By Cindy Ramirez, El Paso Matters Alicia R. Chacón, a trailblazing public servant who reshaped El Paso politics and opened doors long closed to Mexican American women, died Tuesday. She was 87. “Each of us can make a difference, in our neighborhoods, in our communities, and that begins to grow and you can make a difference in the whole country,” Chacón said in a 2017 video autobiography about her life.

Born Nov. 11, 1938, in Canutillo, Chacón graduated from Ysleta High School in 1957, public service and political involvement engrained in her by her mother, who was active in the PTA, and her father, who was involved in local elections. That early grounding fueled a life and career defined by firsts: In 1970, as a 32-year-old mother of three, she became the first Mexican American elected to

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