Their eyes revealed one of two things: Either they were bored, or they didn’t understand. And anyway, the sheer volume of paper that they received every day was so overwhelming that they could barely keep up with it. And that was that.
Could I visit these archives?
I didn’t venture actually to ask the question, dear friend, because I sensed a fraternal spirit among these archivists, a guild of sorts based on old paper, dark basements, long hours of monotony and tedium, short and poorly paid vacations, half-remembered families, and pale faces.
I picked one of them out from the rest. The one who said he’d been there since López Portillo. The one who hadn’t taken off that old officeworker’s uniform, not even for a party: greenish eyeshade tightly hugging a wrinkled cranium and protecting a gaze that was neither curious nor suspicious. Plastic collar attached to the shirt by a white plastic button. Unbuttoned vest, and arm garters to hide the disparity between the length of the sleeve and the length of the arm, or perhaps to prevent the cuffs from fraying.
“My family is from Jalisco,” I lied, though my comment didn’t elicit the least bit of a reaction.
“We’re related to the Gálvez y Gallo family,” I added.
His face lit up.
“The chief of staff I most admire!” he said with joy.
“The very one.”
“What a gentleman! Married to a real lady. Would you believe, Mr. Valdivia, that they never forgot a single one of our birthdays? They always had a gift, a smile for you. . oh, what a difference!”
“You mean between them and Tácito de la Canal?”
“Oh, I didn’t mean. .” The old man raised a hand to his mouth. “I. . I didn’t. .”
I hugged him warmly.
“Don’t give it a second thought, Mr. . ”
“Cástulo Magón, at your service. I’ve been working in the archives since 1982. Different times, Mr. Valdivia!”
“I know, I know. To remember is to live. I’m very interested in our archives, you know.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really, don Cástulo.”
“Well, at your service. Whenever you please, come downstairs. It would be a pleasure. But I should warn you — there’s a lot of paper, a lot of history. Even we lose our way in that maze.”
What I didn’t tell him was this: I know what I am looking for. Don’t you worry.
20. XAVIER “SENECA” ZARAGOZA TO PRESIDENT LORENZO TERÁN
Time passes, Mr. President, and in your third year in office, you still don’t deign to ask me, “What shall I do, Seneca?” This makes me think, of all things, of The Thousand and One Nights, Mr. President, and I’d like to remind you of the case of King Harun al-Rashid, who as the sun went down left his palace dressed in beggar’s clothes in order to mingle with the people and hear what they really said about him, as opposed to the polite version he heard from his courtiers. Let me tell you, Mr. President, that Mexico is shaped by the dynamics of fate. You have far too much faith in civil society, in giving the people their freedom. My advice, which I have pondered quite carefully, is this: Set some limits. If you let our people move around with no guidance at all, freedom will degenerate into chaos, and that freedom won’t be driven by the power of will but by the forces of fate.
This is a country that has buried far too much dissatisfaction over the years, over long centuries of poverty, injustice, and unfulfilled dreams.
If the proper political channels aren’t built, if all we have is unrestricted liberty, the subterranean waters will bubble up to the surface and turn into rushing rapids that will demolish everything in their path. I know that you have faith in two things. First, that the people will value the liberties you grant them. And second, that public force in Mexico is exercised by a professional army on the one hand (von Bertrab) and a vicious police force on the other (Arruza). They’ll control the small local bosses who, instead of disappearing, have in fact proliferated under the democratic system. That’s not enough, Mr. President. Something’s missing. Do you know what it is? You are missing. People need to see you. Like so many of your predecessors, you’re turning into the great man all alone in the palace, the ghost that sits on the Eagle’s Throne. React, I beg you. There’s still time. Don’t let people think you’re a plaything at the mercy of uncontrollable forces. Stop looking out at the horizon like a mystic when you appear in public on Independence Day, at the New Year, on Cinco de Mayo. Look people in the eye, let them see you, but make sure it’s you they see, Mr. President, and not your lackeys. Let your voice fill the plazas and find its way into every corner of this country. Politics can only live and breathe in the places where the president’s voice is heard. Have you tested the limits of your voice? Have you measured the boundaries between action and passivity? A president must exist for his citizens. If he doesn’t, they will withdraw the veneration he expects from them. The man who is praised as God one day can be scorned as the devil the next.
Go out to the streets, Mr. President. Throw out some ideas before they’re thrown at you. Because if you don’t have any ideas of your own, you’ll never be anything but the mouthpiece of everyone else. Be careful, Mr. President. I see only drones, leeches, and sycophants in your office. Do you really have any use for them, or is it perhaps the other way around? You’re now entering the second half of your term, and you can safely look back and congratulate yourself for the fact that we’re now a freer, more democratic country than before. How marvelous. But now you must look forward and proceed with caution because soon we’ll be facing our ides of March: the drama of the presidential succession that we face every six years. Unlike other presidents, you won’t name your successor. “The anointed one” no longer exists. But there will always be favorites and presidential darlings in every administration. And the president’s support will count for a lot. Within the parties. Within the administration. Even within yourself. Not to mention public opinion.
But be very careful, Mr. President. Having dared to point out that the public perceives you as passive, I encourage you to develop a clear, serene, visible public presence. I must warn you, however, against an overly aggressive leadership, the kind that smothers rather than supports democratic freedoms. Heidegger succumbed to the Nazi belief system in Germany by declaring that land and blood were more important than freedom of expression. He gave academic respectability to the unholy marriage of death and violence; to the kind of leader who channels our energies and forces us to accept — and I quote the philosopher from memory—“the voluptuous passivity of total obedience.” How do we know that the Mexican people, tired of a democracy that has become confused with passivity, won’t opt for an authoritarian leadership that at least gives them the illusion of security and a sense of purpose?
That is the other extreme. Don’t fall prey to it. Examine and assess your public presence. But, and I return to the other extreme, don’t let them say about Lorenzo Terán what Georges Bernanos said about France after its defeat by Adolf Hitler: “Our nation has been raped by vagabonds while it slept.”
Oh, my dear, esteemed friend, you honor me with your trust, but please, no matter what you do, always remember that the presidency of the republic is a goldfish bowl. Whatever you decide to do, just do it well. Because if you fail, you won’t just be the worst democratic leader this country has had. You’ll be the last.