New Mexico

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 4, 2008 at midnight
Updated August 4, 2008 at 10:16 a.m.

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LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Pink morning light climbs over the jagged Organ Mountains, casting a glow on the Rio Grande, the lifeblood of this otherwise unforgiving desert.

Emma Jean Cervantes, the "Chile Queen" of the Mesilla Valley in southern New Mexico, is beginning her morning ritual. Every day, this grandmother of six and savvy businesswoman checks her land south of Las Cruces. She talks to her chile plants. In early summer, they are still baby shoots poking through the sandy dirt.

"They will tell me how they're doing, if they need water," Cervantes says.

A hands-on CEO, Cervantes makes sure her workers are weeding the right fields, that the irrigation ditches haven't flooded her cayenne chiles, and that the pecan trees, with their canopies of rich green leaves and precious shade, are growing well.

Before heading to her office and chile processing plant, Cervantes stops in the home where she grew up, then raised her own children. Cooking relaxes her. She takes time to make her own tortillas and salsa from sun-dried New Mexican red chiles, grown in her home garden. Every day, Cervantes prepares lunch so she can enjoy a homemade meal of enchiladas or chile con carne with her grown children, who now help her run their expanding farm empire.

"La Familia" is everything in this community: Family, tradition, loyalty, politics. Cervantes' sister and one of her sons are both powerful lawmakers in the New Mexico legislature, and the history of political involvement stretches back generations among the families who settled the Mesilla Valley when it was part of Mexico, and before that, a colony of Spain.

This country is as fertile for Democrats as it is for chiles. One old-timer explained that party affiliation comes at birth: "We are Hispanic. We are Catholic. We are Democrats."

Even though Barack Obama has been polling well nationally among Hispanic voters, he faces a huge challenge in must-win New Mexico. An overwhelming number of voters here adored Hillary Clinton and distrust Obama. If Bill Clinton was the "first black president," then, to many around Las Cruces, Hillary could have been the first Hispanic president. They identified with her that closely.

"I loved her comment about glass ceilings," said Cervantes, who is deeply concerned about women's issues. "In agriculture, there are a lot of barriers to women. I have broken a lot of glass ceilings."

Mary Jane Garcia, a New Mexico state senator and pledged Clinton delegate, cried as Clinton conceded. She first met Hillary Clinton in 1992 and speaks of her like a sister who has been wronged.

"It hurt me deeply," she said of Clinton's loss. "I'm really struggling. I'm going to Denver to cast my vote only for Hillary and no one else. She's good. She's kind. She's compassionate."

Garcia, 71, lives in Doña Ana, just north of Las Cruces. She thinks Obama has come off as condescending and arrogant.

"I don't know one single Hispanic over 50 who will cast a vote for Obama," she said, conceding that "there have always been conflicts between blacks and browns."

Obama's only hope, said Garcia, is to name Clinton as his vice president.

"That might push us all to go to the polls and vote," she said.

Obamas regarded coolly

Several voters said they wanted Obama to clarify his positions and felt they "didn't know Obama."

That's a surprise considering both Obamas have visited this vital swing area in this vital swing state.

Michelle Obama came to Las Cruces in February, followed by her husband on Memorial Day. To some, Michelle Obama seemed aloof, an impression only bolstered by her infamous "fist bump," seen in urban America as cool and here as cold. Las Cruces is full of retired veterans and parents of current service members. Many of them homed in on Michelle Obama's comment about being "really proud of her country for the first time" and think she's unpatriotic.

When Barack Obama came to Las Cruces on Memorial Day, he should have locked in support. Instead, his campaign inadvertently angered some reliable Democrats. Loyalists here expect face-to-face time with candidates and are willing to wait hours in 100-degree heat for a good old-fashioned political bash. Obama's campaign initially promised a public rally; so Democrats canceled their Memorial Day plans and revved up for a celebration. Then the campaign shifted gears and held a small, private, made-for-TV gathering with a handful of veterans instead.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson appeared with Obama at the Las Cruces Farm and Ranch Museum. The rugged mountains provided a perfect old West backdrop for CNN. But the event left some excluded locals grumbling.

Obama made another trip to New Mexico in June — this time to Albuquerque. He got the message that he needed to reach out to women. He held a forum with working women, but once again failed to hold a large rally. If Obama wants to win in the Las Cruces area he'll have to come back and let people here get to know him much better, analysts say.

"New Mexico is a Democratic state, but it's conservative," said political analyst Heath Haussamen of Las Cruces. "I think voters will look at John McCain very seriously if Obama doesn't come back and give them a compelling reason to vote for him."

Winning southern New Mexico is key to the Democrats' plan to win New Mexico. And if the Democrats triumph in New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada — three states that went for Bush in 2004 — Obama will have 19 additional Electoral College votes, which would have made Democrat John Kerry successful in 2004.

To succeed in their bet on the West, the Obama campaign must win over conservative Democrats, like the ones in the Mesilla Valley, who care deeply about their families, spiking gas prices and precious land.

"Everyone needs a personal touch. Everybody knows everybody here. We're personable here," said Kristina Cervantes Vanderlugt, 39, Emma Jean Cervantes' daughter and her "right-hand woman" in their chile business.

"When push comes to shove, it's not the world economy. It's not the war," said Vanderlugt. "It's how these candidates touch each individual."

Las Cruces at crossroads

Las Cruces may have gotten its name from the crosses that marked grave sites of would-be settlers who lost their lives to Apache Indians in the 18th century. Or, it may stem from the Spanish word for a river crossing or crossroads. What's clear today is that Las Cruces has become a key crossroads for the Democratic Party.

It's a place where old-line Hispanic Democrats with roots in the valley dating to 1850 are intersecting with newly arriving baby boomers. Snowbirds are flocking to the area for its warm weather, golf courses, wineries, Mexican food and the stimulation of New Mexico State University.

Money Magazine picked Las Cruces as one of the best college towns to retire. AARP picked the area as a "Dream Town." Hispanic Magazine and Forbes have both highlighted Las Cruces as a hot place to live and work.

With stunning asymmetry, the granite spires of the Organ Mountains jut into the sky like nature's pipe organ. At the base of the peaks, thousands of acres of new gated communities have sprouted up with turquoise pools, emerald golf courses and scarlet desert flowers.

Just finishing a round of golf with his son at the Sonoma Ranch Golf Course, David Vistine, 55, explains the issues that drive his vote in the presidential contest. A minister at a First Assembly of God Church, Vistine moved to this area 15 years ago from Texas. A registered Democrat, he plans to cast his ballot for McCain, "the lesser of two evils" in his mind. Vistine cares about moral values, the economy and health care, and he doesn't trust government-run health care.

As newcomers carve a life in this desert valley, they underscore the crossroads here between the past and the future. Tiny 150-year-old adobe churches dot the original settlements around Las Cruces. Mexican plazas give a timeless, international feel to the area. At the same time, the atomic age dawned in New Mexico at what is now the White Sands Missile Range. The Trinity explosion in 1945 marked the first detonation of an atomic bomb at the far northern end of the range, about 100 miles from Las Cruces.

Closer to town, about 40 miles north in Truth or Consequences, residents are banking on the new space frontier. Spaceport America is on track to offer private and commercial space travel along with NASCAR-like rocket races in coming decades.

On the other end of the spectrum, south of Las Cruces, the border with Mexico is less than an hour away in El Paso, Texas, making this valley a crossroads.

Poverty grips colonias

Immigration issues affect nearly every employer in this region and conversations regularly dart from English to Spanish in the same sentence. Just over the border, in Juarez, Mexico, a spiking homicide rate — fueled by drug cartel hit lists — provides haunting evidence that the border lands are increasingly lawless. A new fence is under construction between the U.S. and Mexico here, but immigrants still stream across the border every day to find work in Mesilla Valley and beyond.

While Las Cruces itself is an oasis, some of the worst poverty in the U.S. lies in settlements, known as colonias, that dot the desert around town.

Colonias are illegal subdivisions that developers carved from seemingly worthless land in the 1980s to serve farm workers and new immigrants. Developers offered plots for what seemed like cheap prices. But, many of the colonias offered few or no services including water, sewage treatment, natural gas lines or paved roads.

Heavy rains regularly unleash torrents of water that can leave cars stranded in mudholes. One colonia lies just downstream from a dairy farm. When the rains come, dirty runoff from the farm gushes through the settlement. Because so few roads are paved, during the dry months, dust storms swirl constantly, caking windows in layers of white sand.

Some of the street names have a poetic ring to them, like Angel's Wing Drive. North of Las Cruces, one of the worst colonias has the most deceiving name of all: El Milagro.

Chile farmer Emma Jean Cisneros shakes her head at the sorrows endured by people there.

"For them, it's a new beginning. That's why they call it 'The Miracle.' But it's the wrong beginning," Cervantes said. "These are communities of total chaos. They buy a piece of land without any infrastructure, any transportation. It's false hope."

Chaparral is one of the biggest colonias, about 20 miles southeast of Las Cruces in the middle of nowhere. Official census reports list about 6,000 residents. But nuns who live and work in the area estimate that as many as 20,000 people call Chaparral home. Most live in tattered trailers. Getting anywhere takes miles of driving and an increasingly expensive tank of gas.

Illegal immigrants, who cannot vote, account for some of the residents. Immigration officials conduct regular raids.

Maria de Jesus Garcia, 75, bought one acre for about $6,500 in the 1980s. She paid in installments — $50 a month. Born in Mexico, she came to the U.S. in 1950 and earned her citizenship. Her biggest struggle now is that she does not drive and has no access to natural gas at her home. Every time she fills her propane tank, she pays at least $150. In the summer the heat in her trailer is oppressive, so she must turn on her swamp cooler.

"We are the stepchildren," she says. "Most people don't even know we exist."

Garcia always votes, but, she, too, was a Clinton supporter. A confirmed Democrat, she is nonetheless considering voting for Republican John McCain.

Obama is too mysterious for her.

"To me, Obama is not an American name. It's a name like in the Middle East. I don't know the man very well," Garcia said. "I like McCain. Maybe I'll vote for McCain."

She hopes the next president will boost the economy.

"I always fight for the little people because I am one of those little people," Garcia said.

History of discrimination

J. Paul Taylor is revered as the conscience of the Democratic Party in the Las Cruces area, dubbed "St. Paul" by some activists. Now 87, he holds court from a spectacularly restored adobe home full of art, pottery, baskets and textiles that he and his wife collected around the world during 61 years of marriage. The home is over 150 years old and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

When the couple moved in a half-century ago, with the first three of their seven children, the house was in ruins. There was no running water, no bathroom, no heat. Now, it's a masterpiece from another era, a cool refuge from the desert heat with thick adobe walls, winding passageways called zaguans and multiple patios. Colorful rugs fill the floors and hang over chairs. Overhead, a traditional New Mexican wooden ceiling features large log beams called vigas that support sapling cross beams called latillas. Niches in every room feature santeros — sculptures of Catholic saints.

The home on Calle Principal is a required stop for politicians at all levels — including Democratic presidential hopefuls like John Edwards — who visit seeking support and advice. The home and all its furnishings and art will become a museum upon Taylor's death. His wife, Mary Daniels Taylor, passed away last year at age 84.

Outside the door is the historic Mesilla plaza, the best preserved Mexican-style village in southern New Mexico. The bells of San Albino church ring each morning and evening, a fitting reminder that San Albino was the patron saint of the "little people," the sick, the indigent, widows and orphans.

Paul Taylor spent his life fighting for just these kind of underdogs as a state lawmaker and educator. He cannot understand the lack of enthusiasm among some of his neighbors for Barack Obama. To Taylor, Obama represents a true miracle.

"It says something to the world — a black man being nominated for the presidency of the U.S. I'm interested in peace and caring for one another," Taylor said. "It bothers me that Hispanics ... are not for Obama. Hispanics have gone through a lot of the same discrimination as black people have."

Taylor witnessed the discrimination himself. Born south of Las Cruces in a tiny village called Chamberino, his parents survived the Depression growing cotton, alfalfa, corn and vegetables. He remembers the era when cotton growers from the south migrated to the Las Cruces area, bringing black workers with them. He remembers blacks having to sit in the balcony of the Rio Grande Theater to watch movies. He remembers Las Cruces' separate and very unequal black school, Booker T. Washington. And he remembers black students being barred from New Mexico State University, except for summer session.

Hispanics suffered discrimination too. When his own children attended the university, Taylor worried that his daughters would be rejected from sororities because of the Hispanic blood that flowed to them from their paternal grandmother, Margarita Romero. She traced her roots to early founders of New Mexico and Spanish settlers who came north from Zacatecas, Mexico, in the late 1500s.

"I saw so much segregation and so much abuse of the black population. If anything will make a change, the president of this country will make a difference," Taylor said. "Obama has the power to change feelings toward ethnic groups as much as anyone has ever had that power."

Taylor believes that increased tolerance will help children of all ethnicities, including longtime Hispanic residents and children of Mexican immigrants.

"It is personal to me. In our schools, I started the bilingual programs."

Taylor agrees with political analysts that Obama must come back and let people here look him in the eye and warm up to him. Taylor attended Obama's Memorial Day rally. He will be a delegate for Obama in Denver. But, Obama has not yet come to Taylor's home for a political tête-à-tête. If he did, Taylor would give the candidate some valuable advice along with a tour of the home.

"He has to project his interest in every ethnic group," Taylor said. "There has to be a lot of groundwork. They have sent some wonderful young people here. But they're all young Anglo men. They need to bring some Hispanic men and women and some blacks along with the Anglos."

As Taylor talks, his daughter's miniature schnauzer, Hillary, curls up at his feet. Mary Helen Ratje, 54, is also an Obama supporter and named her dog long before Senator Clinton made her presidential run. She jokes that she should change the dog's name to Obama. Or maybe the name is just right. As so often happens in the Mesilla Valley, the conversation circles back to the importance of Hillary Clinton.

"In November, in the long run, Obama will win if Hillary gets out and works with him," Taylor said.

Ratje added that Obama will need great turnout from another key constituency.

"If we can get the young people geared up, that's going to help."

Clinton could help ticket

Doña Ana, just north of Las Cruces, and home to the oldest church in southern New Mexico, could well be a bellwether for Barack Obama. Artist Jennie Delao Carbajal, 58, helped restore the village church, which was nearly torn down in the 1970s. She also helped paint a vibrant mural at Doña Ana's exit ramp from Interstate 25. She and others hope to entice tourists to the historic town and revive its economy.

Carbajal speaks of Obama with the same enthusiasm and faith she exudes when she's sitting in the peaceful hush of the beloved church.

"I was for Obama since I first heard his keynote speech. I told my husband, 'This is our next president.'"

Down the road, at Larry's Food Store and Texaco gas station, owner Larry Montes, 66, doesn't like Obama and has a visceral reaction to his wife.

"I think she's prejudiced other than her own," Montes said.

Still, he and his fishing buddies are torn. They all have children who are in the military or who have recently served. Montes now opposes the war and sees McCain as an extension of George Bush.

He can't imagine skipping the election, but is considering voting for local candidates and boycotting the presidential contest — unless Obama picks Clinton.

"I wouldn't have to think about it if Hillary ran for V.P. I'd go for them then. At least we'd feel we'd get a little bit of her."

Traditional values sway voters

Back at Emma Jean Cervantes' chile ranch, the matriarch wants to hear specifics from Obama. What will he do to bring down gas prices? How will he handle immigration reform? What will he do to improve health care?

Cervantes' father started the farm by clearing 650 acres of mesquite scrub. He was a truck farmer who grew simple crops and drove them into town to sell. A strict Hispanic patriarch, he reluctantly passed his land down to his two daughters after insisting that they first get an education in traditional women's fields. Cervantes followed her father's wishes, becoming a nurse, then found she had a great flair for business. She gambled heavily on the cayenne chile market, leasing additional fields in Mexico and even selling in Saudi Arabia until 9/11 attacks made that segment of the market too risky. She has more than doubled the farm her father handed down.

Cervantes recently bought out her sister and now supplies much of the state of Louisiana with the famous red hot sauce used in Buffalo wings and Cajun cooking.

Soaring costs are Cervantes' chief foe.

Diesel fuel cost her father 50 cents a gallon. She's now paying $5 a gallon. The costs of chemicals and seed have doubled. And labor costs keep climbing along with the reluctance of new workers to do the back-breaking work.

"Peru and China pay $1 a day to get chile harvested," Cervantes said.

In contrast, she must pay well over minimum wage to keep good workers and spends considerable time making sure they are all legal.

"The economy is the No. 1 issue to me. I'm looking to Obama for some answers."

Environmental and health issues are also vital to Cervantes. Long-term droughts have gripped New Mexico. And, as a nurse and former chair of a hospital board, Cervantes is concerned about lack of access to quality health care. After all the obstetrical practices in Las Cruces closed because of overwhelming malpractice costs, Cervantes helped start a nonprofit called the First Step Center to ensure women would have a midwife or visiting obstetrician attending their babies' births. After her mother became ill with cancer, Cervantes also started both a Cancer Center and a Hospice for Las Cruces.

"I'm a Democrat through and through. They represent the ordinary, average population of America," she said. "But, I'm going to have to really study Obama. I personally think he lacks a lot of experience."

Voting for McCain is not a choice Cervantes wants to make. But, she and many in southern New Mexico are looking for someone who feels familiar to them.

"I'm a traditionalist. I'm for preserving land for agriculture," she said. "It's not an easy life here, but I love the family values."

mccrimmonk@RockyMountainNews.com

• August 4, 2008

  5:33 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  nmbronco1 writes:

  Why did this article focus on southern NM near the TX border? Perhaps the author should have gone to the Santa Fe area and northern NM where there are many Hispanics in one of the "bluest" areas in the USA. Most of us here in northern NM consider southern and southeastern NM Texas any way. How any true Democrat could vote for McCain is unfathomable to me. No mention was made of our govenor, Bill Richardson, who is on Obama's short list for VP and who could help sway the vote here. I find it totally ironic that a woman with the last name Garcia would consider voting against Obama because his last name doesn't sound American enough. Only a New Mexican in an isolated area would think her Spanish surname is that much more American sounding than Obama's. The reporter focussed on over 50's people; younger Hispanics vote also and few like McCain.

• August 4, 2008

  8:22 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Michael writes:

  "How any true Democrat could vote for McCain is unfathomable to me." - nmbronco1
  This sums up in 1 sentence why the Dems have elected only 2 men President in the last 40 years and have occupied the WH for only 12 of the last 40 years. Their voters and their leadership all think like this to some degree. They cannot "fathom" how most Americans think, view the world, worship, work, and live. They are clueless and this one even admits it.

• August 4, 2008

  10:11 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Chaparral writes:

  Response to nmbronco1: You've identified one of the major problems with New Mexico...the rift between North and South. But I've never heard it so clearly stated..."Most of us here in northern NM consider southern and southeastern NM Texas any way." (We in the South were always told by the North that "life doesn't exist South of Albuquerque.")

  Actually, we in the South are not considered Texas or New Mexico. Because of the closeness to the border, we are considered a Northern extension of Juarez, Mexico.

  After 30 years of living here, I believe that to be true. It's unbelievable how the big money in Mexico greatly influences our unique area along the border. Mexico has already conquered El Paso, Deming, Las Cruces and is now knocking on Albuquerque's door.

  So...Maybe the good people in Northern New Mexico should rethink who truly influences Southern New Mexico.

• August 4, 2008

  10:24 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  DenverDan writes:

  Big D

  I totaly agree with you.

  Obama 08

• August 4, 2008

  11:05 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  I_Slay_The_Dragon writes:

  Now, faithful and dedicated gente of New Mexico,
  the nations politicians recognize you, even acknowledge you?
  For YEARS and YEARS the politicians have forced you
  to live in near-poverty, while robbing your natural resources
  and ignoring your rich, rich Heritage and countless contributions.?
  Oh, New Mexico, your Devotion and Humility pays tribute
  to The True and Living God.
  The brood of politicians, they did'nt care before; They never
  really will.
  New Mexico, do not betray you're Blessed Royal Heritage.

• August 6, 2008

  4:20 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  RaiderRay writes:

  I'm a democrat but I'm no socialist and I think that Obama is the worst possible choice. I can not believe this party did not put Hillary in. The "hispanics" in the north mexican descent do not even consider themselves mexican, they think they are spaniards so really if Obama wants the hispanic vote, he has to come down south where people who actually claim to be hispanic are. When I go to Denver, I have to drive through Albuquirky but luckily I can drive around "the city different". Obama has not convinced me he knows what he is doing. He's a puppet and I hope Hillary doesn't become his VP. That would kill her political career.

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