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MR WALTER HERBECK JR

Luis Ramirez <1luis.ramirez@gmail.com>

Perpetrated by the Texas Rangers and local ranchers to steal Hispanic properties as they
did hundreds of times for the King Ranch contiguous properties. Winners: The Texas
Governor, local ranchers and the Texas Rangers. Losers: Hispanic land owners.

News

Story of Porvenir massacre finally being

told

John MacCormack Sep. 27, 2019 Updated: Sep. 27, 2019 1:38 p.m.
1of17Copy photo of Juan Flores Bonilla (center), father of Paula Flores Smith, Arlinda Flores
Burgess (left), sister of Paula Flores Smith, and Paula Flores Smith (right). Photo provided by
Paula Flores Smith, 86, granddaughter of Longino Flores, who was one of 15 men killed at the
Porvenir massacre a century ago, at her home in Arlington, Texas Photo: Lara Solt / Lara Solt
2of17Copy photo of Juan Flores, father of Paula Flores Smith (center), and family. Paula Flores
Smith is on the far left. Photo provided by Paula Flores Smith, 86, granddaughter of Longino
Flores, who was one of 15 men killed at the Porvenir massacre a century ago, at her home in
Arlington, Texas on Monday, September 23, 2019. A century after U.S. Photo: Lara Solt / Lara
Solt
3of17Paula Flores Smith, 86, granddaughter of Longino Flores, who was one of 15 men killed at
the Porvenir massacre a century ago, at her home in Arlington, Texas on Monday, September 23,
2019. A century after U.S. soldiers and Texas Rangers slaughtered 15 unarmed Mexican boys
and men at Porvenir, a remote West Texas border settlement, the nearly Photo: Lara Solt / Lara
Solt

ODESSA — On Jan. 28, 1918, Longino Flores and 14 other unarmed Mexican men and boys
were rounded up and shot to death at a remote Presidio County border settlement called
Porvenir.

The terrified survivors fled to Mexico. Days later, the village was razed by soldiers and was
soon swallowed up by the desert.

Despite cries for justice in both Texas and Mexico, no charges resulted against the Texas
Rangers and local ranchers accused of the murders. The horrific event largely faded from
public consciousness.

Until now.

Earlier this year, Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara signed an official State of Texas
death certificate for Longino Flores, who was 47, and had three children when he was
killed.
His manner of death is listed as “homicide.” More specifically, it states that Flores was
“assassinated/shot to death.”

“It means a lot to me and my father wherever he is. He always wondered if anyone would
ever know what happened to the people of Porvenir,” said Paula Flores Smith, 86, of
Arlington, a granddaughter of Longino Flores.

She also is the eldest daughter of Juan Flores, one of the last known survivors of the
massacre. He died in 2007.

Late in his life, Juan Flores opened up about the horrors he witnessed in Porvenir and led
researchers to the site of the massacre.

“It’s very important to the family because my father had dreams about it,” Paula Flores said.

After the shooting, she said, when Juan Flores, 12, went to search for his father, he found
him in pieces among the other bodies.

“The only way he recognized him was by the shirt he was wearing,” she added.

Obtaining the death certificate took months, and required the help of two nieces, tracking
down old public records in Mexico and the cooperation of the Presidio County Clerk’s
office.

“For us, it means they did exist and that Texas is admitting to the assassinations, which is
on the death certificate, and they signed it. It’s closure,” said Yolanda Mesa, a great-great-
granddaughter of Longino Flores who lives in California.

In Florida, descendants of another victim, Manuel Moralez, who was part owner of the
Porvenir Ranch, are also anxiously awaiting the issuance of his death certificate in Presidio
County.

“Of the 15 killed, seven were related to the Moralezes in one way or another,” said Amanda
Shields, 54, a great-granddaughter of Manuel Moralez.

“Our family has always known about the massacre. We grew up with the story,” she said,
noting that decades ago, her father, Jesus, traveled first to Mexico and then to Texas seeking
information.

“What people don’t know is that in the ’60s, he went looking for the graveyard in Mexico.
And in the early ’80s, I went to Texas with him. He met with his great aunt Jovita, who was
at the massacre,” she added.

But, she said, her father never found Porvenir and was unsuccessful in his attempt to visit
the graves in Mexico because the roads were so bad.
“He was trying to get answers. He talked to lawyers, but no one would help him. It was a
dead end and he kind of put it to rest,” she added.

Like others who have pondered why the massacre occurred, Shields is still grasping to
understand what led to such extreme violence.

“I believe it was many things, not just race. It was about land, greed, envy, revenge. They
were prospering in Porvenir. There is no simple answer,” she said.

Juan Flores, who caused the reopening of the investigation into the massacre, died in
Odessa at age 101.

The Porvenir Ranch has been symbolically reborn in the city, where a cluster of his
descendants live.

Pete and his brother Longino Flores, both grandsons of Juan Flores, have erected a white
metal gate topped by the words “Porvenier Ranch.” outside their six-acre compound.

Pete, 45, said that for much of his life, he knew nothing of the shootings.

“My grandfather never told the story until he was about 96. The family thought that he was
crazy. He’d have nightmares. He’d wake up screaming,” he said.

He said the ornate ranch entrance was created “to bring back the memory of my
grandfather and great-grandfather, not only them, but the others who died.”

Among the family’s most treasured possessions is a framed painting of a charging Pancho
Villa, pistol in hand, that has been handed down for generations.

Hinting at its provenance is a small blue 50 centavo note issued in 1914 by the State of
Chihuahua that is tucked behind the glass.

“My father used to tell stories about Pancho Villa and his visits to Porvenir. When they saw
him coming, they’d hide the young girls in a dry water well,” Pete Flores said.

His younger sister Belinda said the Flores family now takes pride in what is being learned
about the past.

“I like that we have a history in the family name and that we can finally bring it out and tell
everyone what happened,,” she said.

For Big Bend historian Glenn Justice, a recent PBS documentary about the event, with
which he was deeply involved, is gratifying.
“I’m very pleased with it. It nearly made me white-headed but I did manage to maintain the
historical integrity. And that’s what PBS wanted, history and keep the politics out of it,” he
said.

Justice will soon publish a book about the massacre based on his more than three decades
of research, including interviews with Juan Flores.

Justice said that he and former Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who likewise
was involved in the documentary, disagree over the role of the U.S. Cavalry in the massacre.

Justice believes that the ballistic evidence recovered in an archaeological dig at the scene
implicates the soldiers in the shootings. Patterson thinks otherwise

“If the military was not involved, why did they come back and burn the village? Their
version is that they were riding along one morning and found those bodies,” he said.

Patterson, who helped finance the documentary, is also pleased with the result.

“It’s impactful and it should be. The bottom line is there was a lot of violence on the border
on both sides during the Mexican Revolution. Frequently people who were guilty of
nothing, particularly Tejanos, were killed because they happened to be in the wrong place
at the wrong time. Porvenir is the extreme example,” he said.

NOTE: The Porvenir documentary will have a public screening Oct. 2 at Santikos’ Bijou
Theater. It is also available free through Oct. 19 on KLRN’s website and on PBS’ app via Roku,
Amazon Firestick and Apple TV.

John MacCormack

Follow John on:

https://www.facebook.com/john.maccormack.7JohnMacCormack

John MacCormack has been covering South Texas and the Mexican border for the past 27
years, first for the Dallas Times Herald and since 1992 for the Express-News.

Past Articles from this Author:

• West Texas county benefits from oil boom, population surge

• Loving County benefits from oil boom, population surge
• Oil boom hits remote Loving County
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