The U.S., Canada, and Australia are known for having large
populations who claim Irish ancestry, but the the Irish
diaspora also played a significant role in Latin America.
- There are an estimated 500,000 people of Irish descent
living in Argentina.
- The Batallón
de San Patricio, or St. Patricks's Batallion, was a unit
of the Mexican army that fought in the Mexican-American war in
1846-1848. Writings from the period said the batallion's
flag carried two mottos: Libertad por la República
Mexicana (Liberty for the Mexican Republic) as well as
Erin go Bragh (Ireland Forever).
- The founder of the
Argentine navy was Guillermo Brown, né
William, born in County
Mayo. He led Argentine independence fighters in combat
against the Spanish armada in 1814, and served in the
Argentine navy for more than 30 years.
- The first president of Chile was Bernardo O'Higgins.
- The town of O'Brien in
the province of Buenos Aires was built on land donated by
Eduardo O'Brien, who was born in Ireland before emigrating to
South America at 14.
- Che Guevara's
grandmother's last name was Lynch. Che's father said,
"The first thing to note is that in my son's veins flowed
the blood of the Irish rebels".
- Guillén de
Lampart, born William Lamport in Ireland, was arrested
and charged with plotting a rebellion to establish an
independent Mexican state in 1642. His possessions
included a document he wrote that is considered to be the
first declaration of independence in the New World.
Erin go Bragh!
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