Original subtitles

This is the story of Antolin Jimenez...

...a charro that was a revolutionary, a mason, a politician...

...and a businessman.

One of his strangest adventures...

...was to organize an army of charros to fight the Nazis.

No one told me about his story...

...it was hidden in my family...

...and it took me 4 years to understand it.

Antolin was my grandfather.

Nobody had a personal anecdote about him.

Nobody ever said: "Grandpa took me to the park...

...or told me a bedtime story."

I have no photographs with him.

Although there are 700 pictures in his file...

...I have not a single picture of the two together.

He died 9 months after I was born.

Everything was stunning...

...yet at the same time it was cold and mysterious...

Honestly, I did not feel much empathy...

...and now I understand why.

Behind all this splendor there was a secret.

I find it fascinating that he reinvented himself...

...so many times in his life, and 36 years of mine had to pass...

...to learn about all these identities.

I believe that any grandchild would have loved to hear...

...these stories about his grandfather...

...but we were not told at all...

Why?

The house my grandma Alicia owns in Claveria...

...is, to this day, covered in pictures of him...

...dressed as a "Charro".

His presence was a constant for everyone in the Jimenez family.

His story of success was a legend that spread by word of mouth...

...and its origin was unquestioned because it was also unknown.

I think we just assumed he was someone who mingled with important people...

...knew how to make money...

...had a certain degree of recognition at his job...

...and left my grandma a house full of ostentatious objects...

...somewhat bourgeois habits, and memories.

This is the story of my grandfather Antolin Jimenez...

...that includes different stories from my country...

...in which my grandfather took part.

In 2010, the Mexican Embassy in El Paso, Texas...

...invited me to present a project that consisted...

...in mobile video interventions done in specific urban contexts...

...better known as Videoman.

The expo was to celebrate 100 years of the Mexican Revolution.

I recall that in my childhood I was told that my grandfather...

...was a "Villa’s Golden Soldier".

So I went to my grandmother’s house to review his photographic archive...

...and interview my uncles.

-What’s up? -Long time no see!

-How are you? -Good. Yourself?

It’s been a while since I last saw you.

Hello, hello. How are you?

We came to interview you.

It is important. To know my grandfather’s story.

-No, no, no. -Come on, 10 minutes.

I would like to know what upsets you about him?

Why do you want to know?

What things you don't like about the life of my grandfather?

Just because.

Hello?

How are you, mom?

I'm doing well, more or less, I still have a headache.

Do you feel better after what we talk about this morning?

Ok, then...

Listen, the best thing to do if you have problems with my uncles is...

If they have something to say, tell them to talk to me.

"Listen, he is old enough, if you participated...

...or if you have a suggestion or recommendation...

...tell Fernando", and don't put yourself in that position.

Well, they wanted to participate in a project about the charros...

...and all that, they didn't imagine how far it could go.

You just want me to pay tribute to my grandfather...

...but still, we are going to dig up...

...the skeletons in the closet, bring them into the light, because...

...it would be good that they could speak of that.

An issue that they hid from all the nephews and grandchildren.

I didn't find out until 3 years ago.

My grandfather Antolin and my grandmother Alicia had a big family.

7 sons and 13 grandsons.

The oldest one was Sara.

Then my uncle Antolin followed.

Yoya was born next.

She died when she was 3 apparently because she ate ripe fruit.

Then came my aunt Gela, and afterwards my uncle Eduardo.

Finally, like a cherry in a cake, came the twins...

...aunt Elena and Eugenia who is my mother...

...the youngest of the clan.

In my grandmother’s house I found many photographs...

...press clippings, transparencies...

...and an 8 mm footage.

For example...

...we are still finding more photos...

...that are to be revised at some point...

...more transparencies...

...the family...

He certainly had fought in the Mexican Revolution...

...but I didn’t know he had done so many things.

In awe, I decided to follow my grandfather’s footsteps.

Why had no one told us all these stories?

Who had kept so meticulously all these archives?

What motivated him to join the Revolution?

How did he get from Tabasco, his hometown...

...to fight alongside Pancho Villa in Chihuahua?

The exact date when he joined the Revolution is unknown.

My father says that when...

...General Villa arrived, he was eating some grapes...

...and my father went and waited to be called...

Villa told him:

"Get closer, young man", so my father approached...

...then Villa continued: “I’ve got some background on you.

Would you like to join the Villa’s 'Golden Soldiers'?"

My grandfather was 25 years old when he was appointed at Torreon...

..."Lieutenant Colonel of the Conventionist Army".

The document which proofs this is dated on 1915.

...and it is signed by Manuel Madinaveitia...

...an acclaimed General of Villa who, as most revolutionaries...

...switched sides several times.

When your grandfather was appointed by the conventionalist army...

...we are at a special moment of the revolution.

It is precisely the moment in which the Carranza party...

...the Villa party, and the Zapata party...

...got divided into two main bands.

Antolin participated in the famous Battle of Torreon...

...one of the most decisive military clashes...

...of the Mexican Revolution.

When my grandfather was 26 years old...

...he recalled that his greatest deed was to blow up...

...a train in the outskirts of Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua.

But in those times, blowing up a train, crazy machine style...

...meaning letting the train filled with dynamite go loose...

...against the railway station, it was more or less an everyday thing.

My dad would show us the scars he had in his leg and in his arm...

...when telling us those stories.

"It’s not that I was there and all that..."

But it was really a good adventure and that is it.

Madinaveitia, as did other generals from the "North Division"...

...abandoned Pancho Villa after the defeats in Celaya and Agua Prieta.

When Villa, I think, was about to lose...

...he told all of his companions...

...that they should make their own way because they had lost...

...that is what I... they had already lost...

...the Revolution.

My uncle did not say a word.

He grabbed his things and went to The Mixteca.

Yes, from Oaxaca to Mixteca.

Antolin realized that in the Revolution...

...everyone fights against each other.

That his superiors were being betrayed, trapped...

...and shot dead...

...so he took the chance to forsake his military career...

...and look for a new occupation.

Those who laid down arms and could help starting...

...a new system in the post war ruins...

...were usually rewarded with a new position.

My grandfather was named inspector of alcohol and stamp duty.

A whole taxman.

That is how he started to capitalize.

That, and a bag of gold given to him by "The North Centaur", he said.

Yes, a lot of money, gold.

But that woman, who helped him...

...buried the evidence, all the money that my uncle was carrying.

That is when my aunt married my uncle.

When they met she was shoeless, as it used to be back then.

Without shoes.

On June 27th, 1917...

...he married Maria Cao Romero...

...a dark skinned beauty from Teposcolula, Oaxaca.

Who was this lady?

My grandfather's first wife,

...whom nobody in my family talked about.

Is it feasible that only with a bag of gold and his new job...

...my grandfather made a fortune?

What stories are hidden in Antolin’s archives?

It has been 40 years since my dad died.

I don’t care what he did.

That was his life.

I don’t want you to say anything.

Here we see him in his office.

Here we see him, for example, as a mason.

Here he has his apron and lateral band...

...which is something very typical of Masons that comes from its symbolism.

After the cosmic dust and revolutionary lead...

...the search for money and kisses...

...Antolin went into the world of brotherhoods with the intention...

...of ascending in the realm of Mexican politics.

January 3rd, 1929.

Logia Fenix 13.

And here in the back...

...we find...

...a hat.

That should be...

...I suppose Masonic.

I don't know what "Anezeh" means...

...but it's sound Arabic.

The masons are a group which have existed for centuries in secret...

...in order to carry out activities prohibited for thousands of years:

Exchanging ideas and arranging complicities.

That is the reason why from its ranks have sprung...

...great number of thinkers, politicians...

...public figures and philanthropists.

You know masonry does not work out of self-interest...

...they work for others, to serve.

Being a mason gave my father the opportunity...

...to become a good politician.

The circle of power in Mexican politics is full of masons...

...amongst them were Vicente Guerrero...

...Benito Juárez...

...Lazaro Cardenas...

...but also Ernesto Zedillo...

...and Carlos Salinas.

My grandfather Antolin joined the ranks of the masons...

...in 1920 in Torreon, Coahuila.

When he saw what Masons were about...

...he began to move up the ranks until he reached...

...the maximum degree.

33rd degree Grandmaster.

I don't know which are the steps to become this, but...

...it's also interesting to see how the 33, the two-headed eagle...

...the Masonic Eye of Providence, the Iztaccihuatl...

...and the Popocatepetl are all blended in together.

When masons began to loose strength, this political strength they had...

...because of the rise of mass parties...

...the great popular organizations...

...something quite interesting about them remained...

...which is social service labor...

...and much of them will transit from masonry...

...to social service clubs like the Lions, Rotary Club...

...the Kiwanis. Well, all of these things can be found...

...and will maintain in this way an interesting line of work...

...because these Lions who were masons and affiliates of PRI...

...excuse me from making this strange connections...

...but this was more or less frequent...

...they were convinced that this base work was needed to be done.

Since the predecessors of the political parties in Mexico...

...were the Masonic lodges.

So it was not hard for Antolin to jump from one area to another...

...and even less so thanks to the relationships he built.

This catapulted him to the degree...

...of being involved in the foundation of the party...

...that would remain in power for over 70 years.

His political career began with the Liberal Constitutionalist Party.

The first political party in this country.

On 1922 he was named Delegate for this party in Oaxaca...

...and was invited to go to the Mixteca populations...

...in search of followers.

A month later he was already running for Proprietary Congressman...

...and campaigned through Tlaxiaco, Teposcolula and Putla.

During his tours in Oaxaca they played the famous waltz...

..."God never dies"...

...by Oaxacan composer Macedonio Alcala...

...considered to this day the non-official state anthem.

Tell me who you are Oh God

Who makes me suffer so much

And my withered heart

Cries endlessly for you

I am from Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca.

Tlaxiaco is hometown to your grandfather Antolin Jimenez too...

...and is a complex town, it was called little Paris.

We can talk, sing, paint, express with strokes...

...that lead us to appreciate what we are...

...and also to reinvent ourselves.

That is what I call inheritance...

...and not something from the past, found over there...

...in a tomb of Monte Alban...

...although everything is connected by the roots...

...but it is also the present, it is us.

I am here and I am part of those old times.

During the first elections of Antolin, his offices were stoned...

...they attempted to poison him, and his origins were questioned...

...as was his right to run for that office in that area...

...from Chiapas to Queretaro, Puebla, Guatemalan and even "charro"...

...were some of the versions people said on this.

"Alicia: I'm in a tremendous struggle...

...against the imposition of the government, that at all cost...

...wants Ortiz de Zárate triumph. He is a complete stranger...

...but the authorities are the ones determined to make him succeed...

...through dirty tricks that I am fighting against.

Say hello to all my children.

Antolin."

Even with the popular disqualification he won the elections...

...and ascended to the Congress at the age of 32.

In his administrative career, he went as far as prime officer...

...for the Nations Statistics Department...

...charge which he resigned on 1924 to devote himself...

...to "particular business" that would surely consume his time completely.

I assume he meant his political career.

Two years after, he was candidate for the Federal Congress Deputy charge...

...side by side with General Alvaro Obregon...

...the same who would later have his boss killed...

...General Villa after the Revolution.

He won again and continued to grow his political capital...

...in the Mixteca highlands...

...surely thankful for the relationships he made...

...in his wife's land, Maria.

That small piece of land would become cradle to several talents...

...like wrestlers La Parkita and Espectrito I...

...and painter Rufino Tamayo.

In parallel with his political career...

...he founded a financial law firm in 1923...

...on Uruguay street, in downtown Mexico City.

There he gathered decrees published in the Official Gazette...

...such as the alcohol laws, bank regulations...

...the stamps duty laws, income tax, rent, etc.

And then republished them in editions...

...with interchangeable sheets so they could be updated.

That is how Antolin Jimenez Editions began...

...in an office with 10 employees...

...5 in charge of filings and the other 5...

...printing in a room next door.

It came to have over 10,000 subscribers...

...and the business ran all his life.

A decade after his last public charge in 1937...

...with Lazaro Cardenas already as president...

...and on behalf of the PNR party...

...he ran for Federal Deputy...

...of the State of Oaxaca again and he won again.

Antolin was a three times congressman...

...representing 3 different parties for a state in where he was not born.

Understand, this doesn't interest me...

...it's great that you want to make a film...

...that you want to bring out the defining things...

...that my dad did.

This is very important to us, but other people don't care...

...nor they need or want to know anything.

-Nobody cares. -Why is this affecting you mom?

I don't want to know, and like your father said:

"It's his work, get over it, and hold on...

...and do what you have to do."

It is neither transcendent nor important...

Mom, if it wasn't transcendent you wouldn't be here crying.

Go on then. Bye, we’ll talk later...

How did my grandfather end up in the world of charros?

Hold on, for starters...

Who are the charros and how did they appear in our country?

After the Revolution, and once the distribution of land...

...and estates was over, the charros came to the city...

...and turned their productive activities into a sport party.

In a show that transports the spectacle of cattle ranches...

...to the charro rinks that started to be built...

...in different cities of the country in the late 20’s.

President Pascual Ortíz Rubio decreed the "charro" attire...

...as a symbol of Mexican identity, and punctually remarked:

"It must be worn with dignity and honor."

From the 20’s to the 50’s the visual imagery explodes through all media:

Movies, songs, theatre, publicity, etc.

After the turmoil of the Revolution, there was a country to reinvent...

...as well as an identity for its inhabitants.

For those who were horseback riders during the Revolution...

...for those who were able to make money with institutions...

...it was easy to gain access to the majestic...

...and expensive "charro" world.

Antolin fit that profile and had the money to do it...

And if that wasn’t enough, at his office worked...

...the niece of one of the founders of the charros in Mexico:

Ramon Cosio Gonzalez.

His initiation as a "charro" surely had to do with these factors.

I don’t know how he met uncle Ramon...

...but he was his buddy for over a decade.

During the 30’s he appears in nearly all of his pictures...

...proudly dressed like a "charro"...

...with various expensive looking suits...

...and first class horses which won prizes.

President Cardenas gifted him a horse which he named...

..."El Cardenista" in his honor.

So generous was the dome of power in such a bountiful country of ours.

My grandfather also became involved in the building...

...of the "Charro Ranch" contributing money and surely permits.

And by 1938 he came to be president of the National Charro Association.

Before age 40, Antolin was already the highest mason degree..

...was representative of the people in the House of Representatives...

...president of the most representative Mexican group...

...and had his own publishing business.

The Revolution has done him justice, exceedingly.

Money...

...a good social status...

...political power...

...and the national spotlight.

What else can you ask for?

Or maybe the right question is...

What else cannot be invented?

What I am sure of is that...

...he was a true patriot, he had his flag and carried it.

He was happy wearing his charro suit.

This is the famous photo of the "Legion of Mexican Guerrilleros".

There is...

...the famous...

...patch of the Legion of Mexican Guerrilleros.

I have not seen this one...

...on any picture.

In 1942 my grandfather started to organize an army of charros...

...to repel a possible Nazi invasion...

All for the mother land And for the money!

All for the law... And the cash!

All for peace But gun in hand!

All for order... but you follow Those who give the orders!

This is for example the case of what can be seen...

...in your grandfather’s documents...

...when he founded and created an army to face the Nazis and the Japanese...

...who were close to invade the country.

Those weapons that have the eagle and the swastika on them...

...belonged to people living in Mexico...

...and they were ready for anything, during the World War II.

For instance, the State Department sends a report...

...the famous "Nazis in Mexico" document...

...that a Mexican officer made for Cardenas.

This report mentions that among the Mexican military...

...there is a great admiration for the Nazi army.

Antolin named his army "The Legion of Mexican Guerrilleros".

A name which surely sounds as contradictory...

...as "Institutional Revolutionary Party".

But even with these conceptual contradictions of the time...

...he took advantage of his presidency over the National Charro Association...

...and called via press releases and posters...

...for all the groups in the country...

...to rally and all horsemen in the country to gather in groups.

The President approved of his initiative...

...and National Secretary of Defense gave military advice...

...to the horsemen who would gather every Sunday for training.

The idea was to introduce the Group on September 15th, 1942...

...at the main square during the "Day of National Approach"...

...and that the president would give them the flag in that act.

But given that the CTM union had already taken the square...

...and the fact that the expected 1,500 charros...

...and their horses would not quite fit...

...it had to be postponed until May 1st at Paseo de la Reforma.

According to the press there were more than a 1,000 armed charros...

...who swore an oath there.

On November 20th, the League of Mexican Guerilleros paraded.

My grandfather leaded them and greeted...

...the President at the National Palace.

The press talked about amazing numbers.

They said they were more than 100,000 people in that team...

...distributed in 250 groups all over the country.

There are no documents or pictures that support those facts.

But there are a lot of references in every newspaper.

I’ll tell you to those Who don't know

That this strange Story of history

Was about a strong And brave man

Fighter by its own conviction

And Viva Mexico Motherfuckers!

My grandfather was over 50 years old when he decided to organize...

...this mounted regiment.

How much of it was real and how much was a political maneuver?

How much of it served the purpose of appreciating our traditions?

And how possible was it?

Was Charros vs. Panzers a viable option?

SS. vs. Golden?

Could the North Division rise from the ashes like the phoenix before old age?

Is this the Chinaca heritage in our genes?

The first media mention of the League of Mexican Guerrilleros...

...was published on August 28th, 1942.

Exactly 3 months after President Avila Camacho...

...declared war on Japan, Italy and Germany.

...the attack came...

...unexpected, disloyal and cowardly hidden in the shadows...

...and the absolute confidence of Impunity.

After 59 articles in the press mentioning the charro army...

...published throughout a year in various national media...

...we find the last of them on August 24th, 1943...

...exactly one month after the 201 Squad left...

...for the Philippines.

The question is: As part of the army, and the 201 Squad...

...did you happen to hear about...

...the League of Mexican Guerrilla Fighters?

No, never hear from them.

No, no, never, not even in the Philippines.

But here in Mexico, the League of Mexican Guerrilla Fighters...

...was a group of charros that wanted to defend Mexico...

-...from the Nazi. -No, no, no.

I would like to know if the 201 Squad knew about this legion of fighters.

No, no, no.

Unfortunately not.

The Legion of Mexican Guerrilla Fighters.

No, I don’t know them... be careful.

Don’t worry.

-Did you ever hear about that? -Not at all.

Who knows where they invented it.

It is in the newspapers.

What date?

44... Before they sent the 201 Squad away.

I was too young, I didn’t know what I was doing!

But the Squad still has one more battle to fight...

...against indifference and ignorance of his historic feat.

If he had this success story covered in such a premeditated way...

...why didn't they tell anything to the grandchildren?

Why the silence and the distance?

Hey, you talked to your mom?

Yes, she called me.

Well... it is turning bad.

I perceive... I perceive...

...that Sarita, Eduardo, Antolin, everyone is against her.

They are pushing your mom to tell you...

And...

...and well your mom didn't sleep last night of anguish and tachycardia.

And she said: "I'm in a dilemma.

On one hand is my family, they are my siblings.

On the other side is my son, and this is going to end badly."

He needed everything done for him.

This is something that is stuck with me...

...after washing his hands...

...he would put his hands out as if waiting for them to be dried.

All those things bothered me.

Sometimes once a week...

...some others a long time would go by without seeing him.

I did not spend time with him, because he always came a bit drunk...

...so I used to go away...

I freaked out when they started drinking.

But he didn't use to come home and hug us affectionately. He didn't.

I lacked a father’s affection, but since childhood...

...and many other things, not only the love from my dad...

...but material things for which we ached and suffered.

Well, things that were often needed for school...

...this and that, we needed clothes, shoes, all that we lacked...

...and I noticed how he spent money elsewhere...

...while we needed it.

My mother, my mother was my mother, my father, my everything.

My everything.

My grandmother Alicia was the pillar of all that family.

She used to bake delicious walnut cookies...

...she was a very thoughtful person...

...always had the perfect gift.

She was very elegant.

I also believe that she was a person that repressed her feelings.

I don't even I know how I found out...

...by small things I overheard, things I tied together...

...and I started realizing but never from my mother or anyone else...

...nor my siblings, never...

...never, nothing of the sort was discussed at home, nothing.

Nothing.

When I began this research, I did not know...

...my grandfather had been first married to a woman...

...from Oaxaca, Maria Cao Romero...

...with whom he had a son called Jorge.

That he met my grandma Alicia, still a minor...

...while working as his secretary...

...and was her lover for almost 30 years until his first wife died.

No one spoke of this in my family.

New York, September 15th, 1953.

Alicia: Today it is 9 days that I’ve been in this important...

...and attractive city for its many activities.

Tomorrow I will leave bound for Europe...

...I'll get to Cherbourg on the 21st and on the same day to Paris.

I've known the best of this city and I found it very interesting.

I have been forced to learn more English, that is to speak it.

Yesterday I went to visit Mr. President Miguel Aleman.

He is here, we talked for over an hour...

...he will return home later this month.

Don't write me back because I will not have a fixed location.

After France I will go to Italy, Switzerland, Spain...

...and probably Jerusalem, England, and Germany.

I will try to write more from any of these points.

Affectionately greet your mom...

...and my goddaughter Lupita, and my little twin daughters...

..."the cuatitas", I remember them much.

To all my other children I am writing now.

A loving hug for you.

Antolin Jimenez.

I did not live with him, he did not live with us...

...he had a separate world.

So all this charro stuff wasn't part of us.

I never wore a charro suit because it never...

...interested me.

I had memories like...

...looking at the Christmas tree...

...empty.

The small house where my family was raised, had three stories...

...six children, a piano and two cars.

The big house had horses and was in the Condesa neighborhood.

My grandfather’s archive has almost 700 documents and pictures.

If he had so many pictures of all those events...

...then why didn’t he have a single one of the funeral or the grave...

...or a press note about the famous accident where his first wife...

...Maria Cao Romero died?

And what if she never died?

What if she simply went back to Teposcolula?

What if she just grew tired of El Charro and his adventures?

I found them on the internet. I searched their last name...

...and they are the granddaughters.

-What's their last name? -It's Cao Romero.

-Oh yes... sure they are. -Yes, they are.

No, but please, not with this people Fernando.

Why?

Because they deal with black magic and have always spelled on us.

They did much harm to me.

And then you come here and tell me about this...

...making me so nervous, that I think...

...this is not over yet. I need to keep moving on.

I don't want you to get involved in this.

They could be bothering us once again.

Listening to the last name "Cao Romero" comes like a shock to me.

I want to put an end to this and forgive.

I want them to leave us alone.

I want everyone to keep living their lives, and the karma goes away.

Hello?

-Adriana? -Yes.

Hi, how are you? This is Fernando.

Hello Fernando, how are you?

Hey, how nice. You can't imagine what I've gone through...

...I will tell you more about this later...

...but if you’re related to Maria Cao Romero de Jimenez...

...I would love to chat with you or with your uncle or whomever...

...because my grandfather was her husband.

-Who, Antolin? -Yes, Antolin.

It's a topic that in my family was...

-...was hidden. -Kept a secret.

-Kept a secret. -Yes, kept a secret.

The story goes that my aunt Maria...

...could not have children. She married Antolin.

In those times it was common...

...that given that Maria had no children, Juan and Amparo...

...would send them two of theirs.

It’s like back then, not having children was...

...was...

...a reason for loosing your husband.

Well, Miguel Cao Romero is my dad.

He was an adoptive child of aunt Maria...

...that he used to call her aunt Boru, and uncle Antolin.

He will always be thankful with aunt Boru and uncle Antolin...

...for raising him and even sending him to college.

See, my uncle was a mason. He would go to the meetings...

...and my dad would go with him to watch his car.

I don't know, but my dad never spoke bad of them.

Uncle Antolin was very serious... like sullen.

In our family, my uncle Antolin...

...the aunts, the sisters who are still alive...

...have not such good memories of him...

...because he cheated on my aunt Maria many times.

-Many times? -Yes.

He had his women...

...then my aunt Boru was very obedient, a very good woman...

...very...

...very faithful to him.

Then...

...she dies in an accident and it seems that...

...Antolin was driving.

They were headed for Teposcolula. My aunt was a generous woman.

And this is why there is a school...

...in Teposcolula named after her:

Maria Cao Romero de Jimenez.

I studied here at Maria Cao Romero de Jimenez School.

All the land was owned by Antolin Jimenez...

...all that land.

So he was able to help building the school...

...where I studied.

That house was Antolin's, from the white gate.

Mr. Juan Cao Romero and his family lived there.

The brother of my aunt Maria Cao Romero.

-He lived there for many years. -Many years.

Not with Maria Cao Romero...

...but with another woman.

They said that he had another wife with children in Mexico City.

Antolin started to drink...

...precisely because he had two homes.

He was in the other house....

...so when he got back he felt...

...and my aunt already knew it.

Antolin wasn't a charro, Antolin was a phony charro...

...that is what we called him...

...because he had many charro suits...

...he had a closet full of them, but above all he had many hats.

His political career was built through the friends that he had...

...mainly Cardenas.

So, the way to reach the top is having a friend in politics.

He was very greedy, and was not generous.

He would do odd things, as if simulating.

When he received donations of school items, for example...

...he would come home and say that he had bought them.

He had a special room where all school material would arrive...

...and he would store it.

He would prohibit its distribution, he had to be present to decide...

...who kept the notebooks, who kept the chalks...

...and who kept the pencils.

And of course people would say they were gifts from Antolin.

It was a lie, the government would give it to him...

...since he was a Congressman.

I am going to tell you the truth:

We all thought that my aunt had been murdered.

Why?

Because they went to Teposcolula to celebrate Antolin’s birthday.

He took her and before they reached Acatlan...

...it turns out that the truck went into the river after a curve...

...and the only one that was hurt was my aunt.

A maid, a driver and Antolin were also in the car...

...and the only one that died was my aunt.

I can tell you that there was no crash.

When we went we saw that the car was in the river...

...without a scratch.

It did not flip or anything, on the contrary...

...they placed it there.

It was not an accident, it was a premeditated thing.

He wanted to get rid of her.

He had many children with her lover. He already had a house and everything...

...and the only thing that was in the way was my aunt.

Now I am the oldest one, I am 91 years old...

...and all of them have died.

When I asked this man...

...if he really believed that my grandfather...

...had killed Maria Cao Romero...

...why he didn't acted legally...

...he answered: "Impossible. Your grandfather was a Congressman...

...he was untouchable."

I don't think, honestly...

...for the love that I get to see in those pictures...

...that my grandfather had killed his first wife...

...nor think...

...the family of Cao Romero had done black magic to my family.

I think both versions are exaggerated...

...and hiding the story for so long...

...has distorted the facts...

...and has generated many grudges...

...and has done more to distance these families...

...that at some point were bounded by Antolin.

Perhaps the most healthier thing would be...

...to be able to analyze their feelings...

...maybe get to meet each other.

Why not?

I think my grandfather Antolin would have liked that.

I am very sick.

I am a diabetic...

...and sometimes I feel that...

...death is coming...

...then I know I must forgive...

...to be able to go in peace.

Do it aunt.

Yes, I will.

Antolin Jimenez ended his years spending his money...

...with my grandmother Alicia.

He gave all his children a house for their wedding...

...except for my aunt Sara, who did not marry...

...and my mother because he was short of money.

He did not die at his office because it happened on a Saturday.

He was shopping with my brother and my mom...

...in a mall...

...there is where he died, consumed by his 5th heart attack.

On February 8th,1975.

How far away I am, from the land Where I was born

Great longing invades my heart

Upon watching myself so lonely And sad, like a leaf in the wind

I feel like crying

I feel like crying

I feel like crying

I feel like crying

I feel like dying

Of sorrow

Although I have documents that link my grandfather...

...to the Mexican Revolution...

...Antolin Jimenez’ name does not appear in the lists of veterans.

For 15 years my grandfather was a politician...

...but there aren't too many quantifiable achievements of his administration...

...but much indeed of the typical bureaucracy paperwork.

It's been over 6 decades since my grandfather...

...made his charro army to fight the Nazis in case of an invasion.

He left the world of charros after a heart attack...

...he couldn't ride again.

There are still a few of his expensive charro suits.

His gun and the silver ornaments, as well as his properties...

...were sold or pawned.

To this day, my family gets uncomfortable when talking about...

...something other than grandpa's "successes".

Now I admire my grandfather for his ability...

...to reinvent himself and grow in different areas...

...but it bothers me to know that he represents...

...the construction of a political system of excess...

...that has cost the country a lot.

I wanted to know the story of Antolin...

...and I ended up learning about the history of my country...

...through my grandfather.

I am left with more questions than answers.

The question I ask myself now is:

How did my grandmother Alicia managed to endure, to keep pace?

All for the Motherland.

TO MEXICO WITH A LOT OF LOVE