…Minerva had a plan and we had three days to put it into action.
During this entire time e-mails are passing back and forth but the calls are more important. I met with Jacinto in Juncalito. Jacinto wrote the letter we gathered over 1,000 signatures for and my speech for March 6th in Cabo. He had a difficult time figuring out the purpose of the meeting too. We decided to address our concerns as citizens on the issues we face and figured that FONMAR was a good point of discussion. I went back home and researched the observations that I have made with FONMAR as a service provider and also tallied up the money paid into the FONMAR fund when we bought fishing licenses from 2008 and 2009 (prior to spring 2008 we were required to pay CONAPESCA).
I held two more meetings with the captains on what we could do regarding the April 12th meeting. On Friday about a dozen of us gathered and the discussion went off in tangents. I was exhausted for lack of sleep because of bullshit politics within Eco Alianza (that have since been resolved thank goodness!) so I wasn’t able to direct the meeting as I usually do. At any rate we knew we needed to do something but we weren’t sure if we could even get the chance to be allowed inside the meeting room.
On Saturday I got several calls from Minerva that better explained the purpose of the meeting. She told me not to waste time preparing anything because we wouldn’t be allowed in anyway. She sent me the first draft of the presentation that Los Cabos was going to make and she sent me a copy of the presentation that Arturo Susarrey submitted.
They were definitely brewing something up in Cabo because I got more calls from Minerva. She explained that “some of us Loretanos can enter with Fransicso Cota”, the representative for the Sindicato (Union) of sport fishing boat owners of Los Cabos “as his invited guests”. Loretanos standing up with Los Cabos would add a nice touch of unity and would send the right message. Then Minerva phoned one more time to let me know Francisco Cota was coming from Cabo on Sunday afternoon. “He’ll leave very early and arrive in Loreto in the afternoon and he’ll be bringing “mantas” or protest signs. When Mr. Cota arrives in Loreto he will “call my cell and we will meet him to get the signs and coordinate”. Apparently two of these signs were still at the printer and it was already late Saturday afternoon.
A little background on “El Sindicato de Propietarios de Embarcaciones para la Pesca Deportiva de Los Cabos”. Minerva Saenz is the presidenta of this sindicato (union) and it was formed over 25 years ago. Since its inception the independent sport fishing boat owners of Los Cabos have become a formidable voice in defense of sport fishing in Mexico. If it were not for their strong efforts in the past we would not have Article 68 of the Ley Federal de Pesca which makes the Dorado, Marlin, Sailfish, Swordfish, Roosterfish and Tarpon protected from the commercial fishing and reserved for sport and recreational fishing within 50 nautical miles of the coastlines. This Article was made law in order to stimulate tourism, which just happens to be Mexico’s fourth largest economic contributor. But now this issue is getting too big for Los Cabos to confront alone and CONAPESCA is making headway. Los Cabos needs the help of other communities and we all need to unite so as to be an overwhelming voice for our interests at the national level.
The Sindicato de Propietarios de Embarcaciones para la Pesca Deportiva de Los Cabos has been very vocal on state and federal levels including testimonials and presentations in front of the senate and house of representatives. They have also been visual and confrontational. The most notorious case was with the passing of the Shark Norma 029 which allows smaller commercial fishing vessels to set lines within the 50 mile protected zone. This loophole in the name of “conservation” and even backed by Greenpeace and Defenders of Wildlife (clueless NGO’s, and more clueless NGO’s) is what has contributed to a very noticeable decline in sport fish catch results off Los Cabos and La Paz. On meeting in Los Cabos, Ramon Corral the head of CONAPESCA was faced with banners saying nasty things about his being a crony for commercial interests in light of NOM 029 and a boat was burned in protest inside the Cabo San Lucas marina.
We were made to understand that this meeting (minutes) of the “state council of fisheries” was being held in Loreto because with the “representative” they chose (Arturo Susarrey), the swiftness of its coordination and of course those nice distractions at the marina, no resistance would be encountered. This is a political thing (PRD) and Mr. Arturo likes to play politics and in fact states that he is “a friend of the governor”. It’s likely that thousands of people say that they are “a friend of the governor”. Name dropping has evolved to a strangely recognized, believed and highly specialized art form in Mexico. With their guy in Loreto “representing” “us”, they expect and uneventful event.
Las Mantas
Fransicso Cota must have set off from Cabo San Lucas pretty early because he called me at 1:00 p.m. We met him an hour later at the marina where he passed off the mantas. His family was all over the car and needed to rest, so we assured him that the people entering the meeting in the morning would see the signs. And we couldn’t wait to see the signs either!
The following day we met at the light house at 10:00 a.m. as planned the evening before. We had fajillas (1.5 inch wooden boards) to hang the two large signs on and all the other signs to be held or hung with fishing line if we decided to hang them. We were told that when a meeting of this importance takes place the property where it is held becomes public domain during the meeting. So we have the right to put up or hold up protest signs.
We drove to the Desert Inn at about 10:45 a.m. so that we could set up our signs at the main entrance and await the entourage entering the meeting. Since there are two possible accesses we made the signs mobile just in case they decided to use the secondary access over the main one. Here are some of our signs:
Ramon Corral will be remembered as the assassin of the aquarium of the world
Cousteau called this the Aquarium of the World, Mr. Corrall you are its assassin
Once we put ourselves in front of the hotel we were told to leave. We informed those eager to rid themselves of us that we were within our rights and that we wouldn’t be moving. Several police then requested we move. I had my iPhone and money ready to hand over to my husband in case we got arrested, but that never happened (whew!). Several local police who knew us arrived, and we knew it was cool when they gave us the thumbs up. Linda’s name was announced on the police radio within earshot and headquarters said “leave her alone she’s muy brava“. So they left us alone and they were cool with us we had fun and so did they. The manager of the Desert Inn tried to kick us out too but we held out ground so he gave up. He was just doing his job can’t blame the guy.
Soy hija de pescador - I'm a fisherman's daughter
This is Linda Ramirez daughter of Alfredo Ramirez. It was a symbolic and powerful place for her to be doing this because about 8 years ago her dad Alfredo died of a heart attack in the same meeting room at the Desert Inn. He died defending the Sea of Cortez and Linda is continuing his fight.
Linda and I were elemental in getting those signs displayed. Most of the men folk chickened out or backed out for one reason or another. Several had to be present in the Circus at the marina. There were over thirty motors displayed which about matched the number of guys waiting in line for them. Many thought they were getting a motor. That deception was scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. and the meeting at Desert Inn didn’t start until about 11:45 a.m.
The first two signs were fresh off the presses from Cabo when we received them and the rest were brought out of storage from the NOM 029 protests. Once we displayed the signs we just hung out, joked around and had fun and ducked into the shade when we could. The men folk that did stick around proved to be most helpful while there in serving cold water and helping hold signs.
Sport fishing is constructive NOM 029 is destructive...and other messages of the like
One of these dudes wants to mayor, good move schmoozing with the fishermen during a rightful protest!
Is that a real scientist or a Sears scientist?
The meeting was long. We would hear bits and pieces about it like how good the Los Cabos presentation was. As compared to the weak presentation given “Loreto’s representative” Arturo. Try google translate to translate the documents.
We thought it was ending when a driver started the mayor’s Chevy SUV and fired up the A/C but almost two hours later the vehicle with A/C on was still running. People buzzed all around. There were many hand shakes followed by an increasing frequency of general schmoozing, then they started to pour out. Loreto’s mayor Yuan Yee Cunningham drove right past us with our Governor sitting in the passenger seat and Ramon Corral in the back. There was no way they missed those signs. Then Linda decided that since the Guv kept all those guys waiting at the marina for over two hours, we ought to pay tribute and march behind their SUV with our sign.
The Police shook their heads, smiled and made sure nobody ran us over as they followed about 300 meters behind us. We had to fight an oncoming North wind too and really felt it when we turned the corner on Constituyentes and Lopez Mateos. But we made it to the marina just in time for the big show. The fishing men folk didn’t know what to do with us “loca cabronas”.
Below is a little clip from when I videoed while Linda was holding the other side of the sign. We were right near the street when we first arrived. Speeches were made. Rafael of Dolphin Dive Center gave an unexpected thank you speech when receiving the keys to his new motor. He said “it is nice to receive this new motor but what good will it be if our marine resources are depleted?” Good question and he was brave to express himself like that. Arturo looked at us then looked away, fiddled with his cell phone then went under the big top.
After awhile we decided to move on over to where the motors were displayed so that we could add some local color to the photos. We arrived just in time for Ramon Corral’s speech. Here’s a little video clip of that. What I don’t have is a photo of us holding up the sign. I am videoing while holding the sign.
After Ramon finished up it was the governor’s turn. Suddenly a bunch of guys with state shirts on walked in front of our sign and more of them congregated. They were standing in front of our nice sign that said “The oceanographer Yves-Jacques Cousteau baptized the Sea of Cortez as the aquarium of the world. Sr. Ramon Corral you are the assassin of the aquarium of the world”. Now why do you suppose Narciso would be offended by a little sign like that? He’s definitely seen worse.
Well what would you think two ladies holding a huge sign with wooden posts would do if it were being blocked by a dozen guys with their arms crossed? Hold up the sign over their heads of course! And that’s what we did. I hope someone got a picture this. It would have made a fine portrait.
We acted like we were fishing by holding the sign up against the North wind but its a good thing we’re both experienced fishing persons and have the stamina it took. Fighting belts would have helped though. Meanwhile the Loretano fishing men folk looked on and wondered what we’d do next.
After the guv talked it was pretty much a done deal as the importantes were fixing to leave. So we thought it would be a good idea to go for a bite to eat. As we loaded up the signs into the bed of our green Ford Ranger, Francisco and Linda tied on the “Maldita Maldicion Nom 029″ banner. According to Google Translate it means “damned damned NOM 029″ but in reality its taken to mean something a bit more colorful than that. We drove down the malecon to Macaw’s de nuevo for some burgers.
Angie's place, Macaws on the malecon
When we got to the restaurant I wanted to hang a sign on the other side of the truck because we only had the Maldita Maldicion sign on the South facing side but I was talked out of it. So we went upstairs to eat, drink and be merry and have fun talking about the day. I’m not sure what made us all get up and go over to the second story balcony to look out over the malecon, but it was timely. When the governor’s entourage with Ramon Corral and our mayor came at us from the North, they passed an ordinary looking green Ford Ranger in an empty street-side lot. When they turned the loop at the Hotel Oasis and proceeded in the other direction back towards us they had a perfect view of the “Maldita Maldicion NOM 029″ sign that was hung on the side of the truck. And since the parking stalls are at a diagonal the sign faced them dead on as they drove past. It couldn’t have been better if we had planned it. Priceless!
Now that we were able to get some laffs the not so funny part was discovered several days later. Of the thirtysomething motors that were “given away” and on display for all to see, only seven motors went to Loretanos. Of these motors, one went to an accountant named Mr. Jorge Santesteban (hmmm, he’s not of the fishing sector), another went to a municipal worker (who is also not a fisherman), TWO went to Arturo Susarrey (you know, that fisherman who’s in dire need of some economic stimulus from the Government), one went to Rafael of Dolphin dive Center and three went to other legitimate fishermen from the Loreto community. The rest were on their way to Commondu which is the other side (Pacific) of our state. The other 25 or so guys that have been waiting for one to two years for their motors were angry for having been used as props in political propaganda photos. Bummer.
On reflecting back at the recorded history of the Mexican Revolution, I am certain that those Adelitas haven’t received the recognition they deserve.
When Dorado are commercially fished in the Sea of Cortez, so am I. HELP ME!
My next post will be a challenge to you turtle huggers…you know who you are. Now its time to stand up for what you say you believe in. This Dorado initiative is a direct threat to the survival of Sea Turtles in the Sea of Cortez.
Hasta la proxima vez.
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