Governors and Identity Politics during the Porfiriato

Traveling through Mexico in the early 1900s, American anthropologist Frederick Starr remarked that “a delightful Aztec gentleman” presided over the small central state of Tlaxcala. Beals spoke of Próspero Cahuantzi, the governor who President Porfirio Díaz personally appointed to the position in 1885. Cahuantzi was one of the longest standing Mexican governors of all time and was deposed soon after Díaz, in 1911. Unlike Díaz, Cahuantzi was one of the few self-markedly indigenous individuals who had held a state office in Mexico. Whereas many other regions in Mexico experienced rampant turnover at the state and local levels, Cahuantzi remained, despite protests from various groups to oust him. What kept Cahuantzi in Tlaxcala, and in the good graces of Díaz for so long, was his ability to exploit the symbolic weight of the past to build political legitimacy in the present. As a Nahua Indian and native Tlaxcalan, Cahuantzi was active in Mexico’s international campaigns to foment a national patrimony, one that lauded the pre-Hispanic civilizations and was born from alliances between Tlaxcalans and Spaniards. By espousing this history in international forums and participation in local Catholic rituals, Cahuantzi positioned himself as a modern manifestation of pre-Hispanic glory; a position he then used to gain political leverage among Mexico City elites as well as locals. Cahuantzi’s regional acumen and his capacity to use indigenous rhetoric were essential to his rule. By examining identity politics in Tlaxcala, I argue that the success and endurance of state governors did not simply hinge on their ties to Díaz, but rather on their capacities to build political clout based on regional conditions and circumstances.