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.
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July 3, 2025 |
June 26, 2025 |
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