Gustavo “Tavo” Garcia.
On the passing of Gustavo “Tavo” Garcia. Uno por uno se nos estan hiendo. Entendemos que
la muerte viene siendo parte de la vida, pero como quiera, duele cuando recibimos la noticia que
otro soldado en la lucha ya no va estar con nosotros.
El Tavo fue parte de esa generación que rompio barreras. El fue parte del grupo que habia
en cada pueblo, who were among the first to try. Here in Austin, part of that group included, Richard
Moya, Johnny Treviño, Gonzalo Barrientos, Jose Uriegas, Edna Canino, Margaret Gomez, Paul
Tovar, Mr. and Mrs. Mendez, Marta and Juan Cotera, Marcelo Tafoya, Buddy and Dan Ruiz, Gilbert Martinez, Ernesto
Nieto and I’m sure a few others who I have missed.
While some of those cited above are still with us, it is important to acknowledge their place and
attempt to make Austin, Texas a better place for everyone. Gustavo Garcia will go down in history as
a pioneer in many respects for the time and energy he gave to the community. Public service as
others have said, is a noble calling.
Not everyone can or is able to answer that calling. When Tavo Garcia came up from Zapata,
Texas in the 1950s, that little town in South Texas sent a man who turned out to be one of their very
best. May he always be remembered and may we always be grateful to him and his family.
Welcome to the first issue of La Voz Newspaper for 2019. This year marks our 29th year of
publishing La Voz Newspapers.
When we first started in 1990, in Brazoria County, we never imagined that we would move the
operation to Uvalde County in 1994 and then to Travis County in 2005. Pero aquí estamos.
While some people say that being a monthly publication doesn’t really qualify as a newspaper, I say,
no importa lo que piensa uno en ese sentido. What is important is that each month we try to
document and bring to our readers what we think is important news and try to give recognition to those
who are generally overlooked by the mainstream media. When you think about it, producing 16 to 20
pages a year comes out to almost 200 pages of content. Multiply that by ten years and you are talking
about 2,000 pages! That turns out to be a lot of history.
And speaking of history, the 2018 General Election has produced a number of elected officials that are
sure to changed the respective bodies of which they are now members.
Here in Texas, for the first time, two Latinas have become members of the United States House of
Representatives, Veronica Escobar from the El Paso, and Sylvia Garcia from Houston.
Carol Alvarado, also from Houston, joins Judith Zaffirini as a member of the Texas Senate.
In Harris County, voters elected Lina Hidalgo, age 27, to be the first Latina county judge. Also in
Harris County, 17 black females were sworn in as judges. They were part of a local Democratic
campaign running with the slogan “Black Girl Magic Texas.” Editorial Page 3 Pensamientos
La Voz Newspaper – January, 2019. See additional commentary on page 12
_________________________________________________
Copyright 2019 by Alfredo Santos. To read the entire issue of this month’s La Voz got to: la-voz@sbcglobal.net