The remarkable life of Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651–1695)
On the surface, no two people ever appeared more dissimilar than John Stuart Mill and Juana Inés de la Cruz. One was a great rationalist, an apostle of individual liberty, an enemy of dogma and a beli...
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Usurper: the dark shadow of Victoriano Huerta (1845–1916)
(Synopsis & Photo)
Victoriano Huerta was a man almost too bad to be true. Described by one historian as an "Elizabethan villain," he was a drunkard and repressive dictator who guaranteed himself a...
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The other (and greater) Moctezuma I
In a curious irony of history, an epigone frequently becomes better known than his/her illustrious namesake and predecessor. Mention Harold Ickes and most people will think you're talking about Clinton...
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Mexico's Lincoln: The ecstasy and agony of Benito Juarez
Since it is the near unanimous verdict of authorities on American history that Abraham Lincoln was our greatest president, it has become a facile formula among historians of other nations to describe t...
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Lucas Alamán and the Mexican right (1792–1853)
(This is an expanded version of an article that appeared
in the October 18-24, 1997 issue of the COLONY REPORTER)
In 19th century Mexico, most of the intellectuals were firmly on th...
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Sexenios in a changing world: López Mateos and Díaz Ordáz
Adolfo López Mateos (1909–1970) and Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (1911–1970)
In 1958, the year Adolfo López Mateos became president of Mexico, the world was relatively tranquil. The Korean War was over ...
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Mexico's Voltaire: José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi (1776–1827)
Because of the many fables he wrote, there are those who may wish to compare José Joaquin Fernández de Lizardi to La Fontaine. Such a comparison fails to do justice to both writers. Apart from the Co...
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Glorious innocent: the tragedy and triumph of Francisco Madero (1873–1913)
Francisco Madero was a man who was too good for his own good. Naive, trusting, merciful toward those who deserved no mercy, he was in the end betrayed and murdered by those in whom he had mistakenly pl...
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The Mexican Revolution - consolidation (1920–40) part 3
The next step was to get rid of Calles, who had become increasingly critical of Cárdenas's radicalism. To pre-empt a coup by the former strong man, Cárdenas sent a party of twenty soldiers and eight ...
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The Mexican Revolution - consolidation (1920–40) part 2
His land reform policy reflected the same make-haste-slowly mentality. In his four years of power Obregón distributed three million acres among 624 villages -- hardly a staggering amount but still sev...
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The Mexican Revolution - consolidation (1920–40) part 1
Of the major figures in the 1910-20 phase of the Mexican Revolution, only Alvaro Obregón and Pancho Villa remained. In a strange twist of fate, the counterrevolutionaries --Porfirio Díaz and Victoria...
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Cristero Rebellion: part 3 - behind the scenes
(This is the third of a three-part series about Mexico's tragic Cristero Rebellion, when forces of secular and religious fanaticism were locked in a no-quarter battle for the country's soul.)
...
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Mexico's marxist guru: Vicente Lombardo Toledano (1894–1968)
It is no more possible to discuss Marxism in Mexico without referring to Vicente Lombardo Toledano than it is to reminisce about Abbott without mentioning Costello. A teacher, writer, union leader and ...
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Cristero Rebellion: part 2: the combat phase
(This is the second of a three-part series about Mexico's tragic Cristero Rebellion, when forces of secular and religious fanaticism were locked in a no-quarter battle for the country's soul.) ...
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Mexico's daumier: José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913)
José Guadalupe Posada is in the great tradition of cartoonists who double as political and social commentators. That tradition includes Honoré Daumier, whose merciless portraits of bourgeois society ...
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Cristero Rebellion: part 1 - toward the abyss
(This is the first of a three-part series about Mexico's tragic Cristero Rebellion, when forces of secular and religious fanaticism were locked in a no-quarter battle for the country's soul.)
...
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Melchor Ocampo (1814–1861)
Among critics of the Roman Catholic Church in a country where a vast majority of the citizens are nominal Catholics, the charges most frequently heard are those of worldliness and hypocrisy. Anticleric...
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Nuño de Guzmán: the Himmler of New Spain (14??–1550)
In 1984, his epic indictment of Stalinism, George Orwell writes that totalitarian man exercises power over others by making them suffer. Arthur Koestler, another great analyst and foe of Soviet communi...
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Aztec Hamlet: the tragedy of Moctezuma 2
In history, there are innumerable cases of dynasties toppling because of the weakness of incumbents. The incompetence of do-nothing rulers had much to do with the fall of the late Roman Empire. In Fran...
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Alone at the top: the achievement of Alvaro Obregón
Revolution is the ultimate test for survival of the fittest. In times of stormy social change, intense competition is generated among leaders of forces seeking that change and, inevitably, one man emer...
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Miguel Hidalgo: the Father who fathered a country (1753–1811)
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla had the unique distinction of being a father in three senses of the word: a priestly father in the Roman Catholic Church, a biological father who produced illegitimate childre...
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Agustin Yañez: the engaged man (1904–1980)
This title has nothing to do with the state of affairs that precedes matrimony. It is intended in the sense of what the French call an homme engagé, literally, a man engaged in a cause or in so...
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