There’s a familiar face in the top office at City Hall these days. In fact, in many of the offices. Alejandro Higuera Osuna was elected mayor at the age of 34 and served from 1998 to 2001. By a peculiar twist of Mexican law he could not be reelected to a second successive term, but now he’s back behind his familiar desk in the Municipal President’s office. That’s where the Pacific Pearl recently caught up with him for an interview. When his first term ended, the popular Higuera filed as a PAN party candidate for federal deputy (like a member of congress in the U.S.) and won hands down. He set off for Mexico City as a national legislator while Mazatlán went through three years and three mayors, each with different ideas on how to run things. What ever would make an up-and-coming politician like Higuera, now at the age of “40 and holding,” as he laughingly puts it, want to come back to the chaotic local scene after being a player on the national stage? He is quick to respond. And serious: “You know, the most valuable thing a politician can do is to serve his community — and do it in the right way. Perhaps as deputy I was able to help make laws that would benefit the nation, but as municipal president I can do things more urgently needed here at home.” Higuera admits that it’s going to be “difficult but not impossible” to rebuild a broken municipal government and “put things back in order. Mazatlán is going to see the stamp of our administration in the cleanliness, the security, the ease with which businesses can operate here. We’re determined to show the citizens who trusted us that we’re not going to fail them.” For readers who are new to the mayor’s hands-on style, he says he is continuing the outreach program that proved so successful the first time around. Instead of people coming to City Hall with their neighborhood problems, City Hall went to them. The mayor and his department heads, many of them back in their former jobs from his first administration, routinely spend Friday evenings in one of the urban colonias and Saturdays in an outlying community. Mazatlán, after all, is a municipality (county) rather than a city. The mayor’s formal title is municipal president, and the territory under his control is a

good-sized chunk of Southern Sinaloa stretching from El Quelite on the north to Walamo, beyond Villa Union, on the south, and eastward all the way to the Durango border. Before a municipal visit, crews go out to the area and tidy up the local plaza or public gathering place, check the public lighting, set up some shade and some chairs. In the neediest areas, they also bring a doctor, a dentist, a barber and a supply of clothing. With the mayor and his department heads in attendance, local residents can come forward and tell the mayor face to face about the garbage problem, the corner that needs a stop sign, whatever. As you can imagine, this is an extremely popular program. What about money? Did all those former governments leave anything for the new regime to work with? “Well, with an irresponsible government, the money does go,” Higuera says thoughtfully. “We’re traveling two roads: not making frivolous purchases and operating on an austere budget. A developing city like Mazatlán has to have its public services like efficient garbage pickup and clean streets . .” Regarding the IVA money collected by the federal government, the mayor estimates that “for every peso collected, 20 centavos comes back” to its original locality. But he seems sanguine about his ability to pay the bills. At least for now. Extensive social services may be beyond the reach of the municipal checkbook, but the mayor talks enthusiastically about what some of the Christian churches are doing to help feed and clothe the neediest Mazatlecos, especially the children. “If those groups are missionaries, so what? Teaching fear of God, the value of life, is a good thing. There are many roads to God. I’m Catholic, but I’m very tolerant.” On a busy day with his waiting room filled with petitioners, we wish him good luck and pause to ask one final question on behalf of the readers of the Pacific Pearl: Mayor Higuera, what would you like to say to the English-speaking residents and visitors to Mazatlan? Without hesitation, this is his reply: “We are very pleased that you come here to share our life, our culture, our food and our folklore. We in Mazatlán have a great capacity to make people feel at home. You’re not strangers here, you’re family.” jackie@pacificpearl.com