NEW YORK, May 3, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The annual Cinco de Mayo event in New
York that draws thousands of people has been canceled amid concerns about the
swine flu epidemic, organizers say.
The New York Daily News said while Sunday's Flushing Meadows-Corona Park event
was canceled, Asociacion Tepeyac was given permission to hold its Cinco de Mayo
parade in New York the same day.
"The city gave us the green light," Joel Magallan, executive director of the
community group, said. "They said that because it is an open air event, there is
no problem."
While Cinco de Mayo will be honored in New York, at least one Mexican immigrant
in the city is questioning why her homeland has become the focus of a global
epidemic as well as rampant drug cartel violence.
"Why is this happening to us," Veronica Dominguez, 26, told the Daily News. "The
economic crisis, the violence, the epidemic. What else can happen to us?"
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