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The exhibit is called Obra Negra, or Under Construction. In the works for three years,
it’s a collection of paintings, sculptures and installations by Tijuana artists about
their city’s connection to the border, capitalism, and corruption.
As one of the most prolific artists in this
city, Marcos Ramirez, known here as Erre, should have had a piece in this show. But
he turned down the invitation. He’s been avoiding the Centro Cultural Tijuana, or CECUT,
since 2009.
I didn’t go see the show. I prefer to focus on how me and other artists can make up for
what CECUT has failed to do in the last three years.
It was three years ago when Virgilio Muñoz
was named director of CECUT, a controversial move.
Prior to heading CECUT, Muñoz was the director of Tijuana’s Instituto Nacional de Migracion,
the state immigration agency. It tracks the flow of migration from Mexico to the U.S.
The agency came under suspicion for its connection to human trafficking. One human rights organization
decided to look into it.
I remember hearing a lot of rumors about corruption, so I went up to Virgilio Muñoz and asked
him about it. He said it wasn’t true, and I didn’t want to push it. But at that time,
many government officials at his level where involved in a lot of illegal, incestuous activity.
Over six months, Clark Alfaro met with polleros,
or smugglers, with Mexican immigration agents, local police and with Virgilio Muñoz’s
subordinates. He found an intricate web of corruption, linking all the way to the top.
The amount of money that changed hands between
the smugglers and the authorities was huge, tens of thousands of dollars a month, which
went on to enrich many public officials.
In the mid Nineties, 45 percent of all illegal migrants crossing into the U.S. left from
Tijuana. One smuggling network moved an average of a thousand migrants a month, collecting
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Muñoz’s agency received part of that money in kickbacks.
After an investigation, Muñoz was arrested.
Two days later, he was released. He cycled through other top political posts until he
was placed back in Tijuana, as the director of a major museum.
Today, Muñoz doesn’t acknowledge or deny
the charges. But he dismisses the criticism from human rights groups and Tijuana’s artist
community.
That’s why we have public institutions, which are in charge of solving a problem.
Whether interest groups then decide to carry on with the problem, that’s another issue.
Muñoz called the CECUT protesters, “people
from a small world.” The name was appropriated by more than 250 Tijuana artists and authors
like Heriberto Yepez.
I think art has to respond to what happens in our society, and when you live in a place
that witnesses so much crime and corruption, the artist has a responsibility to react.
Sometimes, he or she should respond not only by making art but by exercising his rights
as an artist