In this monthly series, we republish a few of the headlines from our December editions 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
1970
Golf tournies
Forty-six men and women competed in early December in the first American Society of Jalisco golf tournament, which was held at the new Santa Anita Golf Club by courtesy of the manager, Bill Frees. All received trophies.
The Guadalajara Country Club’s Pro-Am tournament held mid-month hosted 91 professional golfers, 56 of them from the United States. Top money went to Dwight Nevil of Dallas, Texas, who took home 50,000 pesos. A former Dallas fireman, he said he gave up the hook and ladder for the hook and slice. Trick golf expert Paul Hahn gave an exhibition at the club during the tourney.
1980
US stolen rides
The recent arrest in Mexico City of the son-in-law of a cousin of President Jose Lopez Portillo for possession of a Lincoln Continental allegedly stolen in Chicago, attracted an unusual amount of attention in the press, because the man was originally identified as the president’s son-in-law.
According to Texas police officers, 600 to 650 stolen cars are smuggled across the U.S.-Mexican border each year. El Paso Police Chief William Rodriguez reported that his agency has received information that Mexican government officials often receive stolen vehicles in exchange for narcotics at the border. He cited several cases of stolen cars being recovered from state and federal officers in Mexico, but did not name names.
1990
Mexico opts for imported Xmas
If this year’s influx of imported toys is a harbinger of what may happen when the United States and Mexico sign a free-trade pact, the republic’s toy manufacturers can be forgiven for wanting to throw the towel in right now.To say Mexico’s traditional Christmas is under threat from the commercialized Western model is an understatement. Mexican children now grow up thinking Christmas is all plastic pine trees, Santa Claus, tinsel decorations and imported presents.
The North American Christmas is being studiously copied by Mexico’s marketing men who are obliterating all trace of this nation’s traditional celebration of that religious feast day. So when little Nacho, in a childish tantrum, angrily kicks his Hecho en Chiapas handcrafted wooden train into pulp December 24, it could mark the death of the traditional Mexican Christmas.
Today’s sad reality is that posadas (traditional processions depicting the journey of Jesus, Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and their arduous search of lodging) are now little more than an excuse for a series of aimless adult parties. A posada where Budweiser beer and potato chips are served to the strains of “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” is as Mexican as that famous Texan dish, chili con carne.
The Mexican craze for Christmas trees has now reached such a frenzy that it threatens to destroy Mexico’s equilibrium. Reckless and uncontrolled tree felling in recent years led to this year’s ban on cutting pine trees anywhere in the republic.
2000
Four charged in Ajijic murder
State homicide investigators say they have solved the murders of Noris and Nancy Price following a confession of two Ajijic men in their early 20s.
Police say Diego Gaytan Vasquez, 20, and Raymundo Perales Fernandez, 22, were hired by Ajijic lawyer Mario Martinez Perez, 45, to carry out the crime. The two men said they were each promised 10,000 pesos for the job but were never paid.
The Prices, 12-year residents of the area, were shot to death in their Ajijic home June 15. According to investigators, Robert Dejka, a U.S. citizen who bore a long-standing grudge against Norris Price, paid Martinez $US60,000 to organize the hit.
The bad feeling between the men resulted from the time Price served as president of the Chapala Country Club in 1996 and 1997. Dejka had threatened Price after he was thrown out of the club for non-payment of an assessment fee.
2010
Feds attack bootleggers
Federal law enforcement officers swooped on the Lake Chapala region December 11 in a move aimed at putting a dent in the lucrative black market sales of pirated goods. Agents zoned in on street market vendors in Chapala, Poncitlan, Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, Ocotlan, Jamay and La Barca, seizing more than 30,000 bootleg CDs, DVDs, VCDs and MP3 recordings containing illicit reproductions of music and movies protected under copyright law. No arrests were reported during the surprise sting.
Local observers noted that within a day after the crackdown, merchants dealing in cheap knockoffs at the Chapala waterfront tourist market had essentially resumed business as usual.