TRANSLATED FROM:
http://www.laopinion.com/ciudad/?rkey=0 ... 0003108070

A few days from the first visit of the president Felipe Calderon to Los Angeles, community organizations prepare a list of demands that contemplates, mainly, more economic, legal, and political support, for the purpose of supporting the defense of the guarantees of the Mexicans situated in this country.

Members from the Migrant Parliament and authorities of the general consulate of Mexico in this city met behind closed doors this week to speak —among others aspects— of the next arrival of the President.

Some assistants underlined that, although the consul in charge, Mario Velázquez, insisted that the tour of Calderon is not official yet—since the Mexican Senate has not appoved it —, he asked them that they devise a list of requests to the Mexican president.

Next Friday, January 31, day in which they will meet authorities of the consulate and common leaders, points will be discussed that will be exposed to the President.

The coordinator of community Relations of the Counsel of Mexican Confederacies in North America (COFEM), Roberto Bravo, considered that one of the main orders to Calderon should be that he be involved more in the change of the migratory laws of this country.

In this sense, he indicated that the Mexican government has to consider the creation of an economic fund that pays the expenses of the organizations, for example, visits to treat migratory matters.

Although Bravo argued that the economic support should be delivered only "to organizations that show the expense of that money".

The director of Hermandad Mexicana, Gloria Saucedo, mentioned that the President should be focused in lobbying, in the search of a migratory reform for millions of undocumented and to ask to the Administration of George W. Bush that stop the raids.

In turn, the consultative counselor of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME), Carlos de Avila, declared that he will request the integration of "a powerful legal body", to defend the rights of the Mexicans in this side of the border.

"Which will immediately be defending the Mexicans in the raids and challenging Anti-immigrant laws", he emphasized.

On the other hand, De Avila asked the second ruler of the rows of the National Action Party, to permit that the negotiation for a migratory reform be done by the Mexicans that live in this country, "without hindrances".

Aviles clarified that "those who know the problems of the migrants are not them, the researches, but we the migrants".

In the meeting with Velázquez, the Migrant Parliament had requested to permit them to meet regularly in one of the offices of the consulate, but the minister decided that it was better to do the petition through the Office of the secretary of Foreign Affairs (SRE).