PUERTO RICO HERALD: Meet 5 Hispanic Voters

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. -- Margot Perez, 21, didn't get turned on to politics by her civics class.

The third-generation Mexican American from Castro Valley, a community near Oakland, decided she was a liberal Democrat after watching Rachel and Judd debate politics on The Real World. ``I found myself agreeing with Judd. He called himself a liberal.''

In her first presidential election this November, she plans to vote for Vice President Al Gore because ``he's kind of a liberal guy.'' She's a staunch defender of President Clinton. ``He was a damn good president,'' she said.

When she votes, Perez says she chooses candidates who speak to issues that affect her as a student and, sometimes, as a Hispanic.

ELISA PERDOMO

Age: 70. Miami

Born: Cuba

``They paid me $10 a day to teach the American children Spanish,'' says Perdomo, who left Cuba for Miami in 1964 with her 12-year-old daughter.

After a door-to-door sales job, she cooked dinner before working nights as a cashier for jai alai games. For a special ``holiday,'' she and her daughter dined out.

``I am thankful for this country,'' says Perdomo, 70, whose daughter is an assistant school principal. ``They opened their doors to us.''

Since 1976, this hard-working refugee from a communist dictatorship never has skipped an American presidential election.

What's driving her vote this year? ``More than anything, moral issues,'' she says. ``I don't like what Clinton did in the White House.'' In George W. Bush, she sees ``somebody who has a good family, a good life.''

She appreciates candidates who make special appeals to Hispanic voters. ``They are trying to court us, trying to speak Spanish and pretend they love us. That's what politics is about.''

PHILADELPHIA -- When he was a Marine in the late 1950s, Manuel Lorenzo-Casablanca says he was a ``lean mean fighting machine,'' but diabetes and a heart condition have slowed him down. However, he says his mind is still as sharp as ever.

These days the former ATT systems technician spends a lot of time working on veterans' matters and keeping up with politics.

Lorenzo-Casablanca is a Republican. Until recently, he was a Republican ward leader in Philadelphia. In the presidential contest, he favors Texas Gov. George W. Bush. ``I supported his father 20 years ago and like father, like son. I think George has been better in terms of experience. I know Gore has been there for eight years, but he's been second fiddle. Bush has been running things.''

Lorenzo-Casablanca, a Philadelphia resident for 31 years, said that he also likes Bush's rapport with Texas Hispanic voters. Like many Hispanics, he is also aware that Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is married to a Mexican-American woman. ``George has a Hispanic in his family, so I don't think he would go against his family.''

He does worry that many Americans view Hispanics as being too eager for a government handout -- an image, he says, that is false.

``I learned fairly early that nothing in America is free,'' he said. ``You have to work for it.''

LEE MEDINA

Age: 56. Miami Lakes

Born: Colombia

Colombian-born Lee Medina, 39 years in the United States, proudly calls her entire family ``pro-English.''

``We all respect the English language,'' says the mother of two American-born boys. ``You will never catch anybody in the Medina family speaking Spanish in front of a person who does not speak Spanish.''

Both her sons are Democrats. Her own politics are fiercely independent -- ``I don't vote party.''

She voted for President Bush, but doesn't see ``the same qualities'' in his son, Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Her top choice would be Ralph Nader, the crusading consumer advocate and Green Party candidate for president -- ``He is not sold to anyone. He is free to speak.''

She, her husband and sons all will cast a pragmatic vote, she says: ``In order not to waste our vote, we will vote for Al Gore.''

Her confidence in Gore was shaken by his call for permanent U.S. residency for Elián González, the 6-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor. The boy belonged at home in Cuba with his father, she says.

``He was trying to look good, and by trying to look good he looked bad,'' she says of Gore. ``He didn't sound to me like a father. A father would be very concerned about a child being taken away from him.''

LOS ANGELES -- Norma Rodriguez, 49, arrived in the United States 30 years ago from Costa Rica on a tourist visa and never left. But it was 25 years before the Los Angeles housekeeper decided to become a citizen and vote.

Angered when Costa Rican immigration officials delayed her during a visit home in 1994, she decided, ``That's it, I'm becoming an American citizen.''

A Beverly Hills family had sponsored her for a green card -- and she has now worked for this same family for 20 years.

``I like Gore because he'll be better on issues important to single mothers, like myself,'' she said.

``I struggled, but I made it,'' said Rodriguez, who now helps her sister with medical bills.

Her sister, who works occasionally as a housekeeper, can't afford health insurance.

Though Rodriguez lived illegally in the United States for several years, she thinks the government needs to do more to crack down on those who arrive illegally now.

``They don't respect the United States,'' she said. ``They cause crime, make the schools crowded and join gangs.'

Profiles were written by Mark Silva of The Miami Herald, Fred Cusick of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Mary Anne Ostrom of the San Jose Mercury News.

THE MIAMI HERALD

Meet 5 Hispanic Voters

by STEVEN THOMMA AND MARY ANNE OSTROM