Gus De La Vina: Technocrat for an Empire’s Bloody Border
Posted by Mike E on November 3, 2009
Kasama received the following commentary from Jose the Red Fox.
Comrades,
It is exactly 15 years to the day, when the Clinton administration implemented its “prevention-through-deterrence” strategy along the U.S.-Mexico border. This past Monday, one of the chief architects of
that strategy, Gus De La Vina passed away. I generally respect the
dead but not this one, specially in the context of so many obituaries
praising his “work”.
Sorry, I won’t mourn the death of the Border Patrol chief who implemented a border control strategy–”Operation Gatekeeper” in 1994–that has lead to the deaths of over 5,000 migrants while crossing or attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
Our solidarity is with the victims of imperialist globalization, not with the technocrats of empire and death.
josetheredfox, abajo con la frontera falsa.
for related links >
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/2009_10_29.php
former INS Commissioners Doris Meissner and James Ziglar:
“His leadership skills, his courage, his integrity and his loyalty were always on display for those of us who had the privilege to work with him. Gus ably represented the long and proud tradition of the U.S. Border Patrol.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-gustavo-delavina29-2009oct29,0,3797824.story
lunita said
dear josetheredfox,
thanks for bringing this to our attention! no need to respect any dead who don’t deserve it. one less monster. hurray! and hurray to all those who help, harbor, and protect those who, for the sheer crime of being unable to produce a piece of paper declaring their status, are deemed “illegal” and subject to unfathomable terror not just by u.s. agents, but by the bloody militias they’ve unleashed to hunt immigrants as if they were animals. his xenophobic ilk need to be hounded mercilessly!
Kyle 486-T said
As a side note:
One good thing that La Resistencia put out (without apology) was two very sharp political points: 1) Human life is more important than the sanctity of any “law” and 2) People have a right to survive regardless of “legal status”. This is something that Travis Morales (RCP supporter and founding member of La Resistencia) helped popularize amongst the immigrant rights movement.
These points points of unity should continue to be fought for in our new Sanctuary Movement.
Bob Dylan sang: …”to live outside the law, you must be honest”.
We say: To be honest, you must live outside the law. This is made clear every time an undocumented crossing takes place at the U.S.-Mexico boundary: whether “politically aware” or not, those migrants are a saying a big “Fuck You!” to U.S. imperialism and that yes, human life is more important than laws and that people have a right to survive, regardless of legal status.
jose