ZAPATA REFORMED: REVOLUTIONARY TO CHARRO REGANADO

By Juan Montoya
When the Mr. Amigo Association was going to dedicate the star to 2015 Mr. Amigo Itati Cantoral in the group's Walk of Fame at the Linear (Memorial) Park in front of the federal courthouse Feb. 24, engineers postponed the simultaneous unveiling of a massive charro statue because the pedestal would not bear the weight of the 3,000-pound sculpture.
It was the best thing that could have happened.
While being hailed as a monument to a Mexican charro, those who saw the massive metal (bronze?) statue first said it bore a striking resemblance to Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.
However, those members who knew a bit of Mexican history corrected them and said it was a likeness of southern caudillo Emiliano Zapata. But instead of having a rifle in one hand and his sombrero on the other, the rifle had been removed and a lariat placed there instead.
The giveaway of Emiliano's turning over a new leaf was the removal of two bandoliers of rifle shells crossing his chest.
The idea that a linear park dedicated to American soldiers who had given their lives for their country would be used to honor a foreign revolutionary irked some to no end.
A federal judge objected and angry veterans posted comments on social sites vowing to protest if the city and Mr. Amigo Association went through withe the plan.
The deficient pedestal problem allowed the Association time to make a few modifications to poor Emiliano.
Tomorrow at 10 a.m., a kindlier gentler Zapata will be unveiled at the park. Gone will be the bandoliers that crossed his chest loaded with the offending 30-caliber rifle shells. Sometime between the planned Feb. 26 date originally set for the unveiling, Zapata has undergone a transformation. The bandoliers are gone and instead of holding a rifle, he now holds a large charro hat in his right hand and a rolled lariat in his left (was Zapata a southpaw?).
He is even facing away from the federal courthouse and the courthouse, kind of like a scolded child, a kind of charro regañado. When it is unveiled, we will learn what other indignities have been heaped on poor Emiliano.
The bandoliers were probably modified so that there is no evidence of them being there unless you look closely under the paint.
And so, it would appear, is any reference to the Mr. Amigo Association. The formal invite to its unveiling mentions only the City of Brownsville and the Mexican consulate inviting Brownsville (and Matamoros?) folks to attend.
The plaque on front of the statue states that the statue was donated by Dr. Juan Jose Mendez and that the sculptor was Enrique Cepeda from the Galeria de Arte IKAL in Saltillo, Coah., Mexico.
It is dedicated to the City of Brownsville as a token of the friendship between Mexico and the United States.