The Border Heritage Center is a department of the Main Branch of the El Paso Public Library. The department specializes in the preservation and dissemination of El Paso and Southwestern history.
Carlos Callejo was born 1951 in El Paso, TX at the San José Clinic in
El Segundo (now the
Annunciation House) and raised in
Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
from about age four to nine and now resides in California. He is a
public artist who began producing posters and murals in the early 1970s and
has since painted murals all over the world.
A vibrant and engaging storyteller, Carlos describes his early artistic
experiences, relationships between art, identity, and self-expression, and
shares his perspective on political poster-making, art, and significant
events from the era. He attended CSULA and during the Chicano Mural Movement he helped design posters and flyers that called upon the community to
fight as a united front. Callejo was active in the Chicano
Movement in Southern California during the 1970s. He uses his life
experiences to create a Chicano-style art that is both expressive and
educational.
This interview is part of a video series in which poster artists share
stories about art and activism. The interviews accompany Decade of
Dissent: Democracy in Action 1965-1975, a traveling political poster art
exhibition that premiered at the West Hollywood Library, February-April
2012. Both the exhibition and interviews were produced by the Center
for the Study of Political Graphics.
Carlos Callejo was commissioned to paint the Eastside Wall Mural for the
El Paso County courthouse
in 1994. The videos highlight the process of painting the mural on the wall
inside the courthouse. Using time lapse video the wall is transformed into a
wall that speaks about the history of the El Paso - Juarez border
city. The
El Paso County Economic Development Department
and
Augment El Paso
recently unveiled a high-tech digital upgrade bringing new life to the "Our
History" courthouse mural with an
augmented reality experience.
In honor of this special event Armijo Branch Manager, Deborah Valdez, organized
to have the Armijo Mural Room officially renamed the Carlos Callejo Mural
Room. The free event included a meet and greet with Callejo,
refreshments, and live music from members of local band
Radio La Chusma. The event also unveiled a plaque that will be placed in the
multipurpose room in honor of Callejo, pictured below.
Eddie Guerrero the "Latino Heat" (Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes) was born October 9, 1967
in El Paso, TX. He was a Mexican-American professional wrestler and had a
distinguished career working for Extreme Championship Wresting (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He was a recipient of the 2008 Men's Wrestling Award from the
Cauliflower Alley Club as the Guerrero Family. Eddie achieved the most success of his
career using a in-ring character who was a crafty, resourceful wrestler who
would do anything to win a match. His famous mantras became "Cheat to Win" and
"Lie, Cheat, Steal". Lying, cheating, stealing – it was all fair play in the ring for the
unpredictable WWE Hall of Famer.Eddie posthumously
received the Star of the Mountain Award in recognition of the pride he brought
to his hometown. His wife Vickie and their three daughters also all received
keys to the city of El Paso, the same city in which they grew up.
He is a member of the Guerrero-Llanes Dynasty being the youngest son of Gory
Guerrero. Eddie discovered his unbridled passion for
sports-entertainment as a child through his father, longtime wrestling
promoter Gory Guerrero who once wrestled at the
El Paso County Coliseum. As Gory plied his trade in El Paso, TX, Eddie was busy scrapping with
his nephew, Chavo Guerrero Jr., during the show intermissions. Eddie
Guerrero, a graduate of
Jefferson High School, was a member of the wrestling team, but shortly after graduating high
school he decided to give pro-wrestling a try.
Guerrero Family
With the help
of his father, and his three older brothers, Guerrero worked his way to the
very top of the wrestling world. Eddie would later move on to wrestle
collegiately at New Mexico Highlands University before returning to El Paso to
learn how to become a future WWE Superstar. He was
born to wrestle.
Several sources say his debut was in 1987 at Auditorio Municipal de
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua in a tag team match with El Matemático aganist Flama Roja and El Vikingo. However, his in ring career should be since at least 1986. Javier
Llanes stated that Eddie debuted at Arena Internacional, in Colonia
Chaveña in Ciudad Juárez where all Guerreros and Llanes debuted. According
to
Revista KO #1718
published on June 29, 1986, it states his debut was in June 15, 1986 in El
Paso Civic Center. His debut in Arena Mexico was on September 5, 1986. He went in a tag team match with Mogur against Ari Romero and Guerrero Negro. So, it is safe to say that Eddie Guerrero’s debut occurred somewhere in
1986. In the early days he went as Gory Guerrero Jr.
Guerrero began wrestling as the original Mascara Magica in
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) until his departure in 1992. He left the company to pursue a
career with AAA. Although the Mascara Magica gimmick was popular, CMLL owned the
rights to the character. Guerrero then appeared on a televised AAA show as
Mascara Magica, only to then unmask himself along with the aide of his tag team
partner that night, Octagón. He was the first luchador to voluntarily unmask and
was also immediately physically attacked by the opposing tag team for doing so.
The moment when Mascara Magica "Eddie Guerrero" left CMLL and went over to
AAA
In Mexico, he wrestled mainly for
Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), teaming with El Hijo del Santo as the new version of
La Pareja Atómica
(The Atomic Pair), the original tag team of Gory Guerrero and El
Santo. After Guerrero turned on Santo and allied with Art Barr as La
Pareja del Terror (The Pain of Terror), the duo became arguably the most hated
tag team in lucha libre history. Along with Barr, Konnan, Chicano Power, and
Madonna’s Boyfriend (Louie Spicolli), Guerrero formed
Los Gringos Locos
(The Crazy Americans), a villainous stable. Guerrero later said that no matter
how many people joined Los Gringos Locos, the stable was all about Barr. Locos
feuded mostly with
El Hijo del Santo
and his partner
Octagón, eventually ending in a Hair vs. Mask match at the first lucha
pay-per-view in America, When Worlds Collide, which they lost.
In 2005, Guerrero died unexpectedly from acute heart failure. He was
just 38 years old. In 2006, Guerrero was inducted into the WWE Hall of
Fame. Even though his career was cut tragically short, Guerrero left
an
indeniable mark on the sports-entertainment landscape. His battle cry was "Viva La Raza," but
the WWE Universe to this day shouts "Viva Eddie Guerrero" in remembrance of a
legend.
The pioneering ancestor of Mexican wrestling is said to be
Enrique Ugartechea, who was known as "Mexico's Strongest Man" and is credited with developing
lucha libre from Greco-Roman wrestling in 1863, a year after the Battle of
Puebla, Cinco de Mayo. The seeds of the modern form of
lucha libre go back far in the El Paso-Juárez Borderland history.
In 1929, Salvador Lutteroth González, who fought in the Mexican Revolution against Pancho Villa, moved to Juárez to work for Mexico’s Tax Department. Soon after, he attended wrestling matches in El Paso’s Liberty Hall. The fighting was a type of freestyle wrestling with few rules, which sometimes descended into pure violence. González was captivated and felt certain his home country would also love the spectacle. In 1933, he founded Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (now CMLL) to expand the sport’s popularity from El Paso to Mexico, earning González recognition as the “Father of Lucha Libre.”
Pablo Martinez Coronado talks about the El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez,
Mexico transnational roots of Lucha Libre--the Mexican wrestling tradition
which has become an international phenomena--in the late 1920s and
afterward. Length 9:10
On Saturday, October 19, 2024, from 10 am- 4 pm, in Las Cruces, NM, join us for a free, fun, and educational event that showcases unique and historic archival
materials from the border region. The El Paso Public Library Border Heritage Center, along with other libraries, archives, and museums of southern
New Mexico, West Texas, and the borderlands, will be there to showcase unique
and historic archival materials from the border region. Organized by the Border Regional Archives Group (BRAG), the Bazaar
features rare documents, photographs, maps, publications, and more, that
highlight the uniquehistory and cultural
heritage of our region. This year’s theme
is Celebrating Borderland Communities.
The Border Archives
Bazaar also includes two 90-minute panel presentations, one at 11:00 a.m. and
one at 1:30 p.m., with scholars and researchers who are utilizing regional archives
to document and preserve borderland community histories, including Crypto-Jews
of the Southwest; Black students at NMSU; El Paso’s Black Wall Street; Mexican
settlements in Mesilla, New Mexico, and Ascensión, Chihuahua. Archivists, librarians, and museum curators will also be on hand to discuss and answer questions about archives, regional history, and preservation of original documents.
For more information, visit our News & Events webpage or contact the Border Heritage Center at 915-212-3218.
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