Past Event! Note: this event has already taken place.
Desayuno Revolucionario (Spanish Breakfast)
November 21, 2013 at 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
| Location: | 337 St. Patrick's Building |
| Cost: | Free |
| Audience: | Current Students |
| Key Contact: | Carlos Valdez |
| Contact Email: | carlos_valdez@carleton.ca |
Students in our Spanish classes…come out for a revolutionary breakfast to mark the start of the Mexican Revolution.
About the Revolution
(excerpt on The Mexican Revolution from About.com downloaded 19 November, 2013)
“Porfirio Díaz was President of Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911, and was unofficial ruler from 1880 to 1884 as well. His time in power is referred to as the “Porfiriato.” During his decades-long rule, Mexico modernized, building mines, plantations, telegraph lines and railroads which brought great wealth to the nation, but at the cost of repression and grinding debt peonage for the lower classes. Díaz’ close circle of friends benefited greatly, and most of Mexico’s vast wealth was in the hands of a few families.
Díaz ruthlessly clung to power for decades, but after the turn of the century his grip on the nation started to slip. The people were unhappy: an economic recession meant that many lost their jobs and people began calling for change. Díaz promised free elections in 1910.
Díaz and Madero
Díaz expected to win easily and legally, and was therefore shocked when it became evident that his opponent in the 1910 election, Francisco I. Madero, was likely to win. Madero, a reformist writer who came from a wealthy family, was an unlikely revolutionary: he was short and skinny, with a high-pitched voice which tended to become quite shrill when he was excited. A teetotaler and vegetarian, he also claimed to be able to speak to ghosts and spirits, including his dead brother and Benito Juárez. Madero didn’t have any real plan for Mexico after Díaz: he simply felt that someone else should rule after decades of Don Porfirio.
Díaz fixed the elections, arresting Madero on false charges of plotting armed insurrection. Madero was bailed out of jail by his father and went to San Antonio, Texas, where he watched Díaz easily “win” re-election. Convinced that there was no other way to get Díaz to step down, Madero called for an armed rebellion, ironically the same charge that had been trumped-up against him. According to Madero’s Plan of San Luis Potosi, November 20 was the date for the insurrection to start.”