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Andres Bermudez, diputado federal del PAN, muere a los 58 anos, en Houston, por cancer en el estomago
ZACATECAS.- El Comite Directivo Estatal (CDE) del PAN lamento la muerte del diputado federal por Zacatecas, Andres Bermudez Viramontes, 'El Rey del Tomate', quien murio este jueves en una clinica de Houston, Texas, donde se atendia por cancer en el estomago.

La presidencia del Comite Directivo Estatal del PAN, a cargo de Pedro Martinez Flores, lamento la muerte del legislador.

Andres Bermudez tenia 58 anos de edad, era originario de la comunidad El Durazno, de Jerez de Garcia Salinas, Zacatecas, de donde emigro a Estados Unidos, en donde hizo fortuna con la produccion de tomate.

Cabe senalar que en 2001 fue candidato a presidente municipal en Jerez por el PRD y gano la alcaldia, sin embargo, por una impugnacion interpuesta por el PRI donde senalaba que no cubria el requisito de residencia en la poblacion, el tribunal federal resolvio que no podria desempenar el cargo y puso a su suplente.

Sin embargo, tres anos despues fue presidente municipal, pero ahora bajo las siglas del Partido Accion Nacional (PAN).

En el 2006, se postulo a la candidatura a diputado federal por el distrito segundo de Zacatecas y obtuvo el triunfo.

Como migrante, fue famoso por la produccion, distribucion y venta de tomate, lo que le gano el mote de 'El Rey del Tomate'.

Su vestimenta caracteristica era en negro y no se quitaba un sombrero tejano del mismo color, porque, segun decia, siempre estaba de luto por la muerte de un hermano y por los mexicanos que cruzaban la frontera hacia Estados Unidos y que fallecieron en el intento.

El suplente de Andres Bermudez es Federico Bernal Frausto, ex alcalde de Tabasco, Zacatecas, ex diputado local y empresario del ramo dulcero.

16 December 2005
Zacatecas ‘Tomato King’ plagued by scandal




Story by : David Agren

Andres Bermudez left Zacatecas state as an impoverished field hand in 1974. He and his pregnant wife sneaked across the border, hiding in the trunk of a car. After a short stint working in a suitcase factory, Bermudez began laboring in the fields of northern California. His luck changed after he invented a device for planting tomatoes. The new contraption quickly became popular among growers, earning Bermudez the nickname, "The Tomato King." It also earned him a small fortune. He returned to his hometown of Jerez, Zacatecas in 2001 as a celebrity, a migrant made good from a spot lacking opportunities — a place where much of the population survives on remittances sent home from the United States. He capitalized on his notoriety, capturing the popular vote in the 2001 mayor's race, but was subsequently denied office by election officials, who ruled that he failed to meet the state's residency requirements. After successfully lobbying for a change in the law, he won again in 2004, this time running under the banner of Zacatecas' least popular political party.

"I'm not the king of tomatoes here," Bermudez humbly said during an interview at his wood-paneled office in Jerez city hall on a chilly December morning. "I'm the king of tomatoes in the (United States); I live like a king in the (United States), but not here."

Bermudez's electoral feat and his incredible rags-to-riches story captured international headlines. Observers hailed his triumph as an example of migrants flexing their political muscles in the communities they have long propped up through remittances. The Tomato King promised to turn Jerez, a sleepy burg of 60,000 in the Central Mexican highlands, into a mini America, a well-governed place teeming with prosperity and most importantly jobs. And in a threat to the old guard, he vowed to "Get the rats out of city hall." Somewhat bizarrely, he also promised visas for young workers heading to the United States and tomato-planting devices for poor campesinos (peasant farmers), who have been abandoning the countryside in droves.

But with notoriety came controversy and enemies. Several journalists and opposition city councilors allege Bermudez has engaged in corruption, nepotism, and lewd behavior and governed in an authoritarian style — like a king — intimidating opponents and employing thugish tactics. Emotions about Bermudez —a polemic figure — run high. Many Jerez residents preferred not to make on-the-record comments about the mayor.

"He's not better or worse than any of his predecessors," said Alfredo Saldana, owner of the Hotel Jardin in the Jerez centro. "But he has a lot more enemies."

Three members of Jerez's city council went on a hunger strike three weeks ago, demanding the state government take action against the mayor. Members of a Jerez citizens' group along with local residents opposed to Bermudez later barricaded the front doors to city hall for four days.

"A hunger strike is an extreme method," conceded Adriana Marquez Sanchez, a city councilor from the Workers' Party (PT), who

On April 17, 1926, Western Air Service, Inc., commenced operation on Contract Air Mail Route 4 (CAM-4) between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. via Las Vegas. For service over this route, a distance of about 660 miles, Western selected the Douglas M-2 aircraft, a mailplane version of the 0-2 observation plane produced by the Douglas Company to replace the U.S. Army DH-4 aircraft.

The Douglas M-2 was selected because it was far superior in strength, construction, performance, and flying characteristics to other aircraft entered in the Post Office Department’s competition for airmail airplanes. The M-2 was a single-bay biplane with the conventional form of axleless undercarriage. The fuselage, a truss of steel tubes and tie rods, was made in two detachable sections. The engine section was detachable at the station at the front wing beam and the engine cowling was hinged to facilitate inspection. The fuselage aft of the firewall was covered with fabric. The wings, vertical fin, and horizontal stabilizer were of standard wood beam and built-up rib construction, with the elevators and rudder made of Duralumin tubing. The power plant was a 400-hp, Liberty water-cooled engine, with nose radiator. Two main fuel tanks, each of sixty gallons capacity and made of sheet aluminum, were so mounted in the lower wing that they could be jettisoned by the pilot. A small 10-gallon gravity tank was located in the upper wing.

A design detail of particular interest was the location and construction of the M-2 mail compartment. It was situated in front of the pilots cockpit, sealed from the engine by a fireproof bulkhead, and lined with reinforced Duralumin. It was six feet long, had a capacity of 58 cubic feet, and could carry up to 1,000 pounds of mail. A unique feature was the provision of two removable seats that permitted carrying passengers or reserve pilots from one field to another. The passengers were seated well down in the compartment and protected by suitable windshields. Access was provided by the use of aluminum covers over the top, arranged and constructed so that, with passengers aboard, the roof door could be folded down. providing a cockpit opening.

Flights were scheduled daily in both directions on the Los Angeles-to-Salt Lake City run, with one-way flight time averaging slightly in excess of six hours. The record time for the route was 4 hours, 12 minutes. The schedule was maintained by four regular pilots, two reserve pilots, eight mechanics, and three radio operators at the fields. Although transporting the mail remained the airlines’ chief concern, Western Air Express invited passenger traffic, and invaluable experience was gained flying passengers in the M-2 over the same rugged territory of eastern California. southern Nevada, and western Utah traveled many years before by the Mormons.

The M-2 performed remarkably well during the early years on the CAM-4 route. Its load-carrying capability, remarkable stability, and rugged construction contributed to a perfect safety record and profitable operation. Government and airline experiences with the Douglas mailplanes and the 0-2 led to modifications of the basic design. Relatively minor changes in cockpit layout, engine accessories, and airframe construction led to the M-3 mailplane, which differed little in physical appearance from the M-2 version. A subsequent addition of five feet to the wingspan resulted in the final version, the M-4, which realized considerable gain in payload at a negligible loss in performance. While Western eventually added two M-4s to its fleet of six M-2s, the M-4 saw more extensive service with National Air Transport (later United Air Lines) from 1927 to 1930 on the Chicago-New York route. National Air Transport modified all of its M-3s into the M-4 configuration and eventually had twenty-four Douglas mailplanes on its roster, to become the largest operator of this type in commercial service.

The M-2 of the National Air and Space Museum is believed to be the last Douglas mailplane in existence. This machine is actually an M-4 model originally purchased by Western from the Post Office Department in June 1927 and registered as NC 1475, serial number 338. The aircraft saw considerable service on Western’s mail route until 1930. when it crashed and was sold to Continental Air Map Company of Los Angeles. The airplane had a series of corporate and private owners until it was reacquired by Western Air Lines in April 1940 and subsequently registered with the Federal Aviation Administration as M-2 NC15O, Western’s first M-2. The first substantial restoration took place in 1946, although no attempt was made to make it flyable. For the next twenty two years, the M-2 made its home in a corner of Western’s hangar at Los Angeles International Airport. In 1974 an intensive, large-scale restoration effort commenced, under the impetus of retired Western Captain Ted Homan.

Volunteers from Western Air Lines, McDonnell-Douglas Corporation, Goodyear