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‘Patria, Honor y Fuerza’: A Study of a Right-Wing Youth Movement in Mexico during the 1930s–1960s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2014

CLAIRE BREWSTER  and
KEITH BREWSTER
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Abstract

This article focuses on the intricate and developing nature of official politics and grassroots activism in post-revolutionary Mexico. It does so by tracing the trajectory of the Pentathlón Deportivo Militar Universitario, a right-wing youth movement that emerged in Mexico in 1938. By locating the group within both the international and domestic emergence of youth movements in the early twentieth century, the article shows how the study of Pentathlón's formation, objectives and later evolution can significantly enrich our understanding of an important phase in Mexico's post-revolutionary history. Within the context of right wing oppositional politics, analysis of the movement provides a fascinating insight into both the emerging Mexican state's ability to appropriate the radical impulses of the younger generation and the Pentathlón's willingness to accommodate such strategies in order to ensure its own survival.

Spanish abstract

Este artículo se centra en la naturaleza intrincada y en desarrollo de la política oficial y el activismo de base en el México postrevolucionario. El material rastrea la trayectoria del Pentathlón Deportivo Militar Universitario, un movimiento de jóvenes de derecha que emergió en México en 1938. Al localizar al grupo al interior del surgimiento internacional y doméstico de movimientos de jóvenes a comienzos del siglo XX, el artículo muestra cómo el estudio de la formación, objetivos y posterior evolución del Pentathlón puede enriquecer significativamente nuestro entendimiento de una fase importante en la historia del México postrevolucionario. Dentro del contexto de políticas contestatarias de derecha, el análisis del movimiento provee una fascinante perspectiva tanto al interior de la emergente habilidad del Estado mexicano de apropiarse de los impulsos radicales de la generación más joven como del deseo del Pentathlón de acomodarse en tales estrategias para garantizar su propia sobrevivencia.

Portuguese abstract

Ao traçar a trajetória do Pentathlón Deportivo Militar Universitario, movimento da juventude de direita que surgiu no México em 1938, este artigo enfoca a natureza intrincada e emergente das políticas oficiais e do ativismo de base no México pós-revolucionário. Ao situar o grupo no âmbito da emergência de movimentos da juventude na esfera doméstica e internacional no princípio do século XX, o artigo demonstra como o estudo da formação do Pentathlón, seus objetivos e evolução subsequente podem enriquecer nosso entendimento acerca de um período importante da história pós-revolucionária mexicana. Dentro do contexto da política oposicionista de direita, a análise do movimento oferece uma compreensão fascinante no tocante à emergência da habilidade do estado mexicano em apropriar-se de impulsos radicais das gerações mais jovens e da disposição do Pentathlón em acomodar estas estratégias de modo a garantir sua própria sobrevivência.

Keywords

youth movementsnationalismpro-CatholicfascismMexicomovimientos de jóvenesnacionalismopro-CatólicofascismoMéxicomovimentos da juventudenacionalismopró-católicofascismoMéxico
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , November 2014 , pp. 691 - 721
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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References

1 Interview with Dr José Blanchet, co-founder of the Pentathlón, Mexico City, 6 June 2007; report on the Pentathlón, June 1947, Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico City (hereafter AGN), Miguel Alemán, 532.2/7.

2 Interview with Dr Blanchet. In particular, Blanchet singled out the move to socialist education as a prime example of destructive liberalism.

3 Pentathlón letter to Cárdenas, 9 June 1940, AGN, Lázaro Cárdenas, 136.3/2263.

4 For studies on early examples of such groups, see MacDonald, Robert, Sons of the Empire: The Frontier and the Boy Scout Movement, 1890–1918 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993), pp. 11–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Springhall, John, Youth, Empire and Society: British Youth Movements, 1883–1940 (London: Croom Helm, 1977), pp. 77–8Google Scholar; Hargreaves, John, ‘Sport, Culture and Ideology’, in Hargreaves, Jennifer (ed.) Sport, Culture and Ideology (London: Routledge/Kegan Paul, 1985), pp. 30–61Google Scholar.

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11 Bermann, Gregorio, Juventud de América: sentido histórico de los movimientos juveniles (Mexico: Cuadernos Americanos, 1946), pp. 296–7Google Scholar. For a more recent treatment of right-wing movements in Argentina, see Finchelstein, Federico, La Argentina fascista: los orígenes ideológicos de la dictadura (Buenos Aires: Editorial SudAmericana, 2008)Google Scholar.

12 CEDA was merely the latest in a line of right-wing organisations that appeared in Spain during the 1920s and 1930s. For further information, see Quiroga, Alejandro, ‘Perros de paja: las Juventudes de la Unión Patriótica’, Ayer, 59: 3 (2005), pp. 69–96Google Scholar; Montero, ‘Juventud’, pp. 108–110; Romero Salvadó, Francisco J., The Spanish Civil War: Origins, Course and Outcomes (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005), p. 41Google Scholar; Robinson, Richard A. H., The Origins of Franco's Spain: The Right, the Republic and Revolution, 1931–1936 (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1970)Google Scholar.

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14 Cited in Robinson, The Origins of Franco's Spain, pp. 76–7.

15 de Tudela, José María Pérez y Báez, ‘El ruido y las nueces: la Juventud de Acción Popular y la movilización “cívica” católica durante la Segunda República’, Ayer, 59: 3 (2005), pp. 131–2Google Scholar, 136–8.

16 Preston, Paul, The Coming of the Spanish Civil War: Reform, Reaction and Revolution in the Second Republic (2nd edition, London and New York: Routledge, 1994), p. 257Google Scholar.

17 For examples of such rhetoric within official documents, see ‘Plan de estudios de la Escuela Nacional Preparatoria’, Boletín de Instrucción Pública, 2: 3 (20 June 1903), pp. 168–7, Archivo de la Secretaría de Educación Pública (hereafter SEP); ‘Variedades universitarias: educación física – un deber nacional’, Boletín de Instrucción Pública, 2: 6 (10 Aug. 1903), pp. 312–17, SEP.

18 Brewster, Claire and Brewster, Keith, Representing the Nation: Sport and Spectacle in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (London and New York: Routledge, 2010), pp. 13–37Google Scholar; González, Mónica Chávez Lizbeth, ‘Construcción de la nación y el género desde el cuerpo: la educación física en el México posrevolucionario’, Desacatos, 30 (May–Aug. 2009), pp. 43–58Google Scholar. For an early example of how the media had picked up on the link between physical fitness and military prowess in the post-revolutionary, period see Alvarez y V, Rodolfo., ‘Cultura física: tanto el civil como el militar, siempre deberán ser fuertes’, Arte y Sport, 1: 34 (1920), p. 3Google Scholar.

19 Ridgeway, Stan, ‘Monoculture, Monopoly, and the Mexican Revolution: Tomás Garrido Canabal and the Standard Fruit Company in Tabasco (1920–1935)’, The Americas, 17: 1 (2001), pp. 149–50Google Scholar.

20 Fallaw, Ben, Cárdenas Compromised: The Failure of reform in Postrevolutionary Yucatán (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001), pp. 44–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 Espinosa, David, ‘“Restoring Christian Social Order”: The Mexican Catholic Youth Association (1913–1932)’, The Americas, 59: 4 (2003), pp. 451–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 Tracey Koon describes Catholic Action as an international organisation of the laity dedicated to defence of Christian religious and ethical principles in the modern ‘paganised’ world. Founded in 1863 and ostensibly under the overall control of the Church's hierarchy, its mission would be interpreted and reinterpreted depending on contemporary circumstances and the perspectives of those groups seeking to embrace its objectives. Its task of cultural, educational and moral penetration aimed to extend the influence of Catholicism over the masses and to develop leadership cadres from within the Catholic movement. See Koon, Tracy H., Believe, Obey, Fight: The Political Socialization of Youth in Fascist Italy, 1922–1943 (Chapel Hill, NC, and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1985), p. 22Google Scholar.

23 Espinosa, ‘Restoring Christian Social Order’, pp. 464–9.

24 Aspe Armella, María Luisa, La formación social y política de los católicos mexicanos: la Acción Católica Mexicana y la Unión Nacional de Estudiantes Católicos, 1929–1958 (Mexico: Universidad Iberoamericana, 2008), pp. 16–17Google Scholar, 157.

25 Andes, Stephen J. C., ‘A Catholic Alternative to Revolution: The Survival of Social Catholicism in Post-revolutionary Mexico’, The Americas, 68: 4 (2012), pp. 550–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Cited in Andes, ‘A Catholic Alternative’, p. 560.

27 Aspe Armella, La formación social, p. 84.

28 Blancarte, Roberto, Historia de la Iglesia católica en México (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica), p. 77Google Scholar; Barranco V, Bernardo., ‘La Iberoamericanidad de la Unión Nacional de Estudiantes Católicos (UNEC) en los años treinta’, in Blancarte, Roberto (ed.), Cultura e identidad nacional (Mexico: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes/Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1994), p. 172Google Scholar.

29 Montfort, Ricardo Pérez, ‘Por la patria y por la raza’: la derecha secular en el sexenio de Lázaro Cárdenas (Mexico: UNAM, 1993)Google Scholar.

30 Montfort, Ricardo Pérez, ‘Notas sobre el falangismo en México (1930–1940)’, in Von Mentz, Brigida (ed.), Fascismo y antifascismo en América Latina y México: apuntes históricos (Mexico: CIESAS/SEP, 1984), pp. 61–81Google Scholar. See also Schuler, Friedrich E., Mexico between Hitler and Roosevelt: Mexican Foreign Relations in the Age of Lázaro Cárdenas, 1934–1940 (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1998)Google Scholar.

31 Meyer, El sinarquismo, p. 52.

32 Blancarte, Historia de la Iglesia, pp. 73–4.

33 Campbell, Hugh G., La derecha radical en México, 1929–1949 (Mexico: Sepsetentas, 1976), pp. 84–90Google Scholar.

34 Blancarte, Historia de la Iglesia, p. 79; Campbell, La derecha radical, p. 105.

35 Meyer, El sinarquismo, p. 46.

36 Blancarte, Historia de la Iglesia, p. 93; Campbell, La derecha radical, pp. 94–5, 116–7.

37 The text of the manifesto is available at www.biblioteca.tv/artman2/publish/1938_227/Manifiesto_de_Acci_n_Revolucionaria_Mexicanista_1549.shtml. All internet references were last checked in July 2014.

38 For a detailed early treatment of campus politics, see Mabry, Donald J., The Mexican University and the State: Student Conflicts, 1910–1971 (College Station, TX: A&M University Press, 1982)Google Scholar. See also Quintanilla, Susan, ‘El debate intelectual acerca de la educación socialista’, in Quintanilla, Susan and Vaughan, Mary Kay (eds.), Escuela y sociedad en el periodo cardenista (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1997), pp. 47–75Google Scholar.

39 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Fondo Consejo Universitario, Sección Rectoría, cajas 37–41 (1936–7).

40 Aspe Armella, La formación social, p. 91.

41 Espinosa, ‘“Restoring Christian Social Order”’, p. 472; Campbell, La derecha radical, pp. 84–90.

42 Cited in Loaeza, Soledad, El Partido Acción Nacional: la larga marcha 1939–1994. Oposición leal y partido de protesta (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1999), p. 139Google Scholar.

43 Report dated June 1947, AGN, Miguel Alemán, 532.2/7.

44 Ruiz, Edgar González, La sexualidad prohibida: intolerancia, sexismo, represión (Mexico: Grupo Interdisciplinario de Sexologia, 1998), pp. 17–47Google Scholar; interview with Fernando Carranza, son of a ‘Conejo’, Xalapa, Veracruz, Aug. 2006.

45 Aspe Armella, La formación social, pp. 384–5.

46 Mabry, The Mexican University, p. 120.

47 Gómez Morín would go on to become the founder of the PAN, a conservative, pro-Catholic political party. Brief details of Gustavo Baz's life are available at http://portal2.edomex.gob.mx/edomex/estado/historia/gobernadores/restablecimiento_orden/gustavo_baz_prada/index.htm; see also Gustavo Baz, Gustavo Baz: Anecdotario e ideas (Toluca: Edo de México, 1973).

48 Archivo Histórico de la Facultad de Medicina de la UNAM, Fondo Escuela de Medicina y Alumnos (hereafter FEM y A), leg. 167, exp. 2, fols. 47–52; UNAM Sección Rectoría, caja 39, exp. 456; FEM y A, leg. 307, exp. 5, fols. 19; FEM y A, leg. 167, exp. 8, fol. 66.

49 Alicia Olivera de Bonfil and Eugenia Meyer, ‘Gustavo Baz y sus juicios como revolucionario, médico y político’, interview (Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1971), p. 44. The transcript of the full interview is available at http://ru.ffyl.unam.mx:8080/jspui/bitstream/10391/3832/1/Meyer_Eugenia_Gustavo_Baz_1971.pdf.

50 Eugenia Espinosa Carbajal and Jorge Mesta Martínez, ‘La ley orgánica de 1945 de la UNAM, contexto y repercusiones’, available at www.unidad094.upn.mx/revista/44/leyorganica.htm.

51 An accessible version of the Pentathlón's official history is outlined on their webpage at http://pdmuedomex.neositios.com/nuestra-historia. See also Carlos Burciaga, ‘PDMU internados’, unpubl. professional thesis, UNAM, 1955.

52 Interview with Dr Blanchet.

53 Report dated June 1947, AGN, Miguel Alemán, 532.2/7. Blanchet confirms that Jiménez Cantú was leader of the Conejos in the late 1930s and that at one meeting of the group he had attended, all those present had been students from the School of Medicine. Interview with Dr Blanchet.

54 Interview with Dr Blanchet. See also Thomas G. Powell, Mexico and the Spanish Civil War (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1981), p. 110.

55 Although such activities were never designed to create elite athletes, Jorge Gilling Cabrera, commander of the Pentathlón during the 1960s, did occupy a leading role in sports administration during preparations for the 1968 Olympics, and became director of the Centro Deportivo Olímpico Mexicano in 1967.

56 Full texts are available at www.palimpalem.com/2/pentathlon/index.html?body9.html and in correspondence dated 3 April 1962, AGN, López Mateos, 532/43.

57 ‘Contra el Pentatlón [sic] Universitario’, El Gráfico (sección editorial), 25 July 1939.

58 ‘El Batallón Deportivo Militar Universitario recibió ayer su bandera, en solemne ceremonia’, La Prensa, 25 July 1939.

59 Interview with Dr Blanchet.

60 Pérez Montfort, ‘Por la patria’, pp. 96–7; Aspe Armella, La formación social, p. 328.

61 Memo dated 21 Jan. 1947, Archivo Histórico de Secretaria de Salubridad y Asistencia: Fondo Subsecretaria de Administración (hereafter AHSSA: SSA) Sección SPr., caja 9, exp. 10.

62 Rath, Thomas, Myths of Demilitarization in Postrevolutionary Mexico, 1920–1960 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2013), pp. 44–51Google Scholar.

63 De Bonfil and Meyer, ‘Gustavo Baz’, p. 44.

64 Memo dated 9 June 1940, AGN, Lázaro Cárdenas, 136.3/2263. See also letter dated 12 June 1940, AGN, Lázaro Cárdenas, 136.3/299; letter dated 16 June 1940, AGN, Lázaro Cárdenas, 136.3/403; letters dated 15 and 16 Aug. 1940, AGN, Lázaro Cárdenas, 136.3/403.

65 Letter dated 9 May 1941 thanking Avila Camacho for support, AGN, Avila Camacho, 136.1/7.

66 Letter dated 23 Oct. 1941, AGN, Avila Camacho, 136.1/7.

67 See letter from Baz to Ministry of Defence, 16 June 1940. Various letters between the Pentathlón and the Ministry of Health during 1946 show that the ministry routinely gave money to the organisation: see AHSSA: SSA, Sub A, caja 9, exp. 10. For correspondence from 1945 to 1975 regarding the payment of rent for the Pentathlón buildings in Sadi Carnot, see AHSSA: SSA, SPr, caja 33, exp. 2.

68 Rath, Myths of Demilitarization, p. 61.

69 Letter dated 14 Nov. 1942, AGN, Avila Camacho, 545.2/14-29.

70 Letter dated 23 Jan. 1941, AGN, Avila Camacho, 532/7; letter dated 9 Nov. 1942, AGN, Avila Camacho, 136.3/973; letter dated 13 Oct. 1945, AGN, Avila Camacho, 136.1/51.

71 See letter from Capt. Eduardo Solís Guillén to Rodolfo Brito Foucher dated 27 Aug. 1942, Centro de Estudios Sobre la Universidad, Fondo Consejo Universitario, Proyectos (1942–3), exp. 2.

72 ‘Séptimo aniversario del Pentatlón Universitario’, Novedades, 5 Sep. 1944, p. 15.

73 Biblioteca de la Defensa Nacional, Memorias de la Secretaría, Sep. 1948–Aug. 1949.

74 AHSSA: SSA, SPr, caja 123, exp. 3.

75 Report dated June 1947, AGN, Miguel Alemán, 532.2/7.

76 Report dated June 1947, AGN, Miguel Alemán, 532.2/7.

77 Rath, Myths of Demilitarization, p. 140.

78 Zolov, Eric, Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture (Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1999)Google Scholar; Pensado, Jaime, Rebel Mexico: Student Unrest and Authoritarian Political Culture during the Long Sixties (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

79 Pensado, Rebel Mexico, pp. 72–80.

80 ‘16 años al servicio de la patria’, Aquí, 10 July 1954.

81 The cartoon has no date of publication. Its caption and depiction of rebellious youth, however, suggest that it was published soon after the release of the film Rebel without a Cause in 1955.

82 In return for such an initiative, the Pentathlón often received financial assistance from the Ministry of Health. See correspondence dated 1947, AHSSA: SSA, Sub A. caja 9, exp. 10. This assistance continued after the departure of Baz and up to Jiménez Cantú's time as minister of health.

83 ‘La juventud se prepara a hacer una Patria más grande’, El Universal, 31 Jan. 1966. The estimate of 50,000 is given in ‘Asfixia al joven el “smog intelectual” afirma el Pentatlón’, El Universal, 10 July 1971. This is consistent with a membership figure of 40,000 that appears in ‘Juventud responsible’, El Nacional, 13 Oct. 1967.

84 Letter dated 3 April 1962, AGN, López Mateos, 532/43.

85 ‘El XXV aniversario del Pentatlón [sic]’, Excélsior, 10 July 1963.

86 Pensado, Rebel Mexico, pp. 185–193.

87 ‘Compromisos de miembros del Pentathlón’, Novedades, 16 Feb. 1964.

88 ‘Pido GDO al juventud buscar en el deporte y disciplina la formación del carácter’, Novedades, 4 Oct. 1967; ‘Los jóvenes’, Excélsior, 5 Oct. 1967; ‘Juventud responsable’, El Nacional, 13 Oct. 1967.

89 Quoted in ‘Ha demonstrado el PDMU que la juventud de México es responsable’, El Universal, 9 July 1968.

90 For a discussion of the Student Movement within the broader context of Mexico hosting the Olympic Games, see Brewster and Brewster, Representing the Nation, pp. 104–29. The exact number of deaths is still unclear. For many years, the estimate of over 300 deaths made by John Rodda, reporter for the Guardian, has been used. Recent investigations published in US National Security Briefing Book No. 201 claim that the number was 54. This report is available at www.gwu.edu/∼nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB201/.

91 Due to the sensitive nature of such rumours, the identity of individuals harbouring such suspicions is not disclosed.

92 Pensado, Rebel Mexico, pp. 188, 237.

93 ‘Campaña de servicio social en el Pentathlón’, El Universal, 9 July 1971.