He got Pharr Bridge up and running

As mentioned in last week’s Advance News Journal, former Pharr Mayor Fidencio “Cuate (twin)” Barrera passed away April 23 at the age of 94.

A mover and shaker in the 1980s and on into the 1990s, Barrera was credited with bringing the Pharr/Reynosa International Bridge to fruition after so many years of false hopes.

Local government-affairs consultant and man of many talents Hollis Rutledge was regional director of the federal General Services Administration in 1989 toward the end of Barrera’s second term in office, when the feds finally approved funding the port of entry at the Pharr Bridge, which was the final piece to the puzzle.

A municipality funds construction of the bridge, but the federal government funds the port of entry. You can’t have one without the other.

When Barrera beat Alton Moore in 1982 for the mayoral seat, seeing the international bridge built was one of his main goals.

Joining Barrera on the new ’82 city commission were Victor Garcia, Julian Avendano, Jim Brewster, Robert Ramirez, Porfirio Rodriguez, and Hector Villarreal. That was the first year, by the way, that Pharr expanded to a seven-seat commission, the first city in the RGV to do so. At the time, Pharr boasted a population of 21,000 residents, based on the 1980 population. The city’s current census counts approximately 80,000.

Back then, the city election was held the first Saturday of April, but Barrera wasn’t sworn into office until he won a runoff election against Moore on April 24th.

Quentin Newcombe was the outgoing mayor (1978-1982) after following on the heels of A.C. Jaime, the city’s first Hispanic mayor who served from 1972 to 1978.

Although they may be gone, joined now by “Cuate” Barrera, for those of us who knew them all, they won’t be forgotten, each unique in their own right, including longtime City Secretary Dora Garza and City Manager Reyes Vela.

When he ran for office, if memory serves, Barrera, a Pharr native, U.S. Army Lt. Col., and Green Beret was leading PSJA ISD’s ROTC program. Meaning, the guy was no pushover.

Rutledge agreed when asked to comment on “Cuate’s” recent passing -- Barrera was no pushover, but he was also a man with the ability to see the “big picture.”

“He worked with me when I was regional director of the GSA and (former) Sen. Phil Gramm to win approval in Washington D.C. to get the port of entry approved,” said Rutledge. “To his credit, he did it all under everyone’s radar, including that of some former McAllen city officials who would have tried to stop it had they found out about it, but they didn’t. Cuate used to threaten everybody in on the know that if they said anything about the pending bridge project, he’d kill them. A nicer guy, though, you’d be hard pressed to meet.”

Rutledge said that Barrera should also get credit for the naming of Hidalgo County as an entitlement county, which has brought millions to the county and local municipalities since it was formed in 1987.

At the time, Rutledge was a Reagan appointee with HUD before George H.W. Bush appointed him as regional director of the GSA (General Services Administration), which took place in early 1989.

“Former Hidalgo County Judge J. Edgar Ruiz had the idea, but for the federal government to approve it, the county needed a population of 200,000 or more, but it couldn’t include cities already designated entitlement cities, which were already getting money from the CDBG program,” said Rutledge.

Those cities included McAllen, Pharr, Mission, and Edinburg.

According to Rutledge, Barrera said he (and the Pharr city commission) would agree to cut Pharr out of the CDBG program if the city could be guaranteed that once Hidalgo County was named an entitlement county, the same amount of funding would be restored.

“Which it was,” Rutledge said. “But without Cuate’s leadership and the city commission at the time backing the idea, Hidalgo County never would have reaped those millions, courtesy of being named an Entitlement County, which when divided among the cities and the county, improved the quality of life, with new infrastructures, including streets, water, sewer, drainage, etc.”

Along the way, Barrera’s biggest cheerleader was his wife, Elia, who passed away three years ago. A year or two before her death, she stopped by the Advance News office asking if we could help lead the way in getting the city to rename Cage Blvd. “Cuate” Barrera Blvd.

In her frail yet strong hands, she carried an envelope with all of her husband’s press clippings, the record of his military service, the many things he had accomplished while serving as the city’s mayor. Clearly, he was still the light of her life, even though by then he was in declining health.

“Please see what you can do,” she said. “It’s a long shot, but something needs to be done to recognize his accomplishments. He did so much for this city, which he loved so dearly.”