Lázaro Cárdenas Years, Chapter 6, Yucatán, the Maya, and Mexico and Spanish Colonialism

 

Lázaro Cárdenas Years, Chapter 6

Gift shop souvenir of El Pensamiento. 

Protracted political upheaval and instability made for a socialist turn by 1934 when México elected the social minded Lázaro Cárdenas president. He took immediate steps beginning with the establishment of the Territory of Quintana Roo and social oriented reforms including the nationalization of Mexico’s petroleum industry that became known as Pemex. Unfortunately the oil money that could have had a huge beneficial impact for the citizens such as Norway’s state-owned petroleum company, didn’t happen. Mexico’s unchecked corruption channeled the money to a select few and has kept Mexico a third world country burdened by poverty and inequality.

Under Mexico’s President Lázaro Cárdenas isolated Chetumal in the extreme southern end of the Territory of Quintana Roo became the capital of the Territory and received its first modern infrastructure. The population of Chetumal was then 2,790, and the only way to get there was by open boat south down the Caribbean coast from Cozumel Island or on horseback through the dense jungle which took five days from the end of the Mérida railroad line at Peto in the State of Yucatán. A paved road into Chetumal would not materialize for nearly forty years.

Big things began to happen in little Chetumal in 1937 when newly elected Méxican President Lázaro Cárdenas together with the socialist governor of Quintana Roo, Rafael E. Melgar, consummated public works projects.. Schools, a hospital, and a capitol building materialized with more on the way.

The elegantly ornamented and sculpted constructions stand to this day as a testimonial to successful social reform. The world famous artist and sculptor Rómulo Rozo made it a sensation.*

The Territory of Quintana Roo predominantly consisted of native Mayan who possessed and practiced as a collective community policing themselves from within where none ever went hungry unless all were hungry. With this political system they lived in peace and harmony with nature while maintaining their territory ecologically pristine.

In all of the Americas Quintana Roo was the last hold out against the intrusion of Spanish colonialism.

*Note; a truncated story about creative Rómulo Rozo in Mexico’s years of reform:

Born and raised in Columbia, South America, Rómulo Rozo took to art at an early age and went on to become an internationally acclaimed sculptor. At Seville, Spain, attending an art exhibition Rómulo met Manuel Amábilis Domínguez an iconic Yucatecan character of neo-Mayan architecture who lured Rómulo Rozo to Mexico to participate in the new socialist movement spearheaded by President Lázaro Cárdenas. This lasting friendship next lured Rómulo Rozo to Chetumal, Quintana Roo territory where he has become memorialized by his sensational artistic works of stone sculpture.

After completion of his work in Chetumal he was again lured onward by his friend Manuel Amábilis. Next it would be to the State of Yucatán at Mérida in the 1940s to work his sculpture art in the Park of The Americas that covered two square blocks near the city center designed by Manuel Amábilis.

In Mérida Rómulo took up the Yucatecan attire of a sombrero, white Guayabera shirt, long white trousers, sandals with Mayan style x-canche hule sandals that had thick heavy stacked leather soles that made a distinctive che-che-che sound and are still worn by the dancers of the Mérida Mayan folkloric ballet to this day. His greatest claim to fame in Mérida, the Monumento de la Patria on Paseo de Montejo is the centerpiece of a traffic circle on the avenue.

It took eleven years to complete this intricately detailed memorial depicting Mexican history, and the last two years Rómulo Rozo received no governmental financial support completing the Monumento de la Patria work by financing it out of his own pocket...a thankless endeavor.

Rómulo Rozo also left a lasting impression of Mexico with his sculpture El Pensamiento (the thinker). 

Photo from Wikipedia
Sculpture by Rómulo Rozo originally displayed in the Museum of Art in La Paz, Bolivia.

This is the image that was plagiarized after it was shown in an exhibition in the National Library in Mexico City in 1932. When it was on exhibition, somebody placed a bottle of tequila in front of it, took a photo, and it was widely circulated in newspapers around the world as the drunken or sleeping Mexican…an image still thought of today.

It is hard to find a Mexican gift shop that does not have a knockoff for sale. Few ever get to know the real story behind this eye-catching Mexican icon.

Monuments carved in stone leave a lasting memory and are difficult to eradicate.

Back to the story of Chetumal and what happened to social reform:

Here is what happened next after Juan Batista Vega paved the way to open up the territory of Quintana Roo to the non-Mayan. The spark of expansionism was ignited with Cancun as rich Spanish developers rushed in to build mega resorts. Construction cranes littered the landscape and it looked like the sky was the limit as resorts marched their way south along the beautiful Caribbean coast.

A surprise came in 1985 when a flood of refugees resulting from a catastrophic earthquake in Mexico City sent nearly 50,000 displaced persons into Yucatán. All needed housing and employment.

Three years later in 1988 a category five hurricane named Gilberto came ashore at Cancan driving ocean-going freighters into the downtown, flattening all the tall construction cranes like an angry giant whipping them frantically to the earth and completely removing windows, doors and furnishings including inlaid carpet from the already finished resorts up to the third floor. The storm didn’t quit here and flattened every electrical pole, tower, and wire from Cancun to Mérida. The hurricane also eroded the Gulf of Mexico beach front inland for two or three hundred meters, washed out the coastal road in thirteen places and wiped out all the coconut palm plantations along the Coconut Coast from Dzlam de Bravo to Sisal. Some coastal places along this north coast of the Yucatán peninsula would be without electric service for six months.

The devastation appeared at first glance like a golden opportunity for construction workers. Anyone wanting work got it. After six weeks with no pay the disgruntled workers became aware of the word shyster. We did have, however, one acquaintance that made millions on the disaster. The supplier of plate glass and mirrors from Mérida.

Now with the collapse of the tourist industry due to the Covid 19 virus we see that these resort owners to this day are also shysters of the very worst kind. Absolutely no social benefits are available to displaced workers. Rich resort developers have found that it is much cheaper to buy politicians than to pay employees.

My wife Jane and I have two Mexican children, Grisel,  36, and Guero, 45, both were working in the tourist related economy. Now they are desperately struggling to survive with no workers compensation or commodity assistance. Grisel had nine years employment with an all inclusive mega resort and they paid no unemployment or medical benefits after layoff. She has painfully became aware of the shyster. Guero on the other hand was a tourist guide and holds certification as a scuba diver. He lost two restaurants and a small hostel hotel due to Covid 19. He now ekes out a meager amount fishing off of the Caribbean beach where he had a jungle fishing camp.

Mexico has the very best politicians that money can buy.

Social justice and governmental integrity mix like oil and water.

There you have a brief overview of where colonialism has taken Mexico and the Maya from the Inquisition to capitalistic takeover. The last hold out, the Maya. are mostly overwhelmed.

Next read Notable visitors to Cozumel, and my recommended reading list.   Recommended Reading and Notable Authors.

Links to: The Maya, Mexico and Spanish Colonialism:

Introduction and Chapter 1.

Prelude to the Caste War, Chapter 2.

A Brief History of the Caste War, Chapter 3.

While the Caste War still Smoldered, the Mexican Revolutionary War Commenced, Chapter 4.

Juan Bautista Vega, Chapter 5.

Lázaro Cárdena's Years, Chapter 6.

Recommended Reading and Notable Authors.