{"id":466099,"date":"2026-09-16T23:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/466099\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T23:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:18:11","slug":"mexican-independence-day-returns-to-california-capitol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/466099\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican Independence Day returns to California Capitol"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SAC_7052_ElGrito_HA_260915.JPG\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" title=\"Diego Alfredo Maldonado, 5, of Sacramento, stands for the Mexican national anthem as the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento celebrates the 216th anniversary of Mexican independence at the state Capitol on Tuesday.\" alt=\"Diego Alfredo Maldonado, 5, of Sacramento, stands for the Mexican national anthem as the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento celebrates the 216th anniversary of Mexican independence at the state Capitol on Tuesday.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Diego Alfredo Maldonado, 5, of Sacramento, stands for the Mexican national anthem as the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento celebrates the 216th anniversary of Mexican independence at the state Capitol on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>                HECTOR AMEZCUA<\/p>\n<p>            hamezcua@sacbee.com<\/p>\n<p>The traditional Capitol celebration of Mexican Independence Day returned to the state Capitol on Tuesday as hundreds of people turned out to mark the event. The celebration was a contrast to last year, when turnout was depressed because of concerns about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and inconsistent statements about whether the event would take place.<\/p>\n<p>Diego Maldonado of Sacramento knelt with his sons, 5-year-old Diego Alfredo, dressed in a charro outfit, and 2-year-old Jos\u00e9, while holding a Mexican flag during the celebration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re here to remember independence and to remember that Mexico is a free and sovereign government. It\u2019s more than food and mariachis \u2014 it has a large diversity of cultures that needs our support,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Participants waved flags and joined chants led by Sacramento Mexican Consul General Christian Tonatiuh Gonz\u00e1lez Jim\u00e9nez, including \u201cLong live our migrant bothers and sisters\u201d in Spanish.<\/p>\n<p>                                          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SAC_7062_ElGrito_HA_260915.JPG\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" title=\"SAC_7062_ElGrito_HA_260915.JPG\" alt=\"Allison Anaya performs Tuesday with Instituto Mazatl\u00e1n de Bellas Artes of Sacramento during a celebration of the 216th anniversary of Mexican independence at the state Capitol.\"\/>                                                                                    Allison Anaya performs Tuesday with Instituto Mazatl\u00e1n de Bellas Artes of Sacramento during a celebration of the 216th anniversary of Mexican independence at the state Capitol.                                                                                            HECTOR AMEZCUA                                                                            hamezcua@sacbee.com                                                                                                                                  <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SAC_7067_ElGrito_HA_260915.JPG\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"756\" title=\"SAC_7067_ElGrito_HA_260915.JPG\" alt=\"Mexican flags are flown near the state Capitol during the 216th anniversary of Mexican independence on Tuesday.\"\/>                                                                                    Mexican flags are flown near the state Capitol during the 216th anniversary of Mexican independence on Tuesday.                                                                                            HECTOR AMEZCUA                                                                            hamezcua@sacbee.com                                                                                                                                  <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SAC_7057_ElGrito_HA_260915.JPG\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"740\" title=\"SAC_7057_ElGrito_HA_260915.JPG\" alt=\"A participant waves the Mexican flag during a celebration of the 216th anniversary of Mexican independence at the state Capitol on Tuesday.\"\/>                                                                                    A participant waves the Mexican flag during a celebration of the 216th anniversary of Mexican independence at the state Capitol on Tuesday.                                                                                            HECTOR AMEZCUA                                                                            hamezcua@sacbee.com                                                                                        <\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/218175005\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HJA_6805.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Hector Amezcua\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/218175005\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hector Amezcua<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n<p>            Hector Amezcua is an award-winning visual journalist for The Sacramento Bee. Fluent in Spanish, he is a Fresno State graduate in journalism and Chicano studies. He has worked for McClatchy since 1992, taking pictures at all three Bee newsrooms in California.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Diego Alfredo Maldonado, 5, of Sacramento, stands for the Mexican national anthem as the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-466099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}