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Two locals to be inducted into Iowa Latino Hall of Fame

T-R FILE PHOTO –  The late Carlos Portes, center, will be one of two Marshalltown residents honored at the Iowa Latino Hall of Fame ceremony in October. Here he speaks at the Iowa Capitol Building in 2018.

Two out of five honorees in this year’s Iowa Latino Hall of Fame will be from Marshalltown.

Carlos Portes, a longtime Marshalltown resident and former United States Special Ambassador who died last month, will be honored posthumously at the Oct. 19 Iowa Latino Hall of Fame ceremony in Des Moines. The event is put on by the Iowa Commission of Latino Affairs and Iowa Department of Human Services.

Portes was a Cuban immigrant who came to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan. In both New York and Iowa, he led many efforts to help communities and minority groups within those communities.

“His passion and his vocation was to be a voice of the voiceless and serve minorities,” said Hanny Garcia Huerta, Portes’ significant other. “He could not stand for injustice of any kind.”

Not long before he passed, Portes was a leader in the effort to bring a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) council to Marshalltown, and to set up a scholarship for local minority students.

Garcia Huerta said Portes also advocated for many Marshalltown tornado victims after last year’s devastating storm.

In New York City, Portes received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which is given to immigrants who make a positive impact in America.

Another Marshalltownian to be honored in October is Jan Mitchell, a longtime teacher at Marshalltown High School and creator of the Latino-focused Al Exito group at Miller Middle School. She has been selected to receive the Robert D. Ray Award for Equity and Justice, named after the late former Iowa governor.

Al Exito, which means “to success” in Spanish, has grown from a monthly program for eighth grade Latina students at Miller into a statewide nonprofit focused on leadership in the state’s Latinx population.

State Al Exito Executive Director Dawn Martinez Oropeza said Mitchell’s vision for the program was revolutionary.

“There was a lot of racism in Marshalltown, and there were a lot of people who weren’t very welcoming to Latinos. This was before the (December 2006) raid,” Oropeza said. “For Jan to grow this program and serve the community was really empowering.”

She said Mitchell was joined in the effort by a former student, as well Marshalltown residents Martha and Maria Garcia, Anel Garza, Joan Jaimes, Pam Swartz, the Marshalltown Area United Way and others.

Other honorees for 2019 will include Lilian Sanchez for Latinx Youth Leadership; Dr. Hector Avalos of Ames and previously Nogales, Sonora, Mexico; and, posthumously, Lando X. Valadez of Des Moines.

The hall of fame ceremony is set for 6 p.m. Oct. 19 at the Des Moines Art Center, 4700 Grand Ave., Des Moines.

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Contact Adam Sodders at 641-753-6611 or asodders@timesrepublican.com

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