Chapter VI
Timeline
History, Novel, and Author Intertwined
The Porfiriato
Porfirio Díaz rules Mexico as a dictator for 35 years. Economic modernization benefits a tiny elite. Land is concentrated in fewer hands than ever. 'Order and Progress' is the slogan; disorder and poverty are the reality. The regime that the revolution will destroy.
Revolution Begins
Francisco Madero calls for a nationwide uprising against Díaz on November 20, beginning the Mexican Revolution. Madero's book The Presidential Succession of 1910 has galvanized opposition to the dictatorship.
Díaz Falls
Díaz resigns and goes into exile in France. Madero is elected president. But the revolutionaries who fought for him — especially Zapata — demand land reform immediately. Madero hesitates, and the radicals turn against him.
Madero Assassinated
General Victoriano Huerta, with the support of the US ambassador, overthrows and murders Madero. The 'Decena Trágica' — Ten Tragic Days — plunges Mexico into chaos. This is the event that transforms Artemio Cruz from a bystander into a revolutionary.
Height of Revolutionary Violence
Armies of Villa, Zapata, Carranza, and Obregón fight across central Mexico. The Battle of Celaya (1915) sees Obregón defeat Villa with machine guns and barbed wire — a modern battle that ends the romantic phase of the revolution.
Constitution of 1917
The most progressive constitution in the world: land reform, labor rights, secular education, national control of subsoil resources. A revolutionary document that will be selectively enforced for decades.
Zapata Assassinated
Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and killed by agents of President Carranza. 'Tierra y Libertad' loses its greatest voice. In the novel, this is the world of Gonzalo Bernal's accusation — the world where the revolution's ideals are being murdered by its victors.
Obregón Becomes President
Álvaro Obregón seizes power and becomes the first revolutionary leader to stabilize the country. The era of the 'Revolutionary Family' begins — a new ruling class that will govern Mexico for decades.
Carlos Fuentes Born
Carlos Fuentes is born in Panama City, where his father, a Mexican diplomat, is posted. He will spend his childhood in Washington DC, Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro — the cosmopolitan formation of a future novelist.
PRI Founded
The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is founded. It will rule Mexico in an unbroken line until the year 2000 — one of the longest single-party regimes in modern history — while maintaining the rhetoric of revolution.
The Mexican 'Economic Miracle'
A period of rapid industrialization and economic growth — the world in which Artemio Cruz rises to power. Newspapers, land, mining, politics — the spoils of a system that rewards the ruthless. The 'miracle' enriches the few at the expense of the many.
Where the Air Is Clear Published
Fuentes's debut novel — a panoramic portrait of Mexico City — is published to acclaim. He is immediately recognized as a major new voice in Latin American letters.
The Day Cruz Dies (in the novel)
The entire novel takes place on this single day — July 6, 1959 — as Artemio Cruz lies dying of a mesenteric infarction. Within this frame, he relives forty years of his life and Mexico's history. The circle closes: the novel ends where it begins.
Publication of The Death of Artemio Cruz
Fuentes's masterpiece is published and immediately recognized as a landmark. It becomes the essential novel of the Mexican Revolution — though it is really the great novel of what came after.
Death of Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes dies in Mexico City at the age of 83. The Mexican president declares a day of national mourning. The last of the great voices of the Latin American Boom falls silent.