magazine wearing de la Renta’s design, the artist decided to abandon his painting to become a design apprentice to noted Spanish couturier, Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Created Off-the-Rack Designs Now intent on a career in fashion, de la Renta moved to Paris in 1961 to become a couture assistant for
88 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn on July 22, 1932, in Santo Domingo, Do-
minican Republic, son of Oscar and Maria Anto-
nia deFiallo de la Renta; married Françoise de Langlade, 1967 (died 1983); married Annette Reed, 1989; children: adopted son. Education: Attended National School of Art, Santo Domingo, 1950-52; attended Academia de San Fernando, Madrid, 1953-55. Career: Staff designer under Balenciaga, Madrid, beginning 1949; assistant designer to Antonio Castiollo, Lanvin-Castiollo, Paris, 1961-63; Elizabeth Arden couture, New York, designer, 1963-65; Jane Derby Inc., partner, and designer, 1965-69; Oscar de la Renta Couture, Oscar de la Renta II, de la Renta Furs and Jewelry, and Oscar de la Renta Ltd., designer/CEO, 1973–; de la Renta specialty shop, Santo Domingo, owner, 1968–; couture collection for Pierre Balmain,
wealthy women. While at Elizabeth Arden, de la Renta became convinced that off-the-rack clothing was a largely untapped market with vast potential. When he failed to convince Arden to develop a new ready-towear line, de la Renta decided to step out on his own. Leaving Elizabeth Arden in 1965, de la Renta partnered with Ben and Gerald Shaw in the purchase of the Seventh Avenue ready-to-wear design firm of Jane Derby, who was preparing to retire. Although the move was risky—de la Renta took a drastic cut in pay—the deal provided him with one-third ownership of the company, a challenge and an opportunity he couldn’t refuse. After Derby’s death the following year, the firm’s name was changed to Oscar de la Renta Inc. In 1967, the same year in which he won his first Coty American Fashion Critics Award, de la Renta married Françoise de la Langlade, editor-in-chief of French Vogue magazine. With his wife’s help, de la Renta received valuable publicity, and comments on his designs, and those who had been seen wearing his clothing began to appear in the society columns. This added to de la Renta’s name recognition and to the aura of his signature style.
France, designer, 1993–.
Growth of Oscar de la Renta Ltd. Memberships: Board of Directors: Metropolitan Opera; Carnegie Hall; Americas Society; Spanish Institute. Awards: Coty American Fashion Critics’ Winnie Award, New York, 1967 and 1968; Neiman-Marcus Award, New York, 1968; Golden Tiberius Award, 1969; American Printed Fabrics Council Award, New York, 1971; Coty Hall of Fame Award, 1973; Fragrance Foundation Award, New York, 1978; Caballero of the Order of San Pablo Duarte, and Gran Commandante of the Order of Cristobal Colon, Dominican Republic, 1972. Jack Dempsey Award for humanitarian efforts, 1988; Lifetime Achievement Award; Council of Fashion Designers of America, 1990; Designer of the Year, Council of Fashion Designers of America, 2000. Address: 550 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10018.
fashion designer Antonio Canovas del Castillo. After taking a two-week crash course in dressmaking, de la Renta joined Castillo’s couture, specializing in tailoring. De la Renta began to excel in the fashion industry, and in 1963, after meeting fashion designer Elizabeth Arden at a dinner party, he was invited to join Arden’s New York firm as her chief in-house designer. Seeing New York as the next step on the path to fame and wealth, de la Renta quickly agreed. For the next two years he designed high-end clothing that catered to
Throughout the following decades, the Oscar de la Renta organization continued to grow, as did de la Renta’s personal fame. The company spread its operations into Europe, Asia, South America, and North America. Product lines expanded to include a wide range of products bearing the signature of Oscar de la Renta, including perfume, jewelry, shoes, and swimwear. In 1969 fashion giant Richton International bought de la Renta’s company, and for the next four years de la Renta served as a member of the Richton board of directors and as chief executive officer of four divisions: Richton’s Oscar de la Renta Couture, Oscar de la Renta II, Oscar de la Renta Furs, and Oscar de la Renta Jewelry. As a result, through Richton, Oscar de la Renta became the first fashion company in the United States to offer its stock to the public. However, in 1973 de la Renta reclaimed ownership of his organization, which became Oscar de la Renta Limited. Throughout his career, de la Renta continued to push into new territory in the fashion industry. In 1966 he launched an innovative line of designer ready-to-wear clothing that carried a moderate price tag. He also was one of the first designers of women’s clothes to delve into designing clothing for men. In 1977 de la Renta introduced his first fragrance, “Oscar.” The perfume was a commercial success, becoming one of the top five fragrances sold in the United States. De la Renta also launched a men’s fragrance, “Pour Lui,” which also became popular among consumers. By the mid1990s, fragrances made up one third of de la Renta’s business. In May of 2002 de la Renta launched a new women’s fragrance, “Intrusion,” introduced to symbol-
de la Renta • 89 ize the allure and feminine power of women. In 1993 the French couture House of Balmain, which had lost its financial footing after the death of its founder Pierre Balmain in 1982 and increased competition from ready-to-wear designers, asked de la Renta to serve as its lead designer. It was the first time an American (de la Renta received his U.S. citizenship in the 1970s) had ever been at the helm of a French couture firm.
High Fashion and Working Women One reason for de la Renta’s sustained success has been his ability to provide fresh, elegant styles for modern women. At first catering to the expensive tastes of the upper classes, de la Renta’s style has evolved to consider the likes and needs of working women. He told National Review, “Today you don’t make your name by selling one dress to an extraordinary lady. You make your name and your money by selling to the masses.ѧ Back in the Sixties, when I designed expensive clothes, my customer was a woman whose first occasion of the day was to put on a nice dress and have lunch with a friend.” According to de la Renta, women’s needs have changed, as has their role in society. Rather than focusing on a singularly important designer outfit, women want clothes with less vivid colors and more durability so that they can be worn repeatedly. In other words, de la Renta designs the women’s equivalent of men’s basic grey and navy outfits, but adds to his women’s designs a unique sense of softness and style that allow women to retain their femininity. Because of the important roles that image and name recognition play in the fashion industry, de la Renta has continued to design high fashion clothing for the wealthy and famous, which garners high levels of publicity. However, his operations depend largely on the success of his fashion accessories, which provide the majority of the company’s profits. The designer also balances his design offerings to appeal both to the fashion world and to the general public. Explaining himself to National Review, de la Renta noted, “The most important thing for any collection is that it is identifiable as the style of the designer, but in doing that
I try to arrange my collections so that they will be a balance of clothes where some will be more appreciated by the press and others by the real customer.” In 1983 de la Renta’s wife died, and the following year he adopted a son, Moisés Oscar, from Casa de Nios, an orphanage and childcare facility in the Dominican Republic that de la Renta built and continues to fund through an annual benefit fashion show. For his charitable efforts to care for the needs of the children of his homeland, the Dominican Republic has bestowed on de la Renta two of its highest honors, El Merito de Juan Pablo Duarte and the Order of Cristobal Colon. In 1989 the designer married Annette Engelhard Reed, heiress to the Englehard metals dynasty. De la Renta continues to live and work in New York, although he maintains multiple homes around the world, including a 200-acre estate in Connecticut and a home and working fruit plantation, Casa de Madera, in the Dominican Republic.
Sources Books Contemporary Designers, St. James, 1997. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale Research, 1996. Contemporary Fashion, St. James, 1995. Periodicals National Review, October 13, 1997. On-line American Decades CD-ROM, Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center, The Gale Group, www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC http://www.embusa.es/emba/mislisen.html Hispanic Heritage Awards Foundation, www.hispa nicawards.org Hispanic Online, www.hispaniconline.com (May 2002). —Kari Bethel
90 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Vinícius de Moraes 1913-1980 Songwriter, playwright, poet, diplomat
The name of Vinícius de Moraes is not well known in English-speaking countries, but he helped to create two of the enduring icons of twentieth century culture: the film Black Orpheus and the song “Girl from Ipanema” were both taken from plays and songs he wrote. Moraes was a Brazilian writer whose work over his long career encompassed both the elite realm of poetry and the democracy of popular song. In the latter sphere he was the favored lyricist of the pioneering Brazilian composer and pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim; together the two were important shapers of the sophisticated and internationally popular Brazilian music known as bossa nova. A Renaissance man whose career also included substantial activity as a film critic and as a member of Brazil’s diplomatic corps, Moraes made only a few excursions into playwriting and screenwriting. His 1954 play, Orfeu da Conceição, and its subsequent film adaptation, known in English as Black Orpheus, however, gained international renown. Those works, landmark achievements in cross-cultural fusion, combined the culture of Rio de Janeiro’s hillside favelas and its African-descended inhabitants in a vivid synthesis with a story drawn from the ancient Greek mythology of Europe.
Named After Character in Novel Moraes was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 19, 1913; his father was a scholar and poet who named him after a character in a popular novel, Quo Vadis?, which appeared the year he was born and was
set in the age of Jesus Christ’s birth. His education was a highly literary one, and he was already a published poet at age 19. His first book of poetry, O caminho para a distância (The Road into the Distance), appeared in 1933. Moraes was finishing a law degree in Rio at the time, although he was never active as a lawyer. Instead, he was preparing for a career path well trodden by Brazil’s educated elites: he would serve for much of his life as a government official and diplomat. Interested in contemporary trends in European poetry and fluent in several languages, Moraes studied for a year at Oxford University in England; he wrote some poetry in English, and while he was there he was married in absentia to his first wife, Beatrîz. The title of his 1935 volume, Forma e Exegese (Forms and Exegeses), gives the flavor of the European methods that permeated his youthful poetry. Another side of his creative personality also manifested itself. As a result of a teenage friendship with popular Brazilian vocalists Paulo and Haroldo Tapajós, Moraes began to write popular song lyrics. At the same time as he was finishing law school and putting the final touches on his first poetry publications in 1932 and 1933, Moraes notched about a dozen songwriting credits, some of them hits. Moraes worked in the late 1930s for the Brazilian government’s film censorship office and in the early 1940s was active as a film critic, cultivating a friendship with U.S. film director Orson Welles when the latter visited Brazil. Moraes joined Brazil’s diplomatic corps in 1943. A tour of Brazil with the radical American
de Moraes • 91
At a Glance . . .
B
orn October 19, 1913, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;
died July 10, 1980, in Rio de Janeiro; married
twice. Education: Received law degree in Rio de Janeiro, 1933; studied English literature, Oxford University, England, 1938. Career: Published poetry and wrote popular songs, 1930s and 1940s; worked for Brazil government film censorship office, late 1930s; wrote film criticism, early 1940s; joined Brazilian diplomatic corps, 194369; wrote play Orfeu da Conceição, basis for film Black Orpheus, 1954; numerous popular compositions in samba and bossa nova styles, late 1950s and 1960s; wrote lyrics to song “The Girl from Ipanema,” 1963. Awards: Grammy award, Song of the Year, for “The Girl from Ipanema,” 1964.
novelist Waldo Frank in 1945 opened his eyes to the lives ordinary Brazilians led. “I saw crime and sexual degradation and poverty for the first time,” he told the Saturday Review. “Within thirty days I was no longer a boy, no longer a citizen of the upper middle class, prepared by their priesthood to be a good rightist.”
Served as Diplomat in Los Angeles His earliest popular compositions had been in oldfashioned forms such as the foxtrot, but now he came under the spell of the Afro-Brazilian hybrid known as samba, frowned upon by Brazil’s upper classes but rapidly gaining adherents with its collection of dance rhythms as infectious as any produced within the African diaspora. He had both his cinematic and his musical horizons widened when he was sent to the Brazilian consulate in Los Angeles as assistant vice consul in 1946. Moraes would later serve in diplomatic posts in Uruguay and in France, but he returned to Brazil for a time after his father’s death in 1950. His earliest samba lyrics date from 1953. At about that time, Moraes experienced a flash of inspiration that joined the European and the AfroBrazilian halves of his cultural education. As he sat at home in Rio, he told the Saturday Review, “somewhere in the distance the Batucada drums were beating their samba rhythms. I was reading a French anthology of classical myths. Suddenly—boing!—the two ideas connected.” By the following morning Moraes had completed the first part of the scenario that would
become Orfeu da Conceição. The title, Moraes told Saturday Review, roughly meant “Orpheus Jones.” The writing of the play intersected with the chaotic breakup of Moraes’s arranged marriage, and at one point he lost the manuscript of the entire completed third act. Finally produced in 1954 with music by the thenunknown Jobim, Orfeu da Conceição opened to mixed reviews but won a major Brazilian theatrical prize. Moraes had originally conceived of the Black Orpheus story as a film, and had sold the rights to a French production company. In 1956 the play was adapted for the screen by Moraes and French director Marcel Camus, with new music by Moraes and Jobim. The U.S. release, entitled Black Orpheus, won an Academy Award, and the film was honored with the top Palme d’or prize at France’s Cannes Film Festival. Black Orpheus, set in Rio during Carnival (known in the United States as Mardi Gras), adapted the mythological story of Orpheus, who tries to rescue his lover Eurydice from the realm of death through the power of song, to a contemporary Afro-Brazilian setting. In Moraes’s story, Orpheus is a samba singer whose beloved Eurydice, a girl newly arrived in Rio from Brazil’s northeast, meets her death in a streetcar accident. At several key junctures the Greek myth of Orpheus is overlaid with characteristically AfroBrazilian images.
Bossa Nova Songwriting Career Flourished The film version of Black Orpheus vividly captured the kaleidoscopic energy of the Brazilian Carnival celebration, but Moraes felt that the film’s French makers treated Brazilian culture as an exotic experience rather than really exploring the issues raised in his play. Nevertheless, Black Orpheus marked the beginning of a new level in the careers of both Moraes and Jobim, who now began to experience wide success as a popular songwriting team. They often worked in the elegant, jazz-influenced bossa nova genre, pioneered by Jobim and vocalist-guitarist João Gilberto. In 1963 their fame reached international dimensions with the bossa nova song “The Girl from Ipanema,” which featured Gilberto’s wife, Astrud, on vocals. Ironically, the song gained little popularity in Brazil itself. Moraes wrote the song after Jobim became infatuated with an attractive young woman whom he saw through the window of a bar where the two songwriting partners were relaxing, not far from Rio’s famed Ipanema Beach. (The street where the bar is located was later named after Moraes.) “The Girl from Ipanema,” fitted with a verse of English lyrics, perfectly evoked a tropical vacationland for U.S. listeners. The song won a Grammy award for Record of the Year in 1964, and touched off an international bossa nova craze that still echoed 20 years later in such recordings as Nigerian jazz singer Sade’s “Smooth Operator.” “The Girl from
92 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Ipanema” has been recorded well over 100 times and remains a jazz standard.
Sources
Bounced from the diplomatic corps after running afoul of Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1969, Moraes emerged as a thorn in the regime’s side in the 1970s. In concert appearances he satirized the regime’s excesses, but his stature as an elder statesman of Brazilian music and poetry protected him from reprisals. He remained active as a lyricist and poet until the end of his life. Vinícius de Moraes died in Rio de Janeiro of a lung disease on July 10, 1980. Numerous releases of his music remain available, and in 1999 Orfeu da Conceição was filmed once again by Brazilian new-wave director Carlos Diegues.
Books
Selected writings
New York Times, July 11, 1980, p. A15. Saturday Review, February 9, 1974, p. 30.
O caminho para a distância (poetry), 1933. Forma e exegese (poetry), 1935. Novos poemas (poetry), 1938. Cinco elegias (poetry), 1938, pub. 1943. Orfeu da Conceição (play), 1956. The Girl from Ipanema (song text), 1962. Numerous popular song lyrics in samba and bossa nova styles.
Bradbury, Malcolm, ed., Penguin Companion to American Literature, McGraw-Hill, 1971. Foster, David William, and Virginia Ramos Foster, Modern Latin American Literature, Ungar, 1975. McGowan, Chris, and Ricardo Pessanha, The Brazilian Sound, Billboard Books, 1991. Stern, Irwin, Dictionary of Brazilian Literature, Greenwood Press, 1988. Periodicals
On-line All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/feature/brazilorpheus.html —James M. Manheim
de Vega • 93
Sonia de León de Vega 1964— Conductor
When Sonia de León de Vega heard her first Beethoven symphony as a child, she decided to find out all she could about the composer. This inspiration helped launch her life long love affair with classical music that eventually led to her becoming a conductor. In 1986 de Vega conducted the Papal Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, and for several years she traveled broadly as a guest conductor for operas and orchestras. She formed the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Los Angeles in 1992 in an effort to bring classical music to the Latino community, and has administered children’s programs designed to aid schools without music programs. “I felt it was important,” de Vega told Contemporary Hispanic Biography, “to go out to the community instead of making them come to us.” In 2000 de Vega was voted “Outstanding Latina Woman of the Year” by Unison and other corporations. Of one concert Richard Ginell of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Sonia Marie De León de Vega’s conducting picked up added sweep and energy ѧ” De Vega was born in San Antonio, Texas, and was surrounded by music from an early age. Her father, Reynaldo Sánchez, fronted a trio and she hid behind the sofa, pretending to conduct his band as it re-
hearsed. Her sister, Carla de León, would later record for the Fonovisa label. Her mother, Sonia de León worked as an actress and producer. “I come from a ‘show business’ family,” de Vega told CHB, “Everyone was involved in the entertainment business. So my following a music career seemed a natural and was highly encouraged by my family.” When de Vega was three, her family moved to Fresno, California, and later, relocated to Los Angeles. When she was five, her father bought a $50 piano and she began lessons. Although de Vega grew up listening to the same pop music as many of her peers in Echo Park, her favorite music was classical. After high school she entered California State University where Dr. David Buck encouraged her to study conducting in graduate school. In 1986 de Vega was invited to the Vatican to conduct at St. Peter’s Basilica. It was only the second time a guest had been invited to conduct a Papal Mass in 150 years, and the first time a woman had received the invitation. “The invitation to the Vatican was very important for my career because it was very newsworthy,” de Vega noted to CHB, “Therefore I received tons of publicity from it.” Between 1986 and 1992, de Vega traveled to a number of communities as a guest
94 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Sonia Marie de León on October 16, 1964;
married
Rodolfo
Vega;
children:
Rodolfo
Joaquín. Education: California State University, B.A. (music), 1984; California State University, M.A., instrumental music and conducting, 1986. Career: Guest conductor, 1986-92; founder, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, 1992. Addresses: Office—2759 West Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90041.
conductor. During her travels, she realized that the venues she visited often failed to reach all members of the community. “In Mexico and Italy I saw concerts that were filled with families and children unlike what I had seen here,” de Vega told CHB. “I felt that we had to get these families and children to concerts just like they would have the opportunity in their own country.” She began to formulate the idea of taking classical music into the community. “I saw a need to take music to the community,” she told Diana Terry-Azíos in Hispanic, “I wanted to make it accessible to people.” Other events also shaped De Vega’s belief that certain communities were being underserved. In an article in Hispanic Magazine, she recalled an incidence of prejudice directed toward her and her husband while attending a concert. She had leaned forward to gain a better view, when the person behind her, de Vega told Terry-Azíos, said, “You people don’t belong here. You people don’t know a thing about classical music.” Although she was offended, de Vega realized that this sort of incident could never occur at one of her concerts: a Latino member of the audience would only have to point to the conductor on the stage to prove otherwise. “It makes them feel good to see me conduct,” she told Terry-Azíos, “because I am one of them.” Being a Latina has also brought unique challenges to de Vega’s career. “ѧ [A] female conductor was not very common at all,” she told CHB, “especially when I began in 1986. Being a Latina only made it harder.” In 1992 de Vega founded the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, named for the patron of musicians, and dedicated to the memory of her father who died in 1991. “He had a devotion to Saint Cecilia,” she recalled. “I could think of no greater tribute to him than to name the orchestra I founded a year later the Santa Cecilia Orchestra.”
Unlike other orchestras, Santa Cecilia would bring classical music to underserved communities. De Vega also initiated several social outreach programs from Santa Cecilia, including “Discovering Music,” a program that visited elementary schools with a limited musical curriculum. The program has been de Vega’s favorite. “The response from the children,” she told Terry-Azíos, “is what really keeps me going.” The program begins by introducing one instrument to a class, and then builds one instrument at a time until the entire orchestra performs at the school. De Vega planned to expand the program to 48 schools by 2002. “Music offers self-esteem,” de Vega told Hispanic. “When children have music in their lives, they get to work at something and see results and learn discipline.” De Vega married Rodolfo Vega in 1993, and they have one child, Rodolfo Joaquín. She has maintained a busy schedule managing the orchestra, “but never at the expense of my family,” she told CHB. Besides the orchestra, she has continued to produce and direct “Opera Under the Stars.” The venue has provided her the opportunity to launch a number of talented individual’s careers, and in 2002, celebrated its tenth season. She has also been active in public service, conducting a number of children’s programs for the City of Los Angeles’s Cultural Affairs Department. In the future, she hopes to reach out to even more children by offering education information on the Internet. De Vega also plans to start a children’s choir and orchestra in 2003, and she would like to see more Latinos become involved in classical music. “I don’t know if I will ever be the best,” De Vega told CHB, “but I will know that I tried my best and right now I feel like the best is yet to come.”
Sources Periodicals Hispanic, May 2000, pp. 78, 79. Los Angeles Times, July 24, 2000, p. 8. On-line http://www.scorchestra.org/index.html, 2002).
(May
25,
Other Additional information for this profile was obtained through a personal interview with Contemporary Hispanic Biography on June 26, 2002. —Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
Del Toro • 95
Benicio Del Toro 1967— Actor, writer
Puerto Rican-born Benicio Del Toro has been called the Marlon Brando of his generation, a label he eschewed. “Everybody’s like Brando,” he told Harper’s Bazaar. His own opinion notwithstanding, the tall, dark, somewhat mysterious actor has made his mark by fully inhabiting his various film roles, to critical and popular success. From his first major film, The Usual Suspects, Del Toro was recognized as a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. His Oscar-winning turn in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic cemented Del Toro’s place as a significant actor in major motion pictures. Del Toro was born February 19, 1967, in Santurce, Puerto Rico, the youngest of two sons of Gustavo, a prosperous lawyer, and, Fausta Del Toro, also a lawyer. His mother died when Benicio was just nine years old. “The performances I would do to make her laugh were probably my first acting efforts,” Del Toro told the Miami Herald in 1997. “Incredibly, I took her death very well. When things like that happen at such an early age, you accept them as a fact.” In the Miami Herald, Del Toro recalled making up imaginary stories as a child with his brother, imagining himself as Tarzan, their dogs as bears or lions. After his mother’s death, Del Toro’s father built a basketball court across the
street from the family’s home and the boy threw himself into the game. His godmother, Sarah Torres, assumed a very strong and influential role in the boy’s life, acting as a mother figure. Del Toro, nicknamed “Beno,” was a popular troublemaker at the Academy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Catholic school he attended through eighth grade. Unable to get along with his new stepmother, Del Toro’s father sent him to Mercersburg Academy, a boarding school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. There, he scored average grades and was co-captain of the basketball team in his senior year. The language barrier was a problem for Del Toro at boarding school—there was no real Hispanic community in Pennsylvania. He focused on basketball, which made him feel like he “could communicate perfectly,” as he told the Miami Herald, and he made friends more easily through sports. He discovered oil painting at boarding school, and remained an avid painter. Expected to become a lawyer like his father—Del Toro’s brother, Gustavo, is a doctor in Manhattan—Del Toro enrolled as a business major at the University of California at San Diego in 1985. In an attempt to lighten his course load, he took one acting class. He
96 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Benicio Del Toro on February 19, 1967, in
San German, Puerto Rico. Education: University
of California San Diego, attended. Career: Actor, 1987-. Appeared on the television show Miami Vice, 1987; wrote, directed, and produced the short film Submission, 1995; numerous films. Awards: Best Supporting Actor, Independent Spirit Awards, 1996, 1997; for Traffic: Best Supporting Performance, Online Village Voice Film Critics Poll, 2000; Best Supporting Actor, Las Vegas Film Critics Society, 2000; Best Supporting Actor, San Diego Film Critics Society, 2000; Best Actor, Toronto Film Critics Association, 2000; Favorite Supporting Actor-Drama, Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, 2001; Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award, 2001; Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, Screen Actors Guild, 2001; Best Supporting Actor, Chicago Film Critics Association, 2001; Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Orange British Academy, 2001; Silver Bear award for Best Actor, Berlin Film Festival, 2001; Best Actor award, First Annual Vancouver Film Critics, 2001; Best Supporting Actor, Golden Globe, 2001; Best Supporting Actor, New York Film Critics Circle, 2001; Best Supporting Actor, Kansas City Film Critics Circle, 2001; Best Supporting Actor, Southeastern Film Critics Association, 2001; Best Supporting Actor, National Society of Film Critics, 2001; Best Supporting Actor, Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, 2001; named International Man of the Year, GQ, 2001; Piper-Heidsieck Tribute to Independent Vision, Sundance Film Festival, 2002. Addresses: Agent—IFA Talent Agency, 8730 Sunset Blvd., Suite 490, Los Angeles CA 90069.
was hooked. He switched his major to acting without telling his family, and then left college to pursue acting professionally. Shortly thereafter, he moved to New York City to study acting at the Circle Square Theater. His father was not thrilled about Del Toro’s change of plans, but accepted his son’s decision. His family could not comprehend how anyone could expect to make a living as an actor. When he made the decision to act, Del Toro told the Miami Herald, he was so committed that “I saw it as a marriage.” After New York, Del Toro
moved to Los Angeles, where he studied intensively on a scholarship at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting for the next three or four years. He lived with his brother, who was studying at UCLA, and helped the Adler school build a theater to help cover his expenses. In 1987 Del Toro got his first job as a guest star on the television series Miami Vice. The experience motivated the young actor, but it was the only work he saw for some time. Del Toro was never terribly interested in television work. Because it is produced too quickly, there is no time for him to fully interpret and develop a character. His real passion has always been film. Though he appeared in small roles in such films as Big Top Peewee, License To Kill, Money For Nothing, and Swimming With Sharks, many people consider The Usual Suspects his first film. Released in 1995, the film starred Kevin Spacey. Del Toro thinned his eyebrows and shaved his hairline for the role of Fenster, a sketchy, mumbling criminal involved in a mysterious heist. The film found critical and box office success, and launched Del Toro as a major up-and-coming talent in Hollywood. In the year after he finished The Usual Suspects, Del Toro completed four films. De Toro disliked this pace, since it did not give him enough time to concentrate as much as he would have liked on each role. On top of all that, he also directed a short film that year, called Submission. Del Toro has always enjoyed the freedom of being able to travel freely back and forth between the United States and Puerto Rico, with no passport or green card required. In his career, he would prefer not to be seen solely as a Latino actor. Though he admitted to feeling a responsibility for being a working Latino actor in Hollywood, he felt that his primary responsibility as an actor was, as he told the Miami Herald “to do my job well.” In addition to doing his job well, Del Toro, who insisted that he is not chasing money or glamour, also had to contend with his blossoming stardom. “When you start to become a movie star it’s easy to believe that you are Superman. That can fool you,” Del Toro told the Miami Herald. “That’s why I prefer not to pay much attention to fame. Without realizing it, you can enter a vicious circle and think that you really are a superhero.” The actor has often mocked Hollywood convention and celebrity culture in interviews. Though Del Toro’s success changed his life, it hasn’t changed the way he lives—he continued to live in the same one-bedroom condo in Los Angeles, and drove the same beat-up SUV. While he may not be celebrity- driven, Del Toro thrived on working with such actors as Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt. He got a chance to work with his favorite painter, Julian Schnabel, when he played a role in Schnabel’s 1996 film, Basquiat. Del Toro has become known for his chameleon-like ability to lose himself and fully become a character. He
Del Toro • 97 put on 45 pounds for his role in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in just nine weeks, eating everything in sight. Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, the film did not fare well. It drew poor reviews, and Del Toro has admitted it was a very low period in his life. To prepare for Traffic, he poured over books about the drug war, met with Tijuana cops, and worked to perfect a Mexican accent. In Traffic, Del Toro played Javier Rodriguez, a softspoken police officer trying to fight his battles in the drug war. The film was a blockbuster and critical hit. Del Toro came away from it with a slough of awards for his performance, a Golden Globe and Academy Award among them. Backstage at the Oscars, surrounded by Hollywood’s biggest stars, Del Toro was as near ecstatic as his reserved persona would allow. “It feels pretty good,” he said, according to People. Del Toro’s next projects, to be released in 2002 and 2003, included: The Hunted, Julia, toda en mi (Julia, All in Me), Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, and the biographical film Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. “I’ve been lucky,” he told Harper’s Bazaar. “What I’m doing is getting respect, and I’m getting better at what I do.”
Selected filmography Big Top Pee-wee, 1988. License To Kill, 1989. The Indian Runner, 1991. Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, 1992. Huevos de Oro, 1993. Fearless, 1993. Money For Nothing, 1993.
China Moon, 1994. Submission, 1995. The Usual Suspects, 1995. Swimming With Sharks, 1995. The Funeral, 1996. Basquiat, 1996. The Fan, 1996. Excess Baggage, 1997. Cannes Man, 1997. Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, 1998. The Way of the Gun, 2000. Bread and Roses, 2001. The Pledge, 2001. Snatch, 2001. Traffic, 2001. The Hunted, 2002. Julia, toda en mi (Julia, All in Me), 2002. Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, 2003. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, 2003.
Sources Periodicals Harper’s Bazaar, February 2001, p. 236. Miami Herald, October 10, 1997. Newsweek, January 8, 2001, p. 63. People, April 16, 2001, p. 69. On-line The Benicio Del Toro Zone: The Official Web Pages, http;//www.beniciodeltoro.com (June 15, 2001). —Brenna Sanchez
98 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Luis Ernesto Derbéz Bautista 1947— Economist, government official
Since his appointment to the post of minister of the economy in 2000, Luis Ernesto Derbéz Bautista has been at the forefront of many of the policies transforming the Mexican economy. Developing newly-elected President Vicente Fox’s much-needed economic reform measures, U.S.-trained economist Derbéz believed that opening Mexico’s largely governmentrun economy to private interests, increasing foreign investments, and encouraging competition among businesses would strengthen the country’s financial outlook and increase employment. With 14 years of experience in stabilizing struggling economies through his position with the World Bank, Derbéz described himself as a “very pragmatic person,” in an interview with Business Week Online. “What the World Bank has taught me,” the economist added, “is that you really have to look at the problem first before thinking that you have a solution for it.” Known for his skills as a negotiator, and for his willingness to consider a variety of options in solving economic problems, Derbéz strongly defended solutions achieved by such a consensus. As Silvia Meave Avila noted in Siem pre! he has become known among his colleagues as “amiable, candid ѧ with a willingness to listen.”
Derbéz was born in Mexico City, Mexico, on April 1, 1947. Enrolling at the San Luis Potosí Autonomous University, he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1970 and decided that he wanted to make that subject his life’s work. Traveling to northwestern United States, he earned his master’s degree at the University of Oregon, studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and then went to Iowa State University to complete his Ph.D. in economics, with a specialty in econometrics—the use of statistics in solving economic problems—and operations research. During his schooling Derbéz focused on macroeconomics—the study of whole economies and the interaction of business sectors—rather than on microeconomics with its focus on more specific economic activity. After completing his education in 1980, Derbéz returned to Mexico and began his career as a macroeconomist. In 1983 he joined the World Bank office in Mexico City, where he oversaw the office’s international areas of interest, including Chile, Western Africa, India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Among his responsibilities during his 14-year tenure with the World Bank, Derbéz developed, structured, and implemented financial assis-
Derbéz Bautista • 99
At a Glance . . .
B
orn April 1, 1947, in Mexico City, Mexico.
Education: Universidad Autónoma de San Luis
Potosí, B.A., 1970; University of Oregon, M.A., 1974; Iowa State Univerity, Ph.D., econometrics and operations research, 1980. Career: Banco Mundial (World Bank), Mexico City, Mexico, economist for reconstruction of Chile, 198386, chief economist for Central America, 1986-89, chief of operations for West/Central Africa, 1992-94, director of financial and banking operations for India, Nepal, and Bhutan, 1994-97; independent economic consultant, beginning 1997; Government of Mexico, minister of finance, 2000–; instructor at schools including Johns Hopkins University, Instituto Technològica y de Estudias Superiores, and University of the Americas. Memberships: Supervisory bureau of Opciones y Futuros del Mercado de Valores; board of directors, Pemex (government-run oil company), 2001–. Address:
Office—Secretaría
de
Economía,
Co.
Hipódromo, Condesa, 06170, México, D.F.
tance programs designed to help struggling economies in Africa, as well as in Central and South America. In Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala in particular, such things as unemployment, political instability, natural disasters, or inept fiscal management had created situations whereby governments were so heavily burdened by debt to the World Bank and other institutions that they could no longer sustain an adequate standard of living for their citizens. In working to help such governments regain financial stability, Derbéz gained exposure to a wide range of financial markets, and became experienced in economic causeand-effect patterns not only in the banking arena but in other areas of these regional economies. Handling the reform of 35 different economies while at the World Bank made Derbéz an expert at economic reconstruction. In addition to his work as a professional economist, Derbéz also found time to involve himself in the academic world, both in his native Mexico and in the United States. In Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, he was professor of economics at the Instituto Technològica y de Estudias Superiores’ Graduate School of Business Management, and also served as director of that school’s econometrics studies unit and economics
department. At Johns Hopkins University’s School of International Studies, Derbéz temporarily joined the staff as a guest professor, and also worked for a period as director of the Institute of International Finance, part of the University of the Americas, located in Cholula, Pueblo, Mexico. Late in his tenure with the World Bank, Derbéz was introduced to Vicente Fox, the Governor of the Mexican state of Guanajuato, by Eduardo Sojo, a former student of Derbéz’s. The meeting would prove providential for Derbéz. His credentials and manner impressed Fox, who planned to expand his political career with an eye toward the Mexican presidential election of 2000. In 1997 Derbéz left the World Bank to form an economic think tank that performed consulting work for both his former employer and the Inter-American Development Bank, located in Washington, D.C. In his role as independent consultant, Derbéz was instrumental in developing and implementing recovery programs for his clients’ use when participating in relief efforts in areas whose economies had been hard hit by natural disasters and other catastrophes. Two such areas were such as Honduras and Nicaragua, both of which in 1999 were still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch when it tore through Central America in October of 1998. Following a period of insurrection that culminated with the Mexican Civil War of 1920, a series of left-wing governments overthrew the country’s ruling elite and attempted to institute policies designed to redistribute the country’s wealth among the entire population. Beginning in 1929 the country was governed by the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (PNR), which evolved into the Partido Revolutionario Institucional (PRI) in 1949. A left-wing, socialist group, the PRI governed through a central committee, and implemented such policies as the nationalization of Mexico’s major industries to help with economic stability. Heavy dependence on petroleum exports caused Mexico’s finances to deteriorate during the fluctuating markets of the late 1980s, propelling the economy into a tailspin. During the 2000 elections, held on July 2nd, Mexico experienced a change in leadership for the first time in almost seven decades, as a center-right-wing candidate was elected under a newly reformed democratic election system. An elated Fox was voted in on the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) ticket, ushering in a new political era. From former president Ernesto Zedillo, Fox inherited a Mexico where 40 million citizens lived in poverty, and where a high inflation rate and a punishing tax code encouraged corruption at many levels of society. Fortunately, he also benefited from Zedillo’s efforts to build trade revenues, stabilize the public sector, and move toward a market economy. After winning the election, Fox set about building a coalition government, selecting among his cabinet
100 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 ministers people with contrasting points of view and political affiliations. As part of his economic transition team, Fox appointed Derbéz to the position of minister of the Mexican economy. This appointment came as no surprise to Derbéz, who for the previous year had joined fellow economist Eduardo Sojo in heading a 22-person team of economists to draft an economic plan to guide Fox’s first six years in office should he win the presidency. Derbéz had few illusions about the task ahead of him. Commenting on the problems facing his country as the new administration faced a competitive global marketplace, Derbéz told Business Week Online: “Why is it that our products have such a high cost and low quality? Because there are tremendous distortions in the economy, either because we have oligopolies, lack of competition, or in the public sector we have created distortions either by subsidies or by imposing more restrictions than we should in certain areas.” To correct Mexico’s trade imbalance, Derbéz planned to make the country’s domestic markets more efficient and productive by privatization (allowing businesses to operate without the help of the government), implementing training programs for the unemployed, providing small businesses access to money that would allow them to expand production, and encouraging Mexicans to purchase Mexican-made goods. Such policies, Derbéz maintained, would increase employment—hence income—and allow Mexican businesses to increase their manufacturing output to a scale that would create a balance of trade between imports and exports. Among his specific goals during Fox’s administration was the creation of 1.35 million jobs. As Derbéz told Smith: “Stability is the most important [aspect] that we have to preserve in the economy.” In a further effort to position his country within the global marketplace, Derbéz hosted trade ministers from 16 different nations in informal discussions held in Mexico City in the fall of 2001. There topics on agricultural subsidies and the dumping of excess, offpriced goods on foreign economies were discussed. In 2000 Mexico also entered into free trade agreements with Honduras, part of Derbéz’s further efforts to bolster the economy of a country he had first worked with while at the World Bank. In his first few years as minister of the Mexican economy, Derbéz followed the plan he and his colleagues laid out for Fox. He worked to achieve a
balance between imports and exports, and also attempted to increase the country’s tax revenues by closing tax loopholes and finding ways to motivate “informal workers” such as street vendors and small businessmen to ante up for their share of income taxes. Derbéz also sustained a dialogue with the United States in the wake of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed between the two countries in 1994. Issues such as the authorization of transnational trucking and claimed violations in the agreement stemming from protectionist policies implemented by the Mexican congress both demanded the minister’s attention. The continued efforts by some members of the Mexican congress to bolster local economies by passing laws imposing trade tariffs on tuna and import taxes on the corn syrup used in Mexico’s soft drink industry required counteraction by Derbéz. He strongly lobbied the United States to open its markets to Mexico’s tuna industry, pushing for the “Dolphin Safe” certification required of the U.S. Department of Commerce. In 2001 Derbéz was also appointed to the board of Pemex, Mexico’s government-run oil company. Operating in a petroleum-rich country that produces 3.3 million barrels of crude oil a day, Pemex was described as having “refineries ѧ so inadequate that the country must import gasoline,” by Simeon Tegel in a Latin Finance article. This appointment could be viewed as a vote of confidence for Derbéz, who was thereby entrusted with the reorganization of a company whose bloated, 118,000-member bureaucracy was estimated to cost Mexico over $1 billion annually.
Sources Periodicals Business Week, July 24, 2000. Latin Finance, September, 2000, p. 48. Proceso, November 19, 2000, p. 26. Siempre!, August 3, 2000, p. 19. On-line Business Week Online, http://www.businessweek .com:/2000/00_30/b3691123.htm Secretaría de Economía, http://www.economialgob .mx —P. L. Shelton
Dominguez • 101
Cari Dominguez 1949— EEOC Chair
In 2001 Cari Dominguez was sworn in as chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the foremost civil rights agency in the United States. Dominguez’s position has allowed her to continue her lifelong work with employment-related and advancement issues, and to address the barriers raised by discrimination in a proactive, rather than reactive, way. Dominguez was born on March 8, 1949, in Havana, Cuba. The Dominguez family, like many others, felt the strain of the political upheaval of the time. Her father, concerned for his family’s safety, sent them to the United States in 1961—it would be six years until Dominguez’s father joined his family in America. After graduating from Maryland’s Montgomery-Blair High School in 1967, Dominguez attended the American University’s School of International Service, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1971. She also completed her master’s degree at the school in 1997. She was also a fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Advanced Study Program in Public Management.
Joined Bank of America Initially planning a career as a foreign service officer, Dominguez was first hired by the U.S, Internal Revenue Service. She then worked at the Veteran’s Administration before joining the U.S Department of Labor. In 1983 Dominguez left Washington, D.C., for San Francisco, joining the Bank of America Corporation. Dominguez first gained notice when, hoping to showcase her ability, she volunteered to coordinate a Bank
America fundraiser. She brainstormed a talent/variety show and recruited performers from the financial arena. The event’s fantastic success caught the attention of Bank America Chair and CEO Samuel Armacost, and, as Dominguez told Hispanic Business, “The next thing I knew, my career took off.” She remained with Bank America for several years, holding two vice presidential positions, including vp and director of executive programs and vp and corporate manager of EEO and affirmative action. The company also presented her with its highest honor, the Eagle Award for excellence. In 1988, after George H. W. Bush’s election to the presidency, Dominguez returned to Washington, D.C. as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment Standards and director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. During her time at the U.S. Labor Department, she spearheaded the Glass Ceiling Initiative, a program intended to clear the barriers against professional advancement for minorities and women. One of the Initiative’s first steps toward this goal was to establish a pilot study to examine how U.S. corporations filled mid- and upper-level management positions. With the 1992 turnover in the presidency, Dominguez returned to the private sector to work for two executive search firms, first the San Francisco-based Spencer Stuart, and later the Washington, D.C. office of Heidrick & Struggles. At Heidrick & Struggles, Dominguez served as a diversity issues consultant, traveling to businesses across the nation.
102 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Cari Maria Dominguez on March 8, 1949, in
Havana, Cuba; married; two sons. Education:
American University, School of International Service, B.A. 1971, M.A. 1997; MIT, Fellow, Advanced Study Program in Public Management. Career: Bank America Corporation, Vice President and Director of Executive Programs and Vice President and Corporate Manager of EEO and Affirmative Action, 1983-88; U.S. Department of Labor, assistant secretary of Labor for Employment Standards and director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, 1988-92; Spencer Stuart, director, 1992-93; Heidrick & Struggles, Partner, 1993-99; Dominguez & Associates, principal, 1999-01; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, chair, 2001–. Memberships: Human Resources Planning Society Board; Leadership Foundation of the International Women’s Forum Board; Hispanic Business Roundtable Board; Holy Names College Board. Awards: Eagle Award, Bank America Corporation; American Biographical Institute, 2000 Most Notable American Women; Hispanic Business, 80 Elite Hispanic Women; Hispanic Business, 100 Most Influential Hispanics. Address: Office—United States Equal Employment
caused a backlash against Arab-Americans, Muslims, and Sikhs. Following the tragedy, discrimination complaints of this type rose so high the EEOC was forced to instigate a new classification for such report statistics. In and EEOC press release Dominguez commented on this racial backlash, urging employers to remain alert to discrimination. She noted, “Preventing and prohibiting injustice against our fellow workers is one way to fight back, if only symbolically, against the evil forces that assaulted our workplaces.” In addition to fighting all workplace discrimination, Dominguez was expanding the Glass Ceiling Initiative work she had begun while at the Labor Department. The expansion, dubbed the Freedom to Compete Initiative, aimed at the root of barriers to workplace advancement. The struggle to uphold America’s laws regarding civil rights must focus on underlying beliefs about culture. The task is to identify and understand these barriers in order to remove them permanently. To help spread the word, the EEOC did a series of Public Service Announcements starring Olympic athletes. “We want to increase the knowledge base and heighten awareness,” Dominguez told the Call and Post newspaper. Dominguez believed that cooperation, and not confrontation, is the key to successfully combating methodical discrimination. She told the Call and Post, “We have a responsibility to look at the trends, and use the resources of the commission to look at patterns and practices” in order to identify and prevent problems ahead of time, rather than confronting the issues after the fact. In a March of 2002 address to the Society for Human Resource Management, reported by Hispanic Journal, Dominguez stated, “There is a role for litigation once the harm is done, but there is a greater calling if we can prevent the discrimination from happening in the first place.”
Opportunity Commission, 1801 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20507.
Nominated for EEOC Chair In 1999 Dominguez launched her own consulting firm, Dominguez & Associates. But two years later, President George W. Bush called her back to government service, nominating her for the position of EEOC chair on May 10, 2001. Confirmed unanimously that July, Dominquez was sworn in a month later for a five year term. According to an EEOC press release reporting her confirmation, Dominguez stated that the EEOC’s mission “captures the promise of America and the mandate of our times: that no worker be left behind for reasons as wasteful and abhorrent as prejudice and discrimination.” That sentiment was soon put to the test, as the attack on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001,
Addressed Canadian Parliament Under Dominguez’s leadership, the EEOC began to work more closely with local and state agencies. In addition, in April of 2002, she was the first chair to address the Canadian Parliament. “The United States and Canada share many issues of mutual concern with respect to the advancement of racial and ethnic minority group members, women, and people with disabilities in our workforces,” Dominguez said in an EEOC press release. Dominguez has been the recipient of much recognition, notably inclusion on two lists from Hispanic Business: The 100 Most Influential Hispanics and 80 Elite Hispanic Women. She also appeared on the 2000 Most Notable American Women list from the American Biographical Institute. She has served on several boards for non-profit groups, including the Human Resources Planning Society, the Leadership Foundation of the International Women’s Forum, the Hispanic
Dominguez • 103 Business Roundtable, and Holy Names College. Dominguez and her husband, Alberto, have made their home in Maryland with their two sons.
Sources Books Notable Hispanic American Women, Book 2. Gale Research, 1998. Periodicals Hispanic Business, April 2002. Hispanic Journal, April 2, 2002.
On-line Call and Post, www.callandpost.com/women/default _article.asp?id=174®ion=women www.eeoc.gov/dominguez.html www.eeoc.gov/press/4-24-02.html www.eeoc.gov/press/8-6-01.html www.eeoc.gov/press/9-14-01.html www.fedcivilrights.org/www.fedcivilrights.org/ CARI.htm www.fedmanager.com/page188.htm www.hispanic vista.com/html/010820enat.htm www.trinitydc.edu/news_events/festival/album/ 03_bios.html —Helene Barker Kiser
104 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Jaime Escalante 1930— Educator
A Bolivian immigrant who worked as a math teacher in East Los Angeles, Jaime Escalante gained national recognition for transforming the math department of a poor Hispanic high school. Escalante’s unorthodox teaching style motivated hundreds of students to sacrifice their free time and other activities to study for the Advanced Placement math test. His high success rate led to national acclaim, as well as external funding for his educational programs. His story became the subject of a 1988 Hollywood film titled Stand and Deliver. Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutiérrez was born on December 31, 1930, in La Paz, Bolivia. He was the second child born to Zenobio and Sara Escalante, who both worked as poorly paid schoolteachers. The Escalantes worked in the remote Aymara and Quechua Indian villages, and Escalante grew up in a town on the high plain called Achacachi. The family of seven lived in three rooms rented from a doctor. As a child Escalante amused himself by playing soccer, basketball, and handball. He also spent a considerable amount of time with his grandfather, who was a retired teacher and an amateur philosopher.
Escalante’s father was an abusive alcoholic, so his mother took the children and moved to La Paz. When Escalante was 14 years old his mother sent him to San Calixto, a prestigious Jesuit high school, where his favorite subjects were math and engineering. When Escalante was a teenager his father died, which meant that the family would not be able to afford to send him to engineering school as he had hoped. Instead, Escalante did odd jobs until he was 19 years old, when he briefly joined the army to fight against leftist rebellions. When his service was over, a friend convinced Escalante to go to college at Normal Superior in order to become a school teacher.
Early Teaching Experience After only two years at Normal Superior, Escalante’s remarkable abilities in physics and mathematics were apparent to his classmates and teachers alike. There was a shortage of physics teachers at the American Institute, and Escalante was offered the job, even though he had not yet been exposed to teacher training classes. At the age of 21, with no books and no experience, Escalante began teaching physics. He
Escalante • 105
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutiérrez on De-
cember 31, 1930, in La Paz, Bolivia; son of
Zenobio (a schoolteacher) and Sara (a schoolteacher) Escalante; married, Fabiola Tapia; children: Jaime Jr., Fernando. Education: Pasadena City College, A.A., 1969; California State University at Los Angeles, B.A., 1972; California State University at Los Angeles, teaching certificate, 1974. Religion: Roman Catholic. Mili-
more stability for her family. As a devout Protestant she also did not approve of alcohol, and wanted to get Escalante away from the friends who frequently took him out drinking. In 1961 Escalante spent a year in Puerto Rico as part of President John F. Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress program, which offered training to industrial arts and science teachers from Latin America. As part of this program Escalante was able to tour several schools in the United States and was impressed with their facilities and equipment. This experience convinced him to grant Fabiola’s wish to move to the United States.
tary Service: Bolivian Army, 1950.
Immigrated to the United States Career: High school math and physics teacher, La Paz, Bolivia, 1954-63; high school math teacher, Garfield High School, East Los Angeles, California, 1974-91; calculus teacher, East Los Angeles Community College, 1983-91; high school math teacher, Hiram Johnson High School, Sacramento, California, 199198; teacher, Universidad del Valle, Bolivia, 1998-; public speaker, 1998–. Awards: Hispanic Heritage Award, 1988; Free Spirit Award, Freedom Forum, 1998; Andres Bello Prize, Organization of American States, 1998; United States Presidential Medal for Excellence, 1998; National Teachers Hall of Fame, 1999.
learned the skills of teaching by imitating other teachers whom he respected, and through trial and error. When he graduated in 1954 he had three jobs lined up. In the mornings he taught at the prestigious San Calixto, in the afternoons he worked at National Bolívar High School, and in the evenings he taught at Commercial High School. It was through a lot of experience that Escalante developed his unique and effective teaching style. In the Bolivian educational system, students were tested by teachers from different schools, eliminating the subjectivity of a teacher testing his or her own students. In this way, “Escalante and his students became part of the same team, fighting a common foe, rather than adversaries in a war in which the teacher always had the upper hand and the students often contemplated revolt or desertion,” according to Jay Mathews in Escalante: The Best Teacher in America. While at Normal Superior, Escalante met Fabiola Tapia, and the couple married on November 25, 1954. A year later they had their first son, Jaime Jr. Fabiola’s brothers went to college in California and she wanted her young family to join them there. She believed that America offered better economic opportunities and
In 1963 Escalante moved to Los Angeles. He was 33 years old and spoke no English. With the little money that he had, he bought a 1964 Volkswagen beetle, which would later become his trademark when he began to teach. Escalante worked as a dishwasher for a local restaurant and later became a cook. He learned English mainly through television, and eventually enrolled in some classes at Pasadena City College. In 1964 his wife and son joined him in the United States, and the family lived in a guesthouse owned by Fabiola’s brother. Fabiola did not like the fact that her welleducated husband was wasting his talents as a chef and she encouraged him to find better work. His next job was as an electronics technician, but he was still not satisfied with the work. Escalante finally realized that his true passion was teaching, and he decided to resume his calling. However, he was disappointed to learn that his teaching credentials were not valid in the United States, and he would have to earn another bachelor’s degree plus an American teaching certificate if he wanted to teach in California. Escalante continued to work as an electronics technician and went to school part-time. In 1969 his second son, Fernando, was born, so his job and family were his first priorities. In 1973 Escalante earned a bachelor of arts degree from California State University. He also won a National Science Foundation scholarship, which allowed him to go to school full-time and complete his teaching certificate in just one year. In 1974 Escalante interviewed for teaching jobs with the Los Angeles Unified School District. He accepted a job as a computer teacher at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. The student body at Garfield was 95% Latino and 80% poor. When Escalante arrived, he quickly learned that there were no computers and that he would be teaching math instead. That was not his only disappointment at Garfield. The students were unruly, poorly educated, disrespectful, and sometimes violent, which was not what Escalante was accustomed to. “They were using their fingers adding stuff at the board,” Escalante told People Weekly in April of 1988. “They came in without supplies, with nothing. Total chaos.” Escalante believed that his first year at Garfield would be his last.
106 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Escalante returned to Garfield for a second year partly due to his passion for teaching and partly because of his commitment to his family. He knew that his sons had more opportunities in the United States than they had in Bolivia, and he was trying to make the best of his situation. When Escalante returned to Garfield in the fall of 1975, he found that all of the school’s administrators had been fired. The school had been performing so poorly that the Western Association of Schools and Colleges threatened to revoke the school’s accreditation. Escalante believed that teachers should challenge students rather than teach at the lowest level possible. With a new administration in place, Escalante was able to push for tougher classes. He began teaching algebra, and by 1979 he introduced the first calculus class at Garfield.
Challenged Students to Excel Escalante had a very unorthodox way of teaching that both frightened and inspired his students. He was not afraid to yell at students for being late or lazy, but he also gave them encouragement and taught them to believe in themselves. He told them that they could succeed at everything if they had the ganas, the desire. He decorated his classroom with inspirational sayings and sports posters. He was imaginative in his techniques to get his points across. He once brought a meat cleaver and an apple to class to teach his students fractions. He would wear funny hats, make jokes about sex, and do whatever he could think of to get his students’ attention—and he was successful. He soon gained the students’ respect and they nicknamed him Kemo Sabe, the man who knows, which was Tonto’s name for the famous Lone Ranger. Garfield’s students began to rise to the challenge set forth by Escalante. When he introduced calculus in 1979 he had five students in the class. All five took the Advanced Placement (AP) exam for calculus and four of them passed. This standardized test gave passing students college credits. It was so difficult that only two percent of American high school students even attempted it. Escalante was inspired by this success and worked even harder to recruit more students. He held special after-school sessions and Saturday classes to prepare students for the AP test. He also tutored those who were struggling during their lunch hour or before classes began. Most importantly, he got the parents involved and convinced them to make their children attend school and do their homework. As he told the Omaha World-Herald in April of 2001, “We need the help of parents. We alone cannot do anything.” In 1982 Escalante’s AP calculus program grew to 18 students, his largest class yet. To his delight, all 18 students passed the test. However, two months later 14 of the students received letters from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey, stating that their scores were invalid. The ETS believed the students had cheated because they had made similar
mistakes on the test. The students were disheartened because they had sacrificed all of their free time to prepare for the test. Escalante was furious. He believed the scores had been challenged because they came from Hispanic students at a poor high school, and that it was difficult for the ETS to believe such students were capable of succeeding. The students were vindicated, however, when 12 of the 14 agreed to retake the test and they all passed a second time.
Became a National Hero This controversial event became the subject of a 1988 movie called Stand and Deliver, starring Edward James Olmos as Escalante, and a 1988 book by Jay Mathews called Escalante: The Best Teacher in America. This national attention to Escalante’s math program led to external funding. In 1990 the Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education provided money for computers, audiovisual equipment, tutors, and scholarships. The National Science Foundation funded the Escalante Math and Science Program at East Los Angeles College, which provided after-school and summer classes for Garfield’s students. Additionally, Escalante’s programs received corporate sponsorship from companies such as Ford, Coca-Cola, Xerox, and IBM. Escalante even developed a series of educational videos called Futures for PBS. With these additional resources, Escalante continued to have success with his math students. By 1991 570 Garfield students had taken AP tests in 14 different subjects. However, the national attention that Escalante received caused jealousy and tension among his coworkers. Escalante was not shy about criticizing teachers when he felt they were not doing a good job. He also disliked faculty meetings and administrative responsibilities because he preferred to be in the classroom with his students. As he told the Los Angeles Times in June of 1991, “We are here to help students. That is my philosophy. And that is my weak point. I put too much time into students.” In 1990 Escalante was dismissed by his peers as chair of the math department. By 1991 tensions among the faculty were so high that Escalante decided to leave Garfield. From 1991 to 1998 Escalante taught at Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento, California. Unlike Garfield, this school was ethnically diverse. Escalante began teaching freshman and sophomore algebra, but eventually instituted an AP calculus course similar to the one at Garfield. Escalante had some success with his program at Johnson, but it was more limited than the success he had enjoyed at Garfield. He was unable to connect with all of the students and parents at Johnson, because not all shared common cultural and linguistic bonds. He also did not have the same administrative support at Johnson that he had at Garfield because of the high turnover of principals and vice principals. As Newsday explained in May of 1997, “By the time Escalante reached Johnson, he was 60, with a
Escalante • 107 national reputation, a family worried about his health, and a reluctance to revive the faculty battles that had made his last years at Garfield so uncomfortable.”
Joined English for Children Initiative
Sources Books Mathews, Jay, Escalante: The Best Teacher in America, Henry Holt and Co., 1988. Periodicals
In 1997 Escalante was asked by his peers to run for the position of state superintendent of public schools, but he declined. That same year he joined the “English for Children” initiative, which was a campaign against bilingual education in California schools. Escalante believed that children suffered in bilingual programs because they were not being taught English at the early ages when it was easiest to learn the language. As he told the Los Angeles Times in November of 1997, “It’s good to have bilingual teachers who speak two languages. But if you teach the kids in Spanish, you’re not preparing them for life.” When the controversial Proposition 227 passed in California dismantling bilingual education, Escalante received a lot of hate mail on the subject. The controversy surrounding Proposition 227 and his less successful tenure at Johnson led Escalante to retire from teaching in 1998 at the age of 66. He planned to continue his work by evaluating testing procedures for the ETS and giving public lectures. As he told the Los Angeles Times in November of 1998, “I am still trying to do what I can, raising money for scholarships and motivating teachers and people.” He also moved back to his native country, splitting his time between Bolivia and the United States. He has become a legend in both countries. In Bolivia he taught at the Universidad del Valle and has had several schools named after him. In the United States Escalante continued to spread his message about the power of encouragement and education. “I am not looking for recognition,” he told the Los Angeles Times in May of 1995. “I’m trying to prove that potential is anywhere and we can teach any kid if we have the ganas (desire) to do it.”
American Enterprise, July 1999, p. 10. Boston Globe, September 1, 1991, p. 2. Insight on the News, December 22, 1997, p. 18. Los Angeles Times, June 27, 1990, p. A19; June 19, 1991, p. B3; August 29, 1991, p. 1; October 23, 1992, p. B1; May 23, 1995; September 19, 1997, p. B10; November 13, 1997, p. A3; May 18, 1998, p. R4; November 15, 1998, p. B1; June 14, 1999, p. A1; July 18, 2001, p. 2. Newsday, May 28, 1997, p. B3; June 11, 1998, p. A23. Newsweek, March 14, 1988, p. 62; July 20, 1992, p. 58. Omaha World-Herald, April 28, 2001, p. 15. People Weekly, April 11, 1988, p. 57. U.S. News and World Report, February 26, 1996, p. 62. Washington Monthly, May 1989, p. 58; May 10, 1999. Washington Post, August 9, 1990, p. B1; April 10, 1994; March 5, 2000, p. W9; January 31, 2002, p. T4. On-line Bolivia Web Hall of Fame, www.boliviaweb.com/hall fame/escalante.htm The Futures Channel, www.thefutureschannel.com/ jaime_escalante/be_teach.htm National Teachers Hall of Fame, www.nthf.org/esca lante.htm Pasadena City College, www.paccd.cc.ca.us/75th/ alumni/escalante/escalante.html The Visionaries: Creators of Worlds, www.govtech .net/magazine/visions/feb98vision/escalante.phtml —Janet P. Stamatel
108 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Joseph A. Fernandez 1921— Chancellor, educator
Joseph A. Fernandez has remained one of the most groundbreaking and controversial figures in the field of education. A high school dropout and former gang leader, Fernandez turned the heads of policy makers, administrators, teachers, and parents. In fact, some of the very issues he brought forth for consideration, or attempted to have implemented have become part of the curriculum as it was at the beginning of the 21st century, including Title I, School of Choice, and school wide projects. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University has referred to Fernandez as “a national educational treasure.” Fernandez was honored with the Champion of Educational Reform award in 1991 from the Hispanic Heritage Awards. In 1998 he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award for Democratic Leadership and Community Relations from the University of Miami, School of Education. Fernandez was born on December 13, 1935 to Jose Maria and Generosa (Alvarez) Fernandez Sr. in West Harlem, New York City. Fernandez, a high school dropout, joined the Air Force where he earned his high school equivalency certificate. He returned home in January of 1956 to serve the remaining six months.
Fernandez married Lily Pons in May of that same year. Upon release from the Air Force, he enrolled at Columbia University under the GI Bill of Rights. Due to the medical problems of their first child, Fernandez and his family relocated to Florida, where Fernandez enrolled at the University of Miami. Fernandez received a B.A. in education from that university, and later obtained both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in education. Fernandez and Lily have four children: Keith, Kevin, Kristen, and Kami. Soon after Fernandez began teaching, he saw his role as educator in a brand new light. In his autobiography he wrote, “I heard a speech that changed my life—or at least my thoughts on what I should do with it.” Fernandez gathered with 400 to 500 new teachers who were attending an orientation, under the direction of John Hall, superintendent of Dade County Schools in Florida. It was not what Hall had said that was important, but the way in which he had said it. He talked about the mystique of the educator and the importance of the classroom teacher—how they should never be sold short. From that moment on, whenever he had an opportunity to involve himself in systems politics, he took it.
Fernandez • 109
At a Glance . . .
B
orn December 13, 1935 in East Harlem, New
York; son of Angela and Joseph Fernandez Sr.;
married Lily Pons, 1956; children: Keith, Kevin, Kristen, Kami. Education: University of Miami, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., education. Religion: Roman Catholic. Military: Air Force. Career: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, instructor in Spanish, 1953-55; Military Sea Transportation Service, New York, NY, seaman, 1955-56, 4th officer, 1956-60; University of Pennsylvania, lecturer in Spanish, 1960-61; Military Sea Transportation Service, 4th officer, 1961-63; Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid, Spain, researcher, 1963-64; Georgetown University, Washington, DC, assistant professor of Spanish, 1964-66; East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, assistant professor, 196668, professor of Spanish, 1968–, chairman of department of Romance Languages, 1968-73; School Improvement Services, Inc., Winter Park, Florida, President and Chief Executive Officer, 1993-96; Council of Great City Schools, President, 1993-94; New York City Schools, Chancellor, 1990-93; Touchstone Applied Science Associates, Brewster, New York, Board of Directors, 1998–. Memberships: American Association of Teachers. Award: Fullbright-Hays researcher ⬙A⬙ grant, Madrid, 1964. Address: Office—4 Hardscrabble, PO Box 382, Brewster, NY, 10509-0382.
At Coral Park High School, Fernandez played an active role in politics and was voted union steward. In 1969 Florida had the first statewide teachers strike in American history, and Fernandez’s entire math department accompanied him on the picket line. During his second year of teaching at Hialeah-Miami Lakes he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Dade County School Administrators Association that in turn landed him the position of the assistant principal. By 1975 he had advanced to principal of Coral Park High School; he soon after became superintendent. Impressed by his success, the New York City’s School System offered him the position of chancellor.
The 1969 changes created the dual system of school administration that persisted until 1996. Under that system, the thirty-two local school boards and superintendents controlled the elementary and junior high schools, while the chancellor and the Board of Education controlled the high schools and special education. This created a system with inherent tensions that were difficult to resolve. There were no clear lines of authority and responsibility was diffused. A particularly irregular aspect of the system was that an appointed official, the chancellor, was responsible for supervising elected officials, the community school board members. The chancellor had accountability for the system, but had no power. The only clear authority the chancellor held was to remove a superintendent or a school board member for a violation of the law. This made it almost impossible for the chancellor to intervene in order to remedy educational failures. Litigation in this area over thirty years failed to clear up the situation. Frustrations grew as each of a brief succession of chancellor’s was held to impossible standards of accountability, given the lack of authority they had over the community school boards. During Fernandez’s rein, the end result remained the same. He began laying the groundwork for a number of pilot programs and satellite schools. A progressive board was a must if reform was to work. Then, of course, came the real downside. According to Fernandez “Once more it was education that suffered. Programs were discredited, initiatives fade, and discouragement sets in.” Early signs indicated good discipline, attendance, and grades. Unfortunately, this did not continue. A board’s job was to make policy; a chancellor’s was to administer that policy and make all personal decisions. In 1990 Fernandez, then head of New York City’s public schools, proposed a program to make condoms available upon request to students in the city schools and to provide classroom instruction on the proper way to use the contraceptive. The proposal was adopted in 1991, but not without opposing views by some parents. New York City became the first school system in the country to make condoms available to students. However, a group of parents challenged the constitutionality of the program. A New York State appeals court ruled in favor of the parents and invalidated the program in Alfonso v. Fernandez in 1993. When all was considered, this was the initial program that lost his popularity. What Fernandez has long been noted for was his School-Based Management program (SBM), which was a process that focused on teaching and learning, not governance issues. Beginning in 1990, the union worked closely with Fernandez and the SBM initiative began in the 1991-92 school year in Dade County, Florida while Fernandez was the superintendent. Fernandez set up satellite schools, which were public schools located in the workplace. These schools allowed parents to take their children to work instead of leaving them home alone for several hours a day. This reduced the absentee rates for children and parents.
110 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Fernandez was the Chancellor of the New York City Public School System, this country’s largest school system with more than 940,000 students. A frontrunner of educational reform, Fernandez’s SBM program was implemented in 24 states. This initiative gave teachers and administrators decision-making authority on issues ranging from curriculum to budget. Dade County and New York City offered broader fields for its testing and follow-through. While many praised Fernandez for his efforts, two of his shortcomings were the controversial Rainbow Curriculum, and his autobiography, Tales Out of School, published in 1993. Fernandez’s Rainbow Curriculum was a program to teach children about homosexuality, and he revealed that he had used heroine in his autobiography. In an interview with a New York Daily News reporter, Fernandez defended his Rainbow Curriculum and stated,“If we’re ever going to get this country together we have to deal with these issues of hate. Kids learn biases from us, from adults. We have to teach them tolerance through education.” Nevertheless, parental anger persuaded the New York City School Board to fire Fernandez on February 10, 1993. SBM gave teachers, principals, and parents a voice in the decision making process at the school level. SBM did become a reality and was incorporated into 240 New York City Schools. His long-term goal had been to have SBM in place throughout all of New York’s schools by 1996. During Fernandez’s short tenor as superintendent, the SBM program had been adopted by almost one-quarter of all the schools, attendance was the best it had been in twenty-five years, the dropout rate had dropped to under seven percent; the lowest in history, more than 60 percent of students tested at or above grade level in math, and there was a multicultural education program to be fully phased in by 1996. When all is considered, Fernandez had set the stage for the most ambitious school restructuring program in the country. In contrast, as of 1999, New York City’s 1,212 public schools have not followed the ground-
work that Fernandez had laid out in order to make the learning experience favorable for students, as well as teachers and principals. However, the State Legislature intervened in an attempt to create parent involvement, and also overhauled the 32 community school boards. Fernandez’s efforts continue to make headlines coast to coast. Fernandez remains focused on education. He has served on the Board of Directors of Touchstone Applied Science Associates, an educational information and learning company in Brewster, New York, since December of 1998. Fernandez has had an important effect on education in America, and it is evident that he still has much more to contribute.
Sources Books Fernandez, Joseph A. and John Underwood, Tales Out of School, Little, Brown and Company, 1993. Periodicals National Review, January, 1993, p. 18. The New Yorker, April 12, 1993, p. 43. New York Times, October 20, 1995. Publishers Weekly, November 16, 1992, p. 50. Washington Monthly, March, 1993, p.59. On-line http://www.alyson.com http://www.catalyst-chicago.org http://www.galenet.com http://www.nytimes.com http://www.tasa.com Other Additional information for this profile was obtained through an interview with Thelma Tyler of Touchstone Applied Science Associates, Inc. on May 28, 2002. —Brenda Kubiac
García Márquez • 111
Gabriel Jose García Márquez 1928— Author, journalist
One of the most influential novelists of the twentieth century, Gabriel García Márquez was a key figure in the Latin American literary renaissance of the 1960s and 1970s. His novel One Hundred Years of Solitude was read throughout the world, selling millions of copies and introducing enthusiastic readers across the globe to the genre of “magical realism.” A prolific journalist as well as a novelist and short story writer, García Márquez has reported from several world capitals and remained active through the 1990s as publisher of the Colombian news magazine Cambio.
A Childhood Steeped in Myth García Márquez was born on March 6, 1928, in Aracataca, Colombia, a small town on the Caribbean coast to which his mother’s family had moved after her father, Colonel Nicolas Marquez Mejfa, had killed a man in a duel. The oldest child of 11 siblings, García Márquez grew up in Aracataca with his maternal grandparents, who nurtured the budding writer’s imagination with fascinating stories of local history and family events. The Colonel reminisced frequently about his youth during the country’s civil wars, while the boy’s
grandmother, who claimed to converse with ghosts and spirits, recounted family legends and became the boy’s “source of the magical, superstitious and supernatural view of reality,” as García Márquez described it in a New York Times Book Review piece quoted in Dictionary of Hispanic Biography. Among the more memorable family stories was that of García Márquez’s parents’ courtship. “This history of their forbidden love was one of the wonders of my youth,” he wrote in “Seranade,” a piece published in New Yorker. So impassioned were his parents’ accounts of the affair, he observed, that when he attempted to write about the subject in his novel Love in the Time of Cholera “I couldn’t distinguish between life and poetry.” It was the Colonel who disapproved of Gabriel Eligio Garcia as a suitor for his daughter, Luisa Santiaga; the young telegraph operator had a reputation as a womanizer and had been born out of wedlock to a fourteen-year-old girl who went on to have six other children by three different men. “It is surprising that Colonel Marquez was so disquieted by this irregular conduct,” García Márquez wrote, “when the Colonel himself had fathered, in addition to his three official children, nine more by different mothers, both before and after his marriage, and all of them were
112 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn March 6, 1928, in Aracataca, Colombia; son
of Gabriel Eligio Garcia (a telegraph operator)
and Luisa Santiaga Marquez Iguaran; married Mercedes Barcha, 1958; children: two sons. Education: Universidad nacional de Colombia, 1947-48; Universidad de Cartagena, 1948-49. Career: Began career as a journalist, 1947; reporter for Universal, Cartegena, Colombia, late 1940s, El heraldo, Baranquilla, Colombia, 1950-52, and El espectador, Bogota, Colombia, until 1955; freelance journalist in Paris, London, and Caracas, Venezuela, 1956-58; worked for Momento magazine, Caracas, 1958-59;
When García Márquez was seven, his grandfather died and the boy returned to his parents in Bogota, the country’s capital. During his adolescence the boy developed a love of literature, with such works as Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” inspiring him to dream of becoming a writer. First, though, he planned to obtain a law degree. He entered the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 1947, the same year he published his first short story in El Espectador. In 1948 the country erupted in violence after the assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan and the university was damaged by fire and subsequently closed. García Márquez then transferred to the Universidad de Cartagena. There he began writing journalistic pieces for El Universal, and also met Ramon Vinyes, who introduced him to the works of Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner. García Márquez abandoned his legal studies in 1949 and moved back to the Caribbean region, to the town of Barranquilla.
helped form Prensa Latina news agency, Bogota, 1959, and worked as its correspondent in Havana, Cuba, and
Success as a Journalist
New York City, 1961; writer, 1965–; Fundacion Habeas, founder, 1979, president, 1979–. Memberships: American Academy of Arts and Letters (honorary fellow). Awards: Colombian Association of Writers and Artists Award, 1954; Premio Literario Esso (Colombia), 1961; Chianciano Award (Italy), 1969; Prix de Meilleur Livre Etranger (France); 1969, Romulo Gallegos prize (Venezuela), 1971; honorary doctorate, Columbia University, 1971; Books Abroad/Neustadt International Prize for Literature, 1972; Nobel Prize for Literature, 1982; Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction, 1988; Serfin Prize, 1989. Address: Home—P.O. Box 20736, Mexico City D.F., Mexico.
welcomed by his wife as if they were her own.” Gabriel Eligio Garcia was also a political conservative—the party against whom the Colonel had fought in the civil wars—and had few financial prospects. After a passionate courtship that included violin serenades, exile, and even the purchase of a revolver by which Gabriel Eligio Garcia hoped to protect himself from the Colonel’s wrath, the couple eloped. When Luisa Santiaga announced her first pregnancy, however, her parents welcomed her and her husband back to Aracataca, where the writer was born in his grandparents’ house. García Márquez grew up with ten younger siblings and also has several half siblings from his father’s extramarital affairs.
During his two years in Barranquilla, García Márquez worked for El heraldo, the local paper, writing a regular column that included short stories, fragments, and essays about current issues. He then moved on to a job as correspondent for the Bogota paper El Espectador, writing film criticism and investigative reports. In the mid-1950s García Márquez moved to Europe, an environment he considered more amenable to his leftist political views than was the regime in his native country. In Paris, where he was based, he continued reporting for El Espectador and also for another Colombian paper, El Independiente. He also continued to write fiction, publishing his first novel, Leaf Storm, in 1955 and completing the novel El coronel no tiene quien le escriba in 1957. Though he sometimes lived in poverty during these years, particularly after the Colombian government shut down El Independiente and left him without a regular income, García Márquez later noted that his European exile was worthwhile for the fresh perspective it gave him on Latin America. In 1957 the young journalist moved back to Latin America to help a friend, Plinio Apuleye Mendoza, edit the weekly magazine Momento in Caracas, Venezuela. The following year, García Márquez returned to Barranquilla to marry his childhood sweetheart, Mercedes Barcha Pardo, the daughter of a local pharmacist. Soon afterward, García Márquez and Mendoza resigned from Momento to protest its tacit support of U.S. foreign policy. The pair traveled to Cuba to document the aftermath of Castro’s revolution, and signed on with the new government’s news agency, Prensa Latina, to establish branch offices in Bogota and eventually in New York City. In 1961 García Márquez quit Prensa Latina and moved to Mexico City, where he managed to support his family by writing screenplays and doing editorial and advertising work.
García Márquez • 113
Wrote Critically Acclaimed Novel Though García Márquez continued a steady production of novellas and short stories during these years, he did not achieve prominence as a writer of fiction until the publication in 1967 of his landmark novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Based on the author’s childhood memories of Aracataca, the novel recounts the founding of the fictional town of Macondo by Jose Arcadio Buendia, and its subsequent rise and fall through several generations from the 1820s to the 1920s. Blending historical events with surrealism and fantasy, the novel includes such characters as Colonel Aureliano Buendia, fomentor of 32 political rebellions and father of 17 illegitimate sons; matriarch Ursula Buendia, who witnesses the town’s eventual decline; and the old gypsy scribe, Melquiades, whose mysterious manuscripts are revealed as the novel’s text. The complex saga of Macondo and the Buendias, many critics noted, suggests the labyrinthine history of Latin America itself. The novel caused an immediate sensation, selling out its entire first Spanish printing within one week. So heavy was demand for the book that its publisher could scarcely keep enough copies in print. Critics hailed it as a monumental achievement; Chilean Nobel laureate poet Pablo Neruda was quoted in Time as calling the book “the greatest revelation in the Spanish language since the Don Quixote of Cervantes.” One Hundred Years of Solitude went on to sell more than 20 million copies worldwide and to be translated into more than 30 languages. It is widely considered the most popular and influential example of magical realism, a literary style that incorporates supernatural or surreal elements within a realistic narrative. As Faulkner had done with the American South, García Márquez had created in Macondo a world of mythic dimensions. The success of One Hundred Years of Solitude enabled García Márquez to focus full-time on his own writing. In 1975 he published the novel The Autumn of the Patriarch, about a tyrant who has held political power for so long that no one can remember his predecessor. After that, however, he vowed not to release any additional fiction until Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was removed from office. Though Pinochet was not ousted until 1989, García Márquez published the novel Cronica de una meuerte anunciada in 1982. Considered by some critics to be the author’s best work, it tells the story of brothers who plot to kill their sister’s husband when, after discovering on his wedding night that his bride is not a virgin, he returns her to her family.
Won Nobel Prize In 1982 García Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. The Swedish Academy, in bestowing the prize, cited not only the author’s narrative gifts but also
his demonstrated commitment to social justice. Indeed, the problems of poverty and oppression were the theme of the laureate’s acceptance speech. Citing figures that documented thousands of violent deaths and millions of involuntary exiles linked to the political turmoil in Latin America during the 1970s, García Márquez commented that the reality of his native continent nourished in him an “insatiable creativity, full of sorrow and beauty,” and made it necessary for Latin Americans to “ask but little of imagination, for our crucial problem has been a lack of conventional means to render our lives believable.” Implying that Latin America’s cultural remoteness has made it difficult for European and North American countries to sympathize with the leftist political agendas of many of its inhabitants, he went on to ask “Why is the originality so readily granted us in literature so mistrustfully denied us in our difficult attempts at social change?” Criticizing wealthy countries that have “accumulated powers of destruction such as to annihilate, a hundred times over, not only all the human beings that have existed to this day, but also the totality of all living beings that have ever drawn breath on this planet of misfortune,” García Márquez ended on a note of hope: “We, the inventors of tales, who will believe anything, feel entitled to believe that it is not yet too late to engage in the creation of ѧ a new and sweeping utopia of life, where no one will be able to decide for others how they die, where love will prove true and happiness be possible, and where the races condemned to one hundred years of solitude will have, at last and forever, a second opportunity on earth.”
Special Access to World Leaders García Márquez decided to use his Nobel Prize money to start a newspaper. Yet that venture never materialized, because the author was not satisfied that the independent editorial voice he sought would be respected. Sixteen years later, however, he realized his dream to go back to journalism when he bought the Colombian newsmagazine Cambio in 1999. “Journalism is the only trade that I like,” he commented in the New York Times, “and I have always regarded myself as a journalist.” The magazine had been struggling, but after García Márquez’s purchase its circulation and ad revenues skyrocketed. The writer’s international prominence, many observers noted, allowed him access to world leaders who were not always eager to speak to other reporters. “Anyone he calls will pick up the phone,” said his American editor, Ash Green, in an Associated Press article. Among the friends and associates about whom García Márquez has written in Cambio are Cuban president Fidel Castro, Colombian industrialist Julio Mario Santo Domingo, and U.S. President Bill Clinton, who had once impressed the writer by reciting long passages of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury by heart. When Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky was revealed, García Márquez
114 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 defended the president, according to New York Times reporter Larry Rohter, by asking “Is it fair that this rare example of the human species must squander his historic destiny just because he couldn’t find a safe place to make love?” García Márquez’s reentry into journalism was not without significant risks. Unlike the more neutral American press, the Colombian media take “a strong position in defense of a democratic state rather than observing from an impartial perch,” as Washington Post writer Scott Wilson pointed out. “Reporting in Colombia, particularly by Colombians,” Wilson noted, “has long been a perilous vocation. But mounting violence, combined with the weakness of public institutions and the blurry line between journalism and advocacy in a country at war with itself, have increasingly placed journalists high on the list of targets.” In the first ten months of 2001, nine journalist were killed in Colombia and dozens received death threats. Despite such dangers, García Márquez continued actively reporting on his country’s decades-long war between Marxist guerillas and government forces, as well as on controversial issues in other parts of Latin America. Among García Márquez’s political books from this period are Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littin, a nonfiction account of filmmaker Littin’s return to Pinochet’s Chile after a period of selfimposed exile. The Chilean government, outraged by the book’s content, ordered some 15,000 copies of it burned. In 1997 García Márquez published News of a Kidnapping, based on his investigation of Colombian drug cartels and their destructive influence on that nation’s social fabric. “News of a Kidnapping not only provides a fascinating anatomy of ‘one episode in the biblical holocaust that has been consuming Colombia for more than 20 years,’” wrote Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times, “but also offers the reader new insights into the surreal history of Mr. García Márquez’s native country. Indeed, the reader is reminded by this book that the magical realism employed by Mr. García Márquez and other Latin American novelists is in part a narrative strategy for grappling with a social reality so hallucinatory, so irrational that it defies ordinary naturalistic description.” Through the 1980s and 1990s, García Márquez continued to strengthen his reputation as a literary master with publication of the novels Love in the Time of Cholera, based partially on the story of his parents’ courtship; The General in His Labyrinth, a fictional account of the final months in the life of nineteenthcentury South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar; and Of Love and Other Demons, inspired by the author’s recollection of a tomb excavation he had witnessed in 1949, when a centuries-old skeleton of a young girl was discovered with living hair flowing from the skull. García Márquez used this image to create the character of Sierva Maria De Todos Los Angeles, a girl in touch with both the Spanish and the African legacies
of her Caribbean heritage. When she is bitten by a mad dog, the area bishop orders an exorcism, but the priest charged with performing the rite falls in love with the girl. As with many of García Márquez’s earlier novels, Of Love and Other Demons was hailed for its symbolic commentary on Latin American history. As Times Literary Supplement contributor Michael Kerrigan observed, “To excavate the historic vault in which his people lie buried is, for García Márquez, an act not of desecration but of liberation.” Since the summer of 1999, when he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, García Márquez has lived in relative seclusion, focusing his attention on completing a planned three-volume memoir. He was quoted in a CNN.com report as hailing his diagnosis as an “enormous stroke of luck” that forced him to put aside less urgent projects. The first volume of the memoir will cover the author’s family background and his early life. The second will focus on his writing career, and the third will examine his relationships with world leaders.
Selected Writings Fiction La hojarasca (novel; title means “Leaf Storm”), Ediciones Sipa, 1955. El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (novella), Aguirre Editor, 1961, translated as No One Writes to the Colonel, Harper & Row, 1968. Los funerales de la Mamá Grande (short stories), Editorial Universidad Veracruzana, 1962. Cien años de soledad (novel), Editorial Sudamericana, 1967, translated as One Hundred Years of Solitude, Harper & Row, 1970. Isabel viendo llover en Macondo (novella), Editorial Estuario, 1967. No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories, Harper & Row, 1968. Ojos de perro azul (short stories), Equisditorial, 1972. Leaf Storm and Other Stories, Harper & Row, 1972. El otoño del patriarca (novel), Plaza & Janes Editores, 1975, translated as The Autumn of the Patriarch, Harper & Row, 1976. Todos los cuentos de Gabriel García Márquez: 19471972 (collected short stories), Plaza & Janés Editores, 1975. Innocent Eréndira and Other Stories, Harper & Row, 1978. Dos novelas de Macondo, Casa de las Americas, 1980. Crónica de una muerte anunciada (novel), La Oveja Negra, 1981, translated as Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Knopf, 1983. Viva Sandino (play), Editorial Nueva Nicaragua, 1982. Eréndira (filmscript), Les Films du Triangle, 1983. Collected Stories, Harper & Row, 1984. El amor en los tiempos del cólera (novel), Oveja
García Márquez • 115 Negra, 1985, translated as Love in the Time of Cholera, Knopf, 1988. A Time to Die (filmscript), ICA Cinema, 1988. Diatribe of Love against a Seated Man (play, first produced at Cervantes Theater, Buenos Aires, 1988), Arango Editores, 1994. El general en su labertino (novel), Mondadori, 1989, translated as The General in His Labyrinth, Knopf, 1990. Collected Novellas, HarperCollins, 1990. Doce cuentos peregrinos, Mondadori, 1992, translated as Strange Pilgrims: Twelve Stories, Knopf, 1993. The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World: A Tale for Children, Creative Education, 1993. Del amor y otros demonios (novel), Mondador, 1994, translated as Of Love and Other Demons, Knopf, 1995. Nonfiction (With Mario Vargas Llosa) La novela en America Latina: Dialogo, Carlos Milla Batres, 1968. Relato de un naufrago (journalistic pieces), Tusquets Editor, 1970, translated as The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor, Knopf, 1986. Cuando era feliz e indocumentado (journalistic pieces), Ediciones El Ojo de Camello, 1973. Cronicas y reportajes (journalistic pieces), Oveja Negra, 1978. (Contributor) Los sandanistas, Oveja Negra, 1979. (Contributor) Asi es Caracas, edited by Soledad Mendoza, Editorial Ateneo de Caracas, 1980. El olor de la guayaba: Conversaciones con Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza (interviews), Oveja Negra, 1982, translated as The Fragrance of Guava, 1983. (With Guillermo Nolasco-Juarez) Persecucion y muerte de minorias: dos perspectivas, Juarez Editor, 1984. (Contributor) La Democracia y la paz en America Latina, Editorial El Buho, 1986. Primeros reportajes, Consorcio de Ediciones Capriles, 1990. (Author of introduction) An Encounter with Fidel: An Interview, by Gianni Mina, Ocean Press, 1991. Elogio de la utopia: Una entrevista de Nahuel Maciel, Cronista Ediciones, 1992. News of a Kidnapping, Knopf, 1997. (With Reynaldo Gonzales) Cubano 100%, Charta, 1998.
Sources Books Bell, Michael, Gabriel García Márquez: Solitude and Solidarity, St. Martin’s Press, 1993. Bell-Villada, Gene H., García Márquez: The Man and His Work, University of North Carolina Press, 1990. Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Volume 82, Gale, 1999. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale, 1996. Dolan, Sean, Gabriel García Márquez, Chelsea House, 1994. Fiddian, Robin W., García Márquez, Longman, 1995. Janes, Regina, Gabriel García Márquez: Revolutions in Wonderland, University of Missouri Press, 1981. McGuirk, Bernard and Richard Cardwell, editors, Gabriel García Márquez: New Readings, Cambridge University Press, 1988. McMurray, George R., Gabriel García Márquez, Ungar, 1977. Wood, Michael, Gabriel García Márquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Cambridge University Press, 1990. Periodicals New York Times, June 19, 1997; March 3, 1999. New York Times Book Review, September 29, 1968; March 8, 1970; February 20, 1972; October 31, 1976; July 16, 1978; September 16, 1978; November 11, 1979; November 16, 1980; December 5, 1982; March 27, 1983; April 7, 1985; April 27, 1986; August 9, 1987; April 10, 1988; September 16, 1990, pp. 1, 30; May 28, 1995, p. 8; June 15, 1997. New Yorker, February 19-26, 2001. Time, March 16, 1970; November 1, 1976; July 10, 1978; November 1, 1982; March 7, 1983; December 31, 1984; April 14, 1986; May 22, 1995; June 2, 1997, p. 79. Times Literary Supplement, July 7, 1995. Washington Post, October 14, 2001, p. A28. World Literature Today, Winter 1982; Winter 1991, p. 85; Autumn 1993, pp. 782-783. On-line CNN.com, http://www.cnn.com/2000/books/news (December 11, 2000). Nobel e-Museum, http://www.nobel.se/literature/ —Elizabeth Shostak
116 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
João Gilberto 1931— Brazilian vocalist and guitarist
The jazz-inflected Brazilian pop style known as bossa nova remains a permanent fixture of the world’s musical vocabulary with its restrained yet complex rhythms; the biggest of all the bossa nova hits, “The Girl from Ipanema,” is known to nearly all Americans born before 1960 and to many younger people. One of the creators of that song, and of the entire bossa nova movement, was the singer and guitarist João Gilberto— whose wife Astrud was the vocalist on “The Girl from Ipanema.” The U.S. jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, quoted in The Brazilian Sound, said that Gilberto “would sound good reading a newspaper,” but he was equally influential as a guitarist. João Gilberto do Prado Pereira de Oliveira was born on June 10, 1931, in the small city of Juázeiro in the interior of Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state. He seemed attracted to music early in life but did not begin playing until age 14, when his grandfather gave him a guitar. Within a year, despite his father’s disapproval, he was leading a band composed of fellow students. The sound of U.S. big-band jazz had penetrated to Brazilian radio by the 1940s, and Gilberto grew up with the music of Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorsey in addition to Brazilian pop songs and samba music. A
less common influence was the crisp, operetta-flavored style of U.S. pop singer Jeannette MacDonald. In 1949 Gilberto headed for the city of Salvador, Bahia’s urban center, in hopes of launching a musical career. He went on to the metropolis of Rio de Janeiro a year later. His attempts to land a radio vocal slot were unsuccessful, and a local band jettisoned him as its lead vocalist due to a halfhearted attitude on Gilberto’s part that sometimes led him to skip live performances. Even after success came his way, Gilberto remained reluctant to perform in public. Well before the hipster era, Gilberto embarked on a creative but rootless existence marked by heavy marijuana usage. Technically homeless at times, Gilberto performed in nightclubs when it suited him and gained a circle of friends that included several of the future stars of Brazilian music—notably vocalist Luiz Bonfa and pianist and composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. Concerned that Gilberto might be sinking into a downward spiral, a friend intervened and took him to the smaller city of Porto Alegre. Soon Gilberto moved in with his sister and began to spend much of his time practicing his guitar and singing obsessively. Mystified
Gilberto • 117
At a Glance . . .
B
orn João Gilberto do Prado Pereira de Oliveira on
June 10, 1931, in Jua´zeiro, Bahia, Brazil; married
Astrud Weinert (divorced); married bossa nova vocalist Miucha; children: Bebel. Career: Led band in high school; became lead singer of band Garotos de Lua; fired for missing performances; released pioneering bossa nova recording
enced by American jazz, it had begun to attract the attention of American jazz players in return. Jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd visited Brazil on a U.S. State Department tour, and in 1962 Byrd and saxophonist Stan Getz released the album Jazz Samba, featuring some of Gilberto’s compositions. With the bossa nova trend on the upswing that year, Gilberto moved to the United States himself; he remained in the States until 1980. In 1963 he and Getz released the album Getz/ Gilberto, a jazz classic that offered mid-1960s jazz listeners one of their few alternatives to the experimental modernism that dominated jazz stages at the time.
“Chega de saudade,” 1958; released album Getz/ Gilberto, with saxophonist Stan Getz, 1963; released João voz e violão, 2000. Awards: Won two Grammy awards, 1964, for Getz/ Gilberto album and “The Girl from Ipanema” single. Addresses: Label—Verve Music Group, 1755 Broad-
The album’s most famous number was the JobimVinícius de Moraes composition “The Girl from Ipanema.” With English lyrics added to the original Portuguese, the song appealed in novel ways to Americans’ age-old fascination with tropical cultures. “The Girl from Ipanema” won a Grammy award in 1964 for Song of the Year, beating out the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night,” and Getz/Gilberto was named Album of the Year.
way, Third Floor, New York, NY 10019.
by his behavior, Gilberto’s family checked him into a mental hospital in Salvador. Soon released, he forswore drug usage. Back in Rio, Gilberto began writing songs and sought out Jobim as a collaborator. In the solitude of his sister’s home Gilberto had forged a new style that distilled many of Brazil’s complex percussion rhythms down to an essential set of patterns that could be played on the guitar; his sound was unlike anything heard before on the guitar in Brazil, where the instrument had largely been relegated to the role of accompaniment until this point. Some called it violão gago, or “stammering guitar.” He had a unique vocal style to match, marked by a near-total absence of vibrato that infused his quiet singing with a unique conversational quality. Gilberto was also influenced by contemporary harmonic developments in American jazz, particularly by the West Coast musicians whose “cool” aesthetic meshed well with the inherent mood of Brazilian music. Jobim at the time was working as a staff arranger with the large EMI record label, and the two began to shape a popularmusic revolution. By 1958 and 1959 Gilberto was enjoying hits with recordings such as “Chega de saudade” (“No More Blues”) and the self-penned “Bim Bom.” He also contributed songs to one of the landmarks of Brazilian culture during that period, the film Orfeu negro, known in the United States as Black Orpheus. By this time the new music Gilberto had helped to create had acquired the name of bossa nova, or “new wave.“ And, influ-
The bossa nova craze endured for several more years in the United States, and its impact could still be heard two decades later in recordings such as Sade’s “Smooth Operator.” But Gilberto, temperamentally unsuited to the stardom he achieved, shared little in the rewards other Brazilian musicians enjoyed; he canceled the remaining eight nights of a nine-night engagement at Chicago’s London House, objecting to the club’s noise levels. Still, Gilberto continued to record through the 1970s and 1980s, amassing a body of work that enjoyed consistently strong critical acclaim. Joined in the musical arena in the 1990s by his daughter, Bebel, Gilberto hardly slowed down as he entered his seventh decade. His 1991 album João Gilberto featured the singer in an uncommon orchestral setting. But he returned in 2000 with João voz e violão, which featured only Gilberto’s own voice and guitar and was widely described as minimalist. In support of that album and of the 40th anniversary of his first bossa nova recordings, Gilberto undertook one of his rare concert tours; it was enthusiastically received by audiences eager for a glimpse of one of the twentieth century’s true musical creators.
Selected discography Brazil’s Brilliant, Capitol, 1960. Gilberto and Jobim, Capitol, 1960. The Boss of the Bossa Nova, Atlantic, 1962. Getz/Gilberto, Verve, 1963. Amoroso, Warner Bros., 1977. João Gilberto, Polygram, 1991. João voz e violão, Universal, 2000.
118 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Sources Books Contemporary Musicians, volume 33, Gale Group, 2002. McGowan, Chris, and Ricardo Pessanha, The Brazilian Sound, Billboard Books, 1991. Periodicals Chicago Sun-Times, July 30, 2000, p. 16. Entertainment Weekly, March 16, 2001, p. 68. Guitar Player, October 2000, p. 102.
Guardian (London, England), February 1, 2002, p. 20. San Diego Union-Tribune, November 29, 2001, p. Night & Day-7. San Francisco Chronicle, June 29, 1998, p. D1. Time, July 31, 2000, p. 62. On-line All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com http://music.lycos.com http://www.duke.edu/ⵑmsc1/bio.htm —James M. Manheim
Gomez • 119
Scott Gomez 1979— Professional hockey player
Scott Gomez, the first Hispanic in the National Hockey League (NHL), may well turn out to be one of the greatest success stories in professional hockey. Certainly, he has proven himself to be a fastrising star. A center and winger player on the New Jersey Devils, Gomez came out flying after his 1998 draft, with an impressive 70 points his first year. His second year on the team garnered him an additional 63 points. Ready for challenge, he told Center Ice, the Devils’ official magazine, at the start of his third season, “The only goal I have right now is that I’ve got to do better than last year. I want this to be my best year ever.” Gomez was born on December 23, 1979, the son of Carlos, a Mexican construction worker who was himself born to migrant farm workers, and Dalia, a Columbian housewife. He and siblings Monica and Natalie grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. Gomez, nicknamed “Gomer,” was the first Alaskan-born player in the NHL. Gomez began playing hockey at the tender age of five. He developed his skills and abilities very early. In high school, he was a stand-out player, and after graduation, Gomez traveled to British Columbia to join the South
Surrey Eagles junior team. Rather than attend college on scholarship the following year, Gomez went on to play for the Tri-City Americans in the Western Hockey League (WHL). In 1998, when he was just 18 years old, Gomez was drafted in the first round by the New Jersey Devils. He was the second pick for New Jersey and the 27th pick in the NHL. After attending the 1998 training camp, however, Gomez returned to the WHL team for another year of experience, returning to the Devils for the 1999 training and season. Gomez’s first year in the NHL was a fantastic achievement. His first game was played on October 2, 1999, against the Atlanta Thrashers. Gomez played in all 82 regularseason games for the Devils that year. Not only did he score 70 points during the season, he garnered many awards and considerable recognition. Gomez’s 27 power plays and 51 assists put him ahead of that year’s other rookies. It was only his second month on the team when Gomez was named Rookie of the Month. Later, he was the only North American rookie named to the All-Star team. He also won the Calder Trophy, which is given for the honor of Rookie
120 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn December 23, 1979, in Anchorage, Alaska;
son of Carlos and Dalia Gomez.
Career: South Surrey Eagles, British Columbia Junior Hockey League, 1996-97; Tri-City Americans, Western Hockey League, 1997-99; New Jersey Devils, National Hockey League, 1999–. Awards: Alaska High School Hockey Player of the Year; Calder Trophy, National Hockey League; Prince of Wales Trophy, with the Devils; Stanley Cup, with the Devils; Rookie of the Year; Top 25 Most Powerful Alaskans, Alaska Journal of Commerce. Address: New Jersey Devils, 50 Rt 120 North, Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, 07073.
of the Year. Gomez and the New Jersey Devils finished the 1999-2000 season by winning the NHL championship Stanley Cup. With characteristic humility, Gomez remarked to Center Ice, “I didn’t expect anything coming into last season, but it turned out pretty good.” His humility, combined with his obvious skill and ability, have made Gomez a favorite among hockey fans— especially with the hometown crowd in Alaska, who are proud to claim him as one of their own. Unanimously selected for the Alaska Journal of Commerce’s Top 25 Most Powerful Alaskans, Gomez garnered the award due largely to his impact on the young people of Alaska. “No matter how you judge power,” one selection committee member told the Alaska Journal of Commerce, “you have to admit Scott Gomez has it when it comes to our young people.” Even in his younger years, Gomez would stand up for the underdog, not allowing his friends to taunt or deride other students. He has donated money and his collect-
ible jerseys to diverse charity groups and other organizations. A partial list reveals his penchant for the children and for families: La Leche League, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Children’s Miracle Network, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Gomez, thanks to first-hand experience, was aware of the financial struggle undergone by families whose children play hockey at the competitive level. So he has also made donations to the families of young hockey hopefuls. Gomez has also run hockey clinics for children and volunteered in the Alaskan community. Gomez and his father have opened a store in Alaska devoted to serving Gomez’s many fans. He was named to People Magazine’s list of top 50 bachelors, and in the summer of 2000, Gomez appeared on the television soap opera One Life to Live. In his second season with the Devils, Gomez scored 14 goals, had 49 assists, and amassed a total of 63 points. The team went on to win the Prince of Wales Trophy for that year, but lost out on a subsequent win for the Stanley Cup in the finals. Before going into his third season with the Devils, Gomez took a hockey-free vacation. ”I think when you do too much or try too hard, you can overload and kind of lose your focus,” Gomez told Center Ice. When he returned for the 2001-2002 season, Gomez was up for the challenge of improving on his first two seasons. He told Center Ice, “I think I’m more patient, especially on defense, and I know how to rely on my teammates more.”
Sources Alaska Journal of Commerce, www.alaskajournal .com/top25/gomez.shtml Biography Resource Center Online, Gale Group, 2000. Center Ice, www.geocities.com/scott23gomez/sgpro file.html New Jersey Devils, www.newjerseydevils.com www.nhlpa.com/Content/THE_PLAYERS/ player_bio1.asp?ID=6728 —Helene Barker Kiser
Gómez-Pompa • 121
Arturo Gómez-Pompa 1934— Ethnobotanist, educator, advisor/consultant
Arturo Gómez-Pompa, distinguished botany professor at the University of California, Riverside, has won respect from politicians, scientists, and Mesoamericans for championing the rights of the poor in discussions of ecology and rain forest management. His focus is the evaluation of protected areas and the conservation of biodiversity in the American tropics. Through research, speeches, and publications, he exhibits scientific excellence and succeeds at involving native people in studying and preserving their habitats. Recognized by agroeconomists and ethnoecologists for tact and compassion, he thrives as an organizer, educator, and consensus builder on issues involving living things.
Developed Interest in Ecology Gómez-Pompa was born in Mexico City and earned degrees from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. At age 24 he received an appointment from the Mexican government to direct a commission partnering with pharmaceutical companies to survey medicinal plants. The task set him on a life’s work studying the Mexican rain forest.
In 1966 Gómez-Pompa completed a Ph. D. in botany from his alma mater. In the late 1960s, he observed forest ecology at a biological station at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico, and compiled a database of native plants in Veracruz. The project began a collection of facts and images that aids researchers in plant identification and provides information from major museums to the developing nations where specimens originated. In 1972 Gómez-Pompa published in Science magazine “The Tropical Rain Forest: A Nonrenewable Resource,” a touchstone of information that generated discussion and research worldwide. In the spring of 1982, he participated in Colorado State University’s Distinguished Ecologist Lecture Series.
Founded Institute In Mexico Gómez-Pompa founded the National Institute of Biotic Resources (INIREB), the impetus to agroecology, a new field of research into low-tech agricultural methods in rain forests. His conclusions highlighted local initiatives as the best way to preserve nature. By drawing on traditional farm lore, he deduced that indigenous cropping methods are more effective
122 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn in Mexico in 1935. Education: Instituto
Mexico y Centro Universitario Mexico, B.S.,
1956; National Autonomous University of Mexico,
he helped a consortia of investors, governments, scientists, and donors to manage and restore natural resources. Essential to his work with multidisciplinary teams of observers was an understanding of the region’s ecological history. He continued research at La Sabana, his laboratory at El Edén Ecological Reserve in Quintana Roo, Mexico.
M.S. and Ph.D., botany, 1966. Career: National Institute of Forestry Research, technical director, 1959-65; National Autonomous University of Mexico, botany professor, 1965-80; National Institute of Biotic Resources of Mexico, founderdirector, 1975-84; founder-director, University of California, Riverside, founder-director, 1986–. Memberships: Society for Conservation, Society for Economic Botany, American Institute for the Advancement of Science, Botanical Society of Mexico. Awards: Guggenheim Fellow, 1964; Mercer Research Fellow, 1964; Ford Foundation Fellow, 1965; Visiting Scientist, Royal Society, 1967; El Merito Botanico Medal, 1978; honorary research associate, Mesoamerican Ecology Institute, Tulane University, 1982; Golden Ark Medal of the Netherlands 1984; Bullard Fellow, 1984; Alfonso L. Herrera Medal, 1984; Tyler Laureate, 1994; American Association for the Advancement
of
Science Award,
1995;
Hispanic
Achievement Award, 1999. Address: Office—3141 Batchelor Hall, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521; Phone 909-7874686, 909-787-4748; FAX 909-787-4748; E-mail—
[email protected]. edu; arturo.gomez-pompa@ucr .edu. Website—http://maya.ucr.edu/PRIL.html.
than imported techniques. From his studies, he organized a pilot program, the Maya Sustainability Project, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with which was intended to aid Mayan dwellers of southern Mexico. His immersion in local farming methods helped to define conservation goals and to enlist grassroots efforts to preserve nature’s balance. In explanation of his fervor on behalf of nature and poor campesinos, Gómez-Pompa spoke passionately about the capability of humans to transform nature. He concentrated on the lowland Maya regions, where one culture has shaped the environment during a residency of 3,000 years. By recording the impact that indigenous people have on tropical dry forest ecosystems,
Advised Governments Gómez-Pompa served as governmental consultant in his homeland and in the United States. After the election of Carlos Salinas de Gortari to Mexico’s presidency in 1988, Gómez-Pompa critiqued and realigned governmental policies that threatened the environment. Because of his intervention, in 1989 the government halted the damming of the Usumacinta River, which flows northwest from the Sierra Madre de Guatemala into southeastern Mexico. The intent was to preserve the river’s economic significance to watering the Lacandan Rain Forest, the wetlands home of the endangered ocelots, jaguars, crocodiles, howler and spider monkeys, toucans, and tropical songbirds. The shift in policy also assured the future of logging, chicle production, shrimping and fishing, and transportation and communication. Conservancy created a protective district for the porpoise and sheltered ancient Mayan civilization centers, where ecological evidence gives glimpses of home gardening in the times of prehistory. In 1991 Gómez-Pompa served the U. S. Congress on the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. In 1992 he and his colleagues assisted the Mexican government in launching a pilot plan to stop deforestation and loss of biodiversity in the country’s rain forest. Four years later, the new Mexican administration initiated long-term tropical forest protection and relief of poverty among forest dwellers. He formed Programa de Accion Tropical Forestal A. C. (PROAFT A. C.), which coordinates funding from national and global sources and developed PACT-Mexico, a sustainable plan of usage and development for economically depressed areas of the tropics. He stressed local input and the promotion of natural resources to lift the standard of living for residents. The combined efforts made forest dwellers beneficiaries of conservation and new products, and taught them cultivation and management alternatives to deforestation. Of these achievements, Thomas E. Lovejoy, an environmentalist with the Smithsonian Institution, has called GómezPompa one of the world’s top botanists, conservationists, and preservers of tropical forests. French oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau lauded GómezPompa’s scholarship and diplomatic skills, which have enabled him to succeed at pragmatic resource management. Gomez-Pompa established FUNDAREB A. C., a government bureau that creates ecological reserves privately owned by farmers, corporations and investors, and research institutes. He set the example of ecologi-
Gómez-Pompa • 123 cal stewardship by pledging his own funds and contributions from others to found El Edén ecological reserve, where he studies and nurtures flora. He chaired UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere program, which allied 411 biospheres in 94 countries, and served on the boards of the Nature Conservancy, INBIO of Costa Rica, the World Wildlife Fund, the National Council of Sciences, the National Institutes for the Environment, Smithsonian Institution, PRONATURA, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In 1998, at the University of California Riverside (UCR) Lowland Maya Initiative, he delivered a speech, “From Pre-Hispanic to Future Conservation Alternatives: Lessons from Mexico,” as an element of the theme Plants and Population: Is There Time? In March of 2000 he was influential in halting Mitsubishi’s plans for the $100 million San Ignacio Lagoon Saltworks, which threatened El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve, a breeding ground for gray whales and a United Nations World Heritage Site. In May of 2000 he participated in Genetic Resources for the New Century, a symposium sponsored by the Zoological Society of San Diego.
Rewards and Challenges In 1994 Gómez-Pompa’s activism on behalf of endangered habitats and peasant farmers earned him the Tyler Award; the next year, he won an American Association for the Advancement of Science Award. In September of 1996, he was honored as keynote speaker at the First Sustainable Coffee Congress, when he addressed traditional methods of growing coffee that do no harm to wildlife. In 1999 presenters of a Hispanic Achievement Award lauded his sensitivity to rain forest destruction in Mexico and around the world. By enlightening the world to endangered tropical plant life, he became one of Mexico’s prime forest conservationists. Through diplomacy and pragmatism, he guided debate on the best means of protecting fragile ecosystems and advised the Mexican government on ways to assure Mesoamerica’s biological heritage. One of Gómez-Pompa’s ongoing projects involves developing a pilot tropical forest program comprised of 27 community-based projects in Mexico’s lowland tropics. For the achievement of environmental goals for the Mexican government, he coordinates several funding agencies. For another endeavor, he studies different types of forest gardens in the Mayan area. He also analyzes the evolution and domestication of cacao and develops videofloristic projects on the cycads (tropical plants that resemble palms) of Mexico, trees of the Great Peten, ethnoflora of Yucatan, and cultivated species of avocado. In addition to his speaking engagements and publications, he supervises a university website, “Plant Resources Informatics Laboratory.”
Selected Writings Ecological Studies of the Hot-Humid Tropical Zones of Mexico (coauthor). Mexico City: Special Edition by Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, 1964. “On Maya Silviculture,” Mexican Studies, 1987. “The Sacred Cacao Groves of the Maya” (contributor), Latin American Antiquity, September 1990. “Taming the Wilderness Myth” (coeditor), BioScience, 1992. “Los Huertos Familiares Mayas de X’uilub” (contributor), Biotica Nueva Epoca, 1993. Las Areas Naturales Protegidas de Mexico (contributor). Mexico: Publications of SEMARNIP, 1994. “Ancient Cacao Cultivar Confirmed with Molecular Markers” (contributor), Nature, 1995. “Biodiversity and Agriculture: Friends or Foes?,” in Proceedings of First Sustainable Coffee Congress, Robert A. Rice, Ashley M. Harris, and Jennifer McLean, eds. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1997. “Genetic Diversity and Relationships of Wild Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) in Southern Mexico” (contributor), Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 1998. “Allelochemical Potential of Metopium brownei” (contributor), Journal of Chemical Ecology, 1999. Lowland Maya Area: Three Millennia at the HumanWildland Interface (co-author). New York: Haworth Press, 2002.
Sources Books Biography and Genealogy Master Index (database). Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale Group, 1980-2001. Castri, F., & T. Yo nes, eds. Biodiversity, Science and Development. New York: CAB International, 1996. Lugo, A., C. Lowe, eds. Tropical Forests: Management and Ecology, Springer Verlag, 1995. Notable Scientists from 1900 to the Present. 2nd edition. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale Group, 2001. Periodicals Agricultural History, Summer 1995. Daedalus, Fall 2001; Spring 2000. Ecology, August 1991. Environmental History, April 1, 1998. Hispanic, July 1999, p. 56. Journal of Ecology, March 1992. Scientist, January 1995. On-line DC Watch Home, http://www.dcwatch.com/themail /1996/96-08-28.htm.
124 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 http://cnas.ucr.edu/ⵑbps/gomezpage.html http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/GDPE/ history_distinguished_ecologist_lecture_.html. http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/elan/96/jul96/ 0022.html www.evcoffice.ucr.edu/documents/maya.doc http://www.lsc.psu.edu/nas/Speakers/GomezPompa%20manuscript.html. http://lternet.edu/hfr/education/bullard/ bulchron.htm National Council of Sciences, http://www.national academies.org/ssb/signsoflifenotice.html National Resources Defense Council, http://www. nrdc.org/media/ pressReleases/Whalevictory.asp http://www.nsf.gov/bio/pubs/awards/ debawd98.htm The Ocean Alliance, http://www.oceanalliance.org/ wci/wci_0400.html http://www.ora.ucr.edu/vc/AAAS_Fellows.htm Zoological Society of San Diego, www.sandiegozoo.
org/cres/genetic_conference.html++%22arturo+ gomez+pompa%22&hl=en SCB Abstract Online, 2000 www.ucop.edu/research/pacrim/pdf/ welfare.pdf++%22arturo+gomez+pompa%22&hl=en http://www.umt.edu/scb2000/abstracts/ abstract_info.asp?id=10 http://www.usc.edu/admin/provost/tylerprize/ tyler94.html Arturo Gómez-Pompa Home Page, http://wcb.ucr .edu/wcb/schools/ CNAS/bpsc/agomezpo/agomez po.html Other Additional information for this profile was obtained from Dr. Gómez-Pompa’s curriculum vitae. —Mary Ellen Snodgrass
González • 125
Henry B. González 1916-2000 Congressman
Henry Barbosa González of Texas served 18 consecutive terms as a U.S. Representative in Congress, from 1961 to 1998. Known as a maverick, he commanded the respect of both his friends and his enemies. His early stance against segregation made him a hero among first generation Mexican-Americans. In 1957, when he was a Texas State Senator, he filibustered for more than 22 hours to protest pending legislation that would limit the scope of desegregation. González was born in San Antonio, Texas, on May 3, 1916. His parents, Leonides and Genoveva (Barbosa) González, had fled Mexico in 1911 to escape the violence of the revolution. Leonides had previously been the mayor of the town of Mapimi in the Mexican state of Durango, as well as a successful businessman. He became a journalist in San Antonio, eventually becoming the managing editor of La Prensa, at that time the only Spanish-language newspaper in the United States. The young González helped support his family, which included five other siblings, by taking on odd jobs when he was in elementary school.
Worked to Improve the West Side Despite economic difficulties that plagued many of the residents of predominantly Hispanic neighbor-
hoods on San Antonio’s west side, González grew up in a happy and robust household in which lively discussions on politics and philosophy were commonplace. Although González’s home life was a source of comfort and stability, on the streets of San Antonio he encountered prejudice very similar to that of African Americans in the South, including racial slurs and exclusion from “white only” facilities such as the local swimming pools and restaurants. As a child González, who could trace his Mexican ancestors back to 1561, expected that his family, who retained Spanish as their household language, would eventually return to their homeland. However, as he grew into adulthood, González stopped looking toward Mexico and proclaimed his full rights as a U.S. citizen. As a result, he became one of the first pioneers of Mexican-American assimilation. After graduating from Jefferson High School, González attended San Antonio Junior College (now San Antonio Community College), earning an associate’s degree in 1937. He then studied engineering at the University of Texas in Austin until financial constraints forced his withdrawal. Upon returning to San Antonio, González enrolled in St. Mary’s University, earning a bachelor’s
126 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Enrique Barbosa González on May 3, 1916,
in San Antonio, Texas; son of Leonides (a former
mayor, businessman, journalist and editor) and Genoveva (Barbosa) Gonzales; married Bertha Cuellar; eight children. Education: San Antonio Jr. College, A.A., 1937; St. Mary’s University, B.A., and law degree, 1943. Politics: Democrat. Career: Probation officer, Bexar County Juvenile Court, prior to 1946; Spanish-English translation business, 1947-51; Councilman, City of San Antonio, 1953-56; Texas State Senator, 1956-61; Representative, U.S. Congress, 1961-98.
degree and, in 1943, a law degree. During his years at St. Mary’s, González met and married Bertha Cuellar, with whom he had eight children. To help pay for his schooling he took up boxing, eventually becoming a Golden Gloves champion. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, González served the war effort as a civilian cable and radio censor for military intelligence. After graduating from law school, he found work as an assistant chief juvenile probation officer in San Antonio. In 1946 he was promoted to chief probation officer in San Antonio, where he was responsible for improving juvenile probation services within the Bexar County Juvenile Court system. However, in the same year González abruptly resigned from his position when he was told he would not be allowed to hire an African-American staff member. For the remainder of the 1950s González held several different jobs. In 1947 he served as an executive secretary for the Pan American Progressive Association, and from 1947 to 1951 he helped operate his father’s Spanish-English translation business. He also wrote articles for bicultural publications and served as the director of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. In 1950 he became the deputy family relocation director for the Housing Authority in San Antonio. His job was to find alternative housing for families who became displaced when their slum neighborhoods were demolished.
Entered Public Office In 1950 González made his first bid for public office by running for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives. Although he lost the election, three years later he successfully ran for a seat on the San Antonio City Council. As a councilman, González pushed for fair and equal treatment of the city’s Hispanic population and
succeeded in pushing through ordinances that desegregated the city’s public facilities. In 1956 González was elected as a state senator, becoming the first person of Mexican descent in the previous one hundred years to be elected to the Texas Senate. In a day when racism was openly expressed and discrimination openly employed, his victory was not easy. The election results were re-counted three times, and the margin of his ultimate victory was only 309 votes. When he first arrived in Austin to serve his term, González encountered suspicion and a spirit of racial prejudice among many of his colleagues, and was often referred to as “that Mexican.” Despite his less-thanwelcome presence, González quickly made it clear that he was prepared to fight for his ideals. He called for an end to racial discrimination and became an outspoken proponent of liberal causes such as improved housing services and slum clearance, and was a strong opponent of the proposed state sales tax.
Filibustered on Segregation Legislation González became an early champion of the civil rights movement and a hero in the eyes of many Mexican Americans. He stood up against the passage of ten bills that were written to circumvent the federal mandate issued by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, which called for the desegregation of all public schools. He made national headlines in 1957 when he spearheaded the longest filibuster in the history of the Texas legislature, undertaken in an effort to prevent passage of the segregation bills. The bills included measures that would allow parents who disagreed with desegregation to withdraw their children from school. The filibuster was initiated by Senator Abraham “Chick” Kazen of Laredo, who spoke for twelve hours before yielding the floor to González after midnight. González, decked out in a light-blue suit, white shoes, and matching yellow tie and handkerchief, spoke for a night, a day, and into the second night, a total of twenty-two hours and two minutes, without stopping for a break. According to Texas Monthly, González began his marathon speech by stating, “I seek to register the plaintive cry, the hurt feelings, the silent, the dumb protest of the inarticulate.” To answer the bills’ proponents, who argued that the legislation was a necessity, González raged, “Necessity is the creed of slaves and the argument of tyrants!” Finally at 1:45 a.m. into his second night on the floor, opponents agreed to withdraw four of the ten bills if Gonzales would just sit down and stop talking. Subsequently nine of the ten bills were withdrawn or declared unconstitutional.
González • 127
Became a U.S. Representative in Congress In 1958, riding on his increasing fame in San Antonio and throughout Texas, González made an unsuccessful bid for the governorship of Texas. In 1961 he lost a special election to fill a seat in the U.S. Senate, left vacant when Lyndon B. Johnson was elected vice president. However, in the same year he ran in another special election to fill a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, left open when Congressman Paul Kilday accepted a military court appointment. Endorsed by Texas Governor Price Daniel as well as President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Johnson, González won the election and began a 37-year career as a member of the U.S. Congress. He was the first Hispanic from Texas to gain a seat in the House of Representatives.
also took a stance against the expansion of nuclear power facilities. In 1981 González became the chairman of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development and battled President Ronald Reagan, who had proposed cuts in funding to public housing projects. González served as chairman of the important House Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs Committee from 1988 until 1995 when the Republicans took control of the House. During his tenure at the helm of Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, he pushed through legislation dealing with such issues as bank fraud, money laundering, flood insurance reform, housing initiatives, and loosening credit restrictions for small businesses. González also predicted the collapse of the savings and loan industry in 1989 and was subsequently instrumental in drafting bailout and reform legislation.
Throughout a long career that spanned 18 consecutive terms, González never faced a Democratic opponent in a primary and only faced a Republican opponent in the general election six times. The retention of his seat was nearly guaranteed, and he usually garnered at least 80 percent of the vote. Always staunchly independent, González never ran on a Hispanic platform, declaring that he represented all the people in his district and particularly wanted to be a voice for the poor and the underprivileged, regardless of race. On the day when González raised his right hand as he was sworn into national office for the first time, in his left hand he clutched the draft of a bill that would put an end to poll taxes, which discriminated against the poor and minorities. Because he refused to adopt a more aggressively focused Mexican-American agenda, his membership in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus was revoked.
After being displaced from his prestigious position as committee chairman after the 1994 elections, González, by then in his late seventies, seemed to lose some of his vitality. He was also burdened by the illness of his wife, which cut short the time he spent on Capitol Hill. In late 1997 he announced his retirement from Congress due to failing health caused by an infection that had affected his heart. He did not step down immediately, however. He returned to San Antonio until September of 1998, after which he returned to Washington to serve out the last weeks of his term. His son Charlie took over the remainder of the term and was subsequently re-elected to his father’s seat in Congress. The elder González died on November 29, 2000.
During the 1960s González forged a reputation as an outspoken, fiercely independent voice in Congress, often taking unpopular positions. In 1962 he succeeded in getting legislation to abolish the poll tax passed in the House. In 1963 he refused to support additional funding for the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities, because he believed it received an unfair proportion of money when compared to other House committees. In the same year he spoke passionately against proposed legislation that would clear the way for large fruit and vegetable growers to exploit migrant farm workers. The following year he was one of the few congressional members from the South who supported the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.
On the west side of San Antonio, many businesses and restaurants still proudly display pictures of González, known to most simply as “Henry B.” To those who supported him, González was a man of integrity, honor, courage, and strength, who cared for the people he represented. He battled and broke down racial barriers, allowing other Hispanics to follow a path made easier by González. Andy Hernandez, a political theorist from St. Mary’s University, told the Austin Chronicle, “He was one of the very first extraordinary leaders of the Mexican-American generation who battled segregation. He himself broke through all the barriers.”
In 1977 González was appointed as the chairman of the House Assassinations Committee that was charged with investigating the murders of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. However, after coming into conflict with the chief investigator, González quit the committee. As a member of the House Small Business Committee during the 1970s, González played a key role in the reform and improvement of small business practices and regulations. He
“Henry B.”
Called a “crackpot” and “unbalanced” by his detractors for his numerous tirades against real and imaginary enemies, González, whether loved or despised, demanded respect. His emotional disposition made headlines twice during his tenure. In 1963 in the House chambers, Texas Republican Ed Foreman called González a “pinko,” and González responded by punching Foreman. Twenty-three years later, at the age of seventy, González was eating breakfast at his favorite San Antonio restaurant, when a customer
128 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 referred to him as a communist. Again, the former Golden Gloves champion floored his detractor with his fist. According to Jan Jarboe Russell of Texas Monthly, who regularly met with González for breakfast, “He lived life as one long, tumultuous filibuster and was suited for the job: He had an ego that demanded life-or-death combat, the heart of a philosopher, and the bladder of an elephant.” Russell added, “Like everyone in San Antonio, I both feared and admired Henry B. After all, he was regarded as only slightly less powerful than God and just as easy to offend.” As González declared in his filibuster stand on the floor of the Texas Senate in 1957, “I appeal to the future for my vindication.”
Sources Books Contemporary Heroes and Heroines, Book IV, Gale, 2000. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale, 1996. Periodicals The Austin Chronicle, December 8, 2000. Financial World, December 27, 1988. National Review, April 29, 1988. The New Republic, April 11, 1994. Texas Monthly, December 1999; January 2001. Time, December 11, 2000. On-line Hispanic Americans in Congress, 1822-1995, www. loc.gov/rr/hispanic/congress/gonzález.html Politico, www.politicomagazine.com/henryb112900 .html (November 29, 2000). —Kari Bethel
Guevara • 129
Ché (Ernesto) Guevara 1928-1967 Revolutionary leader
Ernesto Guevara, known around the world by his nickname “Ché,” was an Argentine doctor turned Marxist revolutionary who became instrumental in the Cuban revolution during the 1950s. Despite his lack of success outside Cuba, his commitment to worldwide revolution by armed revolt and his subsequent execution in the jungles of Bolivia in 1967 made him a martyr for the cause of liberation in South and Central America.
Childhood Influences Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born on June 14, 1928, in Rosario, located in the eastern Argentinean province of Santa Fe. The oldest child in the family, Guevara had four younger brothers and sisters. Both his father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch, a part-Irish civil engineer, and his mother, Celia de la Serna, came from prominent well-to-do families, and both held left-wing political views. As a toddler, Guevara, who was called Tete by his family, began experiencing severe asthma attacks, a condition that plagued him throughout his life. Hoping that an improved climate would help his condition, Guevara’s father moved the family to the mountain resort town of Alta Garcia, near Córdoba,
where Guevara childhood.
spent
his
Due to his health, as a young child Guevara was schooled at home by his mother, with whom he remained very close throughout his life. Exposed to his mother’s radical political views as well as to a family library that contained controversial and leftist works, Guevara developed his political ideology as an outgrowth of his upbringing. He particularly enjoyed the poetry of Spaniard Federico García Lorca and Chilean Communist Pablo Neruda. He was also influenced by childhood friends whose parents had been killed or exiled during the Spanish Civil War. Later his father claimed that it was at home that Guevara first read the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir I. Lenin. Guevara attempted to overcome his asthma through strenuous physical activity, and became known as an excellent swimmer and rugby player. He also traveled the countryside on long bicycle trips. Bucking peer pressure and the interests of his friends, as a teen Guevara showed no interest in fashionable clothing or the latest trends and never took up drinking or smoking. At the age of 14 he joined the Partido Unión Democrática and participated in street fights against
130 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Introduced to Marxism At a Glance . . .
B
orn on June 14, 1928, in Rosario, Argentina; died
on October 8, 1967, in La Higuera, Bolivia; son
of Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna; married Hilda Gadea Acosta, c. 1955; married Aleida March, June 3, 1959; five children. Education: University of Buenos Aires, 1947-53. Career: Member of Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolutionary army, 1955-59; head of the industrial department of the Cuban National Institute of Agrarian Reform, 1959; head of the Cuban National Bank, 1959-61; head of Cuban Ministry of Industry, 1961-65; revolutionary leader in Bolivia, 1966-67.
the peronistas, supporters of Argentine dictator Juan Perón.
Motorcycled Through South America Despite atypical political views, the family was in many ways typical of the country’s upper-middle class, and it was expected that Guevara would attend college and pursue a career. Influenced by his struggle with chronic asthma and his grandmother’s death from cancer, Guevara chose medicine as his profession. After graduating from high school with honors at the age of 19, he enrolled in medical school at the University of Buenos Aires. Restless and adventuresome, Guevara left his studies in 1952 to motorcycle and hitchhike across South America with his friend Alberto Granados, a biochemist. The 24-year-old Guevara and his 29-year-old companion traveled through Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. The two funded their adventure by taking on odd jobs as truck drivers, porters, doctors, and dishwashers, and landed in jail at least twice. Guevara was deeply affected by the conditions of poverty, hunger, and disease that he saw across the continent. In San Pablo, Venezuela, he worked as a nurse in a leper colony, and there discovered the deep solidarity among the outcasts as well as the painful isolation of their existence. Eventually Guevara decided to return to Argentina, vowing to return to work at Granados in the leprosarium after completing his medical studies. With no money for passage home, Guevara made his way home via Miami, Florida, after a relative offered to purchase an airline ticket for him. By October of 1952 Guevara was back at the university in Buenos Aires.
Guevara submitted a thesis on allergies, passed his qualifying medical examinations, and was awarded his medical degree in the spring of 1953. But the young doctor’s focus had been changed by his first-hand experience with the abysmal social conditions in South America. Rather than providing medical services the poor could never afford, Guevara decided to commit his life to assisting the disadvantaged and the oppressed. Always restless and adventuresome and wanting to avoid required military service in Perón’s army, Guevara set out for Bolivia to witness the work of the country’s infant revolutionary government. However, he soon moved on and spent the next two years traveling through Central America, including stops in Ecuador, Panama, and Costa Rica, before landing in Guatemala. Guevara had gone to Guatemala to experience the country under the revolutionary régime of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, who had successfully installed his government in 1951. Although not yet declaring himself a Marxist, Guevara joined the Alliance of Democratic Youth, a leftist organization that supported Arbenz and Guatemala’s Labor party. However, Arbenz’s land reform policies incited the anger of the country’s landowners and elite, especially the Boston-based United Fruit Company, the country’s largest landowner. Consequently, shortly after Guevara arrived in the country, troops, covertly trained by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and under the leadership of right-winger Castillo Armas, overtook Arbenz’s government. For the first time Guevara became directly involved in revolutionary activities. He moved among small bands of revolutionaries who sought unsuccessfully to retake Guatemala City. Eventually Guevara, who had been identified by the new government as a Marxist, sought refuge in the Argentine embassy. While in Guatemala, Guevara earned the nickname Ché, used in Argentine Spanish as a form of second person pronoun, which Guevara consistently used to greet his friends. During this time Guevara met his first wife, Hilda Gadea Acosta, a Peruvian radical who helped cement his liberation ideology. Guevara spent much of the following two months holed up in the embassy studying the works of Marx and Lenin. Whereas his experience in the leper colony had pushed him to take up the cause of the poor, his experience in Guatemala led him to affirm armed conflict as the only means to bring about significant social change and liberation from the grip of imperialist forces.
Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution With little hope of effecting further change in Guatemala, in September of 1954 Guevara escaped the country and made his way to Mexico City, where he
Guevara • 131 earned a living as a physician. His wife soon joined him there, and the two had a daughter in February of 1956. Despite his obligations to his family, Guevara was not ready to settle into a domestic lifestyle. In 1955 he was introduced to Cuban rebel Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, who were living in exile in Mexico City while they developed plans to overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Guevara began his career as a revolutionary in earnest when he signed up with Castro to serve as physician for the invasion force of 82 men; Guevara was the only member who was not of Cuban descent. After undergoing intensive physical training at a clandestine guerrilla warfare training camp outside Mexico City, Guevara shipped out with Castro and his ragtag army aboard the sea-worn yacht Granma. The Granma landed on Cuban soil on December 2, 1956; however, the invasion attempt proved to be ill-advised. Just four days later all but fourteen of the invasion force were killed in a fierce battle with Batista’s army at Alegría de Pío. Both Castro brothers and Guevara were among the survivors who escaped into the rugged mountainous region of Sierra Maestra in eastern Cuba. Although Guevara had joined the revolution as a physician, he became a gifted military leader and Castro’s trusted friend. Over the next two years Castro conducted guerrilla warfare, and Guevara served as his main ideologist. While Castro sought only to liberate his homeland, Guevara envisioned the struggle as one of many battles that would take place in the worldwide war against oppression and domination. As Castro prepared for a final offensive against Batista’s forces, he placed Guevara in charge of the Eighth Column, with orders to move through the middle of the island and divide the government forces. In a fierce and decisive battle at Santa Clara, Guevara’s troops overcame their opponents, causing Batista to flee the country on New Year’s Eve of 1956. Guevara was among the first of the rebel troops to enter triumphantly into Havana on January 4, 1959, and claim the capital for the revolutionary forces. In the new government established by Castro, Guevara was officially declared a Cuban by birth, and served in a number of important capacities. By now a committed Marxist, he encouraged Castro to establish a socialist state, and Castro moved in that direction by appointing Guevara to positions related to finance and the economy. Guevara’s first official duty was to head the industrial department of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform. In November of 1959 Castro selected Guevara as president of the National Bank of Cuba, a position he held until February of 1961, when he became the head of the Ministry of Industry. Despite his familiarity with Marxist theory, Guevara had no practical experience in finance, economics, or government. Nonetheless his objective was clear: move Cuba’s economy away from its dependence on the export of sugar in general and its dependence on sales to the United States in particular. To that end, Guevara traveled around the world to conduct trade negotiations with neutral and friendly
countries. He played a vital role in realigning Cuba with the Soviet Union by brokering a deal that stipulated that the Soviet Union would purchase sugar from Cuba in exchange for Cuba’s political and strategic support of the Communist bloc. In 1961 Guevara published La Guerra de guerrillas (Guerrilla Warfare), a training manual of guerrilla tactics. The book was widely read among revolutionary factions as well as by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which used the information to train forces to oppose the guerrilla strategy. Guevara, whose idealistic vision of the perfect socialist state never faded, pushed Cuba toward industrialization. He blamed the United States for intervening in Cuba’s economy by subsidizing sugar, which had retarded the growth of industry on the island. When relations between Cuba and the United States turned openly hostile after Guevara seized U.S.- and Britishowned oil refineries, he moved the country into closer economic and political alignment with the Soviet Union. However, several factors worked against Guevara’s success in reestablishing Cuba’s economy around manufacturing and industry. First, and perhaps most important, was the lack of sufficient money to fund development, as well as the absence of any established markets and the lack of advanced technology. Also, Guevara’s demand for a total and uncompromising approach to socialism led him into policy conflicts with the Soviet Union. Despite his best intentions, Guevara alienated many of Cuba’s workers when he revoked all material incentives for work production, with the goal of creating the “new socialist man” who produced solely for the benefit of society. By the end of 1964 it was becoming clear that Guevara’s industrialization plan was a near total failure. The only tangible results were a weakened agricultural industry and resulting food shortages. When Guevara began to openly criticize the Soviet Union for not providing the fledgling Marxist nation with enough financial support, Castro apparently decided that he must choose between his old, loyal friend and his powerful ally, and he chose the Soviet Union. Guevara suddenly dropped out of sight in March of 1965, amid speculation that he had been removed by Castro, exiled, imprisoned, or even executed. Castro insisted that Guevara had moved on to further the cause of liberation in other parts of the world. Eventually Castro was proven correct when Guevara finally surfaced in the Kinshasa Republic of the Congo (known today as Zaïre) as part of a revolutionary organization attempting to overthrow the country’s government. However, after just six months, frustrated by the lack of success, commitment, and coordination, Guevara quietly returned to Cuba in March of 1966.
Attempted to Spread Revolution During the next six months, Guevara organized a group of Cuban guerrillas in preparation for a liberation movement in Bolivia. Guevara’s plan was to follow his own guerrilla warfare strategy, as outlined in Guerrilla
132 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Warfare. He hoped to use his small army to incite a revolution in Bolivia. Once victory was achieved there, he would establish a base for operations from which he could branch out across South America, spreading revolution and liberation throughout the continent. The entire operation was, however, an abysmal failure. First, Guevara and his Cuban troops never secured the trust of the Bolivian peasantry and consequently enlisted few recruits. Second, Guevara’s staunch adherence to theoretically pure socialism allowed no room for compromise with the Bolivian Communist Party, which subsequently withdrew from Guevara’s movement. Third, Castro ceased to support his friend when it became increasingly clear that Guevara’s plans would not succeed. Finally, Guevara was in poor health and out of medical supplies. His asthma was plaguing him and his weight dropped below 100 pounds. Perhaps as a result of his ill health, the seasoned military tactician made numerous strategic errors in judgment. Guevara’s Bolivian revolution ended after 18 months of warfare with the Bolivian army and U.S. Army Rangers. Going against his own training manual, Guevara divided his forces in two with the intent of regrouping, but the two divisions lost track of each other and wandered for months trying to reunite. On August 31, 1967, one group encountered government forces, which won a decisive battle, leaving Guevara and his smaller contingent with no hope for reinforcements. On October 8, 1967, Guevara and his remaining men were surrounded by the Bolivian army in a canyon at Quebrada del Yuro. In the ensuing battle, Guevara was seriously injured and captured. He was taken to the town of La Higuera and interrogated. The next day he was executed, his hands cut off, and buried in a mass grave along with several of his men. He was 39 years old. Even before his death Guevara was nearing legendary status, and after his execution he became the martyr and idol of an entire generation in both South and Central America as well as around the world. Fervent supporters marched in the streets chanting “!No lo vamos a olvidar!” (We won’t let him be forgotten!). When his secret gravesite was discovered 30 years later, after a deathbed confession by a former member of the Bolivian army, a renewed passion for Guevara’s memory was ignited. Bolivia, embracing Guevara more closely in death than it ever had during his lifetime, launched a “Ché Guevara Week” and began promoting Guevara’s work in the country as a tourist attraction. His written works, including Guerrilla Warfare, Pasajes de la Guerra revolucionaria (Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War), which describes his personal experiences during the Cuban uprising, and El diario de Ché en Bolivia (The Diary of Ché Guevara), which was published posthumously, gained significant and sustained acclaim. Numerous compilations of speeches and other writings were also published after his death. Guevara has approached the status of sainthood in Latin America. In Europe and the United States, during the late 1990s, Guevara’s image
began to appear on t-shirts worn by the younger generation. Somehow the socialist martyr had become chic among angst-ridden youth. How Guevara would have felt about his image being sold in trendy shops in the capitalist United States remains a question for speculation.
Selected Writings La guerra de guerrillas, Departamento de Instruccion de MINFAR, 1960, translation by J. P. Morray published as Guerrilla Warfare, Monthly Review Press, 1961. Pasajes de la guerra revolucionaria, Union de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, 1963, translation published as Episodes of the Revolutionary War, International Publishing, 1968; revised and enlarged translation by Victoria Ortiz published as Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, Monthly Review Press, 1968. Ché Guevara Speaks: Selected Speeches and Writings, edited by George Lavan, Grove, 1967. El diario de Ché en Bolivia: Noviembre 7, 1966, Octubre 7, 1967, Instituto de Libro, 1968; translation edited by Robert Scheer published as The Diary of Ché Guevara; Bolivia: November 7, 1966October 7, 1967, Bantam, 1968; enlarged translated edition edited by Daniel James published as The Complete Bolivian Diaries of Ché Guevara and Other Captured Documents, Stein & Day, 1968; translation edited by Mary-Alice Waters published as The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Ché Guevara, Pathfinder, 1994. Venceremos! The Speeches and Writings of Ernesto Ché Guevara, edited, annotated, and introduced by John Gerassi, Macmillan, 1968. Ché Guevara and the Cuban Revolution: Writings and Speeches of Ernesto Ché Guevara, Pathfinder Press/Pacific and Asia, 1987. Notas de viaje, translation by Ann Wright published as The Motorcycle Diaries: A Journey around South America, Verso, 1995.
Sources Books Cold War, 1945-1991, Gale, 1992. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale, 1996. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd edition, Gale, 1998. Historic World Leaders, Gale, 1994. Periodicals Economist, October 11, 1997; December 25, 1999. Latin American Perspectives, July 1998. Time, July 14, 1997; June 14, 1999. U.S. News & World Report, October 27, 1997. World Press Review, October 1996.
Guevara • 133 On-line Contemporary Authors Online, www.galenet.com/ servlet/BioRC —Kari Bethel
134 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Salma Hayek 1968(?)— Actress
Critics have hailed actress Salma Hayek for the forcefulness of her on-screen portrayals made during a relatively short time since her career began in the early 1990s. The Mexican-born actress has also become known for her sultry good looks. “Half peasant, half bombshell, Hayek is the raw stuff of daydreams, a mythical seductress with a figure so sublime it could make you bite a rock,” enthused Interview writer Michael Atkinson. Hayek has also campaigned both behind the scenes and in the press to break down Hollywood barriers for Latino actors, and to revive a once-moribund Mexican film industry. Her activism prompted Time International to deem Hayek “a whirlwind moving through a macho industry, changing the way audiences view Mexico on both sides of the border.”
Earned Novela Award in Mexico Hayek was born in 1968 in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico. Her mother was an opera singer, and her father an oil executive; her heritage was part Latino and part Lebanese. Raised in a comfortable middleclass household, Hayek dreamed of a career on stage
even as a child. She also yearned to see more of the United States, and asked her parents to send her to a Roman Catholic convent school in Louisiana at the age of 12. She was eventually expelled for being a chronic practical joker, but finished high school at the age of 16 and went on to study international relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Yet Hayek was still drawn to the performing arts, and began auditioning and winning stage roles. Her talent brought her to the attention of Mexican television producers, and after a stint on the telenovela Nuevo Amenecer, she began appearing in the primetime drama Teresa in 1989. Hayek became an instant celebrity in Mexico, earning a Novela award, Mexico’s Emmy equivalent, for her first season. Still, Hayek knew there was little opportunity for her beyond television in Mexico. Very few homegrown feature films were produced in the country at the time. “Mexicans mostly go see big American movies,” she explained to Entertainment Weekly’s Steve Daly. In 1991 Hayek moved to Los Angeles with two suitcases, and enrolled in a drama class. It was a struggle. “When I went to acting school, it was so depressing. Nobody could understand a word I said,” she told the Houston
Hayek • 135
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Salma Hayek-Jiminez on September 2, 1968
(one source cites 1966), in Coatzacoalcos, Ver-
acruz, Mexico; daughter of Sami Hayek Domingues (an oil company executive) and Diana Hayek (an opera singer). Education: Attended the Universidad Iberoamericana, mid-1980s. Career: Began career in Mexico on the stage and in television; appeared in television commercials for Revlon; first feature film appearance as Gata in Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life), 1993; also appeared in Desperado, 1995; From Dusk till Dawn, 1996; Fools Rush
Rodriguez was casting his second feature film, Desperado. Hayek auditioned, but studio executives were wary. So Rodriguez put Hayek in a cable movie called Roadracers, which helped convince the studio that Hayek would shine on-screen. In Desperado, Hayek appeared with Antonio Banderas, and earned effusive critical accolades. Entertainment Weekly writer Chris Nashawaty termed it a career-making role for Hayek, and noted that she “pulled off the impossible—namely, outsmoldering costar Antonio Banderas.” She went on to appear in Rodriguez’s next film, From Dusk Till Dawn, as a vampire who performs an infamous dance with a eleven-foot albino python. Hayek went on to appear in two little-seen and poorly reviewed films: 1997’s Breaking Up, alongside a relatively unknown Russell Crowe, and Fools Rush In, a romantic comedy that cast her with Friends’ star Matthew Perry.
In, 1997; 54, 1998; The Faculty, 1998; Dogma, 1999; Wild Wild West, 1999; Timecode, 2000, and Frida, 2002. Awards: TV Novela Award, best actress, for Teresa, 1998; Silver Ariel Award nomination, best actress, Mexican Academy Awards, and four international awards, all all for El Callejon de los milagros, 1995; chosen one of the fifty most beautiful people in the world, People Magazine, 1996; Nosotros Golden Eagle Award, for best actress in film, 1998; Blockbuster Entertainment Award, best supporting actress in an action film, for Wild Wild West, 1999. Address: Agent—William Morris Agency, 151 El Camino Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.
Chronicle. Her funds dwindled, and she thought about returning to Mexico. But as she told the Chronicle, it would have been “selling out, giving up on your dream. I’m terribly prideful. I wasn’t going to let them know that I made a mistake, that I wasted two years of my life coming back saying, ‘You were right, I shouldn’t have gone.’” After a brief part in Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)—a well-received independent film from 1993 by director Alison Anders—Hayek turned down a biopic role as slain Tejano music star Selena. Her first genuine film experience came in an acclaimed Mexican work by Jorge Fons, El callejon de los milagros (Midaq Alley). Her English improved, and in Los Angeles she began winning small television roles. Director Robert Rodriguez saw Hayek on a talk show and contacted her. Having scored a hit with the low-budget El Mariachi,
Fought to End Typecasting Despite lukewarm reviews, Fools Rush In marked a turning point in Hayek’s career. “I was praying that I would get a part that I could work with,” she told Daily News writer Bob Strauss, “that somebody would give me a chance to show that I could do all of these things besides dancing or being pretty—which I don’t think that I am, but that’s a whole different story.” Proving such self-effacing comments erroneous, cosmetics giant Revlon signed Hayek to appear in advertisements that same year. She also launched her own production company, Ventanarosa, to acquire and develop properties for herself and other Latino actors. Hayek still encountered the occasional barrier. “Executives at the studios have a hard time giving me roles of smart women,” she told In Style in 1998. “They ask how audiences can believe that someone from Mexico could be the editor of this fashion magazine,” mentioning a role for which she auditioned and was rejected. In 1999 Hayek and Ventanarosa inked a deal with Columbia Tri-Star Television and the Telemundo Spanish-language network, owned by Sony, to produce shows for both American and Latin American broadcast. As a producer, Hayek earned strong praise from director Barry Sonnenfeld, with whom she worked in Wild, Wild West. “Salma has tremendous perseverance,” Sonnenfeld told Time International. “That’s what a producer does—they make people do things they don’t want to do.” Wild, Wild West and other American films in which Hayek appeared did well at Mexican box offices, and she continued to take the occasional Mexican film part. In 1999 she was cast in a small independent film, The Velocity of Gary, alongside Vincent D’Onofrio, and then played one of several fallen angels in Kevin Smith’s Dogma. Next, she was tapped by director Mike Figgis for a role in Time Code, one of 2000’s more unusual films. Hayek’s character, enmeshed in a quar-
136 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 relsome relationship with another woman, carried on one of four simultaneous plots, each of which progressed on screen in four separate quadrants. Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman praised the work, calling it “enthralling,” and dismissed some of the press criticism which surrounded it. According to Gleiberman, “Time Code might better be described as a voyeur’s delight. It gives you the dizzy sensation that you’re seeing an erotically heightened soap opera of everyday life as taken in by the omniscient eye of a multi-channeled surveillance camera.” Next, Hayek trumped both Madonna and Jennifer Lopez to gain the title role in Frida, the long-awaited biopic of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Thirty-odd years after her 1954 death, Kahlo had emerged as both a feminist and a Latina icon. Her career was overshadowed by that of her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, but in the 1980s her paintings began to increase in value as art historians came to recognize her unique vision. The story offered any actress a career-making performance. Hayek recalled seeing her first reproduction of the artist’s work—known for its confessional, realist strain—in the home of a friend when she was a teenager. “And I went, Blech! That’s disgusting. Horrible, gory, ugly, blech! And then I would go back and say, Hey, show me that picture by that artist who is so horrible,” she told Vogue writer Sarah Kerr. “I was intrigued, and little by little I was enchanted, to the point where I absolutely loved her art. It started then.” Hayek’s strong features bore a slight resemblance to Kahlo’s, and she began carrying around Polaroid photos of herself in traditional Mexican dress, which Kahlo favored, to show to producers who might be interested in a Kahlo project. After one audition, as she told Kerr, producers told her she was too young to play the part. “But I was so upset, and in my anger and naiveté I told them, ‘Well, this film isn’t going to happen until I’m ready to play her. ’”
Fully Committed to Frida Hayek’s remark made in pique turned out to be prophetic. One film on the artist’s life was originally planned for HBO in 1994, but then the rights were acquired by Trimark. Hayek auditioned for the role, but as she told In Style, “they said that they didn’t want to do it with a non-Mexican, but they didn’t think any Mexican had a big enough name to do it.” Hayek’s acclaimed appearances in a range of films during this period helped win her the role, but Trimark had committed only $2 million to the film. “They were passionate about it, but we could never have made this movie for that amount,” Hayek recalled in an interview with Los Angeles Times journalist Dana Calvo. “Then they said about $4 million, but it still wasn’t enough. I was afraid that it wasn’t going to be like the movie I knew it could be. I said, ‘I’m going to star in it, I’d like to be a producer as well.ѧ I just want to make sure it
gets made right.’ But they never imagined how involved I would be in the process.” Trimark eventually passed on the Frida property and Miramax acquired it. The screenplay was similarly beleaguered. It underwent numerous rewrites, but Hayek was able to lure some big names to co-star in the production. Banderas, Ashley Judd, and Ed Norton appeared, and agreed to work for union-scale wages to cut costs. Alfred Molina was cast as Rivera. As a co-producer, Hayek had to convince Dolores Olmedo Patino, a formidable Mexican woman then in her nineties who controlled the Kahlo estate, to grant filmmakers permission to use the images. Olmedo had been one of Rivera’s models and mistresses. Hayek met with others who had known Kahlo, in an attempt to learn more about this complex woman. Hayek even began painting to prepare for the role, and was surprised to learn she had some faculty for it. Molina commended her talents as both actress and co-producer. “I’m sure she feels it keenly, but what makes her such a wonderful person to work with is that she wears that mantle very, very lightly—and she doesn’t expect you to share any of the weight,” Molina told Vogue. “What she’s done with this project—if she were a white man in America, she’d be as big as Harvey Weinstein by now. Because she’s got the balls; she’s got the energy; she’s got the taste.” Frida was slated for release in October of 2002. In 2001 Hayek penned an article for Time International about Latinos in the film industry. Many Mexican-trained directors, she pointed out, leave to pursue careers in Hollywood. State controls on ticket prices and an ineffectual distribution system meant that just nine feature films were made in her country in 1998. But Hayek had new hopes for a revival: she noted that the government had recently enacted a film-industry protection bill, and earmarked $13.5 million to finance new films by Mexican writers and directors. “There is no doubt in my mind that, a decade after I left, a new dawn seems finally on the horizon for Mexico’s cinema,” Hayek wrote. “For those of us who have been waiting, working and hoping for most of our adult lives, it’s an exciting day indeed.”
Selected filmography Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life), 1993. Desperado, 1995. From Dusk Till Dawn, 1996. Fools Rush In, 1997. 54, 1998. The Faculty, 1998. Dogma, 1999. Wild Wild West, 1999. Timecode, 2000. Frida, 2002.
Hayek • 137
Sources Books Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television, Vol. 32, Gale, 2000. Periodicals Advertising Age, February 4, 2002, p. 28. Advocate, June 8, 1999, p. 44. Daily News (Los Angeles), February 14, 1997, p. L3. Entertainment Weekly, August 25, 1995, p. 91; December 29, 1995, p. 50; February 14, 1997, p. 42; August 8, 1997, p. 53; May 12, 2000, p. 50. Houston Chronicle, February 13, 1997, p. 1. In Style, January 1998, p. 92. Independent Sunday (London), December 17, 2000, p. 3. Interview, February 1997, p. 112. Los Angeles Magazine, August 1996, p. 85. Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2001, p. 8. Newsweek International, November 22, 1999, p. 78. Time International, May 24, 1999, p. 99; October 15, 2001, p. 79. Variety, January 3, 2000, p. 30. Vogue, December 2001. —Carol Brennan
138 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Dolores Huerta 1930— Labor union leader
One of the most influential labor leaders of the twentieth century, Dolores Huerta’s accomplishments include economic, social, and political gains for workers across the United States. While her most significant achievements have been made through the United Farm Workers (UFW) union, which she helped to establish in 1966, Huerta has also worked as a lobbyist for proworker legislation in Sacramento, California and Washington, D.C. She has also earned a place as a respected feminist spokesperson and role model to two generations of activists. Even after her retirement from day-to-day management of the UFW, Huerta continues to serve as its vicepresident emeritus while promoting the union’s agenda in legislative chambers and media outlets around the country.
Initial Career as Teacher Dolores (Fernández) Huerta was born on April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico, to Juan Fernández and Alicia Chaves Fernández. The Fernández family already had one son, and another son was born after Dolores’s arrival. In the mid-1930s Juan and Alicia
Fernández divorced, and Alicia Fernández moved with her three children to Stockton, in northern California’s San Joaquin Valley. Juan Fernández, who had earned a living as a miner in New Mexico, eventually earned a college degree and was elected to the New Mexico state legislature in 1938. Life in Stockton for the Fernández family was not easy at first; however, with the support of her extended family, within a few years Alicia Fernández earned enough money as a cannery worker and waitress to purchase a small hotel and restaurant. After her mother remarried, Dolores Fernández had two additional siblings, and all of them helped out at the hotel. The family made the hotel a success, and after Dolores finished high school, she planned on continuing her education by attending college. It took her a few years to realize this ambition, but she completed her associate’s degree with a certificate in teaching at the Delta Community College division of the University of the Pacific in the early 1950s. She also married and began a family; her first marriage produced seven children but ended in divorce. Although she subsequently married Richard Chavez,
Huerta • 139
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Dolores Fernández on April 10, 1930 in
Dawson, New Mexico to Juan Fernández and
Alicia Chaves Fernández; divorced from first spouse; second marriage to Richard Chavez; eleven children. Education: Completed associate’s degree in teaching at the University of the Pacific in the early 1950s. Religion: Roman Catholic. Career: Stockton Public Schools, teacher, early 1950s; Community Service Organization, Stockton, CA, founder and staff member, 1955-60; Agricultural Workers Association, Delano, CA, founder and staff member, 1960-62; National Farm Workers Association, founder and staff member, 1962-66; United Farm Workers
Union,
vice-president,
1966-99,
vice-
president emeritus, 1999–. Awards: Outstanding Labor Leader Award, California State Senate, 1984; Honorary doctorate, New College of San Francisco, 1990; Honorary Doctorate, San
American activists in the South, the Stockton CSO began to organize Mexican-Americans on the grassroots level to implement social, economic, and political changes. Under Huerta’s leadership, the CSO immediately began a voter registration program and put pressure on politicians to provide equal services to poorer, predominantly ethnic neighborhoods in Stockton. It also served to publicize cases of discrimination and police brutality against Mexican-Americans. Located in California’s San Joaquin Valley, one of the most productive agricultural regions in the United States, Stockton had a significant number of migrant farm workers among its residents during various times of the year. Many of the migrant workers had come to the region from Mexico; lacking American citizenship and in many cases permanent resident status, the migrants were often subjected to brutal and exploitative working conditions along with low wages and no job security. To address these problems, Huerta formed the Agricultural Workers Association (AWA) in 1960. Through the AWA, Huerta lobbied the California State Legislature to end the state’s citizenship requirement to qualify for public assistance or enter state pension programs. Continuing the political aims of the CSO, Huerta was also instrumental in passing legislation that allowed citizens to vote with Spanish-language ballots and take driver’s license tests in Spanish.
Francisco State University, 1993; National Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee, 1993; American Civil Liberties Union Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award, 1993; Eugene V. Debs Foundation Outstanding American Award, 1993; Ellis Island Medal of Freedom Award, 1993; Honorary doctorate, State University of New York at New Paltz, 1999; Eleanor Roosevelt Award, 1999. Address: Office—United Farm Workers, P.O. Box 62, Keene, CA 93531.
younger brother of Cesar Chavez, the renowned American labor leader, she retained her married surname, Huerta. With Chavez, Huerta had four more children, for a total of eleven children.
Founded Community Service Organization Huerta’s career as an elementary school teacher in Stockton was a brief one. Upset that many of her pupils came to school without decent clothing or enough food, she decided after just a few months in the classroom to work against poverty in a more direct manner. In 1955 she thus helped to found the Stockton chapter of the Community Services Organization (CSO). Like the civil rights organizations led by African-
United Farm Workers Union Founder In 1962 Huerta joined forces with one of the most charismatic labor leaders in California, Cesar Chavez, who was working as the national director of CSO. With Chavez, Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) to organize agricultural laborers into labor unions and enter into collective bargaining agreements with commercial growers. From the start, the NFWA’s success depended upon the strength of Chavez as an inspired and dynamic leader and Huerta as a tireless organizer and tough negotiator. As Huerta recalled in a February 2000 interview with National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, “I think we really built on each other’s strengths a lot. I think I had more experience in dealing with Anglos than he did because Cesar was always very uncomfortable because he always felt that politicians would sell you out.” Indeed, Huerta used her lobbying skills to make additional gains for agricultural workers while working for the NFWA. In 1963 the California State Legislature allowed farm workers to participate in the state’s disability insurance program and to claim benefits under the Aid for Dependent Families program. A milestone in Huerta and Chavez’s efforts to organize farm workers came in 1965 with a strike in Delano, California by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). When the leaders of the AWOC asked NFWA members to join the strike against area grape growers, it grew to include over 5,000 farm workers. It also led to the formation of a new union, the
140 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 United Farm Workers (UFW) union, out of the AWOC and NFWA. The new union had its first success in 1966, when Huerta secured a collective bargaining agreement recognizing the union as the agent of workers at the Schenley Wine Company. The fight to organize grape growers struggled on for five years, however, before the UFW declared success and ended its national boycott of California grapes.
Political and Social Activism The UFW continued to organize workers and fend off challenges from competing unions such as the Teamsters throughout the 1970s. It also broadened its agenda to fight for better working conditions for all agricultural workers; the UFW was instrumental in publicizing the use of lethal crop chemicals that included DDT, parathion, and methyl bromide. As the UFW’s vice-president, Huerta was also an important feminist symbol of the inroads made by the women’s movement. Although she faced sexism in the UFW during its early years, Huerta never passed up the opportunity to educate her male colleagues about the impact of gender issues on the union’s work.
time to the presidential candidacy of Al Gore. In October of 2000 Huerta suffered from a bleeding ulcer that led to an extended stay in the hospital for treatment of an intestinal infection; she resumed her work after a lengthy recovery period. Among the many awards that Huerta has collected during her career include honorary doctorates from the New College of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, and the State University of New York at New Paltz; the Outstanding Labor Leader Award from the California State Senate, 1984; an induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame; the American Civil Liberties Union’s Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award; the Eugene V. Debs Foundation’s Outstanding American Award; the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom Award; and the Eleanor Roosevelt Award, which was presented to her by President Bill Clinton in 1999.
Sources Books Rodriguez, Consuelo, Cesar Chavez, Chelsea House Publishers, 1991. Periodicals
In a 2000 National Public Radio interview, Huerta reflected on the balance she had to make between her role as a union leader and as a mother: “I guess the political and the work has always come first with me and then I just tried to catch up on the other because I often felt that for every unmade bed and for every unwashed dish some farm worker got one dollar more in wages somewhere. You know, some family out there was made better. And it’s sort of the decision that I made and thank God my children, you know, understood that decision.” Huerta also paid a physical price for her work; she was arrested over 20 times during her career while on the picket line and in 1988 suffered two broken ribs and a ruptured spleen, when San Francisco police arrested her during a protest against the Bush Administration.
Appleseeds, February 2002, p. 20. Hispanic, August 1996, p. 41; January/February 2000, p. 20. Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2000. San Diego Business Journal, April 7, 1997, p. 31.
After Cesar Chavez’s death in 1993, Huerta continued to foster the UFW’s work in the political arena and at the collective bargaining table. In 1999 she stepped down from her post and assumed the title of vicepresident emeritus of the UFW in order to devote her
Profile: Dolores Huerta’s Struggles on Behalf of Immigrant Farm Workers, National Public Radio Morning Edition, February 22, 2000.
On-line Dolores Huerta Bio, United Farm Workers Web Site, 2002, http://www.ufw.org/dh.htm The Rise of the UFW, United Farm Workers Web Site, 2002, http://www.ufw.org/ufw.htm Viva La Causa, La Voz de Aztlan Web Site, 2002, http://aztlan.net/default7.htm Other
—Timothy Borden
Kanellos • 141
Nicolás Kanellos 1945— Publisher, editor
Nicolás Kanellos has devoted his distinguished academic career to publishing works of Hispanic literature and scholarship in the United States. Through Arte Público Press, which he founded in 1979, he has published a wealth of material that has introduced Hispanic writing to mainstream readers. As he once commented in Contemporary Authors,, “As a publisher of Hispanic literature in the United States, I feel like a missionary who has to convert people to their own religion and identity. Hispanic culture has always been a part of the United States and its identity. People do not realize this, because the publishing and intellectual establishment have kept it a secret while selling us on an old-world identity.ѧ Arte Público Press intends to give back to the United States its many varied peoples.” Kanellos, whose ancestry is Puerto Rican on his mother’s side and Greek on his father’s, was born in New York City in 1945. He majored in Spanish at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and then earned a master’s degree in Romance languages and a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin. He also attended the University of Lisbon in Portugal and the Universidad Autónoma de México,
where he studied Mexican literature, history, and culture. His scholarly publications on Hispanic theater are among the most widely read works in the field.
Founded Arte Público From the beginning of his academic career, Kanellos was moved by the need for greater recognition of Hispanic authors. In a quote published on Arte Público’s website, he said, “In the early 1970s, it became obvious that Hispanic writers were not being published by the mainstream presses.ѧ Because there was no outlet for creative efforts of these Latino writers, their work was condemned to be forgotten, lost or just delivered orally through performances.” To bring these works to a greater public, Kanellos founded the literary quarterly Revista Chicana-Riqueña in 1972. This publication later was renamed The Americas Review, which won critical recognition from the New York Times, Small Press Review, and many other national publications. The quarterly also won citations of achievement from the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines in 1986 and 1987. The Americas Review released its final issue in 1999.
142 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn January 31, 1945, in New York, NY; son of
Charles and Ines (de Choudens Garcia) Kanellos;
married Cristelia Perez, 1983; children: Miguel Jose. Education: Fairleigh Dickinson University, B.A., 1966; University of Texas at Austin, M.A., 1968, Ph.D., 1973. Career: Founder, Revista Chicano-Riquena (now Americas Review), 1972; Indiana University North-
a national program to locate, preserve, index, and publish the literary contributions of Latino writings dating from the colonial era through 1960 in the area that now comprises the 50 states. The program, which Kanellos directs, coordinates several print and electronic projects, including the U.S. Hispanic Bibliographic Database Project, which will compile and publish all available information on U.S. Hispanic authors and literary works, and the U.S. Hispanic Periodical Literature Project, which will compile and publish all known contributions made by U.S. Hispanic writers to periodicals from colonial times through 1960.
west, assistant professor, 1973-79; faculty member at University of Houston; founder, Arte Público Press, University of Houston, 1979–. Memberships: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese; National Association of Chicano Studies; Modern Language Association. Awards: Calouste Gulbenkian fellowship for study and research in Portugal, 1969-70; Eli Lilly Fellowship, 1976; Outstanding Editor Award, Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines, 1979; National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 1979; induction into Texas Institute of Letters, 1984; Ford Foundation/ National Research Council fellowship, 1986-87; White House Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature, 1988; American Book Award, 1989; appointed to National Council of the Humanities, 1994; Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award, University of Houston, 2001. Address: Office—Arte Público Press, University of Houston, M.D. Anderson Library, Room 2, Houston, TX 77204-2090.
Meanwhile, in the midst of a teaching career at Indiana University, Kanellos launched Arte Público Press as a further means of showcasing Hispanic literary achievements. The press was founded in 1979 to publish both contemporary works and recovered literature by U.S. Hispanic authors. When Kanellos was offered a faculty position at the University of Houston in 1980, the university invited him to take the press with him to Texas. He accepted, and since then Arte Público and its imprint, Piñata Books, have operated out of the University of Houston. Arte Público, the oldest and largest publisher of Hispanic literature in the United States, now publishes 30 titles each year. In 1992 the press launched a project called Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage,
Began Publishing Children’s Books In 1994 Arte Público received a grant from the Mellon Foundation to publish children’s books that accurately portray U.S. Hispanic culture. This resulted in the creation of Piñata Books, Arte Público’s children’s imprint. Piñata Books publishes bilingual picture books as well as novels for young adults, and its titles have won numerous awards. “For our children,” Kanellos told Los Angeles Times writer Maria Elena Fernandez, “the world of Dick and Jane and middle-class suburbia is a big leap, as it is also a big leap to ask them to relate to stories about mid-century villages in Mexico.” By publishing children’s works by such esteemed writers as Judith Ortiz Cofer, Pat Mora, Irene Beltrán Hernández, Ofelia Dumas Lachtman, and Gloria Velásquez, Piñata Books has made a significant contribution to cultural awareness and literacy. “For the first time,” wrote Fernandez, “Latinos of all ages can find books in stores, libraries and their classrooms about children who live in two worlds but no longer feel torn. These bilingual children do not have to look far from their neighborhoods to find the voices of writers who use and understand language in their particular way: English prose that expresses American ideas in the rhythmic cadences of Spanish.” A tenured professor in the department of romance languages at the University of Houston, Kanellos has published widely in academic journals and has written five books on Hispanic culture, including Two Centuries of Hispanic Theater in the Southwest, Mexican American Theater: Legacy and Reality, and A History of Hispanic Theater in the United States. In addition, he has edited numerous anthologies, volumes of criticism, and other reference texts on Hispanic literature and culture in the United States. These include such history-based works as Chronology of Hispanic-American History: From Pre-Columbian Times to the Present and Hispanic Firsts: 500 Years of Extraordinary Achievement, as well as collections of short stories, poetry, and even Christmas stories.
Supported Latino Theater Of particular interest to Kanellos is the past, present, and future of Hispanic drama in the United States. He
Kanellos • 143 told Los Angeles Times writer Mike Boehm that major regional theaters have not been acting quickly enough to produce Latino plays. “They’re turning away from the future and the demographics of where the population is going,” he noted. “There’s a very good core of Hispanic theater material that could appeal to everyone, not just Hispanics, and they should be producing it.” Kanellos has done much to increase mainstream appreciation of Hispanic drama. In addition to his own works on theater history and criticism, he has edited or coedited anthologies of Latino plays, including Nuevos Pasos: Chicano and Puerto Rican Drama, which contains eight plays by leading Mexican-American and Puerto Rican playwrights. As Kanellos and coeditor Jorge A. Huerta pointed out in the book’s introduction, these plays are examples of the sense of identity and community that theater has provided for Spanish speaking peoples in North America since the sixteenth century.
Anthology Hailed as Landmark Achievement In 2001 Kanellos saw publication of one of his most ambitious projects: Herencia: The Anthology of Hispanic Literature of the United States. This work, which takes its title from the Spanish word for “inheritance” or “heritage,” is the first anthology to include literature from the entire spectrum of Hispanic writing in the United States, from its first settlement to the present. Kanellos, who served as editor, spent ten years on the project and coordinated the contributions of hundreds of scholars. Herencia was hailed as a landmark achievement. In a comment quoted by the book’s publisher, Oxford University Press, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. observed that “Nicolás Kanellos has made a major contribution to redefining even what it means to speak of ‘American’ literature.” Ishmael Reed, also quoted by the press, commented: “Once in a while, a book comes along which topples institutional thinking and set beliefs. Herencia is such a book!ѧ [It is a] turning pointdocument of American literary history.” Kanellos has also made significant contributions outside the academic world. In 1994 he was appointed by President Clinton to a six-year term on the National Council for the Humanities. He also became a fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as a fellow of the Ford, Lilly, and Gulbenkian Foundations. In 2000 he was a guest at a White House state dinner in honor of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain. Leticia Konigsberg noted in a University of Houston Campus News piece announcing Kanellos’s receipt of the university’s Excellence in Research and Scholarship award, “Kanellos has been the driving force in making the fruits of Hispanic literary creativity available to all people.”
Selected writings Two Centuries of Hispanic Theater in the Southwest, Revista Chicano-Riqueña, 1982. Editor, Hispanic Theater in the United States, Arte Público Press, 1984. Mexican American Theater: Legacy and Reality, Latin American Literary Review Press, 1987. Editor, Mexican American Theater: Then and Now, Arte Público Press, 1989. Editor, with Jorge A. Huerta, Nuevos Pasos: Chicano and Puerto Rican Drama, Arte Público Press, 1989. A History of Hispanic Theater in the United States: Origins to 1940, University of Texas Press, 1990. Editor, Reference Library of Hispanic America, Gale, 1993. Editor, Short Fiction by Hispanic Writers of the United States, Arte Público Press, 1993. Editor, with Claudio Esteva-Fabregat, Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States, Arte Público Press, 1993. Editor, The Hispanic Almanac: From Columbus to Corporate America, Visible Ink, 1994. Editor, with Cristelia Pérez, Chronology of Hispanic American History: From Pre-Columbian Times to the Present, Gale, 1995. Editor, The Hispanic Literary Companion, Visible Ink, 1996. Editor, The Hispanic American Almanac: A Reference Work on Hispanics in the United States, Gale, 1997. Editor, Hispanic First; 500 Years of Extraordinary Achievement, Gale, 1997. Thirty Million Strong: Reclaiming the Hispanic Image in American Culture, Fulcrum Publishing, 1998. Editor, Noche buena: Hispanic American Christmas Stories, Oxford University Press, 2000. With Helvetia Martell, Hispanic Periodicals in the United States, Origins to 1960: a Brief History and Comprehensive Bibliography, Arte Público Press, 2000. Editor, with others, Herencia: The Anthology of Hispanic Literature in the United States, Oxford University Press, 2001.
Sources Books Contemporary Authors, Volume 131, Gale, 1990. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale, 1996. Periodicals Booklist, October 1, 1997, p. 353; October 15, 2001, p. 372. Hispanic, December 2001, p. 72. Library Journal, September 1, 1997; October 1, 2001, p. 98.
144 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2000; September 24, 2000. On-line Arte Público Press, http://www.arte.uh.edu/ (June 11, 2002). Oxford University Press, http://www.oup-usa.org/ (May 14, 2002). University of Houston Campus News, http://www. uh.edu —Elizabeth Shostak
Machado • 145
Eduardo Machado 1953— Playwright
Critics have deemed Cuban-born playwright Eduardo Machado one of the leading dramatic voices in his generation of Latino writers. Machado’s Englishlanguage works, nearly all of them autobiographical or based on his family’s experiences as Cuban émigrés to the United States, have earned him a reputation as a trenchant observer of the social, cultural, and political experiences of a generation of Cuban Americans. As New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley noted, Machado explores not just “the paradoxes of his autobiographical hero’s cultural identity. He is also delving, with equal parts wistfulness and anger, into the knotty confusions of the political relations between Cuba and the United States; Communism and capitalism as bedfellows in Cuban ideology; and the tortured ties between those who fled that island country and those who stayed behind.” Machado was born in 1953 into a well-to-do Cuban family. For his first eight years, he lived in his grandparents’ palatial Havana home, along with a number of aunts, uncles, and cousins. His paternal grandfather had founded a bus company, and his father was an accountant by profession. The years of Machado’s childhood, however, also coincided with political turmoil in the island nation: in 1952, Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar seized power, and a guerrilla war ensued for the next six years between Batista’s Cuban military forces and those led by Fidel Castro, a Communist leader. Machado’s family was divided on the matter of political loyalties for a time, but—like most of Cuba’s middle class—became ardent foes of Communism and Castro.
Machado recalled finding machine guns once in a closet, stashed there by his grandfather, and he witnessed other family members burying money on their Havana estate. “I started having these hallucinations,” he told the New York Times Magazine, “where vampires and men with canes were coming to get me, and then I would pass out.” Worried, his parents sent him to a psychiatrist at the age of five. In the end Castro was victorious, and on New Year’s Day of 1959, Cuba became the only Communist state in Latin America.
Forced to Leave Parents Behind The Castro government soon nationalized private companies, and the buses belonging to the family’s transport company were driven away by soldiers. But when the government eliminated the patria potestad (legal right of parents to serve as guardians of their children), and enacted an emigration law along with it, Machado’s parents decided to send him to the United States. The eight-year-old became part of Operation Pedro Pan, which allowed Cuban children to emigrate to the United States, where they were taken in by relatives or charitable families. Leaving his parents behind with his little brother to become one of Operation Pedro Pan’s 14,000 young émigrés was a wrenching experience. “They were teaching us Marxism in school,” he explained to New York Times writer Mireya Navarro. “But my parents treated it like they were gassing us.” In Hialeah, Florida, Machado and his brother lived with an aunt, uncle, and cousins. On their second day in
146 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Eduardo Oscar Machado in Havana, Cuba,
in 1953; son of Othon (an accountant) and Hilda
(Hernandez) Machado; married Harriett Bradlin (divorced, early 1980s); emigrated to the United States, 1961. Career: Began career as a stage actor in Los Angeles, late 1960s; playwright, 1982–; School of the Arts, Columbia University, director of graduate playwriting program. Address: Agent—William Craver, The Writers and Artists Agency, 19 West 44th St., Suite 1000, New York, NY 10036.
America, the boys were given costumes, told that it was a holiday called Halloween, and instructed to go trickor-treating in the neighborhood. “I thought we had become beggars,” Machado told Navarro, adding, “I hated that holiday ever since.” Within a short time, however, Machado’s parents were able to emigrate to the United States as well, and his father found work as an accountant in the Los Angeles area. The family relocated to California, and Machado grew up in increasing affluence as his father’s fortunes rose. They lived in a succession of increasingly large homes in the San Fernando Valley, but Machado was a maverick who battled with his father and found solace in acting. By the age of 17 he was performing professionally on Los Angeles-area stages. When he signed with an agent, however, he encountered his first taste of career racism. “I was told to get a mustache and a tan and call myself Ed Machado,” he told the New York Times Magazine. He won bit parts in television sitcoms, usually as a waiter. Machado, though he later became openly gay, was married at age 18 to a woman twenty years his senior who had eight daughters. He acted in plays for the Padua Playwrights Festival—where Pulitzer Prizewinning playwright Sam Shepard served as an occasional instructor—and discovered the experimental work of Maria Irene Fornés. He attended some of Fornés’s workshops, and some of his first attempts at playwriting, Burning Beach and Stevie Sings the Blues, were produced at the Los Angeles Theater Center. In 1980 Machado moved to New York City and began concentrating on writing full-time. After a succession of plays such as Rosario and the Gypsies and Wishing You Well, Machado was tagged as one of a new generation of Latino dramatists. In 1988 Time writer William A. Henry III declared him
“perhaps the most gifted” among that new generation, but Machado still faced problems in finding venues for his work. “I was the first Hispanic playwright in America to write about upper-class people,” he told Henry. “I don’t get performed much by Hispanic theaters. I find that odd—they still believe in the stereotype.” At other times, critics savaged his plays. In 1992 Machado’s drama about the plight of Cuban immigrants in Florida in the early 1960s premiered in New York City. Once Removed follows the fortunes of Fernando and his wife, who have left their homeland. Once an accountant, Fernando is now a manual laborer. His wife, Olga, stays inside, afraid to answer the telephone for fear that operatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation or Central Intelligence Agency are calling. She longs to return home, and her husband has promised her they will do so, but she realizes that he has no intention of going back when he accepts a job offer in his professional field and plans to move them to Texas. “Subtly, Machado makes the distant place meaningful to us through her, for she remembers accessible details like the smell of her mother’s hands after Christmas cooking,” observed Robert L. King in the North American Review. “She defines country as a place where you wake up, not as a land of opportunity.” By this time, several other plays based on Machado’s family saga had been staged in New York. The Modern Ladies of Guanabacoa was based on photograph he found of his mother with the notation, “The day we cut our hair,” and centers around a paternalistic family in Cuba in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Conflicted relationships ѧ between husband and wife and between father and sons ѧ are its focus, as the younger women in the traditional Catholic family become fascinated by the liberating freedoms of the Jazz Age in America. Meanwhile, the father founds a transportation company. In the Eye of the Hurricane fast-forwards the action to 1960, a year after Castro has seized power. The government begins a nationalization of all private businesses, including the father’s bus company. Fabiola, which Machado rewrote extensively, centers on the actual Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961, in which the U.S. government provided military help to a force comprised of anti-Castro exiles in an attempt to invade Cuba. The final play in the group, Broken Eggs, is set at a wedding in California in 1980, when three generations of a Cuban-American family gather at a country club to reminisce and argue. New York Times writer Margo Jefferson saw it in 1994 when it was originally titled Revotillo, and found it “a rich play, with an undertow of sorrow and rushes of anger and humor.”
Opus Given Development Grant Such accolades were not forthcoming, however, when Machado attempted to bring the entire quartet of plays to fruition at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. He
Machado • 147 had won a Theatre Communications Group/Pew Charitable Trust grant of $100,000, and was made a playwright in residence at the Taper. Its highly regarded director, Oskar Eustis, had commissioned Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, a similarly lengthy stage trilogy, a few years earlier, and the opportunity to produce his plays at the Taper was heralded as the path to mainstream success for Machado. The time at the Taper, however, was fraught with difficulties. Out for a walk one day, Machado was assaulted at gunpoint, and gave up his watch and wallet, but the thief wanted the computer disks he was carrying, which contained the plays and their most recent revisions. Machado refused to give up the disks. In fluent Spanish, he explained to the mugger just what the disks were. “He put the gun against my head, and he very slowly ran the gun down my back from the top of my head to my buttocks,” Machado told American Theatre writer Richard Stayton. “He asked me what part of my body wanted the bullet.” Machado argued for his life for another 15 minutes, and finally the mugger gave up and walked away. Other problems plagued The Floating Island Plays, as the quartet came to be called. Some at the Taper wanted an all-Latino cast, to which Machado and Eustis objected, but the more politically correct casting won out. It was deemed too lengthy a work, and Machado re-wrote and cut scenes for weeks. The actual production brought worries, for it called for buses onstage, as well as rain and fire. But it was the endless hours of revisiting his family conflicts that decimated the playwright, who sometimes abruptly left rehearsals muttering, “I can’t spend any more time with my family,” as he was quoted as saying in the New York Times Magazine. Reviews were mostly lukewarm after the production’s debut in October of 1994, partly due to the fact that the four plays lasted nearly six hours. “Floating Islands wanted to be a Cuban Gone with the Wind,” opined Stayton, “with Havana portraying the mythical homeland of Tara; instead, under the stress of an opening deadline, it was crumbling into a delirious Spanish language telenovela soap that might have been titled Desi Arnaz Waiting for Fidel to Read Paradise Lost.”
Saw Parallel in “Elián” Saga In late 1999 Machado was able to return to Cuba for the first time in 38 years. The journey helped him come to terms with his feelings of living a life in exile, which had been such a pervasive part of his identity. “I felt sometimes at home and sometimes a total alien,” he explained to Navarro, describing the experience of being back in Cuba. “I realized I was really American and I couldn’t survive there.” Based on that experience, Machado wrote Havana Is Waiting, which premiered at the renowned Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville.
Havana Is Waiting centers around Federico, who left Cuba and his parents at the age of nine, and is openly gay. A New York writer, Federico accepts an invitation to return to Cuba as a part of a cultural exchange program. He brings his Italian-American photographer friend along, and they discover that Cubans are demonstrating for the return of Elián González, the real-life youngster who became a massive media story and political symbol. In 1999 Elián had survived a disastrous boat trip made by a group of Cubans, including his mother, who navigated treacherous waters between Cuba and Florida in an attempt to enter the United States. The youngster’s relatives in Florida wanted him to stay, but his father in Cuba demanded Elián’s return. Federico, witnessing the street demonstrations in support of the father in Havana, thinks out loud: “I wish you would have fought to get me back.” The rest of the political frisson in Havana Is Waiting is provided by Ernesto, the taxi driver that Federico hires to take him to visit his family’s home. An ardent socialist, Ernesto argues vehemently in support of Castro, but sometimes contradicts himself; indeed, conflicts over political ideologies and even sexual preferences provide the emotional backdrop for the play’s action. Havana Is Waiting went into rehearsals on the same day that the World Trade Center collapsed in September of 2001. There were some sharp anti-American statements in the play, and in the heated atmosphere of the days following the attack, Machado was asked if he had considered excising any of them. He rejected such self-censorship. “The United States has been an imperialist power and I have the right to say that. We can’t, at this point, make ourselves victims and blind ourselves,” Machado told Navarro. “It’s important to see how other people feel about you and try to understand why they feel that way about you.”
Selected writings Rosario and the Gypsies, music by Rick Vartorella, produced in New York, 1982. Broken Eggs, produced in New York, 1984, published in On New Ground, edited by Betty Osborne, Theatre Communications Group, 1986; revised work produced in New York as Revotillo, 1998. When It’s Over, with Geraldine Sher, produced in New Haven, CT, 1986. Wishing You Well, produced in New York, 1987. Why to Refuse, produced in New York, 1987. A Burning Beach, produced in New York, 1988. Don Juan in New York City, produced in New York, 1988. Garded (opera libretto), produced in Philadelphia, PA, 1988. Once Removed, produced in New Haven, CT, 1992, published in Plays in Process, vol. 9, no. 3, 1988.
148 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 The Day You’ll Love Me, adaptation of the play by José Ignacio Cabrujas, produced in Los Angeles, 1989; produced in London, 1990. Cabaret Bambu, produced in New York, 1989. Related Retreats, also director; produced in New York, 1990. Pericones, produced in New York, 1990. Stevie Wants to Play the Blues, music by Fredric Myrow, lyrics by Machado and Myrow, produced in Los Angeles, 1990. The Floating Island Plays (includes The Modern Ladies of Guanabacoa, Fabiola, Broken Eggs, and In the Eye of the Hurricane), Theatre Communications Group, New York, 1991. Havana Is Waiting, first produced as When the Sea Drowns in Sand, Actors Theatre of Louisville, 2000, produced in New York, 2001.
Sources Books Contemporary Dramatists, 6th edition, St. James Press, 1999. Periodicals American Theatre, January 1995, pp. 14, 17; January 2001, p. 16. Back Stage, May 24, 1991, p. 1; September 30, 1994, p. 15; December 31, 1999, p. 4; November 16, 2001, p. 33. Los Angeles Magazine, December 1994, p. 173. New York Times, September 7, 1998, p. E2; October 21, 2001, p. 6; October 27, p. A14; November 4, 2001, p. 4. New York Times Magazine, October 23, 1994, p. 38. North American Review, March/April 1993, p. 45; September/October 2001, p. 36. Time, July 11, 1988, p. 82. Variety, November 5, 2001, p. 33. —Carol Brennan
Mahaud • 149
Jamil Mahaud 1949— Political leader
In a dramatic television address on January 9, 2000, Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad announced an economic austerity package designed to jolt the nation’s economy out of its worst recession since the 1930s. In addition to privatization plans for some governmentoperated utilities, Mahuad indicated that subsidies on gasoline and heating fuel would also be cut in order to reduce Ecuador’s budget crisis and overwhelming foreign debt. Mahuad also declared that the nation’s currency, the sucre, would be eased out; in its place, Ecuador would adopt the U.S. dollar as its currency. In office just seventeen months as Ecuador’s fourth president in as many years, Mahuad’s public support plummeted in the weeks after he announced his economic plan. After indigenous farmers stormed into Quito, the nation’s capital, in protest, Mahuad was overthrown in a military coup on January 21, 2000. An interim government led by General Carlos Mendoza, nationalist military leader Lucio Gutierrez, and indigenous leader Antonio Vargas briefly assumed power before turning over the government to Vice President Álvaro Gustavo Noboa, whose position was quickly ratified by Congress. It was the first military
coup in Latin America since 1991. Jorge Jamil Mahuad Witt was born on July 29, 1949, in Loja, Ecuador, near the border with Peru. Mahuad’s paternal side traced its roots to Lebanon while his mother’s family originated in Germany. Mahuad attended the Jesuit high school San Gabriel de Quito and continued his education with a degree in political and social science at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador in 1973. For the next decade, Mahuad worked as an attorney and advisor to several banks in Quito. He also earned a doctorate in law from Pontificia Universidad in 1979. Mahuad married Tatiana Calderón and the couple had one daughter, Paola Mahuad Calderón, before divorcing. Mahuad subsequently had a son, Pedro Jamil Mahuad Romero, while in a relationship with a journalist based in Guayaquil. Mahuad entered politics as a supporter of the Popular Democracy Party, a coalition group of centrist parties, in 1981. He gained a position as Secretary Minister of Labor and Human Resources under the government of Oswaldo Hurtado Larrea from 1983 to 1984 and was successful in his own bids for public office as a congres-
150 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Jorge Jamil Mahuad Witt on July 29, 1949, in
Loja,
Ecuador;
married
Tatiana
Calderón
(divorced); children: (with Calderón) Paola Mahuad Calderón and (from another relationship) Pedro Jamil Mahuad Romero. Education: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, degree in political and social science, 1973, Ph.D. in law, 1979; Harvard University, M.A. in public administration, 1989. Religion: Roman Catholic. Politics: Popular Democracy Party. Career: Lawyer, 1973-83; Secretary Minister of Labor and Human Resources, 1983-84; Congressional Representative, Pichincha Province, 1986-88, 1990-92; Mayor of Quito, 1992-98; President of Ecuador,199800; Academic fellow, Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2000–. Address: Office—Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
debt grew from $500 million in 1975 to over $6 billion by 1982. When oil prices dropped after 1981, Ecuador’s economy went into a sharp decline. Per capita gross domestic product plunged by 17% between 1982 and 1988, and debt payments took up over a third of state export earnings by 1984. By the mid-1990s Ecuador had the highest per-capita foreign debt in South America. By the time Mahuad declared his intention to run for the presidency in 1998, conditions had deteriorated even further. Annual inflation was over 60% only about 40% of Ecuadorians had full-time jobs; and the effects of El Niño wreaked havoc on the nation’s agricultural production, particularly its flower and banana export sector. The country’s political arena was also rocked by the corrupt government of Abdalá Ortiz Bucaram, elected in 1996. After a series of public scandals, Bucaram was removed from office by Congress, which charged him with mental instability. Bucaram fled to Panama and was later charged with stealing $26 million in public funds during his six months as President. Mahuad’s opponent in the election of 1998, Álvaro Gustavo Noboa, was Bucaram’s anointed successor. Once again running on his reputation as a financial manager, Mahuad emerged victorious in the final round of the election over Noboa with 51.1% of the vote.
sional representative from the Pichincha Province in 1986. He served in Ecuador’s Congress from 1986 to 1988 and again from 1990 to 1992; in the interim, Mahuad studied at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He earned a master’s degree in public administration from that institution in 1989. In 1992 Mahuad announced his candidacy in the mayoral election for Quito. Running as a technocrat and promising to reform some of the dire social and economic conditions in the nation’s capital, Mahuad won the election and subsequently served as mayor until 1998. That year, he prepared to run in Ecuador’s presidential election.
Mahuad’s election was applauded by most international observers as a return to stability for Ecuador. In his first months in office he signed an historic accord with neighboring Peru that finally put an end to a border dispute that had defied resolution for generations. While Ecuador and Peru had entered into arbitration under the Protocol of Rio de Janeiro in 1942, armed conflicts had lasted between the countries until 1995. In October of 1998 Mahuad signed the Binational Plan for the Development of the Border Area for Period 2000-2009 with Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. Under the agreement the two countries declared a reciprocal free navigation zone on the Amazon River in the region and ceded certain disputed territories to one another. When the agreement went into effect in May of 1999 it formally ended over a half- century of hostilities between Ecuador and Peru.
Mahuad came of age during a period of prosperity for Ecuador ushered in by the development of oil exports from the Oriente region in the 1970s. On a per capita basis, economic growth reached 11% in 1972 and 22% in 1973. During the 1970s Ecuadorians enjoyed rising literacy rates, increased life expectancy, and better health care standards. While state revenues boomed during this period, Ecuador’s military governments, which ruled between 1972 and 1979, siphoned off much of the income for military projects and personnel. The government also increased public payrolls and subsidized energy consumption in the country, further increasing the strain on state coffers. To pay for massive infrastructure developments, consumer subsidies, and an expanding state sector, Ecuador’s foreign
Mahuad also moved ahead on several economic reforms during his first year in office. Among his priorities were increasing state revenue by cracking down on tax evasion; cutting government subsidies on gasoline, heating oil, and electricity; and closing banks that were insolvent instead of propping them up with government assistance. Each of the measures proved unpopular with the public. Although it helped to ease a budget crisis, the elimination of gasoline subsidies caused prices to climb by 60%. Banking reforms forced the closure of nine of the country’s 40 banks, including its second-largest bank, Banco del Progreso. In the first six months of 1999 an estimated $167 million was withdrawn from the banks that remained solvent, further crippling the economy. A freeze on bank withdrawals
Mahaud • 151 in March of 1999 triggered a two-week general strike across the country. Another general strike against Mahuad’s austerity measures grew in momentum in July of 1999 as the Confederation of Indigenous Nations of Ecuador (CONAIE), led by Antonio Vargas, rallied opposition on the political left. The following month Mahuad announced that Ecuador would default on its foreign debt after negotiations with the International Monetary Fund had failed to reach an agreement on servicing the country’s debt. With inflation running at well over 50% for the year and the sucre losing about 40% of its value, Mahuad’s finance minister, Ana Lucia Armijos, resigned in late August of 1999. As public protests and a political stalemate blocked Mahuad from pushing through additional austerity measures, he announced his dollarization plan to the country in January of 2000. Under Mahuad’s dollarization plan for the Ecuadorian economy, the value of the sucre would be temporarily fixed at 25,000 to the dollar; after a brief period, the U.S. dollar would be adopted as the official exchange currency for Ecuador. By dollarizing the economy, Mahuad hoped to introduce a measure of stability to Ecuador’s economy by linking it directly to the monetary policies of the U.S. Treasury. The policy prevented the government from printing up huge sums of sucres to pay off its debt, which had contributed to inflation in the past; instead, Ecuador would be bound to interest rates set by the U.S. Treasury. Although Muhuad enjoyed a brief resurgence in popularity after his dollarization declaration in early January, CONAIE brought thousands of its members to Quito to protest the plan in the weeks following the announcement. In conjunction with the military establishment, CONAIE’s protests succeeded in ousting Mahuad from office on January 21, 2000. After a period of uncertainty, General Carlos Mendoza announced that vice president Gustavo Noboa, whom Mahuad had appointed to office after defeating him for the presidency in 1998, would serve as Ecuador’s civilian president. A
millionaire banana exporter, Noboa quickly gained the support of the business community and announced that most of Mahuad’s economic reforms would be implemented. Mahuad took up residence at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as a fellow with the Project for Justice in Times of Transition. In July of 2000 he was indicted by Ecuador’s Congress for his actions in freezing the country’s bank assets while serving as president. The dollarization plan officially went into effect on September 12, 2000, and helped to cut inflation by about two-thirds between 2000 and 2001. The banking system gained $600 million in deposits in the nine months after dollarization was implemented, and the country’s gross domestic product grew by 2.3% by the end of 2000. Although the country’s budget was helped by revenues from rising oil prices in 2001, it remained stymied by its foreign debt and continuing political instability.
Sources Periodicals Contemporary Review, July 2000, p. 23. Dollars and Sense, May/June 2000, p. 9. Economist, September 4, 1999, p. 40; January 29, 2000, p. 23. Latin Trade, July 1999, p. 30. Worldpaper, October 1, 2000. On-line Ecuador Online, http://www.explored.com.ec/ecua dor/mahuad.htm Fundació CIDOB, http://www.cidob.org/bios/castel lano/lideres/m-047.htm Harvard University, http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/jus iceproject/jamilmahuad.htm La Trecera en Internet, http://www.tercera.cl.diario/ 1998/07/12/44.html —Timothy Borden
152 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Rosario Marin 19(?)(?)— U.S. Treasurer
On August 16, 2001, Rosario Marin was sworn in as the 41st Treasurer of the United States by U.S. Secretary Paul O’Neill. By accepting the oath of office, Marin became the first Mexican-born citizen to head up the Treasury. Her confirmation was also notable as she also became the highest-ranking Hispanic woman in the Bush Administration. Her success as a politician has been extraordinary given that she is a Republican that has ascended the ranks while courting a mostly Democratic constituency. However, Marin’s skill and accomplishments easily transcend political party lines.
From Illiterate Immigrant to Honor Student Rosario Marin was born in Mexico City where her father worked in a factory. She immigrated with her family to Southern California when she was 14. At the time she was reluctant to make the move because of her impending quinceanera, a Mexican girl’s traditional coming of age party. She was also ashamed because she spoke little English. In fact her English was so poor that she failed the standardized tests given by
the public school system and the teachers labeled her as mentally disabled. As a result, she has been a strong advocate for literacy programs in the Hispanic community. She proved her teachers wrong when she graduated from high school with honors. According to her official bio on the Treasury Department’s website, “Her father gave her a strong work ethic and from her mother she got her strong faith.” She would rely heavily upon those traits as she struggled to hold down a fulltime job while attending college. It took her four years to obtain her two-year degree from East Los Angeles College. She continued on with night classes at California State University, Los Angeles and three years later, in 1983, she earned a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Marketing. Meanwhile she was climbing up the ladder at her day job with City National Bank. Having started as a receptionist, by the time of her college graduation, she was on the verge of being promoted to a vicepresident. Marin’s banking career came to a halt with the 1985 birth of her and husband Alex’s first son, Eric. The child was diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome. Marin quit
Marin • 153
At a Glance . . .
B
orn in Mexico City, Mexico; married Alex Marin,
early 1980s; children: Eric, Carmen, and Alex.
Education: California State University, Los Angeles, BS, business administration and marketing, 1968; Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, programs for senior executives in state and local government. Politics: Republican. Career: California State Council on Developmental Disabilities, chair; California State Department of Social Services, assistant deputy director; City National Bank, 1980s; State of California, Department of Developmental Services, chief of legislative affairs, 1992; Office of the Governor of California, Community Relations, deputy director, 1997; AT&T’s Hispanic Market, Southern California, public relations manager, late 1990s; City of Huntington Park, CA, mayor and councilwoman, 1994-01; U.S. Treasurer, 2001–. Awards: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Award, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, United Nations, 1995; named one of “20 Up and Coming Latinas,” Los Angeles Business Journal; Excellence in Public Service Award, Latino Perspectives Conference, Sacramento, CA, 2000. Addresses: Office—The Department of the Treasury, Office of the Treasurer, 1500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington DC 20220.
work to care for Eric and later gave birth to two more children, Carmen and Alex. “I originally thought that having a child with Down syndrome was the worst thing that ever happened in my life,” Marin told www.spotlighthealth.com. “But Eric changed my life immeasurably for the better. He humanized me in a profound way, just being the genuine, loving person that he is.” She furthered acknowledge the role Eric played in shaping her political career, telling www.hispaniconline.com, “Today, I know that since the birth of my son, all the things that have happened after that were really preparing me for the role I’m playing today.”
Became Advocate for the Mentally Disabled Marin became an advocate for the disabled and founded the first support group for Spanish-speaking
families of children with Down’s syndrome, Fuerza, Inc. In 1992 her activity drew the notice of then-California State Governor Pete Wilson and he appointed Marin chief of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Developmental Services. She was then made chair of the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and later assistant deputy director of the California State Department of Social Services. For her work on behalf of the mentally disabled the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation presented her with the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Award at the United Nations in 1995. She was only the second person to receive this prestigious international award. Marin also served on the Board of the Special Olympics. In 1994 Marin ran for office in her hometown of Huntington Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. She was first elected to City Council and in turn the council elected her mayor. Huntington Park, with a population of 85,000 is overwhelmingly Hispanic and Democratic. Despite this political break with her constituency, Marin was easily reelected in 1999. During her tenure she revamped the Huntington Park police department, ousting the chief of police, building up support for community policing, and acquiring the city’s first police helicopter. Her actions resulted in a fifty percent reduction in crime during her first term. While still maintaining her mayoral and councilwoman duties, Marin took on the position of deputy director of Governor Wilson’s community relations department in 1997. It was a role that taxed her political skills as she had to simultaneously explain the Governor’s support of various anti-immigrant propositions, while reassuring her own constituents that she was firmly against these measures. Her next position was much less political. She became the public relations manager for AT&T’s Hispanic Market in the Southern California Region, and Marin successfully executed this role while continuing to serve Huntington Park. She also found time to complete a program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.
Appointed U.S. Treasurer Marin became visible on the state political scene by serving as the vice president of the California Republican National Hispanic Assembly. Then in 2000, she moved onto the national arena as a Spanish-speaking surrogate for the Bush-Cheney campaign. Her skill and background impressed the Bush administration sufficiently that upon Bush’s ascension to the presidency, he appointed her his nominee for U.S. Treasurer. Of the appointment Marin was quoted in the Los Angeles Times, as saying, “I am truly humbled by the honor to be considered for such an important position. Should I be privileged to earn the United States Senate’s trust and be confirmed, I look forward to serving our nation to the very best of my ability.” The Senate confirmed her appointment on August 3, 2001 and less than two weeks later the Marin became the 41st U.S. Treasurer.
154 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 According to Accounting Times, “As Treasurer, the oldest office in the U.S. government, Marin oversees matters relating to coinage, currency and the production of other instruments issued by the United States. She reviews currency issues and redemptions, as well as signs U.S. currency. She also oversees the U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and serves as the National Honorary Director of the Savings Bonds Program.” However, Marin—a true activist—planned on doing much more for the public’s finances than simply signing the dollars in their pockets. “As treasurer, Marin wants to promote financial literacy among Latinos and other ‘unbanked’ citizens—people who do not use the nation’s banking system,” reported www.hispaniconline.com. Marin explained her commitment to the website, “One thing is for the banks or credit companies to say, ‘You need to open a checking account.’ Another thing is for the treasurer of the United States to say, ‘You know, I’m concerned about your financial future.’” Marin also supported Junior Achievement’s national program designed to teach youth the importance of financial planning. “Too many students are just not ready for the world of checkbooks, savings accounts, credit, or investments,” she told
Business Wire. Marin concluded her interview with www.hispaniconline.com by stating, “I want to be the very best treasurer that I can be.” Considering her past track record, her commitment to help her constituents, and her proven compassion, Marin will undoubtedly achieve that goal.
Sources Periodicals Accounting Today, September 3, 2001. Business Wire, December 4, 2001. Los Angeles Business Journal, February 28, 2000. Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2001. On-line www.hispaniconline.com/vista/febhisp.htm www.spotlighthealth.com/ www.ustreas.gov/press/officers/marin.htm —Candace LaBalle
Mendes • 155
Sérgio Mendes 1941— Musician
From the Bossa Nova craze of 1950s Brazil to the explosion of interest in Latin music on a global basis, Sérgio Mendes has been a constant presence on the contemporary music stage. While best known in the United States for a series of hit albums that helped popularize Latin-influenced, softjazz sounds in the 1960s, Mendes’s work included a diverse range of Brazilian, African, and American styles. The winner of a 1992 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for his release Brasileiro, Mendes has also earned the respect of his peers for a career that remains prolific over forty years after his first recorded output. Sérgio Mendes was born on February 11, 1941 into a prosperous family in Niterói, Brazil. His father was a physician who was strict with his son; when Mendes did poorly in school, his father shaved his head as a punishment. Mendes also suffered from a crippling bout with scoliosis that forced him to wear a body cast during much of his childhood. His primary consolation was music: even while in a cast, the budding musician propped himself up at the piano, where he would play for hours at a time.
Mendes was not encouraged by his parents to think of music as a potential profession, although they paid for his training as a classical pianist at a local conservatory. Despite their disapproval, he formed his first jazz combos while a teenager with a friend from Niterói, Tião Neto, on the bass; the group was rounded out with several different drummers. Mendes’s trio landed a number of paying gigs around Niterói, even though they could not play very many of the dance tunes that were popular at the time. Mendes supplemented this training with trips across Guanabara Bay on the ferry from Niterói to Rio de Janeiro, historically the center of Brazil’s musical life. Mendes became a regular at the Lojas Murray club, where he soaked up the latest jazz and contemporary sounds. The camaraderie of Rio’s music scene was also helpful; on more than one occasion, the audience at Lojas Murray took up collections to pay for Mendes’s ferry ride back home. Mendes made his first professional mark on the Rio scene while still a teenager. In 1960 he started playing on Sunday afternoons at the Little Club, located in Rio’s premier beachfront entertainment district, the Copacabana. While Mendes was not paid for the
156 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Sérgio Mendes on February 11, 1941 in
Niterói, Brazil. Education: Completed secondary
education in Niterói and trained as classical pianist. Religion: Roman Catholic. Career: Recording artist: Dance Moderno, 1961; Quiet Nights, 1963; The Swinger from Rio, 1964; Sérgio Mendes and Bossa Rio, 1964; In the Brazilian Bag, 1965; The Great Arrival, 1966; Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ‘66, 1966; The Beat of Brazil, 1967; Equinox, 1967; Sérgio Mendes’ Favorite Things, 1968; Look Around, 1968; Fool on the Hill, 1968; Crystal Illusions, 1969; Bossa New York, 1969; Stillness, 1971; País Tropical, 1971; Primal Roots, 1972; Love Music, 1973; Vintage ‘74, 1974; Home Cooking, 1976; Sérgio Mendes and the New Brasil ‘77, 1977; Pele, 1977; Brasil ‘78, 1978; Magic Lady, 1979; Sérgio Mendes, 1983; Brasil ‘86, 1986; Arara, 1989; Brasileiro, 1992; Oceano, 1996; Mais Que Nada, 1999; In Person at El Matador, 1999. Awards: Recording Industry Association of America, Gold Album, Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66, 1967, Gold Album, Look Around, 1968, Gold Album, Fool on the Hill, 1969, Gold Album, Equinox, 1969; Grammy Award, Best World Music Album, Brasileiro, 1992. Address: Record company—A&M Records/Interscope Records, 2220 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90404.
appearances, he was allowed the freedom to experiment with various jazz and Latin rhythms, including the bossa nova, which was reaching the height of its popularity in Brazil. Bossa nova, or “new wave,” came on the scene in 1957 with the João Gilberto recording of Tom Jobim’s “Desafinado” (“Out of Tune”). Bossa nova songs typically featured a seemingly simple, syncopated rhythm with unadorned vocals; often the singer was accompanied only by a guitar. The result was a strikingly modern form of music that soon replaced the samba as Brazil’s best-known cultural export. In addition to his afternoon gigs at the Little Club, Mendes also played the piano at Bottles, another club in the Copacabana. Appearing on stage as an accompanist to the “Pocket Shows” put on by cabaret
performers, Mendes soon formed his own regular lineup, the Sérgio Mendes Sextet. After 1961 Mendes, along with other groups appearing in the Copacabana, added stronger percussion to the bossa nova, creating a harder sound that bridged the gap between bossa nova and the samba. Mendes also made his first record in 1961, Dance Moderno, which appeared on the Philips label. The following year Mendes traveled to New York City to appear with his Sextet at the Birdland Ballroom. A chance encounter with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley led to Mendes’s appearance with the jazz legend on the 1962 album Quiet Nights. Mendes also participated in a pivotal bossa nova concert at Carnegie Hall on November 21, 1962. The concert was a major critical and commercial success and confirmed the popularity of Brazilian music in the United States. Mendes had ridden the bossa nova craze during a time of optimism in Brazil’s history. The civilian governments of the late 1950s and early 1960s promised to transform the country into an economic powerhouse, and the construction of the new capital at Brasilia symbolized their hopes. When inflation and corruption got out of hand in 1964, however, armed forces took over the government in a military coup. For the next twenty-five years the military ruled Brazil with a repressive hand; while musicians offered critiques of the military regime through the sly lyrics of melodramatic “tropicalismo” songs, they suffered along with the rest of the country during these repressive years. Like many others in Brazil’s artistic community, Mendes chose to leave his homeland in 1964. He discovered a musical community in New York City that rivaled the talent in Rio de Janeiro, and Mendes’s recording career took off immediately. For the rest of the decade he released at least one full-length album every year, and sometimes as many as three. Signed to Capitol Records, Mendes’s albums did not at first generate impressive sales. Released at the height of the British invasion, records such as 1964’s The Swinger from Rio and Sérgio Mendes and Bossa Rio and 1965’s In the Brazilian Bag were out of step with mainstream trends. In 1966 Mendes put together a new group under the name Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ‘66 and signed a contract with A&M Records, best known as the home of its cofounder, Herb Alpert, and his group the Tijuana Brass. It was Mendes’s releases with Brasil ’66 that made him into a household name in the United States. The group’s first A&M release, Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ’66 went into the top ten on Billboard’s album chart and eventually earned a gold record for sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States. The track “Mais Que Nada”—later included on the soundtrack to the movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery in 1997—also brought the group airplay on top forty radio stations. The 1967 release Equinox continued Mendes’s trend toward light, pop-oriented Latin beats, but the 1968 album Look Around gave the group its
Mendes • 157 biggest pop hit with a cover version of the Beatles’ song “Fool on the Hill.” Like Equinox, Look Around earned Mendes and Brasil ’66 gold records, as did the 1968 album Fool on the Hill. With a string of four gold albums, Mendes was the biggest selling Brazilian artist in the United States in the 1960s. Although some critics applauded his genreexpanding attempts to fuse Brazilian rhythms with contemporary pop sounds, others accused him of pandering to mainstream tastes. Along with Herb Alpert’s albums with the Tijuana Brass, Mendes’s work was often categorized as easy listening “elevator” music by purists who derided his 1960’s output. Mendes experimented with folk, jazz, and traditional Brazilian music on the 1973 album Primal Roots and his popularity declined in the United States, although he remained a popular recording and concert performer in Europe, Japan, and Latin America throughout the 1970s. In 1983 he staged a commercial comeback in the United States with the album Sérgio Mendes, which featured the top ten single “Never Gonna Let You Go.” In 1992 Mendes released the critically acclaimed Brasilero, which won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album. Although he was now a permanent resident of Los Angeles, California, Mendes spent five months in Brazil working on the album, which drew inspiration from the Afro-Brazilian rhythms of the Bahía region. With his explorations of Brazilian, African, and western sounds on albums such as 1996’s Oceano and 1999’s Mais Que Nada, Mendes has continued a prolific recording career that spans over forty years. With his Grammy Award and enduring popularity, Mendes has been a major force in bringing world music to diverse audiences around the globe.
Selected discography
Fool on the Hill, A&M Records, 1968. Crystal Illusions, A&M Records, 1969. Stillness, A&M Records, 1971 País Tropical, A&M Records, 1971. Primal Roots, A&M Records, 1972. Love Music, Bell Records, 1973. Vintage ‘74, Bell Records, 1974. Home Cooking, Elektra Records, 1976. Sérgio Mendes and the New Brasil ‘77, Elektra Records, 1977. Pele, Atlantic Records, 1977. Brasil ‘78, RCA Records, 1978. Magic Lady, Elektra Records, 1979. Sérgio Mendes, A&M Records, 1983. Brasil ‘86, A&M Records, 1986. Arara, A&M Records, 1989. Brasileiro, Elektra Records, 1992. Oceano, Polygram Records, 1996. Mais Que Nada, Polygram Records, 1999. In Person at El Matador, WEA Records, 1999.
Sources Books Castro, Ruy, Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music that Seduced the World, A Capella Books, 2000, pp. 214-215. McGowan, Chris and Ricardo Pessanha, The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova, and the Popular Music of Brazil, Billboard Books, 1991, p. 69. World Music: The Rough Guide Volume 2, Rough Guides, 2000, pp. 336-337. Periodicals Americas, May/June 1999, p. 56. Billboard, June 17, 1995, p. 34. Q, April 1996; November 1997. On-line
Dance Moderno, Philips Records, 1961. Quiet Nights, Philips Records, 1963. The Swinger from Rio, Atlantic Records, 1964. Sérgio Mendes and Bossa Rio, Philips Records, 1964. In the Brazilian Bag, Tower Records, 1965. The Great Arrival, Atlantic Records, 1966. Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ’66, A&M Records, 1966. The Beat of Brazil, Atlantic Records, 1967. Equinox, A&M Records, 1967. Sérgio Mendes’ Favorite Things, Atlantic Records, 1968. Look Around, A&M Records, 1968.
All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg. dll?p=amg&sql=Bu698s31ba3dgⵑC Brasil ‘66, http://www.brasil66.com Clique Music, http://cliquemusic.uol.com.br/br/Cy bernotas/Cybernotas.asp?Nu_materia=2251 and http://cliquemusic.uol.com.br/br/Acontecendo/ Acontecendo.asp?Nu_materia=1325 Freeform Music, http://freeform.org/music/m/Ser gio_Mendes.html —Timothy Borden
158 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Nicholasa Mohr 1938— Writer
Studied Art
Puerto Rico during the Great Depression to East Harlem (El Barrio) with her four children. She married Pedro Golpe, and Mohr was one of three children born to this union, and the only girl. Not long after their move to America, the family relocated to the Bronx. When Mohr was only eight years old her father died. To help her deal with her bereavement her mother supplied Mohr with paper, a pencil, and some crayons with which she began drawing and writing. The author associated these tools with the word magic, because they were a means of escape. She referred to this in her Something about the Author Autobiography Series (SAAS) essay, “by making pictures and writing letters I could create my own world ѧ like ‘magic.’” Not long after this Mohr was almost tucked away in a trade school to become a seamstress; according to a counselor, a Puerto Rican girl did not need an education. Mohr remembered the words of her mother, who told her to continue to use her talent, according to SAAS. On her own, Mohr located a school that offered a major in fashion design that enabled her to continue to draw.
Mohr was born on November 1, 1938, to Pedro and Nicholasa (Rivera) Golpe. Her mother moved from
Mohr’s mother died long before she completed high school, but the independence and self-worth she in-
Nicholasa Mohr achieved critical acclaim with her first novel, Nilda, published in 1973. In fact, Nilda won several notable literary awards. A classic novel of a Puerto Rican girl coming of age in New York City during World War II, Nilda included eight illustrations and a book jacket created by the author that also won several awards. One critic, Donald B. Gibson, wrote in Children’s Literature, “[Nilda is] what I would call a significant book, a touchstone by which others may be judged.” After such an auspicious beginning, Mohr continued to write, and was presented with the Hispanic Heritage Award for literature in 1997. These awards honor Hispanic Americans who “have made a significant contribution to our nation.” Mohr has had her poems and short stories published in various journals and magazines, and have also appeared in numerous anthologies by women of color. In May of 1989 Mohr was awarded with the honorary doctor of letters degree from the State University of New York.
Mohr • 159
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Nicholasa Golpe on November 1, 1938, in
New York, NY; widowed; children: David, Jason.
Education: Arts Students’ League in New York, 195356; New School for Social Research in New York City; Brooklyn Museum Art School, fine art, 1959-66; Pratt Center for Contemporary Printmaking, printmaking and silkscreening, 1966-69. Religion: Catholic. Career: Fine arts painter in New York, California, and Puerto Rico, 1957-58; printmaker in New York and Mexico, 1965–; Art Center of Northern New Jersey, art instructor, 1971-73; MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH, writer in residence, 1972, 1974, and 1976; State University of New York at Stony Brook, lecturer in Puerto Rican studies, 1977; Queens College of the City
pursue her dream of becoming an artist. She worked her way through art school and saved enough money to continue her education. Fascinated with Mexican murals and the artists who created them, Mohr traveled to Mexico City to study them. When she returned to New York City, Mohr continued her education at the New School for Social Research. She also met Irwin Mohr, whom she married and with whom she later had 2 sons, David and Jason. In an interview with children’s book historian, author, and critic Marcus Leonard in Publisher’s Weekly, Mohr openly discussed her childhood as an unpleasant experience. She stated that “early on there were times that [I] felt like [I] was entering into hostile territory.” Mohr went on to say that in the 1950s when the Puerto Ricans flourished in New York City, she felt “less isolated.” Like other Latinas, Mohr often incorporated these compelling accounts into her various artistic works. One could say that her feelings were transformed onto her paper, and therefore what was published as fiction, in reality was non-fiction.
University of New York, distinguished visiting professor, 1988-91; visiting lecturer in creative writing for
Transitioned to Writing
various educator, librarian, student, and community groups; head creative writer and co-producer of videotape series Aqui y Ahora. Memberships: New Jersey State Council on the Arts, board of trustees; Consultant for the Young Filmmakers Foundation; consultant on Bilingual Media Training for Young Filmmakers Video Arts; board of contributing editors of Nuestro; Authors Guild; Authors League of America. Awards: Outstanding Book Award in Juvenile Fiction, 1973; Jane Adams Children’s Book Award, Jane Addams Peace Association, 1974; MacDowell Colony writing fellowship, 1974; Outstanding Book Award in Teenage Fiction, New York Times, 1975; Best Book Award, School Library Journal, 1975; honorary doctorate, State University of New York at Albany. Address: Office—309 East 108 St., Ste. 5D, New York, NY 10029.
stilled in her daughter proved to be long-lasting. Although her aunt became her legal guardian, she failed to supply Mohr with the motivation and strength she had gained from her mother. Mohr, on the other hand, was determined to be an artist. Upon graduation, Mohr went to the Arts Students’s League in New York City to
It was Mohr’s art agent that expressed the lack and need for a story centered on a young Puerto Rican girl. Mohr reflected back to when she was a young girl and read all those storybooks and reached the same conclusion. Ellen Rudin, editor-in-chief at HarperCollins, offered Mohr a contract to write her first novel, after she had reviewed several stories Mohr had written. Mohr discovered she could reach a larger audience with greater impact through written, opposed to visual, art. As Mohr said to Paul Lauter, editor of The Heath Anthology of American Literature, “The visual art world is very exclusive and expensive ѧ [b]ut when an artist writes a book, it becomes accessible to a wider audience.” Still, art was incorporated into her works, which only strengthened her storyline. Mohr’s literature was simple and direct, because it was primarily directed towards young adolescents. Mohr’s focus has been directed towards fiction, drama, screenplays, and teleplays. Her writing centered on the experiences and oppression that women faced in the Puerto Rican community in New York City. Her female characters and her themes portray gender barriers, urban poverty, liberation, social struggles, triumphs, and the limiting roles that men try to create for women. Mohr referred to this in The Heath Anthology of American Literature, “I hope there will be more Hispanic writers finding their voices, too, learning to value their own lives as important and valuable to write about.” For this reason, Mohr continued to educate and influence the young. In 2001 she lectured at Millersville College, in Millersville, Pennsylvania. Mohr was also the featured speaker at the 2001 Annual Bella Abzug Lecture on Women’s Studies, at Hunter College. Her topic included “Reflections of the Big Mango: Growing
160 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 up Latina in the USA.” Mohr also participated in the 2002 Teacher Network Conference, lunch with an author program. With a 1999 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, Mohr and the Rubií Theatre Company began to work on the musical adaptation of her novel, Nilda, also cited as an “outstanding book” by the New York Times. Additional plays written by Mohr include, Zoraida, a story adapted from the story collection, Rituals of Survival: A Woman’s Portfolio, and I Never Seen My Father, a story adaptation from the collection In Nueva York were performed at INTAR NewWorks Lab in 2000.
Continued Writing Mohr has remained active with the process of translating her works for the stage. She has been involved with plays, stage productions, media writing, as well as productions. With Rubií Theatre developing Nilda, the musical drama, Mohr wrote the lyrics. She has also been busy with additional stories from the Page to the Stage adapted from the collection El Bronx Remembered to be released in the fall of 2003. Works in progress include the musical Herman and Alice, and a collection of stories for adults. She has also been working on a children’s fairy tale about the Puerto Rican rain forests, to be published by Viking, and a book of stories about women and love, directed towards adults, to be published by Arte Publico Press. In the spring of 2001 Mohr moved from Park Slope, Brooklyn to East Harlem, El Barrio where she was born. She has been busy renovating a loft where she continues to do freelance work. When all is considered, Mohr has become a valuable source of information that she in turn has shared with others in her teaching, lectures, and through her writing.
Selected Writings Plays Nilda (musical). Zoraida. I Never Seen My Father. Novels Nilda, Harper and Row, 1973. El Bronx Remembered: A Novella and Stories, Harper and Row, 1975.
In Nueva York, Dial, 1977. Felita, Dial, 1979. Rituals of Survival: A Woman’s Portfolio, Arte Publico, 1985. Going Home, Dial, 1986. All For the Better: A story of El Barrio, Raintree Stech-Vaughn, 1993. Nicholasa Mohr: Growing Up Inside the Sanctuary of My Imagination, Messner, 1994. The Magic Shell, 1994. The Song of El Coqui & Other Tales of Puerto Rico, Scholastic, 1995. Old Letivia & the Mountain of Sorrows, Viking, 1996. A Matter of Pride & Other Stories, Arte Publico, 1997. Untitled Nicholasa Mohr, Viking Penguin, 1998.
Sources Books Leonard, Marcus S., Author Talk, Simon & Schuster, 2000. Something about the Author Autobiography Series, Volume 8, Gale, p.192. Something about the Author Autobiography Series, Volume 97, Gale, p.97. Turner, Faythe, Puerto Rican Writers at Home in the USA: An Anthology, Open Hand Publishers, 1991. Periodicals Children’s Literature, Volume 3, 1974. Hispanic Times Magazine, March-April 1999. Publisher’s Weekly, February 14, 2000. On-line http://galenet.com http://www.georgetown.edu Voices From The Gap, http://voices.cla.umn.edu/ authors/NicholasaMohr.html http://www.rmmla.edu Other Additional information for this profile was obtained through a telephone interview with Nicholasa Mohr on May 13, 28, 2002. —Brenda Kubiac
Munoz • 161
Anthony Munoz 1958— Former professional football player
Anthony Munoz was an offensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals football team in the National Football League (NFL) from 1980 to 1992. He was an 11-time All-Pro offensive lineman, and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Munoz, a devout Christian, was also known off the field as a gentleman who helped his community and the disadvantaged whenever possible.
A Young Athlete Munoz grew up in Ontario, California, with his two brothers and two sisters. Munoz’s mother, Esther, raised the family by herself, as Munoz’s father left the family when Munoz was very young. Although his father lived close by, Munoz only saw him twice, once when he was five and once when he was 12 years old. Munoz told Jay Greenberg of Sports Illustrated, “I never had a father, so I never knew what I was missing. As I look back, I don’t even know if I was poor. We were provided for, but we didn’t have any extras.” Although his family didn’t have a car, they were fortunate enough to have relatives who did; his aunt and uncle often took Munoz out to dinner. His mother worked at a local farm, packing eggs. Munoz and his brother, Tom, occasionally worked
there on weekends when extra help was needed, but his mother encouraged Munoz to use his free time to pursue his athletic interests. Munoz spent much of that free time playing baseball. When he was five he looked several years older, so he was able to play in almost any game he chose. He ended up playing on so many teams that when two such teams played each other, they would end up arguing over who would get Munoz. Although Munoz loved baseball, he was naturally big and powerful, and was often advised that he was built for football. When he was offered a football scholarship to Southern California University, he accepted it with the stipulation that he be allowed to play on the school’s baseball team in the spring. However, knee injuries from playing football prevented him from playing baseball, except during his sophomore year. In the opening game of his senior season, Munoz suffered a knee injury that required reconstructive surgery. Although his coaches and teammates thought he should take a year off, he refused. He made it to that season’s Rose Bowl, where he was spotted by Cincinnati Bengals’ founder and general manager, Paul
162 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn on August 19, 1958, in Ontario, California;
married
DeDe
Munoz;
children:
Michael,
Michelle. Education: University of Southern California, 1976-79. Religion: Christian. Career: Offensive tackle, Cincinnati Bengals, 1980-92. Awards: All-Pro, 1981-91; NFL Offensive Lineman of the Year, 1981, 1987, 1988; selected to NFL’s 75th Anniversary All-Time Team; Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1998; University of Southern California Athletic Hall of Fame, 1999. Address: Office—c/o Pro Football Hall of Fame, 212 George Halas Drive NW, Canton, OH 44798.
Brown, as well as Brown’s sons—Pete, who was player personnel director, and Mike, who was assistant general manager. They laughed at their good fortune in finding him. “The guy was so big and so good it was a joke,” Mike Brown told Sports Illustrated. Munoz was chosen third in the draft. Many years later, Munoz modestly told SI’s Greenberg, “Why would an offensive lineman get all this attention? I don’t know why, but I’m fortunate. I use it as a motivator.” Munoz, who is known for his strong Christian beliefs, became interested in spiritual matters in college. Munoz told Andrew Chow in the Dayton Daily News that when someone asked how he was doing spiritually, he thought, “Is that what life is all about—being AllAmerican or being in this magazine or that magazine? I knew there had to be more to life than that.”
end William Fuller told Sports Illustrated, “He has the best feet of any tackle I’ve gone against. Because he has such good hand-foot coordination, you never catch him out of position.” Although Munoz was naturally large and powerful, he did not spend a lot of time in the weight room, nor did he take drugs or use steroids to increase his bulk or strength. He ran two or three miles a day in the off-season, and lifted weights three times a week. Munoz was noted for his refusal to curse or swear, and was customarily quiet on the playing field. Buffalo Bills’ defensive end Bruce Smith told Sports Illustrated that the most he had ever heard Munoz say during play was two words: “I think it was after he stuck his hand in my face mask,” Smith recalled. “He said, ‘I’m sorry.’” During stressful plays Munoz never wasted energy getting angry, preferring to focus energy on improving his playing. In the Denver Post, Adam Schefter quoted Bengals’ defensive end Alfred Williams, who praised Munoz’s work ethic: “When practice started, I’d see him running a mile to get warmed up. Then he’d come back and do the conditioning afterward with everyone else. He was amazing to watch.” Munoz’s wife, DeDe, told SI’s Greenberg, “I don’t see any contrast between what he does and the way he is. Ever watch him? It’s an artistic way of playing the offensive line. He makes it look easy.” Munoz has also spent a great deal of time working with people who have handicaps, as well as helping underprivileged children and speaking to teens about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. In 1990 Sports Illustrated noted, “Since coming to the NFL in 1980, Munoz has begrudged every inch of ground he has given up to the league’s best pass rushers, yet he has given tirelessly of himself to God, family, and community.”
Retired from the NFL Joined Cincinnati Bengals Munoz signed with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1980, using the money from his first pro contract to buy his mother a house. He played with the team for 13 years, and he and his wife and children settled in Ellenwood, a suburb of Cincinnati. When Munoz began playing professional football, most of the defensive ends in the game weighed about 250 pounds. At six-foot six inches tall and weighing 285 pounds, Munoz often flattened opponents 15 or 20 times during a game. Over the years football players got bigger, but Munoz still drove five or six opponents off their feet in each game. In addition to his strength, Munoz was noted for his balance. Even when opponents changed direction, Munoz rarely fell down. Bengal offensive line coach Jim McNally told Sports Illustrated, “Anthony always makes the right adjustment.” Houston Oiler defensive
Munoz retired from the NFL in 1992. During his 12 years with the Bengals, he was selected as an All-Pro offensive lineman 11 times. In April of 1994 Munoz signed on with the Fox television network to be an NFL game analyst. His previous experience in broadcasting had involved working as a guest analyst for the TNT network’s “Stadium Show.” He had also appeared twice as a game analyst for the CBS network’s NFL coverage in 1993. Munoz was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998, and was named Offensive Lineman of the Year six times during his 13-year career. In 2000 he was named to the NFL’s All-Time Team by the 36 Pro Football Hall of Fame voters. In 2000 Munoz became a spokesperson for Provident Bank, signing a five-year deal with the company. Cincinnati Bengals’ coach Sam Wyche summed up Munoz’s life and work in Sports
Munoz • 163 Illustrated, “All of us try to set examples until something goes wrong, and then we reveal our true selves. Anthony’s real self is the one the rest of us try to be.”
Denver Post, August 1, 1998, p. D9. Mediaweek, April 4, 1994, p. 4. Sports Illustrated, September 10, 1990, p. 78.
Sources
On-line
Periodicals
CBS Sportsline, www.cbs.sportsline.com/u/football/ nfl/legends/hof/munoz.htm USC Athletic Hall of Fame, www.fansonly.com/ schools/usc/genrel/052199aaa.html
Cincinnati Post, April 23, 1996, p. 1D; August 28, 1997, p. 12B; July 27, 2000, p. 6B; August 2, 2000, p. 2B. Dayton Daily News, July 3, 2000, p. 3B.
—Kelly Winters
164 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Pablo Neruda 1904-1973 Poet
Known as one of the twentieth century’s most important Latin American poets, Pablo Neruda was “the most frequently discussed Latin American poet of his time. Today, years after his death, his eventful life still evokes great interest, and his works arouse great admiration,” according to The Scribner Writers Series. He was also an avid participant in the political arena. He is best known for his combination of the two— some of his best known poems were centered around political upheavals and issues, or his own beliefs, especially on Communist causes, ones that Neruda felt an especial affiliation with. Born on July 12, 1904, in Parral, Chile, to Dona Rosa Basoalto and Jose del Carmen, a crew foreman on the Chilean railroad, Neruda was named Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes y Basoalto. A month after he was born Neruda’s mother died of tuberculosis and his father moved the family to Termuco, a very small town, not long after her death. It is in Termuco that Neruda spent most of his childhood. Termuco was a frontier town at the time and was surrounded by thick forests and volcanoes. This wild beauty affected young Neruda very much, and it was this landscape that Neruda credits
with inspiring him with his first poetic visions. Neruda wasn’t a very studious young man, often skipping class to join his father where he worked, but it was one of his early teachers, Gabriela Mistral—a woman who also became a poet— who encouraged Neruda to start writing poetry. He was barely 15 years old when he became a published poet—he chose the pseudonym Pablo Neruda because his father did not support his literary dreams and he was hiding his publications from him. His father wanted his son to concentrate on obtaining what he called a real profession, rather than wasting his energies on something as frivolous as poetry. Neruda changed his name legally to “Pablo Neruda” in 1946. At age 16 Neruda started attending the Instituto Pedagogico, where he majored in French. After he graduated from there, Neruda attended the University of Chile in Santiago, where he continued his study of French, the language of prestige and culture at the time, so he could read the works of such French authors as Baudelaire and Rimbaud in their original forms. Neruda never received his degree, but it was these university years that introduced the world of politics to him.
Neruda • 165
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Ricardo Eliezer Neftalí Reyes y Basoalto July
12,1904, in Parral, Chile; died September 23,
1973, in Santiago, Chile; married Maruca Hagenaar Vogelzang, 1930 (divorced); married Matilde Urrutia, 1951. Education: Attended University of Chile. Politics: Communist. Career: Poet: La cancion de la fiesta, 1921; Crepuscalario, 1923; Viente poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada, 1924; El habitante y suesperanza, 1925; Tentativa del hombre infinito, 1926; Anillos, 1926; Prosas de Pablo Neruda, 1926; Residencia en la tierra, 1933, 1935, 1947; Espana en el corazon, 1937; Alturas de Macchu Picchu, 1943; Canto General, 1950; Las uvas y el viento, 1954; Odas elementales, 1954, 1956, 1957; Estravagario, 1958; Cantos ceremoniales, 1961; La barcarola, 1967; Las piedras del cielo, 1970. Author: Memoirs, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1977. Consul to Rangoon, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Buenos Aires, Thailand, Cambodia, Spain, 1927-35; organizer, Congress of Anti-Fascist Writers in France, late 1930s; consul to Mexico, early 1940s-44; ambassador to France, 1970s. Awards: International Peace Prize, 1950; Stalin Peace Prize, 1953; Doctorate in Literature from Oxford, 1965; Nobel Prize for Literature, 1971.
In 1921 Neruda won Santiago’s Spring Festival poetry contest, an award that resulted in his first published book of poetry, La cancion de la fiesta. After its publication Neruda started his ascent into the public eye. His second book of poetry, Crepusculario was a book that Neruda eventually ended up dismissing as trivial, but his admirers thought it a very important book in the growth of a poet. He had to sell most of his furniture to pay for it to be published. In 1924 Neruda published his book of poetry, Veinte poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair). This has often been said to be the first book that Neruda published in the bloom of his powers as a poet. Because of his success with this book, and the fact that he was an avid political activist, in 1927 Neruda was awarded a diplomatic post and was sent to Rangoon as a consul. From there he was sent to serve in Ceylon and the Dutch East Indies. In 1930 he married Maruca Hagenaar Volgelzang in Bali. They had a daughter, but she died in childhood. In 1932, while he was sailing back to Chile, he wrote the
poems for his next book, Residencia en la tierra. This book was filled with Neruda’s ideas about a world that was dismal and inane and whose beauty was destroyed by mankind, and it was the first of his books to earn him international recognition. London Magazine wrote of Neruda’s poems in this book, “As we open a Neruda book, we suddenly see going around us, in circles, like herds of mad buffaloes or distracted horses, all sorts of created things: balconies, glacial rocks, lost address books, pipe organs, fingernails, notaries public, pumas, tongues of horses, shoes of dead people.ѧ and they are the greatest surrealist poems yet written in a Western language.” In 1933 he was sent to Buenos Aires, after which he was stationed in Thailand, Cambodia, and eventually landed in Spain in 1935 where he met and befriended Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca and a host of other poets. In 1936 Spain was thrown into Civil War and Lorca was killed. Neruda, without checking with the Chilean government, announced that Chile supported the side Lorca had been on, the Republicans, who were much supported by Communist and Socialist groups. He also wrote a book of poetry about the event, called Espana en el corazon: Himno a las glorias del pueblo en la guerra (Spain in the Heart: Hymn to the Glories of the People at War). Because of his actions, Neruda was recalled to Chile, but was soon sent to Paris where he was asked to help organize the Congress of Anti-Fascist Writers. While there he also aided in the settling of Spanish refugees who wanted to resettle in Chile, who were treated very badly by the other Chileans at the consulate. In the early 1940s Neruda was sent to Mexico City. When he returned to Chile in 1944 Neruda joined the rapidly growing Communist party. In 1945 he was asked by mine workers in the Antofagasta and Tarapac areas to run for a seat in the national senate to represent them and other badly treated, and poorly paid workers. There was a new president in Chile at the time, one who denounced both the Communist party and striking miners, and it was against him whom Neruda became a stalwart enemy in the senate. According to The Wilson Quarterly, Neruda denounced the president. “He was accused of disloyalty, and a warrant for his arrest was issued.” Unable to return to Chile for fear of arrest, Neruda traveled all over the world, including the Soviet Union and China. Having divorced years before, in 1951 Neruda married Chilean singer Matilde Urrutia, and in 1953 he returned to Chile, his faith in Communism stronger than ever. At this time he published the book of poetry, Canto general (General Song), a book which has been called his masterpiece. It is a book about justice and freedom in South America. The book contains 340 poems about such things as Chilean history and culture, as well as their triumphs. Neruda remained one of Chile’s most renowned and loved poets. He lived on Isla Negra, an oceanside retreat, where he continued to write. His style shifted towards things of simple beauty. His 1954 book Odas elementales was full of poems
166 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 about such ordinary subjects as air and the ocean and their enormous, grand beauty.
Latin American writer, and, finally, a great poet of the Americas.”
Neruda wrote poetry until his death in 1973. He also managed to write a five-volume set of memoirs, published in 1964. Not content with this, Neruda was elected president of the Union of Chilean Writers, a post he filled for several years. And he was even nominated to run for president of Chile under the Communist platform, but withdrew and gave his support to the Socialist platform before election time when it was evident that most of the Chilean people supported them. Salvador Allende, the new president of Chile, made Neruda the ambassador to France, and while there he was awarded the 1971 Nobel Prize for Literature. Neruda moved home soon afterwards, just in time for a military coup that ended up with Allende murdered. Neruda died of a heart attack a short time afterwards, on September 23, 1973, at a hosptial in Santiago, but he left a legacy of poetry behind. In an interview Neruda had with Robert Bly, of The New York Times Book Review, in 1967 Neruda described poetry in South America, “You see there are in our countries rivers which have no names, trees which nobody knows, and birds which nobody has described. It is easier for us to be surrealistic because everything we know is new.ѧ And then everyone has to choose a road—a refined and intellectual way, or a more brotherly, general way, trying to embrace the world around you, to discover the new world.” Then and still today Neruda opened a world of surrealistic beauty and deep emotions for the rest of the world to see. As the Wilson Quarterly said of Neruda, he “remains an immense presence in poetry ѧ his overall achievement is stunning.ѧ He was a great Chilean poet, a great
Sources Books DISCovering Authors, Gale Group, 1999. Contemporary Heroes and Heroines, Book IV, Gale Group, 2000. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale Research, 1996. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd Edition, Gale Research, 1998. Merriam-Webster’s Biographical Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., 1995. Wright, James and Robert Bly, translators, Twenty Poems, The Sixties Press, 1967. Periodicals Books Abroad, Winter 1976, pp. 40-45. London Magazine, July 1968, pp. 24-35. Modern Poetry Studies, Spring 1974, pp. 41-51. The New York Review of Books, October 3, 1976, pp. 8, 10, 12. New York Times Book Review, May 23, 1982, pp. 9, 26. Romance Notes, Spring 1982, pp. 272-76. The Wilson Quarterly, Spring 1998, p. 113. World Literature Today, Winter 1998, p. 111-12. —Catherine Victoria Donaldson
Pelli • 167
César Pelli 1926— Architect
Argentinian-born César Pelli is the architect of some of the most striking skyscrapers on the urban American landscape. Pelli’s buildings often boast innovative new design strategies, frequently in the form of an unusually textured or rippled outer “skin.” A modest practitioner in a profession known for oversized egos, Pelli rejects architectural style labels such as modern or postmodern, and instead simply insists that a building should reflect its surroundings. Time’s Kurt Andersen said of Pelli, “Remarkably, his very big buildings are thoughtful, likable, rich in detail, humane.” In 1991 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) named him as one of the ten most influential living American architects.
Won American Scholarship Pelli was born on October 12, 1926, in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, a town with a rich legacy of Spanish colonial architecture. His grandfather was an immigrant from Italy, while his mother’s family was criollo, the term used for Argentines of Spanish- settler descent. Pelli studied at the University of Tucumán, and earned an diploma from its renowned architecture program in 1949. He married Argentine Diana Bal-
mori, a landscape designer, the following year. Early in his career Pelli developed a strong affinity for the work of Le Corbusier, the French architect whose radical designs revolutionized twentieth-century architecture. For a time, Pelli worked for an Argentine government agency that sponsored and built subsidized housing, and then won an Institute of International Education scholarship and came to the United States for further professional training. Between 1952 and 1954 he worked toward earning an advanced architecture degree from the University of Illinois at its Urbana-Champaign campus. After graduating, he joined the prestigious firm of Eero Saarinen and Associates. The Finnish-American Saarinen was a leading name in modernist architecture at the time, and Pelli has said that the renowned Michigan firm had a tremendous influence on his own work. The architects in Saarinen’s offices worked collectively, and studied design problems through the use of models.
Years in New York and Los Angeles During his ten years with Saarinen as an associate architect, Pelli worked on one of the firm’s most
168 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn October 12, 1926, in San Miguel de Tu-
cumán, Argentina; immigrated to the United
States, 1952; naturalized citizen, 1964; son of Victor V. and Teresa S. Pelli; married Diana Balmori, December 15, 1950; children: Rafael, Denis. Education: University of Tucumán, Dip.Arch., 1949; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, M.S.Arch., 1954. Career: Began career in Argentina for agency responsible for subsidized housing; Eero Saarinen and Associates, Bloomfield Hills, MI, and Hamden, CT, associate architect, 1954-64; Daniel, Mann, Johnson, & Mendenhall, Los Angeles, director of design, 1964-68; Gruen Associates, Los Angeles, design partner, 196876; César Pelli and Associates, New Haven, CT, principal, 1977–. Dean of the School of Architecture, Yale University, 1977-84; has taught extensively in the United States and South America. Member: American Institute of Architects. Awards: Firm of the Year, American Institute of Architects (AIA), 1989; AIA named Pelli as one of the ten most influential living American architects, 1991; AIA Gold Medal, 1995; Charles Bulfinch Award; American Academy of Arts and Letters (academician); International Academy of Architecture (academician). Address: Office:—César Pelli and Associates, 1056 Chapel St., New Haven, CT 06510-2402.
significant commissions, the Trans World Airlines Terminal Building at John F. Kennedy International Airport outside New York City. He was also involved in the design and construction of the Morse and Stiles Colleges at Yale University. In 1964 Pelli joined Daniel, Mann, Johnson, & Mendenhall, a Los Angeles architectural firm, as its director of design. In 1968 he became a design partner with Gruen Associates, another Los Angeles firm, and spent the next eight years there. During that time, Pelli designed the earliest examples of what would become his own landmark architectural style, the Pacific Design Center and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. In 1977 Pelli was appointed dean of the Yale School of Architecture. He also decided to open an architectural firm in the New Haven area, realizing that he might miss some of the more creative design aspects of his
work. He told Time, “I came east without a [design] job, without connections, without a client, nothing. My intention was to be a teacher—and maybe do kitchen additions.” With his wife, he founded César Pelli and Associates in New Haven, and proceeded to win a far more impressive commission than a kitchen renovation: the renovation project for New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, with the addition of a residential tower. Pelli asked a former colleague, Fred W. Clarke, to join him, and by 1984 César Pelli and Associates had won so many top commissions that Pelli decided to resign from his position at Yale. One of his landmark buildings from this era was the World Financial Center and Winter Garden at Battery Park in New York City, adjacent to the World Trade Center complex. According to the Encyclopedia of World Biography, this project was hailed as one of the ten best works of American architecture designed since 1980. Its four towers and landscaped public plaza opened in 1988. The commission helped earn César Pelli and Associates the AIA’s 1989 Gold Medal for Firm of the Year.
Designed World’s Tallest Building Pelli’s other buildings include the San Bernardino City Hall in San Bernardino, California, Herring Hall at Rice University in Texas, the Princeton University mathematics building, and several impressive skyscrapers. The 57-floor Norwest Center in Minneapolis is a dominant part of the Twin Cities skyline, and Pelli’s Canary Wharf Tower in London, at 776 feet, is the tallest building in England. Pelli has also designed Carnegie Hall Tower in New York City, an extremely narrow structure just 50 feet in width. Five different shades of brick provide visual detail on its exterior. “This slender, elegant slab is like a dancer among thugs,” praised Andersen in Time. When the building opened in 1990, Andersen termed it “the finest highrise to go up in New York City in a generation.” In the early 1990s, Pelli completed his 777 Tower in Los Angeles. The skyscraper featured a unique aluminum exterior skin with curved vertical ridges, which was hailed by Progressive Architecture critic Morris Newman, who wrote, “These [ridges] result in seemingly changing bay widths that play an optical game, making both convex and flat elevations appear curved. In the simply detailed lobby, the elevator bank is covered with red marble to startling effect.” Pelli has also designed the NationsBank Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Chase H&Q building in San Francisco. He created the terminal for Washington National Airport, renamed the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and in 1996 finished the world’s tallest buildings, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The twin 88-story structures were finished in 1998 and stand 33 feet higher than the Sears Tower in Chicago. Despite such record-book achievements, Pelli is known for his modesty. “I don’t feel I’m building masterpieces,” he told
Pelli • 169 Time’s Andersen. “If a building is a masterpiece, that happens after the fact.” Awarded another Gold Medal from the AIA in 1995, Pelli did admit to being pleased by the recognition, which is the professional organization’s highest honor. Ann C. Sullivan of Architecture quoted him as saying, “It reassures you that what you are doing is not only right in your eyes but in others’ eyes, too.”
Soaring, Light-Flooded Spaces Pelli’s structures often feature large skylights or walls of glass. He told Capital Times journalist Kevin Lynch, “I believe that everybody enjoys natural light. You can have it in many places. The openness to light does two things: It brings natural light to the materials, and opens up the views and makes you feel you are in a larger, grander space. But most importantly today, it opens the interior to the city, so the activities that take place inside—in the lobbies and balconies—contribute to the sense of life and excitement for passersby on the street.” Architecture critics often commend Pelli for drawing upon surrounding elements to create a unique structure that fits in with the surrounding block. As Pelli told National Real Estate Investor writer Ben Johnson, “Some architects just plop a building down in the middle of a city, and to them it is a piece of art. But that is a building that draws attention to itself, not to anything around it. Unfortunately, some buildings only relate to themselves.” In 2001 Pelli had started work on a new structure for the Enron Corporation in Houston. He was devastated by the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; the following day, thousands of workers at the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur were evacuated. The events have caused him to reexamine the human desire to build towards the heavens. “I imagine there will be a slowdown in the pursuit
of very tall buildings for a while,” Capital Times reporter Samara Kalk quoted him as saying. “In some ways, it was an attack on architecture.” Pelli said that as a designer of such structures, he was tremendously affected by the images of the collapse. “All I could think about were the people and the lives, not the buildings,” Kalk quoted him as saying. “Buildings can be replaced. Human lives cannot.”
Sources Books Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd edition, Gale, 1998. Periodicals Americas (English Edition), November-December 1990, p. 36. Architectural Review, March 1997, p. 27. Architecture, January 1995, p. 23. Capital Times (Madison, WI), December 4, 1999, p. 1A; September 26, 2001, p. 1A. Crain’s New York Business, September 18, 2000, p. 41. Library Journal, January 2000, p. 98; November 1, 2001, p. 13. National Real Estate Investor, June 1995, p. 114. Presentations, March 2002, p. 38. Progressive Architecture, April 1985, p. 86; June 1988, p. 27; March 1989, p. 73; July 1991, p. 25; February 1995, p. 31. San Francisco Business Times, August 4, 2000, p. 14. Time, September 24, 1990, p. 98. Wisconsin State Journal, November 2, 2000, p. A9. —Carol Brennan
170 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Juan Perón 1895-1974 Former Argentine president
Juan Domingo Perón was indisputably the most influential politician modern Argentina has known. Though he served as president of the beleaguered Latin American country for less than a decade— with a brief reelection a year before his death—his influence has colored Argentine politics for more than half a century. His power was rivaled only by that of the military, which for most of his tenure he controlled. His social programs reformed the country, bringing newfound wealth to the country’s poor working classes—the descamisados (shirtless ones). However, he was also an iron-willed ruler more akin to a dictator than an elected president. According to Latin American historian Ernest W. Sweeney writing in America, “Juan Peron was unquestionably highly intelligent, politically astute and full of noble sentiments, charm and good intentions. At the same time, he was deceitful, opportunistic, amoral, compulsively ambitious and Machiavellian to the core.” Still his legacy, and that of his widely adored wife, Evita, continues to inspire both legend and politics in Argentina. Juan Domingo Perón was born on October 8, 1895, in the small town of Lobos sixty miles south of the capital city of Buenos Aires. His father, Mario Tomás Perón, was of Italian descent and his mother, Juana Sosa
Toledo, was thought to be of American Indian descent. Because no birth records exist, rumors surfaced that Perón’s parents were not married. In a country as concerned with paternity and social status as Argentina, this would have been an unfortunate fact in the life of the nation’s president. However, no evidence exists to prove or disprove his legitimacy. In 1900 Perón and his older brother, Mario, moved with their family to Patagonia, a barren and cold region of Southern Argentina. There his father became a land owner and his family built a ranch. Soon after moving to Patagonia, Perón’s father abandoned the family and Juana remarried a ranch hand. In 1904 Perón and his brother were sent to Buenos Aires for schooling. In Perón: A Biography, Joseph Page quoted Perón as saying of this move: “At ten, my way of thinking was not as a child, but almost as a man. In Buenos Aires I managed alone, and the skirts of my mother or grandmother did not attract me as they did other kids my age.”
Began Military Training Though he had toyed with the idea of pursuing medicine, he decided at fifteen to join the military and
Perón • 171
At a Glance . . .
B
orn on October 8, 1895, in Lobos, Buenos Aires,
Argentina; son of Mario Tomás Perón and Juana
Sosa Toledo; died on July 1, 1974, in Buenos Aires; married Aurelia Tizon, 1928, (died 1938); married Eva María Ibarguren Duarte, 1944, (died 1951); married Isabel. Education: Argentine Military College, 191113; Superior College of War, 1926-29. Politics: Perónist.
ranks, his career was not outstanding and there was nothing about him that foreshadowed the leader he was to become. In 1936 he made lieutenant colonel and soon after the death of Tizon was sent to Italy to observe alpine military method. At this time Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party was rapidly ascending to power and Perón became convinced that the Nazis would win the ensuing World War. Perón was also impressed by fascism as practiced by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. According to Alexander, Perón’s Italian foray “gave him a chance to study in some detail and at first hand the way in which the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini had reorganized, or tried to reorganize, Italian society.” Perón’s later fascist leanings were attributed to this experience.
Career: Ascended military ranks from second lieutenant to colonel, 1913-43; Vice- President of Argentina, Labor Secretary, and Minister of War, 1943-45; President of Argentina, 1945-54, 1973-74. Memberships: Founded Perónist political party, 1945.
enrolled in the Argentine Military College in 1911. Academically he was average, but Perón soon proved himself in sports, particularly fencing and for a while was the army’s fencing champion. Upon graduation from the Academy in 1913 Perón was appointed second lieutenant in the army’s infantry division. According to Robert J. Alexander in his book Juan Domingo Perón: A History, “it was in this early part of his military career that [Perón] first took an interest in social problems. He claimed that he had been impressed frequently by the poor state of many of the conscripts who came into the army each year. He said that he talked with many of them to find out about the conditions under which they had been brought up.” From 1926 until 1929 he continued his military training at the Superior College of War and by 1928 had become a Captain. During this time he met a young schoolteacher named Aurelia Tizon. They were married in 1928 and, though he rarely spoke of their liaison in his later years, by all accounts the marriage was a happy union until her death in 1938 of cancer. In 1930 Perón had his first taste of political machinations when the military rose in revolt against then-president Hipolito Irigoyen. Perón is said to have been one of the captains involved in seizing the presidential palace, Casa Rosada. In later years he downplayed his role as Irigoyen was revered by the labor groups that would eventually form the bulk of Perón’s constituency. In 1931 Perón was promoted to Major and in subsequent years held a teaching position at the College of War, published several books on military history, and spent a year in Chile as a military attaché. Though he was respected as a soldier, dutifully ascending the
When Perón returned to Argentina in 1941 he was assigned to a mountaineering outfit. The following year he became a full colonel. At this time the military regime was beginning to schism. Political corruption was rampant, the then-president Ramon Castillo was considered to have achieved his post fraudulently, and World War II had caused a rift among those who felt Argentina should support the German powers and those who wished to remain neutral. In this atmosphere Perón formed the Group of United Officers or GOU, a secret organization whose main goal was to prevent the upcoming presidential election of Castillo’s handpicked successor. On June 4, 1943, GOU executed a military coup that ousted Castillo and his cronies and installed General Pedro Pablo Ramirez as president.
Courted Argentine Workers Perón emerged from the coup, first as the Labor Secretary, then Minister of War, and Vice President. He held these roles consecutively. At this time he actively—and very successfully—began to build a constituency among the working classes through his support of labor unions. However, there was still no indication of the powerful leader Perón was to become. According to Alexander, at the time “Perón appeared to be an early middle-aged army officer of no great distinction. He appeared to be brighter than some, but perhaps not as bright as others. He was completely untried in the civilian arena, and there did not seem to be any reason to believe that he would be especially successful in it.” The latter half of the 1940s would profoundly change the course of Perón’s life and subsequently that of Argentina. In 1944 Perón met Eva María Ibarguren Duarte—a stunning actress and the woman who would become Argentina’s beloved Evita. They soon began a much-discussed affair. Meanwhile Perón was becoming very powerful. He already held important offices in the new government and his support of the trade unions— including the establishment of health insurance, retirement benefits, and paid vacations for workers— brought him widespread popularity among the laboring
172 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 classes. The descamisados had never had it so good. However, as his acclaim grew among the workers, it began to frighten the military government. On October 9, 1945, another coup took place—this time against Perón. He was forced to resign from the government and then sent to a secluded prison isle. Meanwhile, October 12th, which had been established as a paid holiday by Perón during his tenure as Secretary of Labor, was quickly declared by factory owners to no longer be a valid holiday. The workers, in the face of this palpable threat to the advances they had gained under Perón, were outraged. The union leaders called for a march on Buenos Aires. On October 17th, hundreds of thousands of workers descended on the capital calling for the release of Perón. He was released that night and later stood on the balcony of the Casa Rosada and declared to the adoring crowds, “I have returned!” Four days later he wed Eva Duarte. The next month his campaign for presidency was announced and in February of 1946, Perón won the election with 54 percent of the vote. More importantly, his followers—members of the newly christened Perónist political party—took more than two-thirds of the congressional votes, ensuring Perón unchallenged political power. “When Juan Perón became President of Argentina on June 4, 1946,” wrote Alexander, “he had full opportunity to make his regime either democratic or dictatorial.” The fact that he chose the latter would not only carve generation-long divisions in Argentine society, but also color his reign throughout history, obscuring the great things he did for his country while highlighting the bad. Upon his ascension to the presidency Perón implemented a five-year economic plan designed to eliminate national debt, revitalize the Argentine economy, and increase industrialization. Continuing to support the working classes on whom his rule depended, Perón instituted a number of actions, including: universal social security; free education; lowincome housing; free medical care; ample pregnancy leave with pay; and the creation of resorts throughout the country complete with swimming pools, movie theaters, and cabins, available to all workers for a nominal fee. Perón further cemented public support with a massive propaganda campaign built around himself and the beautiful Evita. Everything from school books to postage stamps, billboards to building placards, heralded some beneficial act bestowed by the Perón’s upon their people. After women were granted the vote, Evita organized the Women’s Perónist Party which encouraged total faith in Perón.
schools, old age homes, and low cost housing. At Christmas it sent out millions of gift packages for the poor. According to an article in History Today, “these gifts reached directly to the heart of the people and made an indelible impression. Forty years later, people were still speaking with deep feeling of the gifts they or their families had received from the Foundation.” Evita was also always willing to publicly greet her subjects, embracing even the dirtiest of them. The sight of this beautiful blonde leader hugging a humble peasant served to make the people worship her. She was compared to a living saint and after her death there was an unsuccessful push for her canonization. However, as the presidential couple was courting public approval, Perón was also ensuring absolute power through his increasingly dictatorial behavior. Within weeks of his election the Supreme Court was dismantled. Press crackdowns were next and within a year of Peron’s election no anti-government media was in operation. Evita participated as well, using her influence to buy the shut down newspapers and spawn her own Perónist media empire. Using secret police forces, he slowly corrupted the free election process, rigging some elections in favor of his party members and outright arresting non-Perónist candidates in other elections. Though he encouraged the trade and labor unions, he also made sure they were under the government’s wing.
Ascension of Saint Evita
For nearly a decade Perón ruled Argentina, both helping and hurting the country, becoming revered and reviled. But by the late 1940s opposition to his government was hard to ignore. The economy had started to sour and the military was increasingly at odds with Perón’s rule. In 1949, desperate to maintain control, Perón nullified the country’s 1853 Constitution and rewrote his own, which, among other things allowed him to run for a second six-year term in office. In 1951 he easily won reelection. However disaster was about to fall. His beloved wife Evita—considered to be the compassion behind the Perónist movement—suddenly died. The country was plunged into mourning. Perón had lost not only a wife, but his most powerful political ally. Popular support for his government began to wane. Then in 1954, perhaps threatened by the church’s power, Perón began an ill-advised attack against the Catholic church. Catholicism was deeply rooted in Argentina and the public did not approve. Perón legalized abortion and prostitution, and placed the Catholic school system under control of the government. The Vatican responded by excommunicating Perón and his cabinet. This opened the way for Perón’s enemies to stage a coup, and on September 19, 1955 Perón found himself on a Paraguayan boat headed for exile in Spain. He would remain there until 1973.
Evita began to take on a cult status through the Eva Perón Foundation. Its stated mission was to help the needy and with over $200 million in assets and a staff of 14,000 the foundation made a major impact on the psyche of the Argentine public. It built hospitals,
Even from exile Perón continued to wield power in Argentina and the Perónist party remained active in Argentine politics. In 1971 the military government decided to allow free elections to be held once again and in 1973 a Perónist candidate became president
Perón • 173 and the party once more assumed control of the congress. Perón was immediately invited home, at which point the newly-elected president resigned and a special election was held allowing Perón to take on a third term as President of Argentina. It was a shallow victory. He was nearly eighty and suffering from ill health. Adding to the ignominy of the election, he chose his third wife, Isabel, an ex-dancer with a gradeschool education, to be his vice-president. The following year, on July 1, 1974 Perón died of a heart attack. His wife feebly ruled for a little over a year before being ousted by the military. Yet the Perón legacy did not die. On the contrary, the party continues to be active in Argentina and still stirs political passions. In 1987 grave robbers cut off the hands of Perón’s corpse, demanding ransom from loyal Perónists. In 1989 a Perónist candidate was elected president and subsequently held two terms in office. Finally, in the political and economical chaos that marked Argentina’s entry into the 21st Century, the Perónists are deeply entrenched. As the country struggles to ascend from this quagmire, Perón’s namesake party will be there.
Sources Books Alexander, Robert J., Juan Domingo Perón: A History, 1979. Page, Joseph A., Peron, a Biography, 1983. Periodicals America, February 11, 2002. History Today, March 2000. Time, July 20, 1987. Time International, November 9, 1998. U.S. News & World Report, November 14, 1988. On-line www.columbia.edu/ⵑlnp3/mydocs/ state_and_revolution/Juan_Perón.htm www.falange.org www.geocities.com/argentina_dw/Peróns.html —Candace LaBalle
174 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Miguel Piñero 1946-1988 Playwright, poet, actor
When theater-goers think of contemporary playwrights of color, they might think first of Luis Valdez or perhaps August Wilson. These men, who achieved significant reputations as playwrights, became writers in very conventional ways, having first studied drama, as did Valdez, or having evolved from poet to dramatist, as did Wilson. Both Valdez and Wilson saw theater as a means to express the lack of equality and social justice that each writer had noted about his own people. For Miguel Piñero however, the journey to playwright was more complex. His career as a playwright began in New York’s Ossining Correctional Facility (Sing Sing), where Piñero was serving a sentence for armed robbery. It was his reaction to events witnessed while in prison that provided the impetus for Piñero to find his creative voice. Miguel Piñero was born in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, in 1946. The son of Adelina Piñero and Miguel Angel Gómez, Miguel Piñero emigrated to the United States with his parents and brothers and sisters. The extended family settled into Manhattan’s Lower East Side. After his father deserted the family, the eight-year-old Piñero, his mother, and siblings, were all forced to live on the streets for a short period of time. In the period
following, Piñero became involved with crime and drugs. As a result, Piñero achieved only a seventh grade education before being incarcerated for the first time at age 13. Eventually, he was sent to juvenile detention centers several times, before finally being sent to prison for armed robbery and drug possession. By the time he was 24, Piñero was serving his third sentence in the New York State prison system. It was at this time that Piñero’s life underwent a dramatic change.
Discovery of Talent While at Sing Sing, Piñero decided to join a prison theater workshop, “The Family.” Piñero wrote several short plays while a prisoner, but most attention has been paid to Short Eyes, the story of an imprisoned child molester who is judged and then murdered by fellow prisoners. When the New York Times theater critic, Max Gussow, visited the prison in 1972, more than half of the works he saw performed were written and acted by Piñero. It was the subsequent Gussow review in the New York Times that opened a new life for Mikey, as he was known to his friends. In response to Gussow’s article, Arthur Bartow, the director of the
Piñero • 175
At a Glance . . .
B
orn December 19, 1946, in Gurabo, Puerto Rico;
died on, June 17, 1988 in New York City; married
Juanita Lovette Rameize, 1977 (divorced, 1979); children: Ismael Castro. Career: Writer and actor; founder, Nuyorican Poet’s Theatre, New York City, 1975. Awards: New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Antoinette Perry Award Nomination for best play, Obie Award, and Drama Desk Award, all in 1974, all for Short Eyes: The Killing of a Sex Offender by the Inmates of the House of Detention Awaiting Trial.
Theatre at the Riverside Church, arranged to stage Short Eyes after Piñero’s release from prison. In 1974, after leaving the Riverside Theatre, Piñero’s play moved to the Joseph Papp Public Theatre and then to the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in Lincoln Center. That same year, Short Eyes won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award as best American play of the year. It also won an Obie Award for best off-Broadway play. Eventually, in 1979 Piñero’s play was filmed, with Piñero himself writing the screenplay and also taking an acting role in the final filmed version.
Time Thief, continued to focus on the criminals or down-trodden of street life. Piñero also published a collection of his poetry in 1979, La Bodega Sold Dreams. Success as a playwright brought many changes to Piñero’s life. For a brief time Piñero was in demand at college campuses as a guest lecturer and visiting professor. In the early 1980s he taught creative writing at Rutgers University and in 1982 he was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship for writing. Piñero moved to Philadelphia for a short period and then moved to Los Angeles where he founded the One Act Theatre Festival, but eventually he returned to New York City. After he achieved success, Piñero returned to his old neighborhood in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The story of how Piñero handed out cash to those he met on the street is told by Robert Dominguez in a review of a recently released biography of Piñero’s life. Writing for the New York Daily News, Dominguez related that Piñero gave the neighborhood addicts money to buy drugs, but he also gave money to a street musician and to a street vendor who needed new equipment. Clearly Piñero was a complex man who, in spite of his artistic success, was unable to escape the poor streets in which he had lived as a child.
Success as an Actor
Short Eyes was not the last of Piñero’s works to find a home on the New York stage, but none of his other works achieved quite the same level of critical acclaim. Perhaps the success of Short Eyes rested on the brutality of its content, or perhaps it was the glimpse into a world where most theater-goers never enter that held the audience transfixed. When it was staged in 1999, 25 years after the initial production, Lloyd Rose, of the Washington Post, labeled the play a “conventional enough drama.” Rose suggested that Piñero is not “breaking any taboos.” Instead, stated Rose, Short Eyes “exists only to teach the presumably pampered audience a lesson about the gritty reality of minorities in prison,” and this really only provides a “freak-show element” that is not sufficient for the audience.
In addition to his achievements as a playwright and poet, Piñero also found some success as an actor. Like his writing, acting was a talent that he discovered while in prison. Piñero acted in his own plays. He also acted in other films, including a small role in a film about a drug kingpin, Alphabet City, in 1984 and another small part in an unconventional romantic comedy, Almost You, in 1985. Neither film was a critical hit. Piñero’s other film credits included Times Square (1980). Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981), Breathless (1983), Exposed (1983). Deal of the Century (1983). and The Pick-Up Artist (1987). In most of these films, Piñero was little more than a walk-on, often playing a stereotyped low-life criminal-type—the sort of people that he knew well and wrote about most often. On television, Piñero’s roles were similar to his own life. He appeared on Miami Vice, Baretta, and Kojak, always playing roles that echoed his own marginalized experiences with criminals, drug dealers, and prostitutes.
Of course, even when freshly produced, Short Eyes was not without controversy. While celebrating the play’s insight into the prisoner’s lives, several critics, such as Stanley Kauffman, writing for New Republic and Michael Feingold, writing for the Village Voice pointed to flaws in Piñero’s technique that revealed his lack of experience. Piñero had written other plays while in prison, and he continued to write both plays and poems after his release from prison. Plays such as Midnight Moon at the Greasy Spoon, The Sun Always Shines for the Cool, and Eulogy for a Small-
Piñero’s work in both theater and on film reflected the world in which he lived and with which he was most familiar. The subjects he wrote about, as well as the characters that he played, were most often living on the edge, oftentimes criminals, and were almost always involved with drugs. The world of seedy streets and poor, often ethnically divided neighborhoods, provided both the background and the inhabitants for Piñero’s plays. Even in the characters that he played in film and on television, Piñero seemed to be typecast, playing the same people whose lives he portrayed in his plays.
176 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 But it was equally clear that this was the world he personally inhabited and the one with which he most closely identified. Even when given the opportunity to create his own world, via his plays, Piñero chose to write about the world where he lived. Even after his release from prison, and perhaps in spite of the success that Short Eyes brought to him, Piñero continued in much the same way as before his success. While he continued to work with inmates and write, he also continued to have problems with the police. In 1977 he was arrested for using obscene language in a confrontation with a subway attendant, and in 1978 he was arrested for grand larceny, and then arrested again in 1983 for heroin possession. In spite of success and the extra money that his success brought, Piñero was never able to leave his past completely behind him. Even as he lay dying, he wrote about his own intimate world, but with illness, the topic moved in another direction. When he died in June of 1988, Piñero was writing a new play about an intensive care unit in a hospital. As was the case with his earlier plays, Piñero was once again living what he was writing: Every Form of Refuge Has Its Price could have been the story of the hospital in which Piñero lay dying of cirrhosis.
A New Audience More than a decade after his death, a new film about Piñero’s life has introduced the playwright to another generation. Simply called, Piñero, this biographical film starred actor Benjamin Bratt as Piñero. At just under two hours, Piñero, which was written and directed by Leon Ichas, attempts to capture the essence of the playwright’s life, as well as define what motivated his self-destructive personality. Bratt captured Piñero’s own difficulty in leaving drugs and alcohol behind as he became more successful. Bratt was so effective as Piñero that several critics refer to this work as the best performance of his career, while at the same time faulting the depressive nature of the film and its lack of imaginative interpretation. What worked best in the film was the way in which Piñero’s work was opened up to a new generation. Because so few reviewers can be enthusiastic about the film, they instead focused on Piñero, the man and the writer, and so the audience learned more about Piñero’s craft, which in turn led to a renewed interest in his plays. If the film, flawed as entertainment, led viewers back to Piñero’s plays, then it might be considered a success. Miguel Piñero was recognized as one of the most important voices of Latin culture during the 1970s and 1980s. He helped to found the Nuyorican Poet’s Café, which showcased new Latin talent, and he continued to work with others just like himself—criminals, former criminals, and aspiring Puerto Rican writers with talent waiting to be nurtured and discovered. At his death in 1988, Piñero was eulogized by admirers and friends in a public memorial service conducted at the Public Theatre in New York City. According to Newsday, “During the memorial service, actors read from five of
his works.” Other poets from the Nuyorican Poet’s Café also read some of their poems. Piñero’s ashes were scattered along the streets of New York after the memorial service ended, but it was his contributions as a Puerto Rican poet and dramatist that were remembered in the many obituaries printed after his death. The most notable obituary was written by the man who first brought Piñero’s talent to the public’s attention. Mel Gussow, the theater critic who first discovered and promoted Piñero’s work wrote in The New York Times that Piñero had “a striking, raw talent,” but that his work was also marked “by a bitter humor and a lilting kind of street poetry.” Gussow stated that Piñero “seemed to cherish his role as an outcast, playing it in real life as well as in movies and on television.” At the end of his obituary, Gussow closed with a poignant mention of Piñero’s death, which “cuts short what could have been—what should have been—a remarkable career.”
Selected writings Published works Short Eyes, Hill and Wang, 1975. La Bodega Sold Dreams, Arte Público Press, 1980. The Sun Always Shines for the Cool; Midnight Moon at the Greasy Spoon; Eulogy For a Small-Time Thief, Arte Público Press, 1984. Outrageous One Act Plays, Arte Público Press, 1986. Produced plays All Junkies, first produced in New York City, 1973. Short Eyes, first produced in New York City, 1974. Sideshow, first produced in New York City, 1975. The Gun Tower, first produced in New York City, 1976. The Sun Always Shines For the Cool, first produced in New York City, 1976. Eulogy For a Small-Time Thief, first produced offBroadway in New York City, 1977. Straight From the Ghetto, (with Neil Harris) first produced in New York City, 1978. Cold Beer, first produced in New York City, 1979. NuYorican Nights at the Stanton Street Social Club, first produced in New York City, 1980. Playland Blues, first produced in New York City, 1980. A Midnight Moon at the Greasy Spoon, first produced in New York City, 1981.
Sources Periodicals New Republic, April 20, 1974, p. 20. Newsday, June 25, 1988, p. 16. New York Daily News, December 13, 2001, p. 61.
Piñero • 177 The New York Times, December 3, 1983, p. 26; June 25, 1988, p. 13; July 3, 1988, p. 8. The Village Voice, January 10, 1974, p. 55; March 28, 1974, p. 68. The Washington Post, April 11, 1999, p. C01. —Sheri Elaine Metzger
178 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Jorge Ramos 1958— Journalist, author
A powerful influence on Latinos and a star news anchor and reporter, Jorge Ramos is Spanish-language television’s most durable personality. In his reporting, television appearances and debates, and freelance writing, Ramos molds opinion concerning the perils of immigrating to the United States and the importance to Americans of the growing bilingual Hispanic minority. Familiar to fans of Spanish-language evening news in Texas, California, and Florida, he nets top ratings and viewer loyalty for incisive news from Latin America and for hard-edged interviews with prime figures from politics, current events, and the arts. His two decades of on-camera work have been about more than the delivery of information: to Ramos, telecasting is a mission, a vehicle for social change.
Homeland Versus Aspirations Born in Mexico City on March 16, 1958, Ramos loved athletics in boyhood and enjoyed track and field with a Mexican team until a back injury ended his participation. Still competitive, he turned to soccer and tennis as hobbies. According to an article in Mas, in high school,
Ramos summarized his aims in a two-sentence comprehensive life plan: “There are men who struggle for one day and achieve a goal; there are men who struggle for many years and are very brave; and then there are men who struggle all of their lives and are indispensable. I wish to become one of the latter.” When he returned to Mexico for a tenth year high school reunion, his classmates reminded him how rapidly he fulfilled the prophecy. Ramos gave up on his homeland at age 24 when he was reporting news for Televisa, Mexico’s largest media conglomerate. When editors tagged his third story on a social issue for rewriting according to station policy, Ramos became angry with Mexico’s censorship. The face-off that followed was a defining moment in his professional career. To find true freedom of speech, he sold his guitar and Volkswagen beetle and emigrated alone to the West Coast of the United States in 1983. Ramos enrolled at University of California Los Angeles; he earned his way by waiting tables and making change at a restaurant. A year after Ramos’s arrival in California, media magnate Jaime Davila hired him to report the news at
Ramos • 179
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Jorge Ramos on March 16, 1958, in Mexico
City; married twice; children: Paola, Nicolás.
Education: Attended UCLA, 1983. Career: KMEX, news reporter, 1983; Mundo Latino, Miami, news reporter and interviewer, 1986; Noticiero Univisión, Miami, evening news anchor and reporter, 1986–; freelance author, 1998–.
stripes, Ramos and co-anchor Salinas have developed a neutral Spanish accent. In addition to delivering news to 35 million Hispanics, Ramos broadcasts daily over Caracol Radio, a Colombian media group of 238 stations with interests in the United States, Latin America, and France. In his broadcasts, Ramos focuses on the news stories of the Western Hemisphere. While his network competitors cover the major happenings from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, Ramos provides a faithful audience with news from Cuba, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. He also supplies a weekly column to more than 35 newspapers throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Awards: Seven Emmys; Cabot Prize, 2001.
Challenged the Comfortable Addresses: Home—Coral Gables, FL. Website—http:// www.jorgeramos.com.
KMEX-Channel 14 in Los Angeles, an affiliate station of the Spanish International Network (now called Univisión). By 1986 Ramos had moved on to Miami, Florida, to deliver the morning news and an interview segment called Mundo Latino (Latin World). Within months, he advanced to anchor evening news for Noticiero Univisión. The promotion made him one of the youngest national TV anchors in American media history.
Immediate Stardom Ramos’s evening telecast earned him huge audiences in 13 Latin American countries. Co-anchoring with Maria Elena Salinas, he delivered Latino-centered stories to an average 1,057,000 viewers each evening. Ramos’s die-hard fans in the 18 to 49 age range assure him ten times the audience commanded by CNN’s Moneyline Newshour, but not the salary commensurate with his popularity and influence. Nonetheless, Ramos has earned industry recognition. He was a guest presenter at the millennium Emmys in the technical category, and garnered seven local Emmy awards for quality journalism and news production, including a 2000 news focus on Noticiero 47 and a 2001 newscast entitled “Fire In Edgewater.” Ramos’s shared language and Hispanic background do not ensure his acceptance with all Latinos. Miami’s Cuban-Americans, for example, question his disdain for Castro, and Ramos meticulously combed his coverage of the Elián Gonzalez debacle for criticism of Cubans. When a Latina magazine wanted to cast him as a “Papi Chulo,” he chose professionalism over indulgence in trivial ego displays. In his view, writing stories about immigrants, undocumented labor, and bigotry was more important than posing as a sex symbol. To lessen cultural differences, enhance his objectivity, and make himself welcome to Latinos of all
Ramos has used his public position as a vehicle of the truth as he perceived it. In an editorial published in the Miami Herald, he stated that “Nothing has been done to solve the huge contradictions in the immigration laws.” He pointed to the illicit hiring and exploitation of Hispanic gardeners, nannies, factory laborers, and field hands and charged, “There’s a great deal of hypocrisy in this country about the millions of immigrants who work here without papers.” Noted for his courage under fire, Ramos has covered developing conflicts in El Salvador, the Persian Gulf, and Kosovo, Bosnia, as well as the demolition of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1996 he provoked derision from Pat Buchanan, who ridiculed his Mexican origin. While covering the GOP convention, Ramos pricked the party’s power structure for admitting few Hispanic delegates and skewered the right for fostering the anti-immigration Proposition 187. The Wall Street Journal congratulated Ramos for being the first reporter to interview presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore, whose mutual interest in Hispanic voters boosted Ramos’s importance to the viewing audience. He also interviewed U.S. president Bill Clinton, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, Mexican presidents Vicente Fox and Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Pope John Paul II, poet Octavia Paz, and novelists Isabel Allende and Carlos Fuentes. Ramos’s opinions and handsome face have made him influential and well-known. He is also an author; he has published one book per year since 1998: Behind the Mask (Detrás de la Máscara) (1998), What I Saw (Lo Que Vi) (1999), La Otra Cara de América (The Other Face of America) (2000), and A la Caza del León (The Lion Hunt) (2001). The third became a Spanishlanguage bestseller.
Professional Pitfalls and Opportunities Known for his tough questions regardless of the status of his subject, Ramos demanded free and democratic
180 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 elections from Colombian President Ernesto Samper on camera. After further questioning him on alleged kickbacks from drug cartels, Ramos wisely suspended his travel to Colombia. When he considered returning, he received a grotesque funeral spray of flowers as a broad hint at Bogotá’s climate of unwelcome. In a one-on-one interview with Mexican president Salinas de Gortari, Ramos asked whether Gortari had facilitated the assassination of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colossio. When interviewing Latino immigrants and refugees in the United States, Ramos asks questions that elicit stories of courageous emigration from drug havens and the shabby treatment and outright menace in a new homeland that refuses to consider Hispanics equal citizens. As a voice for the disenfranchised, Ramos treats these newcomers with compassion and unfeigned admiration. One event cracked the professional facade of the hard-bitten reporter. On the night of the inauguration of Vicente Fox’s political party in Mexico, Ramos allowed exuberance and joy to surface during the street celebration of the first peaceful Mexican political transition in over 70 years. Among 60,000 natives at El Zócalo plaza, Ramos sang the Mexican national anthem and exulted in his nation’s maturity. At the heart of his emotion was a welcome to new times free of the lying, deception, graft, and assassinations perpetrated by the ousted PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party). Ramos is not limited to writing and newscasting. He has scrapped with the debaters on ABC-TV’s This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts, CNN’s Talk Back Live, Nightline, FOXNEWS, and NBC News. In 1999 he used his fame to establish Becas de Periodismo, a scholarship program promoted by the Latin American Center of Periodismo (CELAP). Limited to high-achieving journalism students from Mexico and Central America, in its first two years the consortium benefited ten people from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Mexico.
Citizen and Champion In his private time Ramos dedicates one hour each morning and evening to writing, spends Saturday mornings playing soccer, and devotes himself to parenting his two children. He admits that his first marriage failed because he put work first. Ramos is rearing two bilingual, bicultural children: Paola, born to his first wife in 1987, and Nicolás, born to his current wife, Lisa, in 1998. Ramos disdained seeking naturalization as a U.S. citizen and suffers the emotional displacement of immigrants who are no longer citizens of their homeland, yet not fully recognized in their adopted country. After Barry Diller, chairman of USA Network, sold his 13 television stations to Univisión in December of
2000, Ramos enjoyed even broader exposure and became even more popular. In June of 2001, he felt secure enough to predict that Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan president, would become Latin America’s next dictator. The next month, Ramos won the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for Excellence in Reporting on Latin America, awarded by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. After these and numerous other honoraria rewarding two decades before the cameras, Ramos rejected a transfer to English-language network news, but still nurtures thoughts of running for public office, either in the United States or Mexico. The main deterrent to his plans for a political career is a lack of common ground among Latino supporters, who think of themselves as Cubans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans first and Hispanics second. In his opinion, family, language, and the pursuit of success far outweigh Latino desire to vote as a block. In October of 2000, Lydia Martin of the Miami Herald reported Ramos’s challenge to smug white Americans: “In July, 2059, whites will become a minority in the United Statesѧ. If the country is unwilling to take a look at itself in the mirror and get over its bigotry and racism, it will eventually decline.” However, Ramos even-handedly reminds Latinos that cultural and economic power do not assure them of clout at the polls. “We have economic power and we have cultural power, but we have to transform that into political power.”
Sources Periodicals Agencia EFE, June 18, 2001. Columbia News, July 5, 2001. Hispanic America, October 3, 2000. Hispanic Trend Magazine, 2000. Latin Trade, January 1, 2002. Más, January-February 1992. Media Week, December 11, 2000. Miami Herald, January 30, 2001; October 8, 2000. Orange County Register, October 2000. Sun Sentinel, June 20, 2001. U. S. News, December 18, 2000. USA Today, August 24, 2001. Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2000. Washington Post, February 18, 2002. On-line http://www.ijnet.org/Archive/2002/1/11-11589 www.jorgeramos. com/loquedicen8.htm http://www.nynatas.org/archives —Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Reyes • 181
Silvestre Reyes 1944— Congressman
Silvestre Reyes is a MexicanAmerican Democratic congressional representative from the 16th District of El Paso, Texas. He is a Vietnam veteran who spent more than 25 years working for the Immigration and Naturalization Services, most notably as the chief of the United States Border Patrol in El Paso. He earned a reputation as an innovative and effective leader by introducing new programs to control illegal immigration along the United StatesMexico border. As a congressman, Reyes has used his expertise on immigration issues to work on legislation related to border security, national security, and military defense. He has also been outspoken on issues affecting Hispanics, and since 2001 he has been the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Silvestre Reyes, known as “Silver” to his friends, was born on November 10, 1944, in Canutillo, Texas, a rural community five miles from El Paso. Reyes, the oldest of ten children and a third-generation Mexican American, was raised in very modest conditions on a farm. Spanish was his first language and he learned English only when he started grade school. As a young boy Reyes helped out on the family farm. One of his jobs was to keep an eye out for border patrol agents
and blow a horn if he spotted them so that the undocumented workers on the farm could hide. As fate would have it, Reyes would grow up to become one of those border patrol agents. As a teenager Reyes worked during the summers as a migrant laborer in California and the lower Rio Grande Valley. In 1966 Reyes joined the military and spent two years fighting in Vietnam. Upon his return to the United States, Reyes used his G.I. Bill benefits to attend college. He graduated with an associate’s degree from El Paso Community College in 1977 and also took some classes at the University of Texas at Austin and at El Paso. During this time Reyes also worked to support his family. Reyes is married to Carolina Gayran Reyes and the couple have raised two girls, Monica and Rebecca, and one boy, Silvestre, Jr.
Joined Immigration and Naturalization Service Reyes spent his entire professional career as a civil servant. In 1969, after ending his military service, Reyes was hired by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). He worked his way up the ranks of this
182 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Silvestre Reyes on November 10, 1944, in
Canutillo, Texas; married Carolina Gayran Reyes;
children: Monica, Rebecca, Silvestre, Jr. Education: El Paso Community College, A.A., 1977. Religion: Roman Catholic. Politics: Democrat. Military Service: Armed Forces, 1966-68. Career: Immigration and Naturalization Service, 196995; Chief of U.S. Border Patrol, 1984-95; U.S. Representative, Texas, 16th District, 1996–. Memberships: Air Force Academy Visitors Board; American Legion; Association of the U.S. Army; AMVETS; Disabled American Veterans; Transatlantic Learning Community; US/Mexico Interparliamentary Group; Veterans of Foreign Wars; Vietnam Veterans of America. Awards: Outstanding Alumnus Award, American Association of Community Colleges, 2001; National Legislative Award, League of United Latin American Citizens, 2002. Address: Office—514 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515-4316.
organization. He spent five years as the assistant regional commissioner for the INS in Dallas. In this position he was responsible for INS activities in 13 states, with a budget of $100 million. From 1984 until his retirement in 1995, Reyes worked as the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol in McAllen, Texas, supervising over 500 employees, and in El Paso, overseeing over 900 employees. El Paso is the largest border community in the United States and it lies just across the international border from the Mexican city of Juarez, Chihuahua. More than 70% of El Paso’s residents are of Mexican origin. According to a December 1994 article in Newsweek, “When Silvestre Reyes took over as El Paso’s Border Patrol Chief last year, the city stood out as an embarrassing symbol of the failure of U.S. immigration policy.” However, Reyes quickly turned that image around, introducing effective border patrol programs such as the Canine Program and the National Anti-Drug School Education Program. However, it was a program called Operation Hold the Line, implemented in 1993, which brought Reyes national acclaim. Until that time border patrol agents had focused on catching illegal immigrants while they were in the United States, rather than trying to keep them out of the United States in the
first place. This led to high profile cases of harassment of Hispanic U.S. citizens by border patrol agents, and it meant that border communities such as El Paso were flooded with illegal immigrants. Reyes changed this approach dramatically by assigning agents to work to prevent aliens from crossing the border in the first place. He secured $300,000 in federal money to keep 400 agents patrolling the twenty miles between El Paso and Juarez. As a result of Operation Hold the Line there was a noticeable decline in the number of illegal immigrants crossing the El Paso-Juarez border. “We’ve made a dramatic impact on the quality of life in El Paso. We’ve cleared the beggars and windshield washers from the intersections. Vehicle thefts are down, home burglaries are down, assaults are down,” Reyes told Texas Monthly in a November 1995 article assessing his program. Some researchers and public officials downplayed the success of the program, arguing that Operation Hold the Line was simply displacing illegal immigration to other border communities, and reporting that many downtown El Paso businesses were suffering because many of their customers were illegal immigrants. Additionally, some publicly criticized Reyes for being a Mexican American who was policing Mexicans, a position which offended Reyes. “I took an oath just like every other officer to uphold the Constitution of the United States,” Reyes told Texas Monthly. “I don’t think there should be a different set of standards for a Hispanic doing this job than there is for an Anglo or a black. We all wear the same uniform; we all exercise the same authority.”
Elected to Congress After leading a successful career in the INS for 25 years and gaining local and national attention for his programs with the El Paso Border Patrol, Reyes retired from the service in 1995 to pursue a political career. “The local press hailed him the Colin Powell of El Paso, a man who stood so high above politics that he must surely want a political career,” the Economist wrote about Reyes in March of 1996. Reyes decided to run as a Democrat for a congressional seat in the House of Representatives for the 16th District, which lies within El Paso County. He campaigned on a moderate platform, urging more spending for education and promoting high-tech jobs, highway development, and capital gains tax cuts. Reyes faced a tough primary election against a candidate who was supported by the unions, but won in a runoff with 51% of the vote. He went on to win the general election, becoming the first Hispanic to represent this district. Reyes went on to win two more elections in 1998 and 2000. “Although Reyes campaigned for the March 12 primary as a pro-life, law-and-order Democrat, his real popularity lies not in what he advocates but in what he personifies: the local Hispanic farm boy who made good, the man who got mainstream society to accept him as an American
Reyes • 183 citizen first and a hyphenated American second,” reported the New Republic in April of 1996. Reyes quickly positioned himself as a leader on immigration issues. After only five months in office, Reyes was one of only three congressmen asked to join President Clinton in a meeting with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. This was a historic meeting, since it was the first time an active United States president had visited Mexico City since 1979. At the meeting leaders discussed border management, drug trafficking, immigration, and transportation issues. In November of 2001 Reyes co-sponsored the Immigration Reform and Accountability Act, which recommended restructuring the INS. “I strongly believe that if we are going to truly improve the way we secure our border and serve future citizens and residents, we must abolish the INS and create one bureau responsible for border enforcement and one bureau responsible for other immigration services,” Reyes explained in a press release regarding the proposed legislation. As a result of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, Reyes has become outspoken on the importance of border security. In response to the passage of a border security bill on May 8, 2002, Reyes said in a press statement, “Securing our homeland is vital, and it is imperative we begin at our borders.” Reyes has also focused his political career on other issues. As he told the Miami Herald in June of 2001, “I also have to work diligently not to get pigeonholed as just the one to see on border issues.” For example Reyes is interested in promoting United StatesMexican relations, particularly with respect to economic development. In a press statement Reyes explained, “With our location at the center of the U.S.Mexico border and ideal position on the established Pan American Highway and Camino Real trade routes, El Paso must become a key artery for commerce between Latin America, the U.S., and Canada.”
Became Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Reyes has also worked to improve education in El Paso, to enhance military defense, particularly at the Army’s Air Defense Training Center at Fort Bliss, to research programs at White Sands Missile Range and Holloman Air Force Base, and to protect veterans’ benefits. He is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Veterans Affairs Committee, and the Special Oversight Panel on Terrorism. He also belongs to numerous caucuses, including the Law Enforcement Caucus, the National Security Caucus, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, the Older Americans Caucus, the Urban Caucus, and the Democratic Caucus Task Force on Education, among others. In September of 2001 he was appointed to the Democratic Caucus Homeland Security Task Force, which has focused on national
security after the September 11th terrorist attacks against the United States. His voting record has reflected his moderate political stance. As Knight-Ridder/ Tribune News Service reported in June of 2001, “He usually votes with his party, but has backed some measures pushed by conservatives, from a ban on so-called ‘partial birth’ abortions to a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration.” In 2001 Reyes became chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), a team of 18 congressional representatives of Hispanic descent working to advance issues that affect the Latino community. For example, the CHC has supported farm worker programs, lobbied for food stamps for illegal immigrants, and fought for bilingual educational services. In 2001 Reyes spoke out against President George W. Bush’s tax cut plan because it would not help most Hispanic families. As Reyes stated in a March 8, 2001, press release, “President Bush’s tax package is fiscally irresponsible and leaves Hispanic families behind. This is not the way to treat the fastest growing minority population in the nation.” In 2002 the CHC announced plans to join forces with the Congressional Black Caucus and the Asian Pacific-American Caucus to work together on health issues, immigration, and campaign finance reform. In addition to his congressional work, Reyes also belongs to several civic organizations, such as the American Legion, AMVETS, Vietnam Veterans of America, Transatlantic Learning Community, and U.S./Mexico Interparliamentary Group. In 2001 Reyes received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the American Association of Community Colleges. In 2002 he received the National Legislative Award for strong leadership as chair of the CHC, from the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization.
Sources Periodicals Christian Science Monitor, April 18, 1996, p. 3. Economist, March 16, 1996, p. 27. Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, June 12, 2001, p. K4756; April 23, 2002. Miami Herald, June 10, 2001. New Republic, April 15, 1996, p. 14. Newsweek, December 5, 1994, p. 34. Texas Monthly, November 1995, p. 22. On-line Hispanic Journal, www.hispanicjournal.com/con gressional/Silvestre_Reyes.html www.house.gov/reyes/bio.htm www.reyesforcongress.com —Janet P. Stamatel
184 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Diego Rivera 1886-1957 Artist
One of the most charismatic, controversial, and creative artists to emerge from the twentieth century, Mexican artist Diego Rivera revived the mural art form and rekindled interest in the folk art of Mexico. Much of the controversy surrounding Diego grew out of his politics. A self-avowed Communist, he nonetheless had no qualms about growing rich off of capitalist clients. Rivera’s personal life was as colorful as his murals. Physically he was imposing, standing over six foot tall and weighing more than 300 pounds most of his adult life. He was married four times—twice to artist Frida Kahlo—and incapable of being faithful. He was opinionated, passionate, and given to weaving his past into fantastical tales of adventure and daring. However, “ѧover and above his fabrications, his nonstop womanizing, his grotesque appearance, his eccentricities, his occasionally outrageous behavior, he was a thoroughly dedicated painter of great skill and phenomenal energy,” a journalist who had befriended Rivera wrote in the Smithsonian.
Began Drawing as a Toddler Diego María Rivera and his twin brother Carlos María
were born on December 8, 1886 in Guanajuato, Mexico. The birth was physically traumatic for the twins’ mother, María del Pilar Barrientos, and she lapsed into a coma and was mistakenly pronounced dead. Fortunately a maid noticed her breathing and María avoided the coffin long enough to recover. Carlos’s fate was not so favorable and he died at fourteen months, leaving Rivera an only child. Rivera’s parents had met while working as schoolteachers together. His father, Diego Rivera Acosta, also held interests in a silver mine, served as a government official, and was the editor of a liberal paper, El Democrata, that called for social reform to help the working poor. This commitment to the plight of the working classes would influence Rivera the rest of his life. Rivera began drawing almost as soon as he could grip a pencil and is quoted in Bertram Wolfe’s The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera as saying, “The earliest memory I have is that I was drawing.” He covered the walls and furniture with his work, prompting his father to give him a room of his own covered with blackboard. There the young Rivera spent hours creating worlds on his walls, a precursor of the muralist he would become.
Rivera • 185
At a Glance . . .
B
orn on December 8, 1886, in Guanajuato,
Mexico; son of María del Pilar Barrientos and
Diego Rivera Acosta; died on November 24, 1957, in Mexico City, Mexico; married, common law, Angelina Beloff; married Guadalupe Marin, 1922, divorced 1927; married Frida Kahlo, 1929, divorced 1939, remarried 1940; married Emma Hurtado, 1955; children: (with Beloff) Diego Jr. (died 1918); (with Marevna Vorobyov-Stebelska) Marika; (with Marin) Lupe and Ruth. Education: San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts, Mexico City, 1896-1906. Politics: Communist. Career: Artist, muralist. First one-man exhibition, Berthe Weill Gallery, Paris, 1914; under contract, Galerie L’Effort Moderne, Paris, 1917-21; one-man retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1931; numerous mural commissions throughout Mexico and the United States, 1922-53; director, San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts, Mexico City, 1929; portraitist, throughout his career completed commissions for private and public patrons; illustrator, Canto General by Pablo Neruda, 1950. Memberships: Joins Mexican Communist Party,192225, 1926-29, readmitted 1954; founding member, Union of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors, 1922; founding member, National Institute of Fine Arts’ Commission for Mural Painting, Mexico, 1947.
In 1891 the Riveras had a daughter, María, and two years later the family moved to Mexico City. There Rivera fell ill with scarlet fever and typhoid. During his convalescence a great-aunt taught him to read and write. He began to devour his father’s books and by eight years old asked to attend school. His mother insisted on Catholic school and off Rivera went, only to be kicked out of catechism studies for expressing sacrilegious doubt about the virgin birth of Jesus. In 1896 at the age of eleven, Rivera began to attend night classes at the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts. For two years he attended elementary school during the day and art school in the evening. In 1898 he transferred to San Carlos full time. In 1906 Rivera finished his formal training and showed 26 of his works at the final student exhibit. His talent caught the attention of the governor of Veracruz who arranged for Rivera to study art in Europe. As Rivera was preparing to leave, a textile workers’ strike broke
out. The government opened fire on the unarmed workers, killing hundreds. Though no evidence exists showing Rivera’s involvement in this uprising, years later he spun the incident into his own history telling of how he joined the workers, was injured by a saber, and was arrested.
Arrived in Europe as a Young Man Upon arriving at the Madrid studio of Spanish painter Eduardo Chicharro, Rivera recalled in his autobiography My Art, My Life, “I was a dynamo of energy. As soon as I located Chicharro’s studio I set up my easel and started to paint. For days on end I painted from early dawn till past midnight.” Though he didn’t produce any work of merit during his years in Spain, he did begin to master technique. In 1909 Rivera moved to Paris. There he began a relationship with Angelina Beloff, a Russian painter six years his senior. Though they would stay together for twelve years, Beloff told Wolfe, “His painting was all he ever lived for, and though he loved me for a few years and then other women, his painting was all he ever truly and deeply loved.” At the invitation of Governor Dehesa, Rivera returned to Mexico to take part in the 1910 centennial celebrations of Mexico’s independence. He showed forty works at his alma mater San Carlos and the wife of Mexico’s President Porfirio Diaz bought six of them. During the midst of this artistic success, a movement to overthrow Diaz began and peasant bands of insurgents rose throughout Mexico led by men such as Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. Though the only link between Rivera and the uprising was timing, Rivera later told friends and biographers that he had ridden with Zapata’s militants for five months. By 1911 Rivera was back in Paris living with Beloff in the bohemian section of Paris called Montparnasse. He was surrounded by artists and philosophers of the day including Piet Mondrian, Amadeo Modigliani, and Pablo Picasso. There Rivera embraced Cubism. “Everything about the movement fascinated and intrigued me. It was a revolutionary movement, questioning everything that had been said and done in art,” Rivera was quoted in Patrick Marnham’s, Dreaming With His Eyes Open. After six years in Europe, his foray into Cubism garnered Rivera his first financial success, selling many works at his first one-man show and acquiring a dealer. When World War I broke out Rivera was in Spain. Returning to Paris in 1915, he found the art community in ruins. The galleries were shuttered and there was no longer a market for art. He and Beloff lived off of government subsidies and the assistance of friends. It was in these dire straits in 1916 that Beloff bore Rivera a son, Diego Jr. The child died fourteen months later. During Beloff’s pregnancy, Rivera had begun an affair with another Russian painter, Marevna Vorobyov-
186 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Stebelska, who in 1919 also bore Rivera a child. During this same period his art was gaining prominence and he participated in a Cubist retrospective in New York. However, his time as a Cubist was coming to an end. He had a fist fight with a prominent art critic and was a central figure in high profile arguments regarding the nature of the movement. Finally in 1917, he abandoned the movement after seeing a pushcart laden with ripe fruit. “Look at those marvels, and we make such trivia and nonsense,” Marnham quoted Rivera as telling Beloff. In 1920 Rivera was awarded a stipend from the Mexican government to study in Italy. There he discovered the art form that would become synonymous with his name—wall frescoes. A difficult medium, fresco requires the application of paint directly onto wet plaster. An artist working in fresco must paint quickly and be sure of his technique and ability. Rivera would prove to be a master.
Returned to Mexico, Became a Muralist Upon returning to Mexico in 1921, Rivera was invited by the Minister of Education to participate in the new government’s cultural plan to bring art to the people by decorating public spaces. Rivera began his first mural at National Preparatory School in Mexico City. Though not his best work, the resultant mural presaged Rivera’s movement towards his own unique vision. An article in Los Angeles Magazine summed up this conversion. “Suddenly, in work done after his return to Mexico in 1921, he was Diego. The draftsmanship became bolder and more confident. His palette was brighter, full of reds and earth browns and the azure of the Mexican sky. And he found his essential subject matter in the handsome, blocky faces of the Indians of Mexico. It was as if he had spent more than a decade trying on other peoples clothes and speaking other people’s languages. At last he had come home.” 1922 was a busy year for Rivera. In June he married Guadalupe Marin, with whom he would have two daughters. He began to solidify his political beliefs, joining the Mexican Communist Party and co-founding the Revolutionary Union of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors. He also began a massive undertaking at the Ministry of Education. Rivera was to paint nearly 17,000 square feet. With a team of other muralists, he vigorously began the project. Despite his Communist ideals Rivera became a tyrant during the project, subverting and even destroying the work of his colleagues. In 1924 political unrest caused Rivera’s benefactor, the Minister of Education to resign. Though conservative groups called for the cessation of the mural projects, Rivera managed to obtain the new Minister’s favor and he remained the only muralist employed by the government. The project was finally completed in 1928. It is a vividly colorful example of
Rivera’s genius, rife with his favorite imagery—preHispanic civilization, Indian life, and peasants at work and at play.
Capitalist Art and Communist Politics Over the next several years Rivera received numerous government commissions and his reputation as an acclaimed muralist grew. However, the Communist Party felt his work for the government was in contradiction to their political beliefs and he was expelled from the party in 1929. Conversely, the public often decried his suitability as a government painter because of his Communist background. Despite these controversies Rivera persevered, even becoming famous because of them. Throughout the 1920s he completed prominent public murals including those at the Agricultural College at Chapingo and the National Palace. In 1927, after five stormy years of marriage, Rivera and Marin separated. Two years later he married Frida Kahlo, a dedicated Communist and a talented painter nearly twenty years his junior. She would become not only his greatest love, but also a well-respected artist in her own right. As a government employee, Rivera made very little money. To supplement his income he sold paintings to wealthy North Americans. Soon he began accepting mural commissions north of the border. In 1931 he completed two major murals in San Francisco. One, “Allegory or California” painted for the Pacific Stock Exchange, invoked the ire of the Communist press who derided Rivera for being an agent of North American Imperialism. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, controversy raged because a card-carrying Communist foreigner was chosen over a home-grown American artist to create a work celebrating capitalist glory. The furor kept Rivera’s name in the papers but did not stop his work.
Success and Defeat North of the Border Rivera began to experience international fame in the 1930s beginning with a one-man retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in the fall of 1931. It was a spectacular success drawing nearly 57,000 spectators and cementing Rivera’s role as one of the twentieth century’s greatest living artists. He was soon offered a commission to paint the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Funded by Edsel Ford, Rivera began painting on July 25, 1932 and the finished work was unveiled in March of the following year. According to Smithsonian, “Engineers inspecting [the murals] expressed amazement at the sophisticated selection of key elements and the fidelity of reproduction. Nonmechanical viewers were surprised at the way in which Rivera could make turbines, conveyor belts and stamp-
Rivera • 187 ing machines look sensual.” Now considered unrivaled masterpieces, at the time of their completion the frescoes caused conservative groups to immediately call for the murals’ dismantling, calling them “unpatriotic,” “pornographic,” and “Communistic.” Meanwhile, union workers volunteered to protect the murals which accurately depicted the inner workings of an auto plant and celebrated the laborers. In the end, Edsel Ford defended the work, ensuring its safety and ending the controversy. While still working in Detroit, Rivera was hired to paint a mural in the new RCA Building at the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. The theme was “Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future.” Other than the title, Rivera expected to have full artistic control. One of the earliest sections completed showed Soviet workers at a May Day celebration in Moscow. This prompted one journalist to write a critical review of the work in the entitled “Rivera Paints Scenes of Communist Activity and John D. Jr. Foots Bill.” The Rockefellers became uneasy. Unease turned to anger a month later when a Rivera included a portrait of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. The Rockefellers asked Rivera to remove the figure. When Rivera offered instead to include Abraham Lincoln as a balance to the Soviet leader, correspondence ended. Rivera was asked to stop painting. The media went wild with the story debating issues of censorship and patriotism. Crowds of Rivera supporters and detractors descended on the site daily. Finally Rivera was dismissed. He soon lost other mural commissions in the United States and returned defeated to Mexico in 1934. That February, under cover of night, workers wielding axes were dispatched to destroy the fresco.
Divorced, Remarried, Finally Lost Frida Kahlo
of Mexico and featured Rivera as a small boy in the center with Kahlo’s hand on his shoulder and his childhood mentor, engraver José Guadalupe Posada, nearby. Meanwhile, Kahlo was increasingly ill and spent most of 1950 in the hospital. One of the couple’s last outings together was a 1954 demonstration against the CIA. A few weeks later Kahlo died of a drug overdose widely considered to have been a suicide. Rivera was devastated. “Too late,” he was quoted in Marnham’s book, “I realized the most wonderful part of my life had been my love for Frida.” In 1955, after a diagnosis of cancer, Rivera married his art dealer Emma Hurtado. His health deteriorated rapidly and on November 24, 1957 he died quietly of heart failure. He had given explicit instructions that upon his death his ashes be mixed with those of Kahlo. Instead the government of Mexico chose to inter his remains in Mexico City’s famous Rotunda of Illustrious Men. To Mexico Rivera bequeathed Anahuacalli and his and Kahlo’s art studios, all of which are national museums today. However it is his body of work that is his true gift. He not only achieved his goal of bringing art to the people of Mexico, but also brought the art of Mexico to the world. Wrote Wolfe, “His eye and hand taught outsiders and Mexicans alike to see a Mexico which until then escaped their vision.” It is a Mexico that continues to inspire today.
Selected works Ministry of Education, Mexico City, 1923-28. Agricultural School, Chapingo, Mexico, 1924-27. Palacio Nacional, History of Mexico, 1928-29. Pacific Stock Exchange, San Francisco, CA, 1931. Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, 1932-33. Rockefeller Center, New York, NY, 1932-33 (destroyed). Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City, 1934. City College, San Francisco, CA, 1940.
Back in Mexico, Rivera turned increasingly to easel painting though he did complete several unfinished murals at the National Palace and recreated the Rockefeller mural at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City. During the 1930s and 1940s, his and Kahlo’s relationship endured many difficulties and mutual infidelities. In 1939 the couple separated, yet re-wed the following year. They remained politically active during this time and gave refuge to exiled Soviet activist Leon Trotsky. In 1941 Rivera began to build Anahuacalli, an Aztecstyle pyramid designed to house his large collection of pre-Hispanic Mexican art.
Sources
Rivera continued to receive commissions throughout Mexico during the 1940s and 1950s, including what is considered one his greatest works, “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park,” commissioned for the Hotel del Prado in 1947. The work depicted the history
Los Angeles Magazine, January 1997. People Weekly, February 12, 1996. Smithsonian, February 1986.
Books Marnham, Patrick, Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera, 1998. Rivera, Diego with Gladys March, My Art, My Life, 1960. Wolfe, Bertram D., The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera, 1963. Periodicals
—Candace LaBalle
188 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Jennifer Rodriguez 1976— Olympic speed skater
Jennifer Rodriguez was the first Hispanic-American to win a medal in the Winter Olympic Games. She first won acclaim as an in-line skater before switching to ice speedskating. She competed in the 1998 Nagano Olympics and at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. In Salt Lake City, she won two bronze medals.
Turned to Ice Skating from Roller Skating The daughter of a Cuban father and an American mother, Jennifer Rodriguez grew up in Miami, Florida. Her father, Joe Rodriguez, left Cuba as a young teen in the early 1960s in order to make a fresh start in the United States. Jennifer began roller skating as a young girl, and when she was 16, she won five gold medals and a bronze medal at the 1992 Junior World Championships. She is the only roller skater ever to win medals in both artistic skating and racing. In 1996 Rodriguez’s boyfriend, K.C. Boutiette, a threetime Olympian speedskater and former in-line skater, convinced her to try speedskating. She moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the U.S. Olympic Speedskating Team trained. Less than 18 months later, she became a member of the team.
However, it was not always easy. Boutiette told Charean Williams of the Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, “I just had to really help her along and say, ‘You know what? One of these days you’ll see. You’ll start catching on. You’ll get used to your blades, and you’ll be fine.’ One day, she just started accelerating.” Rodriguez told Ellen Cosgrove in Sports Illustrated for Kids that the switch was helped by the fact that the two sports use similar muscles and motions. “I had roller-skated for such a long time. I knew my body very well. That helped with my balance and coordination.” She added that “after two weeks of skating on ice, something just clicked, and it started to be so much fun.” Moving to Milwaukee was a more difficult adjustment because of the cold climate. Rodriguez told Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle, “I really hated it. I was crying every day. It was cold. I didn’t have any [warm] clothes. I wore all of K.C.’s clothes.”
Competed in Nagano Olympics By 1998 Rodriguez had improved enough to compete at the Nagano Olympics. Coach Tom Cushman told
Rodriguez • 189
At a Glance . . .
B
orn June 8, 1976, in Miami, Florida; daughter of
Joe and Barbara Rodriguez; married K.C. Bou-
tiette, April 13, 2002. Education: Florida International School; Carroll College, Waukesha, WI.
1,000 meters even though she slipped in the final turn. In the 1,500 meters she won another bronze medal, though she did become tired in the last lap. The race was difficult because of the high altitude and because the ice was somewhat mushy and slow. Rodriguez told Sports Illustrated For Kids that she is strongest at the beginning of a race: “I’m real aggressive. A lot of times, I get really tired at the end because I give too much in the beginning. My legs are like rocks.”
Career: In-line skater; speedskater. Awards: Five gold medals and one bronze medal, Junior World Rollerskating Championships, 1992; bronze medals, 1,000 meters and 1,500 meters, Salt Lake City Olympics, 2002. Address: Office—c/o U.S. Speedskating, P.O. Box 450639, Westlake, OH 44145.
the Houston Chronicle, “She shocked the speedskating world.” Rodriguez was only the second woman ever to compete in four Olympic speedskating events, and she finished in the top ten in three of them. In the 3,000 meters she came in fourth, just missing the bronze medal. She was the first American woman to compete in four winter events since skater Beth Heiden in 1980. Rodriguez is the first Hispanic-American to compete in the Winter Olympics. She told Sports Illustrated For Kids that she was proud of this fact and noted, “I get a lot of support from the Hispanic population.” She told the Houston Chronicle that she was disappointed that her father spoke only English at home and did not teach her Spanish when she was growing up: “Being a role model and spokesperson for Hispanics is something that’s very important to me.” In 2000 Rodriguez and Boutiette moved to Utah to train at the high altitude where the 2002 Olympic Games would be held. At the U.S. Olympic Trials for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, Rodriguez hoped to qualify to compete in the 1,000-meter, 1,500-meter, 3,000-meter, and 5,000-meter speedskating events. She told the Houston Chronicle, “At the last Games, I was just thrown into the mix. Four years have gone by, and I’ve definitely had my ups and downs since then. I’m definitely on my way back up. Now, instead of just going out to see what I can do, I definitely want to medal.”
Salt Lake City Olympics At the Salt Lake City Olympics, Rodriguez came in seventh in the 3,000 meters and won a bronze in the
Happy with her Olympic performance, Rodriguez told Houston Chronicle’s Justice, “I wanted a medal. I didn’t care what color it was.” She admitted, “I don’t think I’ve ever been more nervous before a race than I was today.” The skater added, “Four years ago, I never thought this was possible. Now I can relax and go snowboarding or hit the slopes.” With her two bronze medals, Rodriguez became the first Hispanic to win two Winter Olympic medals. Although Rodriguez qualified to skate in the 5,000meter race, she opted out of it. The race is long and grueling and is her weakest event. Had she competed in that race, she would have been the only woman at the Games to compete in four events, as she was in 1998 at Nagano. Rodriguez said she hoped to skate for another four years, and plans to compete in the 2006 Olympics in Italy, but added that she would take things one day at a time. Rodriguez commented on the unusual phenomenon of a Hispanic woman from a warm climate excelling in a winter sport, telling Robertson, “Being Cuban, that’s icing on the cake. It’s even stranger being from Miami. It shows that the United States is all about diversity. We’re the biggest melting pot in the world and we have athletes of all different nationalities.” On April 13, 2002, Rodriguez married Boutiette in Miami Beach. She told Justice, “I couldn’t ask for anything better than to have my best friend on the ice with me.ѧ He and I are on the same wavelength.” Modest about her accomplishments, Rodriguez told Linda Robertson of the Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service that success in sports “all fades away very quickly. You’re in the spotlight for five minutes.” However, she also said that she wished there were more speedskating rinks around the country, so more young people could be exposed to the sport.
Sources Periodicals Houston Chronicle, February 20, 2002, p. 4; February 21, 2002, p. 4. Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, February 6, 2002, p. K2312; February 8, 2002, p. K3101;
190 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 February 11, 2002, p. K3365; February 16, 2002, p. K3926; February 17, 2002, pp. K4060, K4062; February 20, 2002, pp. K4330, K4355, K4358, K4397. Sports Illustrated for Kids, January 2, 2002, p. 45. On-line U.S. Speedskating, www.usspeedskating.org —Kelly Winters
Romero • 191
Alejandro Romero 1948— Painter and muralist
The epic art of the Mexican muralist school meets the pulsating energy of Latin American neighborhood streets in the works of Alejandro Romero, one of the best-known and most visible Hispanic visual artists in the United States. Trained in Mexico, Romero moved to Chicago in 1975 and began to adorn that city with murals, posters, and conventional paintings. His emotionally intense works, influenced by European expressionism as well as by Mexican styles, take up a variety of themes—music, the pre-Columbian past, the containment of natural human impulses by the strictures of modern society, the relationship between Mexico and North America, and others—fusing them into a complex and powerful personal vision. Alejandro Romero was born in the Mexican state of Tabasco, near Veracruz, in 1948, but grew up and attended school in Mexico City. The family lived in the Tepeyac district, known in Mexican religious history as the site of the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe. His mother, who had studied architecture in her younger days, bought him an easel when he was 15 and encouraged him to become an artist. “But,” Romero told Hispanic magazine, “I became an artist because it was something in me.” Indeed, Romero’s nine siblings all displayed a creative streak, and Romero has worked with some of them on creative projects over the course of his career.
Worked in Muralist’s Workshop Romero enrolled in 1967 at Mexico City’s Academy of San Carlos, where his mother had studied before him.
In his four years at San Carlos, Romero came into contact with many of the giants of Mexican art—Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and Juan O’Gorman, among others. The greatest impact came from the politically radical muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, in whose workshop Romero studied in 1969 and 1970. Romero told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that he was merely “an assistant to an assistant” to Siqueiros, but he had already met that master of Mexican social realism when he was six years old—Siqueiros patronized a pharmacy owned by Romero’s maternal grandmother. In the early 1970s Romero worked for an advertising agency, did freelance photography work, immersed himself in music, and took short art courses when he could; he studied in Paris, at the Art School of Vincennes, the Artists’ Collective in Taos, New Mexico, and the Art Institute of Chicago. His move to Chicago at the end of 1975 was motivated by a search for professional opportunities akin to those of the thousands of other Mexicans who came northward; the number of artists making a living off their works in Mexico was and remains low. Living in the United States, however, led Romero to rededicate himself to his cultural roots. “In Mexico the spirit of the culture is being eroded,” he told Hispanic. “Through art, I help to preserve the most important elements of my culture.” Romero settled in the Pilsen neighborhood on Chicago’s near South Side, long the nerve center of the city’s Mexican community. His presence there helped stimulate the opening of an art
192 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn near Veracruz, Mexico, in 1948; grew up in
Mexico City. Education: Studied art at Academy
of San Carlos, Mexico City, 1967-71; also studied at Art School of Vincennes, the Artists’ Collective in Taos, New Mexico, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Religion: Roman Catholic. Career: Worked for advertising agency and as freelance photographer, early 1970s; moved to Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, 1975; created first of more than 75 event posters shown in Chicago area, 1979;
American working class, shows Romero’s debt to the sweeping historical vistas seen in the works of the great Mexican muralists. Though his art is rooted in Chicago and in his Mexican homeland, Romero has attracted international attention in the art world. In 1985 alone his works were exhibited in group shows in Canada, England, Japan, and the former Yugoslavia as well as in California, and his work has been the subject of individual exhibitions in England and Italy, among other places. In 1996 Romero’s work was included in a historical retrospective of art made by Chicagoans at the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art, helping to bridge the gap between the the world of experimental contemporary art and the cultures of ethnic communities.
numerous group and individual exhibitions of paintings, 1980s and 1990s; works shown in Canada, England, Japan, and the former Yugoslavia in 1985 alone; active as muralist, 1980s–; sculpture of Virgin of Guadalupe installed, S. 9th and Washington streets, Milwaukee, WI, 2000. Addresses: Gallery—Ro Gallery, 47-15 36th St., Long Island City, NY 11101; Gallery website—http:// www.rogallery.com.
gallery and later Chicago’s only museum devoted to Latin American art.
Created Posters In 1979 Romero first gained wide recognition in what would become one of this most characteristic media: the event-based poster. He has created images for more than 75 posters displayed in the Chicago area, including those for such major events as the Chicago Jazz Festival. The posters fit with the populist aspect of Romero’s aims—“A lot of people can’t buy my paintings, but they can afford posters,” he pointed out to Hispanic—but they were also ideally suited to his style, which tends toward both high impact and complexity. The intense colors of his works attract the viewer’s attention to a poster, but his paintings tend to contain multiple elements that may embody various responses to the theme of the event being advertised. Romero is likewise well known for his murals, of which he has executed at least eight in the United States and Mexico. One Romero mural, “I’ve Known Rivers,” covers the walls of a pedestrian tunnel leading to the terminals of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport; another, commissioned by the Chicago Historical Society, depicts the history of the labor movement in Chicago. That work, traversing a span of time from the 19th-century Haymarket Riot to the city’s modern Mexican-
Influenced by European Expressionists Exhibiting in the public form of the mural has not lessened the demand for Romero’s paintings, which sell in the $9,000 range. Often large in format, they are notable for the range of themes they address, his instantly recognizable overall style marked by bright colors, and the use of every inch of the canvas to pack in figures and details that complement the main subject. Romero has linked his style to that of the Expressionist movement in early 20th-century Europe, an artistic development that prized emotion and sheer intensity of experience. “Expressionism is exalting reality and taking it one step beyond,” Romero told Hispanic. Some of his paintings depict Mexican or MexicanAmerican musicians in a way reminiscent of the classic African-American artists who evoked the world of jazz; other works with musical themes, such as a poster created for Pilsen’s Fiesta del Sol, treat musicians more abstractly, as part of a complex of cultural forces. Many of Romero’s works reinterpret well-known themes of Western culture: Greek myth or Christian images. One painting of the Minotaur, the bull-human hybrid of Greek legend pursued by Theseus the hunter, was exhibited at the Pilsen neighborhood’s Prospectus gallery in 1995. Romero told the Chicago Sun-Times that he considered the man-bull the hero of the myth, striving to escape the shackles of the so-called civilized world. Romero’s works are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Latin American Art in Washington, D.C., and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, among other major institutions. In the year 2000 he executed a sculptural commission for a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, street corner: a life-size image of the Virgin of Guadalupe with a sheet of steel for the radiant aura that traditionally surrounds the Virgin in visual representations. The work seemed to strike off in new directions, but, as he told Hispanic
Romero • 193 a decade earlier, his work was in constant development. “The opportunity to freely express myself every day of my life is a great privilege,” he said. “I’ve never regretted it. There is always the pleasure of seeing the continuation and evolution of my work.”
Sources Periodicals Chicago Sun-Times, November 10, 1995, p. 31. Hispanic, August 1989, p. 11. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, September 30, 1998, p. Cue-2; September 17, 2000, p. B3. Wisconsin State Journal, November 1, 1992, p. H2. On-line http://www.ohare.com/events/romero.shtm http://www.rogallery.com —James M. Manheim
194 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Poncho Sánchez 1951— Jazz percussionist, vocalist
A classic conguero, Poncho Sánchez, a giant on the Latin jazz scene, has developed into salsa’s elder statesman. Sánchez, a Chicano from Texas, taught himself guitar and congas, and gained experience singing with a teen band, but found himself shut out of opportunities to play with Cubans and Puerto Ricans, who considered themselves the sole heirs of salsa. At age 23 he found a mentor, vibraphonist Cal Tjader, and was able to make his own way to the top, gig by gig. His open, inclusive style has survived over three decades of constant travel, annual recordings, percussion workshops, and absorption in new trends, new performers, and the tastes of his fans. Internationally acclaimed by percussionists and jazz aficionados, Sánchez became a leading player and producer of a consistent string of hit albums layering Latin jazz, Afro-Cuban, salsa, bop, funk, and rhythm and blues.
was from the northern Mexico region of Vallecillo, Nuevo Leon, and his father, who was from Matalsas, Jalisco, also in Mexico, sang regularly in their church choir. At home there was the radio—zesty, engaging mariachi, mambo, and cumbia music played by disc jockey Chico Cesno on Los Angeles’s only Latin radio station—to accompany the daily rhythms of adults and children.
A Home Filled with Music
Like adding ingredients to a pungent stew, Sánchez acquired dollops of musical heritage, based on the Mexican traditions of his parents. As a child, he observed his sisters dancing and lip-syncing to the Afro-Cuban beat of Machito, Tito Puente, and Cal Tjader. In this same period, a counter rhythm from the Sánchez brothers added doo-wop, rock, and rhythm and blues. On his own, Sanchez tuned into the hard bop of the Jazz Crusaders and to the era’s greats—Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, and Thelonious Monk—who formed the foundation for his immersion in jazz fundamentals.
Though Sánchez was born on October 30, 1951, in Laredo, Texas, he grew up in Norwalk, California. Sánchez was the youngest of 11 children. He attended Grayland Avenue Elementary School. His mother, who
By age 12 Sánchez was on his way toward a career in music. He raised 50 cents for a guitar and practiced daily to impress the Halos, a teen R&B band that rehearsed across the street. His guitar playing re-
Sánchez • 195
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Poncho Sánchez on October 30, 1951, in
Laredo, Texas; married, wife’s name Stella.
Career: Lead vocalist, the Halos, 1966-71; lead vocalist, Young Set, 1969; conguera, Cal Tjader’s band, 1975-82; conguera and lead vocalist, Poncho Sanchez Latin Octet, 1980–; recording contract, Discovery, 1980-82; recording contract, Concord Picante, 1982–; filmed performance at the Biltmore Bowl, Los Angeles, CA, Cinemax, 1989. Awards: Grammy Award, 1999, best Latin recording, for Latin Soul. Address: Office—Berkeley Agency, 2608 Ninth Street, Ⲇ301, Berkeley, CA 94710.
mained mediocre, but in 1966 the band invited him to do their lead vocals. That same year he began playing timbales, which his father made for him, and later added the chekere. Until he reached age 17, he was the Halos’ lead vocalist.
Poncho and the Conga Fortunately Sánchez remained open to a new thrill— his maiden tap on conga drums. His father bought the first drum; a second one was his own purchase, with money saved from singing with the Halos. Enthralled, he thumped congas along with his siblings’ records. At Los Angeles’s Griffith Park, he attempted to join the Sunday morning drummers, but was met with rebuffs from Cubans and Puerto Ricans until he proved himself worthy of the staunch Latino traditionalists. One of his earliest career contacts was with the Five Ortiz Brothers, who later developed their own 14-man salsa band, Son Mayor, which showcased bongos and the tres, a six-string acoustic guitar. Like most young dreamers, Sánchez filled the garage with practice sets to recordings of the musica Latina of his day. In 1969 he sang with the Young Set at his brother’s wedding, one of many chances to play before an audience. In December of 1975, at Concerts by the Sea, a jazz club in Redondo Beach, a friend got him an introduction to his hero, Cal Tjader. When Tjader’s conga master left, Sanchez competed with other percussionists for the position. After the first audition, Tjader invited him to sit in at a Coconut Grove engagement for New Year’s Eve, opposite scat singer Carmen McRae. That night expanded into a sevenyear commitment to Tjader’s band, which ended on
May 5, 1982, when Tjader died in the Philippines at age 57.
Sánchez on His Own Primed and ready, Sánchez was eager to slip into contention for the role of the music world’s chief Latin jazz artist. Since 1980 he had been grooming his band, the Latin Octet, which was headquartered in Los Angeles and played supper clubs and public concerts. He recorded two discs on the Discovery label and aired his own sound when Tjader’s group vacationed. Not long before Tjader died, he suggested to Carl Jefferson, founder of Concord Picante recordings, that he ink a contract with Sánchez. The resulting deal brought Sánchez an annual recording. In 1999 the album Latin Soul opened with “El Conguero,” revisited bop with “Ican,” and honored Mongo Santamaria with “Watermelon Man.” Winning a Grammy nomination, the CD snagged the award for best Latin recording. Sánchez’s infectious good spirits and dedication to music have brought him additional opportunities and friendships. In 1989 Cinemax filmed his performance with Cuban drummer Armando Peraza and Mexican guitarist Carlos Santana at the Biltmore Bowl in Los Angeles. That same year, Sánchez employed athlete Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to compose liner notes for his Chile Con Soul album. Three years later, Sánchez appeared with comedian Bill Cosby at the Playboy Jazz Festival. On February 15, 1994, the mayor of Laredo appointed Sánchez the honorary President of the Republic of the Rio Grande. In 1996 he and his wife, Stella, appeared alongside then-Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper at a reception honoring the first decade of the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz. Throughout his rise to stardom, Sánchez never forgot the roots of his success, which Jesse “Chuy” Valera, a reviewer for JazzTimes, summarized in a cover headline, “All Hail the New King of Latin Jazz!” In 1995 Sánchez publicly saluted Tjader, his late friend, former employer, and guiding star. The tribute recording, Soul Sauce, was a well-crafted thank-you. It included reprises of Tjader favorites—“Poinciana Cha Cha,” “I Showed Them,” and the title song —blended with a Sánchez farewell to Tjader, “Song For Cal,” with vibist Ruben Estrada subbing for the old master. The jazz world took note of Sánchez’s humility and gratitude.
Still Jammin’ In 1998 Sánchez’s eight-man ensemble recorded Latin Bit, which critics admired for its soulful melody, pulsing beat, and creative title song, written by jazz keyboard artist Joe Sample. Combining the talents of guest saxophonist Wilton Felder and trombonist Wayne Henderson, the collection kept up an appealing mix, from cha-cha, mambo, and rhumba to slower, bluer danceables. To Carla Hay of Billboard, Sánchez de-
196 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 scribed the uniqueness of his south-of-the-border sound: In an era of hard rock, he used no synthesizers, no rock guitars, no drums. His music remains pure Latin. In 2000, for his twentieth recording, Sánchez released a groundbreaking 14-track CD, Soul of the Conga, which earned a rave review from reviewer Michael Stone of Rhythm magazine. One explanation of the CD’s popularity was Sánchez’s collaboration with Joey DeFrancesco, master of the Hammond B-3 organ. The Sánchez-DeFrancesco merger warmed up during a three-week preliminary gig at Yoshi’s, a jazz house and Japanese restaurant at Jack London Square in Oakland, California. To Jason Koransky, an interviewer for Down Beat, Sánchez remarked, “We just ran the tunes down two or three times and recorded. It was loose and fresh. We had a great time with Joey in the studio.” Although Sánchez had never combined his sound with an organ before, the solid performance moved National Public Radio reviewer Alfredo Alvarado to applaud the results and comment that Sánchez “has not lost his touch for the music he loves.” In 2001, bolstered by his old friends the Five Ortiz Brothers (verify group with all music.com), Sánchez produced an eclectic recording which pulled together sounds both old and new. Latin Spirits paired “Sambia,” a festive Machito piece from the early 1950s, with Chick Corea’s latest Afro-Iberian keyboarding on the folkloric solo “Ju Ju.” Backing up the core of salsa vocals Sánchez-style were pianist David Torres and trombonist Francisco Torres, with Sal Cracchiolo on trumpet, Ramon Banda on timbales, Scott Martin on sax, and Fernando Torres on trombone. The recording added Torres and Dale Spalding on vocals, with Jose “Papo” Rodriguez shadowing Sánchez’s melody line and percussion. Sánchez revved up the suite with his rendition of “Quieres Volver” and segued into the romantic vocals of “Cosas Del Alma.”
Sánchez on the Road Still playing with three original members of his band— Ramone and Tony Banda and Sal Cracchiolo— Sánchez has managed a busy career that has kept him on the road, from the Aladdin Resort in Las Vegas to the new Blue Note Club, from the Newport Jazz Festival and a musicians’ clinic at the University of Tennessee to the Hollywood Bowl and the Detroit Opera House. In an essay posted on his website, which was mounted by his son, computer whiz Xavier Sánchez, Poncho remarked, “I’m proud to say that we have stuck to the basic fundamentals and the roots which are very important to us.” To keep his act fresh and non-repetitive, he has maintained a 200-song travel book, inviting his players to choose each night’s feature ballad and a crowd-pleasing mix of dance rhythms. He has maximized family time by scheduling long weekends of work, returning to Norwalk on Mondays to his wife.
Sánchez shows no signs of slowing down. When trombonist Francisco Torres decided he wanted to extend his three years with Sánchez to twenty, Sánchez jovially wondered out loud whether he would be able to thunder out his signature hand rhythms for another two decades. To questions about his trademark flat-top cap, he refuted suggestions that it covers a bald spot. For his personal appearances, the hat, beard, and burly torso are all parts of the conguero that fans expect to see. Still in demand around the globe for jazz jams and student tutorials, Sánchez has continued to promote Latin jazz, and to advise young aspiring percussionists to stay focused on music and practice with electronic instructional aids. He added to their choices in March of 2002 with Poncho Sánchez’s Conga Cookbook, a print guide to standard riffs and Afro-Cuban rhythms. He keeps a backlog of innovative ideas for developing American-style Latin jazz as an egalitarian music for everybody. The website “Salsa Creations” quoted his belief: “If you feel Latin jazz in your heart and love it as much as I do, it doesn’t matter where you’re from.”
Selected discography Sonando, 1982. Bien Sabroso, 1983. El Conquero, 1985. Papa Gato, 1986. Fuerte, 1988. Chile con Soul, 1989. Cambios, 1990. Familia, 1990. A Night at Kimball’s East,1991. El Mejor, 1992. A Night with Poncho Sánchez Live, 1993. Para Todos, 1994. Soul Sauce, 1995. Baila Mi Gente: Salsa!, 1996. Conga Blue, 1996. Freedom Sound, 1997. Afro-Cuban Fantasy, 1998. Latin Bit, 1998. Latin Soul, 1999. Soul of the Conga, 2000. Baila Baila, 2001. Keeper of the Flame, 2001. Latin Spirits, 2001.
Sources Books Berendt, Joachim-Ernst, The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to Fusion and Beyond, 6th ed., Lawrence & Hill, 1992. Periodicals Billboard, October 28, 2000. Culver City Life, June 1999.
Sánchez • 197 Down Beat,, March 1996; March 1998; April 2001; April 2002. Fortune, November 12, 2001. Yale Bulletin and Calendar, July 27, 2001. On-line http://www.concordrecords.com/bios/sanchez.html http://www.cuconcerts.org/sanchez.html. Latin Jazz Club, http://www.latinjazzclub.com/Latin JazzKing.html Latin Jazz Network, http://www.latinjazznet.com/re views/events/poncho_sanchez.htm Salsa Creations, http://www.members.aol.com/cin tio1/page12.html NPR Jazz Reviews, http://www.nprjazz.org/reviews/ psanchez.cd.html Poncho Sánchez Official website, http://www.ponch osanchez.com Other Additional information for this profile were obtained through the Berkeley Agency. —Mary Ellen Snodgrass
198 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Arturo Sandoval 1949— Jazz trumpeter
Described respectively by reviewers in Billboard as “pushing the limits of his instrument,” in The All Music Guide as “technically flawless,” and in the Baltimore Sun as “a powerhouse,” jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval ranked among Cuba’s most exciting musical exports of the late twentieth century. As founder and member of the Cuban supergroup Irakere, Sandoval attracted international attention in the 1970s and 1980s in spite of the limitations on contact with the outside world put in place by Cuba’s Communist dictatorship. Since coming to the United States in 1989, Sandoval has been a fixture of the Latin jazz circuit and has broadened his musical reach into new areas. Sandoval was born on November 6, 1949, in Havana, Cuba, and grew up in the nearby small town of Artemisa. The son of an auto mechanic, he was, as he told London’s Financial Times, “a musician in a non-musical family.” He dropped out of school at age twelve, taught himself to play the trumpet, and joined a local ensemble, playing the traditional Cuban music called son, the Afro-Cuban hybrid that underlies many contemporary Latin styles. When he was lucky enough to be able to lay hands on a piano, a rarity in des-
perately poor rural Cuba, he worked on that instrument as well.
Studied Classical Trumpet Sandoval worked hard and persevered through the musical-instrument shortage and the general hardship that arose with U.S. attempts to destabilize Fidel Castro’s Communist government through covert military action and an ongoing trade embargo. When he was fifteen he won a scholarship to study at the National School for the Arts in Havana. The curriculum there consisted of classical music, however, with all other genres off limits; Sandoval’s teacher was a Russian orchestral trumpeter. After three years of classical study Sandoval felt himself at a disadvantage when he joined a large Havana jazz band with a six-piece trumpet section. His conservatory stint paid big dividends in terms of sheer technique. When the great U.S. jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie visited Cuba and became friends with Sandoval in 1977, the Cuban trumpeter, who idolized Gillespie’s playing, was amazed when the aging Gillespie asked him for technical instruction. Founding
Sandoval • 199
At a Glance . . .
B
orn November 6, 1949, in Havana, Cuba; father
was an auto mechanic; married Marianela, 1975;
children: Arturo, Jr. Education: Studied classical trumpet at Cuban National School of the Arts. Military: Served in Cuban military. Career: Played in Cuban nightclub ensembles and in Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna, 1960s; cofounded band Irakere with Paquito D’Rivera and Chucho Valdes, 1973; formed own band, 1981; extensive recording career, 1980s and 1990s; defected to the U.S. while on European tour, 1990; Florida International University, appointed professor; became U.S. citizen, 1998; composed score for HBO film of his own life, For Love or Country, 2000. Awards: Grammy awards for Best Latin Jazz Performance, 1995 and 1998; Emmy award for soundtrack to For Love or Country, 2001. Addresses: Home—Miami, FL; Label—GRP Records, 555 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019; Agent— Carolyn McNair Public Relations, 410 W. 53rd St., No. 128C, New York, NY 10019.
Communism. He thought of seeking asylum on foreign trips during this period but held back because of his wife Marianela—whom he had married in 1975 and who was still devoted to the ideals of Cuban Communism— and because of his young son, Arturo Jr. But Sandoval grew disenchanted with the way the Cuban government used Irakere as an advertisement for its own image, and he left the band in 1981, after D’Rivera left for the United States. He formed a band of its own; despite government disapproval he was voted Cuba’s instrumentalist of the year for three years running in the early 1980s. Recording prolifically, Sandoval impressed U.S. reviewers who had been alerted to his music by Gillespie’s advocacy. Scott Yanow of the All Music Guide opined that Sandoval was in “near-miraculous form” on the 1988 release Straight Ahead. “Just listen to him tear through ‘Blue Monk,’ playing in the low register with the speed of an Al Hirt before jumping into the stratosphere like Maynard Ferguson,” Yanow wrote. In 1990 Sandoval joined Gillespie and other musicians on a European tour. Before he left Cuba he joined the Communist Party so that he could improve his chances of bringing his family along. The government agreed, and when the tour reached Rome, Sandoval headed for the U.S. embassy. With Gillespie along for support— Gillespie is reported to have placed a phone call to Vice President Dan Quayle at one critical juncture—he requested and was granted political asylum. Sandoval took up residence in Miami, where he has lived ever since.
Broadened Musical Horizons the band Irakere with saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera and pianist Chucho Valdes in 1973, Sandoval became known for his sheer, unequaled virtuosity. His agile navigation through the trumpet’s difficult upper register is legendary. Nevertheless, the major influence on Sandoval’s playing was not classical music but the progressive jazz movement of the 1940s and 1950s known as bebop. As a teenager Sandoval heard the classic bebop recordings of Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker. “That really hooked me up,” he told the Baltimore Sun. “I said, ‘Wow, this is what I would love to learn.’ And I’m still tryin’”. Irakere’s music evolved into a fiery blend of Cuban rhythms and fabulously accomplished bebop solos, Sandoval’s first and foremost.
Stayed in Cuba for Family’s Sake Hungering for interaction with other musicians, Sandoval was occasionally allowed to travel abroad. Irakere performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall in the late 1970s, and a recording of the concert brought Sandoval the first of his four Grammy awards. Yet Sandoval began to chafe at the musical restrictions of life under
Taking a teaching job at Florida International University, Sandoval plunged into the U.S. music scene; a Baltimore Sun critic quipped that he seemed to be on the road “about 400 days a year.” He reveled in the musical freedom that life in the United States offered, recording, in addition to straight-ahead Latin jazz, an album of classical trumpet concertos (one of them of his own composition) in 1994. A Sandoval concert became a thrilling all-around musical experience, with Sandoval switching at will from trumpet to piano, percussion, and even vocals on occasion. “I don’t want people necessarily relating me to a Latino thing,” Sandoval was quoted as saying in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “My goal in life is to be a musician. I love music, period. For me, the music is only one: A good one.” After living in Miami for six years, Sandoval applied for U.S. citizenship. At first he was turned down, with officials citing the same Communist Party membership that had helped him escape from Cuba in the first place; his application may have been stalled by Cubanexile immigration officials in Miami who were suspicious of his recent association with the Castro government. For the next three years Sandoval endured what
200 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 he described to the Financial Times as a “degrading experience,” as he went through six rounds of questioning. In 1998 Sandoval finally became a U.S. citizen; some observers believed that the administration of jazz-loving president Bill Clinton had helped to grease the wheels.
Swingin’, GRP, 1996. The Best of Arturo Sandoval, Milan/Latino, 1997. Hot House, N-Coded Music, 1998. Americana, N-Coded Music, 1999. L.A. Meetings, Cubop, 2001. My Passion for the Piano, Columbia, 2002.
In 2000 HBO released a film about Sandoval’s life and he was the film’s composer. That film, For Love or Country, featured actor Andy Garcia, whose own family had fled Cuba in the 1960s, as Sandoval. By the first years of the 21st century, Sandoval was something of a living legend. “The trumpet is special,” he told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “You can whisper, you can scream. The trumpet has no limits.” Sandoval’s still-growing legion of fans would agree that in his hands, the instrument’s possibilities indeed seemed limitless.
Sources
Selected discography To a Finland Station, Pablo, 1983. Breaking the Sound Barrier, Chicago Caribbean Arts, 1983. Tumbaito, Messidor, 1986. Straight Ahead, Jazz House, 1988. Flight to Freedom, GRP, 1991. Dreams Come True, GRP, 1993. Arturo Sandoval Plays Trumpet Concertos, GRP, 1994. Danzón, GRP, 1994. Tren Latino, GRP, 1995.
Books Contemporary Musicians, volume 15, Gale, 1995. Periodicals Baltimore Sun, July 12, 2001, p. E1. Billboard, March 19, 1994, p. 12; November 28, 1998, p. 47. Down Beat, June 1994, p. 41. Electronic Media, January 1, 2001, p. 39. Financial Times (London, England), March 10, 2001, p. Off Centre-9. San Diego Union-Tribune, December 6, 2001, p. Night & Day-18. Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), May 24, 2002, p. Lagniappe-25. On-line All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com —James M. Manheim
Saralegui • 201
Cristina Saralegui 1948— Journalist, talk show host, publisher, author
Cuba native Cristina Saralegui has achieved the American dream with a little bit of clout and a whole lot of perseverance. She was the first and in 2002 only Latin woman to create a media empire that included a number-one talk show, a widely circulated magazine, a successful radio show, and her own production company. One of the Hispanic-American community’s most powerful women, she has been hailed as the Latin Helen Gurley Brown and Oprah with salsa, but to millions of Hispanics she has simply become known as Cristina. Cristina Maria Saralegui was born in Havana, Cuba, on January 29, 1948, to Francisco and Cristina Saralegui. Far from a typical Cuban family, hers was one of wealth and prosperity. Her grandfather, Francisco Saralegui y Arrizubieta, was known as the Paper Czar, having founded three leading Spanish-language magazines— Bohemia, Carteles, and Vanidades—and monopolizing Cuba’s newspaper imports. Fidel Castro’s revolution ended the family’s prosperity in 1959 when their spectacular seaside mansion in the exclusive Miramar district was seized. They fled to Miami’s Cuban exile community in 1960 when Cristina was 12 years old, leaving behind their power, prestige, and a substantial
fortune. “It’s been very hard not being able to go back,” Saralegui told the Los Angeles Times. “I want to visit my country. But if Fidel can get somebody like the pope to do PR for himself, imagine what he can do with somebody like me.”
Started a Career in Magazines Born into a media family, Saralegui fancied herself a natural communicator. She attended the University of Miami, majoring in mass communications and creative writing. Her graduation plans were thwarted when her father lost most of his money in a bad business deal, an occurrence that forced her to drop out. Saralegui was nine credits short of her degree, but he had decided that it was more important for her brother, Paxti, to go to college and he could only afford to send one of them. “He called me up and he said, ‘Look, as a Cuban father, I have to send your brother to college. He’s going to have to support someone someday, and somebody’s son will support you.’ That’s called machismo,” she told National Public Radio. Determined to overcome this crippling sexism, long rooted in the traditions of the Latin culture, Saralegui
202 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn January 29, 1948, in Havana, Cuba; married
Tony Menendez (divorced 1983); married Mar-
cos Avila; children: Cristina Amalia (Titi), Jon Marcos. Education: Studied mass communications and creative writing at the University of Miami. Religion: Roman Catholic. Career: Vanidades Continental, Intimidades, and Cosmopolitan-en-Español, editor-in-chief, 1979-89; Blue Dolphin studios, founder; El Show de Cristina, executive producer and host, 1989-01; Cristina la Revista magazine, creator, 1991–; host, radio show Cristina Opina and weekly prime-time show Cristina: Edicion Especial; author, Cristina! My Life as a Blonde, 1998. Awards: Union of American Women of Puerto Rico Merit Award for Women’s Rights, 1981; Legendary Woman of Miami Award, 1983; Greater Miami Chapter, Women in Communications Award, 1986; State of Florida Hispanic Heritage Award, 1990; Emmy Award, The Cristina Show, 1991, 1992; Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. Surgeon General, 1992; Council on Women’s Issue Bio Award, “No Nonsense American Women”, 1995; Congressional Record from the Hon. Robert Menéndez of New Jersey, 1996; AmFAR Research Foundation Honor, Los Angeles, 1997; TV’s Most Glamorous Hispanic Woman Award, Glamour en Español Magazine, 1998; Elena Mederos Award for Leadership Contribution to the Hispanic Community, National Association of Cuban American Women of the U.S., N.J. Chapter, 1998; National Leadership Media Award, AIDS Action Annual Leadership Awards, Washington, D.C., 1998; Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for Her Outstanding Service to the Community, 1998; Community Service Award, National Council of La Raza/Kraft Foods ALMA (American Latino Media Arts), 2000; Gracie Allen Tribute Award, 2001; numerous others. Adddress: Office—Blue Dolphin Studios, 2520 NW 112 Avenue, Miami, FL, 33172.
vowed to work twice as hard to prove herself. She ended up taking a $40-a-week job in the photo library
at Vanidades, one of the magazines started by her grandfather. “At the time it was a huge challenge,” she recalled in her 1998 autobiography My Life as a Blonde. “I had to teach myself to write in Spanish. Having attended high school and college in the United States, and receiving all my formal training in English, I was more fluent in the English language.” By 1973 she had acquired a staff writing job at the Spanishlanguage edition of Cosmopolitan, but soon quit to give newspaper journalism a try. After a short stint at the Miami Herald, where she realized that daily journalism wasn’t for her, Saralegui went back to Vanidades. Within a year she was asked to take over a small magazine called Intimadades, which soon began to outsell Vanidades. By 1979 she received the top post at Cosmopolitan-en-Español. “I was terrified,” she recalled in an interview with the Boston Globe. But her mission to liberate Latin women paid off. “In ten years under my direction Cosmopolitan became the second most important magazine in Latin America. We passed Good Housekeeping. We left the housewives behind.” During her ten years at Cosmopolitan, Saralegui’s personal life suffered. In 1983 she divorced her husband, Tony Menéndez, a real estate agent and firefighter, and slipped into a depression. Married seven years, they had a daughter, Cristina Amalia. But it was the combination of her success, her absence at home, and her husband’s machismo that destroyed the marriage. “We were divorced because he wasn’t ambitious and I was, and it really bothered him that I worked so hard and aspired to so much,” she wrote in her autobiography. In an effort to cheer her up, longtime friends Gloria and Emilio Estefan invited her to tour with their then unknown band the Miami Sound Machine. She found her soul mate in the group’s ponytailed bass player Marcos Avila, and they married soon after.
Made Career Move to Television The Hallmark Corporation established the Univision television network in 1988 with the goal that it would stop relying on foreign programming and be American, but in Spanish. In 2002 it was the fifth-largest network in terms of viewers and outranked the likes of HBO, ESPN, and the WB. Saralegui started working with Univision on a variety show called Sábado Gigante, where she was contracted for ten segments to address issues from her magazine. The segments were so popular that she was asked to host a woman’s magazine show. Saralegui didn’t agree with the male executive producer’s stereotypical ideas, and she complained in a memo to the network. She was soon offered the $3,000-a-month job of executive producer for the program TV Mujer. In 1989 she established herself as the host of her namesake show El Show de Cristina (The Cristina
Saralegui • 203 Show). She was offered a $130,000 annual salary, the same amount she was getting at Cosmopolitan. Avila, well versed in show business, was furious at the low offer and became her manager. Together, they created Cristina Saralegui Enterprises, which handled all of her operations and business ventures. Still, her biggest obstacle with the show was keeping creative control. “On the television planet, where men make up the tribe, the law of the caveman rules. So, for a woman coming from another world, without experience or cunning, to succeed gradually in gaining control over what is taped, what goes out over the air, what is said without censorship, is an epic feat,” she wrote in her autobiography. Broadcast from Miami, El Show de Cristina was not an instant success. She had to fight hard to make people understand that a very blonde and very white Cuban from Miami could represent Hispanics anywhere. “We used to get hate mail when we went on the air at the beginning,” she told National Public Radio. “My own people were saying things like, ‘Oh, my God, how dare you say you represent us when, you know, you’re not brown?’” But within six months the show climbed to first place and went on to win ten local Emmy Awards.
Sought to Educate Hispanic Community Saralegui hosted the top-rated Spanish-language talk show, seen by an estimated 100 million people in 18 countries throughout Latin America, Europe, and the United States, for twelve years. Covering topics ranging from homeless children to alien abductions, Saralegui was frequently compared to Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue, two hugely successful daytime TV hosts. “I am not Oprah with salsa,” she said in an interview with the Boston Globe, “I am not Phil Donahue in drag. I am Cristina Saralegui.” In fact El Show de Cristina had a viewership of five times the amount of Winfrey’s audience. Saralegui felt that her greatest challenge was to educate and open the minds of her audience without offending them, an almost impossible feat when attempting to appeal to 100 million people. It was a homosexual wedding on her show in 1996 that generated the biggest outburst of disapproval in a widely publicized hate campaign. Saralegui persevered and went on to receive an award from the National Gay and Lesbian Alliance for the show. She believed the controversial shows were the most important ones she’d done, seeing herself as an educator of the Hispanic community. She also felt responsible for entertaining her audience without “taking the low road” like so many other daytime talk shows. “I control what’s on my show,” she told Hispanic Magazine in a 1998 interview. “There’s no violence or vulgarity. If it seems like it’s getting to that level, I stop taping.”
Part of her success was largely due to the exploding Latino population in the United States, where she was watched in two million homes. “Americans have to understand that we are here, and we are Americans,” she told the Boston Globe. “In a few years we will outnumber African Americans. Americans have to wake up and realize we’re not going away. We’re not foreigners. This is our country.” In fact, she has been credited with Americanizing Latino culture and breaking down certain Latino cultural norms by engaging in traditionally taboo subjects such as machismo, domestic violence, and menopause.
Built a Media Empire Since starting El Show de Cristina in 1989, Saralegui has built a media empire and demands respect for her accomplishments as a Hispanic woman. “I’m not afraid to say that I’m a very intelligent woman,” she told the Los Angeles Times in a 1998 interview. “[Latinas] cannot say that they’re intelligent. They can be beautiful, but they cannot be intelligent. And they cannot brag about it and say, ‘Yes, damn, I am smart and I am a woman,’ because we couldn’t get married ѧ I’ve been called an egomaniac so many times that it’s not funny.” In 1991 she started the monthly Cristina La Revista (Cristina the Magazine), which has a circulation of more than 160,000 in the United States and Latin America. She also has a daily radio show, Cristina Opina (Cristina’s Opinion), in ninety countries including the United States, and hosts a weekly prime-time show Cristina: Edicion Especial (Cristina: Special Edition), which has been a huge ratings success. In 1992 Sarelegui attempted an English-language version of her show on CBS. Despite positive reviews, she opted out after 13 weeks because she was offered less money to produce her show in English than she was getting from Univision to do the show in Spanish. Still, she hopes to go bilingual again one day. In addition to her television and publishing ventures, Saralegui has appeared on many national and local television programs, including the Univision soap opera Amandote. She has also served as national spokesperson for AT&T for nearly a decade and has appeared in television, radio, and print ads urging women to take charge of their health. In 1997 Saralegui created a non-media role for herself when she licensed her name for the first time. Although she had been approached in the past to license her name to products ranging from clothing to perfume, she went with eyewear. The Cristina Collection, distributed by the Miami-based Cadore Moda USA, is targeted specifically to Hispanic women. When she wasn’t working on building her empire, Saralegui spent a great deal of time pursuing philanthropic ventures and accepting awards. She has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for AIDS research and treatment facilities in Mexico and the United States, and in 1996 she started an AIDS organization, “The
204 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Arriba la Vida/Up With Life Foundation,” which is dedicated to providing information, medicine, and support to Hispanic people afflicted with AIDS. Additionally, she has served on the council for AmFar (the American Foundation for AIDS Research) since 1993 and worked to boost literacy among Latinos. Among a multitude of awards presented to her, Saralegui received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999, was named one of the “Legendary Women of Miami,” received the “Corporate Leader Award” from the National Network of Hispanic Women, and received the 2001 Gracie Allen Tribute Award, which honors women in the entertainment industry. In May of 2001 Saralegui opened Blue Dolphin Studios, a $3.1 million, 500,000-square-foot production facility in Miami to house all the branches of her media empire. Just seven months later, she left El Show de Cristina. It was difficult for Saralegui to leave her daytime talk show, but she wanted time to develop new projects, including more books, new television ventures, and a movie on the life of Cuban singer Celia Cruz. She’s also given acting a shot, with recurring roles in the NBC daytime soap Passions and on the
Nickelodeon kid’s series Taina. “To realize the American dream, the most important thing to understand is that it belongs to everybody,” she told the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. “It’s a human dream. If you understand this and work very hard, it is possible.” For Saralegui, perseverance has certainly paid off.
Sources Periodicals Boston Globe, February 10, 1998. Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, September 28, 2001. Hispanic Magazine, April 1998. The Miami Herald, November 28, 2001. New York Daily News, December 14, 2001. People Magazine, April 13, 1998. Other National Public Radio, Morning Edition, August 27, 2001. —Kelly M. Martinez
Selena • 205
Selena 1971-1995 Vocalist
The violent death of beloved Tejano vocalist Selena on March 31, 1995, brought to an end more than just a promising musical career. Selena had become an icon in the Hispanic community, a beloved figure to whom Mexican-Americans attached their aspirations and their feelings about their cultural identities. Among them, her murder evoked an outpouring of grief comparable to that experienced by other Americans after the deaths of such major cultural figures as President John F. Kennedy. Selena Quintanilla was born in Lake Jackson, Texas, near Houston, on April 16, 1971. Her father, Abraham Quintanilla, who worked in the shipping department of a chemical plant and later opened a restaurant, had fronted a moderately successful band called Los Dinos (“The Guys”) as a young man. Selena was the youngest of three children. She grew up speaking English; although she understood her parents’ Spanish, she had to learn Spanish songs phonetically when she first began to perform and record. Later she studied the language, and by the time she became a star she spoke it fluently.
Sang at Family Restaurant Abraham Quintanilla spotted his daughter’s musical talents when she was six years old and envisaged a show-business career for her, sometimes bringing her on stage to perform at the family restaurant. Economic hardship accelerated her career, however, for the recession of the early 1980s hit the Quintanillas (and Texans in general) especially hard. The restaurant closed, and at times Selena became a key family breadwinner. “We were literally doing it to put food on the table,” she told Texas Monthly. Selena dropped out of school, but later earned a high school diploma through correspondence studies. Those early performances around Houston often featured country music, but after the Quintanillas moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, Selena began to focus on the musical style known as tejano. Tejano music is a hybrid form whose musical diversity—encompassing traditional Mexican ballads, rock, R&B, polka, country, and even contemporary styles such as hip-hop and techno—reflected the diversity of influences present in modern Mexican-American culture. All of those styles
206 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Selena Quintanilla on April 16, 1971, in Lake
Jackson, TX; Died on March 31, 1995, in Corpus
Christi, TX; daughter of Abraham and Marcella Quintanilla; married guitarist Chris Pérez, 1992. Career: Began performing with siblings as Selena y Los Dinos in late 1970s; recorded for small regional labels, 1980s; signed to EMI Latin label, 1989; released debut album Selena, 1989; released Selena Live, 1993; established retail and clothing marketing venture, Selena Inc., 1994; recorded first album primarily in English, Dreaming of You, 1995. Selected awards: Tejano Music Awards for best female vocalist and performer of the year, 1987; Grammy award for Best Mexican American album, 1993, for Selena Live; Grammy nomination, 1995, for Amor prohibido; Tejano Music Awards, 1995, for Song of the Year (“Bidi Bidi Bom Bom”), best female entertainer, best female vocalist, album of the year (for Amor prohibido), tejano crossover song, and record of the year.
were reflected in Selena’s body of recorded work, which began with a series of albums recorded for a small independent label in Texas. Los Dinos featured Selena’s brother, Abraham, on bass; he also composed many of Selena’s songs. Her sister, Suzette, played drums, and the band’s lead guitarist was Chris Pérez, whom Selena married in 1992. The elder Abraham Quintanilla served as manager. Gradually Selena’s audiences grew in size, and she began to appear in the large ballrooms that were the central venues of tejano and northern Mexican musical performances. In 1987 Selena, only 15 years old, won Female Vocalist of the Year and Performer of the Year honors at the annual Tejano Music Awards.
Selena Live received a Grammy award for best Mexican-American album, and the following year’s Amor prohibido reached gold-record levels with sales of a reported 600,000 copies in the United States alone. Selena now performed to arena-sized crowds such as those at Houston’s annual Livestock Show and Rodeo. A sexy image was nothing new in the world of Latin female vocals, but Selena pushed the trend to new extremes. Sometimes she would elicit wild reactions from male fans by tossing undergarments into concert crowds. Some dubbed Selena the Latin Madonna (in reference to the raunch-inclined pop vocal star), but there was always a more wholesome side to her persona as well; she was noted for spearheading anti-drug efforts, and her demeanor in media appearances off stage was pleasant and idealistic. Selena’s music had enough variety to complement the subtleties of her image-making. Her 1992 album Baila esta Cumbia fused tejano with the Colombian dance genre of cumbia, which was popular all over the Spanish-speaking Western hemisphere, but she was equally at home with sentimental ballads, with exuberant traditional dance tunes, and with the self-composed 1994 novelty hit “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.” Sometimes overlooked in discussions of Selena’s personal charisma and of her way of connecting with fans was her purely musical creativity; she took tejano music into new stylistic realms. Among her last recordings was a duet with Talking Heads lead vocalist David Byrne, made for the film Blue in the Face—probably an unthinkable stretch for any other mainstream Latin artist of the day. In 1995 Selena made film and television appearances and laid plans for the release of Dreaming of You. Partly recorded in English and released in EMI’s main (rather than Latin) product line, the album was considered likely to spark a crossover to the U.S. pop mainstream that would equal or exceed any other achieved by a Hispanic performer. The singer opened a pair of eponymous clothing stores in San Antonio and Corpus Christi, and a Selena-branded clothing line was also in the discussion stages. In charge of these new enterprises was the president of Selena’s fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, whom Selena had hired as an executive the previous year. Saldivar’s apartment was said to be a miniature Selena shrine, virtually covered with images of the singer.
Signed to EMI Latin Those awards propelled Selena to a major-label contract with the EMI-Latin imprint; her first album for EMI, entitled Selena, was released in 1989. Her contract was reported to be worth six figures, unprecedented in the cottage industry that tejano music had been up to that time. EMI’s investment paid off handsomely, however, for by 1995 her recordings had sold an estimated three million copies. The 1993 album
Confronted Fan Club President Both the fan club and the Selena boutiques were financially mismanaged from the start, however; fan club members complained of undelivered merchandise, and record-keeping for the growing retail enterprises was lax. Selena and her family uncovered evidence of various abuses, and Selena moved to ease Saldivar out of her position. When she went to confront Saldivar in
Selena • 207 a room in a Corpus Christi Days Inn motel on March 31, 1995, Saldivar shot her in the back with a .38caliber handgun. The singer survived for several hours, but massive transfusions failed to save her life. Saldivar claimed that the shooting had been accidental and that she had planned to kill herself, not Selena, but police discovered that when Selena and her husband had come on a similar mission the previous day, Saldivar had postponed the meeting on the pretense of having forgotten to bring the needed documents; she seemed to be waiting to meet Selena alone. According to Texas Monthly she described Selena as “the only friend I ever had.” As she staggered out of the motel room and called for help, Selena named Saldivar as the shooter, and at the trial, motel employees told of an argument followed by a gunshot and Selena’s screams. Saldivar was convicted and given a life sentence. The mourners at Selena’s Corpus Christi funeral numbered more than 30,000, and fans gathered for services in several other cities as well. In San Antonio alone two separate memorials were held. One of many manifestations of grief that appeared within the Hispanic community was a campaign to discredit the controversial talk-show host Howard Stern, who had joked about Selena’s murder. Selena became one of the many figures in American entertainment whose career loomed larger in death than it had while she was alive. Dreaming of You sold 175,000 copies on its first day of release, making its debut at number one on Billboard magazine’s pop chart and eventually selling over 2,000,000 copies. The 1997 film Selena grossed an estimated $35 million domestically; directed by Gregory Nava, it also elevated Latina actress Jennifer Lopez to a new level of recognition. The year 2000 brought a touring musical about Selena’s life, Selena Forever.
Selected discography Selena, EMI Latin, 1989. Ven conmigo, EMI Latin, 1990. Entre a mi mundo, EMI Latin, 1992. Selena Live, EMI Latin, 1993. Amor prohibido, EMI Latin, 1994. Dreaming of You, 1995, EMI. Mis primeras grabaciones, Freddie, 1995 (early recordings). Anthology, EMI, 1998. All My Hits, EMI, 1999. All My Hits, Vol. 2, EMI, 2000.
Sources Books Contemporary Musicians, volume 16, Gale, 1996. Notable Hispanic American Women, Book 2, Gale, 1998. Patoski, Joe Nick, Selena: Como la flor, Little, Brown, 1996. Periodicals Billboard, May 20, 2000, p. 117. Broadcasting & Cable, October 2, 1995, p. 23. Entertainment Weekly, August 18, 1995, p. 18; March 26, 1999, p. 96. Interview, April 1997, p. 50. People, April 1, 1996, p. 110. Texas Monthly, September 1994, p. 122; May 1995, p. 110; December 1995, p. 102. On-line All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com —James M. Manheim
208 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Thalía 1972— Singer, actress
Known as the Latin music queen and TV’s eternal Cinderella of the soaps, Thalía has become a one-word global entertainment phenomenon. Like child star Shirley Temple, she navigated a career starting at age four, in singing groups, two stage musicals, video and movie roles, and TV varietyshow hosting. Her appearances in Mexico’s top-rated TV melodramas, which cast the sensuous beauty as the perpetual maiden, won her a worldwide fan base. She is best known for her alluring pop videos and vocal albums, comprised of many songs she wrote and performed in Spanish, English, French, Tagalog, and Portuguese.
Began in Film Born to Ernesto Sodi y Pallares and Yolanda Miranda y Mange, at Hospital Español in Mexico City on August 26, 1972, Ariadne Thalía Sodi y Miranda was the youngest of five, which included sisters Laura, Ernestina, Gabriela, and Frederica. Thalía (pronounced tahLEE-ah) got her start in film at age four, when she obtained a walk-on role in a movie that also featured her sister, Laura. When their father died unexpectedly in 1977, Thalía withdrew from normal activities and
fell silent, an emotional trauma that she later described in the song “En Silencio.” Not yet ensnared in career entanglements, Thalía was educated at the Thomas Alva Edison School and Liceo Franco Mexicano. She studied French, art, and music, but enjoyed rough-and-tumble play. She loved outdoor sports and dreamed of emulating tumbler Nadia Comaneci by winning for Mexico an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics. After enrolling in classical ballet at the Academia de Nellie Happee, Thalía explored a feminine side and often pictured herself as a singer and actor. In 1980 she began piano lessons at the Instituto Mexicano de Musica and joined Din-Din, a two-girl, two-boy singing group that appeared at arts festivals and recorded four albums, beginning with Alegrias Musicale. At age twelve Thalía won second place singing at the festival Juguemos a Cantar. In 1986 producer Luis de Llano hired her to sing backup with Timbiriche, a teen band with whom she appeared in a 1987 Halloween special, Noche de Brujas y Terror. The band recorded three CDs: Timbiriche VII, Timbiriche VIII, and Timbiriche IX. When the group staged the pop musical Vaselina (Grease) in Mexico, she appeared as a chorus
Thalía • 209
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Ariadne Thalía Sodi y Miranda on August 26,
1972, in Mexico City, Mexico; married Thomas
D. Mottola on December 2, 2000. Education: Thomas Alva Edison School, Liceo Franco Mexicano, Academia de Nellie Happee; Instituto Mexicano de Musica, 1980. Career: Singer, with group Din Din, 1980; singer, with group Timbiriche, 1986-89; telenovela actor, 1988;
health. She fainted on the Marimar set and rested for a week before returning to work. Soap fans bombarded stations to demand her return. Restored to health and regular appearances, Thalía did not disappoint the public. Her brown eyes, lustrous brown hair, lithe shape, and coy posturing won devoted followers throughout Latin America and Asia, particularly in the Philippines and Indonesia. Her starring roles so entranced Filipinos that employers threatened workers who left their posts during broadcasts of daily soap opera segments. When she toured the Philippines in 2001, riot police held back emotional mobs that wanted to admire her at close range.
variety show host, VIP de Noche, 1991; film singer, Anastasia, 1997; actor, Mambo Café, 1998; spokesperson, Latino.com, 2000; eyewear spokesperson, 2001. Awards: Platinum album, Thalía, 1995; Thalía Day, Los Angeles, 1997; Premio Lo Nuestro, 2000; Grammy, 2001. Addresses: Office—Signatures Network, Inc., 2 Bryant Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94105; Website— http://www.thalia.com/index.php.
girl. After the lead singer left, Thalía quickly mastered the one-dimensional Sandra Dee. The performance catapulted Thalía to the level of recording artist and television personality.
From Bit Player to Idol In her mid-teens Thalía took bit parts in three weekday serials, La Pobre Señorita Limantour (1987), Quinceañera (1988), and Luz y Sombra (1989). When Timbiriche disbanded, she spent a year in Los Angeles training under starmaker Florence Riggs, who had furthered Madonna’s career. Thalía’s subsequent command of English and mastery of fashion, singing, dance, and guitar advanced her in the entertainment pecking order. At work with producer Alfredo Diaz Ordaz, she issued vocal albums—Thalía, Mundo de Cristal, and Love, and in 1991 co-hosted a popular variety show, VIP de Noche, on Channel 5-Spain. The shift from sweet to smoldering at first stymied Thalía watchers, who were uneasy with a prowling sex kitten in place of the familiar teen star. As a soap opera diva, Thalía garnered fans for playing sweet village lasses in a trilogy, Las Tres Marias: Maria Mercedes (1992), Marimar (1994), and Maria la del Barrio (1995). The telenovela series, which evolved from Hispanic oral tradition to a radio staple, thrived on Spanish-language TV channels in 120 countries. The grueling on-camera schedule threatened Thalía’s
Entertained Around the World Thalía’s versatility increased her appeal in television, stage, comedy, theater, and music. After singing with a derivative little-girl-lost style on stage and in the album Thalía in 1995, she pumped up her mike presence with a more vibrant, mature voice on En Exstasis, her first album on the EMI Latin label. Diverse ballads and dance numbers produced by Emilio Estefan, Oscar Lopez, and Kike Santander proved her capable of variety and vigor, particularly the come-hither cumbia tune “Piel Morena,” which was the focus of a spicy video. She also debuted as co-composer of the sincere, tuneful “Lagrimas,” reputedly a tribute to Alfredo Diaz, her producer and lover who died of hepatitis. The mix boosted Thalía to the top of the Latin music charts, as the platinum album set sales records in 20 countries. By 1996 Thalía appeared on the top ten lists in every Latin American nation and increased her popularity among U.S. Latinos. Awards and honors brought her interviews in movie magazines, a presentation as Queen of Telenovelas by Mexico’s President Ernesto Zedillo, an appearance before President George W. Bush and his guests to sing Cinco de Mayo folksongs, as well as bookings at Chile’s Viña del Mar in Chile, Miami’s Calle 8 Festival, Noches de Carnaval, the Fiesta Broadway in Los Angeles, and Peru’s Feria la Molina. She performed three songs in Spanish and Portuguese on the animated film Anastasia, which premiered in Mexico on November 20, 1997, complete with star treatment and autographing sessions. In 1997 the 34-track album Amor a la Mexicana swept to the top. For her success, Billboard reviewer Teresa Aguilera dubbed Thalía “Latin America’s Reigning Music Queen.” The singer obviously owed much to producers Emilio Estefan, Kike Santander, and Pablo Flores, for skillfully blending salsa, cha cha, rap, reggae, and cumbia, and for depicting her as a proud Latina. Her handlers cleverly booked her for advertisements and banked on the success of spin-offs, notably lingerie, sleepwear, and a Thalía doll that is popular in Brazil. In 1997 Thalía explored the Filipino market with the smash album, Nandito Ako. Multiple recognition in
210 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 television, electronic and print ads, stage, and recording brought her honor in Mexico City, where city officials unveiled a wax image of Thalía at the Museo de Cera. On April 25, 1997, citizens of Los Angeles celebrated “Thalía Day.” The surge of contracts brought her parts in the feature film Mambo Café (1998), a family comedy set in New York’s Spanish Harlem, and, in 1999, the starring role in the soap opera Rosalinda.
robe as well as the famous sex symbol’s pout and calculated body language. In a wide-eyed interview with Arisorama concerning her appeal in Greece, Thalía gushed over her Greek fan base, the reception of her soap opera characterizations, and her album Amor a la Mexicana. She expressed gratitude for the generous outpouring of love from strangers in a foreign land and promised to visit the country to experience Greek idol worship.
Captured Vocal Stardom
At one time Thalía declared her primary loyalty to her mother-manager, Yolanda Miranda de Sodi. The singer and actress looked ahead to a full career, but anticipated even more a successful marriage, which she considered a basis for happiness. On December 2, 2000, she wed Sony Music mogul Thomas D. “Tommy” Mottola at a $3 million show-biz wedding in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Fans feared that pairing with Mariah Carey’s cast-off ex was a fatal career move for Thalía. The age difference—Thalia’s 28 to Mottola’s 52—had tabloids predicting disaster. Settled in New York City, she appeared unfazed by gossip and launched a line of eyeware for Kenmark Optical while planning more albums.
Thalía’s emergence was not without its stumbles. Less praiseworthy amid a string of acting triumphs was the bumbling CD Mis Mejores Momentos: Para Coleccionistas, a 1998 release that tried too hard to sell Thalia’s child-like innocence and thin voice. Critics agreed that the album was not one of her better moments. The poorly executed Serie Sensacional in 2000 also left Thalía watchers puzzled as to the direction of her singing career, but the lull was shortlived. Much of the heat generated by Thalía’s vocals derived from the energetic numbers on the CD Con Banda Grandes Exitos, and from Arrasando, her most praised album. It successfully allied the Latin dance ballad “Rosalinda” with mambo, rap, rhythm & blues, and pop, reaching international audiences with its compelling dance beats and seductive sizzle. In 2000 the CD topped Billboard’s Latin pop vocal charts, earning Thalía the Premio Lo Nuestro award for top female vocalist. She also signed on as spokesperson for Latino.com, a network of print, radio, television, as well as Web interviews, a venue guaranteeing her the public’s continuing adoration. Radio charts touted the singer’s three top singles— “Entre el Mar y una Estrella”, “Regresa a Mi”, and “Menta y Canela”. Thalía also cut a fourth single, “Reincarnación,” which was featured on MTV, HTV and Telehit. A year later the album earned two Latin Grammy nominations—Best Female Pop Vocal Album and Best Recording Engineering for an Album—and won in the second category. Her website, Thalía.com, recorded her low-key response: “I think that it is valuable to feel that your work has been taken into consideration by so many respected people in the music industry.”
Compared to Marilyn Monroe Thalía’s grasp of fame is not without guile. A performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” on the Mexican talk show La Movida made a canny connection between the budding sex goddess and Marilyn Monroe, one of the world’s most ogled sirens. The alliance was no one-time event. In public appearances and interviews, Thalía dressed and postured like Marilyn Monroe, emulating her stagy innocence and ward-
Selected discography Thalía, 1990. Mundo de Cristal, 1991. Love, 1992. En Extasis, 1995. “Maria La Del Barrio” (single), 1996. Amor a la Mexicana, 1997. Nandito Ako, 1997. Jugo de Éxitos, 1998. Mis Mejores Momentos: Para Coleccionistas, 1998. Serie Millennium 21, 1999. Arrasando, 2000. Serie Sensacional, 2000. Con Banda Grandes Éxitos, 2001. Forest of Minds, 2001. “It’s My Party” (single), 2001. Perfiles, 2001. Serie 32, 2001.
Sources Periodicals BPI Entertainment News Wire, April 8, 2002. Hispanic, November 1997; January 2001; November 2001. Latina, May 2002. New York Times, August 27, 1996. PR Newswire, November 5, 1998; January 22, 1999; April 3, 2000. Television Asia,, January 2001. Time, January 8, 2001. Variety, December 8, 1997; January 25, 1999. Video Store, November 19, 2000.
Thalía • 211 On-line http://www.askmen.com/women/singer/40_thalia. html Thalyvision: Biography, http://www.cgi.tripod.com/ Thalia_Fan/cgi-bin/ thalyvision.cgi?menu=menu3&go=biography http://www.fulllatin.com/thalia_bio.htm http://www.geocities.com/cams2408/bv/th.html http://www.geocities.com/planetthalia/interview8 .html http://www.kenmarkopt.com/92001_a.htm Thalía Arrasando, http://www.mostbeautifulwoman .com/newswomen/ Thalia.shtml Thalía, the Official Site, http://www.thalia.com/in dex.php Thalía’s World, http://www.thaliasworld.com/Birth Thalía, http://www.who2.com/thalia.html —Mary Ellen Snodgrass
212 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Jesus Salvador Treviño 1946— Director, producer, writer
Jesus Salvador Treviño has become one of the bestknown chicano filmmakers in America. Known for his temerity, he has told stories that could be perceived as difficult or risky and has attacked issues that other filmmakers were either too timid or too bound by restrictions to attempt. Treviño has also directed episodes of several popular television series. Born March 26, 1946, in El Paso, Texas to Jesus Victor and Evangelina Mercado Treviño, Treviño and his family moved to East Los Angeles when he was very young. East Los Angeles was at the time known for having the largest concentration of Latin Americans in the United States. It was this move to the newly awakening community—one beginning to fully understand and stand up for its individuality—that eventually led Treviño into filmmaking. After Treviño graduated from high school, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Occidental College There he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1968. It wasn’t until the summer after his undergraduate years, though, that Treviño was exposed to and learned the skills to become a filmmaker during a government program that he attended called New Communicators.
Treviño was then offered a job at KCET, a public television station in California. There he worked as a journalist and producer of features for the nightly Mexican American talk show Ahora! During this time he started exploring the world of communications and developed the skills he would use later on in his career. Although the show was cancelled the year after he started, Treviño was asked to continue on at the station as a producer—this time with more independence and autonomy—an opportunity that allowed Treviño to explore his Latino roots more thoroughly in his work. In the 1970s Treviño made three documentaries: Soledad, about prisoners at the Soledad jail, America Tropical, about artist David Siqueiros, and Yo Soy Chicano, a history of the Chicano people. In 1971 Treviño won a gold medal for Soledad at the Atlanta Film Festival. In 1975 Treviño tried his hand at fictional films with Raices de Sangre (Roots of Blood), a dramatization of the Latino experience in America. Treviño was quoted in the Dictionary of Hispanic Biography as having said about the film, “How to relate several hundred years of history that is so filled with injustice, manifest destiny, and other forms of aggression against Latinos
Treviño • 213
At a Glance . . .
B
orn on March 26, 1946 in El Paso, Texas; son of
Jesus Victor and Evangelina (Mercado) Treviño;
married Gayla Lee Beauchamp, June 14, 1968 (divorced); married Barbara Ellen Andrea Murray, October 1,1989. Education: Occidental College, BA in philosophy, 1968. Career: El Teatro Campesino, producer, director, 197475; KCET-TV, producer, writer, journalist, exec. producer, 1969–; Infinity Factory, executive producer, 1975-76; Conacine Productions, Mexico City, director, 1976-77; New Vista Productions, producer, director, 1977-78; executive producer, KLCS-TV, 1979; Interamerican Satellite, Inc., producer, writer, director, 1982-85; KAET, producer, 1986; freelance writer, 1987; director, numerous films and television shows; author, The Fabulous Sinkhole and Other Stories, Arte Público, 1995. Memberships: Directors Guild of America; Writers Guild of America; National Hispanic Media Coalition. Awards: Gold Medal, Atlanta Film Festival, for Soledad, 1971; DGA Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Shows-Daytime, for Gangs, 1988; DGA Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Shows-Daytime, for P.O.W.E.R.: The Eddie Matos Story, 1995; Top 25 Latin American Films of All Time, 36th Annual International Film Festival of Valladolid, Spain, for Raices de Sangre, 1991; nominated, ALMA Award, Outstanding Director of a Drama Series, for Resurrection Blvd., 2001; nominated, ALMA Award, Outstanding Director of a Television Drama or Comedy, for Third Watch, 2002. Address: Office—National Lationa Communications Center, 3171 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039.
by the U.S. government, and how to allow people to feel it, and not make it boring. This is my task. I think this is where I get to explore how to be subtle and artful.” He was confirmed in having done his job well, because in 1991 Raices de Sangre was named one of the top 25 Latin American Films of all time at the 36th Annual International Film Festival of Valladolid, Spain.
Treviño has often been heard lamenting about the lack of Latino representation in Hollywood. He served on the Director’s Guild of America’s Latino Committee and was quoted on their website as having said to prospective Latin-American actors and actresses, “If you’re good, I’m going to see you’re good and the producer is going to see you’re good. It’s not about we’re going to hire him because he’s a minority. We’re going to hire him because he’s talented. That’s how we all got hired.” He encouraged Latinos and Latinas to keep trying if they really wanted to get into the entertainment world, and his work has helped many to realize their dreams. In recent years Treviño has directed a host of episodes for such popular television shows as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, NYPD Blue, Chicago Hope, ER, Star Trek: Voyager, The Pretender, Dawson’s Creek, Martial Law, and Resurrection Blvd., among others. He has brought the Chicano feel to television and has been nominated for several awards for his directorial work. Treviño has also made several television specials, including Chicano! The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, a series that portrayed the little seen or known fight that Mexicans had in America for their own rights. Chicano! The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement was hailed by the Denver Post as a “unique insider’s look at a vast social upheaval that many of us who were there believed would never be told ѧ let’s celebrate this series as a powerful reminder of what can be accomplished when good people take up the good fight.” Treviño has also won coveted Director’s Guild of America Awards twice for his television work, once for a daytime dramatic series, for Gangs, a CBS Schoolbreak Special, and once for a daytime drama, for P.O.W.E.R., The Eddie Matos Story. In 1995 Treviño tried his hand at something away from film, writing The Fabulous Sinkhole and Other Stories. The book is a collection of short stories set in Arroyo Grande, Texas. According to Booklist, “each [story] is connected with the title story by a theme of accident versus coincidence.” It is a book that “combines Hispanic folklore with magic realism in a witty, satirical, and often nostalgic saga of Latino culture in the contemporary United States,” according to Melus. The title story is about a sinkhole that opens in Mrs. Romero’s front yard. During the story things keep emerging out of the sinkhole that perfectly fit with whoever finds it. In the other stories the reader finds out about these objects, the people who found them, and how in different ways these things changed their lives dramatically. “The Fabulous Sinkhole and Other Stories should qualify Treviño for inclusion in the community of Chicano and Chicana fictionalists ѧ who are gifted with insight and the artistic ability to portray sympathetically and credibly the Hispanic-American culture and community,” Melus wrote about the book. A talented man with a gift for bringing the Latino culture into the eye of the public, it is certain that
214 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 Treviño has not said his last piece yet, and his next work is sure to be well worth the wait.
Selected works Director (films) Yo soy chicano, 1972. Raices de sangre, 1975. Seguin, 1982. Director (television) Mathnet, 1987. Gangs: A Brother’s Life, CBS Schoolbreak Special, 1988. Date Rape, ABC Afterschool Specials, 1988. Darryl Tevis, Lifestories, NBC, 1991. NYPD Blue, 1993. SeaQuest DSV, 1993. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, two episodes, 1993. Hawkeye, 1994. ER, one episode, 1994. Chicago Hope, 1994. Babylon 5, five episodes, 1994. Space: Above and Beyond, on episode, 1995. Star Trek: Voyager, four episodes, 1995. The Burning Zone, 1996. The Pretender, 1996. Nash Bridges, 1996. Chicano! The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, 1996.
The Practice, 1997. Brimstone, two episodes,1998. Martial Law, 1998. Babylon 5: Thirdspace, 1998. Dawson’s Creek, 1998. Crusade, one episode, 1999. Resurrection Blvd., 2000.
Sources Books Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Volume 14, Gale Research, 1995. Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Gale Research, 1996. DISCovering Multicultural America, Gale Research, 1996. Periodicals Booklist, April 1, 1995, p. 1379. The Denver Post, April 7, 1996, p. E01. Los Angeles Times, May 3, 1999, p. 6. Melus, Spring, 1998, p. 185. On-line Internet Movie Database, www.imdb.com Director’s Guild of America, www.dga.org —Catherine Donaldson
Valdés • 215
Jésus “Chucho” Valdés 1941— Musician
Grew Up Around Jazz Greats
Known the world over as a musical giant, the six and a half foot tall Chucho Valdés’s physical stature matched his musical accomplishment. The Afro-Cuban musician has been been the recipient of five Grammy Award nominations and two Grammys. His fascinating blend of African, South American, Cuban, and Spanish musical traditions seemed to rate a category of music all its own, and was just beginning to garner wide recogntion in the United States in the late 1990s. In 1996 Valdés played on Roy Hargrove’s widely acclaimed album Crisol, and numerous U.S. concert dates and a North American record contract followed.
Born in Quivican, Havana, Cuba, on October 9, 1941, Jésus Valdés, called “Chucho,” seemed destined for musical accomplishment. Not only was he the son of two musicians—Ramon “Bebo,” and Pilar—his father happened to be a composer and casino owner who rubbed elbows with the early jazz greats. Because of his father’s connection to the famous Tropicana club, Valdés became personally and musically acquainted with Buddy Rich, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughn, Nat King Cole, Milt Jackson, and Ray Brown.
Cuban musicians were not officially permitted to perform in the United States until 1988. Some Cuban musicians, including Valdés’s father, overcame that obstacle by defecting. But Valdés, who remained in his own country, was loved not only for his musical genius, but also for the fact that unlike so many musicians, he chose to continue living in Havana, claiming it as his permanent home. Despite the fact that the Cuban government has presented Valdés’s success as one of its own, many Cuban people viewed Valdés as “one of them,” and therefore, his success as their own.
Valdés literally grew up at the piano, beginning at age three, and continuing on to train formally in classical piano at Havana’s Municipal Conservatory. He credited his father with inadvertently inspiring his desire to compose by insisting on regular and accurate practice. During these hours, Valdés wondered why he would like playing one song and not another. Valdés told Down Beat, “ I got to thinking that it was such a pity that sometimes songs that started so nicely ended up making no sense. You have to respect what the composer wrote and what he wants, but I have to admit that
216 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Jésus Valdés on October 9, 1941, in Quiv-
ican, Havana, Cuba; children: seven.
Career: Musician, 1957-; Orquesto Cubana de Musica Moderna, 1967-73; Irakere, 1973–; The Chucho Valdés Three; The Chucho Valdés Quartet. Awards: Grammy Awards, 1978, 1997; Grammy Nominations, 1994, 1998, 1999; Latin Jazz Album of the Year, Jazz Journalists’ Association, 2000.
Hargrove invited Valdés to play in Hargrove’s band in the United States, and after that, Valdés’ North American career took off, with a string of concerts in major cities and several albums released in the country. In recent years, Valdés has worked as a solo artist, and in groups he founded— the Chucho Valdés Three and the Chucho Valdés Quartet. He continued to play and record with Irakere. Valdés’s concerts benefitted from his inspired improvisational performances and commanding presence on stage. He told Down Beat that “Sometimes I think I’m a piano, and sometimes I think that the piano is me. Sometimes I play the piano, and sometimes the piano plays me. The music is always in my head. It’s all of my life. It’s my life.”
Address: International Music Network, 2 Main Street,
Hosted Radio Show
4th Floor, Gloucester, MA, 01930.
when I was growing up I would change a lot of the music from how it was written.” At the tender age of 16, Valdés formed a jazz trio. Two years later, he had two albums to his credit with RCA Victor. In 1965 he joined the Elio Reve Orquestra, and in 1967, Valdés formed the Orquestra de Musica Moderna. Out of this group came the widely-known Irakere in 1973. Two of the world-renowned musicians who once played in Irakere are Paquito D’Rivera, an original band-member, and Arturo Sandoval. The word “irakere” is a Yoruba word which means “forest.” The name was a tribute to the place known for producing Africa’s legendary percussionists. Although the band members have changed over the years, Irakere remained together, and Valdés continued to be part of the group. Now headed by Valdés’s son, Francisco, known as “Chuchito,” Irakere fused African and Cuban music into a mix which included elements of rock, classical, jazz, and funk. In the late 1970s Irakere became the first Cuban group signed to an American recording label. The group’s first album with Columbia earned them acclaim, including a Grammy Award.
Became Known in United States The name of Chucho Valdés had been a household word in Cuba and in various other places from the 1960s on. But because of the embargo against Cuba begun by President Kennedy, Valdés was virtually unknown in the United States until the late 1990s when Valdés played on Roy Hargrove’s Grammywinning album Crisol. Sixteen years earlier, in 1980, Valdés founded the Annual Havana International Jazz Festival, an event he continues to direct. A variety of international musicians are invited to take part in the festival, and in 1996, it was Roy Hargrove’s turn.
At least four of Valdés’s seven children have also become musicians. Son Chuchito played with Irakere, and daughter Layani studied and played piano in Italy. Another daughter was a drummer, and yet another daughter, Mayra, sang on a Valdés album. In addition to his musical work and directing the festival in Havana, Valdés hosted a government-sponsored jazz radio show broadcasting weekly, on Sundays. Cuba’s Teatro Nacional’s piano bench was fixed in a design to accommodate only Valdés, much to the chagrin of other musicians who wish to play there. Despite his wide-ranging musical experience and interest, the piano remained Valdés’s instrument. Valdés believes the piano to be an integral part of Cuban music, as well as a strong tie to his homeland. As he stated, according to Blue Note Jazz, one of Valdés’ record labels, “We Cuban piano players are always thinking of the rhythm base. We’re always thinking of Cuba when we play piano.”
Selected discography Cancione Ineditas, Egren, 2002. Solo Live in New York, Blue Note, 2001. Pianissimo, Iris, 2000. Live at the Village Vanguard, Blue Note, 2000. Briyumba Palo Congo, Blue Note, 1999. Bele Bele en la Habana, Blue Note, 1998.
Sources Books Contemporary Musicians, Volume 25. Gale Group, 1999. Periodicals Down Beat, March 1999, v66, i3, p28. Maclean’s, July 16, 2001, p54.
Valdés • 217 On-line www.bembe.com/afrocubanismo/musicians.html www.cosmik.com/aa-may00/chucho_Valdés.html www.emimusic.ca/bluenote_jazz/features/ chuchoValdés.html www.imnworld.com/Valdés.html lafi.org/magazine/articles/chucho.html www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/07.27.00/ Valdés-0030.html www.musiciansnews.com/music/artists/44/ Jésus_chucho_Valdés/ cd_solo_live_in_new_york.shthl www.queenstheatre.org/latino-2001.htmlⲆMusic www.speakeasy.org/ⵑnthorn/chucho.html —Helene Barker Kiser
218 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Ritchie Valens 1941-1959 Performer
Although his career included just a handful of recording and concert dates, Ritchie Valens attained a place in music history as the first Latino rockand-roll star. With a string of hit singles behind him at the age of seventeen, the musician’s future was tragically cut short, however, when he died in a plane crash along with a group that included Buddy Holly and J. P. Richardson (“The Big Bopper”). February 3, 1959 became immortalized as “the day the music died” in rock history, yet Valens’s legend grew after his death with the 1987 biographical film La Bamba, which took its name from Valens’s most memorable hit song. The film’s soundtrack, recorded by Los Lobos, sent the song to the top of the pop charts and familiarized a new generation of music fans with the work of the teenage rock star.
Early Interest in Music Ritchie Valens was born Richard Steven Valenzuela on May 13, 1941, and grew up in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Pacioma, California. His parents, Joseph Steve and Concepción (Reyes) Valenzuela, were working at a munitions plant at the time of his
birth. When he was three years old his parents separated, and young Richard Valenzuela spent the next several years with his father. The elder Valenzuela held a number of different jobs—tree surgeon, miner, and horse trainer among them—and introduced his son to a love of Latin music at an early age. While his father played the guitar, Valens plucked along on a ukulele, later adding the guitar, trumpet, harmonica, and drums to his collection of instruments. Joseph Steve Valenzuela died from diabetes-related complications in 1951, and his mother moved back into the family home with her new husband and her other children. The family eventually included Ritchie’s older half-brother, Robert Morales, younger half-sisters, Connie and Irma Ramirez, and a younger half-brother, Mario Ramirez. Valens’s stepfather worked as an agricultural worker, and his mother worked as a waitress and housekeeper, yet money was tight in their household. Ritchie spent much of his adolescent years living with various relatives and as a result attended a number of schools throughout the Los Angeles area while he was growing up. After his step-father separated from his mother, the family was forced to move into a tiny house in Pacioma in the San
Valens • 219
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Richard Steven Valenzuela on May 13, 1941,
in Pacioma, California; died on February 3,
1959, in Clear Lake, Iowa. Religion: Roman Catholic. Career: Recording artist: “Come On, Let’s Go” (single), 1958; “Donna/La Bamba” (single), 1958; “Fast Freight/ Big Baby Blues” (single), 1958; Ritchie Valens (album), 1959; “That’s My Little Suzie” (single), 1959; “Little Girl/We Belong Together” (single), 1959; Ritchie, (album), 1959; Ritchie Valens in Concert at Pacioma Junior High, (album), 1960; Ritchie Valens’ Greatest Hits, (album) 1963; The Best of Ritchie Valens (album), 1981. Award: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inductee, 2001.
Fernando Valley, but keeping up the mortgage payments was a constant struggle. As a student at Pacioma Junior High and later at San Fernando Valley High School, Valens often brought his guitar to play and sing at the lunch hour and after class. Playing with the nine-piece Silhouettes from October of 1957, Valens gained a reputation throughout the region for his guitar work. The Silhouettes played small club dates and school concerts during the winter of 1957 and into the spring of 1958. One date, at the Pacioma Legion Hall on May 2, 1958, led to Valens’s big break.
Valens’s Big Break There are several versions of the story of Valens’s discovery. One version has Valens and his mother renting the Legion Hall for a Silhouettes date in order to raise enough money to pay off the family’s mortgage; by chance, a friend of a record company executive saw the show and suggested that his friend audition Valens. Another version has his mother skipping a mortgage payment to rent the hall and have the concert taped as a demo recording to get the interest of a record company. After Bob Keane heard the tape, he went to a talent show where Valens was competing to check out the talented teenager in person. In any event, Valens’s performance at the Legion Hall in May of 1958 indeed resulted in an offer to record some tracks for Bob Keane’s Del-Fi label at Gold Star Studios in June of 1958. The resulting single, a Valens composition called “Come On, Let’s Go,” was released the same month and hit number 42 in September on Billboard’s Hot 100. On Keane’s suggestion, the singer adopted “Valens” as his professional name over
his given surname, Valenzuela. While it was not quite a bona fide top forty hit, “Come On, Let’s Go” sold over 225,000 copies and led to Valens’s first appearance on American Bandstand on October 6, 1958. By that time Valens was in demand for concert appearances across the country and had dropped out of San Fernando Valley High School. Valens’s next release was a double-sided single, “Donna” and “La Bamba.” A ballad that Valens wrote for his high-school girlfriend, Donna Ludwig, “Donna” was an immediate hit; it earned a gold record award and spent two weeks at number two on the Hot 100 in January of 1959. The song remains an early rock classic as a teenager-in-love ballad. The single’s flip side, “La Bamba,” also became a classic of a different sort. Based on a traditional tune popular at Mexican weddings, the lyrics of “La Bamba” were adapted from the huapango, which used nonsense lyrics in boastful exchanges among singers. In Valens’s rock-and-roll version, the lyrics featured a drunken sailor insisting that he could dance la bamba better than anyone else. While the song was not as popular as “Donna,” it hit the top 30 on the pop charts in February of 1959. One of the few foreign-language pop hits on the American charts, “La Bamba” was an unusual hit for its era. It was also an unusual choice for Valens to record, as he spoke only rudimentary Spanish and had to learn the lyrics to the song from his mother’s relatives. Although he was aware of his Mexican heritage, Valens spoke only a couple of words of Spanish while he was growing up with his father, who was a native of California. Later on, he picked up a few more phrases, but he was never conversant in the language.
Fatal Crash Became a Legend With three hit songs in less than six months, Valens appeared on the Alan Freed Christmas Jubilee of Stars in December of 1958. Freed also asked Valens to make a singing appearance of “Ooh, My Head” in his rock-and-roll movie Go Johnny Go. Valens then signed up for the Winter Dance Party tour of the Midwest with Buddy Holly and the Crickets, the Big Bopper, and Dion and the Belmonts for January and February of 1959. The Winter Dance Party series would be Valens’s first national tour. Symbolizing his success, the teenager put a $1,000 down payment on a house for his family in Pacioma. Before leaving on the Winter Dance Party tour, Valens entered the Gold Star studio for a final recording date in early January of 1959. With his first album, Ritchie Valens, slated for release in February of 1959, Valens joined the concert tour as it kicked off in Milwaukee on January 23rd. After playing a series of dates around the upper Midwest, the musicians played to about 1,200 fans at the Surf Ballroom at Clear Lake, Iowa, on the night of February 2nd. Hoping to catch up on some rest, headliner Buddy Holly decided to charter a plane
220 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 to get to the tour’s next gig in Minnesota, while the rest of the group traveled by bus. Valens and Richardson joined him for the flight, which was piloted by twentyone-year-old Roger Peterson. Disoriented by poor visibility in the darkness, Peterson crashed the plane almost immediately after takeoff; there were no survivors of the February 3rd accident. The sudden loss of three popular performers stunned music fans. The death of Valens, who was just seventeen years old, contributed to the poignancy of the tragic event; the young performer still had the doublesided hit “Donna/La Bamba” riding high on the charts. In the year after his death two more albums, Ritchie and Ritchie Valens in Concert at Pacioma Junior High, were released. Compilations of Valens’s work have remained in print continuously. In 1972 Don McLean’s song commemorating the event,“American Pie,” hit number one as it recalled “the day the music died.” Valens’s own music lived on, as it was performed by groups ranging from the Ramones to Led Zeppelin. Revived by Los Lobos in 1987, a remake of “La Bamba” eventually returned to the pop charts as a number one single. The song was included on the soundtrack to the film of the same name, which introduced Ritchie Valens to a new generation of music fans as the first Latino rock-and-roll star. In 2001 Valens was inducted by singer Ricky Martin into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for his contribution to popular music.
Selected discography “Come On, Let’s Go” (single), Del-Fi Records, 1958. “Donna/La Bamba” (single), Del-Fi Records, 1958.
“Fast Freight/Big Baby Blues” (single), Del-Fi Records, 1958. Ritchie Valens, (album), Del-Fi Records, 1959. “That’s My Little Suzie” (single), Del-Fi Records, 1959. “Little Girl/We Belong Together&rduo; (single), Del-Fi Records, 1959. Ritchie, (album), Del-Fi Records, 1959. Ritchie Valens in Concert at Pacioma Junior High, (album), Del-Fi Records, 1960. Ritchie Valens’s Greatest Hits, (album), Del-Fi Records, 1963. The Best of Ritchie Valens, (album), Rhino Records, 1981.
Sources Books The Billboard Book of Top Forty Hits, 6th Edition, Billboard Publications, 1996, p. 626. Lehmer, Larry, The Day the Music Died: The Last Tour of Buddy Holly, the ‘Big Bopper’ and Ritchie Valens, Schirmer Books, 1997. Mendheim, Beverly, Ritchie Valens: The First Latino Rocker, Bilingual Press, 1987. World Music: The Rough Guide Volume 2, Rough Guides, 2000, pp. 466-467. On-line 2001 Inductees: Ritchie Valens, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Web Site, 2001, http:// www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=1145. —Timothy Borden
Velasquez • 221
Jaci Velasquez 1979— Vocalist
Jaci Velasquez made one of the most stunning debuts in contemporary Christian music history with her first album, Heavenly Place, in 1996. The album eventually earned a gold record with over 500,000 copies sold and helped Velasquez earn a Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Best New Artist in 1997. With her subsequent releases Velasquez earned several more Dove Awards—including consecutive honors for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1999 and 2000—and 16 of her singles topped the Christian music charts. Even more remarkable was that this string of successes started when Velasquez was just 16 years old. Now in her early twenties, Velasquez’s popularity as a performer has broadened with Spanishlanguage releases aimed at the secular market and a memoir, A Heavenly Place, designed to help young, Christian women live by their religious principles.
Christian Entertainment Background Jacquelyn Davette Velasquez was born on October 15, 1979 in Houston, Texas. She was the youngest in a family that included the four children from her parents’ previous marriages. Her mother gave her the nickname
“Jaci” (pronounced “Jackie”) as a shortened version of her given name. David and Diana Velasquez ran an evangelical ministry, which allowed them to engage their love of music to express their religious beliefs, as they traveled around the country. Earlier, David Velasquez had a successful career in Christian music as part of the Dallas-based group the Galileans. Velasquez’s group released 25 albums and earned a Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Best New Artist in 1970, the same award that his daughter would claim in 1997. With music such a major part of the family’s life, it was not surprising that Jaci Velasquez demonstrated her musical abilities from an early age. As her mother recalled in an October 1999 interview with the Dallas Morning News, “I remember she was not two yet and we were in this little church where the nursery was right around the corner from the sanctuary, and the door was open. We were singing ‘Our God Reigns,’ when all of a sudden, the pastor put his hand to his lips for everyone to be quiet because he could hear her from the nursery. She was singing the chorus, and it was so cute because she even did the little lick in the chorus— ‘Our God reigns, our God reigns, our God re-e-e-igns.’
222 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
At a Glance . . .
B
orn Jacquelyn Davette Velasquez on October 15,
1979 in Houston, TX. Religion: Evangelical
Christian.
popular Christian act Point of Grace at a church concert in Columbus, Texas, in 1994. The group’s manager, Mike Atkins, was so impressed with Velasquez’s singing that he signed on as her manager. After sending a videotape of her performance to Nashvillebased Myrrh Records—a division of leading Christian media outlet Word Entertainment—Velasquez secured her first recording contract. She was just 15 years old.
Career: Recording artist: Heavenly Place, (album), 1996; Jaci Velasquez, (album), 1998; Llegar a Ti, (album), 1999; Crystal Clear, (album), 2000; Mi Corazón, (album), 2001; Christmas, (album), 2001; Navidad, (album), 2001; author: A Heavenly Place, 1998. Awards: Dove Award, New Artist of the Year, 1997; Dove Award, Song of the Year, “On My Knees,” 1998; Recording Industry Association of America, Gold Album, Jaci Velasquez, 1999; Dove Award, Female Vocalist of the Year, 1999; Dove Award, Female Vocalist of the Year, 2000; Dove Award, Special Event Album of the Year, Streams, 2000; Dove Award, Spanish-language Album of the Year, Llegar a Ti, 2000; Recording Industry Association of America, platinum album, Llegar a Ti, 2000; Recording Industry Association of America, gold album, Mi Corazón, 2001; Recording Industry Association of America, platinum album, Heavenly Place, 2001; Recording Industry Association of America, gold album, Crystal Clear, 2001. Addresses:Office—P.O. Box 3568, Brentwood, TN 37024-3568. Record company—Word Records, 25 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203. Record company—Sony Discos, 605 Lincoln Road, 7th Floor, Miami Beach, FL 33139. Management—Mike Atkins Management, 300 10th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203.
And everyone was just sitting there listening and their eyes got huge.” Throughout her childhood, Velasquez and her mother accompanied her father’s performances as back-up singers; by the time she was ten, she had taken over as the lead singer of the Velasquez family trio. During her teens Velasquez continued to hone her skills by performing with her family and entering talent contests around Texas. With such a hectic performing and traveling schedule, Velasquez was home-schooled by her mother. Her major break came when the Velasquez family appeared as the opening act for the
Debuted at Age 16 Velasquez’s debut album, Heavenly Place, was released in May of 1996 and immediately went into the top ten on the Christian music charts, while its first single, “If This World,” became her first number-one single. Eventually Heavenly Place topped the sales charts as well and earned a platinum record for over one million copies sold. Velasquez was also honored with the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for New Artist of the Year and became the youngest-ever recipient of the award. While a constant round of concerts, recording dates, and personal appearances kept the teenager busy, Velasquez also became involved with a number of social issues. A proponent of sexual abstinence before marriage, Velasquez served as national spokesperson for the True Love Waits campaign. Using her visibility to help other teens take responsibility for their actions and avoid making poor decisions, Velasquez nevertheless took a realistic view of the pressures teens faced. “Don’t get me wrong,” she explained to the Dallas Morning News in October of 1999, “I like guys. I have a lot of guy friends and I date. But I use common sense and I don’t get into a situation I can’t get out of and end up giving something away to a person who doesn’t deserve it.” The young singer promoted the message in her 1998 book A Heavenly Place, published in English and Spanish by Simon and Schuster, which gave Christian teens some advice about making the transition to adulthood with their values intact. In 1998 Velasquez also took on the role of national spokesperson for the National Christian College Athletic Association. Although she did not intend to pursue a college education, Velasquez enjoyed touring colleges to promote a Christian-oriented message to students. Velasquez proved that the success of her debut was no fluke when her second album, Jaci Velasquez, was released in 1998. The album quickly topped the Christian music charts and sold over 500,000 copies. One of the album’s singles, a testament to the power of prayer called “On My Knees,” earned Velasquez her second Dove Award in as many years, this time for Song of the Year. One of the few dark spots in her life was the breakup of her parents’ marriage; David and Diana Velasquez separated in 2000. Velasquez turned to her religious faith to help her cope with the experience. As she told Today’s Christian Woman in a May 2001 interview, “I realized I’m not responsible for other people’s choices. Through this situation, I
Velasquez • 223 learned the only One I can count on is Jesus. He doesn’t leave.”
The Latin Market and Continued Success In 1999 Velasquez made the unusual move of signing a recording contract with Spanish-language label Sony Discos, based in Miami, Florida. She retained her contract with Word Records for her Christian music releases, but would release Spanish-language albums for the secular market as well. Although Velasquez was not fluent in Spanish and retained other songwriters to pen her album, Llegar a Ti (To Get to You), she looked at her new contract as an opportunity to reach out to the Hispanic audience. Yet she insisted that the turn toward the mainstream pop market did not mean that she was abandoning her Christian principles. “I relate to what I sing about,” she told Billboard in a February 2000 interview. “I relate to [Llegar a Ti.] It is about a love one day I will haveѧ. I don’t sing about love in the ‘Hey baby, come on over, let me show you’ way. I am a believer in sexual abstinence. I plan on remaining a virgin until the day I get married.” Reflecting her point of view, the tracks on Llegar a Ti steered clear of overt sexual references and included romantic lyrics that could also be construed as devotional songs. It also included some of her past contemporary Christian hits, this time sung in Spanish. Llegar a Ti sold over one million copies and earned a Dove Award for Spanish-language Album of the Year in 2000. That year Velasquez collected her second consecutive Dove Award for Best Female Vocalist. Her next album, Crystal Clear, arrived in August of 2000 and featured two songs cowritten by the singer. The album was another major hit and earned a gold record
for over a half-million in sales. Velasquez delivered a second Spanish-language set in 2001, Mi Corazón (My Heart), which explored some of the emotional turmoil that the singer had experienced during her parents’ divorce. At the end of 2001 Velasquez simultaneously released Christmas and Navidad, featuring traditional holiday tunes in English and Spanish.
Selected discography Heavenly Place, Myrrh Records, 1996. Jaci Velasquez, Myrrh Records, 1998. Llegar a Ti, Sony Discos, 1999. Crystal Clear, Word Records, 2000. Mi Corazón, Sony Discos, 2001. Christmas, Word Records, 2001. Navidad, Sony Records, 2001.
Sources Periodicals Billboard, February 19, 2000, p. LM-8; August 12, 2000, p. 16; May 12, 2001, p. 116. Dallas Morning News, June 3, 1998; October 5, 1999. Texas Monthly, May 1997. Today’s Christian Woman, May/June 2001, p. 96. On-line Everything Jaci, Jaci Velasquez Official Artist WebSite, 2002, http://www.planetjaci.com/newsite/ facts.htm Jaci Velasquez Bio, Word Records Web Site, 2002, http://www.wordrecords.com/jaci/jaci-bio.html —Timothy Borden
224 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2
Alberto Vilar 1940— Investor, philanthropist
A leading philanthropist, visionary investor Alberto W. Vilar enjoys giving money away. Because his father refused him music lessons, Vilar studied finance and cofounded Amerindo Investment Advisers, a management house with an $8 billion portfolio that controls endowments, family trusts, foundations, and pension funds. He spends his earnings on budding artists, opera companies, and technologically advanced concert halls. His generosity established his reputation as one of the world’s most generous arts patrons.
A Frustrated Music-Lover Vilar was born in Newark, New Jersey, on October 4, 1940. He spent his early childhood in Cuba, and, from age nine, grew up in Puerto Rico, his mother’s home. From an early date he fell in love with the violin; later he added orchestral and liturgical music by Bach, Mendelssohn, Puccini, and Verdi. His grandmother, who studied at Havana Conservatory, took him to see Mario Lanza’s movies. Vilar’s immersion in melody annoyed his father, a sugar magnate who disliked his son’s gravitation to swimming, music, and altar service.
The elder Vilar even referred to his son as a “long hair” or a geek, in today’s slang. Instead, he wanted Alberto to pursue the practical goals of math, science, and banking. To Vilar’s dismay, his father rejected the purchase of a violin and lessons. Vilar continued secretly learning classical melodies. After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the elder Vilar lost his business and the family fled to Puerto Rico. Alberto enrolled at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, to which he later donated $5 million to establish the Vilar Center for Technology. After he graduated in 1962 he enlisted in the U.S. Army. During his service overseas he haunted German concert halls and other performance venues. In 1964 Vilar obeyed his father by launching a career in finance at Citicorp and Burnham & Company and concentrated on underappreciated stocks related to telecommunications. Within months, he resettled in London, where he had no difficulty finding musical excellence. To Norman Lubrecht of Culturkiosque, Vilar confided, “London in the late 1960s and ‘70s had some of the best music. So I have been coming to Covent Garden all my life.”
Vilar • 225
At a Glance . . .
B
orn October 4, 1940, in Newark, NJ; divorced.
Education: Washington & Jefferson College, busi-
ness degree, 1962. Religion: Roman Catholic. Military: U. S. Army, 1962-64. Career: Citicorp, financial engineer, 1964; analyst,
and Peace. For a long period, he concealed his lavish donations. In 1995 he abandoned closet philanthropy and hired eight charity managers. Because of shrinking public investment in training centers and music halls and in subsidized art education, he aggressively supported music. Columnist Norman Lubrecht in Culturkiosque called Vilar, “buck for buck, the biggest benefactor in musical history.”
The Privileges of Wealth
Burnham & Company, 1967; founder, Amerindo, 1980; Amerindo Technology Fund, 1996; Health & Biotechnology Fund and Internet B2B Fund, 2000. Awards: Hispanic, Outstanding Latino, 2000. Address: Office—Amerindo Investment Advisers Inc., 399 Park Avenue, 22nd Floor, New York, New York 10022; 212-371-6360. Website—http://www.amerin do.com/contact/contact_main.cfm.
E-mail—Institu
[email protected].
By 1980 Vilar and partner Gary Tanaka opened their business, co-managed by Emeric McDonald, the director of research. Vilar chose the corporation’s name from his first clients, a consortium of Indonesian Chinese, by compressing the proposed American Indonesian Singaporean Investment Company into Amerindo. While managing the New York City Retirement System, the Nature Conservancy, and San Antonio City Public Service, Amerindo bankrolled startup Internet firms, a risk that more conservative money marketers doubted. Vilar’s name soon connected with emerging leaders—Amazon.com, America Online, Ariba, Cisco, Commerce One, eBay, i2, Microsoft, Oracle, and Yahoo. The first to back biotechnology with Genentech, Amgen, and Chiron, he made his reputation with his shrewd stock picks. His interest in stock newcomers led to the creation of the Amerindo Technology Fund in 1996, and in 2000, to the establishment of the Health & Biotechnology Fund and the Internet B2B Fund. Business Week cited his vision of coming advances: “We think the Internet will be the largest business and investment opportunity in history—larger than the Industrial Revolution.ѧ What we see in five years will make the present seem like a quaint anachronism.” When Vilar acquired both leisure and money for travel, he made long opera excursions to world-class culture centers in London, St. Petersburg, Milan, Vienna, and San Francisco, where he opened a branch of Amerindo. Enamored of grand opera Russian style, after the breakup of his marriage in 1987, he embraced the arts. At the Met, he underwrote performances of La Cenerentola, Cosi Fan Tutte, Fidelio, Le Nozze di Figaro, and La Traviata and co-produced Dr. Faustus and War
Vast wealth enabled Vilar to live in the toniest locales, including London, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., as well as a 32-room residence near the United Nations Building in Manhattan. The setting lost value after real estate billionaire Donald Trump erected a 72-floor tower that impeded Vilar’s view. Vilar launched a doomed lawsuit to halt the construction, but continued to enjoy his triplex among art objects and statues of Mozart. Between late 1998 and spring 2001, Vilar has donated $225 million to ballet, classical music, and opera—his favorite. In turn many companies have recognized his donations by naming or renaming structures after him including the chandeliered Vilar Grand Tier of the Metropolitan Opera and Vilar Hall in Vienna. In March of 2001, he developed an $8 million young artists’ project at the Washington Opera and wrote his largest check—$50 million—to the John F. Kennedy Center for performances by the Kirov Ballet and Opera and to launch the Vilar Institute for Arts Management, the first global arts school. By 1999 he added Wagner to his favorites and supported a presentation of Tannhauser at Bayreuth. Key to Vilar’s arts vision for coming decades is the training and nurturing of talent. To turn amateurs into professionals, he anticipated the cost of instruction in languages, directing, and vocal instruction. To assure the most promising a career, he sponsored programs in London, Los Angeles, New York, St. Petersburg, and Washington. Interviewer Jacqueline Trescott quoted him in the Washington Post, saying, “I am going to have a corner on the market for young artists.” Vilar’s unprecedented largess has made available splendid venues, including $2 million for La Scala, a $1 million facade and $5 million underground film theater at Carnegie Hall, and the $10 million Vilar Center for the Arts at Beaver Creek, Colorado, the place he calls home. His gifts have benefitted Vail’s Gerald R. Ford outdoor amphitheater ($3.5 million), $5 million to the New York Philharmonic, $6 million to the Los Angeles Opera, $15 million to the Salzburg Festival, and $25 million to the Metropolitan Opera Endowment Campaign. For New York University, he provided $23.4 million to the Alberto Vilar Global Fellows Program designed after Oxford’s Rhodes Scholarships. For 20 scholars studying acting, composition, dance, film, music, and voice, the fellowship offers each a $40,000
226 • Contemporary Hispanic Biography • Volume 2 stipend. One of his signal improvements for audiences is the technological equipment to translate titles in five languages, including Japanese. To make opera more accessible, he invested in the marketer Figaro Systems, and outfitted the Vienna Staatsoper and concert halls in London and Salzberg.
Gave to Medicine Vilar has not limited his philanthropy to music. He distributed $20 million in scholarships to bring foreign students to Columbia University and founded the Cornell-Salzburg Medical Seminars, which convenes 1,000 Eastern European physicians annually in Salzburg and Vienna. In mid-March of 2001, he showed his thanks to the Columbia University medical center that treated his crushed forearm and elbow after a fall on the ski slopes. His gift of $10 million to the Alberto Vilar Center for Research of the Hand and the Upper Extremity emerged from his friendship with a surgeon who shared his zeal for opera. Vilar also donated $25 million, the largest gift in the 102-year history of Denver’s National Jewish Medical and Research Center, for the Alberto Vilar Research Center, a complex devoted to respiratory, allergic, and immune system diseases. To Denver Business he stressed, “I am proud that the facility will bear my name, not only because I want to support the best institutions but because ѧ my goal is to serve as an example to others.” He predicted that the center would witness major medical advancement. Vilar’s object is a sincere intent to encourage other wealthy people toward altruism. To concerns over the economic downturn at the end of 2001, he characterized low yields as the market’s normal correction. Still optimistic about technology, the internet, and medical breakthroughs, he predicted phenomenal growth over the next five years as well as a jump in the amounts he would donate to the arts. Critics of Vilar charge him with demanding public gratitude. Some ridicule him for the nameplate at Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden and another in London’s Covent Garden, where he gave $15 million to restore the 267-year-old structure under the name Vilar Floral Hall, which he equipped with electronic screens on seatbacks. His name also surfaces on the Alberto Vilar Awards for the Operalia Worldwide Competition for Young Singers, which tenor Plácido Domingo arranges in Bordeaux, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, Paris, Puerto Rico, and Tokyo. There are complaints that Vilar skews donations toward conservative music and away from experimental composers. Met manager Joseph Volpe commented to the Washington Post that Vilar loves grand, stagy works like the Franco Zeffirelli production of La Traviata. Vilar also demands opening night tickets and front-row seats, where art lovers crowd around to express thanks. For his support of the Kennedy Center,
he expects two seats at every performance. Vilar maintains four goals for his avocation: encouraging young talent, applying technology, restoring music halls, and presenting new productions. He has countered charges that he influences the selection of singers and conductors, as occurred when his friend Lorin Maazel was hired to direct the New York Philharmonic. The company program reciprocated for Vilar’s generosity by identifying him as the orchestra’s archangel. He declares that it is a personal joy to nurture art, including the Maazel/Vilar Conductors’ Competition Foundation, which scouts new directors and hosts a mentoring program and an international conducting competition. Vilar gave millions to arts programs because of the conscience he developed in childhood. He told Jacqueline Trescott in the Washington Post: “I was brought up as an intimidated Catholic: ‘You will go down there if you don’t give.’ You have to be passionate about what you are doing. You have to have a sense of generosity and get satisfaction out of giving.” Completely at home in a tux, he loves formal occasions where he models the ideal balance of billionaire art lover and philanthropist.
Sources Periodicals Back Stage, October 8, 1999, p. 6. Boulder News, October 5, 1998. Business Week, September 6, 1999, p. 102. Culturkiosque, May 23, 2001. Denver Business Journal, July 13, 2001, p. 3A. Fortune, October 25, 1999, p. 390; November 27, 2000, p. 106. Fund Raising Management, March 2001, p. 17. Hispanic, April 2001, p. 16. Hispanic Business, June 1996, p. 146. Institutional Investor International Edition, December 1999, p. 13. Investment News, October 4, 1999, p. 1. New York Times, September 29, 1998, p. B1, B3; September 3, 2000, p. BU2; October 8, 2001, p. AR1; January 18, 2001, p. B5; January 27, 2001, p. A15; February 9, 2001, p. A19; February 14, 2001, p. A23; February 15, 2001, p. B1; March 27, 2001, p,.⬙ B1; July 29, 2001, p. AR1; January 21, 2002, pp. 50-55. Opera News, August 2001, p. 36. U. S. News & World Report, September 25, 2000, p. 68. Variety, February 19, 2001, p. 66. Wall Street Journal, March 13, 1991, p. A1; May 1, 1996, p. C1; July 24, 1996, p. C1; October 17, 1996, p. C1; April 4, 1997, p. C2; September 19, 2000, p. A24. Washington Post, April 1, 2001, p. G01.
Vilar • 227 On-line Business Week Online, www.businessweek.com, June 5, 2000. Hispanic Online, www.hisp.com, November 2000. http://www.nyu.edu/vilar/about.html Orthopedic Technology Review, September-October 2001, http://www. orthopedictechreview.com/is sues/sepoct01/pg12.htm http://www.vilarcenter.org/html/patron.html. http:// www.wnyc.org/asx/wnycfm.asx. Other Additional information for this profile was obtained from Richard Dukas, Alberto Vilar’s publicity manager. —Mary Ellen Snodgrass
