1982_02 The Daily Collegian February 1982

              Feb. 9. page 2 La Vox
Editorial
Reagan's Double Standards
Poland's solidarity leader Lech Walesa should feel lucky he is
confined to' a summer palace, instead of being tortured to death like
hundreds of solidarity leaders in El Salvador.
Both countries are demanding political change and a democratic
system of life. They suffer from lack of work, low wages, shortage of
food.and a dictatorship government that gives no justice.
More than 32,000 people have been killed in El Salvador, since the
U.S. supported civiliaD-military government headed by President
Jose Napolen Duarte took power in 1979.
Hundreds of children have been left orphans by the Duratc military .
search and destroy, Vietnam style operations. Right wing terrorist
death squads operate freely with the aid of the military. They have
been reported to raid entire villages, assassinating all males old
enough to shoot a gun and raping teenage girls in front of their
mothers.
Despite of all this murdering, the Reagan administration is asking
Congress for continued military and economic aid to the Durate
regime. The administration wants to increase the aid by $100 million
this year and $300 million by 1983.
To do this the White House must first convince Congress that the
Duarte government is complying with international human rights
standards, as specified in the Foreign Assistance Act.
The administration has come up with a report which will be pres¬
ented to Congress this week, detailing the Duarte government is in
control of its forces and is maintaining human rights standards. The
.report has been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) and the Americas Watch Committee, who themselves made
public a 273-page report detailing charges of systematic murder,
torture, arbitrary arrests and denial of right by the Duarte armed
forces.
By authorizing the weapons aid to El Salvador that are killing
innocent people, Reagan himself is no worse than the U.S.S.R. is to
Poland and we as Americans that believe in the democratic system are
no better off if we let the weapons aid continue.
Feb. 9. page 3 La Vox
GLTCATRO COmPGSinO
presents
written and directed by
Luis Valdbz
by Fernando Quintcro
The Webster Collegiate dictionary defi¬
nes melodrama as; "a work characterized
by the p redo mina nee of extravagant theat¬
rics arid by the predominance of plot and
physical action over characterization..."
I only with I would have looked the
word up before I went to go see El Teatro
Campesino's latest play, "Bandidol"
Written and directed by Luis Valdez of
"Zoot Suit*fame, "Bandidot" follows the
trails and adventures of Tiburcio Vas-
quez, notorious California bandit. "Ban¬
didot* baa just completed a sucessful four-
week run in San Juan Bautitta, which it El
Teatro Campesino's headquarters. One
can clearly tee the sharp contrast between
comedy and drama at well at myth and
rcality-a Valder trademark. 'Bandido!"
heavily emphasizes its 'melodrama tict'to
an otherwise unprepared and unknowing
audience.
When Luis and hit brother Daniel were
in Fresno promoting *Zoot Suit*, I got the
chance to talk to l.uis about 'Bandido!'
He told me it was their next motion pic¬
ture project.
I for one, certainly hope to.
Mexicans have been portrayed all wrong
in American Westerns. Luis illustrates the
misrepresentation and distortion of the
Mexican "bandit" through hit caricature¬
like portrayals of them in the play.
As the first half of "Bandido!" centers
around Vasquez's return to California
after fleeing to Mexico for tome time; one
can't help but laugh at the sneering 'si
tinior* coming from the contorted, for¬
eign mouths of Vasq uez's bind of outlaws
The old Hollywood Latin-lover stereo¬
type it played to its fullest by Tony Plana
as Tiburcio Vatquez, a gay caballero-t ype
complete with flowing cape and suave
gestures.
Luis Vadez't primary objective with
'Bandido!' was to bring Tiburcio Vat¬
quez into the limelight of the other West¬
ern heroes such as Jesse James, Black
Bart, and Butch Cassidy and the Sun¬
dance Kid. I'm participating in th is Amer
can ritual of defining the 'Old West'
in terms of its legendary heroes,'observed
Luis, 'And I'm adding one name to the
rotteT.'
While Luis claims that the life of Tibur¬
cio Vatquez "was the stuff of gigantic
legend,' surely the sensitive portrayal of
Tiburcio Vatquez by Tony Plana brought
him down to reality.
Another recent trademark of Valdez
hat been hit somewhat naive port rayals of
women. Cynthia Ann Valdez who play
Rosario, one of Tiburcio Vasquez's acco¬
mplice's wife, somewhat lacked credibil¬
ity.
Yolanda Parra on the other hand,
did a wonderful job at California Kate a
rambuctiout swearing madam of a bor¬
dello I particularly liked the idea of a Chi¬
cana playing an Anglo. It provided a sense
of ironic nemesis. The rest of the acting,
including W. Dennis Hunft plethora of
characters, was alto very good.
Since El Teatro Campetino signed with
the Actor's Equity Union but November,
a greater sense of p rofessionalism hat tur-
rounded them. El Teatro hat always been
the artistic medium of representation for
farmworkers, and the Chicano commun-
.   TTtmric Vaaqwn Notorious Baaait
ity since its beginnings in the lettuce fields
of Delano. However, they are no longer
confined or limited to the fields and small
playhouses. They have entered America's
mainstream and are growing every season
If one goes to tee a play by E[ Teatro
expecting to see a matt of toiled grecrron
their costumet, or bits of tomato leaves
glued on to their shoes with mud, you may
have to look real hard because as teen in
Luis Valdez . plays, Bandidos as well at
farmworkers, are a mixture of myth and
reality.
FEEDBACK
Question: What did jou think of Reagan.
1st ate of the Union Address last week*
[And what impact do jou think 11 will ha ve
Ion -ralnoritie-r
By Margarita Martinez
Pat Aguirre, Director of the PASS program
"I was angry. I was sitting with some
friends and we were thinking how blatant¬
ly all hit policies have been for the benefit
of the rich population and large corpora¬
tions. I felt it was a hypocrisy of him to say
he was the president of the people. He's
not attuned to poor people. Minorities for
the most part have always been neglected
in terms of educational opportunity. They
will have an even more difficult time
trying to stay in school because it will be
that much more difficult to have access to
education."
Dr. Bernard McGoldrick, Professor of
Political Science
"1 tee it as the new federalism. It's an
attempt to return to the old federalism
that gives a great deal more power to the
states. In terms of minorities, it will turn
the clock back; You could be a first chut
citizen in one state a nd not in another. It's
another step toward undoing much of the
progress made without adequate protec¬
tion by the federal government. I want to
emphasize that there it nothing new about
federalism, in many respects its what we
had before and after the civil war." .    •
Robert Hernandez, Director of the Educa-   Manuel Perez, Assistant Dean ofStudentj
tional Opportunity Program Affairs
"As the speech goes I felt he did a goodl
job it it. The speech, I felt, was good but 11
think he failed to indicate bow he war
"I turned it on, beard it for a few min¬
utes, heard the same Reagan rhetoric, and
turned it off. I did n't really listen because I
know where he is coming from. Where he
it corning from isn't going to improve
conditions for disadvantaged people. In
terms of education it is really going to
have extreme negative effects oa the abil¬
ity of minority students to be able to have
that opportunity."
going to change the way the funds are
provided to the states and to what extent!
states were going to have to take overs
those programs. It's
policy which I think
canos, other minorities, »nd poo
a shift in our national
k is to detriment Chi-
uo, and poor people.'