Sobremesa – Sen. Leticia Van de Putte on tacos, politics, cultura and the state of Latinos

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

If you want to get to the truth of matters in the Latino community have a conversation over a meal, the traditional sobremesa that follows a feast. It’s where our gente relaxes and speaks frankly. We invited Texas State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte for a wide ranging conversation about old schol Latino politics, education, immigration, Latino economy and of course tacos.

Van de Putte is a candidate for Lt. Governor of Texas. And her political resume is long: most recently named Texas Senate President pro tempore; co-chair of the 2008 National Democratic Convention; President of the National Conference of State Legislators; it’s an impressive list. Now she’s running for the second highest office in Texas.

I’d been looking  forward to this conversation for weeks. We met early in the morning at San Antonio’s iconic El Mirador restaurant – the coffee flowed, and the conversation was all that you’d expect a sobremesa to be: authentic, real. It wasn’t intended to be a large-venue type spotlighted encounter. If you’ve ever leaned back on your chair after a wonderful meal and meandered into a conversation, you’ll recognize this.

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