Peter's position on issues affecting the Latino community

By Peter Miguel Camejo

Peter Miguel Camejo's background as a Latino activist and his position on Latino issues such as undocumented workers.

Mr. Camejo is a first generation Venezuelan-American who has fought for social and environmental justice since his teens. He was worked to defend the rights of Latino workers in the U.S. and to free political prisoners in Latin America, including indigenous leader Hugo Blanco of Peru. Peter also fought for the release of his own brother, who was a political prisoner in Mexico, for printing a pro-labor magazine.

Through an organic farming firm, Earth Trade, Peter helped Nicaragua become the world's largest producer of organic sesame.

In 1977, Mr. Camejo organized a conference in San Antonio Texas to support undocumented workers.

Mr. Camejo supports the platform of the Green Party of California, which states:

"In California, discussions of immigration mostly center around the Latino population that moves across the U.S - Mexican border. Xenophobic responses are typified by Proposition 187 which claimed we "are suffering economic hardship by the presence of illegal aliens..." To the contrary, numerous studies show a positive net effect from the taxes paid, wages spent and jobs created by immigrant workers. However, reactionary allegations are popularized to divert discussions away from underlying causes of U.S. economic erosion, such as the permanent decline of labor-intensive jobs and the widening gap between rich and poor. Keeping workers illegal just makes them more vulnerable to exploitations and illegal actions by employers. This makes them an attractive labor source which, in turn, increases the demand. This cycle of oppression and exploitation is the equivalent of a modern-day slave trade."

As a Latino, Camejo will also campaign to de-criminalize undocumented workers in California.

Camejo further states: "The undocumented in California are an essential part of our economy & community. The are hard working, tax paying and law abiding. They are an integral part of our society but are treated as outsiders. This hypocrisy must end." Camejo, who himself is part indigenous, says "How can we call people `aliens' whose ancestors were here 20,000 years ago?"