Luis Paz

Interview Description

Oral History Interview with Luis Paz

Luis Paz served as president of an organization of Ecuadorians dedicated to securing voting rights for Ecuadorians living abroad, who as of the late 1980s, were not permitted to participate in their country's electoral process. Paz is also a member of Profesionales Ecuatorianos en el Exterior (PROECUA), an organization of Ecuadorian professionals that was founded in 1979. When the interview took place in 1989, he was residing on Fourth Avenue at 62nd Street in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.

In the interview, Luis Paz describes the history of the struggle for voting rights in Ecuador, which has included appeals to the United Nations and the World Court, as well as the role of the Ecuadorian American community in Brooklyn and the other boroughs in Ecuadorian politics. He explains the proliferation of Ecuadorian associations, which number in the hundreds in the tristate area, and the founding of the ''dean" of these associations, the Ecuadorian Sporting Club, which was over fifty years old at the time of the 1989 interview. Paz speaks of his reasons for living in Brooklyn, and describes the main Ecuadorian neighborhoods in the borough. Finally, he discusses the need for political mobilization among all the groups of Hispanic heritage in the borough, to give them a representation in local politics. Interview in Spanish conducted by Marcelo Herman.

Brooklyn Historical Society initiated the Hispanic Communities Documentation Project in 1988. Over fifty interviews were conducted to document the experiences of Brooklyn residents who arrived from Puerto Rico, Panama, Ecuador, and several other Central and South American nations in the latter half of the twentieth century. This collection includes recordings and transcripts of interviews conducted between 1988 and 1989. The oral histories often contain descriptions of immigration, living arrangements, neighborhood demographics, discrimination, employment, community development, and political leadership. Also included are photographs and printed ephemera.

Citation

Paz, Luis, Oral history interview conducted by Marcelo Herman, March 11, 1989, Hispanic Communities Documentation Project records and oral histories, 1989.004.31; Brooklyn Historical Society.