Carson Gets Sister City in Mexico : Culture: The new arrangement, which had been in the idea stage for 20 years, will help convey Carson’s ethnic makeup, Latino activists say.

Carson will soon be getting another sister: Tehuacan, Mexico. The addition is elating Latino activists who contend that the relationship is long overdue given Carson’s large Mexican-American population.

Carson officials welcomed Mayor Jose Mendez Gomez of Tehuacan on Tuesday, and officials are preparing documents that will formalize sisterhood between Carson and the city, which is southeast of Mexico City in the state of Puebla.

The addition of the Mexican city means Carson’s sister cities will be closely representative of the city’s racial and ethnic groups. The other sister cities are Soka, Japan; Sinait, the Philippines; and the African cities of Oyoko, Ghana, and Robertsport, Liberia.

Carson’s population of 83,995 is 26.2% African-American, 25% Asian and Pacific Islander, and 27.4% Latino, according to the 1990 U.S. Census.

The idea of having a Mexican sister city had been kicked around for the past 20 years. But a serious effort was not made until Latino activists, marveling at the student exchanges conducted between Soka and Carson, decided more than a year ago that the same should occur with Mexico, said Sylvia de la Torre, who headed the subcommittee of the Carson Sister Cities Assn. that pushed for the link with Tehuacan.

“The interest was there but not the leadership,” said Patty Castellanos, president of the Carson chapter of the Mexican American Political Assn. (MAPA), a resurgent activist group that pushed for sisterhood with Tehuacan.

The addition of the Mexican city, which is expected to become official in January, also marks the first small step for MAPA, which had been dormant for the past 10 years but was revived about a year ago.

“I noticed that there wasn’t a Mexico sister city, and it kind of shocked me,” Castellanos said, adding that the bond with Tehuacan would be a sign of acknowledgment and respect for the city’s Latinos.

“Youngsters need to be exposed to different cultures, and I think the Latino culture is important too. I think we need a little exposure to Mexico,” she said.

The sister city relationships are largely symbolic gestures meant to foster international goodwill through cultural exchanges.

The most active exchanges have occurred with Soka, which has sent students and other delegates to Carson. Carson, likewise, has sent student and community delegations to Soka.

There are also plans to send Soka a spruced-up oil derrick for a new park in the Japanese city that is dedicated to its bond with Carson.

“They wanted something symbolic of Carson, and that’s what they are getting,” joked former Councilwoman Vera Robles DeWitt, who will become head of the sister cities association next month.

But Carson has had so little contact with Sinait, Oyoko and Robertsport that the Carson Sister Cities Assn. is planning to send letters to the respective mayors asking if they wish to continue relations.

Civil strife and poor communications in Africa and the Philippines have caused the lapse, said Mary McNamara, the chairwoman of the sister cities association. DeWitt said she would move for new sisterhoods with other cities in the Philippines and Africa if Carson breaks relations with any of the other cities.

Mendez Gomez, who was feted at a reception in Carson Tuesday night, said his city of about 150,000 has a pool of some 80,000 students who could participate in an exchange.

He said Tehuacan is known for its industry, including mineral water processing, and archeological digs that have uncovered artifacts dating to almost 3,000 years before Christ.

“We are interested in having agreements and cultural exchanges especially now that our countries are preparing to have a free trade accord,” Mendez Gomez said.

Exactly what types of exchanges and programs will occur have not yet been worked out, he and Carson officials said.