As Hector Quintero Martinez sat down, he turned to the apparent strangers sitting to his left and right – Juan Zavala and Vsevolod Mochalov – and exchanged hearty handshakes as a grin lit his eyes.

Martinez, originally from Durango, Mexico, has lived 36 years in the U.S. Accompanied by his wife and 11-year-old son, he drove from Montrose on Thursday to the La Plata County Courthouse.

As he stood in the courtroom of District of Colorado Magistrate Judge James Candelaria, Martinez clutched some paperwork, a copy of the U.S. Constitution and a small American flag in his left hand. He raised his right hand and took an oath in which he renounced allegiance to all foreign states; he swore to bear arms and perform work of national importance when required by law to do so; and he swore to support and defend the Constitution.

And when he sat, along with the 12 other people in the jury box, he was a citizen of the United States of America.

“It has not been, or meant to be, an easy journey,” Candelaria told the group. “Citizenship is not something this country gives out gratuitously. And you’ve earned it.”

Thursday marked the first naturalization ceremony to take place in Durango, save for the occasional one-off swearing-ins that have occurred over the years. In the past, new American citizens had to travel to Grand Junction or Denver for their naturalization.

The 13 citizens naturalized on leap day, a special day in and of itself, the judge noted, hail from Cambodia, Germany, Mexico and Russia. Many have lived in the U.S. for decades, contributing to the betterment of a nation of which they were not fully a part.

“The country is amazing,” said Sophorn Roeun, who moved to the U.S. five years ago from Cambodia. “Freedom of speech is life-changing.”

But in that moment, Roeun couldn’t say anything. “Too happy,” she explained.

She studied for two months straight and stayed up until midnight some nights to prepare for the civics test that citizenship candidates must take.

All 13 of the new citizens spent weeks, months or even years poring over a list of 100 civics questions in preparation for the oral test, in which they were asked 10 questions at random (can you name who was president during World War I or who is second in line for the presidency?). Some, such as Roeun, learned English in order to pass a basic language exam.

The fees and applications costs total around $800, not including travel to Denver to take the exam.

“We have no choice – we have to study to make it happen,” said Obdulia Fonseca, speaking through a translator.

The ceremony lasted just a half-hour, and was attended by over 50 excited family members, friends and community members. Leaders of the Durango Adult Education Center showed up to support clients they had helped study and prepare for naturalization. Members of Compañeros Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center, a nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants, were also present.

In a brief statement before the ceremony, Visit Durango’s Engagement and Inclusion Coordinator Kat Brail surprised the new citizens with an annual pass to either Colorado state parks or Mesa Verde National Park.

For Judge Candelaria, the ceremony was a poignant reminiscence on his own family’s history.

“My mother was an immigrant from Germany,” he shared with the group.

Candelaria’s father was in the military, and met his mother in 1958 while stationed in Europe. His mother left East Germany in 1959 and moved to Canada. At the beckoning of his father, she took a bus from Calgary to Durango, and the two were married shortly thereafter.

In 1970, at the age of 5, Candelaria attended his mother’s own naturalization ceremony in Denver. He found himself in a position to welcome 13 new citizens because of his mother’s initiative, he said, getting choked up for a moment.

“I want you all to understand how significant this is (that) you’re doing this,” Candelaria said. “You’re changing not only your life, but those that follow you.”

He also stressed the obligation that comes with citizenship – something many of the new citizens were already excited about.

“I can vote!” Martinez exclaimed when offered an opportunity to speak during the ceremony.

For Fonseca too, this was critical.

Outside the courthouse, she said she wants to participate in democracy and make changes, if she can. That starts next week, in the March 5 presidential primary.

This was, perhaps, the crux of what Candelaria sought to impress upon the new citizens.

“The opportunities are endless,” he said. “They are what you make of them.”

rschafir@durangoherald.com

A photo caption in a previous version of this story misspelled Remi Majeski’s last name.