Vanguardia with James Garcia

Roberto Reveles is running for AZ Legislative District 7 against ultra-right Republican Wendy Rogers. A longtime Democratic activist and civil rights leader, Reveles, who is 91, is a former president of the ACLU of Arizona. He was the founding president of Somos America, an immigrants rights coalition that organized a massive march in Phoenix by protestors in support of immigration reform in 2006. Born to Mexican immigrants in Miami, Ariz., Reveles served in the Air Force during the Korean War, and as a staffer for five members of Congress before taking a job in the mining industry. Vanguardia America recently sat with Mr. Reveles for this exclusive interview about his candidacy. Read an extended print version of this interview here. To learn more about his candidacy, visit www.revelesforarizona.com. 

The University of Arizona has ceded ownership of a historic home in Nogales that once served as the residence of the state's only ever Latino governor, Raul H. Castro, and his wife Pat. The home is now back in possession of the late governor's family. Host James E. Garcia speaks to Beth Castro, daughter of the former governor, and Nogales attorney Briana Ortega about the Castro family's claim in a recent lawsuit that the university had breached its contract with them when it accepted the home as a donation but failed to follow through on its public pledge to turn the property into a border studies center. (13 mins) 

Photo courtesy of Tom Story.

In this episode, we remember a leading figure in American politics, someone regarded as a giant in the Latino community, the late Bill Richardson, who died at 75 on Sept. 1 at his summer home in Chatham Massachusetts. Among his many achievements, Mr. Richardson served as a member of Congress, governor of New Mexico, Ambassador to the United Nations, and Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton. Our guests include Arturo Vargas, CEO of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO); Domingo Garcia, president and CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC); Rafael Collazo, executive director of UnidosUS Action Fund;l and Francisco Pedraza, a political scientist at Arizona State University's School of Politics and Global Studies and associate Director of the Center for Latinas/os and American Politics Research. (25 mins)

A new report by UnidosUS finds hundreds of thousands of Latino families have lost  Medicaid coverage since the end of the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency declaration. Medicaid is the national health insurance program, funded jointly by the state and federal governments, for low-income families and individuals. Vanguardia America's James E. Garcia's speaks to Stan Dorn, Senior Health Policy Director for UnidosUS, about the confusing and cumbersome bureaucratic "redetermination" process that’s led to more than 400,000 Florida families, including many Latinos, losing their benefits and how the situation there is being replicated nationwide.

Vanguardia America host James E. Garcia talks to LULAC Interim-CEO Juan Proaño  about the organization's 2023 convention happening in Albuquerque, New Mexico, July 31 to Aug. 5. Mr. Proaño discusses highlights of this year's convention, including a town hall featuring Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, D- TX. Rep. Escobar is co-sponsoring a bi-partisan bill called the Dignity Act (H.R. 3599) with Rep. María Elvira Salazar. The bill aims to reform the U.S. immigration system. (13 mins.)

Among those scheduled to attend this year's LULAC convention will be Congressman Ruben Gallego, D-AZ. Gallego is running for the U.S. Senate in Arizona. For a full list of speakers, visit LULAC'S convention webpage at lulac.org/convention23/speakers/

Vanguardia America host James E. Garcia interviews David Castro, vice president of communication and marketing for UnidosUS, about the highlights at this year's UnidosUS annual national convention in Chicago, including the appearance of Vice President Kamala Harris and other top Biden administration officials. (13 mins.)

Vanguardia America host James E. Garcia interviews Rafael Collazo, executive director of the UnidosUS Action Fund, about the state of Latino politics across the nation as his group's parent organization, UnidosUS, gathers for its annual national conference in Chicago. Collazo's organization also addressed the recent allegations of abuse against  immigrants at the Texas-Mexico border by state authorities. 

Vanguardia America interviews Ithamar Enriquez, an El Paso native and now California-based actor and writer who's done television and film in L.A. for the past 15 years, even as he tours his comedy, "Ithamar Has Nothing to Say." The show is called that because Ithamar actually doesn’t utter a single word in the show.

Inspired by the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Mr. Bean, and the long-running improv show, Whose Line is it Anyway, Enriquez is also an alum of the famed Chicago comedy troupe, Second City. 

By all accounts "Ithamar Has Nothing to Say" will not only make you laugh, but it might even make you think, which is never a bad thing.

Ithamar talks to host James E. Garcia all about his life, career and why he doesn't speak in this show, which is being staged at Stray Cat Theater at the Tempe Center for the Arts thru May 28.

Vanguardia America host James Garcia interviews Director KJ Sanchez and actors Sarita Ocon (Sybil) and Brady Morales Woolery (Victor) from the Arizona Theater Co. production of "Private Lives" which runs through May 28 at the Herberger Theater Center.

The play, written by Noel Coward in the 1930s, comes with a twist.

Sanchez has set the play in Argentina and Uruguay and features an all Latino cast. 

We’ll talk about the play and what it says about human nature, love and divorce, but we’ll also get into how the production reflects the changes happening nationwide in response to the need for theater companies to cater to an increasingly diverse audience, including the country’s fast-growing Latino community.

Go to ATC.org for ticket information.

Vanguardia America host James E. Garcia interviews California-based playwright Jose Cruz Gonzalez and Ricky Araiza of Tempe, AZ's Childsplay Theater Company. The duo will be talking about a play by Gonzalez titled “Tomas and the Library Lady,” which opened Feb. 4 and runs through March 12 at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.

Childsplay produces shows aimed at young audiences, mainly children from about five to 12 or so, but take it from me the company’s  productions are great for adult audiences as well.

"Tomas and the Library Lady" is the story of boy from a migrant farm worker family that travels to Iowa to pick crops, where young Tomas pays his first visit to a library and learns to love books. It’s a heartwarming piece inspired by the life of Tomas Rivera, who grew up to be an esteemed author, scholar and the onetime president of the University of California - Riverside.

But the story’s themes, as you’ll hear from the playwright, still echo today, particularly in the wake of far-right attacks on Latinos and especially undocumented Latino immigrants. Even today, some 40 to 50 percent of migrant farm workers in the U.S. are undocumented.

To learn more about this play's scheduled performances, visit www.childsplayaz.org.