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Abstract
In 2010, ten years after Mexico’s so-called ‘transition to democracy,’ the country commemorated two hundred years of independence and one hundred years of revolution. To celebrate, the state spent nearly 230 million dollars on diverse sites of memory, mass spectacles, and works of art. These commemorative projects, including the controversial, gigantic statue dubbed the Coloso, triggered extensive debates that addressed the country’s myriad contemporary political issues. These discussions revealed a growing disappointment with electoral democracy and an increasing anxiety about the war on the drug trade launched by president Felipe Calderón. The state’s manifestation of power during the celebrations was paradoxically seen as a reminder of its inability to curb the growing violence, and the commemorations were widely regarded as a failure. This paper examines this failure by analyzing how the Coloso generated political discourses that fostered new forms of resistance and critique. Soon after its display, the statue was abandoned and inadvertently became an ephemeral monument. This paper argues that the literal rise and fall of the Coloso is symptomatic of the state’s increasing inability to control the nation’s symbolic landscape.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Leora Auslander, Michael Dawson, Jan Dutkiewicz, Joseph Lowndes, John McCormick, Mauricio Tenorio and Lisa Wedeen for their helpful comments on this paper, as well as the participants of the 2014 New School for Social Research Graduate Student Conference ‘Questioning Power,’ and her fellow panelists and discussants at the Latin American Science Association 2014 Congress and at the Western Political Science Association 2014 meeting.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Alejandro Poiré quoted in ‘5,273 muertes violentas durante la lucha contra el narcotráfico de 2010’ in CNN, January 12, 2011: http://mexico.cnn.com/nacional/2011/01/12/15273-muertes-violentas-el-ano-pasado-por-la-lucha-contra-la-seguridad. It is worth noting, however, that there are many different ways of measuring violence at any given time period and that the number of violent deaths is only one of them.
2. Calderón obtained 35.89% of the votes, while his main rival Andrés Manuel López Obrador obtained 35.33%. The suspicion was partly the result of Vicente Fox’s illegal proselytism in favor of Calderón, which might have tilted the balance in favor of the PAN’s candidate, and partly a result of the irregularities that surrounded the counting of ballots – the electoral tribunal admitted that there had been ‘irregularities’ in the counting process but decided to do nothing about them. (See Crespo Citation2008).
3. Index of Public Perception published by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI): http://www.inegi.org.mx/inegi/contenidos/espanol/prensa/comunicados/percepcionsp.asp.
4. To put the figures in comparative context, while in Iraq there were 12 murders for every 100 thousand people, in Mexico there were 18. ‘La guerra de Calderón contra el narco, causa del alza en la violencia y homicidios,’ by Emir Olivares Alonso, La Jornada, February 5, 2013 (http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/02/05/politica/016n1pol).
5. The homicide rate increased throughout the entire country but not uniformly (85% of the homicides occurred in 70 municipalities out of a total of 2,435 – this information corresponds to the time period between 1990 and 2009). The states with the highest homicide rate were Chihuahua, Baja California, Durango, Guerrero, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas followed by Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca, and Sonora. There were also significant differences within each state. For instance, although only 50% of the population of Baja California resides in Tijuana, more than 72% of the murders have taken place in this city and whereas only 40% of Chihuahuans live in Ciudad Juárez, it is here where 65% of the homicides have occurred (Escalante Citation2011).
6. According to the organization Article 19, in 2010 in Mexico 129 journalists were injured and 8 were murdered because of their professional activities (see http://www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/reports/mexico-resumen-ejecutivo-2011.pdf), making Mexico the fifth most dangerous country in the world to do journalism (‘UN: Mexico fifth dangerous country for journalists,’ Al Jazeera, October 25, 2011: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/10/201110254559802945.html).
7. ‘Latin American Briefing Series: Alma Guillermoprieto and Alejandro Paez and Claudia Mendez’, November 11, 2010, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Chicago.
8. Brito has won prizes for his pictures at photography biennales and received an award at the World Press Photo in 2011 for his series of dead bodies in front of deserted landscapes.
9. ‘La estrategia defensiva de no mirar o de asumir que los atracos ocurren lejos (…) se ha venido abajo. (…) El crimen ya no puede ser relegado a la región tranquilizadora de lo ajeno.’ (Villoro Citation2010: 8).
10. Berezin Citation1991; Geertz Citation1980; Schnapp Citation1993; Wedeen Citation1999, Citation2008. For specific examples about Mexico see: Beezley and Lorey Citation2001; Beezley et al. Citation1994; Lomnitz Citation2001b.
11. For a keen analysis of the commemorative fiction films see Arroyo Quiroz Citation2011.
12. See ‘Presentan canción oficial del bicentenario,’ by Nurit Martínez in El Universal, August 18, 2010; IMCINE: http://www.imcine.gob.mx/pelculas-bicentenario-2010.html; ‘Justifica Lujambio gastos de la fiesta del bicentenario,’ by Víctor Ballinas, La Jornada, September 21, 2010; ‘7 lujos del gobierno para celebrar el bicentenario,’ by Ira Franco, CNN México, September 10, 2010: http://mexico.cnn.com/bicentenario/2010/09/10/7-lujos-del-gobierno-mexicano-para-celebrar-el-bicentenario.
13. Perhaps one of the most impressive events was the exhumation of the bones presumed to have been of 14 national heroes that were buried underneath the Ángel de la Independencia statue. A laboratory was built inside Chapultepec Castle where the bones were analyzed by a group of scientists who attempted to verify their authenticity. The findings of this scientific enterprise were kept a national secret for several years, but in the meantime the bones were briefly exhibited in the main gallery of the National Palace, so that they could be publicly witnessed (and venerated) before they were once again buried (see ‘Los huesos de 14 héroes patrios volverán a la Columna de la Independencia,’ by Arturo Jiménez, La Jornada, July 29, 2011; ‘Experimenta INAH con huesos de héroes de la Independencia,’ by Silvia Isabel Gámez, July 19, 2011: http://www.terra.com.mx/noticias/articulo/1161514/Experimenta+INAH+con+huesos+de+heroes+de+la+Independencia.htm).
14. See ‘El tortuoso camino para festejar el bicentenario,’ CNN Mexico, July 25, 2010.
15. The fact that one of the models and points of reference for the celebrations were spectacles like the Olympic Games in Beijing and Barcelona (and not simply national events) speaks to the importance of situating an event like the commemorations in relation to what was happening in the rest of the world. The organizers and artists are very much aware of changes outside the country. To examine this point in greater depth would be, however, beyond the scope of this paper.
16. Also see ‘2010: El espectáculo de la historia de México’ by Carmen García Bermejo, El Financiero, February 10, 2010.
17. It is hard to know exactly how much money was spent on the celebrations, given the disparate and contradictory amounts provided by different state agencies, and the misleading responses given by those in charge of the commemorations. The reports provided by the media are not always congruent (see Ejea Citation2013).
18. The grito ceremony is a reenactment of the episode that took place at daybreak in 1810, when Miguel Hidalgo incited people to rise up in arms and fight for Independence. It consists of the president standing on the main balcony of the National Palace and waving a Mexican flag while shouting ‘Viva Mexico!’ in front of a huge crowd of people.
19. See the public letter signed by five of these producers (Alicia Sánchez, Mario Espinosa, Jorge A. Vargas, Juliana Faesler y Mauricio García Lozano) and published in Proceso, on August 15, 2010, and the brief analysis of this letter by Tomás Ejea (Citation2013).
20. Unlike many of the monuments constructed for the centennial commemorations of Independence, which were ‘designed to embody liberal interpretations of the nation as transparently, accessibly, and universally as possible’ (Garrigan Citation2012: 107), what the Coloso was supposed to symbolize, with its cracks and broken sword, was anything but transparent or accessible.
21. See www.casacanfield.com and personal communication with artist.
22. Although the parade and the grito ceremony were not cancelled in Mexico City – as they were in other parts of the country – fewer people than expected attended these events and feelings of fear and hostility towards the government were translated into a sense of apathy and indifference that was felt during the commemorations.
23. ‘El gobierno federal invita a ver los festejos del Bicentenario desde casa,’ by Ira Fanco, CNN Mexico, September 10, 2010: http://mexico.cnn.com/nacional/2010/09/10/11000-policias-resguardaran-el-centro-historico-de-la-ciudad-de-mexico.
24. ‘Ese personaje -así de grande, así de fuerte, de imponente- y también como todo lo fuerte y lo grande que despertó también polémica y discusión, intriga, duda; ese gran personaje, amigas y amigos, ese gran “Coloso” de México, ese “Coloso” eres tú, eres el mexicano, eres también el voluntario.’ Felipe Calderón quoted in ‘La verdad de El Coloso,’ by Alberto Aguirre in El Economista, September 30, 2010 (http://eleconomista.com.mx/columnas/columna-especial-politica/2010/09/30/verdad-coloso).
25. This is just one of several examples of a tendency to privilege independence over the Revolution in the 2010 commemorations. Some of the sites and events that reference independence rather than the Revolution include the following: Bicentennial Park; Bicentennial Arch; Bicentennial Olympic Festival; Bicentennial Circuit; Bicentennial Expo. Moreover, the celebrations on September 15–16 that commemorated independence were much more grandiose, involved more planning, and were more costly than those marking the Revolution on November 20. In Mexico City, the federal government was in charge of the Bicentennial celebrations, while the city government – with less power and a smaller budget – was tasked with the ones concerning the Revolution.
26. See also Merino, Mauricio, ‘La Revolución Maldita’ in El Universal, November 17, 2010 (http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/editoriales/50654.html).
27. ‘Coloso Bicentenario,’ Once Noticias, September 24, 2010 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz17wZ49xKs). ‘Bicentenario Colosal,’ by Ernesto Priego, September 2010, Replicante (http://revistareplicante.com/bicentenario-colosal/). It is worth mentioning that although Argumedo is a somewhat obscure figure (he does not readily appear in history textbooks and is unfamiliar to urban elites and the younger generation), he is mentioned in several corridos about the Revolution (there is a corrido entitled ‘General Benjamín Argumedo’) and therefore not an altogether unknown figure. What is particularly important to highlight is that neither the artist nor the state mentioned the relationship between Argumedo and popular music or culture. In other words, picking Argumedo as the model for the Coloso was not linked to his connection to imaginaries of the Revolution found in popular culture. Thanks are owed here to Mauricio Tenorio.
28. ‘Borran referencia a Argumedo en Flickr de escultor de “Coloso” denuncian’, SPDnoticias.com, September 18, 2010.
29. The federal government has made several declarations of the following type: ‘The Coloso represents an insurgent, one of the many civilians of New Spain that fought for the principles of the Independence of Mexico. This man is not a hero turned into a sculpture; on the contrary, he symbolizes an ordinary person who followed heroes and leaders and by following them contributed to the creation of a Mexican nation’ (‘El Coloso del Bicentenario genera controversia en México’ by Ira Franco, CNN Mexico, September 20, 2010). Another declaration: ‘The Coloso pays homage to the hundreds of thousands of anonymous Mexicans, almost all poor peasants, that participated in the insurgent movement and that helped to write a central chapter in the history of Mexico’ (‘El coloso bicentenario homenaje al mexicano’, by Ingrid Díaz, Diario de Morelos, November 11, 2010). In both of these declarations, the government emphasizes not only the anonymity of the Coloso but also the fact that this anonymity commemorates the moment of Mexico’s Independence rather than its Revolution – this explicitly contradicted the artist’s claims.
30. ‘El Coloso no retrata ningún personaje en particular: SEP’, by Ariane Díaz, La Jornada, September 20, 2010.
31. ‘El Coloso del Bicentenario genera controversia en México’ by Ira Franco, CNN Mexico, September 20, 2010.
32. Cartoon by Antonio Helguera, appeared in La Jornada, September 20, 2010. (http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/09/20/index.php?section=cartones&id=1).
33. The last time all the living ex-presidents attended the same event had been in 1942 when President Ávila Camacho invited them to gather as a way of signaling a common front against Fascism and Nazism.
34. The title of this paper, by referring to the country as ‘Calderón’s Mexico,’ specifically alludes to this detail.
35. For an account of how objects and things become divisive matters of concern which, nonetheless, bring people together see Latour Citation2005.
36. ‘SEP niega que “Coloso” retrate a personaje particular,’ in El Universal, September 19, 2010.
37. ‘El Coloso bicentenario, homenaje al mexicano’, by Brenda Tellez, La Crónica, September 20, 2010.
38. Not surprisingly, Mexican citizens are increasingly disappointed with representative democracy: in 2010, according to the Latinobarometro, only 27% of the Mexican population was satisfied with democracy. ‘Informe 2010,’ Latinobarómetro: http://www.latinobarometro.org/documentos/LATBD_INFORME_LATINOBAROMETRO_2010.pdf
39. People did protest against the construction of the Estela de Luz (Pillar of Light), but mostly after its costs had been made public and the decision to build it was finalized. The Estela is a monument that was planned for the bicentennial commemorations, but due to a series of delays was not finished on time for the celebrations. The monument consists of a 335-foot-long pillar made out of quartz and a multimedia center that lies beneath the surface. The Estela has been dubbed by pundits the ‘Pillar of Corruption’ given the opacity of its planning and building process and, particularly, that its costs increased substantially (and mysteriously) as it was built. What is particularly noteworthy is that despite all the criticism and pushback it received after its construction, only a few years after it was built the Estela has become an important landmark in the cityscape, functioning as a central site of protest, educational activities and innovative artistic events, particularly sound and multimedia art. All this points to the way monuments are frequently repurposed by the people whose opinion was not taken into account when they were built.
40. Unlike the 1910 centennial commemorations of Independence which were linked to broader economic, urban, and sanitary plans and which consequently led to the construction of a series of monuments and buildings which were situated within discourses of progress that significantly reshaped the layout of the city, many of which continue to exist to this day – for example the Ángel de la Independencia (Garrigan Citation2012: 125; Lomnitz Citation2001; Tenorio Citation1996) – the 2010 bicentennial was, with very few exceptions, characterized by impermanent events and sites. Although this shift certainly points to the fall of presidentialist absolutism referred to in the previous section, it also alludes to the aggressive privatization of the city’s public space and to the increasing number of competing discourses of progress.
41. ‘El Coloso otra vez en el olvido, lo arruban en 100 metros,’ by Luis Carlos Sánchez, El Excelsior, April 21, 2011 (http://www.excelsior.com.mx/node/731148). ‘Los damnificados del festejo del Bicentenario,’ by Jorge Ramos Perez, El Universal, September 14, 2013 (http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/sociedad/2013/despojos-del-bicentenario-950601.html).
42. There are many examples that point to the relationship between ephemerality and democracy in art, including the work of many art collectives that thrived in Mexico City during the 1970s: Grupo SUMA, Proceso Pentágono, Germinal, Março, among others.
43. An exception is the much-criticized Estela de Luz. See note 38.
44. ‘Lo quieren de huichol; Tepic instalará Coloso en Bahía de Banderas. Gobierno nayarita lo “vestirá” con traje típico para, dicen, atraer el turismo,’ by Éric Sepúlveda, Reforma, September 15, 2014.
45. ‘”Un disparate sería abandonarlo,”‘ by Silvia Isabel Gámez, Reforma, September 16, 2014; ‘Aparece El Coloso en Guadalajara; Resguardan escultura en bodega. Aclara la SEP paradero de gigante; lo trasladaron en junio pasado,’ Reforma, September 21, 2014; ‘20 metros... y nadie lo vio; Cumple El Coloso una semana perdido. La SEP informa que está en Guadalajara; allá dicen que no. De sus 7 piezas, faltan 4,’ by Silvia Isabel Gámez and Juan Carlos Sagredo, Reforma, September 20, 2014; ‘Se busca Coloso de 20 metros,’ Silvia Isabel Gámez and Juan Carlos Sagredo, Reforma, September 20, 2014; ‘Aparece El Coloso en Guadalajara; Resguardan escultura en bodega. Aclara la SEP paradero de gigante; lo trasladaron en junio pasado,’ Reforma, September 21, 2014. ‘”Desaparece” SEP al Coloso; Dicen que la escultura fue enviada a Nayarit. Sus dimensiones son las de un avión Boeing 747, y aun así pudo perderse,’ by Silvia Isabel Gámez in Reforma, September 16, 2014.
46. Some of these other exhibitions include ‘Spectographies: Memories and History’ (at the University Museum of Contemporary Art - MUAC); ‘Revolución Es’ (at the Laboratorio de Arte Alameda); ‘Residual/Artistic Interventions in the City’ (organized by the MUAC and the Goethe Institute); ‘Flour and Epazote’ (at the X Teresa Arte Actual); ‘A place out of history’ (at the Tamayo Museum); ‘Resisting the Present’ (at the Museo Amparo); ‘Dreams of a Nation: One Year Later 2011’ (at the National Museum of Art - MUNAL); and ‘Project Juárez’ (at the Carrillo Gil Contemporary Art Museum). The Mexican Pavilion during the 2009 Venice Biennial surely set the tone of the type of projects that would be commissioned for the commemorations one year later. Curated by Cuauhtémoc Medina and entitled ‘What else can we talk about?’ (De qué otra cosa podemos hablar?), the Pavilion featured work by artist Teresa Margolles that directly addressed the increasing violence sparked by the ‘war on drugs.’
47. ‘Mi objetivo es que mi trabajo se caracterice por su buena manufactura y por su belleza. (…) Construyo estatuas para conmemorar situaciones y sucesos extraordinarios. Para identificar y enriquecer espacios con elementos tridimensionales que perduren a través del tiempo.’ http://www.casacanfield.com/juancarloscurriculum.html#sthash.5CieMFVb.dpuf.
48. Curator José Luis Barrios quoted in ‘Arte Oficial vs. Arte Crítico; Construir la historia nacional,’ by Sergio Blanco, El Ángel, September 12, 2010, ed. 17, p.1.