24 November 2002
Bill Hess - Editor
Sierra Vista Herald
102 Fab Avenue
Sierra Vista AZ 85635
Mr. Hess,
I read with disgust the Sunday, November 24th Sierra Vista Herald article which included the comments of Guadalupe Castillo, co-chair of the subversive reconquista group called Coalicion de Derechos Humanos. Her slanderous comments about groups opposing the ongoing invasion of the Southwest went beyond the pale. Your unquestioning coverage of her comments only served to aid the anti-American reconquistas in spreading their propaganda messages of hate and subversion.
Castillo says "The American Border Patrol and a self-proclaimed Tombstone militia group are wackos, what is more frightening is that they are domestic terrorists." Despite all the inaccuracies about them that you and others have published, the ABP is simply a group that monitors the border, collects information through high tech equipment, compiles it in a database, and disseminates it over the Internet. The small militia group from Tombstone has even yet to form. Neither group, can by any measure of truth or reason, be considered "domestic terrorists." I believe that Castillo has openly slandered these good people and for that she should be held liable. I hope they sue.
Castillo went on to say "Extreme right-wing groups want war with Mexico as a way to stop the flow of people coming into the United States whose only crime is to seek work." The literature put out by those in the reconquista movement, of which Castillo is a leader, clearly shows a plan to establish a nation called Aztlan in what is now the southwestern states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The movement proposes to take this area through mass invasion and possibly force. It is THEY who desire war with the United States, not the other way around. No one is talking of war with Mexico - Castillo is clearly lying. And when Castillo says that the only crime of the border intruders "is to seek work" she is clearly ignorant of the federal immigration laws being broken as well as state laws against trespassing. In fact, the first act of these people is to break our nation's laws - clearly demonstrating their undesirable nature.
Castillo continues her shrill slander when she says "They (right-wing groups) are domestic terrorists. They are a bunch of McVeighs. They are wackos." To compare with a murderer such as McVeigh the law-abiding Americans (if Castillo would even bother looking at Arizona Statutes) who are either protecting their own property, protecting property upon which they were invited and asked to protect, or simply monitoring the border with high tech equipment clearly demonstrates the lying, propagandistic nature of the shrill speeches and hysterical writings of the reconquista movement's leaders.
What was not reported are the words yesterday (23 November) of Mexico's foreign minister, Jorge Castaneda. He said that Mexico would begin a "bottom-up campaign" to gain U.S. support for a proposal to legalize 3.5 million illegal aliens in the United States. Castaneda went on to say, "We are already giving instructions to our consulates that they begin propagating militant activities -- if you will -- in their communities."
I ask you and your readers: Who are the wacko, militant, potential domestic terrorists in this current border crisis?
It is said that a picture says a thousand words. I'm including, and I hope that you can publish in some form, several pictures from a march held on October 12th in Nogales which was sponsored by the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos.
The pictures show that the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos believes that the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas should be part of a Mexican nation of Aztlan. It is actually part of the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos logo! The pictures also show the red banners and flags (Where have we seen those before?) of this subversive movement. Some of the red banners display an Aztlan warrior - a hooded figure sheltering a dark-haired girl and brandishing a rifle. Another picture shows several masked youth with fists in the air - very reminiscient of the Palestinian terrorists in Israel. Another picture shows a banner bearing the image of a Mexican woman breaking chains around her wrists with a DEAD white woman lying on the ground behind her. One of the images shows an Anarchist symbol (a circled A) on a protestor's sign. All the pictures are disturbing.
Clearly, the reconquista movement exists, Castillo is one of its leaders, the movement is militant in nature, and it has Arizona in its crosshairs. They have openly demonstrated their goals and the dishonest means that they will use to achieve them. Slandering those who wish to expose and fight them is their Modus Operandi as they spread their hateful, divisive propaganda - as I'm sure that this letter will have me branded as a racist. Despite how I may now be unfairly demonized by these groups, I think that it is important that you and your readers be informed about Castillo's subversive group as well other similar groups as Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), La Voz de Aztlan, La Raza, Raza Unida Party, and others. Because of these subversive agitators and the useful idiots who have fallen under their spell there is a potential that our quiet little town could find itself on the front line of a conflict similar to the Israeli/Palestinian mess. And it won't be Glenn Spencer and his high tech sensors sending armed Aztlan warriors and suicide bombers our way.
