Latino Victory Project has teamed up with Grammy-winning Mexican rock band Maná to encourage US Latinos to flex their political muscle at the polls this November.
The Latino community in the United States has the power to enact change and write history. That is why Maná and Latino Victory Project are coming together to launch the #CuentaConmigo campaign – to remind Latinos in the United States that their vote counts.
This September, Maná will begin their highly-anticipated “Latino Power Tour” across the United States. Beginning September 6th in advance of the tour, Latino Victory Project and Maná will launch #CuentaConmigo as a pledge-to-vote campaign and contest.
Maná, together with the Latino Victory Project are giving the opportunity to win VIP tickets and a chance to meet the band. Through social media, radio, TV, and digital ads Latino Victory Project will explain how to participate in the contest and will target and engage with fans in the cities where Maná will be performing, including Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Florida: all states with a large Latino population.
To kick off the campaign, Maná vocalist and guitarist Fher Olvera has a special message for the Latino community: “Hagan valer su poder, hagan valer su power: make your power count. They need to respect us and see who the Latinos are in this country, how the Latino community has grown- because there has been no respect- and that they know that Latinos can change history, they can shift the balance. Make your vote count, because it counts here.”
“Your vote is very important,” added Maná drummer Alex González. “We want you to participate and make sure everyone you know registers and votes. Your vote can make a difference.”
“The stakes have never been higher; Latinos have to commit to vote and come out to the polls in November. It is the only way our community’s priorities and issues will receive the attention they deserve,” said César J. Blanco, Latino Victory Project interim director. “Through this partnership with Maná while they tour the United States, Latino Victory will disseminate the message that it is our responsibility and our duty to vote and help increase Latinos’ political power. The future of our community is in our hands, and we must show that we are a political force to be reckoned with.”
Members of Maná were among the first prominent Latino leaders to denounce Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric when he announced his Presidential campaign in June 2015:
There is a character named Donald Trump, who made very violent declarations with great hatred of Mexicans and Latin Americans and called us rapists, criminals, drug traffickers. This is all trash,” said Fher Olvera, group leader, in a press conference before their “Cama Incendiada” (“Burned Bed”) tour at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
“He surely doesn’t know the contributions made by migrants from practically every nation in the world, who have supported the development of the United States,” Chong said.
“To me it makes me sad because Mexicans have come to help build this country,” said Olvera, “It is sad that someone with such hatred in his heart has a microphone to say those things.”
