Tag Archives: La Yacata

October 18, 2013 · 4:05 pm

Negotiating for La Yacata–Making the Offer

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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Negotiating for La Yacata–The Preliminary Meeting

This is the machine that drilled the hole that pretends to be a well.

Everything takes much longer than anticipated in México. That is especially true of legal issues. More than a year and a half since the first demanda (lawsuit) we were still struggling to pay the lawyer his due. The second demanda (lawsuit) had not been resolved. And the third demanda (lawsuit) was also at a standstill.

As both Chuchi and the perforador del pozo (well-hole driller) had approached R2 after the last court appearance, (See Demanda 3–What the….?) Super Prez decided to take advantage of that and see if we could close up once and for all these infernal demandas (lawsuits).

Super-Prez, G, the new secretary that replaced R1 who had abdicated to the U.S., me and R2 our lawyer, had a preliminary meeting. We wanted to know where we stood and what legal options we had.

G and I arrived promptly at 5. At 5:15, Super Prez called me and said he was nearly there. R2 didn’t arrive until 5:30. In the meantime, we brought G up to date on the third demanda (lawsuit).

Super-Prez stepped out for drinks and gum. While he was gone, R2 began blustering about how albañiles (bricklayers) are all drunks, that they live in crappy houses and that they never try and better their positions in life. I listened for a bit but finally had to say that my husband was a bricklayer and that my house was well constructed and we were bettering our lives. It didn’t seem to phase him. He said that there was an exception to everything and that my husband must be an exception.

Needless to say, this didn’t set a positive tone for our meeting, at least from my point of view. But, down to business.

We wanted to know what the consequences would be for Chuchi and the pozo guy should they lose. As all signs point to their loss, we wanted to know if we had anything to tempt them with so as to end this a bit earlier.

R2 said that it could be penal and incur jail time, but he wasn’t clear on how much.

Then we wanted to know what would happen if they lost and appealed the judge’s ruling. I was especially interested in this point because my father-in-law’s court case has now been moved to Guanajuato since the Moroleón police refuse to admit guilt. (See On Life and Liberty).

R2 said that either party could appeal and that the case would be moved to a higher court in Guanajuato.

We also wanted to know how much R2 was going to charge us for these 3 court cases so as to deduct that amount from any offer we made to the pozo guy.

R2 hemmed and hawed about his answer, talking about his being more than fair in waiting for money and percentage rates and how even though the case wasn‘t active that didn‘t mean he wasn‘t working on it and I don‘t remember what else. I finally stopped him and told him the reason we were interested was to have an estimate to include in our calculations, not to argue about his pay. So he gave a rough figure of $300,000, 15% of the total amount of first demanda (lawsuit), and 10% of the subsequent demandas (lawsuits).

As R2 continued his monolog on our cases, he muddled up the issues, confusing the second demanda (lawsuit) from Chuchi over water right permits and this demanda (lawsuit) over a pagaré (promissory note) of $500,000 pesos. Super Prez wanted to know if we could obligate Chuchi to pay to pozo guy, but it didn’t seem like we could.

So all in all, we thought to offer the pozo guy $500,000 minus legal expenses, thus $200,000 providing we have legal rights to the perforation. We also wanted the copies of the original permit to drill and the well study that proved that the perforation could be used as a water source. R2 thought our offer was laughable and said as much. We thought we could up the ante as much as $250,000 but we didn’t feel that it was fair that we should pay legal expenses over something not caused by us. We also would be clear in saying that we would be willing to make this deal even though the well had been drilled in an area outside the deeded area called La Yacata.

We decided that any negotiation with Chuchi would take place after we met with the pozo guy and would depend on whether or not he had the water rights permit in his possession. As Super Prez learned on good authority that those certificates had been returned to the seller after the seller had taken out a lien on Chuchi’s house, we were pretty sure he didn’t have them and, therefore, had nothing we were interested in.

R2 wanted to know why we hadn’t put a demanda against Chuchi when he had been conducting meetings when he was no longer the president of the association. (See Who’s in charge?) I said that we had tried but as the legal representative–president J– hadn’t shown up that day, the Public Ministry had shut the door in our faces. Seems like we lost the opportunity there.

Although I think we still might be able to put a counter-lawsuit against Chuchi on the basis that he endangered our properties by these legal proceedings. Those of us that are living there also are at risk of losing our homes because of his shenanigans. Plus, we still do not have running water, electricity or sewer. I will have to ask some more on this issue I think.

So, we arranged to contact the pozo guy and set up a meeting for the following week.

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Filed under La Yacata Revolution

Tagged as La Yacata, lawsuits in Mexico, legal issues in Mexico, Moroleón

August 11, 2013 · 3:36 pm

Donkey races in La Yacata

Shrek is on the left and Fiona on the right. Both are still sporting their shaggy baby hair.

Well, even after my husband decided that burros weren’t for us (See On Being a Burro), he went and bought Fiona. She was a lovely gray donkey about a year old. She seemed quite passive, none of the kicking and rearings that prompted us to pass Donquita on to my father-in-law.

Then about a week later, as no burro is complete without a mate, he bought Shrek. He wasn’t nearly as good looking but seemed just as amiable. He was younger than Fiona by several months and still had most of his long shaggy baby fur.

So the first thing to be done was to try them out, to see if they are going to be working burros or were going to refuse to pull the plow. Fiona, as the elder, was given first go. She huffed and puffed, but was too small to draw. Shrek, although younger and a bit smaller, turned out to be the stronger of the two, although he tired easily, which is understandable. My husband was well pleased.

Shrek even lent a hand, or hoof, in plowing the field for the summer course I was working at. The kids were thrilled to have such a visitor.

On your mark. . .

Two burros now meant Donkey Races!! My son had a general mistrust for Fiona (perhaps because she balked one day and threw him into a pile of pig poop) and preferred to ride Shrek. My husband, although his feet nearly dragged on the ground, rode Fiona.

And the winner is. . .

Up and down they rode with my son and Shrek coming in first. Once Fiona and Shrek get a bit stronger, perhaps we can host some official Donkey Races in La Yacata, charge admission and take bets….hmmm. Future business opportunity??