Nations Unified In Celebrating Independence : Festivities Spotlight Cultures of Central American Countries and Their American Emigres

Independence Day speeches in five Central American countries on Sept. 15 always touch on a desire for the republics to someday reunite.

That dream has found its way to Los Angeles, where the peoples of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua will unite for a grand independence celebration today that starts at 11 a.m. with a parade through Pico-Union and continues with festivities at the Normandie Playground.

The local celebration will include the national anthems of the United States, Mexico, the five Central American countries and those of Panama and Belize as well, although those two Central American nations celebrate their independence separately.

Dancers representing different regions within all seven Central American nations will perform and music will blare throughout the park. And the most essential element of any Latin American celebration--the food--will be plentiful.

“We are the masters of food,” said Luis Max Ocon, a member of the nonprofit Committee for the Central American Independence Parade, which operates at the Central American Resource Center.

The committee has sponsored united independence celebrations eight of the last nine years at MacArthur Park, but this year lost the race to reserve that locale to KKHJ-AM 930 Radio Alegria, which is having a Mexican Independence Day celebration there today.

The committee’s parade starts at 7th and Alvarado streets, goes south to Pico Boulevard, west to Normandie Avenue passing Santo Tomas Catholic Church, and south on Normandie Avenue where it will end at Venice Boulevard at the Normandie Playground.

Alvaro Torres, a popular singer from El Salvador, was scheduled to be grand marshal and to perform but could not attend due to a death in the family, Ocon said. Instead, Martha Luz Gutierrez, who was named queen in a Central American pageant this month, will serve as grand marshal.

Back in Managua, Nicaragua, which 52-year-old Ocon left when he was 15, families would walk to the Esplanada, the town courtyard, to see a parade of townspeople, marching bands, the military and its tanks and listen to political speeches.

“We celebrate it like our Fourth of July,” he said. “The speakers would talk about remembering the people who got involved in the independence and the heroes of the country. (They would talk) about the peoples of the five republics getting united and that one day we will be united.”

After the five colonies declared their independence from Spain on Sept. 15, 1821, they formed the Central American Federation, which held from 1823 to 1838. After its collapse 15 years later the regions became independent nations.

(Other nations celebrating their independence days through Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, are Chile, Cuba, Bolivia and Mexico.)

Gutierrez, who is also from Managua, looks forward to today’s celebration to show off her Nicaraguan culture. “Even though the other Latin cultures are similar, we ( Nicaraguans) have our own culture and our own lifestyle,” said the 21-year-old Cypress College psychology student who was awarded $6,000 in scholarships as the pageant’s winner.

Central Americans who are feeling a touch of nostalgia will be able to meet fellow countrymen and taste their traditional foods, like nacatamal, a special tamale usually eaten on Saturdays and holidays in Nicaragua.

Many of the American-born youngsters will have a chance to experience an event like the ones their parents and grandparents celebrated in Central America.

“This is what we try to give our young people and for them to keep on doing this,” Ocon said. “I think you should not ever forget your roots or where you come from.”

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Central American Independence Festival, Normandie Playground, Normandie Avenue and Venice Boulevard; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today; free (213) 413-3191.

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Mexican Independence Day Celebration, MacArthur Park, Alvarado Street and Wilshire Boulevard; noon to 6 p.m. today; free (213) 461-9300

A Month of Fireworks

COSTA RICA: Sept. 15

EL SALVADOR: Sept. 15

HONDURAS: Sept. 15

NICARAGUA: Sept. 15

GUATEMALA: Sept. 15

MEXICO: Sept. 16

CHILE: Sept. 18

CUBA: Oct. 10

BOLIVIA: Oct. 12

Nine Latin American nations celebrate their independence days during Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 through Oct. 15.

* Father Hidalgo y Costilla, a parish priest, launched Mexico’s fight for independence from Spain on Sept. 16, 1810. His followers continued the fight after he was captured and executed by the Spaniards. On Aug. 24, 1821, Spain granted Mexico independence.

* Chile declared its independence from Spain on Sept. 18, 1810. Revolutionaries led by Jose San Martin and Bernardo O’Higgins won freedom in 1818.

* Representatives from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica met in Guatemala City on Sept. 15, 1821, to declare their independence from Spain and the new Mexican empire. The five, which had been part of the vice royalty of New Spain, along with Mexico, fought off the invading Mexican army and on July 1, 1823, formed the Central American Federation. It collapsed 15 years later and the regions became independent nations.

* Cuba declared its independence from Spain on Oct. 10, 1868. The war of independence continued through 1898, when the Spanish-American War brought it to an end. Cuba won independence in 1902, when the last of the U.S. occupation forces left.

* Bolivia asserted its independence from Spain on Oct. 12, 1825, with the help of namesake Simon Bolivar, who unfurled the flag of the region then known as Upper Peru. Bolivia declared its freedom from Spain on Aug. 6, 1825.