November 4, 2013 · 4:09 pm

Getting Legal–Trip 3

SEGOB office in San Miguel de Allende

SEGOB office in San Miguel de Allende

I had been aiming to make the third trek to San Miguel de Allende around the 13th of the month, thinking that time and finances would be better. However, my husband started worrying me about the trip, asking me when was the last day I could go and what I had to do in this next step and hence I started having nightmares that I had missed out on getting my papers by one day or that I completely forgot to go and then was thrown out of México. So I moved up the date of the trip, after having checked on the official website to see that my papers had been approved for the next step on the 10th of this month, a mere 12 days after I submitted them (See Getting Legal–Trip 2) I remembered seeing a sign in the office saying I had 30 days for tramites so just to be safe, we would go the 9th. Maybe even stop in San Pedro for some shoes.

My husband woke up and started marching around at 4 a.m. that morning, for who knows what reason. He was worried about taking care of the animals before we left. However, that whole process (taking Beauty and Shadow to pasture and moving Shrek and Fiona to a fresh grassy spot) took a whopping 15 minutes. The goats, chickens and ducks were not awake yet, so no point in throwing food at them so early as food lying about is an open invitation to ants.

So we left the house super early. Each of us said our prayers for a safe journey and we were off. Well, not quite. Our truck battery had decided to call it quits, so my son and I gave old Butch (the truck) a good shove to get her going and then we were off.

We stopped for gas as it doesn’t do to start a trip without a full tank (see Driving Hazards–Gas and Illumination) and the truck wouldn’t start again. Fortunately, at that hour, there was little traffic and we could push-start.

Having gotten up at an unearthly hour, my husband needed an extra cup of coffee, which then required an emergency pit-stop just before we got to Celaya. As the battery was still giving us fits, we had to give it another push to get going again.

We made it through Celaya without a transito stop (See Driving Hazards–Police stops) but we weren’t too worried since our verficación sticker (inspection sticker) was still good until the end of the month. (See Getting Legal–Trip 1)

We arrived in San Miguel de Allende at 8:30 and parked in the bus stop area near the immigration office because it was on a slight downhill slant. My husband stayed in the car in case transitos (traffic police) came cruising by and I went to stand in line.

The office opened at 9 a.m. and I marched myself to the little window for a number. I was #6, so it was only 9:30 or so when it was my turn. The business tycoon in front of me gave the girl a hard time about his papers not being ready and I was feeling smug about how my papers were all in order until she told me that although I had been approved for processing, the next step was to make the payment of $3815 pesos.

What??? I thought the next step was to leave my fingerprints to send to D.F. for approval and then the 4th step was the payment and told her as much. About this time, my husband came in (I expect to check on me) and said that it wasn’t the girl’s fault, so I shouldn’t take it out on her. I thought I was calm about it–ok, so deep down I knew I had transformed into the type of annoying ex-pat that I feel superior to when he or she starts in on the inefficiency of the Mexican immigration process. But I couldn’t help it.

So my husband took over. He asked when the last day was that I could process my papers. She looked it over and said I had about a month. She also said that it might be possible to process my fingerprints the same day as the payment so that I would not have to make another trip. She was helpful and polite. However, my blood pressure had already risen and I was having some problem getting ahold of myself.

I had canceled all my classes for the day for this trip. I had spent money I didn’t have to spare for gas for this trip. I had been awake since 4 a.m. for this trip. I didn’t have the money to make the payment today. Yaddy-yaddy-yah.

My husband took hold of my arm and escorted me from the building. He pointed out that being upset wouldn’t change a thing. Since when has he been the paragon of virtue in the patience department? I certainly didn’t need any lessons from him. So I sat in silence and stewed in my own juices until we got to Celaya in mourning for my new shoes.

In Celaya, of course, there was a traffic stop for verification stickers, but we breezed through without incident. I started to calm down a bit. We stopped in San Pedro as we had planned. I didn’t see any shoes I liked, so I felt a little better about that loss.

Then we went to the roadside buffet we liked, but again I was out of luck. Usually, I get rice, beans, and huevos rancheros or nopales, but today everything was pork. Pork in mole. Pork in tomatillo salsa. Pork in red sauce. Blah! So just beans and rice for me thank you. Disappointing. Then the pushing of the truck took longer since there was no incline and my son and I huffed and puffed nearly 1/8 of a mile until it started, but it did start and we made it home safely.

I suggested that next time we pray for a safe journey and successful completion of the task at hand. Perhaps we had not been specific enough in our prayers. I was so tired and down that I took an afternoon siesta that afternoon. Maybe the next trip would be better.

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October 27, 2013 · 4:14 pm

Negotiating for La Yacata–The response

cow patty

This cow patty represents my current opinion of the legal system here in Mexico.

Having made our offer to the nieces/lawyers of the pozo guy, we made an appointment to receive their answer en 8 días (the following Friday) at the same time.

Super Prez had an appointment to take his daughter for her first confession at 6:00, but we weren’t anticipating the meeting to take too long and so he wasn’t overly worried. R2, G, Super Prez and I waited until 6:30 p.m. before R2 called the pozo guy to see what was up.

To our surprise, the pozo guy didn’t have any idea there was a meeting and didn’t seem in the least bit worried about his case. He even said that the issue with La Yacata was old, even though the third demanda (lawsuit) for the amount of $500,000 is relatively recent. (See Demanda 3–What the….?) He told us we should contact his lawyers and then hung up.

R2 said he would contact the lawyers and see about setting up a second meeting en 8 días (the following Friday) at the same time. He also mentioned that he had seen Chuchi that week. Chuchi told him that he had taken the liberty of giving R2’s phone number to the pozo guy, who had apparently lost it. When R2 mentioned that we had an appointment that Friday, Chuchi said “Le encargo mío tambíen”–which is to say I am holding you responsible for resolving my case as well.

I dislike this expression of “le encargo” since it gives the responsibility of fixing or obtaining to the recipient and removes responsibility from the supplicant. When I had the Crap Shoppe open (See Failing at your own business–Crap Shoppe) I had several things I was to be encargado for on my next trip to the States, jeans, stockings, shirts etc. Those that made the petitions made no mention when and if they would return to then buy the things that I spent time obtaining.

Regardless, Chuchi seems to be of the opinion that R2 is biddable or bribable, which knowing his reputation is entirely possible and makes me even less than satisfied with our current legal representation.

We laughed at Chuchi’s presumption and adjourned.

The following Friday, I arrived early to the office to find that Super Prez was out of town. I asked his secretary to call him and see if we were even having the junta (meeting) because it looked as if was going to rain and I didn’t relish a wet trip home to La Yacata on the moto. She called and Super Prez said he would call R2 to see what was up and call back. Fifteen minutes later, Super Prez called back to say that I could go home since the pozo guy was not going to come and furthermore felt that the offer was muy baja (too low). Since we weren’t inclined to any more negotiation, the court case continues.

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October 18, 2013 · 4:05 pm

Negotiating for La Yacata–Making the Offer

rainbow over la yacata

There are simple things, every day, that take your breath away.

We set up the meeting with el perforador del pozo (well hole digger) Friday at 6 (See Negotiating for La Yacata–The Preliminary Meeting) and received confirmation that he would attend. Super Prez asked that G, me, and R2 meet at 5:30 to make sure we were all in agreement with the offer that was to be made.

When I arrived, Super Prez informed me that he had an appointment with the iglesia (church) at 6 p.m. that he had forgotten about–a meeting with el padre (priest) about his daughter’s first communion. He had wished to leave G as his spokesperson, however, we hadn’t been able to reach him to tell him of the meeting. He thought about leaving R2 in charge, as he is out legal representative after all and charging us the big bucks, however, I wasn’t in agreement with that. I said that he couldn’t leave me as the spokesperson because I was both female and gringa (non-Mexican) and that might stir all sorts of hostilities with the macho men. Finally, he asked his brother to stand in his stead at the church meeting, which I am sure didn’t make his wife too happy.

At 6, the representatives of the pozo guy arrived. They were female, and here I had been worried about my presence!! R2 still hadn’t arrived and when Super Prez called said he was 5 minutes away. Twenty minutes later, he did finally call to let us know he was outside. Super Prez and I slipped out the side door to meet with him.

Our points would be–
1)while not acknowledging that the perforation had been made in the area known as La Yacata, we would propose that the association make good on the debt for the work done in the digging
2)that we would deduct the amount of the legal costs we had and would pay to our lawyer from the amount of the debt
3) that if this court case continued, it could become a penal case which would mean jail time for the pozo guy

We went back in and sat down at the table.

Everything seemed pretty straightforward to me, but the conversation got a bit out of control.

We exchanged greetings with the muchachas (young ladies). Both looked to be in their mid-twenties and were reportedly nieces and lawyers of the pozo guy. I was not sure why such a macho man as the pozo guy would send women to represent him, unless he thought that their youth and femininity would help his cause. His local legal representative (and Chuchi’s lawyer) is also female.

We waited until the first muchacha abogada (lady lawyer) made the offer. She said her uncle wanted a payment of $560,000, without any more talk interest or court costs, and he would like it sooner rather than later.

So SuperPrez countered with the fact that he had made a similar offer when this all started some 2 years ago and had been refused and that was before he discovered that the perforation was outside of La Yacata. Now the situation was complicated by the fact that the association would have to make arrangements with the current owner to even use the pozo (well) AND that these court proceedings were to cost us $300,000 pesos. So the counter offer was $200,000.(See The third demanda–What the…?)

The first muchacha abogada (lady lawyer) didn’t think that offer would be accepted. She said that her uncle was paying her with properties rather than cash and that each party would have to assume the responsibility of the court costs. She directed her comments to R2 saying that as lawyers they had to be understanding about payments and accept what was offered. (If you’ll remember, R2 has not accepted an offer of property as payment from the association saying that his children have to eat 3 times a day and properties won’t feed them. I will point out that his grown children are not starving and in no way, shape or form, will they starve if he accepts the land offer.)

So somehow or other, SuperPrez brought me into the conversation. He pointed out that the population of La Yacata is that of extreme pobreza (poverty-level) and here was la maestra (the teacher) who left a first-world country to live in such destitute conditions and was writing about it. I have no idea what prompted him to mention that little tidbit.

Regardless of his reasoning, I used that trailer as a segue into my main point with a “well, you can all read the book when it is published but what you have to understand now is that the population of La Yacata is very angry about the current legal situation.” This is true. In fact, we haven’t even wanted to mention that there is a third demanda (lawsuit) against the colonia (community). And since we haven’t wanted to mention that, we haven’t had any juntas (meetings) all rainy season. And without juntas (meetings) we haven’t been able to collect any payment to pay the lawyer for the money we owe on the first case, much less the second, and now there is a third… How are we to convince the colonos (community members) to pay for the pozo (well) when many already have and furthermore we have no proof that the perforation is even usable?

The fluffy muchacha abogada (lady lawyer) asked if the colonos understood that both the colonia and the pozo guy had been defrauded by Chuchi. We all nodded, but that didn’t change the fact that we had received threats from colonos (community members) about this issue with some coming into SuperPrez’s office and threatening to fix the situation with ballasos (bullets).

So R2 chimed in and pointed out that the situation could become penal (he likes that phrasing) with Chuchi and the pozo guy both doing jail time for the fraudulent pagaré (promissory note) that was currently being investigated by a neutral investigator set by the judge.

Even with that blatant threat of jail time, the ambiance remained pleasant, not exactly friendly, but not hostile. The first muchacha abogada (lady lawyer) said that she would present the offer to her uncle and let us know his answer.
We agreed to meet the following Friday at 6 for the results and further negotiation.

Super Prez dashed out of the office, an hour late for his meeting with the church.

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