CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — REALS 



109 



estimated that the project of merely replacing 

 the wooden aqueduct would cost between $2,500 

 and $3,000, and efforts were being made to get 

 the Federal Government to provide the money. 

 Actually the job could have been done by an 

 assessment little larger than that called for by 

 the two main fiestas of the town, but such an 

 idea had not occurred to anyone. This feeling 

 that major improvements should be made by 

 outside agencies is a common one in Mexico. 



This attitude was somewhat reinforced by 

 the action of the Federal Government in ex- 

 tending a power line to the town and supplying 

 it with street lighting. In this case, it is true, 

 the town was required to provide the posts for 

 the power system. Comisionados were named 

 who cut the posts and charred the ends under 

 the direction of the sindico. However, this 

 involved expenditure of labor rather than of 

 money. 



A number of road repair jobs are undertaken 

 from time to time. In 1940, in preparation for 

 the harvest, the community repaired part of the 

 road toward Nahuatzen. A new entry into 

 town was made which avoided the necessity of 

 crossing a bridge over the southern barranca. 

 The existing bridge was in bad repair, and 

 replacement was thus postponed. 



ELECTIONS 



Elections in Cheran ostensibly follow regular 

 legal forms. Extensive and nearly complete 

 lists of voters are prepared by the municipal 

 officials. Some 2 or 3 weeks before the election 

 the mayor calls a town meeting to nominate 

 candidates. The mayor asserted that everyone 

 was invited in 1940 but that very few attended. 

 Most of those, he insisted, had been rounded 

 up by the police. Others felt that only the most 

 influential people in town were invited. In 

 either case, apparently only about 50 persons 

 attended. As at the 1940 election barrios II 

 and IV were to elect members of the ayunta- 

 miento, two tickets were nominated. These 

 tickets were forwarded to the State offices of 

 the PRM (Partido Revolucionario Mexicano) 

 in Morelia, and the second of the two tickets 

 was approved as the official PRM ticket. This 

 must have been an act of prestidigitation on the 

 part of the State officials, for there was nothing 

 to choose between the two tickets and the State 



officials could have had no basis for selection. 

 Actually, the suplenfe in barrio II was one of 

 the reactionary members of the community, 

 leader of the aces. He was chosen solely to 

 stop his constant criticism of the administration. 



The election was held on December 1, 1940. 

 In theory, the first Sunday of December is the 

 usual day. A commission, named by the mayor 

 15 days before, conducted the elections. Two 

 ballot boxes were placed at opposite ends of the 

 corredor in front of the municipio, one for each 

 barrio. Only 45 votes were cast in barrio II 

 and only 25 in barrio IV. The result of the 

 election was to select the official PRM ticket in 

 barrio II and the "opposition" ticket in 

 barrio IV. 



The procedure resulted in the mayor for the 

 succeeding year, the successful candidate for 

 barrio II, being elected by the majority of the 

 45 votes cast in that barrio. The mayor-elect 

 promptly got very drunk and paraded from 

 saloon to saloon for 2 or 3 days, shouting, "Yo 

 y Avila Camacho — I and Avila Camacho." 

 (Camacho was about to be installed as Presi- 

 dent of the Republic.) Murmurs of protest 

 about the new mayor began to be heard on 

 every side, becoming louder and louder. By 

 the end of the month rumors of violence at the 

 installation of the new ayuntamiento on Janu- 

 ary 1 were heard on every side. Loudest to 

 complain were those who had attended neither 

 the nominating junta nor the elections. 



On January 1 very few people attended the 

 installation of the new officers. The new 

 officials went at the head, the new mayor in the 

 middle, on his right the new sindico, and on his 

 left the judge. The mayor carried a bandera, 

 a round disk with the national colors in three 

 vertical stripes, while his two companions car- 

 ried ribbons hanging down from the bandera. 

 Behind the new officials came the reserva, then 

 a relatively small group of males. At the rear 

 came the band. The procession made a circuit 

 about the plaza and streets of the central part 

 of town. Cohetes were fired off as the proces- 

 sion started and at each corner where it changed 

 direction. 



On the return to the municipio, the new 

 mayor made a speech, received with a scattering 

 of handclaps. The jefe politico, Moises Valen- 

 cia, made another speech, urging cooperation 



