In this first monthly series of LOOKING BACK, the Reporter is publishing some headlines taken from its April editions 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
1965
Retirement center boosts area
A 300-home retirement community for U.S. citizens was in the promotion stages in the Colinas de San Javier neighborhood next to the city’s then-newly opened Revolucion sports complex. The developers promoted widely in the United States and CBS News filmed the ground-breaking for two model homes. A flurry of interest resulted and stories on Guadalajara ran in the U.S. and Canadian media. (Ads in later editions that month gave a price of US$6,488 dollars — a down-payment of US$2,240 and monthly payments of US$58.68 over ten years — for a 850-square-foot home.
Visitor tells of war in Vietnam
The stepped-up offensive against the Viet Cong in the relentless war in Vietnam has greatly increased the moral of American troops stationed there, according to James McElroy, 21, a visitor to Guadalajara, who has just been released from his active Army service after duty in the far east.
News items from Ajijic
“This weekend we were distressed to see printed signs (against ‘Yanqui’ policy in Vietnam) pasted onto the newly painted walls of a friend’s house along the lakefront.”
Kids at rehabilitation center walk for Consul General
Having already charmed most of his American constituents, the new U.S. consul general, Joseph J. Montiilor, here tried his diplomatic talents on four weeping, helpless little victims of poliomyelitis. Something worked, because before he left the Instituto de Rehabilitacion of the Hospital Civil, the kids were up on their feet, gritting their teeth and trying to take the first steps of their young lives. The four youngsters brought to 40 the number of children literally put on their feet by the “Pesos for Braces” program in less than a year.
1975
REPORTER sale announced
Bob and Jean Thurston, who with their foster son, Lic. Rogelio Cornejo Martinez, founded The Colony REPORTER more than 12 years ago, announced this week the sale of the weekly newspaper to Allyn and Beverly Hunt of Jocotepec.
Electrical blackout end seen
The nightly local blacokuts enveloping the northern sections of Guadalajara and the majority of the communities along Lake Chapala have been caused by operational failures in two thermo-electrical units of the Federal Electricity Commission in the Valley of Mexico and at Salamanca. Local spokesmen for the CFE estimated that the nightly shutdowns will be eliminated in 10 days.
1985
Nation ruffled by economic woes
Continued high inflation rates, international political squabbling and strained U.S.-Mexican relations marked the end of Mexico’s first quarter of 1985. Inflation figures for January and February showed a combined two-month rate of 11.9 percent. Treasury Secretary Jesus Silva Herzog in mid-March said the 1985 inflation goal has been revised upward from 35 to between 40 and 50 percent.
Tourism in Mexico up despite negative press in US
Thousands of North American tourists apparently paid no heed to the reports published north-of-the-border about crime in Mexico and enjoyed their Easter vacations here. Reports on tourist activity for Holy Week show that every major tourist resort, from Veracruz to Acapulco, played to a full house.
1995
Lirio-eating carp not the answer say experts
Jalisco Governor Alberto Cardens Jimenez’s recent promise to solve Lake Chapala’s lirio (water hyacinth) problem has sparked new debates about eradicating methods. The latest proposal by a U.S. company to sow the Lake with lirio-eating carp was criticized by local ecologist Rogelio Garcia Castro, who asked if these fish could adapt to the high level of water pollution in the Lake.
Marina abandoned as SIDEK struggles
What was planned and once heralded as the finest marina in the world, Marina Nuevo Vallarta, shows clear signs of becoming one of the most neglected as its owner, Grupo SIDEK, struggles with financial and restructuring problems. The marina and its facilities are in a obvious state of deterioration and seem on the verge of abandonment.
Rebels, gov’t meet for peace
An international media circus has descended on a small farming town of San Andres Larrainzar only 25 miles from San Cristobal de las Casas in the state of Chiapas. Staunchly supportive of the rebel Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). San Andres was chosen to host a last-ditch effort by the Mexican government to find a solution to a rebellion that has plagued the region since New Year’s Day, 1994....
2005
Bullet train project chugs along
Imagine a train traveling at speeds of 300 kilometers an hour between Guadalajara and Mexico City, reducing a seven-hour bus journey to a mere two hours. Wishful thinking? Not at all. The Communications Secretariat last week announced that a French consortium has won the contract to draw up a framework for tender submissions to build the line. Connecting Guadalajara and the capital with a tren de alta velocidad will cost around five billion dollars.
Plaza del Sol’s Torrena tower moves ahead
Workmen are clearing the ground of a former car dealership adjacent to Plaza del Sol in preparation for the construction of a 336-meter-high tower. Developers say the 60-million-dollar Torrena tower will be the tallest building in Mexico.
Lirio chopper brings relief to lakefront
The surprise appearance of a big orange weed chopper plowing Chapala’s waterfront was a welcome sight to local tourist boat operators whose vessels were stranded in the dense mantle of water hyacinths that had drifted into the shoreline two weeks ago.
Forest fire blankets city in smog
The fiercest fire in a decade devastated a large part of the Primavera Forest this past week. To make matters worse, an ill-timed westerly wind carried heavy smoke over metropolitan Guadalajara, forcing authorities to close schools for two days. Patients with respiratory problems filled city hospitals, as nearly 1,000 firefighters and soldiers battled the flames.
Georges Wetterwald
extradited to Chapala
Georges Wetterwald, a U.S. citizen suspected of bilking lakeside area expatriates out of more than two million dollars in an elaborate investment scheme devised in the late 1990s, has been extradited to Mexico to face criminal charges.
Editor’s note: Neither the retirement home complex, the high-speed bullet train or the Torrena tower ever saw the light of day.