Los Angeles, .- The Plaza Mexico of Lynwood, in the County of Los Angeles (California), has been the scene of a colorful celebration for the Cinco de Mayo celebrations, one of the many scheduled this Sunday in Southern California to commemorate the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
With the framework of its iconic architecture, which refers to that of a Mexican people, the commercial and cultural space has given the kick-off to the celebrations with a representation of that battle and in which some 70 actors from the Puebla USA Foundation recreated the triumph of the Mexican army over French.
After the performance, ten members of Los Tecuanes folkloric group of Los Angeles, who played Mexican autochthonous dances, entered the stage.
“The celebration of May 5 in the United States allows us to get closer to the diversity of races to celebrate together our culture and traditions,” Armando Vidal, president of the Puebla USA Foundation, told Efe.
Vidal highlighted how this battle became important for the United States, a country that was in the middle of a Civil War that year and a triumph of the French forces against Mexico would have endangered the American Union.
For his part, José Duarte, president of the Mexican Civic Patriotic Committee of California, told Efe that because California and other states in the southwest of the country had belonged to Mexico until before the 1848 conflict, family relations between Mexicans from California and Mexico “remained strong.”
“In California there was moral support for the badly armed and even barefoot Mexican army and when they heard of the victory against the French, they had a party here,” Duarte said.
The head of the committee criticized that the current Administration of Donald Trump has decided to cancel the celebrations of these parties within the White House, that since the mandate of George W. Bush (2001-2009) was made with mariachis and Mexican singers.
The event in Plaza Mexico, which houses this celebration since 2002, was attended by the mayor of Lynwood, José Solache, as well as officials from the consulate general of Mexico in Los Angeles.
Cinco de Mayo is also celebrated today at La Plaza Olvera, the Los Angeles Coliseum and LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes of the angelina city, while at The Mayan Theater there is wrestling with the show “Vavoom cinco de Mayan”. (EFEUSA)
