SAN JUAN, Texas - Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa has paid his tributes to civil rights trailblazer and Tejano Democrats stalwart Juan Maldonado.
Maldonado, a former mayor of San Juan and chairman of Hidalgo County Democratic Party, died following a two-year battle against pulmonary fibrosis. He was 78.
“It’s a sad thing. I have known Juan for 40 years. He broke a lot of ground in South Texas, coming of age during times when the White Establishment in South Texas, the Anglo Establishment controlled and determined everybody’s future, whether it was jobs or education, ownership of property and so forth,” Hinojosa said.
“He saw the injustice from a very young age, stepped up and fought it. He did it when it wasn’t popular. He did it in a very forceful way. And he opened a lot of doors for those coming behind him through his courage and commitment to social justice. He was a trailblazer.”
Asked how he personally interacted with Maldonado, Hinojosa said:
“We interacted a lot in the Democratic Party. In Hidalgo County, as you probably remember, there were two factions in the Democratic Party. There were, as we affectionally called them, the Bros and the Buddies. And he was the head of the Bros.
"The Bros were the more La Raza Unida, a guess a little bit more radical in their politics than the Buddies. The Buddies, led by Billy Leo, were from the western part of the county. And they battled each other for control of the Democratic Party. And the state leaders of the party, those who controlled Texas, would pick sides. People like Gary Mauro, Bob Krueger, Jim Mattox, were much more closely aligned with Juan Maldonado’s faction. The other side, people like Ann Richards, were much more closely aligned with the other side. They were progressive statewide, but they aligned much more with Billy Leo’s group.”
Hinojosa hails from Hidalgo County but did not get involved in politics until he moved to Cameron County. He said that, as a result, he never took sides in the Bros vs. Buddies battles.
“I was not part of either faction, but I interacted a lot with Juan and a lot of other Democrats in Hidalgo County. Sometimes we were on the same side, sometimes we were not on the same side. But we were friends and I had a deep respect for him. He was a highly intelligent, very articulate, a great public speaker and someone who made a big difference in the direction of the statewide Democratic Party, when it came to South Texas,” Hinojosa said.
“We started getting a lot more respect from state Democrats. They paid a lot more attention to the Rio Grande Valley, hence we started seeing more appointments, not necessarily always coming from Juan’s faction, but more appointments coming from the Rio Grande Valley and more resources being spent by the statewide Democrats in the Rio Grande Valley. And so, Juan did a lot to grow the importance of South Texas when it came to Democratic Party politics.”
Asked what he knew about Maldonado’s involvement in the Pharr Riots, Hinojosa said:
“Juan was involved in the famous Pharr riots. He was part of La Raza Unida at that point, and he was very involved in that protest. I don't think he was a Brown Beret but I know that he was a Chicano activist at that time.”
Following the police shooting of Pharr resident Alfonso Loredo Flores and the subsequent protests, San Juan became the first city in the Valley to elect a majority Mexican American city commission. Maldonado served as a city commissioner and later mayor.
Hinojosa said he remembers the efforts Maldonado and others led to secure more influence for Mexican Americans in the Texas Democratic Party.
“We were very involved in getting Juan elected as state chair of the Mexican American Democrats when it was a very viable organization. We had a convention, I remember, when he got elected. I don’t remember whether it was in San Antonio or Austin when he got elected chair but there were like 5,000 delegates there. It was a big thing. It was a very divided convention and his faction, which we were supporting, was able to overcome some things that the other faction had done to kind of stack things on their side that were unfair, we thought, and we were able to be able to beat them back and elect him statewide as the Mexican American Democrats chairperson.”
Asked if it is true or just folklore that Maldonado cut an imposing figure at a National Democratic Party Convention by having a Dao or Saber tied to his waist belt, Hinojosa said he was not aware.
“Juan was a trailblazer and remained very involved with the party to the point… I believe he was on the DNC for a little while, the Democratic National Committee. He was elected president of the Tejano Democrats as well. And he was Hidalgo County Democratic Party chair for several terms.”
Asked if Maldonado was also on the board of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, Hinojosa said: “I am almost positive he was. He was very close to Willie Velasquez, I know that.”
Hinojosa added: “Juan Maldonado was a good guy, and he was steadfast, he never wavered. Even in his older years, even when he got sick. He was there fighting to the very end. I just found out about a month ago that he was very sick and that his condition was getting worse. I felt very bad about it because he still had a lot to give.”
Editor's Note: Hidalgo County Democratic Party Precinct Chair Selina Hayes Medrano was a good friend of Juan Maldonado. We will publish her thoughts his accomplishments in our next edition.
