Al Publico. Con el Titulo de "Un Abuso" y Bajo el Encabezado de "La Voz de Mexico"... [caption title and first part of text]

San Francisco, 1863. About very good.. Broadside, 16 x 11 inches. Old folds, with short fold separations to a few fold lines, moderate staining and soiling, minor toning. A large broadside printing a public statement by noted Mexican actor Gerardo Lopez de Castillo, relating to an alarming article in the San Francisco newspaper La Voz de Mexico, concerning a session of the board of directors of Las Juntas Patrióticas, a Mexican patriotic group with members all over California beginning in the 1840s and which lasted until the early 20th century. The text of the broadside contains Castillo's complaints about some internal workings of the group, especially (truncated) with regard to the election of a new Board of Directors, as well as his criticisms of the machinations of the newspaper with regard to some of the group's activities. The broadside is representative of the activities of the Junta Central Directiva of Las Juntas Patrióticas in San Francisco, which like other junta groups around California, provided a framework for raising funds and getting those funds back to Mexico to support republican efforts against enemies foreign and domestic. According to an article about the Mexican juntas in California in the mid-19th century, the juntas also "raised funds to provide medical care for wounded soldiers and support for the widows and orphans of Mexican soldiers killed in battle, to supply swords and medals to especially valorous Mexican commanders, and to enable former prisoners of war to return from captivity in France and rejoin the fight." Spanish-language newspapers around California were especially important for relating the news about the activities of the juntas, with La Voz de Mexico serving as a particularly vital avenue for group activities in the early 1860s. Las Juntas Patrióticas was also an important support organization for Mexican citizens living in California, as it provided mutual aid and social linkages to Mexicans and Mexican Americans at a time when American settlers and companies were driving Latinos out of the state or ignoring those who remained. OCLC reports just a single example of the present broadside, at the Bancroft.
Hayes-Bautista, David E., et al. "Empowerment, Expansion, and Engagement: Las Juntas Patrióticas in California, 1848-1869." California History, vol.85, no.1, 2007, pp.4-23. (Inventory #: 4293)