Dear Sir,
Like most Chapala residents, I was anxiously awaiting the opening of the renovated plaza in front of the Mercado. When all the fences were finally taken down, I asked around as to why the vendors were still on the street taking up parking places. I was told at the time that they had to wait for the sidewalks to completely dry. Today several of the vendors told me they weren’t going to be allowed back. I believe it’s just a matter of time and they won’t be allowed on the street either.
About three years ago I lived in Lo de Marcos in Nayarit. They had a beautiful plaza with many 100-year-old trees for shade in the unbearable heat. The place was packed with people every day and most nights. Then the city remodeled the plaza. All the trees were taken down and replanted with palm trees that gave no shade. No vendors were allowed. From that day on, the plaza was vacant every day. No one used it. It just sat there empty.
The plaza in Chapala was a wonderful place to go. It was packed every day. It typified Mexico. The vendors are what made it so special. Now it sits empty every day.
Being a foreigner, I can’t get involved in the politics here, but it has become clear that a worldwide phenomena has come to Mexico. Governments have declared that they are the rulers supreme – that the people no longer matter. Thus, the plaza no longer belongs to the people of Chapala – it’s now owned solely by the Chapala city government. I sincerely hope the citizens of Chapala will realize what is going on and take back their plaza.
Jim Melzer
Dear Sir,
While not a Mexican, I am a permanent resident of this lovely country, and thus subject to the laws. Therefore I believe I have a right to speak up if someone attempts to lessen the quality of life in this area, even if that someone is a prelate of the Catholic Church – Cardinal Francisco Robles Ortega.
In your page three feature article of February 28 (Assisted Dying Laws Proposed), Cardinal Ortega has the temerity to object on my behalf, and that of every non-Catholic in the state of Jalisco (and probably quite a few Catholics as well), to a “Death with Dignity” bill, introduced by the obviously enlightened lawmaker Roberto Mendoza. The cardinal expresses his objection by saying that, “Only God is the owner of life and only he can decide when (someone) dies.”
While I respect his reasoning, he should realize that this is his own and (perhaps) that of his church. However, he cannot speak for everyone because his reasoning is based on a fairy tale belief that there is a God, even though no one has ever seen, heard, felt, tasted or smelt this entity.
Dying is a difficult thing to imagine, but death comes to everyone without exception, and that includes the cardinal. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the process will be swift and comfortable, even for a cardinal. However, today we no longer need to walk from point A to point B, but can use a car or other form of transportation; today we no longer need a stick jammed between our teeth to control pain during an operation but get an anesthetic; and today we can make death more comfortable. For the cardinal to condemn terminally ill people to suffer in great pain until the end comes because this fits his fairy tale belief is not only insensitive and cruel, but needless. I hope that he’ll make the effort to reconcile his thinking to the world in which we all live.
John de Waal, MBA