Juan Díaz de la Torre made his union and political career in the shadow of Elba Esther Gordillo. Thanks to her, he rose through the ranks to become General Secretary of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE), the union's number two position. When The Teacher [Gordillo's nickname] fell from grace, she and her team of closest collaborators were key in designating him to be her replacement as president of the SNTE.
One day after the arrest of The Teacher, Juan Díaz declared:
"We reaffirm our loyalty, our love and our solidarity ... we trust the teacher Elba Esther Gordillo, and we await justice."However, he soon forgot his words. Publicly, he has refused to stand up for her. On April 4, when the press asked him why he had not visited his mentor in Tepepan Prison, he replied that it was because he was very busy: "There are only 24 hours in a day."
Juan Díaz de la Torre took over leadership of the union on February 28, two days after Elba Esther Gordillo was arrested at the airport in Toluca, accused of organized crime. Of the 300 members present at the 36th special session of the General Council of the SNTE, he had 286 votes in favor, none against and one abstention. The Teacher's influence was still felt in the union.
In recent years, in light of Elba Esther's distrust of Rafael Ochoa, Díaz de la Torre was her soldier, her right arm, her main adviser on legal, labor and union matters. He was one of her managers in charge of negotiations with parties outside the union. Until she fell from grace, he had only words of thanks and praise for her. Elected General Secretary in June 2011, replacing Rafael Ochoa, he said that The Teacher was an "extraordinary leader".
Their relationship was very close. As part of the SNTE's National Collegiate of Administration and Finance of the union, he signed checks to pay The Teacher's expenses. Her daughter, Mónica Arriola [currently a Senator], was the godmother of Juan Díaz's granddaughter. Last August (2012), Elba Esther attended a christening ceremony at the Church of San Martín de Porres in Guadalajara, dressed in an elegant orange dress.
The girl's father, John Óscar Díaz Medina, is the son of Juan Díaz de la Torre. Thanks to his father, John Óscar was the first president of the New Alliance Party [Panal] in Jalisco in 2005 and a member of its political committee. He served as deputy to the 58th Legislature of Jalisco and was under-deputy of compensation for the ISSSTE [Institute for Insurance and Social Services for State Workers] of Jalisco.
Juan Díaz was formed in the bowels of union life. For eighteen years, control of the Jalisco union was in the hands of John Alcalá Espitia, the Revolutionary Vanguard man who, until he crossed Elba Esther, was very close to reaching the national leadership of the SNTE. Linked to the Federation of Students of Guadalajara and to Javier García Paniagua, he fell from grace and was jailed for seven years for corruption of minors, unlawful deprivation of liberty and other niceties like that.
Juan Díaz de la Torre union began his union life in the shadow of Alcalá Espitia. He was elected to the union by the Section 16 committee in the period of Bayardo Rafael and Javier Romero, nicknamed La Changa ['odd job']. The group was characterized by traffic of plazas [selling teaching positions], sexual favors, corruption, political cooptation and repression of their opponents.
Allied with Tomás Vázquez Vigil, Díaz was listed as an elbista [Elba Esther loyalist] from the first hour when The Teacher was appointed leader of the union. Díaz de la Torre reported promptly to Elba about the movements and weaknesses of John Alcalá, whom she distrusted and feared.
Between 2000 and 2003 Juan Díaz was anointed by Elba Esther to be General Secretary of Section 16 of Jalisco. Other leaders with more presence in the state, such as J. Jesús Ávila and Manuel Lares del Toro, wanted to get rid of him. But it was useless. The power of The Teacher prevailed.
From his modest beginnings as a primary school teacher, in Section 16 he became an effective financial operator. Although he was a lackluster section leader, dedicated to organizing tours throughout the state, he showed great economic skill in managing the union's Global Trust. Operated by the union and a bank, the financial instrument manages a savings bank, lends money to teachers and allows them to improve the conditions of their retirement. Díaz's financial track record was instrumental in the esteem of The Teacher toward her pupil.
Between 1995 and 1996, when Tomás Vázquez led the Borough of Coyoacán in Mexico City, Juan Díaz was under-deputy for Citizen Participation and then for Urban Services in Coyoacán. In 1996 he was private secretary to Elba Esther Gordillo when she headed the National Confederation of Popular Organizations (CNOP). He held the same position at the SNTE.
Juan Díaz has seen the world. To reward the union's hardcore leaders, Elba Esther organized an ambitious tourism program disguised as union training courses or union study in places as diverse as Washington, Los Angeles, Madrid and Frankfurt. Juan Díaz enjoyed them generously.
But the man from Jalisco does not have it all. Not only hanging over his head is the threat that his business and his complicity with Elba Esther might be made public but, additionally, his tenure at the head of the teachers union is threatened by a fragmented internal institutional dissidence that covets his position. Every man for himself, so leaders such as Rafael Ochoa, Gerardo Montenegro and Silvia Luna, supported by important national political figures, are moving the ground under him. Furthermore, the democratic movement [i.e., CNTE, SNTE's dissident wing] is not recognized. To make matters worse, his fight with Mónica Arriola for control of the Panal [New Alliance Party] gets worse every day.
To stay in office, Juan Díaz has put himself at the orders of the federal government. Against the interests of the teaching ranks, he has unambiguously given his support to the harmful education reform. According to him, the new law will bring great benefits to students and education workers. On May 15, he negotiated the worst pay deal in seven years. His obsequiousness, yesterday to Elba and today to the federal government, is the hallmark of his career. Spanish original