THE INSURGENCE of CHAN SANTA CRUZ

 

 

THE FIRST of the BOOKS of CHANGE

 

Over the first two decades of the 20th century, the only successful Native American insurgence on the North American continent was waged in Mexico’s Yucatan.  President Porfirio Diaz’s ambitious commissioning of General Ignacio Bravo to seize and hold Chan Santa Cruz, capital of the revolted Maya, succeeded… but the forces of occupation found themselves surrounded by patient, implacable rebels and their equally implacable monte. 

 

In this sixth book (of 10), strong winds of change are blowing over the Republic; the gente decente experiencing fear or opportunity or, perhaps, the both.  Some of the younger generation, contemporaries of the Macias brothers, now openly support strange little Francisco Madero, despite his loss to Diaz in electoral and military combat and subsequent exile in Texas.  Rigoberto, a supporter of the dandy General Reyes whose bid to replace the corrupt Vice President Corral has failed, now enlists in an even more daring enterprise… the secession of the southeast states and the territory of Quintana Roo and either independence or union with the United States.  As revolutionary armies under Orozco, Villa and Zapata gain territory and support, the iron fist of the Porfirismo begins to rust under the baleful influence of Halley’s Comet, overhead.

 

In the territory, Jose Macias contends with a slovenly regime under a nonagenarian General who is going slowly mad.  Beset by his concubine and the sinister wizard Chankik, and mindful of the ill winds circulating in the Capital, he begins to gather his wealth as Madero returns, forcing Diaz and Corral to resign and assuming the Presidency.  Cleaning the stables, so to speak, he orders Bravo replaced by an even older loyalist whose march from Merida to Santa Cruz encounters resistance from shadowy quarters.  General Rivera’s eventual arrival in the capital, however, impels Bravo and Jose to entrust their wealth to the brutal prison overseer, El Chacol, to convey it to the coast – where it can be transported overseas.

 

This proves an unwise decision.

 

          July 3, 2025

          June 26, 2025

 8 – Thursday, July 3rd 

 1 – Thursday,June 26th

 9  Friday, July 4th

 2 – Friday, June 27th

 10 – Saturday, July 5th 

 3 – Saturday, June 28th

 11 – Sunday,  July 6th

 4 – Sunday,  June 29th

 12 -- Monday, July 7th

 5 - Monday,   June 30th

 13 -- Tuesday,  July 8th

 6 - Tuesday,  July 1st

 14 -- Wednesday,  July 9th

 7 - - Wednesday,  July 2nd