Statement from Hispanic Intellectuals, Scientists, and Scholars against Donald Trump's Xenophobia

Latin American Studies Association (LASA)

The undersigned, Hispanics that occupy academic positions in the United States, as well as intellectuals, artists and scientists from Mexico, other Latin American countries and Spain cannot remain silent against alarming statements from the candidate to the Presidency of the United States, Donald Trump. Since the announcement of his candidacy, Mr. Trump has accused Mexican immigrants of being criminals, rapists and drug traffickers; he promises to deport 11 million of them and build a big wall along the border with Mexico. Trump’s hate speech appeals to the worst emotions, such as xenophobia, sexism and political intolerance; it recalls campaigns in the past against other ethnic groups that led to millions of deaths. Physical attacks on Hispanics and public assertions that Spanish should not be spoken in public have already occurred.

Mr. Trump’s verbal assaults are not based on tested facts, but only on his personal, baseless opinion. Not only does he disdain Hispanic immigrants (later it could be other ethnic groups) but also exhibits a dangerous attitude against his opponents: He stigmatizes them as stupid or weak, launches insults at interviewers for murky reasons, has insulted and expelled a prominent Hispanic reporter from a press conference because the reporter asked him an uncomfortable question, and launches sexist comments about women, while his supporters and personal bodyguards have attacked peaceful demonstrators.

The expulsion of Mexican immigrants would be catastrophic for states such as California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas where most of the manual work is Mexican. For example, in California those immigrants harvest 200 agricultural products, serve in hotels and restaurants, and collect garbage, jobs that the locals don’t want to perform. California is the leading producer of wine in the country, in harvesting many agricultural products and the principal destination for tourism. These sectors generate $70 billion per year and, without Mexican workers, the state’s economy would go to ruin. Something similar would happen in the rest of the country.

Several of the signers are Hispanic immigrants that have been well-received by this great nation and contributed with their work, in various fields, to knowledge, science progress, prosperity, entertainment and the well-being of all Americans. Mr. Trump’s conduct is not worthy of a candidate to the Presidency of the United States, the most powerful country in the world. All of us condemn his behavior and hope that the American people will no longer tolerate his absurdities.

1.     Héctor Abad Faciolince

2.     Manuel Alcántara

3.     Arturo Álvarez-Buylla

4.     Homero Aridjis

5.     Ariel Armory

6.     Roger Bartra

7.     Demián Bichir

8.     Silvia Borzutzky

9.     Carmen Boullosa

10.  Martín Caparrós

11.  Jorge Castañeda

12.  Jennifer Clement

13.  Junot Díaz

14.  Ramón Díaz Alejandro

15.  Jorge Duany

16.  Jorge Edwards

17.  Sebastián Edwards

18.  Joaquín Estefanía

19.  Julio Frenk

20.  Francisco Goldman

21.  Francisco González Crussí

22.  Teodoro González de León

23.  Roberto González Echeverría

24.  Alejandro González Iñárritu

25.  Enrique Krauze

26.  Mario Lavista

27.  Antonio Lazcano

28.  Emmanuel Lubezki

29.  Valeria Luiselli

30.  Diego Luna

31.  Nora Lustig

32.  Carlos Malamud

33.  David Mares

34.  Ibsen Martínez

35.  Óscar Martínez

36.  Eduardo Matos Moctezuma

37.  Carmelo Mesa-Lago

38.  Verónica Montecinos

39.  Antonio Muñoz Molina

40.  Moisés Naím

41.  Enrique Norten

42.  Silvia Pedraza

43.  Elena Poniatowska

44.  Alejandro Portes

45.  Luis Prados

46.  Rodrigo Rey Rosa

47.  Rafael Rojas

48.  Vicente Rojo

49.  Ranulfo Romo

50.  Diego Sánchez-Ancochea

51.  Antonio Santamaría García

52.  Arturo Sarukhán

53.  José Sarukhán

54.  Fernando Savater

55.  Javier Sicilia

56.  Eduardo Silva

57.  Guillermo Soberón Acevedo

58.  Edward Telles

59.  Mauricio Tenorio

60.  Antonio Ugalde

61.  Diego Valadés

62.  Álvaro Vargas Llosa

63.  Mario Vargas Llosa

64.  Enrique Vila-Matas

65.  Rolando Villazón

66.  Juan Villoro

67.  Gabriel Zaid  

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"Declaración de intelectuales, científicos y académicos hispanos contra xenofobia de Trump," Forum, Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Feb. 2016; translation LASA