Stereotypes on Mexicans Have Origin In Efforts To Discredit Mexican Heroes
Stereotypes on Mexicans Have Origin In Efforts To Discredit Mexican Heroes
La Cartita --- Many of the contemporary myths that hover over Mexican identity today were first developed by US and British authors in an effort to discredit respectable Mexican heroes. One of these myths was constant assertion that Tequila was typically drank by rebel Mexican troops during the revolutionary war at the turn of the 20th Century. In fact, Pancho Villa was not a drunken slob.
Villa was a sober and cerebral man who contemplated defeating the unpopular government in Mexico City and also resented the US colonization of Tejas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, going as far as conducting appropriation of guns and silver from American outposts, which he converted through deals with Wells Fargo. The latter is documented by the University of California - Berkeley campus.
Never touching alcohol, Villa went from virtual exile in the New Mexico area to creating the heroic Division Del Norte, which struck fear in rich Mexican, American and British oligarch hearts.
Villa folklore with roots on anti-Mexican sentiment from British, American authors.
The myth of a marauding drunk who raped and pillaged was fabricated by British authors, who first linked Villa to Tequila, with the LA Times echoing the thought. The above cartoon is the LA Times 1914 depiction of a non-existing drunk "revolutionary" era Mexican.
US commanders relished the idea of killing Villa themselves. President Woodrow Wilson assigned an entire battalion to invade a small portion of Mexico just to find him. Instead, Villa essentially retired with some of his wealth in Chihuahua. Unfortunately, he was assasinated by political rivals during peace time in 1923, but effectively defied the US Army even in death since his assassination was likely connected to domestic turmoil.
