American Legion Internal Affairs Commission Chairman Robert Newman addresses the National Executive Committee during Fall Meetings about Resolution No. 16. Photo by Jennifer Blohm/The American Legion

Department of Mexico to change name

American Legion posts within the Department of Mexico voted during its 2023 department convention to change its name to the Department of Latin America. Resolution No. 16 requesting this name change was brought forth to the National Executive Committee Oct. 11 during the Legion’s Fall Meetings, and it was passed.

The resolution states that “the Department of Mexico has developed American Legion posts in the sovereign countries of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina,” and these countries “identify themselves as Latin America countries.

“The name change would greatly enhance the Department of Mexico’s ability to recruit new members and start new posts in countries south of the Rio Grande by giving them an identity” that they can identify with.