Frontera NorteSur
October-December  2005

Urban Legends Dissected.

Chupacabras. The AIDS Club. The yakking Ronald McDonald statute. The Reynosa crocodile. LSD-laden stamps. All are stories that in one form or another have taken hold in the popular culture of Reynosa . They are also known as urban legends. For Reynosa sociologist Carlos Plaza , such tales constitute a cultural sub-text present in everyday life. "We live according to cultural scripts that remain and persist in what we know as myths," says Plaza.

In the mobile, globalized world of today, myths and legends easily move from one country to another. For instance, the tale of the "Woman of the Sierrita." According to Cesar Humberto Isassi Cantu, Reynosa's city historian, the story is a variation of a Spanish one in which a driver picks up a beautiful woman dressed in white at a road crossing and merrily proceeds up the highway with his new, angelic passenger.

On the journey, the woman cautions the man about an upcoming, dangerous roadway curve. Curious, the driver asks the woman how she knows about the treacherous bend. The passenger calmly replies that she was killed at the spot two years earlier. In the Reynosa version, a driver is returning in the evening to the border city from Monterrey and suddenly spots from the rearview mirror a strange woman sitting in his back seat. When he turns around, the woman is gone.

Urban legends play on cultural phobias, hysterias, stereotypes and fears. One popular story is about the so-called AIDS Club. In this tale, an amorous but condom-free man has sex with a sex worker in a hotel only to wake up the next morning and find the woman gone. Suspecting robbery, he searches the room but is surprised to find his wallet and money untouched. He is more surprised to find the words "Welcome to the AIDS Club" scrawled in lipstick on the bathroom mirror.

More often than not, urban legends are harmlessly passed from one person to the next- a process now accomplished in the optic time of the high speed of the 21st Century Internet Society. Sometimes urban legends have social and economic consequences. Reynosa 's clown union complained about lost work and income after a story circulated late last year about a mad clown who rampaged about with syringe in hand to inject children with the AIDS virus.

Tapping into latent xenophobia, another apparent urban myth exploits the very real, contemporary fears of criminal violence. A story has been circulating widely in Mexico about a supposed, intruding Guatemalan gang called "Sangre," or "Blood," that initiates its members by forcing potential recruits to drive down the highway at night with their headlights off and hopefully bait passing motorists to switch on and off their lights. The first unfortunate who falls into the trap is then riddled with bullets.

Although no such shootings have been actually documented, Interpol and Mexican federal and state police agencies all have reportedly issued advisories or mobilized their personnel to detect "Sangre" members. Coming on the heels of the recent arrests in Mexico of former members of the Guatemalan special forces, who really did engage in an enormous amount of blood-letting, the "Sangre" story acquired an instantaneous air of credibility.

It's worth noting that urban legends frequently proliferate during times of grave social and economic crises. Even though the legend of the blood-sucking beast known as Chupacabras reportedly originated in Puerto Rico, the story spread like wildlife in the Mexico of the mid-1990s. Perhaps it was no coincidence that Mexico at the time was jolted by political murders, the Zapatista uprising, the peso crash, and the debut of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Many Mexicans complained about faceless bankers who jacked up their interest rates to such an extent that citizens were left with their blood sucked out and their bodies torn to pieces, much like the hapless goats mutilated by the mysterious Chupacabras.

Source: La Prensa de Reynosa, November 7, 2005. Article by Jesus Rivera.

What's the Buzz on Shake-Down Street ?

The winter reverse migration has commenced. On the highways outside Mexican border cities, the advance detachments of the migrant army are readily visible. Bearing a plethora of US license plates, goods-laden trucks and cars head south to Chihuahua , Zacatecas and many other states that more and more mark the birthplaces of a changing US labor force.

On their excursions home for the long Christmas holiday season, Mexican migrants have long complained about arbitrary Mexican customs inspectors who comb travelers' shipments and sometimes accept bribes in return for passage. Despite the free trade agreement with the United States , Mexican nationals returning home are limited to carrying $300 dollars worth of duty-free merchandise. But federal authorities say the trip back to the old homestead should go smoother this year.

Pedro Noel Contreras Lopez, the director of the Nuevo Laredo customs port, announced the beginning of a special operation this week to protect holiday travelers from extortion. Contreras said a contingent of 35 extra customs agents will be assigned to monitor the city's three international bridges and highway checkpoint that travelers have to pass through on their journey south. Contreras said he will appeal to the federal National Migration Institute and the local muncipality for additional help in detecting cash-crazy inspectors out to make an extra holiday buck. The operation is expected to last through January 10, according to Contreras.

Promoting the annual "Paisano" program of assistance to seasonal visitors, the administration of President Vicente Fox is vowing to attack extortion; the president himself has declared that he might visit all the Mexico-US customs ports just to make sure returning migrants are treated with dignity.

Nuevo Laredo customs officials estimate anywhere from 200-250,000 Mexican nationals residing in the United States will cross into their city this holiday season. Some 30,000 people were reported to have arrived by November 20. Now open extra hours, the customs port in Nuevo Laredo could see its peak traffic days on December 17 and December 18, when officials estimate upwards of 30,000 people will cross the border.

Sources: enlineadirecta.info/Notimex, November 24, 2005. Laredo Morning Times, November 24, 2005. Article by Vicente Rangel. El Bravo, November 24, 2005.

Lawsuit, Worker Safety Accusations Swirl around Chemical Company

Three engineers once employed by the Fluor Chemical company have filed legal charges with the Matamoros district attorney against their former employer. Ruben Herrera Ramirez, Francisco Ledezma Esquivel and Alejandro Guerrero Bocanegra accuse Fluor Chemical of not paying them their just compensation in accordance with Mexican labor law. All three men worked for the company for periods of more than 20 years.

The trio also alleges that unsafe working conditions prevailed at Fluor Chemical's Matamoros plant, causing most workers to suffer from occupational health problems. Fluor Chemical makes hydrofluoric acid, a hazardous substance. In one alleged incident, 10 workers experienced extreme burns from a release of hydrofluoric acid. Two of the workers, Mario Infante and Guillermo Estrada, reportedly died, while 8 others were severely injured.

Herrera and the other ex-engineers charge that Fluor Chemical hides accidents from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and the public in order to appear accident-free and avoid paying higher IMSS rates. The company allegedly conceals occupational health problems by transporting injured workers outside Mexican territory to a hospital located in Galveston ,Texas .

There was no immediate comment from Fluor Chemical about either the legal complaint or unsafe working environment allegations. Martin Alonso Garcia of the Matamoros district attorney's office said he would call in Fluor Chemical legal representative Hector Valle Martin and company manager Pedro Javier Saenz to answer the charges contained in the legal complaint. Herrera, Ledezma and Guerrero seek about $39 million dollars in compensation from the hydrofluoric acid manufacturer.

Source: enlineadirecta.info, November 30, 2005 . Article by Armando Treviño .