In this monthly series, we republish a few of the headlines from our January editions 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
1969
One of world’slargest wineries
About 1,500 workers toil at Viñedo San Marcos, some six miles from the city of Aguascalientes. From the palatial 50-room casa of its owner, Nasario Ortiz, one can look down on miles of vineyard, vines climbing six feet high along trellises and see hundreds of workers picking uvas.
In all, 40,000 tons of grapes grow in the area annually. Huge trucks haul grape juice to Mexico City as if it were gasoline, to be made into sparkling wine. San Marcos bottles its own wine and brandy on the spot. Eleven large wine cellars hold hundreds of fermentation casks, each holding 27,000 to 100,000 liters. Hoopers at San Marcos make these leak-proof vats without using a nail. San Marcos uses French roble (oak) and domestic encina (live oak) from Michoacan. The casks last 300 years. The area, at 6,200 feet above sea level, is perfectly dry for grapes. Vines start bearing within three years and last for about 15 years. The original vines are imports from California, Spain and Italy. As many as 30 varieties of grapes are grown at San Marcos.
1979
Security tight for Pope’s visit
According to reports, strict safety measures will be in place for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Mexico this month. Flights are cancelled one hour before his arrival at 1 p.m. on January 26 and one hour after his departure at 3:30 p.m. on January 31. Hotels in the capital, Guadalajara, Puebla and Oaxaca were booked solid months ago and authorities were prepared for the fact that many hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of people who will throng to places on the official itinerary may have to camp out.
More than half a million pilgrims from the southeast of Mexico and South America are expected in Oaxaca alone, and the government is said to be constructing three shelters, including sanitary, parking, water and electricity facilities. The Mexican Social Security Institute was preparing a 200-bed hospital tent near Cuilapa de Guerrero in Oaxaca where the largest crowds were expected to gather and 2,000 policemen were detailed to keep order during his stay in that state.
The Pope is due to arrive in Guadalajara January 30, transported to Colonia Santa Cecilia by helicopter, where he will ride in an open car to the Cathedral along the avenues of Calzada del Obrero, Belisario Dominguez, Javier Mina and 16 de Septiembre. After an appearance on the balcony facing the Plaza de la Liberacion he will continue by car along Avenida Avila Camacho to the Basilica de Zapopan where he will hold Mass and deliver the homily. After a lunch there he will continue by car along avenues Americas, Lopez Mateos and Chapalita to the Seminary in Chapalita to receive clergy from around the nation before returning by helicopter to the airport en route to Mexico City.
1989
Govt. shakes up Pemex labor union
In a bold and decisive move the administration of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari arrested the leaders of the Republic’s most powerful labor union, Sindicato Revolucionario de Trabajadores Petroleros de la Republica Mexicana (SRTPRM), who work for the government oil monopoly, Pemex. Federal Attorney General Enrique Alvarez del Castillo asserted that the petrolero leaders had been imprisoned for alleged firearms and fiscal evasion offenses and that the administration was not trying to undermine the oil workers’ union. However, foreign political observers say that the administration aims to curb the SRTPRM’s bloated political power which has long been undermining the government’s austerity programs.
January 10, law and order officials, backed up by Mexican army units, arrested petrolero leader Joaquin Hernandez Galicia and 20 other union leaders in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, after a one-hour gun battle outside his home. A federal investigator was killed in the shootout. A cache of weapons was found inside Hernandez’ home, including 200 Uzi submachine guns, 40,000 rounds of ammunition and 40 other types of high-caliber firearms.
Alvarez del Castillo claimed that the petrolero leaders aimed to destabilize the national economy during the coming weeks through acts of sabotage agains tPemex installations, and accuse the Salinas de Gortari administration of negligence.
Most Pemex refining and transportation facilities were subsequently hit by various degrees of industrial action and panic buying was reported at gas stations throughout the republic. In Guadalajara long lines formed, even as the local Pemex district superintendent tried to reassure the public that the city still had six days of gasoline on hand.
1999
Raul Salinas guilty verdict raises doubts
While the man-on-the-street in Mexico hailed the 50-year prison sentence handed out to Raul Salinas de Gortari as a victory for justice and an end to the impunity of the political elite in this country, legal experts expressed grave doubts about the correctness of the verdict passed down by judge Ricardo Ojeda Bohoroquez on January 25.
In a written statement issued after the verdict was announced, Ojeda concluded there was “no direct evidence” linking Salinas, the brother of a former Mexican president, with the killing of political and personal rival Francisco Ruiz Massieu, gunned down on a Mexico City street on September 28, 1994. However, based on the testimony of six witnesses and Salinas’ own flawed statements, the judge concluded that the ex-president’s brother had instructed a political associate to organize the hit on Ruiz Masseiu, then national secretary of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
Ojeda said that he reached his conclusion based strictly on legal considerations. But fellow jurists say the case against Salinas is weak and based on circumstantial evidence and analysts suggest political influences may have affected the judge’s decision.
An acquittal would have dealt a crushing political and personal blow to President Ernesto Zedillo, who took a major gamble by authorizing the arrest of Raul Salinas just three months after taking office in February 1995. Since the PRI was formed in 1929, presidents and their close relatives have never been prosecuted for wrongdoing, despite the fact that many of them accumulated dubious fortunes.
2009
Chapala cops nab battery bandit
Chapala police had never seen anything like it. During the space of eight hours January 19, officers received 17 complaints regarding missing automobile batteries from different locations in Chapala, San Antonio Tlaycapan and Ajijic.
Minutes after the last report around 7:30 p.m., Moises Garcia Zul was detained on Calle Zaragoza in downtown Chapala, when a police unit sent out to search the area spotted him behind the wheel of a vehicle that matched descriptions provided by victims. He confessed to stealing 23 batteries, including some from vehicles parked outside the SuperLake and Soriana grocery outlets. One Chapala police officer and a municipal judge were among the victims.