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Rigoberta Menchú in California. Rigoberta Menchú, a world-renowned advocate for Indian rights, visits one of California’s leading indigenous organizations and addresses the plight of migrants, reviews the achievements of indigenous peoples during the past two decades, and celebrates indigenous languages. California is home to hundreds of thousands of indigenous migrants from Mexico and Central America. They represent about one in four farm workers in this rich agricultural state. This program includes Menchú's address and an exclusive interview. Guest: Rigoberta Menchú Tum, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Advocate for indigenous rights, Fresno, CA, http://centrobinacional.org/

Mexico Edition. Pointing to support received from foreign media and financial institutions, President Enrique Peña Nieto signed the energy package of constitutional reforms. In his speech, surrounded by his cabinet and state governors, the president said that the opening of the oil market will generate jobs and lower the price of gas and electricity. However, blocks away, the oppositionist Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional displayed a mural with the picture of the president and the legislators who voted for the reform, and the phrase: "traitor to the nation". Martha Elena Ramírez hosts this edition of the Voz Pública series from Mexico City. Guests: (Recordings) Mexico's President, Enrique Peña Nieto; former president of México, General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río; Mexico's Senator Enrique Mayans Canabal (PRD); Cartonista Rafael Barjas, El Fisgón; citizens: Salvador Cruz, Michoacán; Julia Klug; Asunción López Pérez and Secundino Jiménez, Distrito Federal.

Health Enrollment Deadline. The deadline to buy insurance through the Obamacare exchange markets is just a few days away, if consumers want to begin receiving coverage on January 1st. And while a rush is reported among Californians who are trying to beat the deadline, few Latinos have signed up for the health exchange in this belwether state. This has prompted alarm calls from legislators who say that the success of the state’s exchange depends on Latino enrollment. Two experts on the Affordable Care Act comment on the news about the new online marketplace and answer listener questions. Guests: Santiago Lucero, Chief of Media Relations, Covered California, Sacramento, CA, www.CoveredCA.com ; Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, Director of Health Equity, Families USA, Washington, DC, www.familiesusa.org

The Gift of Tech Knowledge. A recent survey found that Latino parents are more likely than other parents to be concerned about the general online safety of their children, including being exposed to online bullying. An expert says that if used wisely, IT tools and social media can help improve substantially the education of children and youth. He provides helpful tips for parents looking to engage more with how their children use technology. Guest: Rey Junco, Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/

Congressmembers Call to Halt Deportations. In the absence of an immigration reform this year, House Democrats signed a letter asking President Obama to take executive action to suspend deportations and expand the Deferred Action program. And now that House members go out on vacation, activists vow to close out 2013 with more pressure at home. These and other developments are discussed in this immigration edition. Guests: Raúl M. Grijalva, Congressman representing Arizona’s 3rd District, Tucson, AZ, http://grijalva.house.gov/ ; Larry Kleinman, Executive Committee Member, Fair Immigration Reform Movement, Woodburn, OR, www.fairimmigration.org

Mandela and Cuba. Thousands gave the last farewell to the father of the nation Nelson Mandela in Soweto, cradle of the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. At the memorial service, Cuba’s Raul Castro was given a special recognition: he was one of only five world leaders to speak at the podium. An expert delves into the historical friendship between Mandela and the Castro brothers and how, while the U.S. was branding Mandela as a terrorist, Cuba played a decisive role in bringing the Apartheid regime down. Guest: Dr. Nelson Valdes, professor emeritus of sociology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, expert in Latin America and Cuba; he was brought from Cuba as a child as part of US-sponsored Operation Pedro Pan; Albuquerque, NM.

Mexico Edition. In procedural sessions, without debate and protected by metal fences, lawmakers from the PRI and PAN parties imposed reforms that will allow foreign companies to extract Mexican oil, register it as theirs and protect their commercial rights in foreign courts. Opposition lawmakers described them as traitors, while outside Congress, citizens beat the iron fences with stones and hammers, rejecting the measure. President Peña Nieto celebrates the adoption of this reform. Martha Elena Ramírez hosts this program Voz Pública from Mexico City. Guests (Recordings): Senators: Francisco Méndez Servien, (PAN); Carlos Puente Salas, (PVE); Manuel Bartlett Díaz (PT); Senator, Salvador Vega Casillas (PAN); Manuel Camacho Solís (PRD) y ciudadano Salomón Valdés Estrada.

Gerawan Farming, Union Battle. More than twenty years ago, workers at Gerawan Farming, the nation’s largest grower of peaches, voted to have Cesar Chavez’ UFW union to represent them. But the union never secured a contract for wage increases and vacation time. As a contract was in the works, some workers recently organized to remove the union as their labor representative. A decertification election was conducted but now the vote count is on hold, pending an investigation by California’s farm labor board into alleged unfair labor practices by Gerawan. Representatives on both sides are invited to debate this critical ag-labor dispute. Guests: José Erevia, Human Resources Manager, Gerawan Farming, Inc., Fresno, CA, www.gerawan.com ; Guadalupe Martínez, UFW representative, member of the negotiating committee with Gerawan, Fresno, CA, www.ufw.org ; Silas Shawver, Regional Director, California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, Visalia, CA (interviewed from Los Angeles, CA), http://www.alrb.ca.gov/

Success for all students. Public schools are largely unprepared to teach and guide Latino students. These students face some of the most critical issues in the school system: sky-high dropout rates and low achievement. What can schools do to keep students in the classroom? A veteran education expert who rose up from inner city poverty to earn two Harvard University degrees, comments on the state of education, standardizes tests, and gives practical advice to school leaders, parents and students on strategies to support teacher development and student achievement and graduation rates. Guest: Dr. Samuel Betances, Diversity Trainer and Consultant, Souder, Betances and Associates, author of Winning the Future through Education: One Step at a Time, Chicago, IL, www.betances.com

Immigration Reform: The Eleventh Hour. As Congress gets ready to go on the winter holiday recess, children travel to Capitol Hill to urge for immigration reform and some try unsuccessfully to dialogue with Republican leaders, while farm workers in California launch an 11-day push for reform in front of Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s office and social leaders continue fasting in the nation’s capital. These and other news are discussed. Also, an immigration expert answers listener questions. Guests: Marieli Espinoza, activist, Keeping Families Together: Youth in Action Campaign, Phoenix, AZ, http://www.keepingfamiliestogether.net ; Rudy López, senior organizer, Fair Immigration Reform Movement, Chicago, IL (interviewed from Washington, DC), http://www.fairimmigration.org/ ; José Gonzalez, Operations Director, Community Trust Credit Union, Bakersfield, CA, https://www.self-helpfcu.org/communitytrust ; Rosalba Piña, immigration attorney, Chicago IL, www.rosalbapina.com

Undocumented fear new health plans. Undocumented workers are afraid that as employers begin buying insurance for their employees under Obamacare’s new health insurance exchange, or directing their workers to buy insurance, their immigration status will be verified and their job will be at risk. Two experts on the new health care law address those fears, explain what’s in store for the undocumented in the law, and offer tips on available resources. Guests: Hugo Ramírez, Manager for the Covered California program, Visión y Compromiso, Los Angeles, CA, http://www.visionycompromiso.org/ ; Cori Racela, attorney at the Health Consumer Center, Neighborhood Legal Services, Los Angeles, CA, http://www.nlsla.org/

Mexico Edition. Martha Elena Ramírez hosts the program Voz Pública from Mexico City. The civic journalist brings news and analysis on Mexican developments.

Latino to Lead Arizona Schools? Tucson, in Arizona, sparked widespread protests after it banned from public schools books by Chicano authors and a Mexican American studies curriculum. Statewide, Attorney General Tom Horne has stalled efforts to allow undocumented students pay in-state tuition. Now, a Latino professor vies for the top education post in the state: Superintendent of Public Instruction. What’s his platform? What are his chances of succeeding? Guest: David Garcia, candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Phoenix, Arizona, http://dg4az.com/ Also, Presunto Culpable. A conversation with the maker of the film “Presunto Culpable” (Presumed Guilty), award-winning documentary that made history as a box office record in Mexico. The producers, who by following the case of a young man convicted without evidence of a murder exposed a criminal justice system of secrecy, incompetence and corruption, are facing now major civil lawsuits in the same court they exposed in their film. Guest: Attorney Layda Negrete, co-producer of “Presunto Culpable”; Ph.D. student at Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

To Sin Against Hope. In his new book about life and politics in the borderland, titled “To Sin Against Hope,” Alfredo Gutierrez argues that the war on Mexican immigrants has rarely abated. This personal memoir of the former leader of the Arizona State Senate begins with the deportation of his U.S. citizen father from his Arizona hometown, during a period of anti-immigrant hysteria fed by the Great Depression. Gutierrez says that the immigration policies of then president Herbert Hoover mirror Barack Obama’s in harshness. Guest: Alfredo Gutierrez, author and former Arizona state senator, Phoenix, AZ. Also, Heavy Fine Against Spanish Language Show. After a three-year long investigation into the airing of profane and indecent content, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it had reached a settlement with the TV company that owns the syndicated program “José Luis Sin Censura.” The investigation was launched after National Hispanic Media Coalition and other groups complained the program regularly aired anti-gay, anti-Latino, and anti-female content. We speak with a media reformer and leader of the campaign. Guest: Alex Nogales, President & CEO, National Hispanic Media Coalition, Pasadena, CA, www.nhmc.org

Mexico Edition. Martha Elena Ramírez hosts the program Voz Pública from Mexico City. The civic journalist brings news and analysis on Mexican developments.