Back To Ocotlan

On Sunday, April 6, 1997, the Oxnard Star Newspaper, an edition of the Ventura County Star, included a Special Section entitled: ” Back To Ocotlan, Mexico – Home Fires Burn ….but ….. .”

Oxnard and Ocotlan [Oxnard’s Sister City] share some basics. Both are agricultural centers that have opened themselves to heavy industry and the sprawl of new houses. Both have around 150,000 people.

But they’re bound most strongly by the many families that have split their lives between the two places, changing both in the process.

In cooperation with the Ventura County Star, the City of Oxnard website is reprinting the articles as they appeared in the Sunday Special Edition.

Special Edition “Back To Ocotlan, Mexico”

• [Part One] – Oxnard Firefighters donate Fire truck and demonstrate lifesaving techniques to Ocotlan’s “Los Bomberos”
• [Part Two] – A 1950 assassination sets off a chain reaction leading one family to Oxnard.
• [Part Three] – A dual-nationality measure in Mexico is meant to strengthen the emotional bond between emigrants and their home country.
• [Part Four] – Straddling the border has changed the way the Melgoza family sees the United States, Mexico and themselves.
• [Part Five] – Yolanda and Luiz Galvez struggle to fit back into the Ocotlan scene after more than two decades in California.

Special thanks for allowing the City to reprint the articles go to the Ventura County Star and:

Stephen Dana, Director of New Technologies Stories: M.E. Sprengelmeyer
Photography: Greg A. Cooper
Staff Graphics: Wendy Noda
Oxnard Webpage layout: Derek Aten

*Reprint by Permission Ventura County Star*