Red, white, and blue bunting, marching bands, and flags flying in the February 22 WBCA parade were but one beautiful show of Laredo’s patriotism.
It was also a great day for the First Amendment to the American Constitution, for the exercise of free speech, specifically for the members of the #NoBorderWall coalition who without incident peaceably made known their opposition to the border wall with a banner held between two kayaks on the river just below Bridge II during the annual WBCA Abrazo Ceremony.
The four intrepid activists were biologist Dr. Tom Vaughan, Tricia Cortez, Bianca Brewster, and Nadja López. Their communication was silent, visual, and powerful.
Other First Amendment expressions in opposition to the border wall were the simple canvas banners placed on buildings along the parade route.
AT PARADE’S END A LOUD AND CLEAR VOICE
And lastly, there was the loud and clear voice of Jorge Santana chanting “No border wall!” at the parade’s end on Victoria Street where dignitaries disembarked from their parade vehicles and were whisked away to comfortable shoes or the next event.
Outside of his house where a #NoBorderWall banner hung from the balcony, he communicated by megaphone his opposition to the wall to countless elected and appointed officials.
One of them was Martha Bárcena de Coqui, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States. She greeted Jorge with “I like your sign” and “I like your house.” She stepped into his beautiful Victorian treasure, the old Deutz home, and there ensued a genuine exchange about environmental concerns over the proposed wall.
Martha Bárcena de Coqui, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, is pictured at the end of the WBCA parade with Mexican Consul Carlos Mendoza Salazar and with Jorge Santana and Zorina Medrano at the Santana home at 1820 Victoria.
Before leaving, she requested a photo of herself with the Mexican Consul and with Jorge and his mother, Zorina Medrano, on the porch with the banner visible at the balcony.
LULAC’S NOCHE DE HENRY
Later that evening, Jorge took a friend up on the offer of two free $80 tickets to LULAC’s Noche Mexicana at which Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would be named Señora Internacional and Mexican Senator Mario Delgado Carrillo, Señor Internacional.
Jorge observed that though the WBCA’s annual event was intended to honor Pelosi and Delgado, that it quickly turned into a Henry fest with event sponsor Eduardo Garza Robles of the Uni-Trade Group expressing praises for the Congressman. He fell short of what other speakers subsequently felt inspired to say: “I know this is not a political event, but vote for Henry Cuellar.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told the gathering that if he lived here, he would vote for Henry Cuellar. In one of Hoyer’s pauses for applause, Jorge shouted, “Vote for Jessica Cisneros!”
He was advised, he believes, by a secret service agent that the Speaker of the House would have him removed if he spoke aloud again. A female agent sat in proximity of Jorge for the rest of the evening.
Jorge noted that if looks could kill, he would have been rendered lifeless then and there, but that in time, others at the event thanked him for speaking up.
Poof! The LULAC gala meant to celebrate a shared international culture morphed into a political rally.
Good for Jorge!
No border wall, no freaking way.
Laredo South sector Border Patrol reports ZERO interdiction of heroin, zero cocaine, zero methamphetamine, zero xtasy, zero fentanyl – zero of the drugs that kill people, because those drugs pass thru the bridges and will continue to do so with the Wall. BP admits that the Wall is intended to Slow People Down. $25Mil/mile or more to “Slow People Down” 🙄 while choking off an entire eco-system from water, blocking our tributaries from reaching the Rio Grande (who doesn’t love a good flood!), polluting our only source of drinking water with sedimentation and construction debris, and turning our city from the vibrant gateway to the Americas into a prison yard instead. We have Zero rights during all this b/c “eminent domain”. Eminent domain is supposed to be for the public good, but here it’s invoked to rob us blind.
The great shame and hypocrisy is Pelosi a so-called progressive from San Francisco is supporting Cuellar a proto-fascist bootlicker of the extreme rightwing Repbulicans of Texas. Laredo and South Texas should be appalled by this pathetic and very telling event and attitude that is so disrespectful of people intelligence. To be expected as Chomsky has been quoted in say that the dems are a rightwing party and the repubs are off the rightwing spectrum and thus Cuellar and his machine are by that proto-fascist in their policies and practices. It is much like the accusations being throw by the Republicrat paranoia about Bernie being communist…