Resolution
 

Supporting the Installation of a Life Size Sculpture Honoring the Mexican Vaquero

WHEREAS, we the members of the LULAC Council No.8 propose the creation and installation of a life size bronze sculpture featuring a mounted Mexican Vaquero, herding a longhorn steer; and  

WHEREAS, the vaqueros have never received credit due them for all they contribute to the building of America. They were herding steers and doing other ranch work some 300 years before the first American cowboy ever roped a steer or mounted his bucking bronco; and  

WHEREAS, these Hispanic cowmen had invented the art of being cowboys and passed along all they knew to the American cowpunchers. In time the American cowboy would become our most celebrated hero, while the Vaquero was all but forgotten. Why? Because the Vaquero had become the victim of prejudice and discrimination; and  

WHEREAS, we the Americans of Mexican descent, have been in the United States west and southwest since 1540, when Vasquez de Coronado came from Mexico to settle this area. In all this time, we do not have a single commemorative honoring the feats of our forefoathers. 

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the League of United Latin American Citizens establish a committee to erect a statue honoring the Mexican Vaquero in El Paso, TX. 

Submitted by Joe G. Loya, LULAC Council no. 8 President.

Adopted this 10th day of July 2004.
Hector M. Flores
LULAC National President