This is what Jose Eduardo Bartolo Tlatempa wrote in a love letter that has not been delivered. It hasn't a date. He could have written it on September 10th or September 20th or even on the same afternoon of September 26th just before boarding the bus that would have taken him and classmates to Iguala, just before he disappeared.

This is not the history of an archetype of a normalista from Ayotzinapa. Jose Eduardo - Bobby Lalito - didn't express any political position. He didn't talk about wanting to be a teacher to be able to bring education to the rural communities, those communities discriminated against and marginalized due to poverty. Neither did he use the language of 'proletariat' or 'farmers' or 'burgessy'. None of his friends remember any conversation about those themes or issues. Not even after the study group meetings that may last more than five hours during the test week at the sadly now well-known Normal Isidro Burgos.

He was encouraged by the brothers of his grandfather on his father's side - all of whom were graduated from Ayotzinapa - to study in the Normal School which by foot is only 10 minutes from his house. The difference of 30 minutes and 50 pesos a day, which he didn't have, determined not to go to Chilipancingo, where the Autonoma University of Guerrero is located. This was a place he once announced that he wanted to go in order to attend the Law School. It was even less possible to pay 400 pesos that needed to go to the Normal at Tenerias, Malinalco in Morelos. This school has the reputation of offering a position as a teacher to all their graduates. It was here that his best friend from the school 11 in Tixla, Guerrero, went.

What he wanted was to work and earn a little more than 200 pesos, which was his income working as a construction helper in his father's (Don Cornelio Bartolo) business. He wanted to earn some money so his mother didn't have to sell "elotes" in the street. He is young but nonetheless he had to confront life when his mother was diagnosed with cancer in her pelvis, when in 2013 and due to Hurricane Manuel, part of his house was under water, when the four years of savings of his family for a more solid roof evaporated by the above circumstances.

But also being young, two things may not be rejected: study and falling in love. He knew that and wrote that to his girl friend in a letter he kept with him.

He wrote 'you'll be 18 years old. I am 19 years old. Think about it. It is your birthday, remeber you'll turn 18 only once in your life and it is a perfect opportunity that comes along only once."

Text belongs to: campaña Marchando con letras (translated by Juan C Gallardo)

Esto escribió José Eduardo Bartolo Tlatempa en una carta de amor que aún no es estregada. No tiene fecha, pudo haberla escrito el 10 de septiembre o el 20, o incluso la misma tarde del 26 antes subir al camión que lo llevarían junto con sus compañeros a Iguala, antes de desaparecer Ttlatempa.

Esta no es la historia del normalista arquetipo de Ayotzinapa. José Eduardo —el Boby, Lalito— , no expresaba posiciones políticas, no hablaba de ser maestro para llevar la educación a las comunidades rurales marginadas debido a la pobreza, tampoco hacía referencia en sus pláticas al proletariado, a los campesinos o a la burguesía. Ninguno de sus amigos tiene registro en su memoria alguna conversación de ese tipo, ni siquiera al salir de los círculos de estudio que podían durar hasta 5 horas durante la semana de prueba de la tristemente célebre normal Isidro Burgos.

Alentado por los hermanos de su abuelo paterno, egresados de Ayotzinapa, tomó la opción de estudiar en la normal que queda a escasos 10 minutos yendo a pie desde su casa; a diferencia de la media hora y 50 pesos, que no tenía, y que le hubiera costado ir diariamente a Chilpancingo donde está la Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero en la que alguna vez dijo le hubiera gustado cursar la carrera de Derecho. Menos le alcanzaba para pagar los 400 pesos que vale desplazarse hasta la normal de Tenerias en Malinalco, en Morelos, misma que tiene la reputación de garantizar una plaza como maestro a sus egresados y a la que fue su mejor amigo en el Colegio de Bachilleres plantel 11 en Tixla, Guerrero.

Lo que quería era trabajar y ganar más de los 200 pesos que se embolsaba en un día completo de hacer y acarrear mezcla como chalan de albañilería de su papá, Don Cornelio Bartolo. Ganar para que su mamá dejara de vender elotes asados.

Es muy joven, pero comenzó a tomarse muy en serio la vida cuando la familia enfrentó el diagnóstico de un tumor canceroso en la pelvis de su madre, cuando la inundación del 2013 debido a las lluvias causadas por el huracán Manuel alcanzó parte de su casa, cuando los ahorros de 4 años que la familia había logrado para por fin echar el firme del techo en su casa se esfumaron. Pero ser joven, estudiar y estar enamorado, son ocasiones que no se pueden desperdiciar, él lo sabía y así lo escribió a su novia en la carta que guardo celosamente en su cartera:

“No sé, cumples 18 y yo tengo 19, pero imagínate, tu cumpleaños, recuerda que sólo cumples 18 una vez en la vida y la oportunidad perfecta es una”.

Texto perteneciente a la campaña Marchando con letras