Los Llanos Mesteños
Youth Leadership Project
has just received its official
organizational logo, a painting of America’s birthright
horse, El Mesteño or the Mustang.
The painting of four beautiful
Mesteños was done by Janina Suuronen, an international
renowned equine artist from Torremolinos, Spain. The art
piece’s title is “Bruneau, Idaho" which is
the name of the town in the high plains of Central Idaho
name where the four wild horses were sighted. “I
paint wild horses because I was inspirited by America’s
Wild West photographs”, reported Ms. Suuronen.
“A good painting is worth a
thousand words”, stated Mr. Jose Salinas, the new
owner of the painting and founder of the youth
leadership project. “For several months, I have been in
the market for a painting that was moving and expressed
the mission, vision and ideals of Los Llanos Mesteños
Youth Leadership Project”, “I love art; a good artist
tells it all with a simple stroke of a paint brush. Ms.
Suuronen’s Bruneau Idaho tells the legacy of the
conquistadors, los Mesteños, vaqueros, cowboys and the
West with pride, dignity, majestically and elegancy.
The moment I first laid my eyes on the painting, I knew
I had found it! And, contacted Ms. Suuronen”, is how
Mr. Jose Salinas expressed his joy of his new piece of
art. “I have collected pieces of art from all the places
that I have lived the last 45 years. But this one
summarizes m y 38 years of public service with the USDA
and sets the stage for my work with the South Texas
youth.”
Bruneau is not far from Mr.
Salinas’ first assignment as District Ranger. In the
evenings before dark, he would take his five and three
year old daughter and son on wild horse sightings.
“They would get excited on a sighting of a herd of wild
horses. Then we would rush to the next water hole and
wait for the horses to show up”, stated Jose Salinas. “I
always took the opportunity and setting to tell both
Anita and Robert of their heritage, South Texas, the
Southwest and the American West. I would drill them
with the meaning of freedom, democracy and challenged
them to give me some ideas of how I could develop
national public policies that would protect both the
wild horses and the culture of the American West. I
would explain to them how horses and livestock got away
from the Conquistador’s expeditions of Texas. I
explained wild horses and longhorns became a legacy. I
also made sure they learned to pronounce the Spanish
They did well because five years later when I was
Director for Forestry Projects in Latin America and the
Caribbean; they influenced me in my advocacy and
nomination of El Yunque as America’s only tropical
wilderness which former President Bush signed into law
in 1990”, he explained The Los Llanos Mesteños Youth
Leadership which means the Plains Mustang is about
teaching youth by doing and experiencing. Mr. Salinas’
goal is for his students to eventually travel 40-60,000
miles annually on different expeditions in Texas, to the
Rockies and the East Coast. The Project will eventually
have a fleet of buses, trucks and trailers for
across America. It will have it’s own cooking and
sanitation facilities.
There will be a trailer equipped with
computers, cameras and telecommunication that allows
youth to link up with Texas A&M from anywhere in the
US. The Bruneau Idaho will be painted on the sides of
the buses and trailer as well as on the student’s
uniform to tell the world of education and democracy.
The expedition will be educational and range from doing
wildlife habitat improvement to the performing arts at
the Kennedy Art Centre in Washington DC. The studies
will be linked to Texas A&M Kingsville so the students
can earn high school and college credit. The projects
will focus on personal growth and leadership
development. The project will have different programs
for middle high, high school and college students from
South Texas. Los Llanos Mesteños Youth Leadership
Project hopes to soon have access to the 1940’s
abandoned Premont Elementary School buildings so they
make begin on Mission 2009 which is the celebration of
Premont’s Centennial.
Mr. Salinas extends a warm
invitation to the public to hear his power-point
presentation at Mario’s next Monday, May 2 at 7:PM and
learn more on Llanos Mesteños Youth Leadership to be
established in Premont. The original “Bruneau, Idaho"
painting will be on display for public viewing.
