but that I suspect will not work
So here is the cliff's notes of Mexican History.
1521 The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan falls to one Hernando Cortez, starting the Colonial period. Throughout this period a tradition emerged (in parallel to the US) of both slavery, white and otherwise, as well as criollo (born in the new world) bashing.
1810 That criollo class, like our founding fathers, have had it. The same forces in-fact, the Enlightenment, are at play. The country essentially goes into a very violent war... and by 1821 Mexico, or Mejico, becomes an independent country. Some, many of the old families have left, just like they did in the US, but others have returned, and have gone to business. They kept the peasant poor under and in control since just like the US we have a few problems with skin color. That said Mexico makes slavery illegal.
Ok the next fifty years are a slew of conservative-liberal in-fighting which is taken advantage by the US to get control of Texas. No, those boys did not just do that because of what Mexico was or was not offering them. The war between the two countries is complex and a web post hardly will cover it.
By 1860 we have a french invasion, and five years of fighting the french. Any coincidences with the US Civil War are not. Suffice it to say the ONLY president of Indian blood elected in Mexican history served at this time...
Now more civil wars came, and by 1880 Porfirio Diaz took over. Lets ignore the four years he was not power, suffice it to say that between 1880 and 1910 he had power, and he used the Rurales to keep peace in the country side. Any similarities to the modern Mexican Army doing the same in Juarez are not coincidental, nor is the glory filled history books of Diaz these days.
1910-21 another civil war\revolution... in the end the new winners have been very busy in building a new power elite, and the PRI kept power for 70 years.
Now how do they do this? Nobody is going to lie to you. While people like to believe this does not go on in the US, (and it does in rural areas) the police is used by the elite to keep any and all uprisings from spreading
Mexico has had one major student revolt (1968) Two major country side revolts, (Guerrero 1970s, and the Zapatista Movement) and many worker uprisings in the last fifty years. They all have been met with force, and while the Zapatistas have essentially kept an area of the country for themselves, it is just a matter of time.
By the way. I quite on purpose did not cover major areas. This is after all a highlight of this.
The simple answer, how does Mexico do it? The same way every other government does. Yes, that includes ours. Just that the last major revolt... I doubt too many people are still alive. We know it as the Harlan County Coal Wars, and don't feel bad if you got no clue what I am talking about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County_War
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
