07142016Thu
Last updateFri, 08 Jul 2016 8am

Looking Back: A review of June news from the last 50 years

1966

New consulate open house

U.S. Consul General Joseph J. Montllor and his staff have issued an invitation to all American citizens in Guadalajara and the area to a Fourth of July Open House and preview of the new consular building at Libertad 1492. The two-story edifice will be ready for occupancy by the end of July. The handsome US$225,000-dollar building of concrete, stone and glass provides separate entrances for the Benjamin Franklin Library, the United States Information Service (USIS) and consulate proper. 

1976

Dentists shop underground

A new series of luxury goods taxes and regulations has apparently classified dentistry equipment and supplies as luxury items and banned them entirely from importation. “It may seem incredible that X-ray plates, which are indispensable for all dental work, are not available on the market here,” said the president of the Mexican Dental Association in the article in the San Francisco Chronicle. He notes that Mexican dentists and oral surgeons must buy drills, material for impressions and other instruments on the black market. In this case it is not a matter of protecting Mexican industry; there apparently is no source in Mexico for these dental needs. Evidently the gentlemen in the Secretariat of Industry and Commerce (who outlawed the importation of these items) have awfully good teeth.

Notas Rojas

In his potpourri column, editor Bob Thurston opines on Mexican police pages in local newspapers: “We have never decided whether it is the style of Mexican police reporters, the colorful Spanish language or simply the high drama inherent in so many crimes of violence committed here that unfailingly draws our attention to the police pages of the daily press. Perhaps it is only a morbid interest, but we like to think it is the exceptional melodrama. Crimes of violence in Anglo-Saxon societies tend to be more contrived, more obscure. Murderers are sneaky. They plan carefully and their blood is “cold.” Not so in Mexico, where raw passions underlie most plots and where killers come on shooting with very little subterfuge. The language is a great help too. “Asesino!” cried in the night is much more chilling than the difficult-to-articulate “murderer!” A “balazo” seems to us more deadly than a “shot” and certainly “navajazo” is more threatening in the imagination than “large knife wound.”

1986

Postal gun threat

Refugio “Cuca” Flores, wife of former Ajijic Postmaster Jocobo Flores, will stand trial in Guadalajara for a federal criminal offense of illegal firearms possession. Cuca’s rifle-waving threats at a crowed of citizens outside the Ajijic Post Office on June 2 landed her in the Chapala jail. Jocobo Flores was ousted from his postmaster’s position amid controversy in August 1985, due to complaints by many Ajijic residents that he had removed money and money orders from letters sent them from the United States. Despite Flores’ denial and statement that he never handled incoming mail, he was put on vacation status for four months and then assigned to the Chapala Post Office where he has been working ever since.  When Jocobo Flores made a recent appearance at the Ajijic Post Office he stated that a large crowd armed with clubs and rocks threatened him with violence, which caused his wife to produce the rifle for his defense. Those present at the post office at the time stated that no weapons were in evidence and that the crowd was at all times non-violent.

1996

American School director under fire

Members of the Parent’s Association of the American School Foundation of Guadalajara are demanding the ouster of Director General Charles Prince.  A group claiming to represent a majority of the parents is charging mismanagement of the school’s finances, an excessive increase in fees and irregularities in awarding scholarships. They are also complaining about equity in pay, with U.S. teachers paid considerably more than their Mexican counterparts.  Disputes over finances and teachers’ salaries plagued former Director General Alber Agrenziano, who resigned in 1989 after a lengthy controversy over tuition increases and other financial matters.

Buses as classrooms

In what looks like something from the set of a science fiction movie, the shells of 15 buses have been mounted on concrete bases, painted bright blue and put to use as classrooms in an area of the city where hundreds of children might not have attended school this year. 

This project was the brainchild of Zapopan city councilors, who saw the concept being used on the outskirts of a large Brazilian city and decided to apply it to their own back yard.

2006

Candy knockout

Canadian traveler Colin Godwin gratefully accepted a mint from a stranger on board a bus headed from Guadalajara to Michoacan. He woke up 30 hours later in a hospital bed in Apatzingan after the man stole his money, passport and laptop. He thinks the mint was laced with Rohypnol (a date rape drug). Luckily he left an itinerary, which allowed his Mexican business partner to track him down and he had backed up his laptop. The Michoacan police declined to file a police report, so securing a replacement passport for his trip home was difficult.

Legion jefe skedaddles

American Legion Post Seven Commander Loren Moss resigned June 3, amid a flurry of questions about financial records and funds that he refused to make available to the Post’s Executive Committee over a period of months. Twenty-four hours later, Moss and his wife skipped town. Many of the post’s other officers had resigned before this due to a lack of confidence in his leadership and the appearance of impropriety. In the weeks after Moss left town, the remaining leadership members have rewritten amendments to the Post’s bylaws and implemented new security measures, stringent accounting controls and a full checks and balances accounting system in order to regain the trust of Legion members.

No Comments Available