Martinez Lampoon Draws Latino Protest

An outraged Latino community group blasted the San Diego Union on Friday for an editorial cartoon they claim is an ethnic slur that perpetuates racist stereotypes.

The cartoon, which ran in Thursday’s editions of the newspaper, depicts City Councilman Uvaldo Martinez, who is embroiled in controversy because of his alleged misuse of a city credit card to pay for several thousand dollars’ worth of meals.

The cartoon shows Martinez dressed as the Frito Bandido, strumming a guitar, wearing a large sombrero, a sarape and bandoleer draped over his chest, and a holster clinging to his hips. In place of a gun, there is a Visa credit card. The Martinez character is singing this tune:

“AYE-YI-YI-YI! I am the Freeload Bandito! I love lunch at Dobson’s and Mister A’s too, Avanti and Lubach’s--and all thanks to you . . . “

Immediately after seeing Thursday’s Union, members of the Latino community began calling the newspaper to complain, leading to an article in Friday’s editions headlined, “Union Editor Gives Apology for Cartoon.”

In the article, Gerald L. Warren, editor of the Union, apologized to Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who were insulted by the cartoon, claiming it was not meant as a “deliberate slur.”

But a coalition of Latino groups, speaking through the Chicano Federation of San Diego County, characterized Warren’s statement as only a “quasi-apology.”

“We don’t walk around with sombreros and sarapes . . . anywhere in the United States or Mexico,” said Irma Castro, director of the federation, at a press conference held at the group’s offices. Despite the Mexican community’s strides of the last 20 years, she said, the cartoon unfairly perpetuated the “low-life . . . manana syndrome.”

One of the most outspoken critics was Phil Saenz, director of the state office of California/Mexico Affairs and an appointee of Gov. George Deukmejian.

“I’m as conservative as you can be; I’m a former U.S. Marine and a Republican,” said Saenz, noting that he was talking as a private citizen. “This type of (incident) has reached people like me . . . people who have made it . . . conservatives . . . people who make six figures and . . . are businessmen.”

Both Castro and Saenz said they wanted it understood that their criticism of the cartoon shouldn’t be taken as a defense of Martinez.

“It is one thing to criticize a public official on the editorial pages; it is quite another to maliciously stereotype an ethnic group,” Saenz said, speaking from a prepared statement. “The fact the public official in question is a Chicano should have been irrelevant, but the Union deliberately focused on the ethnicity of the individual to the detriment of an entire ethnic group.”

Steve Kelley, the Union’s cartoonist, while apologetic that some people were offended, defended his drawing in a telephone interview.

“I’m certainly contrite about all that (people feeling offended), but I’ve counted the number of people in the cartoon 10 times and each time I count only one person,” Kelley said. “And that’s him (Martinez).

“It was directed at him and no one else. If it’s offensive, then there is a misunderstanding of the cartoon. This is subjective analysis, nothing that can be judged objectively.”

Herbert G. Klein, editor in chief of Copley Newspapers, which owns the Union and its afternoon counterpart, the Tribune, said he considers the episode “closed” with the Union’s apology.

“Everyone in the cartooning field gets a certain amount of protest of one kind or another,” Klein said. “Yes, this was an unfortunate incident but I think the issue has been dealt with and it’s closed.”

Castro said her group plans to meet with Helen K. Copley, publisher of the Union, along with Warren and Kelley. But both Kelley and Klein said they saw little need for a meeting. Copley was unavailable for comment Friday.

A spokesman for Martinez, Don Harrison, said, “Lampooning him is recognized as fair comment and that’s OK. But this cartoon went beyond fair comment and attacked not only him but a whole group of people . . . perpetuating a racist stereotype.”