Column: In Mexico stands a lonely monument for a fallen L.A. politician: ‘el licenciado Jose Huizar’

Excessive up within the mountains of the Mexican state of Zacatecas, within the desolate village of Los Morales, a monument stands to former Los Angeles Councilman José Huizar.

Sure, that man.

The exact same who’s at present dealing with federal legal costs of racketeering, cash laundering and bribery. The identical José Huizar as soon as held up in Southern California political circles as a bootstrap success story, however who now serves as a cautionary story concerning the perils of energy.

No less than they nonetheless love him in Los Morales, the rancho the place he was born.

The monument is a straightforward concrete marker set on a sandstone-colored pillar simply outdoors his household’s residence.

“Right here was born el licenciado Jose Huizar,” it reads, utilizing the Mexican-Spanish honorific for a lawyer but additionally a time period used for anybody perceived to be knowledgeable.

The inscription additional states that Los Morales erected this “recognition” to its native son in 2018 for “his contributions to the neighborhood and accomplishments in america.”

I do know Los Morales nicely. It’s in between the ancestral villages of my mother and father (El Cargadero for my mami, Jomulquillo for my papi), which I haven’t visited since faculty however whose comings and goings are a part of my day by day life. They’re all a part of the galaxy of ranchos across the metropolis of Jerez that has despatched tens of 1000’s of its residents to Southern California over the past 120 years.

The chisme from the ranchos is sort of a real-life Lake Wobegon — who married whom, which village made one of the best cheese this yr, what cousin needs to maneuver as much as america completely to flee the cartel violence that has sadly gripped the area. The jerezano circle is shut sufficient that I’m nonetheless Fb and Instagram associates with Huizar, though he hasn’t commented on my stuff ever because the FBI arrested him in the summertime of 2020.

That’s why I used to be stunned that I didn’t hear about Huizar’s monument till a few weeks in the past, when my dad randomly instructed me about it. He and my mom knew Huizar’s mother and father nicely sufficient that my dad refers to Huizar’s late father as Don Simón, and José’s mom as Chila, the Mexican-Spanish nickname for any Mexican girl named Isidra. My dad stated he even noticed Huizar’s brother a few weeks in the past at a rodeo in Perris.

Papi first stated that Huizar’s monument was a statue, then stated it was a pillar, then stated a plaque (rancho gossip, I’m telling you). So I had a pal who nonetheless lives in Jerez go to Los Morales to take a photograph, which I confirmed to my dad.

He and his compadres lengthy maintained that Huizar was harmless of all costs, with no proof in any respect. However once I confirmed him the image of Huizar’s plaque, Papi was extra philosophical. “He deserves it, as a result of he did do good at first,” he responded. “I simply hope he’s praying to God to forgive his sins.”

We erect monuments to have a good time heroes or victories, not commemorate villains and defeats. That’s why so a lot of them have come down within the final couple of years, as Individuals have reassessed who from the previous continues to deserve lionization, and who deserves a literal journey to the scrap heap.

Huizar, regardless of his sins, deserves the previous. So I hope the folks in Los Morales depart his marker it doesn’t matter what occurs to their hometown hero. And I hope that the a number of markers throughout Los Angeles that bear Huizar’s title — regardless that they don’t have anything to do with him, actually — are additionally left alone.

His title is on a bronze plaque at El Sereno Center Faculty to honor the fiftieth anniversary of the Chicano Blowouts. On the bottom of the bracero statue in downtown Los Angeles, and the certainly one of ranchera icon and fellow zacatecano Antonio Aguilar off Olvera Road. “Jose Huizar” is on a marker in a median on Eagle Park Boulevard commissioned by the Glassell Park Enchancment Assn. to thank Huizar and different council members “for his or her ongoing help.”

And the ex-council member’s title can be on a monument in entrance of Farmdale Elementary Faculty in El Sereno that honors a longtime volunteer, with Huizar’s title as large as that of the honoree.

We must always all bear in mind who Huizar was, and who he turned. Seeing his title ought to encourage a Pavlovian response to straighten up and act proper. Nobody feels this greater than Huizar’s fellow SoCal jerezanos. We had a lot hope for him — one time, I even invited him to be a choose at a taco event — and now should bear the stain of his title.

UC Riverside ethnic research professor Adrián Félix noticed Huizar a number of occasions on the annual banquets of the Federación de Clubes Zacatecanos del Sur de California, whose members manage fundraisers for his or her residence ranchos.

“He was a star to everybody there,” stated the professor. “He was working his crowd, however there was a satisfaction to everybody as a result of he was certainly one of them.”

Félix admitted to being “actually dissatisfied” when information of Huizar’s arrest broke. “Now, in some methods, I see it as type of predictable. However his ascendancy to energy was essential, and hopefully we’ve extra folks like that who don’t fall all the way down to that very same flip.”

Then-L.A. Metropolis Councilmember José Huizar in 2017.

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Instances)

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A type of folks is Maywood Mayor Heber Marquez, who was born in Jerez. He really by no means heard of Huizar till the highschool trainer ran for Metropolis Council in 2018. The shady zacatecano politician for him was former Maywood Mayor Ramon Medina, who’s additionally charged with a number of felonies for alleged civic corruption.

“After I ran, and other people came upon the place I used to be from, they’d say, ‘Oh, you’re from Zacatecas — how’s that going to prove?’” stated the 36-year-old with a bitter chortle. “That’s once I thought, ‘Do I see myself persevering with on this path? Ought to I cease now?’”

Marquez was appointed Maywood’s mayor this yr, and he hopes to make use of his place to carry satisfaction again to zacatecanos within the Southland.

“Jerez is way more than Huizar,” he stated. “Our folks signify way more, and deserve way more. We shouldn’t see ourselves in him.”

Which takes me again to Huizar’s monument in Los Morales. The picture that my pal took exhibits {that a} crack fashioned on the backside of the pillar that somebody tried to patch up. We can’t erase what Huizar did, nor ought to we.

However we are able to look on as his legacy continues to crumble, and settle for the teachings.