Richard Barnes

Mexico’s Turbulent History — Part III: Colonial Mexico

July 18, 2022July 18, 2022 Richard Barnes

This is the third in a series of posts by my friend, Mike Ashe, who has lived in and visited Mexico and has a love and appreciation for that great country.

Mexico has much in common with all of Latin America, not least of which is her Spanish heritage. Therefore, in reviewing her history, one can glean understanding regarding Venezuela as well.

And, as you will see in some of Mike’s commentary, she has much in common with us and Europe in her secular rush to gender ideology, critical race theory, anti-Christianity, and more.

Thank you again, Mike.

By Mike Ashe

Prologue

Rewriting, canceling and ignoring historical era norms to promote an ideology has always been a reality throughout history and continues now in 21^st century México. From the beginning of Colonial Time there has been a constant battle between Secularism and Catholicism. In 1857 the Mexican Constitution established human rights but still did not resolve the continuing conflict.

Recently and without merit, the now President of México, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) asked the Spanish Government and Pope Francis to apologize to the indigenous Mexicans for wrongs committed during the Spanish conquest some 500 years ago.

It is absurd that this irresponsible grievance ideology continues to deflect the lack of vision and governing incompetence of today’s politicians like AMLO. The truth is that modern México, would not be possible without New Spain (with all its good and bad).

AMLO has always been a far left secular demagogue introducing his own version of his North America’s neighbor’s “WOKENESS”. But this attack on Spain and The Catholic Church is nothing new in Mexican politics especially when attempting to deflect blame for his and other’s failed presidencies/governances.

AMLO has always been an admirer of the Castro brothers and Che and has developed a warm relationship with the current Cuban dictator Miguel-Diaz-Canel. In 2020 Guadalajara’s Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez published on his website that the “atheist” Mexican government has begun to take her people down a slippery slope to communism. He backed up his claim by citing how AMLO is assuming a dictatorial role, promoting gender ideology over family values, support for abortion among others.

Roman Catholicism in México, (Counterweight to the Secular Theology, started in 1521 and continues today). In the 1926-29-Cristero Civil War — a rebellion launched by Marxist President Plutarco Elias Calles by executive decree to eliminate the power of the Catholic Church and repress religious freedom. It was bloody: 60,000 Mexican troops and 30,000 Cristeros plus many more civilians lost their lives. In 2000 the Vatican conferred sainthood to 20 priests and 3 laymen.

The First 100 Years

First, let us not forget that Tenochtitlan was an elegant island city with magnificent twin snowcapped Volcanos on the horizon. The altiplano climate at 5,000-7000 ft above sea level was mild year-round with an abundance of water and food for its people. Tenochtitlan was a huge city with public institutions, a system of government, schools, and public services to rival the cities of Europe at that time. This was truly an enchanted part of the world as the 16^th Century began. The Spaniards that first entered the Valley of México, were spellbound by its beauty.

As for the Aztec leader Montezuma the Spaniards arrival meant war and ultimately defeat for him and his people. There are many accounts of what transpired then, suffice it to say that the conquest was completed in 1524.

Colonial México, began when the conquering Spaniards renamed Tenochtitlan México, City. Tenochtitlan was completely destroyed and rebuilt as Nueva Espana (New Spain) and lasted almost 300 years. We will not get into the reconstruction here but it was extensive and lasted for centuries. Hernando Cortes as Governor moved quickly, bringing the first stocks of cattle, sheep, goats, and European vegetables and encouraging his men to marry native women, beginning the first Mestizo race.

In the 1540’s most of the Yucatan was conquered and the city of Merida was founded in 1542. The Mayan empire did not fall until the end of the century. Silver finds in Zacatecas prompted the need to conquer the north sending missionaries into modern day Texas, New México, Arizona, California, Utah, and Colorado.

The destruction was not limited to Tenochtitlan; it meant the almost complete depopulation of the Aztec empire or 10-12 million (Pre-Conquest) with only a million survivors primarily due to the European Small Pox and Measles epidemics (to which the indigenous people had no immunity). The plagues along with famine lasted till the mid-17^th century.

Solving a Labor Shortage

The labor shortage was rectified by the importation of African Slaves and Asians, practically equivalent to slaves.

Blacks were imported as slaves early in the 1520’s and slavery lasted throughout the 300 years of colonial rule bringing in some 200,000 slaves (as a frame of reference, a total of 450,000 arrived in the US. However both the US and Mexico pale against Brazil, which received over 4,900,000 African slaves).

Slaves were used in the silver mines of Zacatecas, Taxco, Guanajuato, and Pachuca; textile factories in Puebla and Oaxaca; and in households everywhere. The knowledge about México’s Africans Slavery is limited; even today most think that Blacks arrived in México, as runaways from North America and Cuba. Now, African descendants identify as Mexican, not Africans. It’s amazing that their spirits were never broken and that there is little to no resentment among their descendants.

As an aside — the heritage of Mexican Blacks includes a rebellion of escaped slaves in the Vera Cruz region lead by Gaspar Yanga (a reported prince from Gabon Africa) between 1570-1609. Yanga’s decades long resistance was in the vicinity of Mount Orizaba the highest mountain in Mexico at 18,491 ft (third highest in North America after Denali and Logan). In 1631 after many bloody battles Yanga and the Spanish Viceroy Pacheco negotiated a settlement that recognized an autonomous region for the African community called San Lorenzo de los Negros. Later renamed in 1932 Gaspar Yanga in horror or the liberator. Slavery was abolished in Mexico in 1829.

Another little-known slave importation included about 8,000 Asians imported into México on Portuguese Galleons from the Philippines/South East Asia, categorized as Chinos to also bolster the labor shortage. They were later treated the same as the indigenous, or vassels of the Spanish Crown after 1672 and not held as property.

As an aside-the massacre of Chinos occurred during the Mexican Revolution mostly by Pancho Villa in the North. The Asians were marched off the largest building in Ciudad Chihuahua and thrown down abandoned mineshafts. Of course, historians blame it as a colonial leftover!

The most important part of the colonial period was the introduction of Roman Catholicism in new Spain.

As New Spain was born, old Spain became challenged with the prospects of governing a land and population that was far greater than their own and two months away by sea to reach. To their credit, they appointed a Viceroy to oversee the Territories from California to Panama, Caribbean Islands, and the Philippines (there were total of 62 viceroys). They also setup a high court including Nuno de Guzman one of three judges in México, with disastrous results for the indigenous population.

During the same time the first bishop of México, Juan de Zumarraga entered México, in 1527 and was enraged by Guzman’s mistreatment of the poor indigenous people and the judges corruption. Guzman was savage in his treatment of the people of México, he was returned to Spain and put under house arrest. His replacement proved to be a man of high quality and corrected many of the abuses.

The bishop and the Spanish friars were viewed by the people as their allies and all of México, was converted to the Catholic faith.

Apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe (It’s reported occurrence is perhaps the most consequential in Mexican History)

According to the account of the apparition written in the Nahuatl language The Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego (an indigenous Chichimec peasant) four times and once to his uncle Juan Bernardino.

The first apparition occurred in the morning of 9 December 1531 Juan Diego experienced a vision of a young woman on the Hill of Tepeyac and speaking in the Nahuatl language identified herself as the mother of the true deity. She asked that a church be erected at the site in her honor.

Diego reported the apparition to the Archbishop Juan de Zumaraga. The bishop, not unexpectedly, did not believe. Later that same day (the second apparition) Our Lady asked Diego to keep insisting.

The following day on the 10^th Diego spoke to the archbishop the second time. This time the bishop asked for a sign to prove her identity.

Later that day Diego returned to Tepeyac (the third apparition occurred) reporting the archbishop’s request for a sign, to which she agreed.

On the 11^th of December Juan Diego’s uncle became ill which required that he attend to him. Early the next day his uncle’s conditioned had worsened and on his death bed Diego took his uncle to a priest to hear his last confession.

Ashamed that he had been tardy in meeting with the Virgin, Diego chose another route bypassing Tepeyac. En route the virgin intercepted him (fourth apparition) asking him where he was going. Diego explained his situation and the virgin asked him “No estoy yo aguí, que soy tu madre?” (Am I not here? I who am your mother?) This is the most important phrase in Mexican History and is inscribed above the entrance to the Basilica de Guadalupe.

The Virgin then directed Juan Diego to gather roses on the summit of Tepeyac which due to the winter was normally barren, he obeyed and found Castilian roses not native to México, but common in Spain (special miraculous significance). The Virgin arranged the flowers in Juan Diego’s cloak and when he opened the cloak later that day before the Archbishop Zumaraga the flowers fell to the floor revealing on the cloak fabric the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Also, during the fourth appearance the Virgin Mary told Diego that his uncle was fully recovered. On December 13^th the virgin also appeared to Diego’s uncle Juan Bernadino (the fifth apparition) who pleaded for his life. She instructed the uncle to inform the archbishop of his miraculous cure. A second miracle was performed when a man was mortally wounded on the neck by an arrow, the crowd took the wounded man to the Diego’s cloak and when the arrow was removed, he was completely cured.

That same image appears in our home, in the factories and fields of México, and most importantly in the hearts of her people.

Next: The Mexican Hacienda (and more)

This is a family heirloom. My mother bought this painting in a gallery in Mexico City and is our family treasure. The campesino in the painting is fondly referred to as Uncle/Tío Pedro, as a tribute to the family’s Mexican roots — Mike Ashe

Pictorial view of Mexico City shortly after the conquest of the Aztecs

Philip Wayne Powell had a scholar’s understanding of Mexico’s history as well as deep personal affection for it. In his great book, *Mexico’s Miguel Caldera* (pictured above) he tells of the clash between “Savagery and Civilization” and eloquently concludes, the peace that emerged to form a Mexican society was the work of men such as Caldera. If you have an interest in Mexico and in the contrast between Spain’s approach to the Indian problem and ours, you will be rewarded by reading Powell — RMB

Very few know about Mexico’s war against Christianity alluded to by Mike above. A recent film that addressed it is *For Greater Glory*, released in 2012 — RMB

A great John Ford film, though unsurprisingly under appreciated, is the 1947 adaptation of Graham Green’s *The Power and the Glory*, whose backdrop is Mexico’s fanatical persecution of Christianity in the early 20th century. The movie’s title is *The Fugitive* — RMB

Understanding the Covid Catastrophe

July 17, 2022July 17, 2022 Richard Barnes

Prolific blogger, Bill Muehlenberg recently published a bracing post appropriately titled, “Understanding the Covid Catastrophe”.

Thank you, Bill Muehlenberg, for your post and for your allowing us to re-publish.

(Link to his blog is below)

By Bill Muehlenberg

Who knew just a few short years ago that the entire world would be turned upside down, with an infectious disease as its base. Plenty of astute observers and experts who have been analysing all this have made the case that the illness itself was not what was so catastrophic, but how governments responded to it, even using it for their own ends.

Many thousands of articles and podcasts and papers and speeches now exist on all this. And plenty of solid books looking at the hype, the hysteria, the fear-mongering and the Chicken Little scenarios being pushed around the world are available.

Not all that long ago I listed 21 of the best books to be aware of on the Covid wars and the Great Reset globalists who are behind so much of this: Top 21 Books on the Great Reset and the Covid Wars – CultureWatch

Excellent books and articles continue to appear. One of the newest and best articles is by science writer Debbie Lerman. While I encourage you to read the whole piece, let me provide some key excerpts from it here. She begins:

So much basic scientific data and so many best practices and ethical standards in public health were abandoned during the Covid pandemic, it would be difficult to list them all. Nevertheless, we must remember just how much reality has been warped since March 2020 and try to understand how that warping occurred. Maybe if we understand what happened, we can prevent it from happening again. Maybe we can unwrap the narrative enough so that more people can see clearly what went wrong.

For my own sanity, I need to understand what happened, so I can come to terms with why people behaved the way they did, and why so many of my own assumptions were shattered during the pandemic. I want to know why real science got thrown out as misinformation, propaganda turned into absolute truth, the free press morphed into a government mouthpiece, and supposedly liberal and scientific institutions abandoned ethical standards and critical thought to impose zero-evidence, zero-Covid authoritarian lockdowns and mandates.

How did my family, friends and neighbors – who I thought shared my liberal, humanist values – turn into a group-thinking, bullying herd? What forces were exerted to erase scientific and intellectual integrity from the minds of literally millions of doctors, scientists, economists, journalists, educators and other normally curious and compassionate people worldwide?

To help answer these questions she examines “four extremely powerful forces [that] converged catastrophically to initiate, and then perpetuate, the snowball that became the avalanche of Covid insanity.” Let me look at each one briefly.

1. Panic

She writes: “I believe pandemic panic was driven from above – from the highest echelons of the most powerful governments – and below – within populations primed for disaster and perpetually on the verge of a nervous breakdown.”

She discusses the Wuhan lab leak and then says:

Further strengthening this hypothesis is the fact that the countries with the strictest and most prolonged lockdowns, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada, were all members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance, along with the US and UK. It makes sense that precisely those countries sharing the earliest and most detailed intelligence about the lab leak felt not only justified, but compelled, to carry out the strictest lockdowns.

All of this leads me to conclude that a small group of top intelligence and public health officials, fearing a catastrophically deadly engineered virus had been released (regardless of its observed effects in the real world), convinced themselves, their governments, and in turn their populations (without publicly revealing the virus’ origin) that the strictest containment measures were needed or else millions would die.

2. Politics

Lerman looks in detail at the Trump years and what followed, and concludes:

To top it all off, the pandemic happened during an election year. So Trump hatred and pandemic hysteria were effectively bundled together to get Trump voted out and Biden, a Democrat more aligned with the public health establishment, in. Subsequently, anyone elected on a pro-lockdown, zero-Covid agenda was incentivized to continue advocating for the strictest measures for as long as possible.

3. Propaganda

The third force contributing to global Covid hysteria was, as Michael Senger points out in his eye-opening book Snake Oil: How Xi Jinping Shut Down the World, a concerted propaganda campaign by the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, that managed to turn the pandemic (at least until recently) into a celebration of China’s inimitable social cohesion and a showcase for the supposed success of its authoritarian anti-pandemic measures.

Previously, China had suffered loss of face and international condemnation due to a pandemic outbreak and coverup. This time, the CCP seized control of the narrative by imposing draconian, unprecedented zero-Covid measures no democratic government would ever dream of, then claiming, contrary to logic and basic epidemiological science, spectacular victory.

Everything from social media bots to China-friendly editorial boards at prestigious medical journals was leveraged to denigrate any state or nation with a less restrictive approach. Deviations from the Chinese methods were labeled – in a brilliantly insidious 21st-century demonstration of Newspeak – heartless, pro-death, anti-humanitarian and materialistically motivated.

The World Health Organization, largely supported by and beholden to China, vociferously praised the CCP and the Chinese people for their discipline, commitment, and ultimate victory. Fawning scientific and general press coverage marveled at how sometimes authoritarianism could be good, if it meant saving millions of lives.

Thanks to the propitious convergence of panic and politics described above, the CCP propaganda succeeded spectacularly in convincing democratic governments to adopt hitherto unthinkable authoritarian measures and to pretend, or convince themselves, that such measures actually worked.

4. Profits

She looks at some of the big money-makers here:

Big Tech

In October 2021 the New York Times reported: “In the last year, the five tech superpowers — Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook — had combined revenue of more than $1.2 trillion. … some of the companies are growing faster and are more profitable than they have been in years.”

Test Makers and Sellers

In January 2022 CBS reported “Windfall profits for test makers,” including Abbott Laboratories ($1.9 billion in third-quarter sales related to COVID-19 testing, up 48% compared to the year-ago period). Other beneficiaries with skyrocketing profits were labs that process PCR tests and drugstore chains like CVS and Walgreens.

Vaccines

In February 2022 The Guardian reported that Pfizer made nearly $37 billion in sales from its Covid-19 vaccine in 2021 – making it one of the most lucrative products in history. Pfizer’s overall revenues in 2021 doubled to $81.3 billion, and it expects to make record revenues of $98 – $102 billion this year.

Billionaires

In January 2022 OxFam reported: “The world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion —at a rate of $15,000 per second or $1.3 billion a day— during the first two years of a pandemic that has seen the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall and over 160 million more people forced into poverty. If these ten men were to lose 99.999 percent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 percent of all the people on this planet. They now have six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people.”

Her conclusions are ominous indeed:

· An engineered pandemic potential pathogen leaked from a high-security US-funded lab in Wuhan long before it was acknowledged by China. By the time it became known, it was too late to contain. Having outlined the cataclysmic convergence of forces I believe came together to create the Covid catastrophe, I now have a Covid story that makes sense to me.

· When they found out, top US intelligence and public health officials affiliated with the Wuhan research panicked, fearing millions of deaths, international mayhem and personal culpability. This caused them to disregard real-world data about the virus and to abandon basic epidemiological principles and best practices in public health.

· The Chinese authorities adopted scientifically nonsensical zero-Covid policies not because they thought they would work but to deflect attention from China’s role in the viral leak and coverup. In a brilliant propaganda coup, they turned the pandemic into a celebration of their authoritarian measures, convincing the world to follow their example.

· All Democrats in the US and their allies elsewhere reflexively and uncritically favored all the policies that President Trump – viewed as their mortal enemy – opposed. These were the very same scientifically bogus policies that the panicked officials and Chinese propagandists were pushing.

· Many who controlled the narrative in media, academia, public health and medicine were particularly susceptible to panic, politicization of the pandemic, and Chinese propaganda, which all came together to induce widespread groupthink and herd behavior. As cogently explained in The Great Covid Panic, such behavior is detached from logical reasoning and the ability to objectively evaluate reality.

· Major industries and individuals with enormous wealth and influence saw huge gains from the pandemic. It was, and still is, in their best interests to push for more testing, more treating, more vaccinating, more remote work and learning, more online shopping, and more of everything else pandemic-related.

Bear in mind that dozens of references go along with this piece. So she has very well documented what she is saying here. Please have a read of the whole article: The Catastrophic Covid Convergence ⋆ Brownstone Institute

I and others have been warning for years now that the use of fear and the exploitation of a crisis – real or imagined – makes for the perfect soil for Big Brother statism to be raised in and to flourish. We have seen that played out in sickening details over the past 30 months, and it is certainly not over yet.

Unless we wake up and start to take a stand, all this will only get worse. And if it does, we will only have ourselves to blame.

Understanding the Covid Catastrophe

Airline passengers during Covid regulations

Mexico’s Turbulent History — Part II: The Conquest of Mexico

July 16, 2022July 16, 2022 Richard Barnes

This is the second in a series of posts about the history of Mexico written by my friend, Mike Ashe. For those who would like to learn more about Cortes and his alliances with the surrounding tribes as well as his fascinating dealings with Montezuma, I recommend John Eidsmoe’s Columbus and Cortes: Conquerors for Christ. Did Hernando Cortes subjugate the people of Mexico — or did he liberate them? Mike touches upon this in the previous post and he will be writing more about Spain’s role in future posts. I look forward to them.

To give context, I’ve reprinted Mike’s concluding paragraphs from the prior post.

From Human Migration — Mike Ashe

“We cannot leave the ancient world without looking at the Aztecs’ polytheistic religion and its demands on its people, including human sacrifices to satisfy their hundreds of gods but primarily four main gods: 1) Tlaloc (god of rain) 2) Huitzilopochtli (god of war and sun 3) Quetzalcoatl (most famous Aztec god means feathered serpent) god of civilization and 4) Tezcatlipoca (god of destiny).

All four gods were the children of Ometecuhtli. Some of these gods like Tlaloc can be traced back to the Olmec and Mayan civilization. The child god Quetzalcoatl represents the good and his brother Tezcatlipoca not so good, as some scholars believe….

…. Tlamacazqui were the Aztec priests; they were responsible to please the gods in ceremonies, offerings, and sacrifices. Many scholars believe that during troubled times sacrifices were performed to honor the gods. Priests would open the chest of the victim/volunteer and offer the beating heart to the gods. Men women and children were all sacrificed based on which gods needed to be pleased. Their skulls were displayed in the temples as trophies to the gods. Recent DNA testing shows that the majority of those sacrificed were enemy soldiers or slaves. There are some wild estimates of the number of sacrifices per year which cannot be confirmed. The Spanish accounts served as the basis for many estimates but most seem exaggerated to many scholars.”

The Conquest of Mexico — Mike Ashe

In the conquest of the Aztecs Hernando Cortes only had 450 men when he initially faced off against them. In order for him to conquer the Aztecs he created an alliance with the Tlaxcala and other enemies of the Aztecs in the region, which eventually provided him with 250,000 warriors to command. The Aztecs had lived off their weaker neighbors for centuries creating this opportunity for Cortes.

Montezuma (leader of the Aztecs at that time) fell out of favor when there was a food shortage and smallpox had killed about half the population.

Cortes’ advantage over their enemy was some of his men were on horseback (which terrified the enemy), they had guns, armor, having steel weapons, disease and an ally in the region.

Three millenniums of Mesoamerican civilization came to an abrupt end when Hernando Cortes conquered and killed thousands of Aztecs and ushered in centuries of Spanish Rule in 1521. As a frame of reference, the Mayflower arrived in New England in 1620 a hundred years after the conquest of the Aztecs.

Next: Colonial Times

For readers who would like to read more about this period of our history, I recommend *Columbus and Cortez* by John Eidsmoe. Much of this book is comprised of citations from primary sources in addition to excellent historical background.

Mexico’s Turbulent History — Part I: Human Migration

July 12, 2022July 12, 2022 Richard Barnes

My friend, Mike Ashe, has visited and lived in Mexico and has a keen interest in that great country. I happily took him up on his offer to share some of his knowledge and observations, which we will find of interest and of help to our understanding not only of Mexico but of all of Latin America — RMB.

Human Migration into Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America) — Mike Ashe

Throughout human and animal history migration has always been the cornerstone of survival (following the food source). There are several theories positing one, two, or even three major Asian migrations during the ice age following game across the frozen Bering Sea.

Mexico was first populated more than 13,000 years ago by complex indigenous civilizations. The great Aztec empire was preceded by advanced civilizations including the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, and Maya

The first known society (Olmec), settled on the Gulf Coast near what is now Veracruz.

Peopling included The Olmecs (southern Mexico), the Aztec (Mexica), Toltec, and Chichimec in the Valley of Mexico. Historically the northern and Baja regions of Mexico have historically had low populations of indigenous people including the colorful Tarahumaras, Yaquis, and Mayos.

The Tarahumaras (those who walk well) originally inhabited much of current state of Chihuahua but retreated to the high Sierra Madre Occidental and the Barranca de Cobre (Copper Canyon) region. The Tarahumaras currently numbering 70,000, are renowned runners (without tiring) and still follow the traditional lifestyle, living in caves and cliff overhangs). Nominally Roman Catholic their mythology is pagan and Christian. As a side, the Copper Canyon is four times the size of the Grand Canyon.

Where did the country’s name come from?

Several historical theories believe that the name Mexico has its origin in the Nahuatl language spoken by the Aztec (Place of the Mexica) when Aztec nomadic tribes entered the Valley of Mexico.

Anahuac is another Nahuatl (close to the water) name referring to the altiplano lake in Tenochtitlan, formerly the capital of the Aztec empire, now Mexico City.

The Nahuatl language is dying out but is still spoken by many in the Veracruz area.

My mother would often say that the Mexican men in northern Mexico were larger than the men in the Altiplano and in the Maya region. Perhaps an answer by scientistic evidence that the northern region food source included a greater amount of animal protein from hunting and gathering, while the south and central regions lived a more sedentary life and at a greater rate of famine and disease. What is interesting is that the female stature did not vary at all between regions.

One common fact in ancient times is that life expectancy was low. The age of 15 was an important date since life expectancy ranged between 13 and 29 years of additional life with death coming between 28-44 on average. A subsistence life style along with the need for humans to build and move heavy burdens was very stressful on the bodies of the ancients. Mortality was very high; although I do not know how that compared to other parts of the world at that time, most likely was comparable.

With a low life expectancy there was the stress of maintaining and growing a population females had to be married before the age of 15 and 19 for males. Coupling was a challenge in areas of low population and not until agriculture improved, which led to towns and cities, did this condition change.

Rite of passage for girls (end of puberty and the initiation into young womanhood, called the Quinceañera, a Spanish culture/Roman Catholic tradition, was at 15 years of age). Its origin is not clear but the Aztecs and Mayans also had similar initiation ceremonies for girls.

The Aztec empire in the 1500’s was the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all times. Civilizations like the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, and Inca all built pyramids to house their deities as well as burial chambers for their rulers. In Teotihuacan Mexico there are two large pyramids “The Pyramids of the Sun and Moon”. The Pyramid of the Sun is believed to have been constructed in 200AD and is one of the largest in Mesoamerica. Most travelers to Mexico believe that the great pyramids of Teotihuacan were built by the Aztecs; actually the builders most likely were the Teotihuacan. We used to climb both pyramids but understand it is now roped off to visitors.

In 1500 the Population of the Tenochtitlan (built on two islands on Lake Texcoco) was 200,000 comparable to the two largest cities in Europe: Naples and Paris. The total Aztec population in 1520 is estimated at 5-6 million.

When one jumps forward to modern times the countries’ Core Region occupied by the ancients still remains and includes; Mexico City, Puebla, Guadalajara, Veracruz, Leon, Puerto Vallarta, and Manzanillo

Living in Mexico City we would always end up in Teotihuacan (City of the Gods) and always learn something new there.

My brother-in-law, Chuy, and Cristy, my girlfriend at the time and later my wife, and I visited Cholula a Mayan Pyramid near Puebla. We were fortunate to be able to go inside some rather long/narrow tunnels where the archeologists/paleontologist were working. The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City houses the greatest Mesoamerican artifacts in the world and represents the country’s commitment to honoring its ancestral past. To this date not much is known about this pyramid since excavation ended about the time of our visit there. One thing is for sure it is the largest pyramid in the world including the great pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

Today the Cholula pyramid at first glance looks like a natural hill. The Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Remedios a major Roman Catholic pilgrimage destination, designated as a colonial monument, sits on top of it. It is doubtful that the pyramid will ever be excavated and restored due to the location of the Iglesia.

In about 2005 Cristy, our two oldest grandkids, and I visited her sister Toni in Merida, Yucatan. While in Merida we visited Chichen Itza built by the Mayans. El Castillo is the largest and most famous pyramid there. We climbed one of the pyramids but I do not remember which one. The site is by far the most interesting of all the ancient sites that we have visited. It includes the Great Ball Court, the Temple of the Warriors and the Sacred Cenote (not an attractive Cenote).

As a side, the Yucatan is full of Cenotes. They are deep-water sinkholes that are fed by rain and underground rivers. In ancient times the Mayan source of fresh water were the Cenotes. In modern times they have become a popular tourist destination for swimming, snorkeling, and diving. They are amazingly clear. Toni’s daughters are avid Cenotes explorers.

We cannot leave the ancient world without looking at the Aztecs’ polytheistic religion and its demands on its people, including human sacrifices to satisfy their hundreds of gods but primarily four main gods: 1) Tlaloc (god of rain) 2) Huitzilopochtli (god of war and sun 3) Quetzalcoatl (most famous Aztec god means feathered serpent) god of civilization and 4) Tezcatlipoca (god of destiny).

The gods were depicted in very colorful images and are displayed in the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. There were both male and female gods; each were believed to control all aspects of human life including mainly the weather, agriculture, fertility, and war.

Tlamacazqui were the Aztec priests; they were responsible to please the gods in ceremonies, offerings, and sacrifices. Many scholars believe that during troubled times sacrifices were performed to honor the gods. Priests would open the chest of the victim/volunteer and offer the beating heart to the gods. Men women and children were all sacrificed based on which gods needed to be pleased. Their skulls were displayed in the temples as trophies to the gods. Recent DNA testing shows that the majority of those sacrificed were enemy soldiers or slaves. There are some wild estimates of the number of sacrifices per year which cannot be confirmed. The Spanish accounts served as the basis for many estimates but most seem exaggerated to many scholars.

Next: The Conquest of Mexico

Mexico is the eighth largest country by land mass in the world. Note the core region has not changed from when the first ancients entered it millenniums ago.

Ancient Olmec colossal heads sculpted from large basalt boulders. Note the similarity of features as compared to the modern-day descendant also pictured here.

The four Primary Aztec gods above were the Children of Ometecuhtli

Picture of the altar of The Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Remedios (Roman Catholic Church) that sits atop the Cholula a Mayan Pyramid near Puebla

Chichen Itza El Castillo pyramid. The phenomenon of Castillo occurs twice a year as the equinox sun sets, a play of light and shadows creates the appearance of a snake that gradually undulates down the stairway of the pyramid.

Chichen Itza ball court, there were 17 ball courts. Pok-A-Tok was played in these courts, which was a cross between soccer and basketball.

Chichen Itza Pyramid we climbed while visiting the site. They had ropes to aid in the ascent and descent!

Cenotes adventures in the Yucatan-The water is cool and refreshing, and fills the caves.

Fourth And Fifth of July: Declarations of Independence

July 5, 2022July 5, 2022 Richard Barnes

Those who grew up in El Pao will remember celebrating both the Fourth and the Fifth of July, reflecting yet another similarity between the two countries. The American and Venezuelan holidays afforded an opportunity for executives to declare and affirm ongoing genuine friendship and a collaborative spirit between both peoples while we children looked forward to having our fathers home for a more extended time than usual, and also learning a bit more to understand and appreciate our liberties. I was fortunate to have had a father and mother who, as best they knew how, taught us appreciation and gratitude for America and also for Venezuela.

Venezuela history was a required subject in school. And a most frustrating one it was for me. For the life of me, I could not understand what the early 19th century fighting was about. My teachers seemed to tell stories assuming we students possessed presupposed knowledge as to why the revolutionaries rose against Madrid. But I had no such knowledge. My father had told me about the North American colonies and how they had a history of self-government and liberties and how England had begun taking those liberties away, even to the point of stationing mercenary troops in private homes where they abused and, in some cases, even defiled the mothers and daughters.

Furthermore, the English parliament had decreed the assignment of Church of England bishops to the colonies: a last straw. I could see why folks would resist and seek to stop that, even if it meant overthrowing the rule of the English king.

Although my mother and father taught me to respect and honor Venezuela, my teachers told no stories about Spain’s abuses against Venezuela. We heard much about concepts of liberty and fraternity and equality. However, all stratospheric disquisitions about intangible concepts did not satisfy me as to why the criollos rose against Madrid initially, let alone explain the eventual extermination of over one-third of their number. The entire country churned with violence and at the end had been practically depopulated. It was clear to me that the savagery and atrocities occurred not prior to, but during the Revolution. I do remember hearing a teacher quote the words uttered by Simón Bolivar as he approached death in the late 1820’s, “I have plowed in the sea….” And, “…those countries will infallibly fall into chaos and dictatorships….”

But why cast off Spanish rule for intangible concepts only to install tangibly cruel “chaos and dictatorships”?

To read the July 4, 1776, and the July 5, 1811, declarations of independence back to back is an instructive exercise which might help explain why.

The Venezuelan is over 800 words longer and reflects allusions to French revolutionary thinking that is absent from the American. Consistent with the American, it also alludes to the Christian religion which sounds discordant if one has a basic understanding of Rousseau and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

The Venezuelan opens by alluding to a former declaration (April 19, 1810) which was adopted as a result of Spain’s occupation by France. It goes on to complain about three centuries of suppressed rights and that recent political events in Europe had served to offer an opportunity to restore those rights. They then, following the 1776 Declaration, proceed to justify their actions.

The United States [American] declaration does not complain about 150 years of colonial rule. Rather it expresses concern that, when abuses make it necessary to dissolve long-standing political bands, that such action must be taken carefully and with strong justification. It expresses the need and the willingness to “suffer, while evils are sufferable” before abolishing government and relations to “which they are accustomed.”

I know this is simplistic, and historians will disagree, but to the layman, the 1811 comes across as willful, the 1776, as reluctant.

The longest body in each is the justification. The Venezuelan uses 1,156 words, beginning with another allusion to 300 years of Spanish rule and affirming that a people has a right to govern themselves. Then the author expresses a willingness to overlook those 300 years by “placing a veil” over them (“corriendo un velo sobre los trescientos años“) and proceeds to recent European events which had dissolved the Spanish nation. It goes at length criticizing the Spanish monarchy for its abandonment of her throne in favor of the French and how this state of affairs had left Venezuela without legal recourse (“dejándola sin el amparo y garantía de las leyes“).

It asserts, furthermore, that the vast territories of the Americas with far more population than Spain itself cannot be governed from afar, etc. Here, the author presumes to speak for all the Spanish Americas. The layman is justified in wondering if this misdirection is inserted to remove attention from special pleading in the document that does not wholly stand up.

This section is not easy to follow today without some knowledge of the events current in 1811.

This was not a unanimous declaration; three provinces did not join, presaging the terrible bloodletting which was to follow.

For its justification, the American declaration uses 824 words (332 less than the Venezuelan), to list the abuses and their attempts to humbly address these legally only to have their attempts rebuffed. They make no allusions to 150 years of oppression or of unhappiness with their colonial status. They address only relatively recent abuses, including violence against life and property, mercenaries on their way to fight against them, war waged against them, threats to their religious liberty (the Quebec allusion), and much more. These are listed almost in bullet point format, but without the bullets, and are easy to understand, even 244 years later. It reads as if the document were a declaration of the right to self defense.

This was a unanimous declaration signed by representatives of each of the thirteen colonies.

In their conclusion, the Venezuelans, yet again, allude to centuries of oppression and their natural right to govern themselves. They assert they have a right to establish a government according to the general will (“voluntad general“) of her people.

It is hard to miss the influence of French revolutionary thinking in the Venezuelan document, despite allusions to a Supreme Being (“Ser Supremo”) and to Jesus Christ (“Jesucristo”). Its reference to the “General Will” is Rousseauean and is also found in the atheistic French Declaration of the Rights of Man.

They also state they will defend their religion.

The layman can’t help but be impressed by the schizophrenic nature of this document which contained appeals to atheistic revolutionary thinking then in vogue, while recognizing that the “regular folk” were still very religious and needed to hear allusions to religious fidelity.

The American conclusion appealed to the Supreme Judge of the world and in the name and authority of the people in the colonies they declared independence.

I know that professors delight in pointing out that Thomas Jefferson was the “author” of the American declaration and that he was not a Christian, etc.

However, one does not read the Virginia Fairfax Resolves (1774), or the Virginia Declaration of Rights (May, 1776), both of whose primary author was George Mason, a Christian, nor does one read clergyman, John Wise, who in 1710 wrote, “Every man must be acknowledged equal to every man,” and “The end of all good government is to cultivate humanity and promote the happiness of all and the good of every man in all his rights, his life, liberty, estate, honor, and so forth…” and “Democracy is Christ’s government in church and state.” Jefferson drew from a rich, deep Christian well. According to President Calvin Coolidge, Jefferson himself “acknowledged that his ‘best ideas of democracy’ had been secured at church meetings.”

The American declaration was followed by seven more years of war whose official end was the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and a constitution, still in effect, whose final ratification was in 1790. The Venezuelan declaration was followed by nineteen years of wars (plural) characterized by unspeakable cruelties and tortures, including a proclamation of “war to the death” by Simón Bolivar. By their end in 1830, one third of Venezuela’s population had perished. These wars were followed by more wars and rebellions which continued to the end of the century. She’s had 27 constitutions.

In sum, the American hearkened to her Christian heritage and history; the Venezuelan, to French revolutionary atheism, most starkly demonstrated by yet another revolution, the Russian, in 1917. Both the American and the Venezuelan shed blood. But the latter, like the French, shed it more abundantly.

I love the United States of America and its history. I love her Christian heritage and her pioneers. She is a wonderfully great country with a people who will always pull at my heart. I also love Venezuela and the warmth and genuine friendship of her people. I am grateful the Good Lord has exposed me to both and shown me that, in Christ, our best days are yet ahead.

Declaration of Independence – Text of the Declaration of Independence | Britannica

Text of the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence

Acta de la Declaración de Independencia de Venezuela – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Towards the bottom of article linked above, the reader will find the text of the July 5, 1811 Venezuela Declaration of Independence. It is in Spanish.

(Note: The above was first posted on July 4, 2020.)