Carlos Zu\u00f1iga Castillo, beloved owner of Tacos La Bamba, leaves a profound legacy in Southeast Texas, uniting the Hispanic community and supporting local arts.<\/p>\n
BEAUMONT, Texas \u2014 Southeast Texas is mourning the loss of Tacos La Bamba owner and community leader Carlos Zu\u00f1iga Castillo, a man friends, students and local leaders say brought people together far beyond the walls of his restaurant.<\/p>\n
Zu\u00f1iga Castillo died suddenly Thursday, leaving behind a lasting impact on the Hispanic community and the broader Southeast Texas area. Many say he created more than a place to eat \u2014 he created a home away from home.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo lo pod\u00eda creer de hecho todav\u00eda no lo puedo creer,\u201d said Marvelia Maldonado, owner of Marvelia\u2019s, expressing shock over his death.<\/p>\n
Others shared similar sentiments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really shocked. I’m still very shocked,\u201d said Maurice Abelman, graphic design coordinator at Lamar State College Port Arthur.<\/p>\n
Zu\u00f1iga Castillo opened Tacos La Bamba in the late 1990s, creating a gathering place for Beaumont\u2019s Hispanic community. Beaumont Mayor Roy West said his influence extended far beyond business.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways very involved in the community, always willing to give back, always willing to support and, you know, and I think that’s one reason the grief strikes so hard,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n
Community members say Zu\u00f1iga Castillo was also a strong supporter of Hispanic students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe not only lost one of our biggest supporters over here, we lost a dear friend of ours. We lost an advocate,\u201d said Lamar University student Kassandra Castillo.<\/p>\n
His support extended into the arts, allowing local artists to use his space to celebrate culture and creativity.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis support for the arts in the area \u2014 the arts in the area, it’s a small circle, and he’s one of those businesses that allowed us to have a voice like within his space, in particular the walls that we did for the mural fest,\u201d Abelman said.<\/p>\n
Abelman said Zu\u00f1iga Castillo\u2019s willingness to go beyond business helped bring people together in meaningful ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of businesses, they’re not able to connect with their people. They sell their products. But you know, he goes to, he went the extra mile to provide a space, not only for people to eat, but people to celebrate their culture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Maldonado said Zu\u00f1iga Castillo\u2019s gatherings helped unite people across the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s going to be so missed in the community in the way that who is going to bringing together those from a far to those parties he would host that were truly beautiful and impactful for the whole community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Zu\u00f1iga Castillo leaves behind a community that says his contributions to Hispanic culture in Beaumont will not be forgotten.<\/p>\n
The family has not yet announced funeral arrangements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos Zu\u00f1iga Castillo, beloved owner of Tacos La Bamba, leaves a profound legacy in Southeast Texas, uniting the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-238029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}