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station near the international bridge. Convoy members returning to Austin also carried copies of a letter of support from San Antonio Democratic Congressman Albert Bustamante, who on at least one occasion has voted for contra aid. In the letter, Bustamante criticized the Treasury Department for its selective application of the law. Bustamante cited other instances in which vehicles were sent to Nicaragua by humanitarian aid groups: “Among the items shipped was a pick-up truck to be used as an ambulance, an ambulance, a Ford flatbed truck, two garbage trucks, and numerous other vehicles.” Bustamante wrote that he questioned whether the Treasury Department has the authority to halt the progress of the Veterans’ Peace Convoy, “as its stated mission is solely to relieve human suffering.” Only a week after leaving here, Bob Livesy’s convoy, looking like a larger and slightly modern version of Ken Kesey’s Medicine Ball Caravan, returned. At times, the convoy is led by a 1960s vintage International school bus like the Vice President, formerly of Kennebunkport, Maine. And like the garbage barge that made every port in the Caribbean, this travelling protest will provide considerable embarrassment to the government that spawned it. Until, that is, it finds a home. L.D. Henry Cisneros and the Hispanic Agenda SAN ANTONIO Mayor Henry Cisneros delivered a speech on his 41st birthday that some in his audience described afterward as “Vice Presidential,” but the mayor continues to deny that he has national political ambitions. Cisneros’s speech, to an annual meeting of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, touched on national and international themes of particular importance to the Hispanic community. Suggesting that “a new day has arrived in the Hispanic community,” Cisneros said the growing minority populations in the U.S. constitute a “demographic wave” that will “literally change the coloration, the complexion, and the politics of many states, certainly many cities, and indeed the United States.” The mayor urged the officials and activists to take a broad view of the wellbeing of the country as a whole. The goal, he said, is not to move from being secondclass citizens in a first-class country to becoming first-class citizens in a secondclass country. Conceding that “the Hispanic numbers are there,” he said, “the politics of just riding the crest of numbers is not going to serve our interests. We’ve got to use that new-found responsibility, that newfound power and opportunity to help build the interests of the country at large.” But, said Cisneros, “there is such thing as an Hispanic agenda.” Part of the agenda, he said, is “opposition to the English Only movement, acceleration of the drive for citizenship, and the empowerment that will come in the next administration, be it Bush or Dukakis, whoever is elected, to have an Hispanic in the cabinet of the United States of America.” Mentioning a 42 percent Hispanic dropout rate in San Antonio high schools, the mayor said the most important goal is investment in education, including programs that aid Hispanic competitiveness, such as bilingual education. Informed by the Observer after the speech that some audience members described it as “Vice Presidential,” Cisneros laughed and said, “No chance.” He gave his standard statement on his political future, which, for the record, is this: “I’m basically a local person and I have made my commitment to San Antonio and my job is to build this city. . . . My goals really revolve around the city, in either a public capacity or outside of public office. There’s people who want to be in big business and there’s people who want to run their own small businesses and I guess the same analogy could be applied to politics.” D.D. LOUIS DUBOSE Dr. Lukyanova Russian Physician Barnstorms Against Nuclear War AUSTIN A Russian pediatrician has discovered one basic difference between Russian and American doctors. In Russia, Ukranian pediatrician Elena Lukyanova said, all physicians advocate nuclear disarmament. “In fact,” Lukyanova said, “I do not know any Russian physician who believes in deterrence.” Lukyanova visited Austin after participating in the Eighth World Congress of the International Physicians for the Prevention Canada. \(Physicians for Social ResponsibilIPPNW won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of efforts in educating the public about the medical consequences of nuclear war. Lukyanova, director of the Kiev Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology, is also president of the Ukraine chapter of IPPNW. Lukyanova argues for strong parental involvement in the education of children about nuclear weapons and nuclear war. Schools in the U.S.S.R., she said, identify special risk groups of children who are then given extra attention by teachers and doctors. But the family must also be involved in talking about nuclear issues, she stressed. The Soviet Union and the United States have both conducted research on the psychological effect of the nuclear threat on children. “What is most striking is that the results of both nations correspond,” said Lukyanova. She said that many children who are very anxious about the nuclear threat develop ulcers and other gastrointestinal problems. “This is a very bad signal for physicians, and we should not forget that a little child has the same thinking process as a grown-up,” she said. Lukyanova said that Chernobyl is a warning of the great danger posed by nuclear weapons. According to Lukyanova, Chernobyl was, however, only a small incident of technology not being handled properly by man. The tragedy was a local incident that attracted international attention. “A nuclear war,” Lukyanova warned, “cannot be treated as a local incident.” Dr. Lukyanova said she hopes that the “end of the Cold War will go on and result in more meetings of people to create a new climate through people not mass media -but real facts of life through real people.” Though she recognizes that there are many social organizations working for peace, she believes that the physicians movement is the most effective: “We realize more than other people that this new war will have no winner . . . and will be a disaster for all mankind.” When questioners informed Lukyanova that some American doctors accept the concept of deterrence, she said she found that hard to believe. “If you have that problem,” Lukyanova said, “then we have yet another problem to change those views.” -SHANNON STAVINOHA Shannon Stavinoha is an Observer editorial intern. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 5