USA, Chicago, May 3, 2009.

The fifth of May, or "Cinco de Mayo," is celebrated with great fervor in Chicago's Latino community, with a three-day festival in Douglas Park and a sizeable parade along Cermak Road in the south of the city. Not to be confused with Mexico's Independence Day, which is September 16th, the holiday commemorates the Mexican Army's unlikely...
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USA, Chicago, May 3, 2009.

The fifth of May, or "Cinco de Mayo," is celebrated with great fervor in Chicago's Latino community, with a three-day festival in Douglas Park and a sizeable parade along Cermak Road in the south of the city. Not to be confused with Mexico's Independence Day, which is September 16th, the holiday commemorates the Mexican Army's unlikely defeat of a better-equipped French force at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

Although it is not considered a major holiday in Mexico, a Cinco de Mayo event is seen in the US as a way to show Mexican pride. With national soccer hero Cuahtemoc Blanco as mariscal, or "field marshal," this Sunday's festivities were no exception: thousands of spectators lined the parade route to shout "Viva Mexico" at a long train of dignitaries, horseback riders, mariachi bands on floats, beauties in skin-tight outfits, even a squadron of tricked-out low-rider cars sporting US and Mexican flags.

Photographs commissioned by "Hoy" newspaper for a front-page story.

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