Thursday 15 September 2016

Fuel for the Pompous - a Great Compliment to El Gringo Viejo

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     Some weeks back, there were elections throughout Mexico in various States for many and sundry positions.  Most important, of course, would be the position of Governor, although during the past twenty years all positions have become more a matter of competition and less about the old practice of political cuñadismo (brother-in-lawism) appointment.

During the period of the sometimes soft and often hard hand of governance practiced by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), it was permissible to run under the banner of a different party, but not permissible to win. Now, it is almost the opposite. Most elections start off with people who are "favoured to win" by the odds-makers, and there still is a cadre of billionaire Poobahs who can attempt to influence or force outcomes.

Campaign "Cabalgada" in a rural area quite close
to the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre,
  Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca is

 mounted on the blond-maned mare third from the left.   
This was a brazen show of strength, a ride taken
through what was historically overwhelmingly
Partido Revolucionario Institutional territory. 
 
One problem for them, however, is that there are the more numerous millionaires and the huge cadres of working class and upper-middle class people who are now heavily dispersed into various parties.....left, right, centrist, useless, and pointless....who can effectively counterbalance the "Dinosauros" who used to control everything (between the years 1928 - 1998 more or less). One of the places where the winds of change finally arrived was in the State of Tamaulipas, where we have our little hideaway. For the first time ever, Tamaulipas will have a Governor who is not from the central government's ruling party or a military provisional governor.


Of the latter category, the "military governor", Tamaulipas had various after the Spanish Colonial Period. But from, let us say, 1926 or so, Tamaulipas has been governed by a person of the same party as who sat in the Presidential Throne in Mexico City up until the 2000. In this case, in one incarnation or another, that governance has come from above-named PRI. What changed at the millennia was that the centre-right party (PAN), took the Presidency for two terms (12 years), but the State of Tamaulipas stayed loyal to the PRI in almost all things local.

During the July past...I believe it was the Fourth....the sovereign State of Tamaulipas voted overwhelmingly for the handsome, smart, youngish, Texas-trained and English-speaking, ultra-conservative (in Latin-American terms), good-humoured candidate....giving him an out-right majority of the vote....in every county of the State. An outright majority is rare in Mexico due to the fact that most elections have from four to eight parties running for each office.

In any regard, and in order to avoid over-excessive bloviation ad infinitum:
We were notified yesterday that it would be "nice" if we could attend the inauguration ceremony in Ciudad Victoria on the 1st of October 2016. It is essentially a formality, since the invitation was passed from the Governor-elect and his wife to our neighbour at the Hacienda de La Vega a couple of weeks or so ago. He reminded me that "we" have that obligation to attend, so it will probably be necessary to change my garb from the usual floppies, baggy walking shorts, and holey long-sleeved white shirt that I first wore to my Grandmother Mamie's funeral in 1971.

The OROG community should know that I shall report and acquit myself with the correct dignity and deference to the occasion. You each can be certain that we are aware of the high compliment. This will be a fairly brief event, indoors, with only about 200 Tamaulipecos attending. It should also be pointed out that this "reminder" of the date and time of the inauguration follows the original notification a few weeks ago that we should keep our calendar clear for the 1st of October because we had been invited to the inauguration. Mr. Gov. Citizen (his new titles) Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca is doing this, I believe because we are not "powerful business interests" or overly economically potent AND because we are known to be Republicans of the Cruz section of the Party. Once again, Republican and PAN are essentially something like double-first-cousins. We are also associated (perhaps incorrectly) as one of the types of Gringos who live and invest in the locale and who don't moan and groan about every little contretemps.

Usually, at these events, the semi-official and official guests receive little souvenirs....an honour to the receiver....and should such befall me, it will be pictured here at some early date. We shall also take a few pictures. Our neighbour is on a very first name basis with the new Governor, so perhaps I shall have a chance to offer the the Guv a couple of courtesy nights to see our birds and point out a couple of very small paving jobs that might be nice to complete during this century.

More Later!!
EL GRINGO VIEJO
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