Potemkin Village

2/15/05

We're startin' up the big grade, on our way to town. As I look toward Punta San Cosme, that alligator's snout of an upthrust of rock, the sight of those ego driven erections, out there for all the world to see, shot "Potemkin Village" through my constant thought train. Marcia's in the back, right-hand seat, Chayo's ridin' next to me.

Chayo and I fall into conversation about the number of workers who are actually camping down at that visual distraction, workers and wives and kids, and the number of workers in total. He ventured 40 workers in total, maybe half of them commuting to and from Agua Verde. Wives, kids and total campers he also pegged at mas o menus 40.

He fell inta tellin' me about the miserly wages bein' paid out. Very bad payers these investors were. Long hours, short pay checks; this he claimed was the general complaint. And when Gutierrez, the now disgraced ejido chief was sellin' this general marina deal to the assembled ejido, his promise had been that wages would be quite the opposite.

Also included in this sales pitch was the medical facility for folks in Agua Verde area, the trailer park for the ejido at San Fernando (a highly disputed piece of real estate), the paving of the Agua Verde road to the marina site, the bringing in of electric power and putting in a Pemex station at the junction with Rt.1.

Whew!

A long list. And I knew that Robi, just recently, had recited this litany of objectives to Ken and Sarah there inn Guadalupe's kitchen, during that recent confrontation, too.

"All they're doing is building their own casas," Chayo opinioned. He claimed that ejido members were watching, waiting. The package had been offered, and accepted on the basis of a two-year time frame. And fourteen er fifteen months into the deal, just those erections, and those yet a long way from completion.

Whew!

The bankroll it would take to pull all that stuff off...and then ta build a marina.

Again "Potemkin Village" shot through my thoughts. I offered to Chayo my slant on how things looked to me:"I think they're trolling for big-money investor," I expounded. I guessed they were hoping to snag all the millions upon millions that their ego soothing would require. But from the meager looks of things, they hadn't been able to catch any really big fish...yet.

Chayo continued on about this two-year time limit stuff. There were many in the ejido, especially those among the almost 50% that vote against these grandiose plans, that were just setting back and sharpening their belt knives. That two years will be up and the ejido leadership will again be up for grabs.

Chayo sets inta tellin' me of this one fella from Los Cabos who'd purchased 30 ejido right.

"Thirty!?" I shot back.

Si! This guy had thirty votes and he led the fight to block Gutierrez. Him claiming that the price was way too cheap, and supposedly he was against any development, like me, in the whole greater Agua Verde area. He was one of those just waiting.

Since this gentleman sounds like a natural ally, I asked him if he could get me his name, maybe a phone number. He thought he surely could. He was pretty sure his brother Manual had such info. Again Chayo mentions how close the "go ahead" vote was.

So the vote was to sell Gutirrezz land, right.

"Si!"

And, this was land that very well could be part of Rancho Palo Blanco, right.

"Si!"

Didn't anyone bring up this conflict"

"No!"

Didn't anyone bring up the fact that the ejdio couldn't sell anything until it got its "Proceede"?

"No!"

Chayo'd attended this important meeting, which he does sometimes, when they'll let him in the door. For the first time I find out that Robi was at Gutiarrez's side there, him, too, doing all this promising. The two of 'em seeming the thickest of buddies and pals.

I had been dead wrong about this Robi character. I'd initially thought that he was an innocent and nieve young fella caught up in the ejido chief's long web of lies. But, no, Chayo assured me he was in on all this stuff since its inception. Seemingly, he'd have to be aware of all the pitfalls, like I was, with many of my stories directed mostly right at him, me trying to warn him away from the trap.

Whew!

That he'd plunged ahead with such a risky scam, and then try to find unsuspecting others to follow.

Chayo goes on to tell me that all this stuff at that meeting had been written down by an agent of the Procurador Agraria. This I felt odd, them being involved in an illegal sale of land, especially when it involved such disputed underfooting.

"Did they write into this deal any type of an extension clause?" I went further.

He didn't exactly know. He thought so, but he wasn't sure.

"There has to be copies of this agreement then, si?"

"Si! There had to be. And yes he'd go to work and see if he could come up with one.

"Good. That would be very interesting."

Email: david@dondavidonbaja.com