VENTURA/OXNARD : Colleges to Honor Cinco de Mayo
Hundreds of people are expected to turn out today at Ventura and Oxnard colleges as traditional Cinco de Mayo celebrations are observed at both community college campuses.
At Ventura College, student and Latino leaders are organizing a daylong festival beginning at 10:30 a.m., featuring live entertainment and keynote speaker Marcos Vargas, director of El Concilio.
The festivities conclude at 4 p.m. with an indoor soccer tournament that features the final four of 19 teams that played throughout the week.
Each of the free events will honor the Mexican militia, which defeated advancing French troops in Puebla on May 5, 1862. The war was not won, however, for another five years.
“The French didn’t expect it,” said Ismael de la Rocha, a history and Chicano studies teacher at Ventura College.
“They had met very little resistance coming in and they were kind of arrogant,” de la Rocha said. “But they were confronted with an army of Mexican militia and (the Mexicans) beat them.”
Oxnard College will host a celebration of its own, with music, food, dance, poetry readings and an art show scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. The Los Angeles-based comedy group Chicano Secret Service will perform from 8 to 10 p.m. in the campus amphitheater.
The public has been invited to attend both community college celebrations.
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