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Book Review by the American Patrol Report
Glenn Spencer
by Wilson Beck (Author) [Click here for other chapters in this review]
October 21, 2009
Chapter IV – The New Mexican-European Hybrid
Following the fall of the Aztec empire Spain moved to consolidate its power over Mexico. "The Spaniards had no respect for a people they considered inferior and almost subhuman by any measure," Beck writes. "The resulting Mexican became one of the most extraordinary misfits, incapable, maladjusted, human beings imaginable," he opines.
"The impact of the Spaniard on the Mexican culture was diametric. On the one hand he was liberating the Mexican from a barbarous, inhuman past. On the other he was enslaving the culture to in order to exploit the continent of its riches. Which was worse?"
The population of Mexico was decimated. Death due to battle, smallpox, typhus and "attrition caused by the brutal treatment from the Spaniards" amounted to extinction of the Mexican people. After 1521 and toward the end of the century, the native population of Mexico was reduced by from 78 to 95 percent. Beck says demographers agree that by 1595 the Mexican population had been reduced to somewhere between 1.1 and 3.5 million people.
Beck says Mexico became New Spain and immigrants from Spain began arriving by the thousands and then tens of thousands. Beck says for the first 50 years after the conquest very few Spanish women came to Mexico. As a result Spanish men took Mexican concubines, but very few married. Since many of the Spaniards were already married, they were committing bigamy or polygamy – illegal under Spanish law, but permitted in Mexico. "The Aztecs had practiced polygamy, so he Spaniards quickly followed suit," Beck says.
The children of Spaniards born in Mexico were called Criollos. They were white, but didn't have the same rights or privileges as their Spanish-born equivalents. The mixed offspring of Spanish and Crillos with the Mexican were called Mestizos.
Beck draws a parallel between the makeup of the Mexican family unit in the U.S. resulting from the co-mingling of illegal immigrants and citizens to the situation in 16th century Mexico. He says many Mexican men who come to the U.S. illegally leave families behind. Many of these men, Beck says, find a U.S. partner who is a U.S. citizen female to marry and acquire U.S. citizenship.
"It was acceptable for the 16th century Spanish immigrant to father and then shirk the familial responsibility of fatherhood," Beck writes. He says the same is true of the 21st century illegal Mexican migrant in the U.S. In 1980, Beck reports, 25% of U.S. families where one parent was an illegal were single mother families. By 2005 that number had skyrocketed to 75%. "In practice, the Mexican culture completely accepts the concept of illegitimacy. It is a normal mode of life in Mexico."
After years of mistreatment of the Mexicans by the Spaniards, especially the women, they began to refer to the conquest as La Chingada. The Chingada was the supreme rape, pillage, and desecration of the Mexican culture. "The Mexican became the children of the Chingada or the children of the big cluster fuck!" Beck says this attitude can be seen on Mexican Independence Day when Mexicans shout "Viva Mexico, children of the Chingada!"
The concept of macho grew out of Chingada.
Fear and suspicion of the Spaniards had a profound impact on Mexicans.
Beck says this led to the present day Mexican characteristic of not trusting anyone. "The concept of cheating is accepted. It is universal in Mexico." "This is the reason there is so much corruption in Mexican government, business, and, yes, personal relationships. It is difficult to write this without being called a racist but it is a Mexican reality."
"It is acceptable to take any advantage of any situations for personal gain even if it is illegal," Beck writes.
Beck points out that even playing golf, the pervasiveness of cheating results in Mexicans scheduling two foursomes to play together in order to watch each other.
Beck says the Mexican trait of cheating and dishonesty is part of the Mexican fabric and it stays with those who cross the Rio Grande or Sonora Desert.
"There is a large element of Mexicans who do not have respect for the rule of law, the nation, or others. Unfortunately, they respect America and American law even less," Beck writes.
[On a personal note, In August of 1996 I wrote a letter to the L.A. Times about a story dealing with forged drivers licenses in Los Angeles. In the never-published letter I said "The Mexican culture is based on deceit. Chicanos and Mexicanos lie as a means of survival. Fabricating false IDs is just another extension of that culture" The letter went on to say this defensive mechanism was dropped upon assimilation. Somehow the Southern Poverty Law Center got hold of this letter and have been using it to beat me over the head ever since. What I said was true, but that didn't matter to them.]
Beck says the after 1570 the Spaniards stopped intermarrying with the Mexicans. What evolved after that was a very structured society. Mexicans were at the bottom along with the Mestizos who continued to be born out of wedlock. The Corrillos and Spanish-born were the real citizens.
The Corrillo Revolt
By 1700 the population of Mexico was about six million. About 25,000 to 50,000 were Spanish-born immigrants. Corillos numbered about one million with the remaining being a mix of about four million indigenous Mexicans and another million of mixed blood.
Beck says the Mexicans followed the social change that was sweeping the American colonies, France and even Haiti. In 1810 a group of Corillos (Mexican-born Spaniards) declared independence from Spain. After a long struggle the Corillos made a deal with a Spanish colonel, Agustin de Itrube, establishing independence. "Instead of establishing an independent, democratic nation... he established a monarchy. On July 21, 1822, he had himself crowned Emperor Agustin of Mexico."
"The Mexicans did not gain freedom. The Mexicans did not gain independence. The Corillos did!" Beck writes.
Chaotic Mexican Governance
Emperor Augustine's rule lasted only a few months and "Mexico began a one hundred-year cycle of failed governments, constitutions, and disastrous wars."
Beck says the provision in the 1824 constitution that provided complete immunity from prosecution in civil courts for the government, the military and the clergy legalized corruption in Mexico.
The twenty years following 1824 are described as "incomprehensible" by Beck. He points out that twenty days after being elected president of Mexico, Santa Ana promptly retired. "He decided being president was not exciting enough for his taste." For the next 22 years none of the elected presidents finished their terms in office. "The presidents who were coming and going were laughing all the way to the bank."
Beck says the situation hadn't changed when he moved to Mexico City in the early nineties and Carlos Salinas. No wonder Mexicans don't trust their government.
Little remembered by most is how Mexico lost its sovereignty to France. The election of Benito Juarez in 1858 brought the first indigenous Mexican Indian to the presidency, but it was not by election, but by civil war – the Reform War. The civil war was so disruptive that within months Mexico lost its sovereignty to France.
Juarez had decided to suspend all foreign debt payments. "The three European creditors decided the only response to this continued and proclaimed delinquency was war," Beck writes. "By 1863, reinforced by 50,000 French troops, Maximillian, Archduke of Austria, was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico by Napoleon III, and Mexico lost its sovereignty."
Tomorrow -- Chapter V: How Mexico Got to the 21st Century
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