IS GUERRA BUILDING AN EMPIRE OUT AT THE PORT OF B'VILLE? HAS ERIC GARZA FOUND A HOME AS PORT POLICE CHIEF?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Some public entities, like the City of Brownsville and – most recently – the Cameron County Sheriff's Department, have been considered sieves of inside information. 

Que no se diga el Brownsville Independent School District (BISD).

For the most part, it is disaffected employees who are given no outlet for what they consider to be favoritism, unfair treatment, or who honestly believe that there is wrongdoing going on in their workplace that the public should know about.

Until Eric Garza left office at the beginning the year, the sheriff's department was the number one leak factory, and the scuttlebutt emanating from the CID, the jail, patrol, etc., was more like a torrent than a leak. With the local newspaper now just an advertising cash cow and published only two or three times a week, the preferred  media for the information have been social media, this one included.

Now we're hearing that out at the Brownsville Navigation District (the Port of Brownsville, AKA the Golden Ditch), its chair Esteban Guerra has started to build a personal empire by surrounding himself with family and political allies and putting them on the port's payroll.

Guerra, who has made no secret that he would like to occupy the Cameron County judge's seat now held by judge Eddie Treviño, has made inroads toward that goal by making himself appear indispensable to congressman Vicente Gonzalez in the last congressional election in his run at House District 34 against Mayra Flores.

But even before that, Guerra has been very, very busy trying to get his allies elected at the city and the county and to influence the races that send local candidates to Austin and to Washington, D.C.

But charity begins at home, and Guerra took a highly active part in getting port commissioner Ernesto Gutierrez elected to the BND board, and cementing his hold on that board. Then, when former Port Police chief  Oscar Garcia "retired" in 2022, Guerra – with a majority of the commission – placed William Dietrich, a retired Brownsville P.D. commander, as "interim" chief. 

They made the usual noises and paid lip service (and a national head hunter firm) to conduct a national search and spent thousands looking for a permanent chief of at the port police, and predictably choose Dietrich from among all the other applicants despite his reputation among his law enforcement colleagues and prosecutors as a surly, authoritarian bully with little to no people skills.

Before that, the rumor mill had begun to grind out rumors that Dietrich was romantically involved with one of Guerra's cousins and that the couple had been seen together in public events.   

Then came the "retirement" of former Port CEO Eddie Campirano. They made the usual national search noises and spent thousands looking for a port director. Hugely qualified applicants from all over the United States and other countries sent in their resumes and visited the port for interviews. 

Among the applications was none other's than that of retired police commander – and Guerra's BF – from Brownsville, one William Dietrich.

Well, after the national "dog and pony show" search for port director to replace Campirano was concluded, the majority of the board agreed that Dietrich, who had spent his life chasing crooks and fighting crime, was the perfect candidate to lead an international port of entry without the benefit of maritime cargo experience, international law, or maritime commerce. Based on such flimsy qualifications – and with a reputation for being an unrepentant hothead – Dietrich was chosen nonetheless.

All that was supposedly rumor, but turned out to be borne out by facts. What the chairman wants, the chairman gets. And what happens if you don't kowtow to Guerra's political directives? Ask Beto Torres, who ran against Guerra's wishes in the last election, and he'll give you a mouthful about political and commercial retaliation doled out to Guerra's "enemies." https://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2024/11/at-port-of-brownsville-chairman-guerra.html

Now the port has no police chief, with Julio Romo, a port police lieutenant, viewed as "interim" police chief. Can we expect another "nationwide search" for police chief before Guerra's wishes are carried out?

About the only political contest that Guerra's candidate lost was the one where he supported former county sheriff Garza over eventual winner Manuel "Manny" Treviño, and he made no bones of his support of his opponent by openly bragging before Treviño's supporters that Garza would mop up the floor with the Primera police chief.

 Not only that, but Guerra had let it be known that he was eyeing making a run against county judge Treviño's for his seat. This, coming out when Gonzalez was nurturing Democrat unity to beat Flores, did not go over well and reached the ears of eventual congressional winner Gonzalez, who sought to tamp down the tempers on both sides of the issue.

And if you pick up the next copy of Port Matters, don't be surprised to see either Guerra or Dietrich featured in every other article spreading the good news that the current commissioners and port administrators are the best thing that has happened out there since sliced bread. We've never had it so good as under this crew, the publicly-paid de facto propaganda organ gushes monthly. 

Here's Steve handing out an award. Here's Dietrich announcing some wonderful statistic. Next thing we'll hear is that Noah's Ark made a landing at the port and that Noah imparted his blessings on the undeserving, awe-struck natives. 

So why is it that local longshoremen – the workers actually loading and unloading cargoes and making everyone but themselves rich – are the lowest paid longshoremen in the entire Gulf coast and the Eastern Seaboard? Is the Brownsville port the port that works, but for everyone else but the workers?  

Romo, the "interim" port police chief, has been seen representing the BND at some public events, but the rumor mill is once again grinding out its product and the latest tidbit is that the rejected sheriff Garza will find a home at the port's police chief position, elbowing out Romo.

Will this also turn out to be borne true by upcoming events? 

If we were Romo, we wouldn't get too comfy at the Port Police Department seat.