"Orgullosamente Yucateco"

If you ever had the misfortune or fortune, depending on where you lived and what you were doing, to live in Cancun, the beach resort 3 hours away, you probably remember those super-corny ads featuring real people interviewed by the super-corny radio 'personality' on one of Cancun's first radio stations, Radio Turquesa. They went something like this (in Spanish, of course!):

Hi what's your name?

My name is Leisy! (read Lacy - as in 'boy these underpants are sure lacy')

How long have you lived in Cancun?

About 3 months...

And where are you from?

From Valladolid, Yucatan, but now I'm ORGULLOSAMENTE CANCUNENSE.

And that was the message - that no matter where you were from, once in Cancun, you should be a proud Cancun-ite

Now someone in Merida, drawing on that unique local talent for copying other peoples' ideas, figured that this was a great (and original) way to create a sense of community and togetherness among the remarkably individualistic Yucatecans. That - together with the flag, the anti-outsider slogans and obligatory singing of a Yucatecan 'anthem' in public schools - was sure to rekindle a new Yucatecan pride and misguided feelings of superiority to the rest of the country and the world for that matter!

These new radio ads are really corny and have offended many so-called 'outsiders' with their Yucatecan first message. Personally, this writer thinks they are hilarious - they have after all, provided the inspiration for this little diatribe now, haven't they?

So what?

Well these ads were on the radio the other day, in between chunks of an interview on Pedro Ferriz's national radio news program "Para Empezar". The interviewee, Ignacio Puerto, one of the election committee counsellors was commenting on the obnoxious, myopically nationalistic behavior of the large number of "Don't Move Our Cheese" Yucatecans that turned out to pelt outsiders and non-PRI-ites with eggs and other foodstuffs.

So, taken in that context, those xenophobic ads about how well-behaved yucatecans are, and how they would like you, the despised foreigner or person from another place that isn't Yucatan,  to "respect our customs" sounded pretty hilarious. 

Have a quick read at some of the text used in the radio ads:

¿Verdad que Merida es bonita? (Isn't it true that Merida is beautiful?)

No doubt about it, Merida is very bonita, and if they would stop cutting down trees and people would quite throwing garbage all over the place it would be even more bonita.

¿Verdad que su gente es amable y calida? (Isn't it true that it's inhabitants are friendly and warm?)

some warm and friendly folks welcoming politicians from elsewhere

These folks will get their soggy torta and a plastic baggy of warm juice after acting the part of the indignant protestor! They are committed (!) to keeping those damn foreign meddlers out of Yucatan's sovereign affairs...

One look at these 'warm and friendly' Yucatecans throwing eggs and other things at the hated 'outsiders' that have come to 'involve themselves' in matters that only concern Yucatecans, federal laws, constitutions and other trivialities be damned.

Intégrate respetando nuestros costumbres. (Integrate into our society and respect our customs)

If you're coming to live in Merida, one custom to adopt in a hurry, after pasting a flag on the bumper of your Tsuru, is setting  aside some eggs to have handy when meddling outsiders come to enforce some ridiculous federal law that doesn't concern us sovereign Yucatecans who know better than that silly president and all those crazy foreigners.

If you're here on a consular basis, local customs, (that some Yucatecans would like you to respect, according to these inane ads) indicate that you please refrain from attending any political party function that is not endorsed or sponsored by the official ruling PRI party, or else you will be asked to leave ipso facto, because you are meddling in local affairs that don't concern you. 

All in all, IMHO, there seems to be a growing feeling that Yucatan is for Yucatecans only; a backlash to the recent invasion of foreigners and waches and misguided Canadians; and only for those Yucatecans toeing the official party line. Hence the flag, the song, the protests, the ads... someone wants to have Yucatan all to himself and is whipping up his public to perform accordingly.

Be vewy vewy cawefull...I tot I taw a puddytat...