GOP Didn’t See Their Sweet Serenader’s Other Side

Mexico’s Vicente Fernandez was invited to perform for the Republican Party last week as part of its be-nice-to-Latinos election strategy. But the famous mariachi vocalist could have easily started a riot inside the Philadelphia convention hall.

Instead of lulling delegates with the sweet “Cielito Lindo,” the singer could have shocked them with his late-70s hit, “Los Mandados,” a defiant challenge to the U.S. Border Patrol. With its jaunty, catch-me-if-you-can accordion runs, the tune tells of an immigrant who takes revenge on Americans for abuse suffered at the hands of La Migra.

I call it the Illegal Alien Anthem. Forgive the politically incorrect terminology, but the song makes Mexicans feel proud to carry the stigma of the undocumented. It always gets big cheers from immigrant audiences.

In the norteno tune, Fernandez brags about hopping back and forth across the border despite repeated deportation. In one attempt, he even dyes his hair blond to disguise himself as a gabacho, slang for white American. But the ruse fails because he can’t speak English.

La Migra a mi me agarro 300 veces, digamos./Pero jamas me domo. A mi me hizo los mandados./Los golpes que a mi me dio, se los cobre a sus paisanos.

“Immigration (La Migra) caught me 300 times, let’s say,” sings Fernandez, calling himself a “wetback,” or mojado. “But it never tamed me. . . . The beatings they gave me, I took out on their countrymen.”

At this point, I think members of the Texas delegation would have stopped waving their cowboy hats happily to the music, as they did Thursday night during Fernandez’s performance. Instead, they would have rushed the convention stage, like Mexicans storming the Alamo.

The song uses an expression--me hizo los mandados--which turns the tables on the Border Patrol. It suggests that the “wetback” made La Migra run around after him, like a servant doing errands for a master.

I doubt that’s the message the GOP wanted to send by asking Fernandez to sing on the night George W. Bush was nominated for president. Republicans made a show of reaching out to minorities, but they can’t possibly like Mexicans so much they’d endorse such a devil-may-care defense of illegal immigration.

No, Republicans just wanted a smiling Mexican with a big sombrero singing a familiar tune: Ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no llores (Oh, sing and don’t cry). They didn’t bargain for the real Fernandez: Mexico’s working-class hero.

His fans call him affectionately by his nickname, “Chente.” He may be a millionaire, but they feel he is still one of them. He stands with the poor; he scorns the rich.

“It’s my pride to have been born in the most humble barrio, far from false society,” he sings in “El Hijo del Pueblo” (The Son of the People). “I compose my songs for the people to sing, and the day they fail me, that’s the day I will cry.”

Now, many fans feel Fernandez has failed them by aligning with the party that pushed Proposition 187, that sought to penalize the very group he champions. To them, it would be like singer Gloria Estefan, an avid anti-communist, serenading Fidel Castro. Or like the Sex Pistols, the pioneer punk rockers, giving a command performance for the Queen.

“Chente became a pawn of the GOP and their ‘inclusion by illusion’ propaganda,” writes Times reader Cesar Madrid of Orange, son of immigrant farm workers. “Is he loco o que? I will never again listen to any of his songs unless he issues a public apology to all Mexicans, even the vendidos (sellouts).”

Ralph Hauser, the singer’s Pico Rivera-based manager, says he urged Fernandez to accept the GOP’s invitation as a good opportunity for worldwide exposure. Hauser says he had to reassure Fernandez that his appearance would not be viewed as a political endorsement, nor construed as “turning away from your public.”

Wait a second. Isn’t that naive?

“We’re not saying vote for Bush and don’t vote for Gore,” says Hauser, a Republican. “We’re just saying listen to this guy sing.”

Fernandez is pleased that the GOP is reaching out to Latinos, Hauser said. It’s not fair to blame Bush for the party’s past policies. Besides, Fernandez would sing for the Democrats too, if asked.

As long as it’s also prime time.

Using politics for personal promotion can be risky. Some day, Chente’s fans may sing back to him the lyrics from “El Rey,” his signature song about someone who has no worldly status but holds onto pride despite rejection.

I well know I’m on the outside, but I know you’ll have to cry for me on the day I die./You’ll say you never wanted me, but you’re going to be very sad, and that’s the way I’ll make you stay.

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Agustin Gurza’s column appears Tuesday. Readers can reach Gurza at (714) 966-7712 or agustin.gurza@latimes.com