NMSU-A celebrates Cinco de Mayo
New Mexico State University-Alamogordo's League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Collegiate Student Organization hosted a celebration of the Mexican Battle of Puebla, commonly known as Cinco de Mayo May 2.
“We want to educate the campus and the community to the real purpose, or the real connection, with Cinco de Mayo,” NMSU-A Director of External Affairs and Development Dr. Juan Garcia said.
The celebration was held on Thursday because the students were off on Friday and because May 5 lands on a Sunday this year.
LULAC’s event featured a presentation by Garcia, a Mexican style lunch, music and games.
May 5 is not a celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day, which is celebrated September 16.
The Battle of Puebla happened May 5, 1861 during the Second French Intervention in Mexico.
“The Mexican government owed a lot of money so the French, the Spaniards and the British had a mini-armada in the Gulf of Mexico to kinda pressure Mexico to pay,” Garcia said.
Mexico responded that they could not pay the money owed, Garcia said.
“The British and the Spaniards said, ‘well, you know what? We’ll set you up on a payment plan’ and they left,” Garcia said. “The French decided to take this opportunity to invade Mexico, go north and recapture Louisiana.”
This would have been about the time that the American Civil War ended.
President Abraham Lincoln and Mexican President Benito Juàrez communicated regularly, “so, Abraham Lincoln sent Benito Juàrez arms and money to fight off the French,” Garcia said. “Because otherwise (the French) would go north to the U.S.,” Garcia said.
There is a statue of Lincoln near Juàrez and in other cities in Mexico in commemoration of Lincoln's help to Mexico.
Cinco de Mayo is celebrated “because it affirms enduring and shared values such as advancing the just defense of the homeland and the necessary cause for marginalized and maligned people,” Garcia said. "It's not just about a battle, it's about democracy."
Cinco de Mayo was first celebrated in the U.S. after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Good Neighbor Policy in 1933 to improve U.S. relations with Latin American countries, Garcia said.
Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at firstname.lastname@example.org, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on twitter at @nicmaxreporter