By Maverick
Welcome to Part 2 of this series about the latest docuseries. The episode shifts back to Tina Saldivar, now married with a different last name, who is shown gathering several boxes and containers from a storage facility to bring them back to presumably her house. There, she has a roundtable discussion with her other relatives: Ernesto, Yolanda’s nephew, and Veronica, Yolanda’s niece and the daughter of Maria Elida Saldivar. As mentioned above, Maria had collected and saved hundreds, if not thousands, of documents about the case and Yolanda’s employment with Selena and the Quintanilla family.
Yolanda’s family all have nothing but kind and warm words to say about her, but of course, many will agree that because they’re her family, they’re always going to defend her. I think either side, whether you’re someone who loves Selena or someone close to Yolanda, can be objective without letting their emotions get the best of them. It’s all about where the evidence leads, and in this case, it leads down a rabbit hole that many still don’t seem to want to enter.
Tina confirmed that Yolanda was handpicked by Abraham to chaperone Selena on a trip to Los Angeles to film her music video for the 1994 hit song on the Amor Prohibido album, “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.” Yolanda claimed she and Selena socialized often, going to the park, movies, and clubs.
Yolanda’s family agreed that they were companions and confidants. Abraham Quintanilla said otherwise in a 2014 interview with Robert Rivas, stating they weren’t friends, that Yolanda was merely an employee, and Selena barely saw her due to her busy performance schedule. Yet Abraham also contradicted himself, saying he once considered Yolanda a member of the family, that she came over to their home, and had dinners with the Quintanillas. He continues to assert that Selena was too trusting, and that’s why she’s no longer here. A cold and callous statement, to say the least.
Yolanda claimed that Selena didn’t have close friendships, and she entrusted her with a lot of personal secrets. I personally believe Selena’s father was to blame for her having a tiny social circle, despite his claiming she was too trusting. If that were the case, she would’ve had a substantial amount of friends that she would’ve trusted, but that wasn’t the case. Abraham was akin to a dictator, and of course, many fans will disagree with me, but once you factor out the emotions, the fog clears, and you see things for what they are. Abraham also emphatically denied that he was controlling and meddled in his children’s lives, especially Selena’s. However, his actions aren’t congruent with his words.
Yolanda claimed that Selena sought the love and affection of another married man while she herself was also married, and that Yolanda helped cover it up, feeling guilty for doing so. I’ll elaborate on that in future blogs. Selena entrusted Yolanda with a lot of responsibilities, as if she didn’t have anyone else reliable, which is peculiar considering Selena hired an entire workforce when she opened her boutiques. Tina then claimed that Yolanda resigned as president of the fan club in 1994 when she began working for Selena full-time. That makes sense, because I used to wonder how someone with little to no business or retail experience could juggle overseeing Selena’s boutiques while also retaining her position as President of the Selena Y Los Dinos fan club.
Joe Nick Patoski, author of the book “Como La Flor,” said that when he interviewed Selena, she didn’t care about being “the next Madonna,” that she was more concerned about her fashion career since music was her job and fashion was her passion, and that her real dream was having her own business. Abraham Quintanilla seemingly didn’t like Selena having her own business. He didn’t think she could balance both her music career and running her own business. She assured him that she could do both.
The docuseries jumps into why Yolanda killed Selena since they were very close friends. Former prosecutor and District Attorney Carlos Valdez explained how the murder started, where, back in January 1995, Abraham started noticing disconcerting things taking place, that members of the fan club were calling and sending in letters consecutively for weeks, saying that they weren’t getting what they were paying for, which was memorabilia included in the fan club package. Former prosecutor and Assistant District Attorney Mark Skurka repeated what Abraham has been saying over the years, that Yolanda claimed anyone complaining to him was lying and just wanted free merchandise.
However, it would be extremely helpful to actually confirm with documentation if Yolanda actually did step down as President of the fan club. If that were the case, then that would mean all of these years, the general public has been fed this fabricated narrative to swallow. Carlos Valdez discusses the numerous checks made by Yolanda and endorsed to herself dating back to 1991, which made it appear at face value like she was embezzling funds. Who is to say she actually pocketed those funds without anyone noticing all of those years, like Abraham or his older daughter, Suzette? Why did Yolanda have free rein to commit any malfeasance at this fan club? Where was the fan club treasurer to spot this so-called swindling of funds? It was revealed that Tina Saldivar was the fan club treasurer, but what did she know about overseeing all financial transactions and planning budgets?
To be continued in “Selena and Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them” – Episode 1 Part 3…
