LATINOS TO PROTEST AS GOP CONVENES.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

Filiberto Gonzalez got his first lesson in activism in East Salinas.

His elementary school, like others in the poor, mostly Latino neighborhood, lacked a cafeteria. And years of polite requests by parents failed to get any results.

Not until parents sparked a successful ballot initiative were the cafeterias built. Their efforts forever impressed upon Gonzalez the spirit of unified action.

Come Monday, the 22-year-old Cal State Northridge senior plans to put an old lesson to new use - in a coordinated protest outside the Republican National Convention in San Diego.

``I saw how change could happen with the initiation of your time and the collective energy of the community,'' said Gonzalez. ``Just as (Pat) Buchanan has a right to go to the Arizona border and say, `Go away, Jose,' we have the right to protest and say, ``No, this is not OK.' ''

Gonzalez helped organize 30 Latino activists from the San Fernando Valley who will join 70 other activists from Los Angeles and travel by bus to the convention.

They won't be alone.

Hundreds of Latinos are expected to gather to protest Republican positions they contend unfairly target minorities and ``have the potential of hurting a great deal more the Latino community,'' said Xavier Flores, who heads the San Fernando Valley chapter of the Mexican American Political Association.

Among the group's targets: the welfare reform bill; Proposition 209, the California Civil Rights Initiative, which would ban race- and gender-based considerations in hiring, contracting and admissions at all state agencies; and a House and Senate amendment that would allow states to refuse education to illegal immigrants.

Illegal immigration and its effect on government services also are expected to prove hot topics in San Diego this week.

Cal State Northridge senior Juan Aguirre, who will join in the protests, fears that if Latinos are passive on issues that affect immigrants, ultimately all Latinos will be hurt.

``My goal is . . . to get the word out and show our presence and show that we're not going to be easily taken down,'' said Aguirre, 24.

That these Latino protesters will be at the convention does not ruffle Armando Mena, chairman of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of California, who predicted that the Democratic National Convention in Chicago also will get its share of protest.

``I've been to three national conventions now and we've always had protesters out there for one reason or another,'' said Mena. ``But where it really becomes interesting to me is that the focus has been primarily on the Republican Party. And yet a lot of the decisions made in the past four years were made by a Democratic Congress.''

The 30 activists from the Valley - mainly students from CSUN and other area schools - plan to express opposition to Republican-supported federal student-aid cutbacks.

San Fernando High School junior Magaly Novelo said her goal is to voice opposition to Proposition 209 and encourage Latinos to vote.

``I'm pretty sure the Republicans will notice us,'' said Novelo, 16. ``And even if they don't, we'll know that we fought and stood up for something we believed in.''

Added Gonzalez: ``We hope to send a message or show by our presence that we, as a people, as Chicano students, are going to be active participants in renouncing the Republican agenda and their attacks.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) Filiberto Gonzalez, a senior at Cal State Nor thridge, will stand up and be counted in opposition to Republican Party positions.

(2) Filiberto Gonzalez tells other Cal State northridge students about protest plans.

David Crane/Daily News