'FIGHT FOR YOUR MENTAL HEALTH': Mexican wrestling match announced in Wood River Valley, portion to go to mental health services

Mar. 5—×

On Sept. 6, 1966, Roberto Gonzalez Cruz, also known as El Solitario in the Mexican wrestling world, made his debut in Mexico City where he defeated Tony Reyna — one of the biggest names in wrestling in the 1960s.

After his win, El Solitario's bright gold and black colored costume with a golden mask with fringe around the eyes became a distinctive appearance for him and everyone knew who he was. It was his trademark.

Even now, wearing a mask holds significant meaning for Mexican wrestlers in representing their identity and profound respect for their culture.

El Solitario died unexpectedly at age 39 in 1986 from cardiac arrest.

Watching his father's ambition and the love he had for wrestling, his son, known as El Hijo del Solitario in the ring, followed in his footsteps and will be fighting against other professional Mexican wrestlers, including Electroshock, Pirata Morgan and Mascara Sagrada in less than two weeks.

Get ready, residents of the Magic Valley. Lucha libre is finally here.

Community organizers Herbert Romero, founder of PROJECTOOLSUCCESS, and Julio Cervantes, founder of Juol Productions, are collaborating to present a Mexican wrestling match in the Wood River Valley featuring professional wrestlers from Mexico.

This event is in partnership with Wood River High School, Jerome High School and the Crisis Hotline in Idaho. A portion of the proceeds will support the 5B Suicide Prevention Alliance program affiliated with the hotline.

"Máscara o no máscara, lucha por tu salud mental," Romero said. "Mask or no mask, fight for your mental health. That's our slogan for this event."

The event will start at 4 p.m.March 16, at Wood River High School's gymnasium. VIP tickets are $100, while general admission tickets for adults are $50 and $20 for children.

The VIP tickets include your pick from a variety of traditional Mexican wrestling masks, autographs, and an exclusive meet-and-greet opportunity with the wrestlers. Additionally, VIP ticket holders enjoy reserved seating near the front of the match.

The idea came through Romero and Cervantes a few months ago with an initial goal of trying to connect communities all over the Magic Valley, especially with the Hispanic community in Jerome.

"A lot of families over there have families over here," Romero said in a presentation last week at Jerome High School. "And I know there's a lot of families here that have families over there.

"So we're trying to get these two schools together. That's leadership."

Through their goal, Cervantes and Romero are working with two high school clubs — Nosotros United from Wood River High School and Crossing Bridges from Jerome High School. These two clubs are promoting the importance of the slogan while selling tickets and being volunteers as well.

Some of the students will also perform during the event's halftime show.

In addition, both Romero and Cervantes have recognized that mental health is an issue in the Magic Valley and most importantly in the Latino community.

They hope that by leading the conversation, they will help Latinos reach out to the crisis hotline and get resources.

Want to meet the wrestlers?

Community organizers, Herbert Romero and Julio Cervantes, will be doing meet and greets at three different schools on March 15 with the Mexican wrestlers.

The meet and greet will begin at 12:30 p.m.March 15 at Frontier Elementary. Later that day, at 6 p.m., they will be at Jerome Middle School.

They will also be at Jerome High School sometime in the morning but the time is still being determined.

Romero told the Times-News that he's been working alongside Tammy Davis, executive director of the Crisis Hotline in Idaho, since the pandemic to help grow the message in the Latino community and wants to extend their support to other parts of the Magic Valley.

But they wanted to spread this message in a way they've never done before.

"Luchadores (Mexican wrestlers) promote culture, they promote tradition and they promote well-being, because to be in the level they're in, they have to take care of their mind and their body," Romero said.

According to the Idaho Commission Hispanic Affairs most recent Hispanic Profile Data Book, youth both Hispanic and non-Hispanic in Idaho report high rates of unsafe behavior and serious mental health issues.

Nevertheless, Hispanic youth were more likely to consider suicide in the past 12 months — 25% versus 19%.

With large Hispanic communities all over south-central Idaho, including Jerome (38%), Minidoka (36%), Gooding (30%), and Cassia (28%), it has been a crucial task for partnerships and leaders like Romero and Cervantes to take action.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Idaho's Executive Director Beth Markley said Jerome County has considerably fewer mental health providers per 100,000 compared with the state (38 to 308) and Twin Falls County (387).

"Though Twin Falls County has a higher than statewide average number of providers per 100,000 residents, it is valuable to recognize that those providers are likely caring for much of the population in neighboring counties with a severe lack of providers, including Jerome County," Markley said.

NAMI-Wood River Valley, a grassroots and community-based organization that supports families and individuals with mental health challenges, will have a booth at the event alongside the Crisis Hotline in Idaho to give out resources.

Jerome High School teacher and founder of Crossing Bridges Anna Trelles also told the Times-News this partnership is something she is thankful to have and has made it worthwhile to see her students's reactions.

"My students, especially my boys, are super excited," Trelles told the Times-News. "I didn't expect them to be this excited when I told them about it."

Trelles started the club after seeing how much talent there is in the Hispanic/Latino community and wanted to help these students show their passions.

Some have even performed for the Hispanic Heritage Month event in Wood River the past few years — an event that Romero helps organize annually for the community.

"These students are so used to going to events and having to perform, but this time they will be there to watch a wrestling match which they've never seen before," she said.

By seeing positive reactions from the youth and the community to this event, Romero said he hopes community members will feel more in control of their health.

"Just the word 'crisis' already means a lot, right? It's a crisis," Romero said. "But how do we take control? How do we become proactive? The crisis hotline is now focusing on that through our collaboration with our Latino initiative."

For questions about tickets and the event, reach out to Herbert Romero at 208-309-5902.

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Monica Carrillo-Casas is the Hispanic life and affairs reporter at the Times-News. Carrillo-Casas can be contacted at monica.carrillo-casas@magicvalley.com or at 208-735-3246.

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