Historic Laredo

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Above: Laredoans traveled to El Paso
in this truck to give testimony to a
Cabinet Committee hearing on
Mexican-American Affairs. The
Laredoans testified at the invitation of
Senator Ralph Yarborough.
COURTESY OF JUAN RAMIREZ
Below: Tensions rose around this
protest at Bruni Plaza. Activist Roberto
Valenzuela was arrested for an old
traffic violation in another state.
COURTESY OF JUAN RAMIREZ
which events like a Citizens’ Audit of the City
Street Department, subsequent Grand Jury
investigations, and new political voices portended
the exit from politics of Mayor J.C. Martin,
Jr., and the Old Party—events that heralded the
advent of a form of city governance that would
replace a century-old system.
The emotional substance of those seven or
eight minutes of film in which the mayor and
activist Lawrence Berry are alternately interviewed
by journalist Bill Moyers present a clear build-up
to the crescendo of historical events that filled the
headlines and news stories of those years.
CBS REPORTS rolls film at the residence of
the man who has been mayor of the City of
Laredo for 24 years, a man who despite the purpose
of Moyers’ visit and despite the pointedness
of his questions never ceases to be gracious
to the visiting newsman.
Moyers sets up the story by defining a patrón
and patronismo. Among other definitions, he
says, a patrón is an individual who has the ability
to manipulate thousands of docile poor people
who can’t speak English. In an interview in
the Mayor’s backyard—which a CBS film crew
contrasts with the unpaved disarray of a typical
barrio street—Moyers asks for J.C. Martin’s definition
of a patrón. Cordially, and thoughtfully,
Mayor Martin tells Moyers, “You could compare
patronismo to feudalism or something of that
nature where one man or two men or a group of
men had control over jobs and businesses and
stores and ranches, and so on. People got to
looking for those people for help or guidance
when guidance was needed.”
There is a glib earnestness to Martin’s
moments before the camera as he elaborates on
the “voter education program of that date and
time” and the process for the delivery of eight or
nine thousand votes to state and district candidates
who would best serve South Texas.
Martin tells Moyers, “A lot of people don’t
like to make their own political decisions,
although more do now than ever before.”
Moyers contrasts Martin’s genteel manner
with Lawrence Berry’s in-your-face confrontations
with the City Council at that time. There is
something quite telling about what this city has
been politically in the reactions of two Council
members who challenge Berry “to step outside”
in the moments after he asks Mayor Martin to
resign. Berry tells the Mayor he should bear
responsibility for the findings of a TOPS
(Taxpayers Organized for Public Service)
Citizens’ Audit, which revealed phantom
employees in the City’s Street Department and
outrageous expenditures for gasoline, batteries,
and radiators for the department’s 85 vehicles.
62 ✦ HISTORIC LAREDO