November 1990
The neighborhood's appetite for confrontation with the authorities has weakened in the year following the completion of its new school. Some people say that after winning its greatest battle, UPREZ simply stopped the war. Others see deepening personal rivalries and jealousies as having finally taken their toll among friends and neighbors.
But the real reason might be something entirely more predictable. perhaps that the natural life expectancy of any grassroots movement in the course of community events when the cooperative spirit begins to die- has now been reached in Dario Martinez?
In its past battles, UPREZ has meant many things to many people. For some, it was just another poorly understood political entity arrived from somewhere else. For others, UPREZ was the personification of·its members, people like Guadalupe and Estela at their outspoken best. For most however, it was an organization built on the shoulders of Daniel alone. And as Daniel now retreats from grassroots action into more individualistic goals, so does everyone else.
GUADALUPE
There's no honesty anywhere anymore, not even in UPREZ. It's just like an empty shell, just Daniel and a few others. We don't have regular meetings anymore. It's all fallen apart. No school meetings, nothing. Everyone is going off on their own way.
It would be tough for Daniel to get everyone back on his side, but not because he's done anything wrong, like some rumors around here make it seem. can tell you he's a clean person through and through. I respect him a lot, a real lot. He's never asked us for anything. But I don't know if he can win our confidence back like before.
I'd say Daniel is still an activist, but he's less responsible now. He should arrange meetings so they start on time and everyone knows in advance. But he doesn't even show up himself these days. That's when you begin to ask yourself, why not just drop out of the whole thing.
Daniel is more and more into politics and less and less into things here in the colonia. Because I guess he figures it's all over here. He knows we've still got problems. But he's not the same Daniel fighting for our needs, trying to get respect from the authorities. He's much more of a politician now, even though he said he'd gotten into politics just to help us out here. I don't think he's really left us behind. But I'm a little disillusioned with what he did.
Before, he was here and we all fought together, and we were winning. It didn't seem like any of us had to be politicians ourselves to get what we wanted. It was from everybody's hard work that we got it. Look at what we did with the school and the food co-op. And if we keep fighting, then we'd get the health center too.
ESTELA
Daniel doesn't have any credibility left. Around here, just mention his name and it's as if you called the devil. Too bad, but that's the way it is. And his sidekick Pancho is even worse. He doesn't work, he doesn't even go to meetings. He's always joking around outside.
Daniel says that the neighborhood elected Pancho to be the UPREZ coordinator, so if there were any complaints then you should go to him. And there wasn't even a vote! That's the way it always is, either complaining about others or acting like the boss.
And Daniel has left everything in Pancho's hands. He says he's supposed to be above it all and just act like a referee. When he said that, that's when I realized how out of it he is. The more people want to get something done, the farther back he steps from the work it needs. He's put all the responsibility in the hands of people who don't know anything. You can't organize people with just rumors and insults.
At least Daniel tried to stop the rumors when he was in charge. If people had something to say, he'd make them say it in public- none of this behind the back stuff. And he'd try to iron out whatever was bothering us. But now, one says this, another says that, and Pancho stirs it all up even more. A leader should attack the problem head on, not run away. So is that what's become of our work here? Rumor mongering? I'm sure not going to do any more rumor work. I just want the facts.
What are you going to say; that we've got to do such and such just because some boss says so and so? No, you've got to organize people by saying, "Look, we've got to work together if we want any benefit, and this is why it will help us." But going to people with just promises and tricks will never work.
And that's all I know about what's going on with UPREZ. Ever since I left the group again, and now it's been twice I've come and gone, I made up my mind to stay away for good. I go to say hello, but no more of their politics for me.
Many people feel that UPREZ's agenda of anti-political social activism has been overtaken by the Revolutionary Zapatista Workers Party, or PRTZ, created specificially to contest this month's state and municipal elections from a position on the far left. Just as people had only vague ideas of how UPREZ functioned outside their neighborhood and what larger purposes it espoused, their understanding of PRTZ is equally murky. Matters are not improved by its woefully underfinanced and poorly organized campaign.
What is clear however is that the ruling PRI party has masterfully orchestrated a revival of its political fortunes in the Valle de Chalco. Beginning a few months earlier when a papal mass was celebrated from a PRI tricolor-festooned outdoor altar, and after hundreds of public works projects were launched under its Solidarity program, the governing party has made the most of its unabashed attempts to curry.favor among people who just two years ago voted solidly against it.
DANIEL
Things have changed a lot in the last few months. Ever since the new school was built, no one seems to care much about other things. When we have our meetings in one of the classrooms, people just talk about how nice it all looks. All the parents are against getting together to tell the teachers they want some changes made. I know there are a lot of complaints one by one, but no one wants to come forward. You can't get anywhere that way.
And I can't get them to pay attention to other things either. Most don't even come to meetings anymore. You don't see Estela around here, and I know she could leave her baby at home and come if she wanted to. So there aren't many left to work with in the first place. That's why I asked Pancho to help organize meetings. There's no one else. I admit he's not the best, but he's alright for what he's supposed to do.
So this election will tell a lot about how things have changed in four years. It's important for a lot of people. And that's where I've been putting most of my attention lately, outside the neighborhood. We've founded the PRTZ to run some candidates for mayor and the state assembly. That's taking a lot of time. We had to register it in as many voting districts here in the state of Mexico as we could, because we can't run candidates unless its registered.
UPREZ made the decision to start this party. Not just the UPREZ here in this neighborhood, but the central committee of UPREZ for the whole Valle de Chalco. The idea was to go one more step past what we'd done so far. We knew we had the organization in the community and we knew we had a lot of members who would help us campaign. So why not try to be heard at the polls.
Throughout history there have been not a few "shepherds"- leaders, caudillos, chiefs, ideologues and creators of opinion- who have tried to act as "pastors" and to lead the people toward artificial paradises. And one after the other- when the danger comes- they have shown themselves to be false shepherds, servants not of truth or goodness, but of self-interest, ideologies and systems that turned against man.
Pope John Paul II, Chalco, August 1990
CATARINO
Our Holy Father’s presence·a few short months ago in this humble valley was a blessed event for us all. His words uplifted the entire neighborhood. I think we all attended his mass one way or the other. And thanks to our planning, something we had been doing for months, there was not even one small problem for all the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who came. I don't think there was anyone left behind. The neighborhood was like a ghost town that day because we were all with the Pope. It’s not everyday that he comes to pray for us right here.
GUADALUPE
The truth is I wasn’t even interested in seeing the Pope. I saw him on television, but he's got nothing important to offer me. He's just like the President, people who live somewhere else and come here once in a while to look us over but not give any help. How can I say it better? It's like they come just to stare at poor people. But neither the government nor the priests care about helping.
So the Pope comes in person to look things over in Chalco. My God!, anyone can see for himself it's all terrible here. And he doesn't do anything for the old people or the children but say a mass. He's got millions and he can't even help the little kids. And the church here is just the same. No help, no support. They think we're just lousy poor people. And when we raise up our voices, they call us vulgar too. They say we're not sophisticated enough to know how to ask for things. But the only way we have to protest is to march and demonstrate. And shout out loud.
I wish to extend a paternal invitation to the inhabitants of the Valle de Chalco so that they might themselves become the first and principal architects of their advancement through their individual work, the domestic economy and the education of their children.
Pope John Paul II, Chalco, August 1990
ESTELA
I didn't go see the Pope because I didn't have the money. They were charging something like 10,000 pesos just to get there. And you had to go the night before to save a place if you wanted to see the mass. The police weren't letting people in on foot, you had to go in a special bus and pay whatever they asked. I don't know exactly who was behind it, but someone for sure was making money out of it. So I just listened on the radio.
That was the same day Guadalupe and Carmen came by and asked me to rejoin UPREZ. That's how it got started again. But I told them I'd have to think about it first, I couldn't say yes or no just like that. Then Carmen came again, and this time Daniel was with her. Daniel said he wanted my help organizing the new party, the PRTZ. And I thought to myself, so Daniel was behind the other two when they came the first time.
People told me Daniel had missed having my help all the time I'd dropped out of UPREZ. No one was doing any of the work I had been doing. You can tell by looking at the kind of people he's got with him right now. How many even show up at meetings these days? Not too many.
I decided to go to a couple meetings, but afterwards I realized that was enough for me. You know, there were still a lot of problems between everyone, nothing had gotten better. At one of the meetings I went to, some guy was going on and on about the school breakfast program, complaining about this and that and everybody who'd ever had anything to do with it. Just the same old stuff.
On the way out, Daniel grabbed me and asked if I'd be in charge of the enrollments for the new secondary school he wants to start up. He said it'd be good to have one of us there. So I said okay, I'd do it. And when Daniel asked for another volunteer, everyone else said they were busy that day. So I said to Pancho, if you're the coordinator for my block then you should do this. Not just talk, but work.
I said, "Let's see who does the most around here." And I said I'd put up some posters and paint some signs with party slogans. But something else came up with them, you know, something always comes up- problems big and small! I didn't say a word, I just said, "Look, I've rejoined the group to help however I can. I'll do the enrollments, I'll paint signs, but I don't like all this talk."
And just try to take a good look at that new party. It didn't start up here. We didn't have anything to do with starting it. In honest fact, no one here knows anything about it. If we were really up on it, if we really felt a part of it, we'd have our say in what it stood for. I'd have a say in what it's trying to do in this campaign.
GUADALUPE
And we still haven't seen the PRTZ candidate, and that bothers me. I have no idea who he is or where he's from. I consider myself a good member of UPREZ, but I've got to say I don't know anything about our own candidate. I don't even know if I agree or disagree with what he stands for. He's never asked to talk to us. And I think it should be Daniel's job to bring him here. This is an UPREZ neighborhood and we've never even seen him.
Daniel asked me to work as the PRTZ poll watcher. I'll do it, but I really don't want to get any more involved than that. So I'll watch for them, because I think that's a citizen's duty, to do whatever you can to make sure the election is clean. And if it means having to stand on my feet all day, that's what I'll do. I'll keep an eye out for dirty tricks. This is the first time I've ever done anything like this, and I'm kind of interested. I want to see for myself what kind of stuff they try to pull on election day. But I'll be there to make sure we don't pay the price of their cheating us.
I'm registered to vote but who knows if I will. I've never voted even once before in my life. I registered twice before, but I never actually cast a ballot. I figured, why bother, my vote won't count anyway. I only registered in the first place because I had to show a voter card to get my kids into school. But this time I figure, if Daniel is behind this PRTZ party, maybe should get behind it too. So that's why I registered again this time.
ESTELA
I don't know how the PRTZ started up or who is really behind it. Daniel just came one day and said he was signing people up. His system was to sign people up who didn't even live here. He'd give me a pile of empty registration cards and tell me to fill in the names of relatives. He needed at least 15,000 names before he could get the party on the voting list here, and I can tell you, plenty of those people that got signed up didn't even know it.
This is what I know about the party, and it's what a lot of my comrades in UPREZ are saying too. All the party wants from us right now is our names. They don't want us to talk back to them. They want us for their benefit and don't care if we get anything from it or not. It's just like all the other parties- when a candidate gets elected, it's only him who wins. Anyone who voted for him can just go to hell.
But they're just campaigning on Daniel's block and no where else. And it's not because that's the only place they've got supporters, because I know that Daniel signs people up all over the place, people who don't know the first thing about what the party stands for. And that's his job, to let people know what they're supposed to be supporting. If you're with a party, you've got to know something about it.
Even PRIistas don't do things like that any more. They don't work in just one corner of the neighborhood. They're all over. They don't care if PAN or PRO has gotten there first, they go in anyway. And look how Cardenas is running things. Do they ever hold back if PRI's already there? No way! They say, we're PRDistas and we want to talk to everybody!
But don't bother looking for any PRTZ signs in this part of the neighborhood. There aren't any around here. They're all over by Daniel's house. Where is all the help from the people Daniel always talks about? It's just a small bunch of his friends who run the whole show.
And all its propaganda says, New Choice and Honesty and Work. If you knew who was in that party, you sure wouldn't think honesty and work! And that's when you start doubting everything, when even their slogans make you laugh. How can't you be full of doubts? How can you keep believing their word? I guess you've just got to keep trying, but I joined that crowd twice already. I tried, really I did. I really wanted to help them, but I just couldn't do it. There was no way to keep with it.
Decide With Your Vote. No More Misery.
-Popular Socialist Party
Don't Let The Train Leave Without You. Get on Board and Ride.
-Cardenista Front for National Reconstruction Party
For A Better Life
-National Action Party
For Mexico. Housing. Services. Peace. Democracy
-Revolutionary Democratic Party
Honesty and Work. You Decide, You Govern. Better Schools And More Of Them.
Better Teachers And More Of Them. For Democracy And Respect.
The People Must Govern Themselves.
A New Township. A New Choice For Valle De Chalco.
-Revolutionary Zapatista Workers Party
-Signs and Billboards, Valle de Chalco
CATARINO
These are very important elections for the state of Mexico, the first since President Salinas declared that all contests will be transparent. And PRI is working hard to ensure this message is heard in every community. We've brought our mayoral candidate here to meet the residents, and he's signed agreements to work on matters that concern them.
I think people in this neighborhood recognize what our party has done for them in just. a few years. We gave them a new primary school, and the water system is almost completed. People cooperated with us through their financial contributions and their own efforts, so I'm sure the final vote will reflect this mutual respect.
We have a younger generation of candidates offering themselves in this election. Many are new to PRI. We recruited the best people we could find to run for office. They represent new ideas and new vision so UPREZ has little to criticize us for now. We reformed our internal nominating process so that many people who used to be on the outside are now on the inside, making the very same decisions they criticized before.
It's a new kind of political maturity that both candidates and voters have found this time. We see now PRI has deep roots in the community. New strength comes from the bottom just by cutting off some of the top branches. And that’s the strength we're counting on.
Those opposition parties are still immature here. All I know about this PRTZ is from its wall paintings. We've had more experience with PAN and PRO, but I think both those parties are still dominated by people at the top. They have no organization at the bottom.
Just look at our National Program of Solidarity. Solidarity means people work together at all levels. And the money's available to make sure services get delivered whenever and wherever they're needed.
Greatness is built on Solidarity. Participate.
-Institutional Revolutionary Party
Solidarity doesn't bring social progress
-Popular Socialist Party
Campaign signs, Valle de Chalco
The Mayor of Chalco estimated that PRI would get 15,000 votes, noting his municipal budget is 10 thousand million pesos and that the National Program of Solidarity will provide another 7 thousand million. ·
La Jornada, November 8
DANIEL
What you're seeing here is not uncommon. People just get tired and want to stay home. Or they get bought off with a few handouts from the government and then stop protesting altogether. Do you think the school got built only because of what we did? Let me tell you, that came right out of PRI's strategy to buy votes. They saw what happened here in 1988, the way Cardenas beat PR! by a landslide and then they had to cover it up. Well next time PRI decided to all about. Votes. It doesn't have anything to do with schools.
GUADALUPE
The government's got enough for everyone who needs anything. They don't just have billions of pesos, they've got trillions. That's why we're asking, "What solidarity? Where's all the solidarity?" For PRI, solidarity is just for businessmen. Here among the poor, we don't even know what that word means.
About that new water system they put in, they stopped sending in the water trucks so we'd all have to pay for the pipes. But even people who'd gotten hooked up already weren't getting water except for once or twice a week. And even then it wasn't fit to drink.
All the water trucks that Solidarity is supposed to send us, they're supposed to charge just 500 pesos a bucket. But ever since they put in the water system, they've stopped the trucks from coming at all. And what about people like me who don't have money to pay for the hook up? And there's a lot of us. Now we don't have trucks and no pipes either. What are we supposed to do? Go without any water at all? For the poor, there isn't solidarity with anyone who's rich.
The 1988 election results in favor of the opposition required strong government countermeasures, such as dedicating extraordinary levels of financial assistance to the Valle de Chalco under the National Program of Solidarity, which PR! publicized heavily during the papal visit.
El Excelsior, November 4
The Valle de Chalco can thus become an eloquent example of what the Christian virtue of solidarity is capable of producing when the social doctrine of the church penetrates the conscience, the heart, arid the practice of a Christian people.
Pope John Paul II, Chalco, August
ESTELA
Let's say it's all different this time just like PRI says it'll be, that the truth can come out no matter what. And let's say I'm leaning for PRTZ. I know what kind of people run that party, but maybe I'll vote for them anyway. But in the back of my mind I'll be thinking, they're just looking out for themselves, trying to get rich, and they don't even care if the rest of us are eating or going hungry tonight.
And let's face it, the PRTZ candidate doesn't have a chance anyway. So why vote for him? Let's say I vote for PAN, because it seems they've got the best chance to beat PRI. What's in it for me? I still wouldn't be heard. They don't let you say a word even if you cast the deciding vote yourself.
Look at the PRI senator from Chalco. They ran a huge campaign for him and he won big here. So we went to him to ask for a pile of sand to finish building our school, to do the work ourselves. And what did we get? Nothing. When you make campaign promises, you should deliver. And not a single grain of sand for our miserable school. We weren't asking for ourselves. And the worst thing was, when he came on a tour, he asked his assistant to open the book and read off what he'd done for us! He hadn't done one thing. But when he wants our help, he expects to get it right now.
So you've got to see things the way they really are. When you've reached the very bottom, what's the good of voting for the opposition? Tomorrow if they're the winners, do you think they'll treat us any different? At least if you support PRI, you know you'll get the same thing as before. And now the PRI candidate is saying he'll work with us but can't promise anything. He just wants us to help him. That's all fine, him saying he wants to fight together with us, that he won't let us die all alone. Do you believe a word of it?
That's why I'm not supporting any party now. I don't even know if I'll vote on Sunday. I know it's my responsibility and my right to go to the polls, but no matter what the politicians say about democracy and freedom of expression, unfortunately it's all a big lie. Look at what happened to us in 1988 right here in Chalco, when it was just between Salinas and Cardenas. You can't call that an election. That was an imposition. Cardenas got the votes and Salinas got the presidency.
Eleven Opposition Candidates Charge Election Fraud in Eastern State of Mexico. Remember Chalco's 1988 vote count. Twelve Thousand for Cardenas, Five Thousand for Salinas.
La Jornada, November 10
Complaints that PRI makes teachers brainwash students to tell parents how to vote.
La Jornada, November 12
Priest orders parishioners not to vote for PRO candidate because he is not catholic.
La Jornada, November 13
DANIEL
I don't know what Estela is up to lately. People say she's been helping the PRI campaign, talking to her neighbors and getting them to sign agreements. Those signatures don't mean anything to PRI, either now or after the election, but if PRI thinks people here are already on their side, they won't do anything later. Agreeing with them now just makes them think we're on their side, or at least are beginning to be.
That's why they come here in the first place. It's much easier to buy votes with just promises before an election than it is to go in later where they voted against you and have to do something real for a change. Take the Solidarity program, that costs them money, but they only give it to people who're against them. PRI doesn't reward friends anymore, they just buy off enemies. So that's why it's better to oppose them all the way. You can only negotiate with PRI after you've shown them up.
But Estela thinks just about herself. Sure, she might find something in it if she helps Catarina and the other PRIistas here. They might finally give her the deed to her lot she's been after so long. But she's also selling out her comrades who don't want to make deals. Once PRI gets one or two like her on their side, they can ignore the rest of us.
That's one reason why we're running this campaign. So people like Estela will have someone they know to vote for. Sure it's a small party, but what do you expect? It just got started. I don't even know if it can win enough votes to get single seat in the assembly.
But we thought UPREZ had to do something in this campaign, and instead of making a deal with some other party that doesn't even know where Chalco is, we should do it ourselves. It's our first time, so sure there's a lot of complaining about how we're doing things. But if this election is fair, then at least we'll know where we stand with people.
ESTELA
So I don't know who I'll vote for. The PRTZ candidate hasn't even come around here yet and I don't even know what he looks like except from his poster. He's got the face of a thief. You sure can't say that's an honest face he's got.
At least PRI has come by. Their candidate walked up and down these streets saying hello, getting to know what's what. I even shook hands with him. don't have much of an opinion about him, but I think he'd try to make some changes. Because even before he'd announced he was going to run, he was coming around here to see people. He didn't make a big thing about his visits, he'd just show up and talk and see for himself.
This is one PRIista who might want to make a big break with the past. He's already talked about doing specific things for us. No promises, but real agreements, put in writing, that we will all work together. He's made something like twelve visits here so far, and each time he signed agreements with whoever he met with. Even Guadalupe signed up.
I signed one of his agreements too, the one about getting our street drains cleaned out so when it rains next we don't get flooded. And he countersigned. And one agreement asked to lower our water bills, and another petition demanded that our town councilman l i ve right here in the neighborhood and not off some place where we never see him and he never gives us a second thought.
But I know PRI can change things overnight if they really want to. Like giving us police protection, and a playground , and a health center so we've got a doctor when we need one.
Tortillas for Votes! Bread and Milk, the Poor Man 's Voting Card! Helping PRI get out the big vote, CONASUPO announced today that tortilla coupons will now be delivered to the poor by mail . The people however greeted this news with rancor and disgust, expressing cynicism about the decision's electoral opportunism and feeling certain it will be rescinded after the vote.
Police Newsweekly, November 13
A PRI spokesman firmly rejected the notion that his party must lose an election in order for Mexico to achieve democracy. "To modernize the party, we shouldn't have to stand it before a firing squad", he explained.
El Excelsior, November 13
GUADALUPE
Even PRI sent their candidate through the neighborhood, but I don't know if he'll live up to his promises or not. As you know, most promises get left behind after an el ecti on. I think down deep he's a fraud, nothing but a fraud. All the agreements he signed, all those food coupons he handed out to pregnant mothers and children- he was just after votes! It isn't just pregnant mothers who are poor in Chalco, we all are. We all need those coupons.
Sure we signed our own agreements with him. Signing a piece of paper is one thing, but fighting for what's promised in it is another. Signing and then sitting still doesn't get you anywhere. You've got to fight for what you need . For instance, we wanted a guarantee our doctor here could keep his rent low. People were saying the landlord wanted him out so he could rent the space for more money. We want all these politicians to know we need our doctor to stay , because that's all the medical help we've got here. But we didn't get anything.
You've got to be realistic. A lot of people believe what politicians say. But to them, it's just politics. They buy people off with a tortilla coupon or two. Anything for free. Sure, we've got a lot of poor people here and some will do anything to survive. If the government kept giving us handouts all year long, that might even be okay. But after the election, it all stops. Nothing! Everyone's after their own interests, and you can't blame the poor for trying anything to get ahead.
I doubt he'll do anything after he's elected. His agreements he signed are empty promises, just like everything else PRI does. ''Help me now, and I'll help you later- but it never happens that way. I know their type. They wanted to make me block captain once, but I refused. That would have put me right into their pocket.
With PRI, either you're in with their corruption or you're out. And if you're in, you're as dirty as they all are, whether you've done anything yourself or not. I'd hate to have to tell my neighbors- and a lot of them are even poorer than I am- that they've got to pay money for something or other that will go right into some crooked PRIista's private bank account. I know I couldn't deliver all the things that PRI promises to people.
The dealmaking machinations and dirty subplottings of Juan Martinez, that tired-out symbol of the old political order, reached a spectacular front page climax this month. On a barren hillside just outside Dario Martinez, the chief town councilman's fortunes were dealt what will probably prove to be their death blow.
There, on a large expanse of government-owned vacant land, Juan Martinez masterminded a confrontation between the police, unwitting local people, and the radicalized members of Antorcha Campesina, a left wing PRI splinter group known for its fearless mass actions. But the violence backfired, the press finally caught on to him, and Juan Martinez was last seen fleeing the scene for his life.
ESTELA
That was something else Juan Martinez did. The whole bloody thing was his doing. He knew the government was planning to hand out building lots up there on the hill to whoever came first, so he made sure his hand was in there before anyone else's.
It all started when Catarino called a meeting that I went to. And he said that we should all meet the next day in another neighborhood to hear some big news that would make us all happy. I didn't go to that one, but the others who did said that when they got there, the Antorchistas were waiting. They thought our people had come to take their dairy co-op away and move it back here. And they were ready to do anything there to stop us.
I don't know who had told them all that or what Catarino really intended to have happen, but there a big fight with a lot of shouting and yelling. And when our people finally got back here, it was about nine o'clock at night, and they sure were all worked up against the Antorchistas. That was on a Thursday.
And the next day was a Friday, and Catarino called another meeting right away. He said this time we were all going up the hill to take over the empty lots the government had promised to everyone in this neighborhood. He told us to take our lunch but leave the little kids at home. ''So there won't be any problems up there," he said. A lady standing next to me said, "Know what? This doesn't sound too good." But a lot of people were ready to go because they all had a chance to get some land for free.
So the next day they all left at eight in the morning. But not me, because I've already got my place and I didn't think they'd let me have another one. And around eleven o'clock a friend of mine came by and asked what was going on up there. I said I didn't know, but if they weren't back by one, then I'd go to find out for myself.
So a little later I was giving the baby a bath and my neighbor's girl came running up- you should have seen her face- really scared and screaming, "Estela, It's a disaster! So many dead, so many wounded. Ambulances!
Helicopters!" So I said, "You take the baby and let me go see." But she didn't want to let me go, because she knew I didn't have any family up there to worry about. But I said, "I've got neighbors and friends up there."
So I ran up to the highway, and that's where I saw it all. Up on the hill, people running all over the place just like sheep, running this way and that in a panic. And a helicopter was flying overhead. From up higher on the hill I saw flashes of light like someone was signaling with a mirror. Oh no, you just can't imagine how bad it was! And people finally started running my way down from the hill. Clothes ripped. Faces all bloody. Some had even lost their shoes! You should have seen it.
I asked one of the ladies what had happened and she said she didn't know, that it had all happened without any warning. And I said, "How can that be, it's Juan Martinez behind it all." He was there the whole time and wanted it to happen. How could he lead those people to their slaughter knowing damn well they weren't going to get any land in the first place?
He just wanted a confrontation with the Antorchistas. All along he'd been stirring us up against them, saying they had no right to that land, that they weren't even from this neighborhood and he wouldn't let them rob us and get away with it. He'd been talking like that in meetings all along. He'd even said he wanted the Antorchistas out more than he wanted us in.
So what happened? He got a lot of our people to follow him up there anyway to face down the Antorchistas. And they're just as poor and miserable as we are. And when it all ended, Juan Martinez and Catarino ran off in the truck to save their own stinking skins. I heard there's an order out to arrest the whole bunch of them. I don't know, but it's Juan Martinez they should go after.
VIOLENCE! Blood runs in Chalco! Governor and Mayor held directly responsible! Councilman Juan Martinez escapes! Blood ran freely yesterday in the Valle de Chalco during a dispute over building lots. Fraud by government officials who sold land to Antorchistas, knowing full well the plots were in a restricted zone, and then sent unarmed settlers to oust the rightful owners.
Police Newsweekly, November 13
Arrest Ordered for Chalco Councilman Juan Martinez, Intellectual Author of last Saturday's Violence. Capture is only a matter of time. Children leave school amid rumors Antorcha plans to take classroom hostages to revenge killings.
El Excelsior, November 7
The violence in Chalco is an example of political primitivism. On one side are the innocent Antorchistas. On the other is a group led by Juan Martinez, a man known to punish rivals by political rules "a la mexicana".
Uno Mas Uno, November 11
GUADALUPE
That's not the end of Juan Martinez by a long shot. The people he got killed are all poor, and he's rich. They're weak and he's strong. And around here, what makes you a big man is money. I doubt the law will ever touch him.
Strong people get help from other strong people. It's the poor who get persecuted. Juan Martinez will be free because the poor can't give anything to the authorities. Money makes you forget anything. Juan Martinez will be a free man tomorrow, and next year he'll still be free. He might be more afraid now than he was, but he'll get off just the same.
The newspapers are full of lies. There might be an arrest warrant, but he'll never go to jail. No one important wants him there. And if the papers say he's in jail, who will believe it? No one with millions of pesos spends a night in jail. We'll never know.
His days in politics might be over, but he'll get off. And they'll probably appoint him to something else. the killings will be forgotten. And whatever they offer him, he'll take it, and The higher ups don't need a fall guy. Martinez won't fall because too much money is at stake.
Estela told me she wanted a building lot for her stepson. That's why she was in on that thing up the hill. I told her to stay out of it. I said, “Your life is more important than some empty lot. Look how many kids depend on you. If you need a lot, go buy one. Or take over one around here. And if the landlord comes by, at least he won't try to kill you. But up there on the hill, people want blood. And it'll be you who pays the price.”
I don't think PRI planned the killings. They don't need tricks like that to get elected. Whoever they chose to run gets elected no matter what. Juan Martinez did it all by himself. He saw he's losing strength here, and after the elections, he'll be out on the street. So he figured he'd better act fast to get those lots for himself while he's still got some pul l. Later i t' d be all over for him. Now he's Mr. Martinez, the Councilman. Later he'll be just any old Martinez. He won't have the PRI behind then.
I doubt the mayor had anything to do with it either. He wants another job when his term is over. He doesn't want to rock the boat now. You've got to see the kind of hog slop they all eat down at town hall. And even though the mayor is the fattest hog at the trough, he's not dumb.
But someone must have wanted it to happen so close to the elections. Juan Martinez is capable of anything, he didn't want to let those millions of pesos just sit on the table like that after he walked out the door. He wanted to get everything he could before it was over. Some PRIistas must feel the same.
Even though the Antorchistas belong to the PRI, they're all poor people just like us. I don't criticize Antorcha for what happened. They didn't do the killing. They were the ones who got attacked and got killed. The Antorchistas weren't invading anyone else's land. They'd bought the lots fair and square from the government. They didn't have any reason to stir up trouble. They were happy with what they'd gotten. Just because this guy Martinez didn't like it, and he had some power in town hall, he decided to start something up.
At the scene of last week's bloodshed in Chalco, the authorities ordered heavy security for all ballot boxes, prompting opposition charges of intimidation and the implication of violence.
El Excelsior, November 12
Land tenure agency found responsible for defrauding hundreds of thousands of victims. Public confidence erodes just when PRI needs a big vote. Slim hopes of improving a bad situation. Opposition parties take up the cause. Political death for PRI. Chalco not an isolated case.
Police Newsweekly, November 13
CATARINO
What happened last week was an outrageous violation of our rights as peace loving residents of this community. The Antorchistas deliberately incited violence against our good people in order to discredit the election and bring suspicion upon our candidates. PRI condemns all types of violence, especially during the electoral process, a time that demands concentration and sobriety.
1 wasn't involved in any of that so I can't say for sure what happened. The exact sequence of events is now in the hands of the police. It just so happened I was away from Mexico at the time, in Puebla. There was an illness in the family and I returned only today. All I know is what I read in the newspapers. I can't say for certain Juan Martinez was involved. Since he's not able to speak for himself at the present time, we must wait the decision of the investigating authorities.
And we must now look toward the elections on Sunday. Nothing should stand in the way of our efforts to bring an open and orderly campaign to a close. We trust that a climate of calm will prevail during election day. I'm here to assist my community to identify the political representation of its choice.
PRI tactic backfires. Using Antorcha movement to strengthen party in state of Mexico results in Chalco blood.
El Excelsior, November 6
A PRI spokesman admitted the affair has become a major preoccupation for the party because it occurred so close to the election. "If those responsible are found to be party members, expulsion will be considered", he said. "Whoever advocates violence does not belong in our party."
La Jornada, November 6
We should ask ourselves, Who acts with such cruelty and Who plans and executes such cold and systematic crimes? "police" psychology behind this violence? We leave the reader to supply his own answers.
Uno Mas Uno, November 12
DANIEL
Who's surprised by what happened? We all saw it coming. PR! thought they could use Antorcha Campesina to do their dirty work and get away with it. Their party bosses encouraged Antorchistas to turn violent so then they could come in and pretend to make peace. They wanted to seem like they were the only reasonable ones, so they needed someone they could denounce.
But look what Antorcha did. They step on a lot of toes wherever they work. And they were stupid enough to take on people like Juan Martinez and think they could win. But he wasn't going to let them take over from him, from what he controlled. So he called in his police friends and reminded everybody who was in charge.
Rebutting opposition party charges of foul play, state of Mexico Governor Pichardo spoke of the upcoming election's climate of tranquility, of PRI's new political maturity, and of the transparency of the electoral process that his party oversees.
La Jornada, November 6
Tense atmosphere for today's election amidst opposition party claims of PRI-engineered fraud and PRI claims of opposition party-backed shock troops ready to take action.
El Excelsior, November 11
GUADALUPE
The polls opened at eight in the morning and stayed open past eight that night. A lot of people voted for different parties, but their dirty tricks made lt look like we all voted for PRI. And that's a lie, because I saw with my own eyes people voting twice, and trucks bringing PRIistas from other polling places to vote again here.
Some PRIistas wouldn't let people vote at all if they were intending to vote for someone else. One guy waiting in line to vote shouted, "Look out everybody, it's a fraud they're trying to pull here!" But that's all that happened.
A lot of people weren't on the voter rolls, so that's why the PRI watchers wouldn't let them vote. But the law says you can vote even if you're not registered as long as you've got other identification. So we drew up an official protest letter, me and the other opposition party watchers. I was sure there'd be some violence, but I guess all the police stopped anything from getting started.
PRiistas kept coming up to vote with forged voting cards, and the PRI watcher just waved them through. But he wanted me to show all my PRTZ credentials just to watch. I had my personal ID but not all the papers from the party they wanted. They let me stay anyway after I complained, but they asked for it again later. They were really giving me a hard time.
And as soon as the vote count started, they tried to kick me out altogether. They said I didn't have the right papers to represent my party. And they said I couldn't even sign the protest letter that PRO and PAN had written up. said, "Fine, I won't sign the letter, but no one is going to throw me out during the vote count."
So they let me stay, but not as a party official, just as a private citizen, and they tried to make me stand off to the side. So I said, "I've had the right to be here on my feet all day since eight in the morning, and you're not about to take that right away from me now." The count is the most important part of the whole job.
I said, "Do whatever you want, but I'm not moving." They finally said I could stay, but I still got in the last word. I said, "I'm staying because it's my right to be here, not because you give me any permission. Your kind of permission doesn't mean anything to me. I'm just a housewife and I don't have all your fancy credentials, but I'm staying anyway."
Confusion, Irregularities, and Abstention in State of Mexico's Elections. PRI declares victory in 119 of 121 mayoral races and all assembly seats. Opposition parties charge momentous vote theft. Disputes, verbal confrontations, and fisticuffs mar otherwise peaceful day in the Valle de Chalco. Three ballot boxes robbed. One PRDista hospitalized. PANista housewife threatened with a knife.
La Jornada, November 12
Opposition challenges PRI victory in Chalco. PRO cites intimidation, ballot stuffing, and voting list manipulation. PAN claims electoral black magic.
La Jornada, November 13
CATARINO
The election went very smoothly in this community, a fact I attribute to the open voting process our party worked hard to ensure. I think the results speak for themselves. At the polling place where I voted, there was an overwhelming choice for PRI. didn't hear any complaints of i rregula ri t i es anywhere. Our party members were too busy doing their jobs to have time to cause trouble for anyone else.
GUADALUPE
And then the roast chickens arrived! The mayor sent over roast chicken for all the PRI vote counters and poll watchers, but they didn't offer any to the watchers from the other parties. Not even one bite . But I didn't care. I watched the whole vote count and it looked clean to me. We checked each ballot that came out of the box and each mark that was on i t. The count itself was okay, but that still couldn't clean up the dirty voting.
That yellow ink they put one your finger after voting came right off, all you had to do was rub it with a little grass. I recognized at least seven people who came through to vote three times, once in the morning, once in the afternoon , and again at night. And each time, their fingers were wiped clean.
That's when the PRO watcher decided to write up the protest letter. And the PRIistas got mad and started shouting. I stayed out of it, I thought it might be a trick to close down the poll, and then all the PRTZ votes would be disqualified. We'd been warned about that.
The press came by for a few minutes to talk to the poll president, but they didn't stay long and they didn't bother to talk to us. The poll president isn't supposed to talk to anyone during the vote and he sure isn't supposed to eat roast chicken sent over by the mayor. That's where the dirty tricks start. The PRTZ got more votes than it needed at our polling booth. If we do as well at the other booths, then we'll have enough votes to get at least one seat in the assembly. And that's the most important thing, at least to win one.
DANIEL
I idn't know how this would end up, but I can guarantee now there'll be a lot of people protesting this. I think everyone was surprised PRI would do what they did. Last time they manipulated things so they'd win the election by a few votes. But this time they did it so they'd win every vote but a few! don't know, maybe the big bosses didn't explain it to the little bosses well enough. Fraud, sure, but not one hundred percent!
I doubt we got enough votes for a seat in the assembly. At some polling places we didn't get a single one. Those were the places that reported 80% abstention, which makes me think all opposition ballots there were just thrown out and the voters listed as absent. How else can it be, because at Guadalupe's booth there were plenty of votes for PRTZ. When you've got people watching, they can't cheat. But we couldn't cover every polling place.
So this is a chance for our party to be heard, not by winning but by losing. If the other parties are going to protest, so will we. We can all stick together and maybe get some changes made. I doubt they'll clean up the results, but maybe they'll give a seat to everyone anyway. That's what I've got to hope for.
As for what UPREZ does next here- well, that's up to everyone else. People like Pancho and Guadalupe. I doubt Estela will do anything more with us, and don't know about the others, the ones who used to do the most. Maybe they'll want to quit too, or maybe they'll want to work with me and the PRTZ now. I've got to keep up my other things, like the high school I' m trying to start, but I'll still be around.
I live here too after all. It's my neighborhood just like it's Estela's and Guadalupe's. It doesn't mean anything that I'm not so involved anymore with UPREZ. I just figure I'd rather work with PRTZ. If it's going to be a game of politics, you might as well be ready for the new rules. And the changes. UPREZ was the old game. We've all got to learn about political parties now.
ESTELA
I voted for PRI and I'm not ashamed to tell you why. At the last minute I just decided I wanted my vote to count. I've been on the losing side for so long, for once in my life I wanted to be with the winners. They don't even know- and I'm not going to tell them- but I know . And I can tell myself that finally I'm a winner too.
Not that it gives me anything special over people who voted for the others. We're still all in the same boat no matter who we voted for. To tell you the truth, I'm just glad there wasn't any violence at the voting booth when I was there. I almost didn't go at all because I was afraid of something like that happening. What's been going on here all along is politics and violence spoken together in the same breath.
I've got plenty to do without doing anymore with Daniel and the others. Where does my family get money unless I stay busy washing my neighbors' clothes? PRTZ sure isn't going to feed my kids, and neither is our new school. in or lose today, you still wake up tomorrow worrying about the future. That's what it seems like anyway.
GUADALUPE
I learned a lot in the last few days. To realize you've got to have an opinion about politics, and make your neighbors realize that too. And we've got to make the government recognize our right to have our own opinions. I don't care if it's the President of the Republic, he's got to accept the way we think.
Just because they're powerful doesn't mean we have to kneel down in their presence. You can't let the powerful always take advantage of their power. But I think the future is in the party's hands right now, not in ours anymore. It's not just UPREZ anymore, now it's politics. Not so much what we want to do, but what we've got to do.
But I probably won't keep up with the party like I have been. I'll do what I can, but not all the time like before. So far it's just my time I'm spending, more and more of it, but now it's beginning to cost me more too. I'm selling bread in the market these days, and I've got to keep at it if I want to make any money.
I'd still like to see this PRTZ make some progress though. You've got to know what politics are all about, how it really works, if you want to get ahead. You can't stay in the dark the whole time.
But PRTZ has already been recognized by the people. Now all it needs to do is work harder, to show they're the right party for us. Before, we were just in a movement to fight for things. But now, after getting what we wanted, we've got to work harder. It's a bigger responsibility. Not just with talk, but with action. I'll stand with them because I won't take abuse from anyone. That's why I'm with PRTZ. And even if I'm not working for them, I'll still be protesting against the others.
I don't know how they plan to protest the election results. No one says they were fair, but I'll only march if we do something right here in the neighborhood. Probably there'll be something, but I doubt we'll make a big thing out of it. They're already protesting in other places. So far they're just shouting, but who knows what will happen next.
I spoke to Daniel yesterday and he didn't tell me what he'll do next. But it looks like he wants to help the party more next year. More campaigns for something or other. But he said my job was over now. I'd just promised him that one day watching the poll. So now it's up to Daniel to stay on with the party, to keep it moving forward. If the party gets a seat in the assembly, he'll help decide who'll fill it. And if it doesn't get a seat after all, we'll just have to try harder next time. But this time, I'm glad I was there.
Final election tallies showed PRTZ's vote insufficient to qualify for even a single seat in the state assembly. Although many irregular ballots were thrown out after opposition party challenges, PRI did win some 65% of those found to be valid. This was a five-fold margin over the left wing Cardenas led PRO party, its nearest competitor. By all accounts, the National Program of Solidarity had done its job admirably.
Estela seemed resigned to these results. By her own admission, she had calculated only the psychological costs and benefits of choosing how to vote, without expecting a tangible return regardless of the outcome. Her decision finally was to vote for PRI because that way she knew her ballot would at least be counted. That way she would at least be heard. In her head, Estela herself thus emerged the winner.
Catarino on the other hand had real expectations for himself in the wake of the PRI landslide. He would almost surely be moving up the party chain, the memory of his role in the Antorcha massacre certain to fade quickly. Daniel meanwhile was out of the neighborhood on PRTZ business almost constantly now. It seemed as if he had decided to move on, having abandoned the lost small cause of UPREZ for the promise of something bigger yet to come.
True to her word, Guadalupe was neither disappointed nor concerned by the failure and uncertain future of her lately-chosen party. But now she faced a turning point of her own. Would she continue to allow others- whether it be UPREZ, PRTZ, or whatever political group next arrived in Dario Martinez to claim credit for her own personal strengths and activist energies? Might she instead go her own way and fight for things as she had before, alone as a mother and homeowner. Or would she make good on her threat to withdraw once and for all from neighborhood affairs? But these are questions that must go unanswered until Guadalupe speaks again.