Loosewilly & I decided to use an airline voucher he had from last summer on a last-minute trip to Mexico City. So, I'll be "out of the office" as it were until about next Friday. We have no real plans but to get there and figure out where we want to go, but I know for sure that we are going to Casa Azul, which is Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera's old house. I will also go to the Trotsky museum and take pictures. I'm sure that will be fascinating in many ways.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou0EOcpdJm4

We'll be flying out tomorrow around noon pst, so I will be running around forgetting what things to pack until then.

Have a good time, I'll miss you on FB!

Have a good time, I'll miss you on FB!


Thank you TBF! I'll miss you too! I don't know if we'll have internet or not. I'm not sure I'm ready for a digital fast, hopefully the withdrawal won't be too ugly. :)

Have fun you guys!

Via con Dios, amigos! :)

The trip was great, coming back was yuck. I'm still a little tired from Customs in DFW, which was more grueling than Teotihuacan. I'll post a few things when I'm more up to snuff. I thought of you guys when I was at the Museo National de las Interventiones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_Nacional_de_las_Intervenciones). Seeing and reading the murderous history of Estados Unidos from the point of view from the other side of the border is something every schoolkid in this country should have the chance to be exposed to. I didn't get to take a lot of pictures, it is a state-run Museum and I think they use military officers as the guards, they were a little intimidating. I didn't want to be too much of a pest, since the site itself is the place of a brutal confrontation from the US.


Here is one exhibit about the French puppet government of Maximilian I. Napolean III (of 18th Brumaire (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/) fame) overturned the rightful government of Benito Juarez and sent in a princeling from Belgium to rule Mexico for France.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0142.jpg

I liked the signage about this episode in the museum, which is a lot franker than signage you see here about similar events:

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0143.jpg

Napoleon III 1808-1873

French Emperor from 1852-1870. His expansionist politics were a clear manifestation of the interest of the bourgeois financiers. The intervention in Mexico was justified as a move to block Anglo-Saxon expansionism and as a project of a renewal (regeneration) of these "backward" people. (translation supplied by LooseWilly.)


One of the last exhibits we saw in the Museo, a copy of The Manifesto in Spanish, printed on a broadsheet, EL Socialista. Sorry I couldn't get closer.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0144.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0145.jpg


I still need to upload some stuff I think people will appreciate. There is so much history in just a few hundred miles, I wish I could have stayed for a month longer.

You were in Mexico? Damn! I would have come to see you.

Eye-opening isn't it, seeing stuff from the other side. Everyday I become even more ashamed to be a US citizen. Mexico's in much better shape than Guatemala but how did you find it? I've never been except to US border towns.

Thanks for the mention of Frida Kahlo. I'm looking her up to read up.

Also, can't see your pics.

You were in Mexico? Damn! I would have come to see you.

Eye-opening isn't it, seeing stuff from the other side. Everyday I become even more ashamed to be a US citizen. Mexico's in much better shape than Guatemala but how did you find it? I've never been except to US border towns.

Thanks for the mention of Frida Kahlo. I'm looking her up to read up.

Also, can't see your pics.


So close I know! I would have liked to have seen you too. We were only there for a week and didn't get to do half of what I'd hoped. My family wanted me to say a Hail Mary at the Basilica de Guadalupe for my auntie who has lung cancer, so that was a whole day right there. We were staying in Coyoacan which is south of the main drag and took the Metro as much as possible to save pesos. I've been to Oaxaca (about 5 years ago) and loved it to death. I was seriously looking at property and thinking about moving although I could barely afford it, but then got my teaching gig here, so ended up not doing it. Mexico City is humongous. The wealth divide is even wider than here of course, with hundreds of concrete shanties on the hills surrounding unique historical sites. The one thing that is different from the US is the public spaces like the plazas and the Zocalos that draw huge public crowds from all walks of life to partake of the common areas and monuments, etc. So different than the sterile mall culture here. Other than that, it's pretty typically urban. The Metro is awesome and you can ride transferring from line to line underground for only 3 pesos (.30) Amazing historical sites are located plop in the middle of bustling metropolis, I've heard that's true of Europe too, but I've never been there, so it's always a shock to me to turn a corner filled with typical scenes that you might find in the SF Mission district and run right into a 500 year old building, or an Aztec ruin.

I don't remember being taught anything about the Mexican American War or our intervention during the Mexican Revolution when I was in school, so the sordid details are eye-opening to me too, although I knew the broad strokes, that the US has not had clean hands in its dealings with Mexico. There is a quote from Benito Juarez I'll paraphrase: Mexico, so far away from God, so close to the United States.

I fixed the pictures. I posted them and then decided to move them to their own album and forgot that would break the links. D'oh!

I have pictures I took from the Trotsky house where he was killed with the ice axe and from Frida and Diego's house in Coyoacan, I'll upload those to photobucket soon and post some of what I saw there. Lots of communist history in this one little neighborhood!

There are also actions going on with the teachers in Mexico. When we were in the main Zocalo, the police presence was intense. There is a tent city of workers, over the size of a football field I think, full of protesters. I took a couple of pictures but didn't want to look too much like a stupid tourist, but I thought it should be documented. There were some good articles in Spanish about it in the local papers, I'll see if I can get LooseWilly to supply me with some translation help. I can read some Spanish, but the subtleties get by me.

Also (sorry this reply is so long, I'm just happy I finally have a place to write about all of this) there was actual news coverage on TV of Greece on the Mexican news channels. The novelty of having left-wing issues talked about publicly was amazing to me. Political cartoons tend to be more trenchantly leftist as well.

Your pics are great. Thanks for fixing them. Makes me want to go. Don't worry, I understand about the time constraint. Mexico has an underground? Damn- makes me even sadder for Guatemala.

I had no idea Trotsky was killed in Mexico (I feel really ignorant). Now I really want to go, after reading up about that. Like you before, I know relatively little about Mexico's history. Your brief information is really interesting. I'm going to start paying more attention to Mexico now. Maybe they can serve as inspiration for this area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou0EOcpdJm4

A fan since my teens, long before I could have really known why, I hafta say thanks for this video which I had missed until your excellent homecoming post.

Would that I had the means to make that trip, even if one way.

Edit for an atta girl quote from wiki:

"I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality."

A fan since my teens, long before I could have really known why, I hafta say thanks for this video which I had missed until your excellent homecoming post.

Would that I had the means to make that trip, even if one way.

Edit for an atta girl quote from wiki:

"I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality."

Fan since your teens? I'm impressed. This is the first I've heard of her. Do you guys realize what an impressive but intimidating bunch you are?

A fan since my teens, long before I could have really known why, I hafta say thanks for this video which I had missed until your excellent homecoming post.

Would that I had the means to make that trip, even if one way.

Edit for an atta girl quote from wiki:

"I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality."

If I ever win the lottery, we will all go together. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures of most of the artwork in the museums in Mexico City. I think they do that to prevent pirating, so I don't really blame them. But they don't tend to print catalogs either, so when you see something, that's it, your unique experience of that moment is your memory. I tried to see as many as I could and know I still missed a lot. The first painting you see at Casa Azul (http://www.museofridakahlo.org.mx/EluniversointimoINGLES.html) is Marxism Will Give Health To The Sick:

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/Frida20Kahlo-964668.jpg

If you look closely you will see a hand extending from Marx' head to choke a bald eagle with the head of Uncle Sam. The color is better in the original, but this is close.

I wish like hell I could have taken pictures of her painting studio inside, that was like a religious experience. All the paints and desk left the way they were, her wheelchair in front of her easel, the taboret with the small standing mirror which she used for portraits, and later a day bed with a mirror hung above on the wooden canopy. In the corner behind the bed were her crutches and the false leg she wore after her foot was finally amputated. That was painful to see, her shoe was so small.

Downstairs next to the dining room was the bedroom where Trotsky and his wife first lived when they arrived in exile in Coyoacan. Frida and Trotsky had an affair while he was there. Diego and Trotsky later parted ways over a claim of political differences, but popular gossip says it was anger over the affair. Diego himself had many lovers.

These are some pictures I took of the grounds. (Casa Azul is one of two houses where Frida & Diego lived, this being her family home where she was born. I didn't get a chance to see the other one, which was a more modern looking studio in another part of town):

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMAG0025.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMAG0035.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMAG0024.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMAG0036.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMAG0031.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMAG0022.jpg

If you look carefully in this last one, up through the open door, you can see the day bed with the mirror on the canopy.


Finding information about Diego & Frida's political activities online has been difficult. They were both members of the Mexican Communist Party who had a falling out with the Comintern over Trotsky, and sheltered him and were instrumental in getting him asylum in Mexico City, interceding with the President of Mexico. Trotsky was under a sentence of death and his passport had been canceled. Frida & Diego's support for LT had to have caused a rift with their friend Siqueiros (http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/309-the-artist-as-activist-david-alfaro-siqueiros-1896%E2%80%931974), who was also a Party member and made the first attempt on Trotsky's life in Cayoacan in the house that Trotsky and his wife later moved into after the falling out with Diego Rivera. But I'm getting ahead of myself, and will save the Trotsky house for the next post.

Frida and Diego later reconciled with Stalin. Diego made a trip to the USSR in later years, and at the house/estate of Dolores Olmedo (now a museum (http://www.museodoloresolmedo.org.mx/coleccperm.html)) there is a room full of his paintings of Soviet children playing in the snow.

In Casa Azul, there is a small sweet self-portrait of Frida painted in the last year of her life: Self-Portrait With Stalin.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/self-portrait-with-stalin-1954.jpg

(note, I'm not a Trot, but who would miss seeing this? It's a slightly gruesome shrine--nothing has been touched since the moment he was attacked, or so they claim. It's a 15 minute walk from Casa Azul.)

Unlike many other places, for a small fee I was allowed to take all of the photographs that I wanted. I'll try to weed down. I wish you all could have been there to see how weird it all was, like something out of a Ray Bradbury story.

You enter the newer front part, which is a museum with pictures and keepsakes, highlighting the most important parts of Trotsky's life in Mexico, which must have been every 5 minutes from the bulk of photographs on every wall.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0073.jpg


The most interesting ones to me were his arrival and greeting by Frida & Diego and the subsequent meetings with uber-liberal John Dewey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey), presumably to plan the attack for the Dewey Commission (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Commission).

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0072.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0078.jpg

John Dewey at Casa Azul:

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0075.jpg


Trotsky with Andre Breton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Breton):

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0080.jpg

For some reason, the surrealists flocked to Trotsky's banner at that time. I guess there was a feeling that social realism championed by the Soviet Union was crushing their creativity? I'm not really sure, that seems more like a red herring for class issues. Breton and Trotsky collaborated on an art manifesto (http://www.marxists.org/subject/art/lit_crit/works/rivera/manifesto.htm).

Once you've absorbed all of these exhaustive details, you exit into a little tunnel into the grounds of the house itself.

You turn to your right and there are Trotsky's beloved chicken coops. There are banners with quotes from Natalia, Trotsky's wife, about how devoted he was to his poultry and how he loved getting into the shed and building their coops himself like a "worker". It reminded me of some of the slow food manifestos you read on locavore sites. He didn't do a bad job, they are still sturdy looking after 80 years.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0087.jpg

You walk a few more steps through a low box maze along the grounds:



http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0090.jpg

Then you go a few steps further, and you see this:

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0091.jpg

All of the hair went up on my arms, I hadn't been previously aware that he was actually *there*. I suppose if I'd thought about it, I would have wondered where he was buried. As it was, it was kind of a shock. He and Natalia were cremated and are interred behind the stone.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0098.jpg

I took a lot of pictures of the grounds, which are heavily fortified. Trotsky mounted an armed guard in towers at points on the walls. The guards lived on the grounds, and even with that, the house itself is like a fort. Windows are bricked up and doors were fitted with a type of steel door that makes you feel like you are in a submarine.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0097.jpg

The brick structure up in the top right is a gun tower.

Guard tower and bricked up facade from the outside:

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0121.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0120.jpg


(continued)

Despite the precautions, there were still attempts on his life. He was living on borrowed time, being under a standing death penalty from the Soviet Union.

The first major assassination attempt was from the muralist Siquieros and some trade unionists. They stormed the bedroom and fired into it. Trotsky and Natalia escaped injury by jumping between the wall and the bed. The holes from the volley of bullets remain in the walls.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0104.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0103.jpg

Siquieros' statement on this attempt is found here. (http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv6n1/trotsky.htm)


When the activities of the Dies Committee against Mexico became visible and with it was accentuated the volume of reactionary fire against Stalinism, against Cárdenism ('el Cardenismo stalinizante,' as the imperialists labeled it), against the parceling of land, against the right to strike, against the expropriation of the Petroleum Enterprise, Trotsky, the Trotsky that would not intervene in Mexican national politics, the Trotsky of the olympian revolution, he advanced as much as he could, in order to demonstrate that by treating of anti-Stalinism, he was the invincible champion face-to-face with the most vigorous bourgeois anti-Stalinist gladiators of any country. And who can deny that Stalin is the cause of the greatest hatred for the bourgeoisie everywhere? Now then, the intelligent Trotsky could not hide the fact that the anti-Stalinism of Dies was no more then an immediate method of attacking Cárdenism, that is, the Mexican Revolution, and by this road the revolution in general. It was then only concerned, as is known, with unmasking his Iscariotism. The remains of modesty? Sophistry of a traitor! For the object he used the generous voice of Diego Rivera - the political answer on the Mexican scale - purposefully to inform of imagined Stalinist ambushes in the Mexican government apparatus, that Ultimas Noticias published sensationally. Thus he tried to fulfil two tasks: to hit Stalinism one more time and tell Dies that Cárdenism was the incubator and the nourisher of Stalinists... this he told for the subsequent end of a greater imperialist pressure against Mexico and in favour of reaction. However the Pharisee assured that he had absolutely nothing to do with the activities of the lynching Texas Representative; and the great 'eagle' demanded documentary proof about his relations with that great enemy of our Nation and its people.(?) In this case, lower than his traitorous objective, must have been his mental self-justification; only attack the Stalinist bureaucrats and their Stalinized allies. It is of little importance that his firing coincides with that of Dies, the most perfect symbol of the ultra-reactionary circles of the United States. 'His platform, the platform of Trotsky was different.' Worse for his sole enemies, that wanted to do so bad with the entire world; the same for the global counter-revolution as well as the most purified and rectilinear of the Marxist-Leninist revolutions!The final attempt on his life was in the study. The assassin was Ramon Mercader (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram%C3%B3n_Mercader).

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0100.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0101.jpg

Mercader had gained the trust of the household and got into the study under the pretext of sharing some of his writing with Trotsky. He had a mountain-climbing ice ax under his coat (not the little ice pick that I had always imagined) and dealt a blow to Trotsky's head. It wasn't immediately fatal, but the brain damage killed him a day later in the hospital.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0117.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0118.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0083.jpg

And that is the tale of the Trotsky house.

Unbelievable photos!! Thank you starry messenger for your detailed presentation!! Great!

In Casa Azul, there is a small sweet self-portrait of Frida painted in the last year of her life: Self-Portrait With Stalin.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/self-portrait-with-stalin-1954.jpg
i love this

thank you for taking the trouble to share these photos starry messenger. they are all awesome/interesting and they all have great stories behind them.

Unbelievable photos!! Thank you starry messenger for your detailed presentation!! Great!

Thank you Nikos and brother cakes! I'm glad you are enjoying them. I have one more place I want to share about the Mexican American War, but will need a little more time to assemble some things for a complete presentation. On a tip from our Comrade Michael, I found that the street I had been walking on in Coyoacan, Mártires Irlandeses (Irish Martyrs), was not about the Easter Rising as I had supposed, but about a battle where Irish deserters from the US Army switched sides and fought on the side of Mexico. I was staying in a hotel not a mile from the site, and it led to LooseWilly and I going to see the museum I posted about in the post about Maximilian. The Museum is the fort where the soldiers made their stand with the Mexican Army.

oh right, i heard about them. the saint patrick's battalion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion).

Thanks for these pix starry. I am a Trotskyist and these pictures are worth the price of admission here. :)

Thanks for these pix starry. I am a Trotskyist and these pictures are worth the price of admission here. :)

I'm glad you are here and saw this thread! :) If you ever get a chance to go see the house, you should grab it. I was amazed at how much access you are allowed as a guest. There are little walkways to protect the floors, and low glass barriers to keep you on the walkway, but otherwise, it is just like strolling through his house and Trotsky and Natalia stepped out to go to the market. Being in the bare presence of that much history is very sobering. Here is another picture for you socialist_n_TN. Trotsky's Red Army hats:

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0116.jpg

Wow. Way cool. I try not to get into a hero worship thing over ANYBODY, but you're right, the HISTORY if nothing else is thrilling. Just looking at these pix sends a chill down my spine.

The thing of it is, Mexico is (relatively) not that far. Maybe one day I'll make the pilgrimage. :)

Wow. Way cool. I try not to get into a hero worship thing over ANYBODY, but you're right, the HISTORY if nothing else is thrilling. Just looking at these pix sends a chill down my spine.

The thing of it is, Mexico is (relatively) not that far. Maybe one day I'll make the pilgrimage. :)

Mexico is amazing. The history there is intense. I've never been to Europe, or even back east in the US, so seeing the centuries and layers of humanity in Mexico is really incredible. If you don't mind, I'll hook my next chapter onto this post.

The neighborhood we were staying in was the site of the "Waterloo" of the Mexican-American war. That's one of the battles where the San Patricios (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion) fought alongside the Mexican Army. I wish Mexican history was taught more in the US, it is parallel and intermingled with ours in such an unbreakable way that living in this country without knowing what went on on the other side of the border is like swimming with one arm. In 1810, inspired by the American Revolution, the country rose up to throw off the Spanish. This ushered in a period of intense political instability that hindered their development of territories that are now US states. Manifest Destiny abhors a vacuum, so we know what happened there.

http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/73967/index.php


The War Begins

In the spring of 1846, the United States was poised to invade Mexico, its neighbor to the south. The ostensible reason was to collect on past-due loans and indemnities. The real reason was to provide the United States with control of the ports of San Francisco and San Diego, the trade route through the New Mexico Territory, and the rich mineral resources of the Nevada Territory -- all of which at that time belonged to the Republic of Mexico. The United States had previously offered $5 million to purchase the New Mexico Territory and $25 million for California, but Mexico had refused.

U.S. President James K. Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to take a position south of the Nueces River in Texas with a force of 4,000 men. By January 1846, the general had built a fort in what was Mexican, or at least disputed, territory on the northern banks of the Rio Grande in an effort to put pressure on the Mexicans to agree to a settlement. Historian Bernard Devoto notes: "Polk's intention was clear. This was a show of force intended to give the Mexicans a sense of reality in the settlement of various matters he intended to take up, among them the purchase of California."

On April 26, 1846, a Mexican cavalry troop crossed the Rio Grande upstream of Taylor's army. A patrol sent by Taylor to intercept them was attacked, and in the skirmish, eleven Americans were killed and five wounded. When Polk received word of the attack, he delivered his war message, declaring that since the Mexicans had "shed American blood on American soil," a state of war existed between the United States and Mexico.
The National Museum of Interventions is the site of the Battle of Churubusco. It was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. I wish I had taken more pictures, but this was the place I felt kind of intimidated by the heavy guard, plus as an American, you kind of feel like a pushy asshole being from the oppressive country that took away over 55% of Mexican territory as the aftermath of that war...next time I'll wear my Irish flag tshirt. Being of Irish heritage, I was interested in this story of the soldiers who bailed on the US to fight on the side of Mexico. Wiki has a pretty good write up about it:


For Americans of the generation who fought the Mexican-American War, the San Patricios were considered traitors.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#cite_note-3) For Mexicans of that generation, and generations to come, the San Patricios were heroes who came to the aid of fellow Catholics in need.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#cite_note-4)[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#cite_note-5)
The great majority of these men were recent immigrants who had arrived at northeastern U.S. ports, part of the Irish diaspora (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_diaspora)'s escaping the Irish Potato Famine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Potato_Famine) and extremely poor economic conditions in Ireland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland), then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland). The U.S. Army often recruited Irishmen and other immigrants into military service shortly or sometimes immediately on arrival. ,[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#cite_note-6) with promises of salaries and land after the war.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/48/Saint_Patrick%27s_battalion_plaque.JPG/200px-Saint_Patrick%27s_battalion_plaque.JPG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Patrick%27s_battalion_plaque.JPG) http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.17/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Patrick%27s_battalion_plaque.JPG)
Commemorative plaque at San Jacinto Plaza in the district of San Ángel, Mexico City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City)


Numerous theories have been proposed as to their motives for desertion, including cultural alienation,[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#cite_note-7) mistreatment of immigrant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrant) soldiers by nativist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativist) soldiers and senior officers,[9] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#cite_note-8) their not being allowed to attend Sunday Mass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Mass) or to practice their religion freely (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion), the incentive of higher wages and land grants starting at 320 acres (1.3 km2) offered by Mexico,[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#cite_note-Downey-9) and their witnessing poor conduct of U.S. troops following battle victories.
Some historians believed a primary motivation was shared religion with the Mexicans and sympathy for the Mexican cause, likely based on similarities between the situations in Mexico and Ireland. This hypothesis is based on evidence of the number of Irish Catholics in the Battalion, the letters of Jon Riley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Riley), and the field entries of senior officers.[11] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#cite_note-10)[12] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#cite_note-11) Another hypothesis is that the members of the Saint Patrick's Battalion had been unhappy with their treatment in the U.S. Army. Another theory some historians hold is that the soldiers were attracted by the valuable incentives offered by the Mexican government: higher wages and generous land grants. For poor people coming from famine conditions, economics was often an important incentive.[13] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#cite_note-12)
Mexican author José Raúl Conseco noted that many Irish lived in northern Texas, and were forced to move south due to regional insecurity. Early in the war they helped Gen. Taylor attack the fort and supply depot in St. Isabel, now the city of Port Isabel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Isabel,_Texas), Texas. [Citation needed]
Irish expatriates had a long tradition of serving in military forces of Catholic countries, for instance, serving with Spain in groups of young men known as the Flight of the Wild Geese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Wild_Geese) in the 17th century. In addition, many Irish fought as soldiers in South American wars of independence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_American_wars_of_independence).[c] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion#endnote_Cnone)
I like the theory that their sense of justice was so keen and their mistreatment at the hand of anti-Catholic Nativists was so awful they chose the side of the right and true, but who knows. Racism against the Irish was pretty virulent at the time, and the parallels from Irish history with the English with what was going on with the US and Mexico could hardly be ignored.

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0130.jpg

What is known is that the Irish refused to surrender, pulling down the white flag put up by the Mexican Army. I think when the ammo ran out, everyone had to go to hand-to-hand combat. It sounds like it was pretty bloody, they were outnumbered by the US forces who also had superior cannon. There is a plaque on the side of the Museum:

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0128.jpg

This is a replica of the old plaque:

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/Mexico%20City/IMG_0141.jpg

It's hard to see, but the device on top there is the Mexican eagle on top of a celtic cross. I'd love to have that on a shirt too.

More about the battle here:

http://www.stpatricksbattalion.org/chapt9.htm


The Battle of Churubusco On August 19 and 20 of 1847, Mexico suffered two devastating defeats, the second of which saw the destruction of the San Patricios as a unit in this war. 30 Of the original 120 San Patricios, 35 were killed in action and 85 were captured by American forces. 31 It is probable that most of the 40 unaccounted for Irish soldiers continued to fight in other elements of the Mexican Army until the end of the war. The thirty-five San Patricios’ killed in action included two second lieutenants, 4 sergeants, 6 corporals and 23 privates. 32 American losses in this battle were, 137 killed, 879 wounded and 40 were missing. 33
After the battle, the captured San Patricios were tried for desertion during war time and all were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Hanging was reserved for traitors. 34 According to President Zedillo’s speech honoring the memory of the Irish soldiers, more than 60 San Patricios were hanged, while ten were whipped and branded with the letter “D”. 35 Miller, on the other hand, reports in his book that under General Scott’s, General Orders 281 and 283, issued in the second week of September 1847, Scott upheld the capital punishment for 50 of the soldiers, pardoned five and reduced the sentences for the other fifteen. John Riley was included in the last fifteen because he had deserted during peace time and therefore could not receive the death penalty. 36 Riley had deserted prior to the official declaration of war.
Under orders of Winfield Scott, the last of the 50 San Patricios were hanged facing Chapultepec Castle precisely at the time the American flag was raised after the American victory during that battle. 37 The mass executions left a deep impression on the Mexican population. Rioting broke out in Toluca after the news reported that the executions had taken place. Mexicans intent on seeking revenge threatened to kill American prisoners but were prevented from doing so by the Mexican authorities. 38 From the Mexican point of view, the San Patricios should have been treated as prisoners of war, not criminals.
Instead of hanging, Scott ordered that the 15 San Patricios spared the death penalty, be instead branded with a two inch letter “D” for desertion with hot-iron on the right cheek and receive 50 lashes. It is unclear why three of the men were instead branded on the hip, rather than the face. These three were made to wear an eight pound iron collar with 3 one-foot long prongs each. 39 Scott also ordered that the San Patricios be imprisoned until the American army left Mexico. Upon being mustered out, Scott ordered that the men’s heads be shaved and drummed out of the Army. Although Scott intended to return the San Patricio men back to the United States at the conclusion of the war, the Mexican government prevailed in keeping them in Mexico.
The mass hanging of the San Patricios:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Sanpatricioshang.jpg

http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/73967/index.php


The Hangings by Colonel Harney

General Winfield Scott had chosen an officer who had been twice disciplined for insubordination as his executioner of the last group of 30 San Patricios. Colonel William Harney had been soldiering for almost 30 years and was notorious for his brutality. During the Indian Wars he was charged with raping Indian girls at night and then hanging them the next morning after he had taken his pleasure. In St. Louis, Missouri, he was indicted by a civilian court for the brutal beating of a female slave that resulted in her death. The choice of Harney as executioner of the San Patricios seemed calculated by the American high command to inflict brutal reprisals on the Irish Catholic soldiers. Harney would not disappoint them.

At dawn on September 13, 1847, some days after the first group of 18 had been executed, Harney ordered the remaining San Patricios to be brought to a hill in Mixcoac a few kilometers from Chapultepec Castle where the final battle of the war was to be fought. Observing that only 29 of the 30 prisoners were present, Harney asked about the missing man. The army surgeon informed the colonel that the absent San Patricio had lost both his legs in battle. Harney, in a rage, replied: "Bring the damned son of a bitch out! My order was to hang 30 and by God I'll do it!"

After the guards dragged Francis O'Conner out and propped him up on his bloody stumps, nooses were placed around the necks of each of the men, and they were stood on wagons. Harney then pointed to Chapultepec Castle in the distance and told the prisoners that they would not be hanged until the American flag was raised over the castle signifying that the Yankees had won the battle. The prisoners yelled out in incredulity and protest. Some made jokes and sarcastic remarks trying to goad the unstable colonel into giving an impulsive order. One prisoner asked Harney to take his pipe out of his pocket so that he might have one last smoke. Then, with a glint in his eye, he asked if the colonel would not mind lighting it with his "elegant hair."

The redheaded Harney did not appreciate the joke. He drew his sword and struck the bound prisoner in the mouth with the hilt, breaking several of the man's teeth. The prisoner was not intimidated, however. Spitting out blood and broken teeth, the irrepressible Irishman quipped: "Bad luck to ye! Ye have spoilt my smoking entirely! I shan't be able to have a pipe in my mouth as long as I live."

Meanwhile the Battle of Chapultepec raged on. Finally, at 9:30 a.m. the Americans scaled the walls of the castle, tore down the Mexican flag, and raised the Stars and Stripes. With that, Harney drew his sword and, "with as much sangfroid as a military martinet could put on," gave the order for execution. The San Patricios, after four and a half hours of standing bound and noosed in the 90-degree sun, were finally "launched into eternity."

Harney's violation of the Articles of War requiring prompt execution did not result in charges being brought against him. Rather, his behavior was rewarded. A month later Harney was promoted to brigadier general and accompanied the commander in chief in a triumphal march in Mexico City.
And even with all of this, this hardly even scratches the surface of history there. The next time I go I need to delve into the history of the Revolution from 1910-1920. I hardly even got to go into much about the French Intervention. There were a million places I wanted to go, but ran out of time. I had to skip a couple of museums to go to the Basilica de Guadalupe. Which was pretty cool, it's like Vatican West. My family really wanted me to go, and even though I've been an atheist for 20 years, the Irish Catholic Guilt was hitting from hundreds of miles away. :) And even if you aren't a Catholic or religious, the history of Colonial Mexico is tied up with the Church.

Here is a photo of the miraculous tilpa of the Virgin. I had to slightly elbow a German nun to get a clear shot, so if there really is a Hell, I'm in big trouble:

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae35/mpkartist/270289_2176663375278_1207657039_260.jpg

and entertaining post! :)