Alamos Election – 1994
(A Mexican Boston Tea Party)
By Beverly Krucek
Every third year, politics takes center stage in the activity of Mexican municipalities. The oratory starts with long speeches, constituents are catered to, and the votes are cast to elect a Presidente (Mayor) and County Supervisor.
The year of 1994 was especially noteworthy. For some years the P.R.I. Party was in power throughout the country. During the past 10 years slight inroads had been made by the opposition party most importantly on the Baja and in Guanajuato. This year P.A.N. was organized and poised to become better established in Mexico.
In Alamos, the incumbent was Jesus Baldomero Correl Valenzuela (Terms are limited to three years with no reelection). The candidates were Alfonso Valenzuela Salido, P.R.I, and Dr. Joaquin Navarro, P.A.N. Voting took place on July 6th. It was a close election with P.R.I. declared the winner.
Now the fun begins. P.A.N. declared fraud and staged a sit-in. The location was on Calle Chihuahua near Mina and continued for a month or so. On August 21st it was moved to Juarez in front of the Municipal Palacio. Women and children sat during the day and the men came at night after work. Cooking was done in huge pots. Portals of nearby houses were used for sleeping and the alleys became latrines.
It went on and on. Three recounts were held supervised by law enforcement officials from Hermosillo. Each declared P.R.I. the winner. Elegantly dressed, powerful looking men arrived from the state capital to negotiate some solution. No one budged. They just sat and sat.
No one was allowed into the Palacio. Finally the sanitation workers threatened a strike unless they were paid. So a P.A.N. guard escorted the mayor to his office. He signed checks for the garbage men and thereafter the doors were again closed and entry forbidden.
P.A.N. meetings were held in the street. To assemble the group, young men on bicycles rode through town throwing firecrackers to announce a meeting. An agreement had been made that no shooting would take place but the fear was always there that some barracho would disturb the equilibrium and a full scale problem would arise. Patrols arrived from Navojoa, Obregon, and Huatabampo – police were on every corner and tourists and gringo residents started to leave town. Rumors circulated, people were told not to go out at night. A march to Guaymas was organized where a shrimp boat with a $2,000 catch was impounded and eventually spoiled and became worthless. The signature bus line for tourists was intercepted and held for some period of time. Families and friends became alienated and feelings were hard. The 16th of September fiesta which commemorates independence from Spain and is a great national holiday was cancelled which miffed local people. Talks took place but still no compromise and the sit-in continued.
Finally came the day of inauguration in September. Tension filled the air. Police came from Obregon, and Huatabampo. State and federal police were on every corner. P.A.N. supporters barred the door to the Municipal Palace with a cordon of bodies. The P.R.I. supporters gathered in the Plaza de Armas to move to the Palacio for the swearing-in. A large group assembled led by the incumbent. As they started to move forward Baldomero Corral barked the order “A la Derecha”. The entourage turned away from the direction of the Palacio and headed to the Baseball Stadium where the swearing-in took place with no interference.