El Metro: A History of a Monument in Motion

Many recent studies have focused on the Mexican state’s use of repressive power on protesting students in 1968. While the Tlatelolco massacre is an important example of state power, I offer a view of the state’s use of creative power during the same period. Understanding both repressive and creative power is necessary for a complete understanding of Mexico in the late 1960’s. The Mexican Capital has always been the center of creative state power. Since the Aztecs, empires have changed the physical environment of Mexico City to express their political, cultural and economic power. During the 1960’s, the Mexican state used Mexico City to showcase their vision of modernity.  In 1967, work began on the Mexico City Metro that would help to transform Mexico City from the sleepy, “City of Palaces” into the Megalopolis of today. The story of its planning and construction reveals critical relationships between foreign capital, Mexican businesses and the state in the construction of modern infrastructure and national identity. Besides being a major project in the modernization of the city, the Metro is also a monument. Each Metro station was named for a place or person from Mexican history. The names of the stations on the Metro map flow from the Aztecs through the Revolution. They reinterpret heroes of other epochs in light of the Mexican Revolution, define leadership and masculinity, and draw seamless connections between the ancient past and the modern present. My story is a political and cultural biography of the Metro as both a physical expression of economic and political relationships during the late 1960’s and as a symbolic map of legitimate power in Mexico.