Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla had the unique distinction of being a father in three senses of the word: a priestly father in the Roman Catholic Church, a biological father who produced illegitimate children in defiance of his clerical vows, and the father of his country. Though Guadalupe Victoria was, like Washington, his country’s first president, […]
Continue ReadingOne of history’s recurring ironies is the spectacle of figures who die in defeat or disgrace, but emerge in future generations as heroes while the people who defeated them are downgraded to villains. Miguel Hidalgo, executed as a “traitor” to the Spanish crown, is today considered Mexico’s George Washington. Nathan Hale, hanged by the British […]
Continue ReadingMention liberation theology and images that immediately come to mind are those of 1960s-style antiwar, anti-establishment priests like the Berrigan brothers or, more recently, Bishop Samuel Ruiz García and his obvious sympathy with the downtrodden Indians and Zapatista rebels in Chiapas. Liberation theology didn’t begin with the Berrigan brothers or Bishop Ruiz. As far back as […]
Continue ReadingIn the Mesoamerican civilizations that preceded the Spanish Conquest, intellectuals usually derived from the priestly caste rather than from the ranks of warriors and statesmen. But there was one exception: a man with the tongue-twisting name of Nezahualcoyotl. (Approximate pronunciation: neza-howl-coyotl.) Luis Valdez, professor of Chicano studies at the University of California at Berkeley, describes […]
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