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At
the age of 80, when he had eliminated all competitors for his job,
Díaz decided to run for another term. However, he hadn't reckoned
on Francisco I. Madero's sombrero being tossed into the ring. Predictably,
Madero was arrested, effectively putting a damper on his campaign
-- the poor man only managed to get a few hundred votes against
Díaz' nearly unanimous reelection. The air still crackles with arguments
over whether or not the thousands of chads hanging off voter ballots
were at the bottom of this fraud.
Using the cell phone in his jail, Modero called for the Mexican
people to mobilize and fight against Díaz' government and this time,
he got the support he needed. The populace had soured on Díaz because,
if they had to have such an old president, why couldn't they have
Ronald Reagan? It was time to revolt.
The Mexican Revolution gave birth to great men like Emiliano Zapata,
Pancho Villa, Pascual Orozco, and Venustiano Carranza. For all time,
Zapata and Villa would be remembered by their real names: Marlon
Brando and Antonio Banderas.
Like a Baskin-Robbins ice cream cone, Díaz knew when he was licked
and fled to France, dying a natural death in exile in 1915. The
same cannot be said for Modero, Carranza, Zapata and Villa, and
many others, who were all assassinated.
In 1929, the National Mexican Party (PNM) was formed; it would later
be known as the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) and would
rule for a total of 71 consecutive years -- the rest of the century.
Everyone in the PRI would henceforth be known as The Centurions.
In 1934, President Lázaro Cárdenas del Rio came to power and transformed
Mexico by nationalizing the oil and electrical industries, creating
the National Polytechnic Institute, implementing land reform, starting
free textbooks for children and other national advancements. Cárdenas,
who punished dissidents by deporting them to the U.S.A., was unique
in that he was the sole politician worldwide who refused bribes.
Cárdenas’ successor, Manuel Ávila Camacho, created a favorable climate
for international investment, but he favored landowners, froze wages,
and suppressed strikes. His successor, Miguel Alemán Valdéz went
even further to protect wealthy landowners. Note that Mexico has
no more of a class system than the United States of America.
As a result of national discontent, the presidential candidate of
the National Action Party (PAN), Harvard graduate Vicente Fox Quesada,
won the federal election on July 2, 2000 (coincidentally his birthday),
thereby becoming Mexico's 62nd president.
Although many of Mexico's past presidents have looked down upon
the people, it is much easier for Vicente Fox. He's six feet four
inches tall.
Copyright Maggie Van Ostrand
"A Balloon In Cactus"
November 7, 2005 column
Email: maggie@maggievanostrand.com
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