Today is El Cinco De Mayo (“The Fifth of May” in Spanish), which commemorates the defeat of the French army by the Mexicans led by General Ignacio Zaragoza at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. Many cities with significant Mexican and Chicano populations throughout the United States schedule special events on the 5th of May. It has been embraced as a day to celebrate Latino culture throughout Hispanic America, which, of course, today covers all of North America as well. Therefore, in our tip of the hat to El Cinco De Mayo, today we celebrate El Chupa De Mayo, in honor of Chupacabras.

You may be intrigued by these two items I am sharing below, in the spirit of celebration for the day and enjoyment of the topic. First, here’s my newly aquired banner from the NBC television series Surface, and, secondly, a copy of the original drawing describing one of the first sightings of El Chupacabras (“The Goatsucker”) from Puerto Rico.

Flashback moment. This is my often-quoted response to a question from ABC News about the new cryptid. Chupacabras: “It’s sort of like Jennifer Lopez, kind of cross-cultural.” – Loren Coleman, 1999.

See also “Chupawhat?”.

What do you think of Chupacabras in the Americas of 2006?