Santana, Sheen campaign for Chavez holiday

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Rock guitarist Carlos Santana and actors Martin Sheen and Edward James Olmos have joined the campaign for a U.S. national holiday to honor Cesar Chavez.

The entertainers have agreed to serve as national co-chairs of the effort to win a national holiday for the late founder and president of the United Farm Workers, to take place on his birthday March 31, the Los Angeles-based, Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday organization said in a statement.

Santana, Sheen and Olmos supported Chavez during the movement to win rights for farm workers in California in the 1960s and 1970s.

"Carlos Santana, Martin Sheen and Edward James Olmos give the national holiday effort a tremendous boost and inspiration," said Evelina Alarcon, executive director of Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday. "These internationally recognized entertainers bring their own unique history of support for Cesar Chavez, farm workers rights and social and economic justice."

"A national holiday honoring Cesar Chavez would secure his profound legacy, while future generations may scarcely believe that such a man existed," Sheen said.

"His supreme cry of 'si se puede' will forever resonate as a positive motivator as words of light," Santana said.