Heroes

Heroes of the past crying for the present.

El Ángel de la Independencia ("The Angel of Independence"), most commonly known by the shortened name El Ángel and officially known as Columna de la Independencia, is a victory column located on a roundabout over Paseo de la Reforma in downtownMexico City.

El Ángel was built to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of Mexico's War of Independence, celebrated in 1910. In later years it was made into a mausoleum for the most important heroes of that war. It is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Mexico City, and it has become a focal point for both celebration or protest. It bears a resemblance to the July Column in Paris and the Victory Column in Berlin.

Construction of El Ángel was ordered in 1902 by President Porfirio Díaz. Architect Antonio Rivas Mercado was in charge of the design of the monument, while the actual construction was supervised by Mexican engineers Gonzalo Garita and Manuel Gorozpe. All the sculptures were made byItalian artist Enrique Alciati. The monument was ready for the festivities to commemorate the first hundred years of Mexican Independence in 1910. The opening ceremony was attended by President Díaz and several foreign dignitaries. The main speaker at the event was Mexican poet Salvador Díaz Mirón.

music+image New York, Washington, Paris, Vienna, Eisenstadt, Venice, Firenze and Rome series try to continue in Sketches of Cities.  (At Least Once A Week) Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all.

Zapata

Cuernavaca Tourism Office. The figure in the balcony is Emiliano Zapata (August 8, 1879–April 10, 1919) was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South.

At that time, Mexico was ruled by a dictatorship under Porfirio Díaz, who had seized power in 1876. The social system of the time was a sort of proto-capitalist feudal system, with large landed estates (haciendas) controlling more and more of the land and squeezing out the independent communities of the indigenous and mestizos, who were then subsequently forced into debt slavery (peonaje) on the haciendas. Díaz ran local elections to pacify the people and run a government that they could argue was self-imposed. Under Díaz, close confidantes and associates were given offices in districts throughout Mexico. These offices became the enforcers of "land reforms" that actually concentrated the haciendas into fewer hands. [Any similarity with actuality?]

Quotes:
¡Tierra y Libertad! (Translation: Land and Liberty)
"Ignorancia y obscurantismo nunca han producido otra cosa que rebaños de esclavos para la tirania" (Translation: Ignorance and obscurantism have never produced anything other than flocks of slaves for tyranny). (In a letter to Pancho Villa)
"Es mejor morir de pie que vivir un siglo de rodillas." (Translation: It is better to die standing than to live a century on your knees.)
"La tierra es de quien la trabaja." (Translation: The land belongs to those who work it). [ Wiki ]

Gracias por su visita / Thanks for visiting.