By DEXTER DUGGAN
PHOENIX — It’s not enough for Republicans to say their party is the natural home for Latinos who just don’t know it yet, a Latino GOP activist told The Wanderer. They need to see why that moral-values message is true.
At the same time, said Reymundo Torres, “There’s a great opportunity to bring over [Latino] Catholic Democratic officeholders who resent being told to toe the line against their faith and their culture” by party bosses of Barack Obama’s “Culture of Death.”
Torres, a Catholic and president of the Arizona Latino Republican Association (ALRA), sat down for a Wanderer interview on October 10. He talked about prospects for adding both groups to active Republican participation. Although ALRA doesn’t limit its membership to Catholics, those who join it share traditionalist moral values.
Liberal media frequently say Republicans need to win Latino voters by promoting “comprehensive immigration reform,” but it never seems to occur to these same media that religious Latinos could object strongly to Democratic Party bosses enforcing such objectionable goals as permissive abortion and “same-sex marriage.”
As Veterans Day approaches on November 11, Torres also said some Latino Catholic military veterans on ALRA’s board of directors can help bring in new members by the example of their lives and records. He had biographical printouts handy about them, Patricia Hernandez and Sergio Arellano, both Americans by birth.
“The solution seems simple, the execution is what seems to be lacking” about outreach to Latinos, Torres said, explaining that Latino faces need to be seen as carrying the battle forward.
“It’s not enough to have a mariachi band behind you, it’s not enough to win an enchilada-eating contest” in order to bring Latinos into the Republican Party, Torres said. Instead, he said, they need to see the broader alignment between their own values and the GOP.
Torres told of some personal experiences he has had where Catholic Latino politicians are edging toward the Republicans because of their discomfort with their Democratic Party’s stands.
When one Democratic politician said she needed more fund-raising but Torres replied that as a Republican he couldn’t help her, she indicated she may be able to help solve that difficulty, Torres told The Wanderer with a hopeful smile.
There’s a need to change the discussion “of what it means to be a Republican in the eyes of Latinos,” Torres said, adding that “Latinos of faith and tradition” need to be obvious in the GOP, not just Anglo leadership.
Actually, he said, both these political parties are led by non-Latino faces. “Neither party is taking Latinos seriously.” Whichever party “crosses that goal line first will determine the future political trajectory of this country for generations to come. . . .
“I see ALRA as a multitude of things,” Torres continued. “A catalyst to achieve the political efficacy of Latinos, but also to help them realize the potential power they could wield, not only as constituents but also as leaders. . . .
“By their mere existence, it moves a long way to dispelling myths on both the political and cultural sides of this divide, between Latinos of faith and their natural home, which is in the Republican Party,” he said.
And, Torres said, other Republicans “will feel like there’s potential in the Latino community for the Republican brand to take root.”
Torres is a third-generation American whose family came to this country legally from Mexico. Talking with Torres, one sees his intense interest in topics including world affairs, history, religion, tradition, and promoting the welfare of both the United States and Mexico.
Responding to a question, Torres said he spoke only English until age 12, when a vacation in Mexico City plus his parents’ expressed wishes started him learning Spanish. He speaks it as fluently as English. Also, he attended university in Mexico’s capital city.
He strongly opposes illegal immigration into the U.S. and readily discusses his opinion of where Mexican politics has taken some wrong turns, as well as knowing how Mexico has been involved historically with other nations.
When The Wanderer mentions the name of one open-borders U.S. Latino Catholic bishop, Torres dismisses him as just a bishop for illegal aliens.
Catholic Beliefs And Virtues
As to military veterans and ALRA leadership, Patricia Hernandez recently joined ALRA’s board of directors after “we recognized in her immediately” strong “Catholic beliefs and virtues that were consistent” with ALRA issues, Torres said.
In addition to being director of recruitment for ALRA’s Phoenix chapter, Hernandez works in various capacities as director of a private company’s veterans’ training program that includes making contacts for job placement.
“Ms. Hernandez facilitates and coordinates site infrastructure, proprietary material, and all forms of assets, bringing a proven track record of success in multitasked positions, with strong reinforcement of positive work ethics in challenging environments,” her biographical information says.
When she served with the U.S. Marines, Hernandez’s activities included drill instructor and completion of the SERE program (Survive, Evade, Resist, and Escape). She was Marine of the Year at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz., was a reporter for that base’s Cactus Comet, and deployed to Afghanistan, were she worked in electronic and print media relations for local languages there.
Her current volunteer activities include Phoenix’s St. Mary’s Food Bank, AIDS Volunteer Services, Toys for Tots, and Women in Mining.
The other Catholic military veteran on ALRA’s board that Torres had biographical information ready about, Sergio Arellano, is outreach director of Hispanic initiatives for the Arizona Republican Party, as well as working for the Republican National Committee. Arellano is a precinct and state committeeman and chairman of Arizona’s Legislative District 2.
Arellano served in Iraq with the U.S. Army infantry, was wounded, and received awards including the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
He worked in Washington, D.C., in the Army’s wounded warrior program and as an outreach director for state and local veterans’ organizations.
He is a small-business owner and outreach director and media-relations specialist with ALRA’s Tucson chapter.
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