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""Leno and Maria: A Success Story"" by Vincent P. Cano - 1985

Page 7

less than their United States fellow workers for doing the same job. Qualified Mexican staff were subject to menial tasks while technical and management positions were filled entirely by United States personnel. A few outbreaks followed.

   Late on that day, a detachment of rurales (a back up army of Diaz as opposed to federal troops. Whenever he feared any ambarrassment from campaigns, rather than use the federales, the rurales were used) arrived and "JUSTICE" was quick for those unfortunate randomly selected ring leaders/ They were rounded up, escorted out of town and hanged from trees.

  In September of 1910, Diaz would celebrate his eightieth birthday and Mexico the hundredth anniversary of her independence. The centennial celebration showed everything that was wrong. Beggars were swept off the streets and warned to stay out of the Capital at the risk of imprisonment or hanging so that guests would get the proper impression of a prosperous Mexico. The cost of the events went well over the 1910 educational budget and while letters of congratulations arrived, 90 percent of the population could not read or write. While champagne poured for a few, tens of thousands were suffering from malnutrition. While European waiters served at the banquets urban Mexicans were unemployed. Visitors rode in shiny new motorcars on well paved streets down the Paseo de La Reforma but mud and filth surrounded the worker's barrios in the suburbs.

   In addition to a repressive dictatorship, was the granting of outrageous concessions to foreigners. 

   This was accomplished by a demeaning of everything Mexican and the "NEAR ADULATION" of everything foreign by the elite who were running the country. From the beginning of the age of Diaz, French, British, and United States interests were given various kinds of land, mineral, railroad, and banking concessions. The resentment of the mass of Mexicans, especially the younger technical and middle class type, toward these developments can well be understood. Imagine, for example, that an American president encouraged foreign investment in and exploiting the United States and created a special branch of the FBI. selected from the Mafia, to eliminate any American who complained. In contrast, of course, the foreigners including the Americans, loved it. Keeping Mexico a safe place for American investment was a guiding principle of U/S/ policy around the turn of the century. 

   The peace would soon prove to be fragile. The showy facade would soon collapse and with it would tumble whatever meager existence the Zeferinos had instinctively put together.
7.

Saving...

less than their United States fellow workers for doing the same job. Qualified Mexican staff were subject to menial tasks while technical and management positions were filled entirely by United States personnel. A few outbreaks followed. Late on that day, a detachment of rurales (a back up army of Diaz as opposed to federal troops. Whenever he feared any ambarrassment from campaigns, rather than use the federales, the rurales were used) arrived and "JUSTICE" was quick for those unfortunate randomly selected ring leaders/ They were rounded up, escorted out of town and hanged from trees. In September of 1910, Diaz would celebrate his eightieth birthday and Mexico the hundredth anniversary of her independence. The centennial celebration showed everything that was wrong. Beggars were swept off the streets and warned to stay out of the Capital at the risk of imprisonment or hanging so that guests would get the proper impression of a prosperous Mexico. The cost of the events went well over the 1910 educational budget and while letters of congratulations arrived, 90 percent of the population could not read or write. While champagne poured for a few, tens of thousands were suffering from malnutrition. While European waiters served at the banquets urban Mexicans were unemployed. Visitors rode in shiny new motorcars on well paved streets down the Paseo de La Reforma but mud and filth surrounded the worker's barrios in the suburbs. In addition to a repressive dictatorship, was the granting of outrageous concessions to foreigners. This was accomplished by a demeaning of everything Mexican and the "NEAR ADULATION" of everything foreign by the elite who were running the country. From the beginning of the age of Diaz, French, British, and United States interests were given various kinds of land, mineral, railroad, and banking concessions. The resentment of the mass of Mexicans, especially the younger technical and middle class type, toward these developments can well be understood. Imagine, for example, that an American president encouraged foreign investment in and exploiting the United States and created a special branch of the FBI. selected from the Mafia, to eliminate any American who complained. In contrast, of course, the foreigners including the Americans, loved it. Keeping Mexico a safe place for American investment was a guiding principle of U/S/ policy around the turn of the century. The peace would soon prove to be fragile. The showy facade would soon collapse and with it would tumble whatever meager existence the Zeferinos had instinctively put together. 7.