Lowell Ponte reminds Americans of a few historical facts that the Reconquistas are sure to hate:

Cinco de Mayo Marks Deep Historic Roots

‘Few in the media will mention that Mexico is an independent nation today only because the United States liberated it from French colonial rule’

By Lowell Ponte

“Welcome to Cinco de Cuatro — Cinco de Mayo at the White House,” President Barack Obama said Monday in his latest of dozens of little-reported gaffes.

In saying “fifth of four,” had the president meant to say Cuatro de Mayo, Monday’s date, the fourth of May?

No matter — Obama’s sycophantic press corps swiftly buried yet another presidential fumble that would have been played and mocked for months if former Vice President Dan Quayle or any other Republican had voiced it.

“My [Spanish] accent’s always been good,” the president said modestly. “It’s just that I only know 15 words.”

Too bad. The previous president, former Texas Republican Gov. George W. Bush spoke Spanish almost as well as he did English.

Americans could learn much by understanding the roots of Cinco de Mayo, a holiday long celebrated in the southwestern United States.

Much as the Jewish holiday Hanukkah is celebrated more in the United States than in Israel, Cinco de Mayo sparks more festivities in the United States than in Mexico, where it is not “an obligatory federal holiday.”

Cinco de Mayo has become a day of pride for Mexican-Americans and Latinos, just as Saint Patrick’s Day is for Irish-Americans. And as our Mexican-American population grows, this holiday has spread from the Southwest that once was Mexico to Buffalo, Boston, and Baltimore.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla (pictured above) on May 5, 1862, when Mexican forces defeated a slightly larger French force.

This victory was temporary. In the second Battle of Puebla in 1863, French troops crushed the Mexican army, occupied Mexico City days later, and continued to rule Mexico for four years. (…Full Article)