Marine Corporal From Guatemala, Killed in Conflict, Sought Better Life in U.S. Military

By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service

MEXICO CITY, March 27 -- Jose Antonio Gutierrez grew up as an orphan in Guatemala City, a homeless kid who lived on the streets off and on until he was 22,
when he made the dangerous crossing through Mexico and illegally entered the United States.

Last Friday his American dream ended near the southern Iraq port city of Umm Qasr, where U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Gutierrez, 28, became one of the first
U.S. soldiers to die in combat in the Iraq war.

"It's desperation; they want to improve their lives," said Hector E. Tobar, a friend of the family in Los Angeles that took in Gutierrez, and who also immigrated from
Guatemala. He said poor Central Americans risk much to improve their lives by illegally crossing the border, and then see joining the military as a way up.

"The Marine Corps paints a beautiful picture to these young guys -- adventure and travel and all that," Tobar said. "And these kids are so innocent -- they are all
looking for a way out."

Newspapers and television reports across Mexico and Central America have shown a different war than the one being reported in the United States, focusing
heavily on opposition rallies and casualties. Here, where the war is almost universally opposed, the news has also been filled with stories about the presence -- and at
least three deaths -- of U.S. soldiers with Latin roots, many of whom entered the United States as impoverished illegal immigrants.

Many of those who enlisted in the military turned to the armed forces because they had few other jobs options, according to recent interviews at Fort Bliss, Tex.,
one of the largest U.S. military bases. But now, as some of them are dying, it has refocused attention on the difficult early lives of many of those in uniform --
especially those who entered the United States illegally.

"They are called wetbacks and hunted down by ranchers in Texas and Arizona as if they were animals, and now they are called heroes," said Bruce Harris, director
of Casa Alianza, a program for street children in Central America, which cared for Gutierrez from 1983 until 1992.

Harris said Gutierrez was taken in by Casa Alianza when he was 8; his parents had died in unknown circumstances during Guatemala's 36-year civil war. He
attended a school with 120 other orphans and homeless boys. When he was 16, he went through a difficult time and left Casa Alianza and lived on the streets again
for 18 months.

"He would inhale a toxic shoe glue at times to escape from the hunger and loneliness," Harris said. Later Gutierrez worked as a baker and then as a sewing machine
operator in a sweat shop in Guatemala City, Harris said. Just before Guitierrez left for the United States, Harris said, Gutierrez told a counselor that he "could not
make ends meet in Guatemala."

Harris described Gutierrez as friendly and a good student with a special interest in architecture. He said he was "sometimes quiet -- like any child who has lost his
family."

"It's very sad," Harris said. "He was a very good kid. I would rather that Jose Antonio had found a job as a mechanic in Guatemala and stayed alive."

The Guatemalan media have run stories about Gutierrez virtually nonstop, and the Mexican press has focused on the Mexican American share of the burden: one
solider killed, one missing and one being held prisoner.

Part of the public debate in Latin America is on the dilemma of many soldiers: a desire to serve their adopted nation, balanced against the strong anti-war sentiments
in their home countries.

"I do feel proud because not just anyone gives up their life for another country," Gutierrez's sister, Engracia Clarin, told reporters at a news conference in Guatemala
this week. "But at the same time it makes me sad because he fought for something that wasn't his."

Clarin said she last heard from her brother on New Year's Eve, when he called to say, "Take good care of yourself. I'm going to war. Pray to God a lot for me. God
willing, I will return alive."

U.S. immigration records show that Gutierrez told officials he was 17 when he arrived in the United States in January 1997. Harris said he was actually five years
older, and probably lied to improve his chances of staying in the country. U.S. law allows orphaned minors to apply for residence even if they have arrived in the
country illegally. He became a permanent resident in 1998 and joined the Marines last year.

Media reports said Gutierrez's body will be returned to his sister in Guatemala. Harris said Casa Alianza has offered to bury him in a cemetery reserved for street
children.

                                               © 2003