Still, she believes she was winning. "The men were voting for me," she said. Then Lopez, the village elder running the election, announced that he was nullifying the votes for her.
Lopez's argument, verified by others present that day, was that Cruz could not run for office. "Show me the bylaws," Cruz demanded.
The bylaws have been handed down orally through the generations, she was told. There was nothing to show.
Manuel Martinez Hernandez, a Quiegolani official who supports Cruz, denounced his colleagues.
"They didn't respect our traditions, because on the day of the election, when they saw they were losing, they nullified the results without consulting the citizenry," he said.
Mendoza, the declared winner, said no ballots were discarded. In fact, he said, he defeated Cruz 93 to 20.
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The new mayor, who took office in January, defends the practice of excluding women.
"Why is it that only men choose the municipal authorities?" Mendoza asked rhetorically. "They are the ones in charge of the tough jobs, the ones who run all the money affairs in the home. . . . Women occupy a special place, they are privileged for us Zapotecs. They don't lift a hand in the toughest part of the harvest."
Cruz took her complaint to the state capital. But an election official there told her it was too late to overturn the results. "Run again in three years," he said. Then, she said, he asked her for a date.
Outraged, she turned to the media, writing a 600-word "Open Letter From an Indigenous Woman."
"On Nov. 4 . . . there was an assault against the Constitution in my town," she wrote. "With lies, threats and humiliations" the male leaders of Quiegolani " 'annulled' my right to govern my people for the next three years."
Now changes are afoot in both Santa Maria Quiegolani and Oaxaca state. Publicity about the case brought Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz to Santa Maria Quiegolani in February. He promised to "end once and for all the old practice of discriminating against women in local assemblies."
Ruiz's visit was treated by all as a historic event. Afterward, Mendoza said the Quiegolani community assembly would probably agree this spring to allow women to vote.
And in three years, when Mendoza's term is over, Cruz plans to run again.
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hector.tobar@latimes.com
