Citizenship Rites to Highlight Activities at HispanaFest
A mass swearing-in ceremony in East Los Angeles of more than 4,100 Latinos as new U.S. citizens will highlight weekend activities marking Mexican Independence Day and organized in conjunction with the area’s first HispanaFest.
The swearing-in Saturday at East Los Angeles College will be one of the largest naturalization ceremonies staged nationwide for a single ethnic group, organizers for the event said.
HispanaFest, which also commemorates National Hispanic Week, has suffered some organizational setbacks, including the cancellation of a fund-raising banquet and two events in Oxnard that were to kick off the weekend’s festivities.
The $150-a-plate fund-raising dinner set for tonight in Los Angeles was called off Wednesday because a crucial sponsor did not come through with funding, said HispanaFest Chairman Ernest Osuna, who declined to identify the sponsor.
A literacy rally and a $100-a-plate fund-raising dinner originally set to take place in Oxnard on Thursday fell through two weeks ago because organizers could not guarantee that First Lady Barbara Bush would attend, Osuna said.
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