Writers of “El Movimiento”: Pueblo Chicanos Still Face Same Issues from the 1970s
New book commemorating the struggle launches July 21 at El Pueblo Museum.
The 1970s were a tumultuous decade in Pueblo history.
As unrest swept across the country, Pueblo citizens braced themselves for 700 layoffs at the CF&I Steel Mill in 1976 because of a dramatic decrease in the demand for steel.
But there was another major issue bubbling over.
It was also during the 1970s that El Movimiento of Colorado was born — a social movement led by Chicano activists who weren’t afraid to take a stand against discrimination, fight for civil rights, and gain political power through education, culture and the arts.
Eleven Pueblo authors — some of the community’s most notable figures in today’s movement — have come together to write that history in “El Movimiento de Pueblo: An Anthology of Chicana and Chicano Activism,” which will be released July 21.
The authors focus on every aspect of the movement from education to media to government in Pueblo. And many say some of those issues still exist decades later.
In the book, Deborah Martinez Martinez, author and publisher, writes about ongoing concerns in education among Hispanics in Pueblo.
She recounted when the Associated Students’ Government at the University of Southern Colorado — now CSU-Pueblo — allocated $25,000 for tuition and fees for 100 disadvantaged students in 1971, allowing them to take the required Chicano Studies 101 course requirement.
“I feel that some of the issues (facing Chicanos) are still the same,” said Martinez, who graduated from the University of Southern Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications.
“There are still issues with education and the number of Hispanic teachers to students.”
Likewise, healthcare is still a concern for Dr. Richard Rivera of the Pueblo Neighborhood Health Centers, who writes about his own experiences with the industry in the book. He came to Pueblo in 1975 to open a clinic-style health service center to serve the low-income and indigent population.
“We had a backlash from the private sector primarily, but they mobilized the newspaper, district attorney and the local medical society that tried to terminate our funding,” he said.
“We lived under a state for siege for a number of years. In 1982 they finally managed to get our funding terminated.”
Rivera, a graduate from Harvard School of Medicine, said he does not feel optimistic about Pueblo’s future if citizens keep ignoring the issues that face the city.
“It’s disappointing, especially the health care situation. I think in many ways it has deteriorated,” he said.
Part of the continuing problem was, and is, media coverage, some of the authors said.
“A lot of things didn’t appear in the newspaper, or it was told in a one-sided manner,” Martinez said. “The Chieftain has been staunch Republican and some of these issues aren’t written about in the newspaper.”
Juan Espinosa, a former crime reporter and night city editor at the Chieftain, writes about the local newspaper “La Cucaracha,” which served to educate Chicanos about topics of the times related to education, health and civil rights.
But it was much different issue that inspired Espinosa to contribute to the book.
In 1976, former City Councilman Al Gurule led efforts to derail Joseph Losavio’s District Attorney reelection campaign. A plot by the DA’s camp to plant heroin on Gurule failed. But Losavio was reelected in 1976, polarizing Pueblo communities.
Gurule and Losavio’s power struggle is one of several poignant historical accounts of civil rights activism in Pueblo that stood out to Espinosa.
The book launch is scheduled for July 21 from 5 p.m. — 7 p.m. at the El Pueblo History Museum on 301 N. Union Ave. in Pueblo, where the History Colorado “El Movimiento” exhibit will be open free of charge. The book complements the exhibit, which has been tailored to Pueblo with community-specific stories.
