Tulane University Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. “Carvings at the base of the Cuauhtemoc statue.” The Latin American Library. https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane%3A10441.
The challenge of establishing a national identity has been foremost in the concerns of the state since Mexico’s independence in 1821. Various Mexican governments have worked hard to establish and foster a strong national identity that combines its history of advanced and powerful indigenous kingdoms and empires and its European heritage. Many governments have worked to idealize the legacy of the indigenous population, especially the heritage of the Aztec Empire.
Following the rise of Porfirio Diaz to the Presidency in 1876, highly visible efforts were made to connect the new President’s rule with the Aztecs fight for sovereignty of against foreign invasion. In the 1860s, Mexicans had successfully evicted the latest attempted foreign rule with the defeat of the French imposed Maximillian I. Diaz had been a leading general in this battle for liberation. The restored Mexican government embraced the idea of resistance and resilience with commemorations such as this statue of Cuahtemoc. The last Aztec Emperor, Cuahtemoc, had been tortured and executed by the Spanish in 1521. This photo shows one of the reliefs at the base of the statue. Here the brave and stoic Cuauhtemoc has his feet put to the fire by the Spanish Conquistadors who press in on him and appear to mock him. His resolve and resistance elevate the status of the Mexican people. Above the relief is the name of Coanacoch, one of the rulers of Texcoco who was also executed with Cuahtemoc. Along with the reliefs are other iconographic images tied to the Mexican culture imbedded in the base and mounted around it. The statue was placed along the Paseo de la Reforma, a central thoroughfare of Mexico City. The boulevard had originally been constructed by Maximillian I and following his overthrow, the Mexican government renamed it after the liberal economic and political reform movement of the 1850s. The Diaz government placed of the statue on the boulevard to tie together the la Reforma movement, Mexican nationalism, and his modernizing regime into the identity of the Mexican people. In focusing on the heroism of the indigenous people of Mexico, the government publicly declared support for the liberal vision of respect for all citizens.
Under Diaz’s rule, the government attempted to implement further liberal economic reforms to free up capital and labor for investment in the economy. The irony was at the same time the Diaz was promoting a unifying vision of Mexican national identity that celebrated the historic roots of the nation, his government was expropriating the land of indigenous peoples to establish massive export producing haciendas. The indigenous people were brutally forced into peonage to work for the hacienda owners producing cash crops. By the end of Diaz’ rule, more than 50% of the land was owned by 1% of the population. These liberal economic policies would devastate huge numbers of indigenous persons across Mexico. In a country where the vast majority of people were peasant farmers, 97% of the population owned no land.* The economic growth of Mexico was built on the exploitation of the rural poor and indigenous peoples this statue was meant to exalt. Thirty-five years of Diaz’s dictatorial rule would lead many of the indigenous people of Mexico to join in a violent revolt against Diaz that sparked the Mexican Civil War in 1911. Millions would die in the Civil War and renewed attempts to create a lasting unifying national identity would be necessary.
* Alexander Dawson, “Latin America Since independence,” (New York: Routledge, 2015), 121.