Expatriate Group Is Born of Like Minds and Hearts

The two men from opposite sides of the border might not have met, were they not idealists like Don Quixote and Mexicans to the core.

Together, Roberto Laurean of Santa Ana and Rafael Herrera of Michoacan have opened an office for the nascent Michoacan Federation of Santa Ana -- and arranged for it to be christened this week by the popular governor of the Mexican state.

Friday’s visit by Lazaro Cardenas Batel is something of a defining moment in efforts to organize the estimated 60,000 Michoacanos living in Santa Ana.

Expatriates from other Mexican states, such as Zacatecas, have long banded together throughout Southern California, and routinely send money home to Mexico. And Michoacanos in other cities, such as Las Vegas and Chicago, also have organized to raise funds for public works projects in the state, to appeal to authorities for the right to vote in Mexico and to socialize.

But it took two men with similar and unrealistic dreams to begin organizing Santa Ana’s Michoacanos.

In Mexico, Herrera, a young attorney, wanted to link emigrants like his father -- who, at 19, left his mother to work in the California fields -- with the homeland they’d left behind.

Herrera, who hails from the small, isolated village of Turicato, dropped his law career in 2001 to explore Santa Ana, some 2,000 miles to the north.

He knew it as a destination for many Michoacanos and that, according to the 2000 census, it was the most Spanish-speaking city in the United States. He knew some folks in Mexico called the place, “Santa Ana, Michoacan.”

He dedicated himself to creating an organization to help newly arrived immigrants in the United States learn about Santa Ana and, conversely, to encourage deeply rooted immigrants to send money back to Michoacan.

Arriving in Santa Ana on a tourist visa, Herrerra was stunned to find so many people from Michoacan, including Abel Torres, the owner of Rumores, a weekly Spanish-language newspaper.

Herrera recalls him saying, “I know someone you should meet. He’s just like you. He wants to help.”

That man was Laurean, a retired construction worker, who survived being buried alive on a job site 13 years earlier by blowing air through a pipe that poked through the dirt, barely getting the attention of rescuers.

After 18 months in a wheelchair recovering from a broken pelvis and hernias, Laurean had dedicated his life to volunteerism.

He distributed food to day laborers who gathered at street corners, and organized seminars to discuss diabetes and cancer issues at the local union hall.

“I wanted to help Mexicans, Michoacanos, people who had come here like me,” said Laurean, who emigrated 35 years ago from Sahuayo, Michoacan.

Like many Mexicans in the United States, Laurean maintained a certain allegiance to Mexico, and particularly to his home state in central Mexico, where most rural residents rely on unsteady agricultural harvests to get by.

Michoacan, like each of the 31 Mexican states, has its own distinctive attractions, festivals and dishes.

Herrera tracked Laurean down at the union hall, and the two banded together to organize Michoacanos.

The federation of Michoacanos of Santa Ana and Orange County is now launched with 11 core members, meeting at local restaurants to map recruiting efforts. Among them: Santa Ana Councilman Jose Solorio.

In short order, they hope to attract hundreds, maybe thousands, of members.

Laurean, the organization’s president, visited Michoacan with Herrera and basked in the laudatory comments from officials there.

“Years ago, people like me, who left Mexico, would be considered half-breeds even though we always had Mexico so close to our hearts,” Laurean said. “I came back thinking I was doing the right thing.”

The twosome meticulously planned a visit last month by Solorio to his hometown of La Piedad, Michoacan, and ensured that the councilman met Michoacan’s new governor, a 38-year-old politician with a last name that draws political clout like a Kennedy’s might in the United States.

But even though other Mexican officials had visited Santa Ana in recent years -- including Zacatecas Gov. Ricardo Monreal and Mexico President Vicente Fox -- the governor of Michoacan had not yet visited.

That’s now changing.

Cardenas Batel “well knows the many hours that Rafael and Roberto have spent putting this federation together,” Solorio said. “He’s glad for the progress.” Cardenas Batel is also aware of the swelling demand and pending proposals that would allow emigrants to vote in Mexican elections, Solorio said.

Against that backdrop, details of the governor’s visit are being cemented and, on Friday, Cardenas Batel is scheduled to meet Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido and civic leaders for breakfast, visit with members of Santa Ana soccer leagues, visit the federation office, tour the Rancho Santiago Community College District and meet more than 1,000 immigrants from Michoacan at the Delhi Community Center.

When the fanfare dies down, Laurean said he hopes to use the office, located near 10th and Broadway, to help residents with such bureaucratic tasks as obtaining birth certificates from the Michoacan government because many cannot return home for them.

Laurean said social services will be offered through the office, and that the federation will help local Michoacanos raise money for public works projects back home.

“Many times, immigrants don’t know where to go, they are afraid and a place like this can help them,” said Edgar Sebastian Vazquez, who heads the soccer league Interamericana. About a third of its 5,000 players are from Michoacan. “In Mexico, there are so many poor communities. Many people here could send money through an office like this.”

Friday also signals an accomplishment for Herrera, even though he says he’s broke.

“For me, it will be the end, because my money has run out. I’m going back to work, back to my job as a lawyer,” said Herrera. “But I feel like I’ve done something for my people, who now live in two places. And there is no reason why we can’t have our hearts in both.”