The August 31, 2013 episode of
American Heroes Radio features a conversation with Texas law enforcement
official Sarah Cortez and retired U.S. Border Patrol Agent Hipolito Acosta on
Our Lost Border: Life amid the Narco-Violence.
Program Date: August
31, 2013
Program Time: 1500
hours, PACIFIC
Topic: Our Lost
Border: Life amid the Narco-Violence
Listen Live: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lawenforcement/2013/08/31/our-lost-border-life-amid-the-narco-violence
About the Guests
Sarah Cortez has been in law
enforcement since 1993. She began her
career as a full-time police officer with the University of Houston Police
Department and then went to work at Harris County, Precinct Four. She is currently a reserve deputy with the
Harris County, Precinct four. During her career she has worked as a patrol
officer, field training officer and sexual assault investigator. After her writing career began, she continued
in law enforcement as a reserve police officer and been assigned as a juvenile
bailiff, worked undercover during alcohol stings and assisted with the service civil
processes. Sarah Cortez is the author
of How
to Undress a Cop: Poems and Cold Blue Steel, and a coauthor/editor of Hit List:
The Best of Latino Mystery and You Don't Have a Clue: Latino Mystery Stories
for Teens and an editor/contributor to Our Lost Border: Life amid the
Narco-Violence.
Hipolito Acosta “served with the
United States Navy and then began a distinguished career as a U.S. Border
Patrol Agent in Marfa, Texas. During the
next 29 years he served in a variety of positions ranging from a criminal
investigator in the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to Officer in
Charge of the U.S. Department of Justice in domestic and foreign postings. As
the District Director assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Hipolito
Acosta was responsible for overseeing all law enforcement operations of the
agency throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, a jurisdiction covering
forty-two countries.
Most recently, Hipolito Acosta
served as District Director of the Office of U.S. Citizenship & Immigration
Services under the Department of Homeland Security in Houston, Texas. During this time, Hipolito Acosta managed the
reorganization of hundreds of employees of the legacy I&NS office into the
new model established under the Department of Homeland Security.
Hipolito Acosta is the recipient
of many awards, including the Newton-Azrak Award, the highest recognition given
by the U.S. Border Patrol for bravery and heroism in the line of duty as well
as recognition from the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals, Secret
Service, the Department of Justice, U.S. Customs and other federal
agencies. He was responsible for
infiltrating and breaking up some of the most notorious alien smuggling, drug
trafficking and counterfeit document vending operations encountered by the U.S.
government during his career.
His success in these endeavors
have been featured on ABC News Nightline with Ted Koppel, Fox News Latino, 48
Hours, Univision Television and other national news programs.” Hipolito Acosta is the author of The
Shadow Catcher: A U.S. Agent Infiltrates Mexico's Deadly Crime Cartels.
According to the book description
of Our
Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence, “In his essay
lamenting the loss of the Tijuana of his youth, Richard Mora remembers festive
nights on Avenida Revolucion, where tourists mingled with locals at bars. Now,
the tourists are gone, as are the indigenous street vendors who sold handmade
crafts along the wide boulevard. Instead, the streets are filled with army
checkpoints and soldiers armed with assault rifles. "Multiple truths
abound and so I am left to craft my own truth from the media accounts the
hooded soldiers, like the little green plastic soldiers I once kept in a
cardboard shoe box, are heroes or villains, victims or victimizers, depending
on the hour of the day," he writes.
With a foreword by renowned
novelist Rolando Hinojosa-Smith and comprised of personal essays about the
impact of drug violence on life and culture along the U.S.-Mexico border, the
anthology combines writings by residents of both countries. Mexican authors
Liliana Blum, Lolita Bosch, and Diego Osorno write riveting, first-hand
accounts about the clashes between the drug cartels and citizens' attempts to
resist the criminals. American authors, including José Antonio Rodríguez and
José Skinner, focus on how the corruption and bloodshed have affected the
bi-national and bi-cultural existence of families and individuals. Celestino
Fernandez and Jessie K. Finch write about the violence's effect on musicians,
and Maria Cristina Cigarroa shares her poignant memories of life in her
grandparents' home now abandoned in Nuevo Laredo.
In their introduction, editors
Sarah Cortez and Sergio Troncoso write that this anthology was "born of a
vision to bear witness to how this violence has shattered life on the border,
to remember the past, but also to point to the possibilities of a better
future." The personal essays in this collection humanize the news stories
and are a must-read for anyone interested in how this fragile way of life
between two cultures, languages and countries has been undermined by the drug
trade and the crime that accompanies it, with ramifications far beyond the
border region.
About the Watering Hole
The Watering Hole is police slang
for a location cops go off-duty to blow off steam and talk about work and
life. Sometimes funny; sometimes serious;
but, always interesting.
About the Host
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster was a
sworn member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years. He retired in 2003 at the rank of
Lieutenant. He holds a bachelor’s from
the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management and a
Master’s Degree in Public Financial Management from California State
University, Fullerton; and, has completed his doctoral course work. Raymond E.
Foster has been a part-time lecturer at California State University, Fullerton
and Fresno; and is currently a Criminal Justice Department chair, faculty
advisor and lecturer with the Union Institute and University. He has experience teaching upper division
courses in law enforcement, public policy, law enforcement technology and
leadership. Raymond is an experienced
author who has published numerous articles in a wide range of venues including
magazines such as Government Technology, Mobile Government, Airborne Law
Enforcement Magazine, and Police One. He
has appeared on the History Channel and radio programs in the United States and
Europe as subject matter expert in technological applications in law
enforcement.
Listen
from the Archive:
Program Contact Information
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD
(ret.), MPA
909.599.7530
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