Karina Kuljača - Morales is a Montenegrin who lives and works in Mexico. She belongs to the second generation of descendants of Montenegrin emigrants who came to Mexico between two World Wars.
Kuljača - Morales is a respected member of the community. She helps children with autism and their parents to cope with that problem. At the same time, she’s the representative of our diaspora for Mexico and the Caribbean and she believes that this big area deserves honorary Montenegrin consulate.
„Hermosillo, in the federal state of Sonora, is the place with the biggest number of Montenegrin people. Around 300 families live there and their ancestors came in that big immigration wave at the beginning of the 20th century“, she explains.
This place in Sonora where Montenegrin people live is known as „La vichada“ or „Los vichis“ since, you guess… their last names mostly finish in „vich“.
Karina is the representative of Montenegrin people for the territory of Mexico and the Caribbean region and she’s currently working on getting Montenegrin emigrants closer to their homeland.
„We’ve registered the community, sent the documents to the Diaspora Council and we’re still waiting for the feedback. We’re generally waiting to get more support. We would be very happy if we had a consulate here in Mexico, or at least, an embassy. We feel like we could have more intense relationship with our homeland“, she said.
According to her, all Montenegrin descendants in Mexico and the Caribbean region should be found and united.
„We tend to take part in the important events of Montenegrin diaspora which are usually held in Buenos Aires. I take part in different forums and conferences of the national and international character. A couple of months ago, the ambassador of Montenegro in Argentina, Gordan Stojović, paid us a visit and, for us, it was a historical moment“, said Kuljača- Morales.
Her family left Montenegro in September of 1928. Escaping from the terrors of the war, her great-grandmother decided to take her children and leave the country. She landed in Veracruz with her younger son, Đuro. And from there, they reached Sonora where they met a whole colony of Montenegrin people.
Text by Pobjeda, read more at CDM
