FINGER POINTING STARTS OVER MR. AMIGO ZAPATA STATUE; COB STOPS ERECTION UNDER THREAT OF FEDERAL ACTION

By Juan Montoya
No one is saying how much it cost, where they got it, whose idea it was to buy it, and who paid for it, but despite all the secrecy one thing is certain: the bronze statue of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata will not go up in the pedestal erected at city cost at the City of Brownsville Memorial Park in front of the federal courthouse.
The Mr. Amigo Association had planned to have an unveiling of the erected 3,000-pound, 13-foot high bronze likeness of Zapata at the same time that they placed the star for 2015 Mr. Amigo Itati Cantoral in their Walk of Fame in the linear park.
However, engineers hired by the city said that the pedestal would never bear the massive weight and size of the statue and the unveiling was scrapped for the time.
But that was not all.
When a federal judge learned that a statue honoring a Mexican revolutionary was going to be placed in front of the courthouse and within feet of the names of those Armed Forces soldiers who have died in the country's wars, he came down from the third floor of the Reynaldo G. Garza-Filemon B. Vela federal courthouse and told the city workers in no uncertain terms that the statue would not be tolerated there.
"Judge (Andrew) Hanen said the city could expect a federal lawsuit if they went ahead with the project," said a city staffer. "The project is now on hold indefinitely."
And while emails between Mr. Amigo Association member Raul Garza (father of president Cynthia Garza) to Walk of Fame committee chair Mike Garza try to shift the blame saying it was a "donation" to the city and not to the Assocaition, city officials are denying the assertion.
Today, the likeness of Emiliano Zapata lies covered in plastic in the Mr. Amigo warehouse next to the city's tourist information annex at the corner of Ringgold and Seventh streets. Instead of the trademark 30-30 Winchester 1894 Saddle Ring rifle, a rope has been inserted into Zapata's hand to make him seem more charro-like.
As far as El Rrun-Rrun can determine, the idea of purchasing the statue was that of a former Mr. Amigo Association president. Many presidents, during their reign, go through money like water and never justify their expenditures.
None of the officers of the board of the Mr. Amigo Association including president Cynthia Garza are saying anything about the cost of the statue, its transportation here from where it was purchased, or whose idea it was to place it in the linear park next to the Walk of Fame where the names of past Mr. Amigos are enshrined with individual stars.
However, one thing is for certain. Mr. Amigo's chairman of the Fame of Walk Committee had been kept in the dark and protested the erection of the Mexican revolutionary's statue that had been engineered behind his back without his knowledge.
As a result, Mike Garza – a former candidate for mayor of the City of Brownsville – has resigned as chair of the committee when he found out about the move to erect it without his knowledge.
Some members have said that the stature was going to be placed on the spot reserved for Walk of Fame founders George Flores and Jose Camacho.
Leo Garza, a former city commissioner, also resigned from the group after he learned of the machinations behind the scenes to erect the statue.
The city of Brownsville – already on the hook for donating free sue of the Brownsville Events Center for the Taste of La Frontera, the Police Department escorts and security for Mr. Amigo throughout her stay here, and other associated amenities – also had to fork out $3,000 for the construction of the pedestal, $1,500 for the engineer's services, and an unknown amount for the transportation of the massive statue to the site and then back to the tourist center parking lot.
Another cost, the $3,500 for use of a crane to lift the massive statue, was not figured into the total paid by the city.
What's going to happen to Emiliano and how can the Association justify the expenditure of sponsors' funds and donations for the amount it cost to purchase it (since we are told it was not a donation as Garza claims)?
Or will this, too, be swept under the Mr. Amigo Association rug like the exorbitant expenditures under other administrations??