Podcasts about porfirian

The shepherd saw everything—watched as El Chalequero dragged an elderly woman toward the Consulado River, pulled a knife from hisEpisode 11 of 15 | Season 36: Serial Killers in HistoryMexico City's first documented serial killer hunted working-class women for nearly three decades. This episode examines the systemic failures that allowed Francisco Guerrero Pérez to operate freely while authorities looked the other way.The Women History ForgotMurcia Gallardo was 47 years old when she died—a market vendor in La Merced who sold chilies and produce from the same corner stall she'd operated for over a decade. Her customers knew her voice calling out prices before dawn. She had three children and six grandchildren. Her daughter worked a stall two rows over. When Francisco Guerrero Pérez offered to help carry her baskets home that evening, she had no reason to refuse. He looked respectable. Spoke politely. Everyone in the market district knew El Chalequero by sight—the well-dressed craftsman in his elegant vests.She became one of at least 21 women murdered along the Consulado River between 1880 and 1908. Market vendors, washerwomen, sex workers—women who worked brutal hours for subsistence wages, who walked to and from work in darkness because they had no choice. Women whose deaths barely registered in police records because the Porfirian authorities considered their lives disposable.Why This Case MattersThe El Chalequero case exposes a stark truth about institutional failure. For eight years, bodies appeared near the same river, bearing the same method—strangulation with the victim's own clothing. Authorities knew the pattern. Neighbors whispered the killer's name. Yet systematic investigation never came because these were poor women from working-class neighborhoods. Their deaths weren't worth resources or urgency. When Francisco Guerrero Pérez was finally convicted in 1888, it was for just one murder despite evidence suggesting at least 20 victims.Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence against women and sexual assault references. Listener discretion advised.Key Case DetailsThe investigation into El Chalequero represents one of the earliest documented serial murder cases in Mexican history, spanning nearly three decades of the Porfiriato era.• Timeline of Terror: Guerrero Pérez began killing around 1880, continued until his arrest in February 1888, was released in 1904 due to a bureaucratic error confusing him with political prisoners, and killed again in June 1908. His final victim, an elderly woman named Antonia, was witnessed by a shepherd and the Solorio sisters.• Pattern and Method: All victims were working-class women from neighborhoods along the Consulado River—Tepito, La Merced, Peralvillo. He used their own clothing, particularly rebozos (traditional shawls), to strangle them. Witnesses reported he would return to crime scenes days later to observe the aftermath.• Justice Delayed: Despite confessing and being sentenced to death twice, Guerrero Pérez never faced execution. His first death sentence was commuted to 20 years imprisonment. He died of natural causes in Hospital Juárez in November 1910—the same month the Mexican Revolution began—while awaiting his second execution.• Survivors Who Testified: Two women—Emilia, a washerwoman left for dead, and Lorenza Urrutía, a sex worker who fought back—survived attacks and later testified. Their courage provided crucial evidence that authorities had long ignored.Historical Context & SourcesThis episode draws on Mexican court records from the 1888 and 1908 trials, contemporary newspaper accounts from the Porfiriato era, and historical research into late 19th-century Mexico City's criminal justice system. The investigation reveals how the rapid industrialization under Porfirio Díaz's regime created stark divides—electric streetlights and European architecture for the wealthy, while working-class neighborhoods along the Consulado River became hunting grounds where women's deaths went largely uninvestigated. Additional insights come from studies of Porfirian-era policing priorities, which focused on protecting elite interests and suppressing political dissent rather than solving crimes against the poor.Resources & Further ReadingFor listeners interested in exploring this case and its historical context further, these sources provide additional perspective:• The Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City maintains criminal court records from the Porfiriato era, including trial documentation from both Guerrero Pérez proceedings.• Academic studies of crime and policing during the Porfiriato, particularly work examining class dynamics in Mexican criminal justice, offer crucial context for understanding institutional failures.• Historical maps of 1880s Mexico City show the stark geographical divide between wealthy neighborhoods and the working-class districts where El Chalequero hunted.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/foul-play-crime-series/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

When General Porfirio Díaz assumed power in 1876, he ushered in Mexico's first prolonged period of political stability and national economic growth--though "progress" came at the cost of democracy. Indigenous Autocracy presents a new story about how regional actors negotiated between national authoritarian rule and local circumstances by explaining how an Indigenous person held state-level power in Mexico during the thirty-five-year dictatorship that preceded the Mexican Revolution (the Porfiriato), and the apogee of scientific racism across Latin America. Although he was one of few recognizably Indigenous persons in office, Próspero Cahuantzi of Tlaxcala kept his position (1885-1911) longer than any other gubernatorial appointee under Porfirio Díaz's transformative but highly oppressive dictatorship (1876-1911). Cahuantzi leveraged his identity and his region's Indigenous heritage to ingratiate himself to Díaz and other nation-building elites. Locally, Cahuantzi navigated between national directives aimed at modernizing Mexico, often at the expense of the impoverished rural majority, and strategic management of Tlaxcala's natural resources--in particular, balancing growing industrial demand for water with the needs of the local population.  In Indigenous Autocracy: Power, Race, and Resources in Porfirian Tlaxcala, Mexico (Stanford University Press, 2024), Jaclyn Ann Sumner shows how this intermediary actor brokered national expectations and local conditions to maintain state power, challenging the idea that governors during the Porfirian dictatorship were little more than provincial stewards who repressed dissent. Drawing upon documentation from more than a dozen Mexican archives, the book brings Porfirian-era Mexico into critical conversations about race and environmental politics in Latin America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

When General Porfirio Díaz assumed power in 1876, he ushered in Mexico's first prolonged period of political stability and national economic growth--though "progress" came at the cost of democracy. Indigenous Autocracy presents a new story about how regional actors negotiated between national authoritarian rule and local circumstances by explaining how an Indigenous person held state-level power in Mexico during the thirty-five-year dictatorship that preceded the Mexican Revolution (the Porfiriato), and the apogee of scientific racism across Latin America. Although he was one of few recognizably Indigenous persons in office, Próspero Cahuantzi of Tlaxcala kept his position (1885-1911) longer than any other gubernatorial appointee under Porfirio Díaz's transformative but highly oppressive dictatorship (1876-1911). Cahuantzi leveraged his identity and his region's Indigenous heritage to ingratiate himself to Díaz and other nation-building elites. Locally, Cahuantzi navigated between national directives aimed at modernizing Mexico, often at the expense of the impoverished rural majority, and strategic management of Tlaxcala's natural resources--in particular, balancing growing industrial demand for water with the needs of the local population.  In Indigenous Autocracy: Power, Race, and Resources in Porfirian Tlaxcala, Mexico (Stanford University Press, 2024), Jaclyn Ann Sumner shows how this intermediary actor brokered national expectations and local conditions to maintain state power, challenging the idea that governors during the Porfirian dictatorship were little more than provincial stewards who repressed dissent. Drawing upon documentation from more than a dozen Mexican archives, the book brings Porfirian-era Mexico into critical conversations about race and environmental politics in Latin America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

When General Porfirio Díaz assumed power in 1876, he ushered in Mexico's first prolonged period of political stability and national economic growth--though "progress" came at the cost of democracy. Indigenous Autocracy presents a new story about how regional actors negotiated between national authoritarian rule and local circumstances by explaining how an Indigenous person held state-level power in Mexico during the thirty-five-year dictatorship that preceded the Mexican Revolution (the Porfiriato), and the apogee of scientific racism across Latin America. Although he was one of few recognizably Indigenous persons in office, Próspero Cahuantzi of Tlaxcala kept his position (1885-1911) longer than any other gubernatorial appointee under Porfirio Díaz's transformative but highly oppressive dictatorship (1876-1911). Cahuantzi leveraged his identity and his region's Indigenous heritage to ingratiate himself to Díaz and other nation-building elites. Locally, Cahuantzi navigated between national directives aimed at modernizing Mexico, often at the expense of the impoverished rural majority, and strategic management of Tlaxcala's natural resources--in particular, balancing growing industrial demand for water with the needs of the local population.  In Indigenous Autocracy: Power, Race, and Resources in Porfirian Tlaxcala, Mexico (Stanford University Press, 2024), Jaclyn Ann Sumner shows how this intermediary actor brokered national expectations and local conditions to maintain state power, challenging the idea that governors during the Porfirian dictatorship were little more than provincial stewards who repressed dissent. Drawing upon documentation from more than a dozen Mexican archives, the book brings Porfirian-era Mexico into critical conversations about race and environmental politics in Latin America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies

When General Porfirio Díaz assumed power in 1876, he ushered in Mexico's first prolonged period of political stability and national economic growth--though "progress" came at the cost of democracy. Indigenous Autocracy presents a new story about how regional actors negotiated between national authoritarian rule and local circumstances by explaining how an Indigenous person held state-level power in Mexico during the thirty-five-year dictatorship that preceded the Mexican Revolution (the Porfiriato), and the apogee of scientific racism across Latin America. Although he was one of few recognizably Indigenous persons in office, Próspero Cahuantzi of Tlaxcala kept his position (1885-1911) longer than any other gubernatorial appointee under Porfirio Díaz's transformative but highly oppressive dictatorship (1876-1911). Cahuantzi leveraged his identity and his region's Indigenous heritage to ingratiate himself to Díaz and other nation-building elites. Locally, Cahuantzi navigated between national directives aimed at modernizing Mexico, often at the expense of the impoverished rural majority, and strategic management of Tlaxcala's natural resources--in particular, balancing growing industrial demand for water with the needs of the local population.  In Indigenous Autocracy: Power, Race, and Resources in Porfirian Tlaxcala, Mexico (Stanford University Press, 2024), Jaclyn Ann Sumner shows how this intermediary actor brokered national expectations and local conditions to maintain state power, challenging the idea that governors during the Porfirian dictatorship were little more than provincial stewards who repressed dissent. Drawing upon documentation from more than a dozen Mexican archives, the book brings Porfirian-era Mexico into critical conversations about race and environmental politics in Latin America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/native-american-studies

When General Porfirio Díaz assumed power in 1876, he ushered in Mexico's first prolonged period of political stability and national economic growth--though "progress" came at the cost of democracy. Indigenous Autocracy presents a new story about how regional actors negotiated between national authoritarian rule and local circumstances by explaining how an Indigenous person held state-level power in Mexico during the thirty-five-year dictatorship that preceded the Mexican Revolution (the Porfiriato), and the apogee of scientific racism across Latin America. Although he was one of few recognizably Indigenous persons in office, Próspero Cahuantzi of Tlaxcala kept his position (1885-1911) longer than any other gubernatorial appointee under Porfirio Díaz's transformative but highly oppressive dictatorship (1876-1911). Cahuantzi leveraged his identity and his region's Indigenous heritage to ingratiate himself to Díaz and other nation-building elites. Locally, Cahuantzi navigated between national directives aimed at modernizing Mexico, often at the expense of the impoverished rural majority, and strategic management of Tlaxcala's natural resources--in particular, balancing growing industrial demand for water with the needs of the local population.  In Indigenous Autocracy: Power, Race, and Resources in Porfirian Tlaxcala, Mexico (Stanford University Press, 2024), Jaclyn Ann Sumner shows how this intermediary actor brokered national expectations and local conditions to maintain state power, challenging the idea that governors during the Porfirian dictatorship were little more than provincial stewards who repressed dissent. Drawing upon documentation from more than a dozen Mexican archives, the book brings Porfirian-era Mexico into critical conversations about race and environmental politics in Latin America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Stephen Neufeld joined Renata and Steven to discuss his award-winning book The Blood Contingent: The Military and the Making of Modern Mexico. Originally aired June 5, 2019

Dr. Stephen Neufeld joined Renata and Steven to discuss his award-winning book The Blood Contingent: The Military and the Making of Modern Mexico. Originally aired June 5, 2019

In her recent book Death in the City: Suicide and the Social Imaginary in Modern Mexico (University of California Press, 2017), Kathryn A. Sloan explores ideas and discourses surrounding the suicide of men and women in Mexico City. Against the backdrop of modernity and transnational intellectual exchanges at the turn of the twentieth century, Sloan situates a vast array of Mexican social actors as world citizens who approached death with the same complexity as people in other parts of the world. Throughout a variety of fascinating sources and cases, Sloan explores a myriad of cultural understandings of people who took their own lives, and portrays the meticulous care taken by those who planned suicide over their bodies, as well as the cold forensic rooms and their detailed reports. She writes of how ideas about death, moral panic, and science intertwined in different written and visual arenas. The press, official statistics, and medical reports explored suicide as a social illness that was undermining one of the most valuable resources of the nation: the Mexican youth. In Sloan's narrative, the city plays a central role: parks, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and cantinas took new significance as scenarios for suicide. Death in the City challenges widespread conceptions about the meanings historically attached to Mexicans regarding death and violence, while showing the nuances that gender and class added to the discourses about suicide between the Porfirian and the revolutionary era. Pamela Fuentes is Assistant Professor in the Women's and Gender Studies Department, Pace University, NYC campus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her recent book Death in the City: Suicide and the Social Imaginary in Modern Mexico (University of California Press, 2017), Kathryn A. Sloan explores ideas and discourses surrounding the suicide of men and women in Mexico City. Against the backdrop of modernity and transnational intellectual exchanges at the turn of the twentieth century, Sloan situates a vast array of Mexican social actors as world citizens who approached death with the same complexity as people in other parts of the world. Throughout a variety of fascinating sources and cases, Sloan explores a myriad of cultural understandings of people who took their own lives, and portrays the meticulous care taken by those who planned suicide over their bodies, as well as the cold forensic rooms and their detailed reports. She writes of how ideas about death, moral panic, and science intertwined in different written and visual arenas. The press, official statistics, and medical reports explored suicide as a social illness that was undermining one of the most valuable resources of the nation: the Mexican youth. In Sloan’s narrative, the city plays a central role: parks, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and cantinas took new significance as scenarios for suicide. Death in the City challenges widespread conceptions about the meanings historically attached to Mexicans regarding death and violence, while showing the nuances that gender and class added to the discourses about suicide between the Porfirian and the revolutionary era. Pamela Fuentes is Assistant Professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, Pace University, NYC campus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her recent book Death in the City: Suicide and the Social Imaginary in Modern Mexico (University of California Press, 2017), Kathryn A. Sloan explores ideas and discourses surrounding the suicide of men and women in Mexico City. Against the backdrop of modernity and transnational intellectual exchanges at the turn of the twentieth century, Sloan situates a vast array of Mexican social actors as world citizens who approached death with the same complexity as people in other parts of the world. Throughout a variety of fascinating sources and cases, Sloan explores a myriad of cultural understandings of people who took their own lives, and portrays the meticulous care taken by those who planned suicide over their bodies, as well as the cold forensic rooms and their detailed reports. She writes of how ideas about death, moral panic, and science intertwined in different written and visual arenas. The press, official statistics, and medical reports explored suicide as a social illness that was undermining one of the most valuable resources of the nation: the Mexican youth. In Sloan’s narrative, the city plays a central role: parks, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and cantinas took new significance as scenarios for suicide. Death in the City challenges widespread conceptions about the meanings historically attached to Mexicans regarding death and violence, while showing the nuances that gender and class added to the discourses about suicide between the Porfirian and the revolutionary era. Pamela Fuentes is Assistant Professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, Pace University, NYC campus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her recent book Death in the City: Suicide and the Social Imaginary in Modern Mexico (University of California Press, 2017), Kathryn A. Sloan explores ideas and discourses surrounding the suicide of men and women in Mexico City. Against the backdrop of modernity and transnational intellectual exchanges at the turn of the twentieth century, Sloan situates a vast array of Mexican social actors as world citizens who approached death with the same complexity as people in other parts of the world. Throughout a variety of fascinating sources and cases, Sloan explores a myriad of cultural understandings of people who took their own lives, and portrays the meticulous care taken by those who planned suicide over their bodies, as well as the cold forensic rooms and their detailed reports. She writes of how ideas about death, moral panic, and science intertwined in different written and visual arenas. The press, official statistics, and medical reports explored suicide as a social illness that was undermining one of the most valuable resources of the nation: the Mexican youth. In Sloan’s narrative, the city plays a central role: parks, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and cantinas took new significance as scenarios for suicide. Death in the City challenges widespread conceptions about the meanings historically attached to Mexicans regarding death and violence, while showing the nuances that gender and class added to the discourses about suicide between the Porfirian and the revolutionary era. Pamela Fuentes is Assistant Professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, Pace University, NYC campus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her recent book Death in the City: Suicide and the Social Imaginary in Modern Mexico (University of California Press, 2017), Kathryn A. Sloan explores ideas and discourses surrounding the suicide of men and women in Mexico City. Against the backdrop of modernity and transnational intellectual exchanges at the turn of the twentieth century, Sloan situates a vast array of Mexican social actors as world citizens who approached death with the same complexity as people in other parts of the world. Throughout a variety of fascinating sources and cases, Sloan explores a myriad of cultural understandings of people who took their own lives, and portrays the meticulous care taken by those who planned suicide over their bodies, as well as the cold forensic rooms and their detailed reports. She writes of how ideas about death, moral panic, and science intertwined in different written and visual arenas. The press, official statistics, and medical reports explored suicide as a social illness that was undermining one of the most valuable resources of the nation: the Mexican youth. In Sloan’s narrative, the city plays a central role: parks, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and cantinas took new significance as scenarios for suicide. Death in the City challenges widespread conceptions about the meanings historically attached to Mexicans regarding death and violence, while showing the nuances that gender and class added to the discourses about suicide between the Porfirian and the revolutionary era. Pamela Fuentes is Assistant Professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, Pace University, NYC campus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices