According to ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean), more than 30% of homes in Mexico’s urban areas live in poverty. Alberto Díaz Cayeros focuses his analysis on the critical situation of urban settlements: “in urban areas, the governmental action requires that the existing basic public services reach the poorest areas. In this aspect, urban poverty must be linked to lack of access to public services.”[1]
I don’t pretend to have found the panacea, nor the absolute truth, nor I pretend to become the official inquisitor for lost causes in Mexico. What I propose is to reconcile ourselves, as a society, with one of our nation’s fathers: Hernán Cortés[2]. In order to make this nation develop and grow, we must learn from his perseverance and determination, but this time against the armies of poverty, inequality, ignorance, violence, intolerance and corruption. We couldn’t find better defense of our origins than the Spanish Empire itself, with qualities that almost mirror those in the Aztec empire: a powerful and inspired determination, a mystic vision of warriors that fought for tutelage of the indigenous nations of America.
In any conquest, there can only be a victor, and the strongest won. And that victorious spirit precedes us. We must focus on the real enemies and prepare for the most important of all battles. It’s easy to find scape goats and rant against oppression. Anyone can rise as a revolutionary, but how many nation builders creating a new civilization are there?
[1] DÍAZ CAYEROS, Alberto (2006): Pobreza y precariedad urbana en México: un enfoque municipal. México. Serie Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo CEPAL.
[2] The Spanish Conquest leader.