UFW leader to visit Fresno State for César Chávez Day
Written by Business Journal staff
United Farm Workers National Vice President Armando ElenesFresno State will celebrate César Chávez Day on April 4 as Armando Elenes, vice president for the United Farm Workers union, helps honor the late labor leader’s legacy.
The celebration will take place from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Fresno State’s Peace Garden just north of the Henry Madden Library.
Following a mariachi performance and the folkloric dancing of Fresno State’s Los Danzantes de Aztlán, a garlanding ceremony will be held at the César Chávez statue.
A presentation of flags from the U.S., Mexico and the United Farm Workers will then take place along with the singing of both countries’ national anthems.
Elenes will address the crowd at around 12.35 p.m., speaking about the life and community service of César Chávez, who strove for farm workers’ rights in the 1950s and ’60s.
Elenes is one of four national vice presidents for the Chávez-founded United Farm Workers, serving in the union’s organizing department in the San Joaquin Valley.
A native of Sinaloa, Mexico, Elenes immigrated to the U.S. in 1980 with his family at the age of eight.
He first became involved with the United Farm Workers as a student at Modesto Junior College in the late ’90s when the union launched a strawberry organizing campaign on the Central Coast.
Having been instrumental in that campaign, Elenes later completed an internship as a community organizer for the United Farm Workers’ office in Los Angeles.
He transferred to Delano two years later to focus on improving the livelihoods of farm workers in the Central Valley.