TIME, in association with CNN, AOL and the University of Texas at El Paso will be hosting town hall meetings in El Paso on Tuesday, June 5th, beginning at 1:00 PM Mountain Time. Titled La Frontera: A Day at the Border, there will be two town hall meeti ngs that will seek to explore the growing role of the U.S./Mexico border in the politics, economy and culture of both countries.

The first town hall, held from 1:00 to 2:30 PM, will be moderated by TIME Latin America Bureau Chief, Peter Katel and will cover politics and the economy. The second, covering society and culture, will be held from 3:00 PM ­ 4:30 PM and will be moderated by CNN correspondent Maria Hinojosa and AOL Latin America's vice-president of content and programming, Guy Garcia.

The two town halls will be held at the University's Wise Family Theater and will be open to the public. Both town halls will be broadcast live by Time Warner Communications on Cable Ch. 7, XHJUB-TV 56 (Cable Ch. 18 in El Paso) and KXCR 89.5 FM.

Viewers at home will be able to ask questions of the panelists via AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM) service, using the AIM screen name, "AskFrontiers," or by email: mailfrontiers@aol.com."

1:00 - 2:30 P.M.
THE BORDER IN 2010: Do Washington and Mexico want to make the border disappear?

MODERATOR: PETER KATEL, TIME
Peter Katel joined the staff of TIME Magazine in the winter of 2001 as the magazine's Latin America Bureau Chief. In his short tenure at the magazine, Katel has covered the first presidential meeting between George W. Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox Quesada, the terrifying rise of a Brazilian prison gang, and the first ripples in Latin America of the U.S. economic downturn. Katel has also worked as a correspondent for Newsweek, where he covered the Caribbean and Florida. A graduate of the University of New Mexico, Katel currently lives in Mexico City.

ALFONSO DE MARIA Y CAMPOS CASTELLO, Director of the Mexican Foreign Ministryís Division of Mexican Communities Abroad
Alfonso de Maria y Campos Castelló helps oversee the needs of Mexican nationals living in foreign nations, primarily the U.S. Since the mid-1980s he has worked for several Mexican administrations, joining the Ministry of Foreign Relations in1993. Born in Mexico City, De Maria y Campos has a law degree from the National Autonomous University and a Ph.D. in history from Cambridge University in England. He is the author of several books and is at work of a biography on Mexican historical figure Enrique Creel Cuilty.

MARIA ECHAVESTE, Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff
Maria Echaveste was an assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for President Clinton from May 1998 through January 2001. As Deputy Chief of Staff, she managed policy initiatives and developed legislative and communications strategies for the White House. She coordinated the selection of senior Administration appointments and helped oversee the administration and management of the White House. Among the issues she worked on were immigration, education, civil rights and trade. Echaveste was born in Texas, but grew up in California. She received a B.A. in anthropology from Stanford University and a Juris Doctor from the University of California at Berkeley. Echaveste currently resides in Washington, DC and works as a consultant. Her clients include AOL Time Warner and the Rockefeller Foundation.

SOCORRO TABUENCA CORDOBA, Colegio de la Frontera Norte
Dr. Socorro Tabuenca Córdoba is a Researcher for the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF) in Ciudad Juárez, for which she has also served as Director since 1995 and Northwest Dean since 1999. She sits on the editorial board for Revista Diálogo Cultural entre las Fronteras de México, an academic publication and is a fellow for the Smithsonian Instituteís Río Program. She is the author of various books and articles, and is at currently working on a new one with Debra Castillo called Border Shots: From Theory to Practice. Tabuenca received her Ph.D. in Latin American Literature in 1997 from the State University of New York at Stonybrook, as well as B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Texas at El Paso. She was raised in Juárez and currently resides in El Paso, crossing the border daily to work in Mexico.

ELIOT SHAPLEIGH, Senator, Texas State Legislature
A fifth-generation El Pasoan, Senator Eliot Shapleigh represents Senate District 29, which includes most of El Paso County. Senator Shapleigh is entering his third session and has been assigned to the Business and Commerce Committee, the Health and Human Services Committee, the State Affairs Committee, the Veteran Affairs and Military Installations Committee and the Border Affairs Subcommittee. He has authored or sponsored over 150 bills, with a particular focus on education, economic development, infrastructure and health care. He graduated from Rice University in 1974 and the University of Texas School of Law in 1981. Senator Shapleigh has lived in Mexico and is fluent in Spanish.

CECILIA RODRIGUEZ, Colonias Advocate, Office of the Secretary of State, Texas
Cecilia Rodriguez has served as an ombudsman on colonias for the Texas Secretary of State in El Paso County since 1999. The role of the Colonias Advocate is to coordinate with various organizations and agencies to improve the delivery of basic services to colonia residents, especially water and wastewater. In addition, she assists local and federal government agencies, non-governmental organizations and colonia residents to improve overall living conditions. Previously, Rodriguez worked for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs as a Colonias Field Representative. Rodriguez was born and raised in El Paso and has been a Colonia resident since 1984.

MARGUERITE RIVERA HOUZE, University of Texas at El Paso
Marguerite Rivera Houze is executive director of the planned Paso al Norte Immigration History Museum and Research Center. The international project, which is spearheaded by the University of Texas at El Paso, will celebrate the story of immigration to the United States from Mexico. Throughout her career, Houze has brought attention to immigration issues and developed outreach programs for immigrants in Texas that culminated in the creation of the Governor's Office of Immigration and Refugee Affairs. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State she formulated policies and managed programs related to refugee protection, humanitarian assistance, and migration in Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. She received her BA in English from the University of Texas at Austin, in addition to two MA degrees - one from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the other from the Graduate School of Business.
 
 

3:00 - 4:30 PM
Culture and Society of the New Frontier: How will it change the U.S. and Mexico?

MODERATOR: MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN Correspondent
Maria Hinojosa is a New York-based correspondent for CNN, covering urban affairs for the network. Before joining the network in 1997, she spent six year at National Public Radio as a New York correspondent. Hinojosa continues her affiliation with NPR, anchoring Latino USA, a weekly national program reporting on news and culture in the Latino community. She has been named one of the "25 Most Influential Working Mothers in America" by Working Mother magazine. In 1995, Hispanic Business magazine named her one of the 100 most influential Latinos in the United States. Her most recent book is the memoir Raising Raul: Adventures Raising Myself and My Son. Born in Mexico City, Hinojosa earned a B.A. in Latin American studies from Barnard College.

MODERATOR: GUY GARCIA, AOL Latin America Vice-President, Content & Programming
Guy García has served as Vice President of Content and Programming for AOL Latin America since August of 1999. He is currently overseeing the launch of AOL Latino in the United States. From March 1998 to July 1999, he was Director of Programming at AOL Interactive Properties, where he supervised content efforts in AOLís New York City studio. García has also worked as a staff writer for TIME Magazine, where he wrote about politics, culture and music, as well as TIME cover stories on Latino culture and the Maya. He is the author of the novels Skin Deep and Obsidian Sky. Born and raised in East L.A., García received his B.A. in political science from University of California at Berkeley and his MS in journalism from Columbia University.

CESAR ALEJANDRO, Filmmaker
Cesar Alejandro began his career as a theatre actor at the Actorís National Academy (ANDA) and a television personality for Televisa in Mexico City. He has appeared in various Mexican films, including a starring role in El Amarrador and Chicago Pandilla Salvaje I & II. He moved to El Paso in 1990 and founded Alexandria Films in 1992. Since then, he has produced numerous action films in Spanish for the U.S. Hispanic and Mexican markets. Alejandro has also produced films in English, including Fatal Lottery and Deadly Law. In 1999, he produced and directed his first 35mm film for theatrical release: Down for the Barrio. He is currently working on his second 35mm film, Stages of Fear. Of the 10 movies that Alejandro has directed since 1994, six have been filmed, produced and are about the border. Born in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico, Alejandro resides in El Paso.

DENISE CHAVEZ, Author
Denise Chávez is a novelist, short story writer, playwright, actress and teacher, whose new novel, Loving Pedro Infante, was just published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Chávez was awarded a Lila Wallace-Readerís Digest fellowship to present writing workshops in the Las Cruces, New Mexico community from April 2000 to April 2003. Her project, "La Frontera Divina/The Divine Frontier," will consist of oral histories from senior citizens and their families in the historic Mesquite district of Las Cruces. She is the author of Face of an Angel and The Last of the Menu Girls. Chávez is currently working on a new novel, The King and Queen of Comezón, set on the border. Chávez, a native of Las Cruces, has a B.A. in Drama from New Mexico State University, an MFA in Drama from Trinity University and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico.

RUBEN MARTINEZ, Author
Rubén Martínez is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, poet and performer. He is an associate editor at Pacific News Service and is a co-host of PBS-affiliate KCET-TVís politics and culture series, Life and Times. He is also a guest commentator on National Public Radioís All Things Considered and is the former news editor of the L.A. Weekly. He is the author of Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail, an account of one familyís odyssey from a small southern-Mexican town to Missouri, California and Wisconsin. Martínez teaches literary journalism at Claremont McKenna College, and lectures at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Chicano Studies Department. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Martínez currently resides there as well.

JON AMASTAE, University of Texas at El Paso
Jon Amastae, who serves as the Universityís Center for Inter-American and Border Studies, has spent most of his life researching and writing on the 2,000-mile border connecting the United States and Mexico. An expert on Hispanic linguistics and Mexico, he received his B.A. from the University of New Mexico and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Oregon. He was also a Fulbright Scholar at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. Amastae produces ¡Radio Oye!, a semi-monthly radio show that is transmitted by the Hispanic Radio Network. Born in New Mexico, Amastae currently resides in El Paso.

PEPE MOGT, Fussible, Nortec Collective
In 1999 the Nortec Collective was born when Fussible (aka Pepe Mogt) created a new music style by combining techno and norteño sounds. Mogt sampled old banda sinaloense and norteño records and then tweaked the sounds on his hard-drive and synthesizer. Since then, the Nortec Collective, a group of DJs affiliated with visual artists, fashion stylists and filmmakers, has packed rave parties throughout Mexico, Japan and Germany. The Collective has transformed LA rock clubs, performed at the first annual Latin Alternative Music Conference and played for former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo at the Expo 2000 in Hanover. The group has done remixes for Beck, La Dosis, and Titan among others artists. The groupís first U.S. album, The Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1 was released in February 2001 on Palm. Born and raised in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mogt currently resides in Tijuana.