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Confrontation and Reconciliation: Mexicans and Spaniards During the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Douglas W. Richmond
Douglas W. Richmond*
Affiliation:
The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas
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Extract

When King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain completed a 1978 tour of Mexico, the occasion was naturally marked by sentimental rhetoric. President José Lóopez Portillo launched an official reconciliation when he visited Madrid the year before. Underlying the whole exercise, however, was a deep psychological resistance on the part of most Mexicans. The King attempted to emphasize to Mexicans the Spanish aspect of their heritage, but the history of Mexican-Spanish relations during the Revolution underlines the history of ethnic hostility between both groups during the first decades of the twentieth century. As in 1917, the Mexican government in 1978 decided that economic gains far outweighed whipping up popular resentment against the Spaniards.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , October 1984 , pp. 215 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1984

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Footnotes

*

The author wishes to acknowledge a travel grant from the University of Texas at Arlington Organized Research Fund which fmanced the research for this study.

References

1 Meyer, Michael C. and Sherman, William The Course of Mexican History, (New York, 1979), pp. 275,Google Scholar 320–321, 560; Caballero, Romeo Flores Counterrevolution: The Role of the Spaniards in the Independence of Mexico, (Lincoln, 1974).Google Scholar

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3 Valdés, Maximino Impresiones de México por el Conde de Fox, (México, 1918), pp. 401–402 Google Scholar; Pike, Frederick B. Hispanismo: 1898–1936, (Notre Dame, 1971)Google Scholar discusses the evolution of a proSpanish ideology in Latin America.

4 Subsecretario of the Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores to Venustiano Carranza, July 16,1911, Archivo General del Estado de Coahuila, Saltillo (hereafter cited as AGEC) and presidente municipal of Torreón to Carranza, July 20, 1911, leg. 293, exped. 11, 124.

5. Presidente municipal to Carranza, Sept. 4, 1911, AGEC, leg. 294, exped. “Torreón.”

6 A. Rodríguez Flores to Carranza, Nov. 25, 1911, AGEC, leg. 305, exped. 11,285, sección 3a.

7 The best study of the Huerta regime is Meyer, Michael C. Huerta: A Political Portrait, (Lincoln, 1972)Google Scholar; six veterans of the Revolution to Carranza, Feb. 18, 1919, Centro de Estudios de Historia de México, Manuscritos de don Venustiano Carranza, Mexico City (hereafter cited as AC).

8 Huerta decree of March 27,1914 in Archivo Histórico Diplomático Mexicano de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Mexico City (hereafter cited as AREM), leg. 1579, exped. de Victoriano Huerta; Relaciones Exteriores memo of March, 1914 in AREM, leg. 791, fol. 87-R-41, p. 182.

9 Secretary of State Robert Lansing to don Juan Riaño y Gayamos, June 18, 1914, AREM, leg. 797, fol. 90-R-37, p. 23.

10 Carlos Ezeta to Gen. Joaquín Maass, April 24 and 25, 1914, AGEC, leg. 331, exped. 11,614.

11 Spanish priest to Relaciones Exteriores, April 16, 1918, AREM, leg. 10–1–61, fol. “Bienes Intervenidos.”

12 U.S. consul in Chihuahua to Secretary of State, Jan. 26, 1915, Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Mexico, Microcopy 274 (hereafter cited as RDS), 812.404/ 52 (0056–0061).

13 Spanish minister of state to Carranza, March 8, 1915, RDS, 812.404/73 (0237–0238).

14 Eliseo Arrendondo to Secretary of State, Oct. 8, 1915, RDS, 812.404/101 (0337); Lansing memo of Nov. 1, 1915, RDS, 812.404/102 (0347); U.S. embassy in Vienna to Secretary of State, Nov. 16, 1915, RDS, 812.404/104(0356–0357).

15 For land seizures and other Carrancista policies, see Richmond, Douglas W. “El nacionalismo de Carranza y los cambios socioeconómicos, 1915–1920,” Historia Mexicana, 26 (July-Sept. 1976), 107–131.Google Scholar Spanish hacendados losing their land is documented in Luis Bermejillo to Carranza, Oct. 9, 1914, AC. Villa’s anti-Spanish activities are noted in Cumberland, Charles C. Mexican Revolution: The Constitutionalist Years, (Austin, 1972), p. 119.Google Scholar

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17 Confidential agent S. Z. Nieto to Carranza, Sept. 27,1915, AC; Morella supporter to Carranza, Nov. 29, 1918, AC.

18 Decree of Governor Heriberto Jara, Feb. 28, 1915, Archivo General de la Nación, Ramo de Gobernación, Mexico City (hereafter cited as AGN/RG), ficha 5121, caja 100.

19 Valdés, , Impresiones de México, pp. 280–284.Google Scholar Herr, Richard An Historical Essay on Modern Spain, (Berkeley, 1971), p. 137 Google Scholar; Boyd, Carolyn P. Praetorian Politics in Liberal Spain (Chapel Hill, 1979)Google Scholar describes military unrest in Spain while Ullman, Joan Connelly analyzes working class politics in The Tragic Week: A Study of Anticlericalism in Spain, 1875–1912. (Cambridge, 1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20 A good example of these labor conditions is related to Lewis, Oscar Pedro Martíinex: A Mexican Peasant and His Family, (New York, 1964), p. 18.Google Scholar Spanish landholdings are mentioned in Cronon, E. David Josephus Daniels in Mexico, (Madison, 1960), p. 41.Google Scholar

21 For Carranza’s role as governor of Coahuila, see Beezley, William H. “Governor Carranza and the Revolution in Coahuila,” The Americas, 33 (Oct. 1976), 50–61 CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Richmond, Douglas W. “Factional Political Strife in Coahuila, 1910–1920,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 60 (Feb. 1980), 49–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar A case where peasants received justice from Carranza is nine hacienda workers to Carranza, Feb. 17, 1916, TVC, Guanajuato, Carpeta 2; Carranza to hacienda workers, Feb. 18,1916, TVC, Guanjuato, Carpeta 2; José López Lira to Carranza, Feb. 21,1916, TVC, Guanajuato, Carpeta 2.

22 For colonial merchant attitudes, see Brading, David A. Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763–1810, (Cambridge, 1971).Google Scholar A fine survey of materialistic immigrant attitudes among Spaniards is in Solberg, Carl E. Immigration and Nationalism: Argentina and Chile, 1890–1914, (Austin, 1970).Google Scholar The Spanish outlook is noted in a Mexican novel by Galindo, Sergio The Precipice, trans, by John, and Brushwood, Carolyn (Austin, 1969).Google Scholar

23 Domingo Trueba to Carranza, Dec. 22, 1913, AC.

24 Rafael Zubarán Capmany to Rafael Buelna, March 15, 1914, TVC, Chihuahua, Carpeta 1.

25 Seizures of various goods from Spanish merchants are related in Zubarán Company to Alvaro Obregón, March 15, 1914, TVC, Chihuahua, Carpeta 1;U.S. consul in Monterrey to Carranza, June 29, 1914, AC; Jesús Carranza to Venustiano Carranza, TVC, Aug. 4, 1914, TVC, Guanajuato, Carpeta 1; Governor of Guanajuato to Carranza, undated, TVC, Guanajuato, Carpeta 2.

26 Study submitted by Eduardo Fuentes to Ejército Constitucionalista de Oriente, Sept. 27,1915, AC.

27 J. Nava to Carranza, Aug. 28, 1915, AC; Nava to Jesús Acuña, Oct. 10, 1915, AREM, leg. 794, fol. 88-R-31, pp. 19–20, 32–33; Manuel Torres to Carranza, Sept. 10, 1915, TVC, Guanajuato, Carpeta 2; Arcado Zaragoza to Carranza, May 13,1916, AC; Mexico City workers to Carranza, July 16, 1916, AC.

28 Oaxaca writer to Carranza, Aug. 14, 1919, AC.

29 lnforme confidencial to Carranza, Nov. 12, 1915, AC.

30 Treasury report to Carranza, Oct. 1, 1915, AC; report dated July 25,1916 in AREM, leg. 806, fol. 96-R-2, p. 42.

31 Mexican consul general in Barcelona to Carranza, Nov. 11, 1916, AC.

32 Secretaría de Obras, Públicas y Communicaciones, Reseña y memoria del primer congreso nacional de comerciantes, (México, 1917), pp. 11–12,Google Scholar 35–39, 316–317.

33 For some of many instances where Carranza ordered land returned to Spanish landowners, see Benito Nicol to Carranza, Jan. 13,1916, TVC, Chihuahua, Carpeta 1; Enrique Enriquez to Carranza, Jan. 16, 1916, TVC, Chihuahua, Carpeta 1; Federico Sisniega to Carranza, March 4, 1916, TVC, Chihuahua, Carpeta 1. Another is Rafael Vega Sánchez to Carranza, Dec. 23, 1916, AC.

34 Governor Juan José Ríos of Colima to Carranza, Dec. 4, 1916, TVC, Colima, Carpeta 2.

35 George T. Summerlin to Secretary of State, Sept. 1, 1919, RDS, 812.032/55 (0549–0613).

36 U.S. consul in Monterrey to Secretary of State, July 29, 1914, RDS, 812.404 (1195–1201).

37 El Socialista, Jan. 28,1915. For the influence of socialism and anarchism in the Mexican labor movement, see Carr, Barry El movimiento obrero y la política en México, 1910–1929, 2 vols. (México, 1976)Google Scholar; Ruiz, Ramón Eduardo Labor and the Ambivalent Revolutionaries, Mexico: 1911–1923, (Baltimore, 1976)Google Scholar; Hart, John M. Anarchism and the Mexican Working Class, 1860–1931, (Austin, 1978).Google Scholar

38 Ramón Boixareu y Clavero to Carranza, Feb. 16, 1915, AC.

39 Spanish consul general in Barcelona to Carranza, Sept. 24, 1915, AC.

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41 For this point, see Brenan, Gerald The Spanish Labyrinth, (Cambridge, 1967)Google Scholar; Payne, Stanley G. ed. Politics and Society in Twentieth Century Spain, New York, 1976)Google Scholar; Harrison, Joseph An Economic History of Modern Spain, (New York, 1978)Google Scholar; Vives, Jaime Vicens An Economic History of Spain, (Princeton, 1969)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Meaker, Gerald The Revolutionary Left in Spain, 1914–1923; (Stanford, 1974).Google Scholar

42 U.S. harassment of Mexican attempts to purchase arms in Europe is outlined in U.S. embassy in Brussels to Secretary of State, Sept. 11,1919, RDS, 812.234/70; U.S. embassy in Paris to Secretary of State, Oct. 15, 1919, RDS, 812.24/82; U.S. legation in Lisbon to Secretary of State, Oct. 15, 1919, RDS, 812.24/82; U.S. legation in Lisbon to Secretary of State, Nov. 13,1919, RDS, 812.24/92; U.S. embassy in Paris to Secretary of State, Jan. 14 and 16, 1920, RDS, 812.24/121–128.

43 Navy Department memo of June 10, 1917 in RDS, 812.24/46 (0204); U.S. consul general in Genoa to Secretary of State, Nov. 20, 1919, RDS, 812.24/102 (0357–0360).

44 State Department memo tor Mr. Hengetter, May 26, 1920, RDS, 812.24/175 (0532–0535).

45 Càndido Aguilar to Eliseo Arredondo, June 25, 1919, RDS, 812.24/77 (0285).