A coalition of activists launched a national campaign, urging Hispanics to refuse to join the military service for the war in Iraq and affirming that the members of this ethnic minority are being used as cannon fodder.

The activists aim to educate the students and their parents “so that our children don’t turn into cannon fodder,” Rosalio Munoz, coordinator of Latinos for Peace, said during a press conference in East Los Angeles.

Various groups formulated an advertisement to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium, a march organized to protest the disproportionate number of Hispanics – in relation to the general United States population – who died in the Vietnam War. The march, in which 20,000 people participated, ended with rioting disturbances and the death of three people, among them Ruben Salazar, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and director of channel 34 news on television.

The activists announced that too many young Hispanics have died in the war in Iraq. Members of the coalition said they want to limit the presence of recruiters on school grounds, and for schools to do a better job informing students about the way to prevent the military from obtaining personal information.

In accordance with the law entitled “No Child Left Behind,” recruiters can obtain the names, addresses and telephone numbers of high school students, unless the parents or students sign a form to excludethem from the program.

The organizers are planning to initiate a campaign to compel students in 30 schools to sign the forms.