People United 4 Peace
El Pueblo Unido Para la Paz
Finally!
By DAVID WEBER, The Associated Press
|
LOWELL, Mass. – Two years ago, Carlos Arredondo tried to destroy a military van and set himself on fire in his grief over the news that his son, a Marine, had been killed in Iraq.
On Tuesday, Arredondo became a citizen of the country his son died fighting for, and used his new status in a protest, peaceful this time, of the war his son died in.
“Enough! Bring the troops home now!” read the sign Arredondo held aloft moments after he and 933 other immigrants were sworn as citizens in a ceremony at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.
“Now I can use my First Amendment to say what I need to say,” he said afterward. “Now I can express myself without being afraid of being deported.”
In August 2004, Arredondo was celebrating his 44th birthday and awaiting a phone call from Alexander, his oldest son, when a Marine Corps van pulled up in front of his house in Hollywood, Fla. The officers were there to deliver the news that 20-year-old son was dead.
At first, Arredondo would not believe it, convinced that his son, a practical joker, would dart out from behind the van and wrap him in a hug.
When Arredondo realized it was no joke, he lost it.
He walked into his garage and grabbed a five gallon can of gasoline, a five-pound hammer and a propane torch, and headed for the van. Once inside he began destroying everything with the hammer, he recalled Tuesday.
“I was screaming and yelling,” he said. “I splashed gasoline all over the van and got some on myself. My mother was trying to pull me out of the van when I hit the button on the torch.”
The explosion of the gas fumes threw Arredondo out of the van, and he was badly burned.
Arredondo, a native of Costa Rica, recovered from his injuries, and later met with the Marines to apologize.
He also moved to Boston to be closer to his son, Brian, 19, and prepared to become a U.S. citizen.
“This is a way for me to honor my sons,” Arredondo said about his passage into citizenship.
On Tuesday, Arredondo, 46, was among the immigrants representing 106 countries who became new United States citizens. With his son Brian at his side, Arredondo held up a large photograph of his two sons as Rep. Marty Meehan thanked him for his son’s sacrifice.
He held up his protest sign minutes later, as he left the building.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark Wolf, who issued the citizenship oath, asked the applicants to stand as he called the names of each of their home countries. Once they all were standing, the oath of allegiance was administered. The applicants erupted in cheers and waved tiny American flags when Wolf declared them citizens.
“You’re coming here has sent us each a message,” Wolf said. “You remind us that despite its imperfections, the United States remains special to people throughout the world. We thank you for delivering this message.”
MARINE’S DAD NOW A CITIZEN:
Son is killed in Iraq; father becomes an American
 Carlos Arredondo, center, with his wife Mélida, left, and son Brian, holds his hand on his chest during a naturalization ceremony in Lowell yesterday. (Associated Press) |
By RYAN MENARD
The Patriot Ledger
LOWELL - In a crowded auditorium, Carlos Arredondo raised his right hand, rejected any past loyalties and swore allegiance to this country.
The 46-year-old native of Costa Rica, who two years ago set fire to himself and a Marine Corps van after learning his Marine son had been killed in Iraq, is now a U.S. citizen.
‘‘Now I can use the First Amendment of the Constitution for me to say what I need to say,’’ said Arredondo, whose son, Marine Lance Cpl. Alexander Arredondo of Randolph, was killed by a sniper. ‘‘As you can see, the law still works in this country.’’
The Roslindale man, who legally changed his name yesterday to Alexander Brian Arredondo as a tribute to his two sons, was one of 934 immigrants from 109 countries who were granted citizenship at the naturalization ceremony yesterday in Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Arredondo is using his new rights to protest the war that took his son.
Arredondo made national headlines in Florida in 2004 when he set fire to himself and the van of the Marines who told him that his son, a 2002 graduate of Blue Hills Regional Technical High School in Canton, had been killed in action. Arredondo was burned over 26 percent of his body.
He went to counseling and has spent recent years risking deportation to travel the country and fight for immigration reform and an end to the war.
He joined groups, visited soldiers in hospitals and helped establish memorial scholarships in Alex’s name at the Blue Hills Regional Technical High School and Sacred Heart School in Roslindale.
He continued his mission yesterday, walking down the steps of the auditorium with his citizenship certificate in one hand and a bright poster with a picture of his son, whom he considers his American dream, in the other.
‘‘I don’t need to be afraid of habeas corpus anymore,’’ he said, thumbing through a fresh copy of the Constitution. ‘‘I can now express myself without being afraid to be deported.’’ His wife, Mélida, and son Brian, who wore Alex’s dog tags around his neck, cheered him on from the balcony of the auditorium.
‘‘It’s a miracle,’’ Mélida Arredondo said as she wiped tears from her cheeks. ‘‘Unfortunately, it had to be at Alex’s expense. I know Alex would be very proud of his father.’’
A self-employed house maintenance worker, Arredondo came to America from Costa Rica when he was 19 in 1980. His oldest son, Alexander, grew up in Norwood and moved to Randolph in 1999. He enlisted in the Marine Corps before his senior year and shipped out to basic training a few days after graduation.
He died securing a four-story hotel in Najaf, Iraq, 20 days after his 20th birthday on Aug. 25, 2004.
In the last letter the family would receive, dated Jan. 19, 2003, he wrote, ‘‘I am not afraid of dying. I am more afraid of what will happen to all the ones that I love if something happens to me.’’
Ryan Menard may be reached at rmenard@ledger.com .
Copyright 2006 The Patriot Ledger
New to US, and ready to play part
LOWELL -- Among the 934 immigrants who raised their right hands and promised to protect the United States against all enemies yesterday stood four men for whom that pledge may have seemed redundant.
Ariel Montas , born in the Dominican Republic, spent a year defending the United States in Iraq.
Rayon Everett , born in Jamaica and dressed in desert fatigues, expects to be deployed there in July.
Jose Rodrigues , born in Angola, and Jean Bernard , born in Haiti, each did two tours in Iraq.
"I joined up because it's my way to give back," said Montas, 25, who was a National Guardsman for seven years. "My parents, my whole family, came here in the hopes of a better life, and we found it."
Immigrants from 83 countries surrounded the four men, all of them packed into the Lowell Memorial to take their oath of allegiance to the United States. Some wore jeans and hoodies, others shiny dresses and hats. As Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf of the US District Court named each of the countries represented, immigrants from those nations stood.
Soon all 934 were standing. When Wolf declared them American citizens, they cheered and shook a sea of little American flags.
There were other reminders of the war in the grand, granite and marble hall.
Costa Rican immigrant Carlos Arredondo became a citizen too. In 2004 Arredondo set himself ablaze after learning that his 20-year-old son Alex had been killed in Najaf, Iraq . He has become a vocal critic of the war. When US Representative Martin Meehan recognized him from the podium, Arredondo, 46, held aloft a poster of his son, a lance corporal in the Marines who rowed boats on Jamaica Pond with his father and joined the Marines soon after graduating from high school in Canton.
"My American Dream," Arredondo had written over the oversized photograph of his son.
About 26,000 foreign-born members of the US military have become citizens since 2002, when President Bush signed an executive order expediting citizenship applications for servicemen and women.
Montas, 25, served north of Baghdad as a specialist with the 102d Field Artillery of the Massachusetts National Guard. He has been home for about a year. His family settled in Lawrence from the Dominican Republic 12 years ago.
"Everything we are, we owe to this country," said Montas, who now works as a school safety officer at Robert L. Frost Elementary School. Becoming a citizen was an easy decision, he said.
"My whole family is here, and we're not going anywhere," Montas said. "I want to have a say in what happens, and to do that we need to be able to vote, and you can't do that if you're not a citizen."
Though some immigrants join the military hoping to win citizenship quickly, neither Montas nor Everett said that stirred them to serve.
"I did construction before, but I didn't get fulfillment out of it," said Everett, a staff sergeant in the 719th Transportation Battalion, based in Boston. "This is what I love."
Everett, of Dorchester, left Jamaica for the United States in 1995, when he was 18. He hesitated when relatives asked him to join them here, because he had had his heart set on joining the army at home. He immigrated once he realized he could join the Army in America.
Now, he said, he is just like all of his comrades.
"Before I felt like I was just someone serving in the Army," he said. "But now I am a citizen, I can truly say I am an American soldier. It brought a lot of joy."
He looks forward to going to Iraq, describing it as his duty: "This is my small token that I can give to the country."
Arredondo said he wanted to become a citizen because "it is important to follow all the rules."
Protesting the war, he said, would now be easier, because he will have the protections of citizenship. Shortly after the ceremony, he began his first protest as a citizen, holding a sign outside the hall that read "Bring the Troops Home."
As he stood there, Everett walked up to him and shook his hand.
"That's him right there," Arredondo said, showing Everett the picture of his smooth-faced son. Arredondo thanked Everett for his service.
Everett told Arredondo he is grateful that the grieving father was not bitter.
"God bless you, God bless you," Arredondo said to Everett, pressing an envelope into his hand. Inside was a copy of the first letter Alex Arredondo sent home, in January 2003.
"I am not afraid of dying," the letter read. "I am more afraid of what will happen to all the ones that I love if something happens to me."
Yvonne Abraham can be reached at abraham@globe.com. 
For Immediate Release: 12/04/06
Contact: John Bangert, 1-508-413-0142 or
508-432-0545
Gold Star Father Becomes US Citizen on 12/12/06
Five and one half years after application for citizenship
Boston, Massachusetts - Carlos Arredondo of Roslindale, MA on Friday, December 1, 2006, learned that he would be granted his US citizenship on 12/12/06 at 10:30 a..m. at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Previously denied his application for citizenship, he did not ascertain the reason via the appeal process at that time. Arredondo first entered the United States via the Mexico – Arizona border in January of 1980. He last filed for citizenship in March of 2001.
Known for his very public grief response, Arredondo learned that Lcpl. Alexander Arredondo, USMC was killed in action on August 25, 2004, his 44th birthday. When informed of his son’s death, he set fire to a US Marine van and himself. No charges were filed against him. Following physical recuperation from burns sustained on 26% of his body; Arredondo apologized in person to the USMC Casualty Assistance Team.
In July of 2006, Arredondo traveled to Camp Pendleton, California to meet with twenty Marines who had served with his son in Iraq. He was provided an original of the bronze star commendation that Alex received for valor. Together Marines and father shared memories of Alex, discussed how Alex was killed and mourned their great loss.
Since Alex’s death, Arredondo has reached out to others who have lost their military family members. He has spoken publicly in English and Spanish on the topics of PTSD impacting military families and the story of Alex’s life and death. He is a volunteer for the West Roxbury Veteran’s Administration hospital where he has met troops and their families and the American Red Cross disaster response team. He previously volunteered for the Boston Shelter for Homeless Veterans.
Carlos Arredondo is married to Mélida Arredondo and has one surviving son, Brian Luis Arredondo. Prior to Alex’s death, he had requested as part of his citizenship application to change his formal name to Alexander Brian Arredondo in honor of his two sons who he refers to as his “American Dream”.
He is co-founder of People United for Peace, A Gold Star Family Project, a member of Gold Star Families Speak Out and Gold Star Families for Peace. He and his wife have established two memorial scholarships in Alex’s name at the Blue Hills Regional Technical High School located in Canton and Sacred Heart School located in Roslindale.
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October 2006
October 22, 2006 -
House Party - How the War Has Come Home
Elizabeth and Vincent Held this fundraiser for Carlos & Melida's upcoming trip to the South...
October 22, 2006 -
House Party - How the War Has Come Home
Elizabeth and Vincent Held this fundraiser for Carlos & Melida's upcoming trip to the South...
WHEN: October 13-14, 06
WHERE: Cape Cod Nat Seashore
This event will be accessible to the disabled,
public transportation to beach, (The Flex Route)
Cost $1. or 50 cents if you are 60+ or have a disability.
A bike path serves this venue.
We will try to arrange to have a shuttle vehicle at the
Salt Pond Visitors center.
October 7, 2006 10am-6pm
Annual St. Francis Day Celebration
Trees will be planted to remember both Jeffrey Lucey and Alexander Arredondo.
Does Our Life depend on OIL? Conserve for Peace:
Come to a day of learning about Simple Sustainable Living:
Begins promptly at 10 am, come and experience
Agape Community
2062 Greenwich Road
Ware, MA 01082 413-967-9369
Sunday October 1 RALLY ON BOSTON COMMON NOON-2:00 PM
Join the United for Justice with Peace Coalition at the Bandstand on Boston Common on Sunday, October 1 as we call on the Bush administration and Congress to:
Bring the Troops Home Now - to a Society that Works for Everyone
End the War on Iraq and Oppose Future Military Invasions! End Economic Injustice! End Racism!
...with Holly Near: Singer, Songwriter and Activist !!!
AND...
Melida Arredondo: Gold Star Step Mom.....Jennie Depice: Military Families Speak Out.....Gary Hicks: Poet.....Terri Hinton: Survivors, Inc......"In the Public Interest": music......... Elena Letona: Centro Presente.....Andy Sapp: Iraq Veterans Against the War.....Pat Scanlon: Musician and Vietnam Veteran.....Sophia Snow: Spoken Word.....Willie Sordillo: Noted Boston Saxophonist (preliminary list)
The rally will top off a week of peaceful, non-violent protest to end the Iraq war, in Boston and around the country. These activities are part of the national Declaration of Peace Campaign. The Wars Abroad and the Wars At Home - against immigrants, working people and poor people, people of color, women and children, against our communities, against all of us - are intimately connected. Let’s turn our country around!
September 2006
Saturday, September 30 • 7:00 pm
Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
922 San Pedro
San Antonio, TX 78212
Ph. 210-228-0201
Fx. 210-228-0000
PLATICA WITH CARLOS ARREDONDO
AND CINDY & CRAIG CORRIE
The Rachel Corrie Foundation
Carlos Arredondo = The War + Immigration
Carlos Arredondo, a father whose son was killed in Iraq sets up "Camp Alex", a camp and monument to his son, at Camp Democracy in Washington on September 7, 2006. Camp Democracy is a fifteen day bipartisan social activist camp set up on the National Mall to bring attention to immigration, the war in Iraq and other social issues. (UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch)
