The Lemon Grove Incident

0:05 Hi everyone, This is Carmen and Christina. I thought you were gonna, like not say this is Carmen. Okay, I was just gonna say I almost forgot to say this is Carmen. Yeah I did. Anyway, This is Astorias Unknown, a podcaster where we talk about Latin American history. Sometimes it's horrible and deals with heavy topics like racism, corruption, and genocide. But more than that, it's also about resistance, power and community. And today we're talking about a little bit I'm skin line that again. No, not the second, A little bit of that, a little bit of this. We're talking about racism, we're talking about okay, resistance in the community. And okay, it'll feel similar to last week's episode because it is similar to last week's episode. So anyway, last episode, Christina told us about Westminster v. Mendez, an important desegregation school case, right, yeah, and so today we're keeping that topic going of school desegregation. We accidentally did a theme back to school theme. Yeah, it's September, kids are back to school. It was on purpose. Yeah, look at us accidentally doing this on purpose. Wow. Yeah, it's accidentally actually like on theme entirely like for the year the time and year which it is in now, Okay, I'm just talking out of my ass. Now I will

1:37 be breaking that theme next week. I'm very excited for my notes. I'm excited for your notes too, because you already told me what they're about, and I'm really looking forward to it. But yeah, So, there was a prior desegregation case before Westminster v. Mendez, and it was actually the very first successful school desegregation court case in not only the history of California, but the entire United States. At least that's what I saw on one source. So hopefully that's true. Okay, yeah, hopefully. So it all started on January fifth, nineteen thirty one, in the then rural hate that word, rural community of Lemon Grove in San Diego County. So let's set the scene. The Lemon Grove community was described as a beautiful agricultural town surrounded by hills covered with the lemon and orange groves that produced hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. The town was home to an excellent women's club, one of the finest golf courses in southern California, A paved road, one paved road. Okay, this was huge back then. Yeah, of course, its own grammar school, many churches, and a chamber of commerce that would gladly assist anyone wanting to move there, unless you were Mexican, of course. Oh, I was waiting for that.

3:02 No Mexicans, It's how they felt. So Mexican families started moving to the Lemon Grove area in the nineteen hundreds from Bacha, California, and many of these families were close knit related, some of them related, but even if they were related, they were from the same neighborhoods, similar to the families that you talked about in the one of our first episodes about the Dodger Stadium. Yeah, because people would follow each other like yes or leave together. Fifty families settled in Lemon Grove, some of them consisting of the Cessena Alvarez, Castaianos, Absse and Messa families and more.

3:43 The Mexicans who settled in Lemon Grove found work in agriculture, which was the major business of the area. Also the local mining quarry quarry. She never know how to pronounce that. I don't know which one it is. Yeah, I don't know querry, I don't know. No, whatever, it doesn't matter. Yeah, and a railroad packing house. Most of the families made the journey from Bajack, California to Lemon Grove together, and they became closer once in Lemon Grove, you know, had to come together to fight the racism. Yeah, and probably build their own house system scratch because they didn't want them moving into the already existing houses. And I'm guessing, I don't know, it's quite possible, like that's what happened with Chavis Ravine in La Yeah. In January nineteen thirty one, something happened that united them even more. On January fifth, Jerome T. Green, the principal of the Lemon Grove Grammar School, under orders from the school trustees, turned the Mexican children of Lemon Grove away from the school, telling them they didn't belong at the school and they were to attend a two room building specifically constructed for Mexican children. Two rooms. Yeah, and this building wasn't really even a school. It was everyone like the students they called it, or they described it as a gabayerisa, which is a barnyard. So it was like a barnyard. Wow. Yeah. Six months before barring the Mexican students from entering the Lemon Grove Grammar School.

5:10 The school board met to deliberately plan their discrimination. After a school board meeting was called wow a racism meeting. Yeah, an emergency racist a meeting. Not an emergency. Yes, it was an emergency to deal with the Mexican children. They felt like it was there was too many Mexican children. They need to do something about it. Wow. So it was decided that Mexican children would attend a special school and this decision to separate the Mexican students was endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce. After making this this decision, the board made no effort to notify the parents the Mexican parents. Wait wait okay, so they made this choice and then they didn't tell the parents and the parents tried to go to the normal school or what well, the kids went to the normal school and then the kids were turned away. Oh oh yeah wow, and because the parents didn't know not to send them to that school, right and though, so the kids went like normal to the school, like oh, we're going to go to school now, and then the kids were not allowed in. Yes that's worse than yeah it is, man. So yeah, the school board didn't notify the parents, and they actually deliberately decided to not provide any official notice as a way to cover their own assets because they didn't want it to be in writing that they were discriminating. I see. Wow.

6:33 And twenty days later, the Mexican kids were expelled from the main school and their desks and belongings were moved to the barnyard. And so it wasn't clear to me and how because this was six months before they were turned away on January and then it says that they were expelled from the main school and their belongings were taken, so that timeline wasn't clear to me, but it every words confusing. Yeah, it seems I got some point. Maybe the first few started arriving, they were allowed to go to the school, and then when there were too many, maybe they were to be the care Possibly that's why they had desks that could be moved and they were yeah, yeah, but yeah, the main thing is they were turned away, not let allowed into the grammar school, the main school on January fifth. But there was a process that was made, a decision that was made to purposely discriminate the Mexican kids.

7:25 In separated racism meeting yes, the emergency race meeting. Yeah, and so of course, just like you talked about last time, this was not an isolated decision made by the school board. This was during the Great Depression, during which Mexicans were blamed and an anti Mexican sentiment developed, and many Mexicans were deported as a result of the Mexican Repatriation Act. Yes, and including Mexican Americans. Yes, yeah. Yeah. When I say Mexicans, I mean all Mexicans born in Mexico and descendant of Mexican born parents. Yeah, anyone with Mexican ancestry was up for deportation. Basically. Yeah, we have to do an episode on the actual repatriation, and we do. Yeah. So, yeah, we talked about that a little bit more, didn't we in the episode about Olvera. Yeah, because we covered a raid that happened in Placita to deport Thesindans that went to Ye, but I can remember. Yeah, that was during the Great Depression, wasn't it. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. I think so. It's because there was two times that they deported Mexicans and Mexican Americans. I was gonna say. The Mexican Patriation Act went on for like twenty years. The first instance was during the Great Depression because Mexicans were blamed.

8:45 But then there was another Master depretition and it had to do with the Brasilo program and when the Brasilo program was over and World War Two veterans coming back from World War Two wanting their jobs. Okay, but that's still within the twenty year time frame that it was probably. Yeah, I can't do math. So it was in the forties, right, and Great Depression was in the thirties. Oh, you're right, then, yeah, the Great Depression was lifted. I'm not saying was over because of the war all the money last year, right, and let's cut all this sound well, you could leave it in so people can see how dumby or not we had to talk things out to remember, right or contextualize. Yeah, the fancy word for it, so okay. And then yeah, I couldn't remember if you shared this quote in a previous episode, like maybe in La or in This also is fitting for the sterilization episode, so I'm not sure I feel like you've heard it. But anyway, this quote that perfectly perfectly captures this anti Mexican sentiment from that time was written by Kenneth L. Roberts in a in the in the Saturday Evening Post, and I feel like you shared before. Anyway, the quote goes in one can see the endless streets crowded with the shacks of illiterate disease popuarized Mexicans, bringing countless numbers of American citizens into the world with the reckless proud did damn, I don't know, pronounce this word product productality. You're proving Kenneth's correct. I'm

10:18 so sorry, Kenneth. Actually, I'm not sorry, Robert Roberts, but prodigality of rabbits or prodigality of rabbits, one of those is the way to pronounce that word, basically pro creating like rabbits recklessly and what a common rude ass ship that like they would say about Mexicans. Yeah, because this we talked about, not that quote, but that sentiment in the Sterilizations episode. That's why they did the sterilizations, and that's why it felt familiar. Yeah, and that's why it fucking offended me. Yeah, I hear your face was shook. It was the only reason I wasn't like that because I already read this it might ninety yeah, right, right. So, so this anti Mexican settlement led to the school segregation where previously did not exist, and like you said last episode, and the segregation of Mexican American children. It became widespread in California and Texas, to the point that in nineteen twenty eight, the enrollment of sixty four schools in eight California counties was ninety to one hundred percent Mexican American. Oh, these were the Mexican schools. Yes, So that's why they were ninety to one hundred percent Mexican students because these were the schools they were segregated into. Yeah. In Texas, this practice was actually institutionalized, like made into law, instead

11:50 of you know, being decided behind closed doors in hush hush manner. In the nineteen twenties, Texas school boards created Mexican American section within neighborhood schools and those eventually became the Mexican American only schools. So yeah, so the school board designated a barnyard as a school for Mexican children, and they expected the families to just submit to this, to follow orders and have their children learn in a barnyard. But the families refused, of course, the Mexican parents came together and got legal counsel and support from the Mexican Consulate, and seventy five Mexican students went on strike and they refused to go to school to the Barnyard School since they weren't allowed back to the regular school. And the following month, the Mexican parents, who had organized into the Comite de Vessinos the Lemon Grove or the Lemon Grove Neighbors Committee, filed a lawsuit against the school board, challenging the school board's right to build and maintain a separate and segregated school for Mexican American students. The committee of parents first got help from Endrique Ferreira, who was the head of the Mexican Consulate, who then hooked them up with Fred c. Noon and Ac Brinkley, who acted as their legal representation. The parents also sought help from the Spanish speaking media to bring attention to their lawsuit and to the discrimination their children were subjected to. In an article.

13:22 The committee voiced their opinion in a letter, writing like an OpEd, writing we are not in agreement, which is very natural, like duh that was me, adding that like da bitch, like da nor do we consider just the separation of our children without any reason to send them to another establishment that distinguishes Mexican children from children of other nationalities, So basically expressing their disagreement with all of this. Ultimately, Roberto Alvarez was chosen by the community to represent all of the children because he was an exemplary student who spoke English well, which, of course we can now argue was appealing to whiteness. But it's an argument for another day, of course. And that's what that's what they had to do.

14:05 I was gonna say, it's what they felt like they had to do, not even what they felt like, it's what they had to do. It's what they literally had to do. And even in the Mendes v. Westminster case, it was like, oh, these children know English. They blah blah blah, like they had to say that they know engliship to say that there was no reason for them to segregate, like you know, yeah, And this is where the name of the lawsuit comes from. Roberto Alvarez VI. The board of trustees of the Lemon Grove School District. I don't even know a lot, so I just know it as the Lemon Grove incidents. Incident. Yeah, that's how it's more commonly known. So the school board defended their decision and said the following in a response to the parents letter in Opinion newspaper. The strike is being carried on by an intense Mexican national organization, which is organized among the Spanish American elements along the coast. So it's not so like it's it's appealing to that fear of quote foreign invasion, you know what I mean, Like, yeah, no, of course, that's exactly what I was gonna say. Just now, it's like they're purposely othering this organization when this isn't an organization of out the community Spanish. Yeah, it's a it's an organistation or the community that exists in this city. Yes, that's what I mean by the community. People became a community there because you didn't want them anywhere else. That's

15:38 why they're all in the same way. They only formed this organization because you didn't let their kids go to the main school. But they're they were trying to argue like, oh no, this is like being an influence from like outside elements, foreign elements, not from like these are not foreign elements. These are people in your community, that you're discriminating ridiculous. Oh my god, I'm not surprised, though, I'm not surprised they doubled down and did it by appealing to xenophobic Okay, I could not, for the life I believe, remember that word, remember the words you a phobic? Wow. I am just like shocked by myself right now, even not even right now, but when I was writing these notes, I couldn't remember that word. Wow. I was like, I was like, what is there's a word for this, and I can think of it as a word for what I'm trying to say. How you say cucumber and it happens to the best of us, you know, so it does.

16:32 That's why I don't wanted to delete this part, because you know, people need to know it's okay to be dumb, even us dummies can learn new things, even as dumb bitches. As dummies can teach, you know. Yeah, And the DA had already signed with the school board, and they chose to represent the school board in the lawsuit, like they didn't need to do that, you know what I mean. The dh did not represent school boards. So at the state level, the powers that be had essentially also sided with the school board. In January nineteen thirty one, George R. Bliss, California Assemblyman of Carpentaria, some Town, introduced a bill to the California state legislature to legalize the segregation of Mexican students.

17:21 He wanted to make it official. Yeah, And in fact, in his hometown of Carpenteria, George Bliss was a member of the school board and he had already succeeded in establishing a segregated school for Mexicans, and he did so by labeling the Mexican school as an Indian school. And per California school quote of the time it was allowed, it was okay, it was legal to segregate against Native Americans, to send them to these Indian schools. Yes, yeah, that is true. So yeah, I'm not surprised that they did that. Yeah. So per the code, school boards had the power to establish separates for quote Indian children and children of Chinese, Japanese and quote Mongolian ancestry. I was gonna say that the first ones to be segregated were Asian and indigenous people. Yeah, And so in the bill, George wanted to extend the definition of Indian children to include Mexican children and pro segregation.

18:21 Members of the lemon growth community were rooting for this bill to pass, and one of them was quoted saying, if this as in the attempt to segregate lemon growth fels, we will slip a bill through the state legislature so we can segregate the greasers. Yeah. But the bill didn't succeed, and so I could save this for the end of the episode. But I guess not just say it now, because I was just talking about the Indian schools and them wanting to extend the definition of Indian to include Mexicans. I didn't see that this was an argument used by the parents, because I've seen it for future things like the Census and whatnot, you know, where Latinos and Mexicans basically asked to be labeled as white or chose to be labeled as white, you know what I mean. Yeah, So I didn't see from my research that this was an argument being made by the parents, like them trying to say, oh, we're not Indian, we're white. Like, I didn't see that as an argument for this case. They probably didn't use it, I don't think so, because I think that I think that came later, but I just wanted to just mention it because I mean, we know how Mexicans feel about being labeled as Indians, which is wrong.

19:33 Let's just put that out there, of course, and it is true to say that not all Mexicans are right regenous. But the reason that it was done in the United States is of course to be you know, closer to whiteness and benefit from being white. And but also the Mexicans weren't only advocating for themselves to be considered white. It was more like everyone else wanted them to be classified as white too. I didn't want them to be classified as a Like, yeah, which did you mention that? Did you talk about that already? Yeah, we've both just read the same book, right, Yeah, you sound like a white Girl by Julie Saads, And that was something I didn't know before that one of the reasons, one of the reasons Mexicans are labeled as why in the census was because other ethnic groups and organizations were arguing for it as well, because they were what is that term, worried that they were going to take away jobs or resources from them. Oh yeah, so they had like the scarcity mentality of we can be the only people of color labeled in the sentence. If not, it'll take away from our resources, like that type of thing. What year is this happening again? This was in nineteen thirty one, Okay, It wasn't until the nineteen fifty census that Mexican Americans. Okay, that's what I thought. I was gonna say that it was around then if I was remembering right. Yeah, so this was an arn't in. This was not an argument for this case, but it's something I guess, you know,

21:05 to keep in mind. Yeah, okay, So, similar to last episode, the school board argued that their intention was not to discriminate against Mexican students, but that Mexican students needed a separate building for their education because they were dumb. Basically, it was an argument, but what they said is because they were backward and deficient, that's actually and would put the other students behind. They also argued that that it would serve as an Americanization school where Mexican students would be assimilated, industrinated. Yeah, oh yes, assimilated or that you know, the same difference and samle so on February twenty fourth, nineteen thirty one, the case was heard by Judge Claude Chambers.

21:49 Sorry Chambers, not you proving them right? Not me? Okay. So Judge Chambers wasn't known as a just judge and his campaign slogan when running for judge was justice tempered with mercy. He was even quoted saying, I believe a court should uphold the dignity of the law and respect the rights of all equally, irrespective of whether they be rich or poor, and irrespective of what race, nationality, or religion they may belong to. Which from back then a provolitionary Yeah, And Judge Chambers meant what he said, and he stuck to these beliefs. In presenting their case, fred Noon and Ac Brinkley focused on rebudding the school board's claims about the backwardness and deficiencies of the Mexican children.

22:44 Roberto Alverez, along with ten other students, took the stand to testify against the school board, but the majority of the questioning was geared towards the school board and the school staff, because you know they're the ones that don't fucked up, so appoints the school board and the staff. Athol silent when being questioned by Judge Chambers because they knew their one the wrong. They had no answers because they knew they messed up, so they didn't double down. Here, not here, not in front of Judge Chambers. Ultimately, Roberto Alvarez and the Mexican community won the lawsuit and the separation was deemed as segregation by the court, and his closing statement, Judge Chambers stated, I understand that you can separate a few children to improve their education they need special instruction. But to separate all the Mexicans in one group can only be done by infringing the laws of the state of California. And I do not blame the Mexican children because of a few of them are behind in school work for the segregation. On the contrary, this is a fact in their favor. I believe that this separation denies the Mexican children the presence of the American children, which is so necessary to learn the English language. So he's like, stop this, stop this right now. And it's not the Mexican kid's fault, No, of course not. The court ruled that the school board had no legal basis to segregate the children and noted that California law did not authorize or permit the maintenance of separate schools for

24:16 the institution of peoples of Mexican parentage, nationality, and or dissent. So it was ordered that the Mexican children were legally entitled to enter the regular school building and receive instruction on the basis of equality with all of the other children. And I forgot to include it in my notes. But in this case, the school didn't appeal, which was common in other places, which is why they did it in the Westminster so Mendez, which went up to the California what was it ninth the ninth Circuit, Yeah, yeah, And so that's also another reason why other cases are more well known, because the school boards appealed, and so we kept going up you know, the chain, and in case they they didn't do that, they they you know, tried to uh or they followed the order that was made by the judge. Another thing that I did read about was at the school immediately tried to erase evidence of any of this, So their minutes of that time mentioned and nothing about this, and and other I forgot what other ways they tried to hide this or whatever. Wow. Yeah.

25:28 And another thing one of the main sources I used for This was written by the son of Roberto Robert. Oh my god, I love that junior. And he seemed like he had a lot of articles and research articles. So I think he must be like some kind of PhD or something in in this type of Latin American or Chicano studies. Maybe I'm not sure, but he had a lot of articles, like about a bunch of other similar events. I love that. Yeah. So yeah, that was in his article, which of course will be linked. He also mentions a few other big cases about black students and desegregation that were before the Brown Versus Board of Education. Oh, like weles w I do remember. That's why I said I don't remember. But that article is a linked in the show notes, so you can read the article. Okay, I'll do that. I'll click on the sources in my Spotify app while I'm listening to this episode that I did edit also, but I'm going to listen to again and then I'm going to click on the source. Yeah. Yeah, And there's a documentary. I didn't get to watch it because it was like an hour long, and well, it's not a documentary to a film. I didn't link it because I didn't watch it, but it's linked in the Zenda Project link, which I did use, so it's there.

26:51 Okay if people want to. I want to watch it in the future. I didn't get to watch it for this, but it's not a documentary because they do reenactments of the event, so okay, I give yeah, yeah, but it's it's a film about it, but it also has like interviews and then there's a kid's book written about this too. Oh, I don't look at the zand okay, the project project, all right, it's all there. Honestly one of the best websites. I love Zanda Project. And you know what, when I read the what is it a people's history of the United States? My mind was blown. Yes, yeah, I was shocked.

27:31 One thing also that Robert thought of it, as mentioned and his article is that he didn't learn about any of this until like college, and I'm like, we shouldn't wait until college to learn about this. Yeah, this is California history. Actually, they look at the comment someone left, the comments and the posts that we made on threats about Westminster, they mentioned did they mention the Lemon Grove incident? They mentioned Lemon Grove? Yes, And then they said Okay, so yeah, this person said. Another interesting desegregation event in nineteen twenty five in Kansas City, Kansas, for Mexican American children tried to attend Argentine High School when objections from Anglo parents and threats of physical violence forced them out.

28:12 The school board offered the students a separate room and teacher or car fair intuition to another school, but the Mexican parents, led by Saturnino Albarado, refused in the face of a petition of two hundred signatures from Anglo parents saying their children weren't wanted. The Mexican parents continuing diplomatic and legal health, refusing to send their children to a segregated school until the kids were finally allowed to attend Argentine High School in nineteen twenty six. Senor Alberado's name is on the gym of the school, which is now a middle school, but if you go to the history of the school on their website, nothing is mentioned about this. Well, of course that was similar yeah to this where the school tried to hide all the school board I mean yeah, yeah, signs that this happened. Yes. Also, first, thank you so much for bringing this twas my pleasure. You know, we really sat back to school with these last two episodes, and bitch, did we ever go back? But this is not a back to school topic now, because I did want to do a brief bullshit segments. Yeah, oh my god, I didn't know you were going to write it in time. No, this isn't written. Oh, this is just off the top of my head. Okay, wow, wow, I come, you have

29:43 the brain for that. Okay, go on, Well it's my phone in front of me. So he just tweeted, we are the new safe haven for ideas, freetom of speech and belief. As the world spials to chaos and government crackdowns intensifying, we will stand as the new beacon of for the future. That is so scary. That is also not true. And so this someone quotes heated and said, your delusional bitch talk about that disappeared, the innocent rotting in your jails and your government's corruption asshole. Oh my god, I love that person, and I wanted to mention that just yes. First of all, iconic response there sees best with which we've mentioned many times before. They came out of not that long ago August. Second, with a little thing that says decreasing migration from a myth. Yeah I read that. So in this they just debunk, you know, the things that he said because he, as we know, Trump said that he switched it from Mexicans nasen in their best to right, not that long ago, sometime in August, and then book that responded by like saying, I'm going to take the high knee or whatever. I don't know, yes I did, yeah, the high round, yeah, whatever something.

31:06 But it's a he said something about his knees. Really there's like a saying that, like, I don't know, I thought it was the high ground. I think the word knee is somewhere in that. I don't don't quote me anyway, So, you know, just to kind of reiterate, I guess that people are migrating from in Sador. That is happening. Yeah, yeah, from what I read from CSPAS, Yeah, two hundred thousand seal doors are still you know, kind of an the renewal of the TPS program. Hundreds more have like you know, arrived since this. There's still right wing organizations calling for the getting rid of TPS, which is what allows Salvadorans to work legally in this country. In the United States.

31:53 Sorry my children, And yeah, you know, Bookat, I was trying to say that the several durans are leavings. That's simply not true. So people are still, you know, being disappeared, and yeah, a massive rested and you know there's no reason or you know, given for any of this. But also recently, I just saw that there was a helicopter crash. Yes, and that's what I was like. And I don't know if you saw me looking at my phone while you were at the end of your notes, because I was trying to find more information on this, and I'm like, where did I even first see this crash? Oh? Hold on, I just found a post. No, well, I just found a post from Dicho's own cho about the crash. So, so the thing about the Plank Garage is that there was a bank that went under right, and the manager of said bank, I believe it was the article says co Savvy Savings and Loan Cooperative. There was an interpool arrest warrant out for him. He was one of the thirty two people implicated in the embezzlement of more than thirty five million by cosavi's directors and employees. So he was one of the thirty two people implicated in that embezzlement and he was on this plane. Oh, Manuel Cotto, my bad. I did have his name, okay. And this banker was captured in Honduras over the weekend and handed

33:25 it to Solvadorian authorities at the border. And then the helicopter he was on crashed, right, yes, yes, no, sorry, but the police, the chief of police died of Sarado. The police chief in this plane, this topt crash. He was in it, right, yeah, I think so, Yes, you're right he was. Yeah, he was transporting him. Yeah. The head of En Saradod police force is among nine people who died when the military helicopter they were traveling and crashed in central well in the country. And he was escorting this guy, Manuel Cotto. Yes, yes. And then Bukele after the crash wrote on Twitter that he didn't think the crash should be considered an accident and ordered in investigation.

34:11 Hm hmm. I'm gonna speculate a little bit. This chief of police has been chief of police since twenty nineteen, and he was key to Bugela's crackdown of the games. So I'm like, maybe he knew too much, right right? The implication right or the conspiracy hat mode on is that he one or both like the chief and the person that you know was being transported because they did all this fraud know a little bit of something, right yeah, and then so they were killed because of that. So de Manuel Koto also died I think so yeah, like everyone on the helicopter. I mean that would make sense.

34:59 Who survives helicopter crash? Yeah, all those on board died. Oh okay, well, very suspicious. So if anything that was planned, because you know, we all know how much he has already embezzled, and like fraud, he's committed and this isn't a step above like getting rid of people to continue or to hide your fraud. So again that part is speculation, but the rest is true. Yes, yeah, yeah, and they did point out when starts speculating, So yes, you did, you did, as did I I think just people are aware. Yes, hello, Hello, this is Christina from the Future with an update because of course, after we recorded this, we found a better explanation of the helicopter crash that we mentioned. So this fatal helicopter crash killed the main suspect in a massive fraud case linked to the New Ideas Party, which, in case you don't know by now, this is Bucal's political party, and this fraud case was linked to them. And so just little timeline of how everything happened. Manuel Koto Barrientos fled and Salvador after stealing thirty five million. On the twenty seventh of July, it was announced that he was captured in Panama, and then there was three months of silence from everyone, including the Salva Duran government, aside from one tweet with Naiu Bucelet celebrating this capture, that's it.

36:23 And then three months after that, on the eighth of September, without any explanation, the Honduras authorities announced that they had captured him, that he had been attempting to flee to the US via un Coyote. And then there's a new tweet from Bucele stating that you know, oh, he's been captured and because of cooperation between US and Honduras, we have avoided this complicated extradition process. Then there was silence from the Salva during government after this tweet, nothing announced after that. That same night, Manuel Koto Barrientos was handed over to the Salvadorian authorities who were then supposed to transport him back and at twelve forty one am on the ninth of September is when the helicopter crash occurred.

37:11 So I think it's kind of what we said in the episode, but maybe a little clearer. There is ties between Manuel Coto Barriento's the fraud and the New Ideas party, and the crash happened is basically the end of it, all right, back to the end of the episode. So yeah, that is it for the Buclay update or sorry Bule bullshits update and also the end of the episode, right all right, Yeah, I think that okay pretty much is the end of it. Yes, I don't know, I sound like that anyway. Thank you everybody for listening. If you have enjoyed the podcast so far, Fabridia, leave us a rating review and a five star rating and recommend us to your amigos, amigez amigies. Yeah, a song is saying or I gonna like it? Yes, okay, all right, and we hope that this was one nessit story unknown for you.

38:05 Bye bye.