cover image La Quina: Como Enfrente al Regimen Priista = La Quina

La Quina: Como Enfrente al Regimen Priista = La Quina

Joaquin Hernandez Galicia. Grupo Oceano, $27.95 (535pp) ISBN 978-970-651-428-8

In his lengthy memoir, Hernandez Galicia, known as La Quina, ex-leader of the powerful Mexican Petroleum Workers Union (STPRM) recounts the story of his life and times. This combination of personal anecdotes and facts about his career as a union boss also functions as a history of the union from 1961 to 1988. He details the politicking between the omnipotent PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) and the union, and the political battle that ended in his personal defeat. Hernandez Galicia claims that he was falsely imprisoned from 1989 to 1997, on the orders of then-President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who reportedly sought revenge for the STPRM's lack of support for his presidential campaign. Hernandez Galicia's account would have been improved with judicious editing, cutting unnecessary information (such as elementary school crushes or early girlfriends) and focusing on the key events. His references to his own benevolence go a bit far, and at times turn self-incriminating, as when he complains that his fellow union members betrayed him at the time of his arrest: "" Por qu cuando los llenaba de favores no me los rechazaban?"" (""Why, when I showered you with favors did you not refuse them?"") Although a difficult read, the book will be a useful addition on the STPRM and current Mexican history to large libraries and bookstores needing depth on Mexico. Teresa Myscich Gaska, Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas Bibliotech, Mexico City, Mexico