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Peep, peep, peepThe sound of peep, peep, peep is a beautiful sound to me. It is the sound of chicken farmers in mi querido Puerto Rico walking through the ranches talking with the thousands of little chickens that they are raising. These cute, adorable little chickens — it takes six weeks for those little chickens to grow up into mature birds ready to be placed on the dinner tables of the four million Puerto Ricans on the island — it takes six weeks for those little chickens to never hear peep, peep, peep again in their lives. This death of the innocent is happening all throughout Latin America right now. We are a beautiful bunch of people. Happy, ambitious, funny, life-loving people. People who merrily have walked through our own little chicken ranches hearing peep, peep, peep and thinking that all was well, thinking that we would enjoy forever a depth of companionship and warmth like no other place on earth. If you have visited Latin America you get a sense for what I am saying. At this time, however, our six weeks of hearing peep, peep, peep seem to be very near the time of fruition. The plight of the Mexican laborer is well documented. The average Mexican laborer working a full work week in Mexico earns on average the equivalent of $150.00 a month! These wonderful people come to this country and most of them send 50 percent or more of their earnings back home. Many cross the border multiple times simply to get the opportunity to make enough money to support their families week to week. In the last three years 500,000 of our Colombian hermanos have had to leave their country because the sound of peep, peep, peep is fading quickly. The hope of a future is fading. Wealthy and educated Colombians cannot live in peace, rather fear that the guerillas will kidnap themselves or one of their loved ones for ransom money. As you read this, a full-scale civil war is ready to break out in earnest. The present plight of the Argentinian people is a foreboding one. Middle class people with a two to three week freeze on all assets in the Argentinian banking system. MIDDLE CLASS people throwing rocks through buildings, rioting in the streets and a series of other unthinkable acts for people of the middle class. Instability still reigns. The friendly sounds of peep, peep, peep are very, very faint in these three countries and several others at the present time. The question is why? There seems to be no sensible reason. These are all countries with a wealth of natural resources, strong working classes and people who desire lives of prosperity and peace. What in the world of Latin America is going on? The answer: corrupt leadership. The problem in Latin America is simply that our leadership is more self-serving than people-serving. Oh, by the way, no pun intended with the word serving . You may be asking, "what is your point with this article?" Ok, so the governments are corrupt, so the people suffer, what does that have to do with me. I guess that the point of the article is summed up in one word, "Empathy." You see, in the United States we still strongly hear the peep, peep, peeps of life. Prosperity, opportunity for all, peace, etc. The point is this; when you meet an Hispanic from one of these countries, and you should expect to begin seeing more Argentinians immigrate in the United States if the present unrest continues, recognize that none of these people really wanted to leave their countries. They felt they had to leave their countries. By: Ricardo González, Founder and Executive Director of Bilingual America 
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