As the stumbling “Santa Ana Spring” movement continues to unimpress, one factor we have not yet considered is the cultural disparity of the Council Members who are backing David Benavides for Mayor of Santa Ana.
Several of the current Council Members are Mexican immigrants – chief among them Mayor Miguel Pulido and Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez. This is one of the reasons they have so much support in Santa Ana – a city dominated by Mexican immigrants and their families. Many of these immigrants have, like Pulido and Alvarez, become citizens but they continue to value their culture and heritage.
Benavides, on the other hand, and his number one Council ally, Michele Martinez, were born here. Benavides hails from East Los Angeles, according to his bio. Martinez was raise here in Santa Ana, but apparently wasn’t born here as that information is absent from her own bio. But she most certainly was born somewhere in the U.S.
Pulido and Alvarez speak excellent Spanish to this day. Benavides and Martinez, on the other hand, speak Pocho Spanish. Continue reading
