[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 148 (Tuesday, October 2, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2046]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 A TRIBUTE TO DANIEL ``PANADERO'' OCHOA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 2, 2007

  Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor one of the most 
successful participants in a U.S. sponsored program for former gang 
members, who was brutally murdered in the prime of his life. On 
September 17 in Guatemala City, Daniel de Jesus Ochoa Vasquez was 
shopping with his wife when unknown assailants came from behind and 
shot him in the head, killing him instantly.
  Five years ago, Daniel Ochoa sought refuge at a home for at-risk 
youth run by the Alliance for the Prevention of Crime, an initiative 
begun with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, 
USAID. He left his gang, and soon graduated to teaching other at-risk 
youth the baking skills he had learned there, thus gaining the nickname 
``Panadero,'' or ``Baker''. Like many of the estimated 14,000 youths 
involved in gangs in Guatemala, Daniel Ochoa grew up in poverty, and 
lacked family support and educational or economic opportunities. He 
soon turned to gangs for social support, a source of livelihood, and 
protection. His father abandoned his family when his mother was 
pregnant with their third child; he grew up in a neighborhood without 
potable water or electricity; dropped out of school after the fourth 
grade to work full time as a bricklayer's assistant at age 11. By age 
13 he joined the M18 gang. In the 5 years he spent in the gang, he 
landed in prison 12 times, turning 18 in a jail cell. He explained that 
his last time in jail scared him enough that he decided to leave the 
gang. Many gang members who decide to leave their past life behind take 
refuge in a church; Daniel left on his own accord, at considerable risk 
to himself.
  Last year Daniel was selected as 1 of the 10 members of the ``Desafio 
10: Paz para los Ex'' (``Challenge 10: Peace for Ex Gang Members'') 
reality TV show, a program through which USAID and the Guatemalan 
private sector helped former gang members find new ways to make a 
living. With ongoing support from USAID's Youth Alliance program, 
``Panadero'' established and ran a successful shoe repair and shine 
business in which he took great pride. He had gone back to school and 
planned to attend college with the money he earned from his shop. He 
impressed many people with his honesty, hard work, and courage. Daniel 
provided authentic testimony that it is possible for a young man to 
turn his life around if he has the will and is given an opportunity. He 
gladly shared his story with such visitors in the hope that other 
youths would continue to be given such opportunities for a new life, 
and that USAID and other donor agencies would continue to reach out to 
at-risk youth. As one of those who worked with him said, ``Through his 
example `Panadero' has confirmed the value of working with youths who 
have abandoned gangs and decided to take a new path in life.''
  Daniel's finest hour was his trip last May to Washington to address a 
group of business leaders and policymakers, including Guatemala's Vice 
President Eduardo Stein, at the Guatemalan Embassy. With the help of 
the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, Daniel obtained a last minute Department 
of Homeland Security waiver to allow him a visa to travel. Daniel's 
talk motivated the Guatemalan Embassy to begin to raise funds for a 
tattoo removal project. Daniel may have been killed because he was 
mistaken for a gang member: a possibility, because of the tattoos on 
his hands and neck, which he had hoped to have removed.
  Daniel once said that he did not want to be just ``a former gang 
member,'' and he achieved that goal. A week before his death, Daniel 
volunteered as an election observer with Mirador Electoral, a 
Guatemalan civic coalition that monitors elections. Mirador Electoral 
has demanded an investigation into his death. He showed that an ``ex'' 
can be an active as well as law-abiding citizen. He sought a better 
life not just for himself and his family, but also for Guatemala. 
Daniel Ochoa was not only a rehabilitated ex-gang member; he was a 
rehabilitated human being.




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