“14 years,” Alfredo Saras says into his cell phone as he moves about Guadalajara’s darkened, table-filled Rojo Cafe, distractedly adjusting sound equipment for a singer about to record a goodbye song dedicated to him.
Saras finishes the call as the young woman in jeans begins to croon from the stage. “No llores por mí” (Don’t cry for me),”she commands, and Saras stares at her as if the tears she is singing about could trickle out at any moment.
Later he explains that the call had been from a local newspaper reporter who had just gotten wind of the imminent closure of Saras’ 14-year-old cultural and artistic project, located in a remodeled home a quarter block from trendy Avenida Chapultepec. Saras says he made the decision to close a month ago, adding that the news had mostly gotten out via Facebook and Twitter but that traditional media were now picking it up.
“Tomorrow is my last day,” he says. “The reporter told me ‘Eso es una nota.’ That means ‘It deserves to be published.’
“I’ve made more friends since I started Rojo Cafe than I could ever have expected,” he adds.
Saras experienced a milder business crisis in December, 2014. But, as he explains, starting in December, 2015, the financial picture drastically worsened.
“Income started going down and costs started going up. In February, I reviewed the situation and saw that I didn’t have money for rent and payroll. I used all my savings and it wasn’t enough.”
In addition, in the months since his first crisis, he has accrued debts of 280,000 pesos.
“It’s a large amount,” he admits. “I’ve invested 500,000 pesos over the years in a lot of equipment, including good sound equipment for the use of everyone who puts on plays and concerts here. I plan to sell it at the depreciated value and hopefully that will be enough to cover the debt.”
Saras said that he thinks an important factor in the demise of the Rojo Cafe is the change in the dollar-peso exchange rate.
“Suddenly people don’t have any extra money to spend. A high dollar increases the cost of food and equipment and other things we import. But salaries only increased three pesos last year, while inflation was four or five percent. So fewer people were coming to Rojo Cafe and when they did come, they would just order coffee or a beer.”
He adds that another factor is the decreasing price of Mexican oil, as well as his high rent of 30,000 pesos a month. There has also been a change in buying habits of the young people who come to Chapultepec.
“They just want alitas [chicken wings], micheladas [a popular beer/lime juice/spice bevarage] and ligar [to pick up people]. I wasn’t able to adapt what I offer.”
What Saras offers is a transcendent love of art. And considering that he is a former computer engineer who worked for IBM, his clear love of art seems all the more remarkable.
“My main motive in opening Rojo Cafe was to exercise art and thinking as agents of change. When you experience art, you change internally and this leads to environmental changes. When I play the guitar, or read, or see a picture, or a sunset, it awakens something inside. Like all utopians, I want social change. I’m not here to make money, but to make art. But I found that once the money went away, there is nothing to support the artistic project.”
In a few months, Rojo Cafe would have celebrated its 15-year anniversary, Saras points out.
“It’s sad. People have suggested that maybe a mecenas [patron or benefactor] would show up. But I’ve got to cheer up and go on. I may reopen after I sell off my equipment. But I need a cheaper place with a better capacity to pay expenses.”
Rojo Cafe, Guadalupe Zuno 2027, Guadalajara. Saras can be contacted via Facebook or Twitter and at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..