May 5th

National studies have shown that Latinos tend to be hard workers and play an integral role in this country's overall productivity. However, when it comes to protecting their health, they lag far behind other groups in access to medical insurance. Today nearly 40% of Latinos in the U.S. are affected by this disparity. With this in mind, legislators, health care providers and community leaders met recently in San Diego at the Biannual Conference of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health to explore ways of closing this gap and making sure that medical coverage is available to all. Citlali Saenz has the details.

The continuing crisis in Mexico's agricultural fields has forced thousands of small farmers to leave their land in search of better opportunities, and many have found them in the fields of the United States. Nicanor Luna, a farmer from the city of Angostura in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, no longer wants to go across the U.S. border to work. Instead, he has decided to stay and demand that the Mexican government turn its sights to its own agriculture and find a solution to this crisis. Our correspondent in Mexico, Raul Silva, has his story.

In an elementary school in the Mexican state of Guerrero, indigenous children, through their studies, provide proof of the success of bilingual education, even in the face of poverty and shortages of teachers, desks, and most other school supplies. Kent Patterson spent some time with these children in the town Zihuatanejo and has this report.

May 12th

The upcoming presidential election in Mexico, with the possibility of a historic defeat of the long-governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), has taken presidential campaigning beyond Mexico's borders. Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, on a swing through California, met this week with groups of students and other supporters in Los Angeles who are leading a telephone campaign on his behalf and organizing a caravan of voters to travel south to the border to cast their votes for him. One of the things he spoke about was his promise of more protection for Mexican immigrants in the U.S. Ruben Tapia has the details from Los Angeles.

Vicente Fox, presidential nominee of Mexico's Alliance for Change (Alianza por el cambio), which includes the conservative National Action (PAN) and the Green Ecological (Verde Ecologista) Parties, brought his campaign this week to Central California on a two day tour through the cities of Bakersfield, Fresno and Sacramento. In a rally at Fresno's Fairgrounds, where thousands of supporters gathered, Fox promised, among other things, to promote an open U.S.-Mexican border policy for immigrant workers. Citlali Saenz was at the rally and brings us this report.

In what is shaping up to be a historic campaign season, Mexican presidential candidates have increasingly taken to the airwaves to bring their message to the voters. While television and radio have always been influential in defining the course of politics, their influence now extends beyond favoring one particular party, providing, according to some media analysts, a more balanced and equitable campaign coverage than at any other time in Mexico's history. Our correspondent in Mexico City, Raul Silva, has been following the media campaigns and has this report.

May 19th

More and more elderly people in the United States, unable to afford the rising expense of the prescription medicines they need, are making the trip across the border to Mexico to have those prescriptions filled. In response to the public clamor over these increases, Congress is analyzing two legislative proposals, one Republican and one Democratic, to extend Medicare coverage to include part of the costs of prescription medicines. Hugo Ordoņez has the details.

The initiative by Mexican legislators that would legalize so called "chocolate", or foreign, cars, has been frozen by the Mexican Senate, which is controlled by the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Meanwhile, unregistered imported cars continue to circulate unabated. Given the number of cars brought in from the United States by Mexican citizens--and potential voters--this has become an issue in some of the current presidential campaigns. Our correspondent in Mexico City, Lenica Avila, has this report.

Despite a public service campaign on the Mexican side of the border, and warning signs on the U.S. side, the number of deaths of immigrants trying to cross the border is on the rise. Most deaths in California occur on the hot desert sands and canals of the Imperial Valley, where twenty-nine deaths have been reported so far this year. Many blame the United States Border Patrol's "Operation Gatekeeper" in San Diego for pushing immigrants to these deadly crossroads. Our correspondent Ana Lilia Barraza, in El Centro, California, spoke with border patrol agents and defenders of immigrants about the dangers that await those hoping to cross into the U.S. as the hot southern California summer nears.

May 26th

A coalition made up of students, teachers, and civil organizations recently filed a lawsuit against California's Department of Education, claiming educational disparities between schools in minority neighborhoods and those in wealthier districts. Among the disparities, according to the lawsuit, are the shortage of qualified teachers in many minority schools, and conditions detrimental to education such as the lack of heating and air conditioning in many school buildings. Our correspondent Ruben Tapia has this report from Los Angeles, home to half of the eighteen schools named in the suit.

Whether by organized caravans or individually, thousands of Mexicans residing in the United States will travel to the one hundred special voting booths set up along the U.S.-Mexico border to cast their votes in Mexico's upcoming presidential election on July 2nd. However, officials of Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) are recommending that, whenever possible, people return to vote in their place of origin to avoid the risk of an overflow capacity at the border. Raul Silva has the details from Mexico City.

Though the benefits of mother's milk are well known, many women prefer to feed their babies formula for its ease and convenience. For this reason, doctors and community volunteers from La Leche League and from the Mother's Milk Bank in Austin, Texas are advising and assisting thousands of new mothers to help bring back the healthy and healthful habit of breastfeeding. Citlali Saenz reports.

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