Paso del Norte

Abstract

Ignacio “Nacho” Bonilla, a Mexican American attorney and politician with a drinking problem represents an impoverished West Texas county. His constituents are a mix of Anglo and Chicano. Another ambitious politician, Chuck Daley, tries to convince Nacho that toxic waste dumps will bring wealth, jobs, and tax dollars to alleviate poverty. Daley enlists Cordelia, Nacho’s daughter to his cause. Nacho is very vulnerable because he just lost his beloved wife, Dolores, in a car accident. He feels guilty because he was with another woman the night Dolores died. Nacho “sees” his wife and talks to her almost every day; she becomes his conscience and persuades him to change his mind about the environmental damage toxic waste dumps can inflict upon a desert landscape.