Latino Heritage Sites Need to Be Protected, Too
From a river to a former bodega, a historic preservation group is calling for the federal designation of seven sites essential to some Latino communities in the U.S.
Dancers approach the border fence during the annual “Fandango Fronterizo” at the Friendship Park in 2018. During this annual event, musicians gather on both sides of the fence playing and dancing the “Son Jarocho,” a regional folk music style from rural Veracruz.
Photographer: Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images
In 2006, a group of businessmen and local officials in El Paso, Texas, announced a plan to demolish Duranguito, one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods dating back to Spanish colonial times. In its place, a multi-purpose arena would be built.
Fifteen years later, some old buildings have already been destroyed as residents of the historic border town — where people on both sides still travel back and forth for work and other daily activities — continue fighting those plans. The community wants the neighborhood to be officially designated as a historic district so that it can be preserved.