Oil Union Blues

Bilking workers of millions

Murder, kidnaping, hired guns, fraud, embezzlement, rake-offs, power struggles--sounds like gangland crime, Chicago-style. But according to accounts of a current union scandal, those are also the standard ingredients of the oil business, Mexican-style. The sordid revelations are the latest, and most titillating, evidence of the widespread corruption that flourished under President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado's predecessor, Jose Lopez Portillo. Last week Senator Ramon Martinez Martin, a former leader of the teachers' union, called for a complete investigation of the allegations of wrongdoing. If proved, he said, the charges against one of Mexico's largest unions "would be considered crimes against the economy and against the oil workers."

The scandal came to the surface in August, when Salvador Barragan Camacho, leader of the powerful Oil Workers' Union of the Mexican Republic, accused fellow Union Executive Hector Garcia Hernandez (alias El Trampas, the trickster) of stealing some $6.6 million in union funds. The overweight, droopy-eyed Garcia promptly sold most of his Mexican assets, then crossed the border to his $250,000 town house in McAllen, Texas. There, Garcia fired off a letter to President De la Madrid accusing Barragan and the alleged behind-the-scenes "godfather" of the union, Joaquin Hernandez Galicia (alias La Quina, a diminutive for his first name) of bilking the union of more than $130 million, 20 times the amount he was accused of taking. Garcia was in a position to know, he later claimed, because he had acted as bagman for the two.

If Garcia thought he was safe in Texas, he soon learned otherwise. According to McAllen police, two thugs kidnaped Garcia at gunpoint early last month and spirited him to Mexico. There he was handed over to Mexican authorities, who slapped him behind bars on fraud charges. Garcia told officials that he feared for his life, probably with good reason. The day after his jailing, another union boss, Oscar Torres Pancardo, was killed in a mysterious crash. In an apparent attempt to disguise the circumstances, his bodyguards fatally shot Torres' driver in the head. At a rare press conference, the perspiring Barragan nervously endorsed a government inquiry into the Torres death. Barragan then charged that he was the intended victim of a murder plot hatched by none other than Garcia.

Mexico's giant national oil company, Pemex, appears to have been a particularly fertile breeding ground for vice. Since coming to office last year, De la Madrid has pursued a vigorous "moral renovation" campaign aimed at stemming the high-level graft that was rampant in Mexico. Last July a judge had former Pemex Director Jorge Diaz Serrano arrested on a $34 million fraud charge. Contrary to custom, Diaz Serrano was not bailed out by political friends, but still sits in Mexico City's Southern Penitentiary, awaiting trial.

Last week Federal District Judge Jorge Reyes Tayabas announced that both Barragan and La Quina will be questioned about Garcia's accusations. But despite public disapproval, genuine reform is unlikely. The 133,000-member oilworkers' union is reputed to be as powerful as it is corrupt. The union is guaranteed 100% of all Pemex construction contracts, plus 40% of all drilling contracts, and even takes a cut on projects completed by other workers. Although some of the union's profits are channeled into workers' programs such as farming cooperatives, union leaders apparently are taking far more than their fair share.

Moreover, because of lax labor legislation, the union's leaders are virtually immune from prosecution. Even if the government had the power to purge them, it probably would not want to do so. Under the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, Mexico has been essentially a one-party state for the past 54 years. Instead of sharing power, it balances interests by trading off political favors. In return for turning a blind eye to union affairs, the party has been guaranteed votes, campaign supporters and a smooth flow of revenue-producing oil. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.