Pico de Orizaba

Pico de Orizaba
Taken from Huatusco, Veracruz, the closest town to Margarita's family's ranch.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Pete Bernhard (lista de reproducción)

strange dictatorship masquerading as a Democracy for your eyes...

Suspicious of the newly elected president?  No.  It's all part of what's been going on here...  In Veracruz a "law" was put into place that marches on the capital will be considered an act of terrorism...  The road from Xalapa to Huatusco we took you and Bruce to visit Margarita's ranch was wripped up and never replaced... isolating that region from the capital of Veracruz; a "military" tactic, although not by the military...  There is no law here; at least no law protecting the "people"...  We went to Leon (which is not on the Department of State's Travel Warning for Mexico) to visit the international Balloon Festival and were followed by municipal police after they pulled us over for suspicion because we were taking photographs of the event from a scenic overlook at night; they followed us to the gas station where we stopped for information about hotels and bought water etc...  They followed us into the following hotel that was way too expensive; what would have happened had we stayed there?  Fortunately the hotel was right on the state line and they didn't follow us across that line...  We decided against pressing our luck, "burned" the five tickets we bought for entering the event that following sunrise when the balloons would take off, and returned to Guadalajara; a loss of $200 USD... and 9 hours straight of driving...  It was an international event that made it onto the NY Times with wonderful photographs last year.  The other day a family was traveling on that road we took you and Bruce to Puerto Vallarta not far from where we ate lunch.  They were shot off the road; the driver and his wife killed by the bullets.  The assailants pulled out of the SUV a woman who was alive and took her with them.  It just happens that the woman kidnapped (now disappeared) is an environmental activist in the region...  There has been a series of murders of Environmental Activists here in Mexico over the past few months... The last one was leader of a group in Sonora complaining that a Canadian mining company was illegally working and contaminating land that affects the lives of many farmers/ranchers of the region... The murder of him and his son was blamed on "El Chapo" (leader of The Sinaloa Drug Cartel)...  Now, tell me, why would drug traffickers kill activists who aren't heading movements against drug traffickers?  But you wouldn't understand this because these are just random examples; not what we "see" and read every day; one more absurd piece of information offered by the local governments or the federal government... And this has nothing to do with who is, was or will be in the President's chair... Reuters published a very interesting artical about Ciudad Juarez yesterday... Maybe you should read that... it seems that the tactics there are being perpetrated throughout the country.  But, because Ciudad Juarez was the international leader of Homicides before this year, it distracts attention away from what may be happening elsewhere in Mexico...  

Yes, it's very concerning that Enrique Peña Nieto was "elected" as president of Mexico with his lack of personality and lack of the slightest bit of intelligence along with his history...  Don't take the following comment/comparison lightly:  Enrique Peña Nieto is Mexico's equivalent of George Bush Jr.  Marrionette...  But the President isn't who runs a country...  He is just a figure head...  Felipe Calderon Hinojosa will be living in Texas when his term is over tomorrow.  His chief of the Federal Police will be living in Miami...  What are they afraid of?  Mexico is beautiful especially if you are wealthy and protected...

This is so very concerning. I had read that the government will be focusing on violence and not the drug trafficing that is occurring. I get a notification from Google everyday regarding Guadalahara and the news doesn't reflect what you have writen about. In fact much that is transmitted must be for potential tourist since it is such possitive news clips.

Well, yes.  That's the concern... A lot of investment for pulling American tourist dollars... But, nothing for protecting the people here...  

Don't worry about this.  Just wanted to be sure that the messages are from you and not someone who has access to your accounts or to mine...  My brother-in-laws left this morning for Veracruz.  We opted against my going because I could be a target for extorsion/ransom there...  It's very sad, because it's not Paz's fault and she won't understand our decision no matter how much Nicolas or José Francisco explains to her and the rest...  The situation here is very isolating.  But, it's better to be alive at risk than being...

... It sounds like you are feeling very distrustful right now. It must be an extremely uncomfortable feeling. I doubt that somebody would have access to my e-mail account and I am sorry that you are worrying about it.

What makes you feel that you would be a target for extorsion or ransome? Has something occurred to make your worry? How does Margarita feel about not visiting her family?

Speaking of Vera Cruz there was a marching band from Vera Cruz in the Thanksgiving Parade this year. They wore traditional garb and were doing Mexican dances whenever the parade halted.

Take good care of yourself Ross. Isolation is not healthy.

The Zetas and Cocaine have appeared in the ranch/zone of where Margarita's family lives...  The Zetas have what are called "Halcones" (Hawks) hired as investigators/observers.  In the cities they are generally adolescent gang members.  But, where there aren't gangs, they are poor people who will exchange their services for very little.  If they are drug addicts, they work for drugs.  My brother-in-laws mentioned that they know of one guy who passes along the only road day long on his motorcycle...  An artical just came out about high level politicians/heads of the state police in the region of the ranch who protect the Zetas in that region, release them from jail, offer warehouse space for the trailers hijacked enroute from Mexico City to the Port of Veracruz and warehouse space for the holding and the torture of kidnapped people...  There is only one route in and out of the region of the ranch and that route passes through the two worst sections for assaults in Central Veracruz, now that they destroyed the route directly to Xalapa...  Kidnapping/extortion has more to do with fantasies about the amount of money one can squeeze out of a person.  Margarita's family's ranch is not a tourist section.  I was the first foreignor the ranch ever knew; lots of fantasies about the money I have...  The second "American" who moved to the zone is from Georgia and moved with his wife he must have met there (Georgia), who is from near where Margarita is from.  He supposedly brought cocaine into the region and throws parties regularly...  Extorsion and kidnapping is the popular way of obtaining a little bit of money now here in Mexico.  However, the people aren't returned to their families complete or alive.  Plus, if the Zetas are concerned about who is meddling around in their region and if it is true that most of the trouble they have had with the Marines and the Army is from information supplied by American investigators, then I guess it wouldn't be good for me to appear there with my American heritage and my accent... 

And that's the story.  

Just after Hurrican Sandy we went to a first communion mass for our landlords' youngest daughter.  I walked out of the church (A place I generally don't find myself) after listening to 2 minutes of the priest's speech to Jessica and the community about where money doesn't take you... He mentioned that with all the money that the "Gringos" (his words) have, you can see them in food lines asking for hand-outs... Imagine if someone videotaped his sermon and posted it throughout the NY/NJ region during the aftermath of Sandy?  The jist is that this priest in a middle-class section of Guadalajara (the second largest city in Mexico) speaking to an 8-year-old girl is speaking badly against "Americans" as people infront of a supposedly religious and spiritual community; those gringos may also be Mexican Roman Catholics who wouldn't appreciate if their priest in New Jersey started using Mexicans as negative examples...  Catholicism supposedly isn't political nor national and should not utilize nationalism or racism in their masses...  My point being that, if a priest in Central Guadalajara believes anti-Gringoism is a justifiable subject matter for his congregation and this one mouth enters the minds of 200 minds and of how many children, then imagine what fantasies exist in the minds of people more isolated, more desperate and with less access to information.  And when these people meet me?  And when Jessica sees me passing through her house every day...  She knows where I'm from...  But, this is not an isolated incident.  It is daily and wherever I am.  And I experience it in so many forms over the 9+ years I'm here.  Who will protect me if I set foot in a high risk zone?  If you hear that I was killed in Veracruz and you speak with the U.S. Department of State, they will ask you, "what was he doing THERE?", a region that was incredibly tranquil just a few years ago.  The U.S. government cannot protect American adventurers who go off the tourist track...  and they will say "nor can or will the Mexican government...."  Miss Sinaloa was killed in cross-fire between the Mexican Army and Narcos 3 days ago.  She supposedly was with her boyfriend who supposedly open-fired on the army caravan.  Now why would he go and do that?  And she was Mexico's representative in events all over the world...  But, now she is dead for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  No problem if I fly from tourist city to tourist city; but I'm not one of THOSE rich "gringos"; and if I were, I wouldn't be living here, would I?.  But, the moment I find myself crossing dangerous sections of Mexico...  Guadalajara is surrounded by those regions...  Almost all rural regions of Mexico are insecure...  Now, about the Department of State's Travel Warning a few days ago; their information is always out-dated.  To know what risk exists in Veracruz today, you must wait for the following report in 1.5 years (granted, the new report came out 8 months earlier).  However, Veracruz is not an important "American" tourist destination without a U.S. Consolate, meaning that the U.S. could give a damn about what's happening there, with the exception of Petroleum pumped out of the Gulf of Mexico and coffee beans exported to New Orleans from the Port of Veracruz... I'm as responsible a person as I can be here.  I'll be darned if someone accuses me of setting foot where I don't belong, which means I won't be visiting my in-laws... It's sufficient that one can accuse me of setting foot in Mexico.  Well, it's just a bit too late for changing that...  Isn't it?

Monday, November 26, 2012

"Interview" with the Documentary Film Maker/Activist Gregory Berger "Gringo Yo"

Documentary Filmaker Greg:  

Watch out!  According to crazy right wing U.S. news anchor Nancy Gunn in this video, the "so-called victims of the Drug War" in Mexico are actually part of a vast conspiracy to smoke crack and kill your children!


Ross:


Of course they are.... Greg.   And Mexico is a democracy.  Don't you remember?  I think it's time you returned to New York City and played some TRI infront of the U.N. Building; because nothing you say or do will change the tide here...  That said, I'm just being sarcastic.  We live here and expect to live here quite a few years more, or "until death do we part" with our 'beloved' Estados Unidos Mexicanos...  But living here in aprehension and repressed fear.  Granted, the "government" can send a few municipal police officers to your house or your office and beat you to death on the way to no where and say that it was one of the cartels...  and no one will truly care.  When I say "no one" I mean CNDH/ONU, the office of Barak Obama...  No One, because there's a whole lot of money at stake... And should we blame them for wanting to grow their investments?  No.  But, that doesn't have to cause the suffering and deaths of so many people (and I'm not talking about the victims of the "war on drugs"...)  Or maybe it must... But watcha gonna do?  I guess you're doing what you believe you must...  And they haven't encarcelated you, blacklisted you or killed you yet.  It's a good thing I never learned to write real well, not even in Hampshire.  Otherwise, maybe I would find myself in big trouble... Or maybe my intelligence level is greater than that of my ego and I can put things into perspective.  Actually, I don't believe I'm as intelligent as I had thought I could have been...  Afterall, I'm here, aren't I?  Truthfully, who truly gives a damn about what's happening here?  The U.S. Department of State plays dumb in their travel warnings ignoring what they suspect or know is truly occurring here. Blame the violence on international crime organizations and don't accuse the Mexican governments of anything.  I guess there is much more at stake than the lives of journalists, socio-politically concerned activists and the average Mexican who just wants to get by tranquilly...  I lost hope a long while ago.  Every day I notice another revealer of the the grand farce...  Hopefully they don't come knocking on my door just because I wrote this to you...  Sounds paranoid?  Maybe it's just realistic.  Remember Al in "the Honeymooners"?  "I've got a big mouth"... And I just opened it responding to your email...  


Greg:


Wasn't it Ralph, the guy from the Honeymooners?  I think so...


Ross:


Ralph Kramden, Al Bundy...  yes, you've got a point... Right show, wrong name...  Where did you say we're living? South East Asia.  How did we get here, anyway?  Willy Wonka's glass elevator?  I think if I click my heels, I'll find myself back in South Hadley, with Roger Rabbit...  And I didn't even like Married with Children.  Would you believe I've never bought a television in my life?  A childhood friend turned me onto "The Honeymooners"...  Just a word of advice Mr. Turner, word has it that Señor Diaz has recovered from the Revolucionarios and seeks revenge in a big way; non of this blacklisting in California...  By the way, if you see Mr. Steinbeck lending a hand at the loading dock on the southwest side of the Merced, ask him how he managed to pass unscathed by el Señor del San Simeon and the Greater California Fruit Company?  Last night I dreamed I was Dorothea Lange with my camera limping through the Dust Bowl and the San Joaquin Valley...  But then I realized I'm just the baby breastfeeding in the arms of Florence Owens Thompson...although not her son, just a poor little helpless baby; today almost # 7 billion human inhabitant on this planet.  Remember when we were just over 4 billion in the late 70's?  What do you do with those numbers Ken? Ted? Greg? Alex? Put on an indian headress, say things your pseudo intelectual fans will enjoy, call yourself a "pinche Gringo" and "Chinga Su Madre a Estados Unidos" and then sing 3 songs by the Rolling Stones in perfect English...  And what happened with those mines in Sonora; who leases most of the mines in Mexico?  I would call Canadians Gringos also, but here, the Canadians go unscathed.  And did you hear the last one about Great Britain being behind the Zapatistas in the 90s, an event created to distract the world away from their discovery of Uranium in Chiapas?  Here in Mexico all information is rumour or chisme or...  How about those Maras who were tied together, put on an army helicopter and dropped into the Pacific Ocean of the coast of Tapachula...?  But if you want the true story, maybe you should just put a bullet in your head before they come to cut you up into little itzy bitzy pieces.  At the moment before dying, place your finger on the roulette wheel of life and where it stops on your finger, is where you will born the following life...  Or if you are fortunate like Mr. Steinbeck, maybe nothing will happen to you and you'll come across all of the forbidden information and awaken all the people to march on Mr. Duarte's office in Xalapa; a peaceful demonstration.  Who knows?  Maybe Javier will accompany you and your peaceful entourage to San Lazaro where you can play some more TRI.  But, today it may be more effectivo going their with el Tambor cantando, "No Tengas Miedo Porque Soy de Sinaloa"...  !Comó me gusta comó imitan balaceras con el tambor! ¿Has escuchado?  Si no... vete a Fresnillo o Colima, Zacatecas o Guadalajara o Durango...  Tal vez lo disfrutarás en Cordoba, Veracruz donde musica Tropical, Cumbia y Salsa fue desplazada por La Banda Norteño... Go figure!  Afortunadamente no estoy aya... Aquí es puro Café Tacuba, Zoe, Radiohead y Massive Attack...  Who knows, maybe I'll listen to some Manu Chao before re-reading "La Casa de Los Espiritus" for the 3rd time.  I'm still recovering from The Grapes of Wrath in Spanish and Octavio Paz gave me a horrible headache with his hypocracies... leaving me with the question, "what would have become of Chuck Fountainboy had he been born 50 years later?  How would he have documented Mexican culture and politics today?  Truthfully I've never placed much attention upon his writings.  However, when I read about the childish games Mr. Not so Peaceful  played with his former friend el Fuente, and heard about how Charlie kept his head in the game, faithful to his values and human rights, well I thought, maybe there is something to be found in his writings...  I don't know, afterall, Mexico doesn't let "her" writers write the truth...  So maybe I'll just pass on that idea and return to the phantasms of early 20th Century "America", ha ha ha... I think Al Jolson will be performing at the ROXY on Friday.  Supposedly there's a Central Park with that exact name here in Guadalajara.  I want to see if there's a Strawberry Fields too before crossing to Sheeps Meadow for the Simon and Garfunkel concert...  And don't tell me it's not in Sheeps Meadow... AL...  


He is like the sea, she is like the moon
And on nights of the full moon they make love 
And in this immenseness their souls are united  
To give life to this sad love song 
This sad love song...


Cantale Jack! Al, Fred, Ed, Gregory...

History has a way of swallowing it's tale and placing us in a black hole...  The one thing that doesn't repeat in history is the human population...  It just increases and increases...  Mexico is the 10th most populated country next to the 3rd most populated country, the 10th to 15th biggest economy next to the biggest economy.  Mexico is almost #1 out of 190+ countries for inequality.  Look at the numbers Greg.  And there are many more to look at.  This isn't just about freedom of speech... false democracy, illusions of party politics etc.  It is about #s and economic opportunities... Investments and manipulating human spirit moreso than human minds...  

I made a grave mistake as an "intellectual" concerned about justice and truth after leaving Hampshire.  I focussed upon immigration and racist movements and then didn't realize there was so much more to investigate.  Although I had read "The Grapes of Wrath" early in High School (not because an English teacher said we must) I did not know that one base of understanding political economic movements in countries that base their society upon constitutions, "democracy" and justice systems... is by looking into the roll of banks, the urgency of experimenting with new expensive farm technology (not much different than the urgency of testing out an Atom Bomb on a living human population) and unions upon the destinies of those who lived for generations off a difficult land, although they lived fine by their standards.  I bought the book for my wife and brother-laws-to understand that they and their campesino family must never sit back on their laurels.  Not because I want them to organize campesinos and be accused of terrorism in Xalapa.  But because I want them to be prepared to take care of themselves beyond what their grandparents taught their parents and what their parents taught them, to try and avance in a world that doesn't believe they can avance without selling their ranches and moving to Mexico City, or better yet, to the U.S. in order to buy illusions...  No, no one is thinking about moving to the U.S., not I Mr. Jones..., although, if I could subsist economically there with my wife, it would be much safer and much more secure, and I wouldn't be wondering everyday, what if they grab me or my wife...

But the truth is Greg, I always wondered how you manage here ("con permiso") unscathed foreignor meddling in Mexican affairs.  No, if you got this far in this letter, I don't believe you will answer the question, certainly not after your trite response/correction of names...  Flavio Risech, who connected me with you years ago, once said, "Stories of 'Americans' in Mexico generally bore me, since they tend to be of wealthy Americans or children of wealthy Americans and the Mexican government tends towards serving Mexico on a silver platter; no trials or tribulations; but your story... yes that interests me, because you don't come from money; you aren't protected... you didn't hook up with an upper middle-class Mexican..."  

But the truth is Greg.  The issue isn't political.  It's financial.  Slavery wasn't political.  It was financial. Nor was it personal, although those geniuses in perfecting systems of exploitment realized that if you make it personal, you encounter much more energy for moving the ignorant masses for protecting your investments...  

If you read through world history you will see those horrors repeatedly, every day of our lives from way before the invention of "Christ" until the assassination of journalists or activists or other people supposedly perpetrated by Joaquin Guzmans and Heriberto Lazcanos...  In San Luis we were visited by a Southern Italian straight out of a Bruce Willis movie protected by State Police...  Crossing the border from Aguascalientes to Zacatecas, a Mexican Soldier approached me and spoke to me in an English from my childhood (not from an English class) without my having spoken one word; my licence plates are from Veracruz.  How did he know I was from the U.S?  It wasn't a hunch.  Mexicans think I'm Mexican until they hear my accent.  He hadn't heard my accent.  

I'm not an activist.  Nor am I a rabbalrowser... (however you spell that).  I've always been concerned about the truth.  However, what I've learned here in my almost 10 years here in Mexico married to my wife who can't enter the U.S. legally married to me, is that more important than the truth is personal survival.  More important than personal glory is personal survival.  But, we live in Mexico; a country that clearly disrespects the personal struggles of "her" so-called ciudadanos.  But, looking at the numbers and the events, I truly wonder if there is a true country named "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" or Mexico and if this isn't something just a bit much bigger...  Like the difference between your privilege and that of the journalists and activists who have been assassinated over the past few years...  

It sounds like the same old financial monopoly/chess game... and those in the know gain and those deamed pawns or artilary or peons or share croppers or servants or slaves...  Now, I'm just Ralph Kramden.  I've gotta big mouth...  

You go on with your "project" and just ignore me as you always have...  Don't you remember the day you sent this same email a message asking me not to include you on your list of my writings?  But, then you continued sending me your videos and other movements...  I've never disrespected you.  But, I've never taken the time to look at what you send me (ever since we watched your documentaries "Gringo Yo"/Atenco, Pinche Presidente, Presidente Demente blah blah blah...  It was an interesting documentary.  But, I truly wonder what it is you think you are doing or where it is you think you are truly going...  Most likely you feel the pressure to maintain a name for yourself with the Hampshire Alumns...Most likely you are one of THOSE mentioned by Flavio protected by the governments for what reason?  Probably because they know you aren't actually going anywhere with your project, otherwise I'm sure you wouldn't still be here.  Or, is it that you are safely back in New York City...  Lucky you.

I'm here.  I live a story you don't know.  But, since it is at the grassroots level and isn't mixed with activist idealists without a true clue, you wouldn't be interested in reading about it.  That's cool.  I just wanted to give you a long winded reason to remove me from your "fan list" or to actually have a true conversation with me.  Granted, that conversation would probably have me killed while you remain protected...

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

How do you know you will die? ¿Comó vas a morir?

How do you know when you will die.  ¿ Sepas cuando vas a morir?  ¿Comó vas? ¿Comó presentará?  How will you die?  How will it appear to you?  We can walk this world planning our deaths, discussing the multiple possibilities (el infinito... las infinitas posibilidades)...  What is the best way, the easiest way to leave.  How do YOU want to die?  In your sleep?  Fucking your lover?  A heart attack at the moment of orgasm?  Encima de tú amante...  Envuelto en los brazos de tú amor...  Un infarto en el momento de orgasmo...  Tal vez se embaraza con la ultima esperma que salio de tú cuerpo, de tú pene, de tú pito y ahorra es imposible van olvidarte...  How will YOU die...? ¿Comó vas a morir?  ¿Comó murieras?

Sí en esta forma tú mujer, tú hijo nunca conocieras valio verga...  Pero, tú fuiste a la vergada... Él no.  Le quiere doble tú mujer porque el verdaderamente eres tú y es su hijo... un regalo...  

Tienes derecho vivir a good life?  Estarias protegido del estato comó ciudadano? comó humano?  Te protege dios, el Señor, Jesus, el Cristo, la Virgen, de Guadalupe, el José quien se encontro con la virgen, aquí en Mexico o aya en Nazareth...?  Pero, José significa "pendejo" no es cierto...?  Ya, me mataria solo con el ultimo comentario...  Pero, solo porque quieren matar alguien, no porque a ellos les importa un bledo quien fue José...

How will you die?  How will I die?  How will we die?

Yesterday he was running marathons, looked normal... Today, a month later destroyed by Lymphatic Cancer...  Says to his wife, to his daughters, "let me go, don't waste what little we have saved..." But she can't let him go that way and now they will subject him to ChemoTherapy.  But, in a month the cancer spread from his jaw and mouth to his legs... In a month he went from running a mini-marathon to not being able to walk...  Who planned this one?

This isn't a joke... It's just bilingual stream of consciousness... Me...  How would you dance with death?  You've gotta embrace it because it's the only guarrantee you've got...

¿Comó bailarias con la Muerte?  Tienes que abrazarla...  Es la unica garantia tienes aquí...