Clean Catemaco

The major news event in beautiful downtown Catemaco today was the delivery of 16 chintzy new brooms and accessories to some of the sweepers of Catemaco streets.

These sweepers are the heart and soul of Catemaco. Without them the city would look like a  mismanaged McDonald parking lot.

Of course, to deliver the sixteen brooms, 8 municipal government officials showed up on a platform, while 6 of the construction crew, who erected the presentation platform, idly waited to dismantle the platform for the next performance.

Presentation platforms are a major fountain of employment for Mexico's unemployed. Here in Catemaco, and I think that is true throughout Mexico, the first major expenditure of a new mayor is the construction of a new platform and background to deliver his speeches.

Usually (at least in Catemaco) the old mayor stole the lumber, so a new plywood and 2x4 contraption is constructed, and if the old mayor also stole the alphabet to post messages, there are dozens of Mexican companies waiting to replace them.

And, of course the city needs a triennial slogan that no one will forget, except for the park benches that were embossed with another slogan in a previous administration.

This year it is "Juntamos adelante". Great words meaning "Forward, together!" Does anyone remember the Chinese Revolution? or the ones from the next to last  Catemaco triennial "Escapate a Catemaco" "Escape to Catemaco"?

Here the favorite background color was red, supposedly indicating the blood spilled in the Mexican Revolution, or lately better known as the juice sucked out of its citizens.

The background on the platforms now is white, (The local Veracruz governor promoted rainbow colors in his administration, but the color of his aorta and its aherents is still solidly PRI red,  although the current mayor surprisingly decided to paint the primary touristic boulevard in a pleasant green.