George T. Díaz - Border Contraband: A History of Smuggling across the Rio Grande

INTER-AMERICA SERIES / EDITED BY HOWARD CAMPBELL, DUNCAN EARLE, AND JOHN PETERSON

In the new Inter-American epoch to come, our borderland zones may expand well past the confines of geopolitical lines. Social knowledge of these dynamic interfaces offers rich insights into the pressing and complex issues that affect both the borderlands and beyond. The Inter-America Series comprises a wide interdisciplinary range of cutting-edge books that explicitly or implicitly enlist border issues to discuss larger concepts, perspectives, and theories from the borderland vantage and will be appropriate for the classroom, the library, and the wider reading public.

GEORGE T. DAZ

Border Contraband

A HISTORY OF SMUGGLING ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE

University of Texas Press

AUSTIN

Copyright 2015 by the University of Texas Press

All rights reserved

First edition, 2015

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LIBRARY OF CONGRES CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Daz, George T., 1980

Border contraband : a history of smuggling across the Rio Grande / by George T. Daz. First edition.

pages cm. (Inter-America series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-292-76106-3 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. SmugglingMexican-American Border RegionHistory. 2. Rio Grande (Colo.-Mexico and Tex.)History. 3. Mexican-American Border RegionHistory. I. Title.

HJ6690.D53 2015

364.1'33609721dc23

2014011403

doi: 10.7560/761063

ISBN: 978-0-292-76107-0 (library e-book)

ISBN: 978-0-292-76108-7 (individual e-book)

For my mother and father

Contents

Acknowledgments

After ten years of working on this topic I have a great many people to thank. My time at Southern Methodist University was the happiest time of my life, and the wonderful people I met there nurtured me greatly. Sincere thanks to my mentor, Ben Johnson, who provided endless guidance and challenging questions that prompted me to make connections where I once saw none. John Chvez offered innumerable insights and served as a source of encouragement throughout the writing process. Octavio Herrera Prez contributed valuable knowledge on the economic and borderland history of Mexico, and his comments helped refine the book you are reading. I greatly appreciate the assistance of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, particularly Andrea Boardman and Ruth Ann Elmore for their tireless support, logistical and otherwise. The anonymous donors of the Bill Clements Dissertation Fellowship gave me the resources and time I needed to complete my doctoral work, and their support helped immensely. My education at SMU would have been entirely impossible without the vision of David Weber, who established its doctoral program in history. Professor Weber read one of my early papers on contrabandistas, and his enthusiasm convinced me to stick with my topic. The viceroy is greatly missed.

Additionally, I am thankful for the excellent education provided by Texas A&M International University in Laredo. As an undergraduate and graduate student at TAMIU, I benefited tremendously from the mentor-ships of Jerry Thompson, Stanley Green, Carlos Cullar, and Deborah Blackwell, and I am happy to say that these collegial relationships did not end when I left my alma mater, but continue to this day.

Many scholars also assisted me along the way. I would like to especially thank Arnoldo De Len, Elaine Carey, and Andrae Marak for their interest in my work and for their general care about my professional development. Oscar J. Martnez, Miguel ngel Gonzlez Quiroga, Stephen Haber, Brian DeLay, Kelly Lytle Hernndez, Andrew Graybill, James Sandos, Andres Resndez, Tom Miller, and Robert Utley were kind enough to answer questions that came up in my investigations, and I am very thankful for their expertise. Howard Campbells and Josiah McC. Heymans interest and encouragement in my work came at a critical time in my career and helped me believe in myself when few others did.

During my time at South Texas College, I had the good fortune of working with a talented and dedicated group of people who welcomed me and made being in the office a joy. Special thanks to Jeff Zents, Moraima Cardenas, and Ana Riojas for their friendship and for showing me what is best about teaching. The dedication of Jenny Clark, Tammy Slippy, and Mara Esther Rodrguez to womens studies showed me what is best about service, and I am grateful to have worked beside them. The efforts of Trinidad Gonzales, Esther Garca, and Victor Gmez in Mexican American studies impressed upon me the value of engagement with the community in which you work. I credit Victor in particular for motivating me to work harder and to not settle for less.

You cannot make a house without bricks, and you cannot write a history without sources. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Barbara Rust and the staff of the National Archives and Records Administration in Fort Worth; Joan Gosnell, the Good Fairy of the DeGolyer Library; Jeanette M. Hatcher and her staff at the special collections at the Killam Library at Texas A&M International University; Joe Moreno of the special collections at the Laredo Public Library; George Gause (recently retired) from the University of TexasPan American; and Adn Benavides at the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin for their generous assistance. Manuel Ramos Medina of the Centro de Estudios de Historia de Mxico CARSO in Mexico City and Yolia Tortolero Cervantes and Enrique Melgarejo Awezcua at the Archivo General de la Nacin went out of their way to help me locate and access critical files for which estoy muy agradecido.

Tatcho Mindiola and the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston provided a year to write and revise my book through the Visiting Scholar Program and helped my work immeasurably. Aside from thanking Lorenzo Cano and the rest of the faculty and staff at CMAS Houston and the History Department, I would like to thank the students who attended my class in illicit trade and undocumented migration in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Their great interest in the course and their excellent questions reminded me of the excitement I first felt when I came upon my topic, and that energy helped me finish this book.

The History Department at Sam Houston State University provided me the opportunity to teach a graduate course on smuggling in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, and this class, along with the generous support of the department, let me give the project its finishing touches. Special thanks to Brian F. Domitrovic, Juana Snchez Jimnez, Bernadette Pruitt, Steve Rapp, Jeremiah Dancy, and Lila Rakoczy for making the fourth floor what it is.

I would also like to acknowledge the friends and peers who helped make the journey a joy, especially Jeff Crane, Suzanne and Andrew Orr, Erik Torres, Tony Daz (El Librotraficante), Patrick J. Johnson, David Rex Galindo, Clive Siegle, Jos Ramrez, Francis Galn, James Garza, Patricia Portales, Paul Nelson, Houston Faust Mount, Aaron Snchez, Eduardo Morlez, Alicia Dewey, Carla Mendiola, Luis Garca, Ruben Arellano, Anna Banhegyi, Albert Gonzlez, Gilberto Lpez, Richard Ferry, Jessica Pence, and Antonio Medelln.

Shepherding of the book came through the careful attention of Theresa May, Nancy Bryan, Leslie Tingle, and Abby Webber, and I thank them and staff of the University of Texas Press for their excellent work.

My understanding of life on the border was shaped by growing up in Laredo, Texas. It is my hope that the people of my hometown find this history familiar. Finally, I would like to thank my ta Adelita; my sister, Dolores Judith; and my parents, Dolores Virginia and George Hinojosa Daz, for loving me and supporting me through my many travails.