SPIRIT OF THE CORN

by Aldo Arturo Della Maggiora

Melida Andrade (Ma ma) was born in Born 1902 in Cojutepeque, El Salvador, a country of volcanoes. Ma ma Melida came from a poor family. During this era the country was not very populated and their economy was fair. My Great Grand Mother did not know how to read or write, nor did she attend school. At that time going to school was a privilege for those who could afford it.

Ma ma was the oldest daughter of Catalina Delgado and Salvador (a military general). She had two brothers and a sister. The oldest brother was Estevan,11, the youngest brother was Atilio, 10, and Lidia, at 4 years old, was the youngest in the family.

In 1914, Ma ma Melida’s mother, Catalina passed away at age 38. Prior to my Great Great, Great, Grand Mother Catalina’s death, she had already separated from her husband. Ma ma Melida was only 12 years old; left to care for Estevan, Atilio and Lidia. Ma ma Melida went to live with her Grand Mother Benita Carrillo v. (view da) de Delgado. Estevan ran away from the family. My Great Grand Ma said that she tried to track him down but could not find him. Suffering from the frustration of losing a brother and not being able to afford medication for her mother, dying of a fever, she promised to herself that she would come out of poverty with her family. That was her turning point.

Finding herself at the age of 12 years old left with the responsibility to raise her brother and sister, Ma ma Melida wasted no time in vain conversation. Her conversations, were all about business and no more than that. She focused on looking and speaking proper so that she would not be outcast from the cream of society. She had an attitude that she was the queen and only interested in business. She used this attitude in society and in her family so that nobody could put her down. She did not let anybody in, because she understood the nature of envy and how personal history was used to minimize others; to interfere with the business or goals one had in life.

She earned her respect and everyone she worked with saw that this women was a hard worker, had self-determination and dignity.

Her strong character came from the fact that she had to confront life at an early age. She had the knowledge of "No meter la pâté" (to be proper) among the wealthy, intellectual, business community. Through listening and observing she learned to behave and survive amongst the privileged society. She graduated from the University of life.

It is believed that after the death of my Great, Great, Great Grand Mother, Ma ma Melida got involved in prostitution to be able to send money back to her grandmother to feed her brothers and sister and build the capital necessary to start her liquor business. From time to time, Ma ma Melida also got paid to breast feed other children, which was customary in El Salvador.

In El Salvador police were known for tattooing prostitutes with a serial number. My uncle was aware that my Great Grand Mother had a numerical tattoo on her shoulder, hidden behind two tattooed hearts; which she never showed anyone. Other than this information no one talked much about this subject within the family circle, and people that knew, did not speak about it, for respect.

At about age 19 Ma ma Melida started her liquor business. She traveled with local merchants who knew her. The barrels of liquor Ma ma Melida bought were transported on mules to different town fairs throughout El Salvador.

Once she arrived into town she would set up a tent both to promote the liquor she sold. Since she was on the road all the time the tents were convenient to sleep under after a long day of work. Ma ma Melida carried a 38 caliber with her as a means of defense. She would not let anyone take advantage of her. These town fairs would last up to three days, where local officials, business owners and town’s people would show up throughout El Salvador. There was music, dancing, food, and vendors.

As Ma ma Melida’s business began to flourish, she helped set up a barbershop for Atilio. but due to his alcoholism his business failed. He became a shoe shiner as well as a shoe repairer on the street. He lived in run down Mesones. (hotels) Other times he found himself in the streets when he could not afford the Mesones. Ma ma Melida tried hard to help him but Atilio gave up, she had to learn how to let her brother go, because no matter how much money she would give him he would always spend it on alcohol. Lidia received money from Ma ma Melida and opened two cantinas. Although Lidia’s business did well the hardships of a bad relationship resulted in her becoming bankrupt. Her unhealthy relationship lead to the mismanagement of her business. Lidia lost her business and house. She had seven children who were grown up by that time.

By this time Ma ma Melida had two children Arturo and Soli. She bought a house in Sensuntepeque and eventually bought 16 houses where she rented to people and established cantinas selling liquor. Sensuntepeque was a rural area and property was inexpensive

Being the new, single women with her siblings, in town and establishing businesses and homes attracted the envy of one woman who was known well in town for her business success. She took Ma ma Melida to court complaining that the cantinas were not good for the town. Eventually Ma ma Melida got tired of going to court and decided to sell all her property and businesses. She collected all her money and moved to the capital, San Salvador. She never gave up on her dreams. She bought a house and established her first cantina, later establishing more cantinas. Her husband Manuel Andrade opened two grocery stores.

As her business grew stronger, sooner then later, she was able to present herself to the De Stileria la Central and another company Ilopania at the time who made Flor de Cana.and Espiritu de Cana. She became a wholesale buyer of the production and National Drink called Espiritu de Cana, which is the spirit coming from the sugar cane and Flor de Cana, meaning flower of sugar cane. She was the #1 distributor for the whole country.

Mama Melida bought almost 90% of the production of both companies in cash. Both companies gave her the lowest discount, about 30 percent. The remaining production these two companies had were sold at a 15% discount; where as my Great Grand Mother was able to move the industry of liquor by selling her production at 12% discount. She sold to small towns, big cities, cantinas, grocery stores, etc.

She was recognized by Banko Salvadoreno run by Don Luis Escalante. Don Luis Escalante later on decided to open his own bank named Banko Agricola Comercial, the strongest bank in El Salvador. He ask her to transfer all her capital into his bank and offered to give her the most interest on her capital.

After 7 to 10 years of working in business Ma ma Melida contracted a designer and architect to design a big house for her whole family to move in. Her son, Pa Pa Arturo became an economist for the United Nations, representing Central, South America and the Caribbean Islands. He married my GrandMother, Lotty Lara, an educator. My grand parents had 4 children. Being that my Grand Father had children with different women, a divorce was inevitable.

My Great Grand Ma loved her grand children but she was on her son’s side and her dream of having a family dynasty washed away when my grandfather had his wife and children leave the house, with no money.

In the 1980’s Ma ma Melida came to America asking for forgiveness to the family on my mothers behalf. She asked my mother to go to her funeral to represent the rest of the family. My Great Grand Ma passed away January 13, 1981.

Ma ma Melida always meant business and wanted to produce more money. She received capital gain, prestige, gifts, power, and recognition in society. Unfortunately her liquor business exploited her people, whose life hopes became a bottle of alcohol and each generation repeated that same cycle. This is the price my Great Grand Mother had to pay to live well off and make it amongst the economic, political, and business elites.

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In the case of my Great Grand Mother it was her ambition that created her accomplishments as well as her downfalls, unfortunately she could not confront the aspect of her life that contributed to exploiting her people as well as her family. Bad decisions caved in her dreams of having a united family. Hopefully the next generation won’t repeat the same mistake.