HONORING ROBERTO MONDRAGON

On 2026-01-13, Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM-3) delivered a floor speech titled "HONORING ROBERTO MONDRAGON" in the House. The speech addressed crime and justice.

HONORING ROBERTO MONDRAGON

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 9 (Tuesday, January 13, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 13, 2026)] [House] [Page H670] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] HONORING ROBERTO MONDRAGON (Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.) Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Roberto Mondragon, a Lieutenant Governor and musician. Roberto Mondragon was a beloved cultural figure in New Mexico whose voice, music, and lifelong work helped keep our traditions alive. He brought his resonant tenor to the cultural renaissance that made sure Nuevo Mexico did not lose its culture, its songs, its language, or its poetry. At a time when the Spanish language, music, and tradition were being pushed aside, he lifted them up, insisting that they belong not only in memory, but in classrooms, on the radio, and in the halls of power. He showed generations of young people, including my own high school choir that I sang in, the West Side Singers, that tradition is not behind us, but within us. Roberto will be remembered every time we sing ``That's New Mexico''; ``Asi Es Nuevo Mexico,'' our State song. ``That is New Mexico, the Black, the Hispanic, the Anglo, the indigenous, all your children, all equal''; ``Asi es Nuevo Mexico. El negro, el hispano, el anglo, el indio. Todos son tus hijos, todos por igual.'' ____________________