Foster L.V. A Brief History of Mexico

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF MEXICO

218

the customs of contemporary Indians and discovered Mesoamerican

traditions surviving in many villages. The INAH also opened superb

museums to display the magniﬁcent sculptures excavated at the many

ancient cities; none is more fabulous than the National Museum of

Anthropology in Mexico City, designed by architect Pedro Ramírez

Vásquez and opened in 1964. All this work has contributed to the now

enormous understanding of Mexico’s past and has been a source of

pride to all Mexicans.

The traditions of the great muralists and themes of mexicanidad

marked the postrevolutionary period. Although the ﬁrst generation

thrived well into the modern period and a second generation of painters

continued to decorate the walls of town halls with regional history (

see

page 53), there was a shift to a more international style. The renowned

Ruﬁno Tamayo (1899–1991) is the foremost example of this change.

His work often was monumental and inspired by Mexican themes, but

the subject matter was not historical and the style not didactic. Rather,

it is often in the genre called magical realism, a fusion of the fantastic

and the real that also is apparent in the work of Frida Kahlo. When

the revolutionary spirit insisted on a purely Mexican style, Tamayo

rebelled by emphasizing the inﬂuences on his work from the entire

world of art. Francisco Toledo’s (b. 1940) work is most emphatically

Mexican yet more surreal than magical. Other contemporary artists

have worked both in realistic Mexican styles as well as abstract ones,

such as Carlos Mérida (1891–1984), and many eschewed any hint of

mexicanidad in their work, preferring international styles, such as the

Man Facing Inﬁnity (1971), mural by Ruﬁno Tamayo in the Hotel Camino Real, Mexico City

219

abstract sculptures of Pedro Coronel (b. 1931) and the avant-garde

work of José Luis Cuevas (b. 1934). The variety is enormous, from the

haunting photographs of Graciela Iturbide (b. 1942) to the narcissistic

self-portraits of Nahum Zenil (b. 1947). They all have received inter-

national recognition through exhibits in world capitals. Mexico’s artis-

tic tradition has been rewarded by major exhibitions from Paris to San

Francisco, but none was more comprehensive than the world tour of

“Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries,” exhibited in the most promi-

nent museums during the quincentennial of Columbus’s voyage.

Artisans have also evolved in style. Many brought ideas from art

school to embellish the traditions of their villages. The copper-ware

of Michoacán was fused with silver and made into lovely, but purely

impractical shapes. Others drew on the broader artistic environment,

such as the animal woodcarvers of Oaxaca who have been so inspired

by magical realism and the majolica ceramics of Guanajuato that incor-

porated Persian designs. Folk art reached such heights that many of its

ﬁnest practitioners signed their works, such as the woodcarver Manuel

Jiménez, the ceramicist Capelo, and the ﬁgurine maker Joseﬁna Aguilar.

Their work, often sold in art galleries, continues to attract international

acclaim today.

Opossum Family 2006, wood carving by Moises Jiménez, an artisan continuing the tradition

of his grandfather, Manuel Jiménez

(Courtesy Barry Scheinberg)

THE INSTITUTIONALIZED REVOLUTION

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MEXICO

220

Although much of the 1980s popular culture was overwhelmed by

U.S. television programs and international rock, Mexico was the creator

and exporter of its own popular culture. With Latin music globally

popular, both traditional Mexican music (such as the song “La Bamba”)

and pop artists (such as Gloria Trevi, “the Madonna of Mexico”) were

major export items along with Mexican soap operas called telenovelas.

The Mexican ﬁlm industry, a thriving if not always artistic medium,

ﬁrst received international notice when its stars showed up in Hollywood:

Dolores del Río, Ricardo Montalban, and Anthony Quinn. But the

motion pictures of Emilio Fernández (Que viva México, 1931) and

Fernando de Fuentes (Allá en el rancho grande, 1936) brought Mexican

movies to international attention, too. The industry grew rapidly in

producing ﬁlms for Spanish-speaking countries. Especially popular

were movies with the comedian Cantinﬂas and famous mariachi stars,

such as Jorge Negrete and Pedro Infante. Most recently the industry has

regained its international standing with the success of ﬁlms such as Like

Water for Chocolate (directed by Alfonso Arau; 1992) and El danzón

(directed by María Novaro; 1992).

Decades of Accomplishment and Remaining Problems

By 1988 Mexico had progressed from a barely modernized nation to one

with a complex economy of extractive and manufactured goods—pro-

cessed foods, electrical machinery, petrochemicals, automobiles, textiles,

and plastics took their place alongside livestock, coffee, and crude oil.

Mexico’s mining and agriculture remained important to the economy,

just as they were in colonial times, but commerce and manufacturing

were the two biggest contributors to the gross national product. The

travel industry, initiated by Lázaro Cárdenas, attracted 4 million foreign

tourists in 1980 who pumped $3 billion into the economy.

Socially the nation had made exceptional progress as well. A middle

class, numbering in the millions and constituting 25 percent of the popu-

lation in 1991, had been created and took a prominent role in politics.

Literacy had increased from 20 percent in 1910 to 82 percent in 1990. The

average caloric intake had doubled since 1910, and life expectancy had

jumped from 30 to almost 67 years. These accomplishments were remark-

able, especially when compared with those of other developing nations.

Yet, as in the past, overpopulation compounded the problems still

to be overcome. In the four decades of the modern period alone, the

population grew from about 20 million to over 81 million in 1990, with

70 percent living in cities—in contrast to 20 percent in 1910. Millions

221

remained illiterate, unemployment was high, and many peasants did

not have enough land to sustain themselves. By the late 1970s the eco-

nomic miracle no longer sustained working-class wages: inﬂation (60

percent) ﬁnally outstripped wage increases (35 percent), and the mini-

mum wage remained one of the lowest in the world (about $3.90 a day

in 1991). In 1980 the gap between the rich and the poor had worsened:

the poorest 20 percent owned only 3 percent of the national wealth; the

richest 20 percent owned 54 percent. Much remained to be done.

Politically, Mexicans were increasingly alienated from their PRI-

ntrolled government. In going from war heroes to technocrats as

presidents, Mexico achieved a stupendous reduction in the role of the

army in national affairs. The stability that enabled the economy to blos-

som must be attributed to the PRI’s management of diverse interests

while maintaining practically dictatorial control. Following a century of

up-heaval, this, too, was an impressive accomplishment, especially since

it was apparently achieved with only occasional episodes of repression.

In a world where the choice for new nations is too often either tyranny

or constant upheaval, Mexico seemed to have successfully found a

middle course. As the period ended, however, Mexicans clearly were

ambivalent about their government. The time for liberalization seemed

to have come. Some, such as the guerrilla bands that robbed banks and

kidnapped public ﬁgures in the 1970s, thought the time for another rev-

olution was near. Even the PRI, under the leadership of its most recent

presidents, agreed that profound changes were in order.

THE INSTITUTIONALIZED REVOLUTION

223

The March Toward

Democracy (1988–2000)

This is a historic time. Everyone’s clamoring for more democracy.

Carlos Salinas de Gortari, 1988 (Smith 1991, 393)

he passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

in 1993 represented the Mexican government’s total abandonment

of its protectionist management of the economy that had been in effect

since the Revolution of 1910. So fundamental a reversal did NAFTA

represent that many questioned whether its wholesale opening of the

economy to U.S. and Canadian investors was not a return to the old

Porﬁriato gift of Mexico to foreign businesses. As one pundit put it, the

only thing that is not negotiable in NAFTA is the virginity of the Virgin

of Guadalupe (Barry: 1992). Others optimistically argued that NAFTA

represented Mexico’s chance to join developed nations as a technologi-

cally advanced country.

The years immediately following the ratiﬁcation of NAFTA were not,

however, preoccupied with monitoring its impact on the nation. Instead,

the worst recession since the revolution knocked Mexico to its knees,

threatening to affect ﬁnancial institutions worldwide and undermining

any expectations about Mexico’s rosy future. Uprisings, political assassina-

tions, and revelations of corruption on an unprecedented scale shocked

the country and absorbed its energies. Amid all the sensation, quieter and

more encouraging moves were made in the direction of democracy.

President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, 1988–1994

In 1988 Carlos Salinas de Gortari faced the ﬁrst serious political chal-

lenge of any PRI presidential candidate. The country was in recession;

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MEXICO

224

its fortunes were managed by the IMF in order to meet debt repayments.

Calls for democracy and more open politics intensiﬁed in Mexico as

the PRI’s increasing favoritism for business alienated its traditional sup-

port from populist groups. The PRI was divided over its response to the

mounting criticisms, and the rifts became public, most noticeably when

one of its respected members, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, abandoned the

party.

Cárdenas, the son of Lázaro Cárdenas, one of Mexico’s most beloved

presidents and named in honor of the last great Aztec emperor, gained

immediate appeal when he announced his presidential candidacy.

He joined a coalition of progressive groups, the National Democratic

Front (Frente Democrático Nacional [FDN]), which later became the

Democratic Revolutionary Party (Partido de la Revolución Democrática

[PRD]). Unlike Salinas, Cárdenas had held electoral ofﬁce as governor

of Michoacán and could speak to the masses of Mexicans who had

suffered the most during the repeated ﬁscal crises since 1982. He was

cheered by large crowds as he campaigned throughout the country;

many believed he could win the election—if it was conducted fairly.

Another candidate, Manuel Clouthier of the conservative PAN, was

well ﬁnanced by northern industrialists and courted the active support

of the Catholic Church, which had been banned from politics since the

Mexican Revolution. The PAN had gained popularity, not for its eco-

nomic or social policies, but rather for its dramatic protests—hunger

strikes and road blocks—against PRI-ﬁxed elections.

Calls for Democracy

Both opposition candidates campaigned for greater democracy, and both

made the conduct of the election a primary issue. The international press

scrutinized the proceedings. Nonetheless, the PRI once again claimed

victory for its candidate. Charges of a rigged election were difﬁcult to

conﬁrm: the government computers storing the ballot data conveniently

broke down. But the race had been too hotly contested for the PRI to

claim its usual 80 to 90 percent victory. Carlos Salinas de Gotari became

president with only a slim majority amid charges of fraud.

From such an inauspicious beginning, Salinas presided over one of

the most admired presidencies in recent memory. To counter public

disgust over his “election,” he initiated reforms, giving greater access

to the media and restricting party ﬁnancing: no longer would the PRI

be ﬁnanced by the national treasury. Also, the opposition parties won

225

240 seats out of 500 in the chamber of deputies, forcing the PRI to

negotiate with them over serious policy matters. The PAN won the

governorship of Baja California in 1989, the ﬁrst opposition guberna-

torial victory in the PRI’s 65-year history. Although Salinas’s actions

did much to assuage national and international opinions, they more

deeply divided the PRI into two groups: the elite, foreign-educated

“technocrats” involved in policy making and the elected politicos

called “dinosaurs,” who saw their patronage and power threatened by

reforms and privatization.

Economic Recovery

A consummate technocrat, the 39-year-old Salinas had, like his pre-

decessor de la Madrid, been the minister of planning and budget. He

seemed to prove the value of his two master degrees from Harvard

University, one in economics and the other in public administration,

when he managed to end the onerous debt payments (although $98

billion in external debts remained, it was reduced from 79 percent of

the GDP to 29 percent) and stabilize the economy (inﬂation dropped

from triple digits to 8 percent in 1994). The economy was expanding by

a miraculous 4 percent in 1991, faster than any of the Group of Seven

industrial nations. Per capita income increased somewhat for the ﬁrst

time in a decade, despite population growth.

The miracle had partially been accomplished by continuing de la

Madrid’s sale of government businesses to pay off the foreign debt: 400

state-owned businesses were privatized or shut down; banks, a televi-

sion channel, and even the telephone company were no longer under

party control, but owned by joint foreign and domestic corporations.

The miracle continued because Salinas’s ﬂuency in the language of

world ﬁnance—reduced inﬂation, deﬁcit reduction, export promo-

tion—brought an onslaught of foreign investment, especially in stocks

and high-interest bearing bonds.

THE MARCH TOWARD DEMOCRACY

Presidential Election Results in 1988, by Party

PRI FDN/PRD PAN

Percentage 51 31 18

Based on ﬁgures from the Federal Election Commission, Mexico City

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MEXICO

226

NAFTA

Salinas convinced both the world and much of Mexico that the nation

was on the fast track to modernity. Under the trade liberalization of

GATT, foreign products poured into urban areas, and new technology

such as cellular phones and bank ATMs became more readily avail-

able. Private investment fueled development. Superhighways spanned

canyons and tunneled through the mountainous Sierra Madre. It was

easy to believe that NAFTA would bring more of the same, speeding

Mexico into the global market and “ﬁrst world” status.

NAFTA and the Salinas modernization program required the jet-

tisoning of the most fundamental principles of the revolution. The

free market, it was said, demanded the abandonment of protected

ejido land—the safety net for the poorest Mexicans. Now permitted to

sell their communal lands, the poor in need would do so—and many

did. Salinas also achieved a constitutional amendment eliminating the

right of peasants to land for their subsistence. The land to grow maize

and beans no longer would be available to them in desperate times.

Salinas also opened the economy further to foreign investors by

lifting the 51 percent Mexican ownership rule and modifying the pro-

hibition on foreign control of extractive commodities. Free trade and

open markets stumbled over a few of the more charged symbols of

Mexican identity, however—if only temporarily. In the case of maize,

the Mesoamerican staff of life, even Salinas did not dare to make a

change precipitously; he proposed phasing out tariffs protecting the

grain over 15 years. And the oil industry, that former symbol of for-

eign exploitation, was to remain closed to investment, yet even this

might be fudged for the petrochemical industry in the near future.

Free enterprise and free trade in the style of the United States had

become the economic commitment for Mexico’s future.

U.S. Borders

Despite Mexico’s growing openness toward a stronger U.S. presence,

the reaction in the United States was often tinged with ﬁnancial fear.

Many unions and environmental groups opposed NAFTA. As poverty

and overpopulation increased illegal migration from Mexico, rac-

ism intensiﬁed in the United States. Some states passed laws making

English the only ofﬁcial language. Border states like California agitated

for protection from increasing numbers of illegal Mexican immigrants.

227

While the two economies opened, ground sensors and night vision

equipment were installed along the border and a $4-billion, seven-

kilometer metal fence separated San Diego and Tijuana.

The Church Finds Its Voice

Modernization seemed to sweep some Mexican fundamentals out

the door. The long struggle during the Juárez reforms and the revo-

lution to delineate the boundaries between church and state ended

with the Constitution of 1917. No one had been eager to reopen this

debate, although many administrations permitted Catholic schools

to operate quietly. In a highly criticized move, Salinas, like his PAN

opponents, championed greater freedom for the church and achieved

constitutional amendments on its behalf. Not only does the church now

actively comment on political affairs, from elections to the content

of textbooks, but the religious are permitted to wear their vestments

in public.

Virgin of Guadalupe:

Symbol of Mexican Faith

he church may sometimes ﬁnd its newly permitted public

proﬁle a liability, at least in regard to the nation’s patron saint.

Monsigneur Guillermo Schulenberg, abbot of the revered Basilica of

the Virgin of Guadalupe, saw his preference for fancy cars exposed

in a political magazine. With public interest aroused, his remarks

about doubting that the Virgin actually appeared in 1531 before

the Aztec boy Juan Diego Cuauhtlahtoatzin also made the press. It

caused such a stormy outburst from Mexicans that the abbot was

forced to resign. The monsigneur, however, was not alone in his

doubts about Juan Diego; some scholars doubt he ever existed. Yet

the devotion in Mexico—and indeed in Latin America—to the Virgin

of Guadalupe was recognized by Pope John Paul II in 2002 when he

came to Mexico City to canonize Juan Diego as the ﬁrst Indian saint

in a ceremony that fused incense and organ music with Aztec drums

and dancers.

THE MARCH TOWARD DEMOCRACY