Otero Critique of Mexico, 1847
In his pamphlet, Considerations Relating to the Political and Social Situation of the Mexican Republic in the Year 1847, Mexican intellectual Mariano Otero analyzed many of the socioeconomic ills of his nation. Given the racist views of the time, many other commentators blamed Latin American woes on the nature of the people. One such racist observer called the Mexican people ''an effeminate people, a degenerate race that does not know how to govern or to defend itself.'' Otero correctly identified structural problems-- not personal or racial shortcomings--as the root of his nation's troubles. Note carefully the political shortcomings of the Mexican elite identified by Otero.
This system, certainly original in a republic, of presenting the people with their rulers without first consulting them and obtaining their consent, has necessarily resulted in the emergence of picked officials whose least concern is with the welfare of the people. It could not be otherwise in view of the fact that the parties, which represent this or that special interest, do not seek in their candidates independent men devoted to the general interest of the country but rather men who will adhere strictly to the special interests of the party. Accordingly, these same men in taking power feel obligated to honor their commitment to serve faithfully the party that elevated them to office.
For these reasons we have seen that some governments have decidedly protected the army, others the clergy, others the bureaucrats, and some others all three classes at once. However, there has never been a government which has put a brake on the pretensions of the privileged classes while reforming or destroying their abuses. None has dedicated itself to the protection of the industrious classes which most merit the attention of any government that would be enlightened or patriotic. For these classes there has been nothing but pompous promises which have never been fulfilled. In order to discredit the government which they have wanted to overthrow, factions in revolt have hurled charges to the effect that this government has not protected industry or commerce.
One would have to concede that such a system, practiced for twenty-six years, could only bring about the most profound disgust between the industrious classes and their governments. What bonds or sympathies could possibly exist between these classes and the various governments, considering that the latter, instead of lending them some support, have burdened them daily with more taxes of all kinds in order to satisfy the ambitions of thousands of men of the privileged classes who, with no decent title to it, have proposed to live at the expense of the nation? None, certainly.
As the inevitable result of so many cruel and repeated deceptions they, are now in a state of mortal discouragement. This being the case: could anyone maintain that they should now go on to sacrifice what remains of their fortunes as well as their very lives for their country? And in defense of what? To insist upon this would be to assume that Mexicans are a people possessed of different feelings from those which characterize the peoples of the rest of the world. The time has passed, and passed forever, in which people will destroy one another as a result of the force of one man's will. It can no longer be demanded of any people, and much less of classes that have some degree of enlightenment, that they sacrifice their well-being and their lives in the defense of words that are empty of meaning, and without doubt the national honor is one of those vain phrases in a country where the productive man has had to live isolated from the rest of society, without being able to quietly enjoy the fruits of his labor because of the maladministration of justice.
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