By Linda Lutton
“Essentially they were forcing people to make a donation,” says Juan Andres Mora, a member of the International Coalition of Mexicans Abroad, a group formed last month by 128 organizations from the U.S., Canada, and Europe to improve the way Mexicans living abroad are treated by the Mexican government. “The consulate was not operating in a clear manner. Lots of people didn’t even know they had just made a donation. They thought the fees had been raised. Others didn’t say anything because they feared they would be denied their documents.” People who ordered multiple documents were charged a “donation” for each document.
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But the following day Galindo announced that he was changing the way the donations were collected. As people entered the consulate they would be asked if they wanted to make a donation, and if they did they’d be handed a donations card. By the end of the week Galindo had scrapped the entire donations drive. “There has been a lot of controversy on this issue,” says press secretary and consul Teodoro Alonso. “[Galindo] has gotten a lot of input from different representatives of the community, and that’s why he has resolved to suspend the donations–because he doesn’t want to contribute to more controversy.” The consulate also offered to refund donations.
Mora accuses Galindo of using his position to promote his own political career. And he charges that Galindo’s daughters have been on the institute’s payroll (Galindo says they were volunteering). Mora points out that Galindo’s niece edited La bamba cultural, a stylish, full-color 400-page digest of Mexicans’ cultural contributions to Chicago–Galindo appears in about 40 of the photos.
