This is in response to Denise Holley’s well-written article titled “Author sheds new light on the Apaches,” in the May 12, 2009, edition of the Nogales International.

According to Manuel Rojas, he wanted to know who taught Geronimo how to speak Spanish. He also states that Geronimo was anti-Mexican and gratuitously notes that: “If he had lived in the 20th or 21st centuries, he would be head of the Border Patrol.”

First, let me say that it is common knowledge in Barrio Nogalitos that Geronimo was indeed a Mexican. That might explain how he learned Spanish (duh). Geronimo’s aunt Refugio “Cuca” Ortiz lived for many, many years off Perkins Street, behind what is now the home of Arturo and Carmelita Lopez whose son George is Deputy Tucson Border Patrol Sector Chief.

Doña Cuca’s rendition of Geronimo’s matriculation is that he was born of Mexican parents and was kidnapped by the Apaches who ultimately indoctrinated him with enough of their ideology that he grew to prominence within their ranks. It is quite unlikely, however, that he was “anti-Mexican.” The story of his origins was recounted by several of Doña Cuca’s relatives who also lived in Nogalitos early in the last century.

A frequent visitor to their home, carrying food from her Mom’s kitchen, was my Aunt Mary Higgins. She also confirms Doña Cuca and her family related with pride their relationship to the famous (or infamous) kin.

I recall seeing Geronimo’s photo on the wall of Doña Cuca’s living room back in my early years as a denizen of Nogalitos. There is no question that we are speaking of the same Geronimo who was at one time held prisoner in a jail where La Caverna later flourished on Elias Street, just south of the border.

As to Manuel Rojas’s Border Patrol bashing, it’s a crock! There are few people more “Mexican” than today’s Chief David Aguilar and his spouse, Beatriz. In fact, Deputy Chief Ron Colburn advises me that just over half of today’s Border Patrol agents are of Hispanic origin and that a vast number chose working with the agency because “we love and embrace the border culture.”

Jim Price

Nogales