At this South Texas political convention, everyone has the right to speak, regardless of legal status.

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SAN JUAN — Early last Saturday morning, about 100 Rio Grande Valley residents gathered in a conference room that for decades has been home to some of South Texas’ most vocal activists.

The surrounding walls were a reminder of their past: covered in murals telling the story of migrant farm workers and the labor movement in the United States.

Once the group finished their coffee and breakfast tacos, the last few remaining people checked in to receive their commemorative T-shirts.

Finally, the day’s work begins.

Francis Martinez, 67, rose to address the crowd. He said he was a U.S. citizen, but didn’t know it for most of his life because he lived in Mexico. For years, he said, he was denied his most basic right as an American: the right to vote.

He urged the audience to vote, and for those who can’t, to fight for their communities, regardless of their legal status.

“We pay taxes, but they don’t treat us like immigrants. They accept us,” Martinez said in Spanish. “The government has our money. We have a say.”

Among the audience were members of La Unión del Pueblo Entero, a community-based nonprofit founded by farmworker leaders César Chavez and Dolores Huerta, who were there to take part in a biennial convention known as a cumbre.

Founded in 2003 in the Rio Grande Valley, the cooperative works to improve the lives of low-income people. They often focus on the needs of people who live in colonias, unincorporated, low-income neighborhoods that lack basic necessities like water and sewer. Many of the colonias began as settlements for migrant farmworkers.

LUPE (as the union is now called) started holding Cumbres de Colonia in 2015 to gauge the priorities of its members who live in the colonias. The event gives many foreigners the opportunity to take part in the democratic process: although they won’t be able to vote in November, they can still help shape the future of their neighborhoods.

This year, LUPE opened the event to all members, regardless of where they reside, and to reflect this change, the name of this year’s event has been changed to “Cumbre de Miembros.”

There have also been changes to the process leading up to the tournament, not only opening it up to all members but also speeding up the process by holding member-led focus groups within the community the week before the main event.

Previously, those in leadership roles exclusively decided what to focus on.

From the focus groups, member representatives developed 10 resolutions that were presented and voted on during the convention.

“This is the first time I’ve seen an organization that is so committed to being inclusive of all parts of the community,” said member representative Valerie Alsardierna, 23.

The decision made Saturday will inform LUPE’s communications with elected officials, including speaking at local city meetings and lobbying state lawmakers.

Rooted in the farm worker movement

Cumbres have been a staple of LUPE organizing efforts since they were introduced around 2015, but their history in the Valley dates back to 1979, when the United Farm Workers Union held its first convention in South Texas.

Rebecca Flores, who was the UFW’s executive director at the time, had heard about a convention the UFW had held in California and wanted to replicate the idea here.

Subsequent conventions were not just a place to discuss important issues with politicians seeking their support. They brought about important changes that improved the lives of their members. Early successes included banning short-handled hoes, which caused back pain for farm workers, and installing running water and toilets in the fields.

The United Farm Workers Union eventually became LUPE in 2003, and Juanita Valdes Cox, who served as executive director from 2007 to 2023, reintroduced smaller versions of these conventions as Cumbres.

“It’s a beautiful combination of people who are willing to stand up against injustice and injustice,” Valdez Cox said. “It’s amazing what can be done when you say, ‘Ya basta. I can’t stand this.'”

Immigration reform has consistently been at the top of their priorities, but ongoing border disputes at the state and national levels make it difficult to achieve the broad reforms they want.

“We’re going to keep trying,” Valdes-Cox said, “and we’ll take little wins and move forward, but we’re not going to give up.”

Start early

A month before this year’s Cumbre, Marcela Alejandre led a group discussion outside the home of Romana Méndez and her husband, Faustino Candelario Zarate, in Dona, about six miles northeast of the LUPE office in San Juan.

Alejandre, a member representative for LUPE, was there to lead a member focus group on the topic of colonia. With Méndez and the children in the circle, Alejandre asked them a series of questions about what issues affect them and what specific changes they would like to see.

Mendez is the mother of three children who suffer from epilepsy. She cannot afford to pay for her children’s treatment and has no financial support. But despite her family’s constraints, they are working to improve where they can.

A major issue for Mendez and her husband is the lack of streetlights in their neighborhood, which they believe contributes to crime in their neighborhood.

Candelario Zarate said it was hard to get enough neighbors together to bring attention to the issue because so few were willing to take action, but she hoped that participating in focus groups and getting involved with LUPE might eventually get the attention of local elected officials.

“We want them to listen to us,” he said.

vote

For four hours on Saturday, representatives from the 10 member states took turns presenting draft resolutions on a range of issues, including improving living conditions in the colonias, expanding adult education programs, government and police accountability, youth participation and tackling climate change. Then it was time to vote.

Lawmakers lined up in a row and inserted rectangular red paper ballots featuring the faces of Chavez and Huerta into large blue boxes bearing one of the proposed resolutions. Each lawmaker was allowed three votes.

After a short break to count the votes, the results were announced, with immigration reform, expanding access to health care and worker protections emerging as the top three issues.

These three will be the group’s priorities for the next two years, but it will continue to support the remaining seven as resources allow, assured LUPE Executive Director Tania Camacho Chavez.

After voting, members trickled out of the Great Hall, each receiving a white sticker as they left that read, in Spanish, “I voted for Member Summit 2024.”

This version of the “I Voted” sticker is likely the only kind many of them will be able to wear, symbolizing their commitment to what they want to accomplish for themselves with the help of LUPE leadership.

Camacho Chavez reminded them of the importance of participating in the work that is before them every day.

“Don’t leave all the work to me. Don’t leave the work to the organizers,” she said. “You have your own voice, you have your own vote.”

Coverage in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/19/lupe-rio-grande-valley-latino-organizing/

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