Leader Gives Latinos Strong Voice in Area
Gustavo Torres Strives To Tackle Tough Issues

By Phuong Ly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 13, 2001; Page GZ12

As his mother sobbed, Gustavo Torres told his family that he had to leave them, but could not say why.

It was September 1987 in war-torn Colombia, and the student activist had just learned that a university teacher and a friend who had worked with him to organize labor unions had been killed, presumably by paramilitary forces angry about their activism.

Torres took a bus to the capital city and flew to Nicaragua, then later to the United States. Three months after his escape, one of his brothers was shot and killed; he was in the tavern that Torres owned and had given him as a farewell gift.

Despite that chilling experience, Torres vowed to continue to organize and agitate for workers' rights. In the past decade, his efforts have made him one of the most influential Latino leaders in the Washington area.

Under his leadership, Casa of Maryland -- the state's largest organization serving Latino immigrants -- has gone to court and won cases against dozens of employers who have refused to pay day laborers promised wages. Last year, Casa worked with 40 other Montgomery County groups to push for a living wage, and although they have not succeeded in getting government approval, the coalition is pressuring local politicians to look at the issue.

Beyond Casa, Torres is the head of the Maryland Latino Coalition for Justice, a political advocacy group. Earlier this year, the state's House of Delegates passed a bill that would require more language services for non-English speakers in the courts, the group's first major victory.

Recently, the Ford Foundation selected Torres as one of 20 winners across the country of its first Leadership for a Changing World program, which honors people who tackle tough social problems.

In their statements to the foundation, other Latino leaders described Torres as a moral force.

"He's a man who wakes up thinking about justice, what's fair, what's right," said Wanda Resto Torres, Hispanic liaison for County Executive Douglas M. Duncan.

Torres's opponents, however, have often asked him: What are Latinos doing here? Why don't they go back to their own countries?

"The majority of people, they didn't want to leave," said Torres, 40, who is wistful when he remembers the mountains of his homeland. "They didn't want to say bye-bye to their entire country, to their families."

Torres said he believes that the wars in Central America have been nurtured by the U.S. government investing money in conflicts rather than the economy. Here in Maryland, he said, he wants to use the system to level the playing field for immigrants who fled their countries only to find inequities in the United States.

"It's crucial that we organize the community and the community has some voice," he said. "We have to use the democracy."

Wearing rimless glasses and a dark blue cardigan, Torres looks more like a college professor than a political firebrand. In meetings, he tends to hold back and let others speak first. He prefers to ask questions. It's an old habit, he said, from his stint in Central America as a journalist covering the civil conflicts.

His quiet, unassuming manner is what some people say helps him succeed.

Torres, who immigrated to the United States in 1991 after marrying an American woman who was a translator and advocate for reproductive health in Nicaragua, became an organizer for Casa shortly afterward. His first major task was to find a way to organize the process of hiring day laborers.

At the time, the intersection of University Boulevard and Piney Branch Road had turned into chaos, recalled Ana Sol Gutierrez, a former Montgomery County school board member who began volunteering at Casa in the early 1990s and later became board president.

Hundreds of day laborers were gathering there to wait for employers; they were fighting over jobs. Many employers were exploiting the workers and were not paying them. Nearby businesses called police, saying they were worried about the burgeoning crowds.

Torres persuaded Montgomery County to donate a trailer where laborers could gather. He also convinced the workers that a sign-up process to get hired was in their best interests.

That was the beginning of the streamlined hiring process that Casa has today and led to the creation of legal services for workers who were denied wages, Gutierrez said.

"He's just a very naturally charismatic person who communicates extremely well with all levels of individuals, with all levels of education and class," she said.

Torres became executive director of Casa in 1993 and has increased the organization's services and influence as the population of Latinos has increased.

The group's budget has grown from $26,000 in 1985 to $1.5 million, half of which comes from private foundations; about 40 percent comes from Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Agency officials said Casa, based in Takoma Park, serves about 19,000 people each year.

According to 2000 Census figures, the Hispanic population in Maryland jumped more than 82 percent in the past decade, to 228,000 people. In Montgomery, Hispanics are 11.5 percent of the population and are the county's fastest-growing group.

Increasingly, Torres has moved into the political arena, saying it's the most effective way to change the status quo. He helped found the Maryland Latino Coalition for Justice, which members say is similar to the NAACP.

Maryland Del. Kenneth C. Montague Jr. (D-Baltimore City) said Torres's style has helped him at the General Assembly, where lobbyists are plentiful and face time with lawmakers is limited.

"Some people come down and brandish their sword and say, 'Pass my bill or I'll get you in the next election,' " Montague said. "But he will state the facts. He'll tell you the population of the Latino community and say where they live and let you come to your own conclusions."

Over the past few years, the coalition has pushed for a bill that would require more language services in government. When it failed to win support last year, the coalition pared down the scope of the bill, focusing on the judicial system. This year, the language bill passed the House, with half of the delegates as sponsors. The Senate has not voted on it, but the state courts system has decided to examine the issue of language barriers in the courts and come up with solutions.

For all of Torres's successes, there also have been setbacks.

An effort last month to oust Takoma Park City Council member Share Maack from her Ward 6 seat failed when Torres had trouble finding a candidate to run against her. Torres had complained that Maack has not been friendly to the concerns of immigrants in her district, which includes Casa's offices.

Maack did not return repeated phone calls for comment.

And despite court victories and a more organized hiring process for day laborers, Casa officials are still grappling with how to manage the growing numbers of workers.

A task force of Casa and officials from Prince George's and Montgomery counties is trying to find a new gathering site for workers who are filling two parking lots at University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue. Once again, tensions are rising between the workers and nearby businesses.

Gutierrez said that one of Torres's weaknesses is that he spreads himself too thin. As Casa has grown, Torres has taken on more duties and issues, from workers' rights to housing to politics.

"He becomes personally involved in these things," she said. "We have a saying in Spanish. . . . 'If you try to embrace too many things, you're not going to be able to squeeze very hard.' "

Torres admits that he often takes on too much. That may be changing soon, he said, as he tries to recruit new blood and new energy to take over Casa.

Torres is using part of the $130,000 that he received from the Ford Foundation to hire a deputy director. In a couple of years, he said, he plans to leave Casa and pursue other projects.

He has been approached about running for political office, but will not say whether that is in his future. "Why do you ask these tough questions?" he joked. "I'm not prepared for that yet. I'm not going to say never, but that's not part of my plans yet."

Whatever he does, Torres wants to be active in fighting for equal rights, particularly those dealing with workers.

He moves easily among the day laborers at Casa's work-pickup site, where many greet him by name. On his trips to El Salvador and other Latin American countries, he has seen some of the same people visiting the families they left behind for the jobs in the United States.

"This," Torres said, "is my passion. Always."