Not paying tolls is encouraged by associations that illegally occupy toll plazas.
An estimated 18 to 19 million motorists per year are passing through toll plazas without paying, generating losses of over 1.5 billion pesos (US $73.9 million) for highway concessionaires.
The newspaper El Universal, which cited those figures in a report published Thursday, said the avoidance of paying tolls is encouraged by members of associations that dedicate themselves to the illegal occupation of toll plazas, a relatively common practice in Mexico.
A broad range of groups – including students, teachers and the unemployed – occupy the plazas as a form of protest and/or to raise funds by charging motorists an unofficial toll.
Marco Frías, director of the Mexican Association of Highway Infrastructure Concessionaires, told El Universal that the non-payment of tolls – official ones at least – is most prevalent on the eastern side of the Valley of México metropolitan area, which includes Mexico City and surrounding municipalities of México state.
One such plaza is the Las Américas Caseta on the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense (México state Outer Loop Road) in Ecatepec, he said.
According to the Mexican Association of Highway Infrastructure Concessionaires, toll evasion represents a loss of US $73.9 million in revenue a year. Santiago Castillo Chomel/Shutterstock
The practice of not paying tolls causes a “significant decrease” in income for highway concessionaires and consequently affects the tax revenue collected by authorities, Frías said.
“The capacity of governments and in particular the federal government … to generate resources that can be used for education, for vaccines, for health care and so on,” is adversely affected, he said.
Frías said that a broad range of motorists pass through toll plazas without paying, apparently even when they are not occupied by protesters.
“The incidence of motorcycles [not paying] is growing a lot,” he said, adding that in eastern México state, truck drivers and public transit drivers are also guilty of the practice.
A group called Resistencia Civil Pacífica, or Pacific Civil Resistance, is one of the main promoters of the non-payment of tolls, El Universal said, adding that it uses social media to encourage the practice.
“If you go onto Facebook you can see a series of videos, even tutorials, about how to avoid tolls,” Frías said.
Como ahorrar en casetas en México
One of numerous online tutorials on how to avoid paying tolls on Mexican roads.
In one such video on YouTube, a motorist teaches a maña, or trick, to avoid paying.
“We’re going to see the trick one learns here due to extreme poverty,” a man says as he approaches a toll booth in Sinaloa.
He then avoids paying a toll by passing through the plaza when the boom lifts for the vehicle directly in front of him.
“You put yourself glued to the car [in front] as if you were being towed with chewing gum, and when the guy [in front] goes, you go with him,” the man tells his viewers after joking that the trick won’t work if the person in front of you has the same idea.
Frías said that not paying tolls has become a trend in Mexico and other countries such as Spain and Chile. However, he acknowledged that “the vast majority” of motorists are responsible and do the right thing.
“They’re aware … that when you pay a toll you get the [accident] insurance … that the highway grants, they’re aware that driving on a toll highway … [is] much safer and more efficient,” Frías said.
The US is expected to buy more than US $350 million worth of avocados for this year's Super Bowl.
A record-breaking 140,000 tonnes of Mexican avocados are expected to be shipped to the United States in the lead-up to the 56th Super Bowl, to be played in Los Angeles on February 13.
José Luis Gallardo, president of the Mexican Association of Avocado Producers, Packers and Exporters, told the newspaper Milenio that about 25,000 tonnes of avocados are currently being shipped to the U.S. per week, while exports will ramp up in early February.
Avocados are in high demand in the United States prior to the National Football League championship game, largely because guacamole is a popular snack for football lovers glued to their screens.
“An event like the Super Bowl is very important; we’re prepared in Michoacán, which right now is the only state that can send avocados [to the U.S.],” Gallardo said.
Juan Anaya, CEO of agricultural consultancy GMCA, estimated that avocado exports for the big game will be worth US $356 million, or 10% of annual revenue from the U.S. market. “Demand increases 30% or 40% in February,” he said.
Gallardo said that just under 1.12 million tonnes of Mexican avocados were shipped to the United States last year, up from 962,000 tonnes in 2020. “It’s a product that is very well accepted in the United States,” he said.
“… The pandemic hasn’t hurt us, we continue working in Michoacán, the shipments keep leaving every day and the product continues to sell very well.”
President López Obrador looks on as Garciá refutes media reports.
A prominent journalist has written an open letter to the federal government’s fake news debunker, warning her that she’s destroying her future and urging her to change course.
Ana Elizabeth García Vilchis has been presenting the “Who’s who in the lies of the week” segment at President López Obrador’s Wednesday morning press conference since the middle of last year.
“I don’t know you. I heard about you in June last year when the awful section you lead every Wednesday was created,” the letter starts.
“… I just know that you’re 32, you were the web coordinator at a news site and you studied social anthropology at the Puebla Autonomous University,” Uresti wrote.
Azuna Uresti urged García to research and write her own script rather than read what she has been told to read.
“… Why am I writing you these lines? Firstly because of my unsuccessful attempts to set up a journalistic interview with you; secondly because you have referred to me with lies from the National Palace; and thirdly and most importantly because I believe – and hopefully I’m wrong – that you’re destroying your future,” she wrote.
Uresti told García that she was writing not to defend herself but to offer advice as if she were her friend, sister or mother.
“… Every week that I see you there standing in front of everyone at the National Palace, reading a script that isn’t yours, I feel sad,” she wrote.
“… You don’t take ownership of the script either because you stutter, overact, sweat [and] your voice trembles. And that tells me that deep down you don’t feel comfortable with what you’re doing. Those who promised you that you would be the defender of the truth lied to you; those who promised to catapult your political career … lied to you,” Uresti said.
She acknowledged that journalism has its faults but asserted that all journalism “must be free and branding critical journalists as traitors or coup plotters is an attack against that freedom.”
“… You’re too young to mark your professional future in this way and to each week be the target of such brutal violence while the men who write what you read hide behind the president,” Uresti wrote, apparently referring to online abuse.
The day after Uresti’s open letter, García called out the journalist for supposedly making a false claim on Twitter. Presidencia de la República
“You have time to change course, to fight your own battles and not become a single-use cartridge, to remember that their adversaries are not necessarily yours,” she said.
“Say what you believe and have researched, defend the government in which you have placed your trust but don’t allow yourself to be an instrument of politics or revenge. Be free and let it be your choice that determines your path. With female solidarity, Azucena Uresti.”
A day after the letter was published, García took aim at the journalist in her weekly appearance at the National Palace, asserting that she had made a false claim about the governor of Veracruz on Twitter.
She concluded her remarks with a “reflection” on the segment she has been presenting for the past six months.
“This section was begun to provide a service to the public, to bring to light and refute the fake news that involves the federal government. Neither media outlets nor journalists are stigmatized here, we only cite lies and expose the replicators of falsehoods. If media outlets and names of journalists appear it’s for didactic purposes, it’s not anything personal,” García said.
“There is a clear campaign of disinformation to undermine the projects and works that this government is carrying out. … But even though they defend hidden economic or political interests or simply have bad faith, time will put everyone in their place.”
After Mexico won independence from Spanish colonists and declared itself a republic in 1823, foreign rule did make a very brief return to the country nearly 50 years later with the arrival of Emperor Maximilian I.
A member of the Hapsburg dynasty installed in Mexico by Napoleon III’s government and monarchist Mexican politicians, Maximilian spent time during his voyage from Europe to Veracruz in 1864 to accept his crown discussing the history and politics of his new kingdom. Yet he also devoted his energy to writing a 600-plus-page instruction manual on imperial etiquette, including how to pass his hat at ceremonies.
His doomed three-year reign ended in defeat and execution at age 34 by his rival, President Benito Juárez, in 1867, and history has often not recalled his rule or Maximilian positively.
“Maximilian is often portrayed as something of a bumbling idiot, not a very serious guy,” said British historian Edward Shawcross, author of a new biography of Maximilian that presents a somewhat more sympathetic picture — The Last Emperor of Mexico: The Dramatic Story of the Habsburg Archduke Who Created a Kingdom in the New World, published in late 2021 by Basic Books.
“The European context is important,” said Shawcross in a Zoom interview. “He was not necessarily incompetent.”
The royal couple’s arrival in Veracruz in 1864.
As proof, the book cites Maximilian’s upbringing as an Austrian archduke in the Habsburg Empire, where he showed promise as governor of the province of Venetia-Lombardy and the commander of the Austrian navy. In Mexico, he gave stirring orations on Independence Day, reached out to indigenous communities and tried the local cuisine.
Yet, he also couldn’t stomach spicy food, and in 1865, when he planned a visit to the Yucatán Peninsula, the deteriorating security situation kept him from going. His wife went instead.
Shawcross’ research on the book dates back to before the COVID-19 pandemic, involving time in Mexico, France and Austria.
How did Maximilian end up ruling Mexico? French forces invaded along with those of the United Kingdom and Spain, as part of a tripartite scheme to pressure Mexico into repaying debts owed. The partnership ended when the U.K. and Spain settled their disputes with Mexico. Meanwhile, Napoleon III and the Mexican conservatives then offered rule of the country to Maximilian.
The brother of the Habsburg emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, Maximilian sought to rule his new empire with both European and Mexican approaches.
“He tried a kind of hybrid,” Shawcross said, “a lot of trappings of European aristocracy. Maximilian loved etiquette, loved hierarchy, [being] deferred to as a Habsburg.” And yet, at his first Independence Day ceremony in 1864, the emperor showed “much more of a Mexican identity, dressing as a liberal revolutionary cowboy.”
Napoleon III.
Maximilian’s 16th-century ancestor, Charles V, was both the Habsburg emperor and the king of Spain when the Spanish Empire conquered Mexico. “He believed that he was born to rule because he was a Habsburg,” Shawcross said. “[He believed] that he was very talented. There are some indications [that] that is the case.”
“In terms of his character, it’s contradictory; there are different sides to it,” he said. “He’s often dismissed as a dilettante, interested in poetry, botany, an amateur scientist. His horizons were broad. Maximilian also had liberal sympathies by the standards of the 19th century — no autocratic government, a constitutional empire, elements of democracy.”
Maximilian did not journey to Mexico until about three years after the invasion began. The Mexican army had already temporarily halted the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 — Cinco de Mayo.
Despite Maximilian’s doubts about the throne, his wife, Charlotte, a princess of Belgium, encouraged him. “She herself was ambitious,” Shawcross said. “She was decisive and knew what she wanted. … [Maximilian] had ambition but did not know how to channel it.”
Although Maximiliano and Carlota, as they were known in Mexico, established a glamorous court here, Benito Juárez never conceded defeat, and popular support for imperial rule was anything but overwhelming.
“There are two rival governments,” Shawcross said. “Juárez is wandering the northern deserts, not in great shape, but whole parts of Mexico, north and south, are not under control. … There was savage guerrilla warfare against Maximilian’s army. [The country] was still torn apart by civil war. It was not what Napoleon III led [Maximilian] to expect.”
Benito Juárez kept battling Maximilian’s rule, creating enough insecurity that at times, the emperor did not feel safe to tour the country.
Shawcross’ book chronicles Maximilian’s multiple missteps: his liberalism won over some Juaristas but alienated the support of conservatives and the Catholic Church. Adopting the grandsons of Mexico’s first, equally unlucky emperor — Agustin de Iturbide, who ruled from 1822–1823 — mystified Mexicans.
By 1865, when Carlota visited the Yucatán, “The empire was so precarious that he couldn’t leave [with her],” Shawcross said. “He did go on a lot of tours. They were practical. He met the people; it was a chance to get to know the country. Critics said they were real tourists, on holiday away from Mexico City.”
In that year, Maximilian’s empire expanded as much as it ever would, but it was also the year of his hated Black Decree, ordering the execution of any Mexicans who bore arms against the imperial regime and refused to surrender, which generally meant a death sentence for Juaristas.
The Union army also won the U.S. Civil War, and Mexico’s northern neighbor could suddenly pay attention to Mexico again. “They [now] wanted to invade Mexico and drive the French out,” Shawcross said.
Although Americans smuggled weapons to Juárez, in the end, Washington largely used diplomatic pressure. Meanwhile, mounting debts to France violated the terms of the agreement through which Napoleon supported Maximilian.
As the French forces withdrew, Maximilian tried to abdicate on several occasions before being dissuaded — first by Carlota, then by his few remaining supporters.
Maximilian was executed in 1867 in the city of Querétaro. Just before the firing squad shot him, he is reputed to have said, “May my blood conclude the misfortunes of my new country.”
“She said only a coward would [abdicate],” Shawcross explained. She told him, according to Shawcross, “As long as there’s six feet of the empire, if you’re here, dead or alive, there’s still an empire.”
Carlota left to seek support abroad, first with Napoleon III and then Pope Pius IX, but she suffered a mental breakdown in the Vatican and died in 1927 without ever seeing her husband again.
On Maximilian’s second abdication attempt, he went so far as to pack his luggage. The news got out, but the emperor did not go through with his plan, ultimately resolving to defend his cause with a force of 9,000 — including generals Miguel Miramón, a former Conservative Party president, and Tomás Mejía. They holed up and faced off against the Juarista army of 30,000 in Querétaro city.
“It was one of the worst places in the world for a siege,” Shawcross said. “It was surrounded by hills on all sides. Juárez had the high ground. … Maximilian’s soldiers were starving.
“He showed a sort of great courage under fire. … His point of view was [that] it was an honorable last stand. For two months, March to May, it was a good fight.”
It ended in betrayal and capture. There were rescue attempts from abroad and within Mexico — including from an American supporter, Princess Agnes Salm-Salm. A former actress and circus performer, she implored Juárez to release the emperor to no avail. She and her husband — Prince Felix Salm-Salm, a Prussian veteran who joined the imperialistas — made several unsuccessful efforts to get Maximilian out.
Author Edward Shawcross. Edward Stone
“[Maximilian’s] indecision traps him,” Shawcross said. “It was always the next day, the next day, the next day.”
He was court-martialed, convicted of treason and executed by firing squad with Miramón and Mejía on June 19, 1867.
In his final months, Maximilian’s indecision may have cost him the most. “There was not much of the empire left to rule,” Shawcross said. “To fight for an emperor who might leave — is this guy worth dying for?”
Rich Tenorio is a frequent contributor to Mexico News Daily.
TikTok images of Uziel Martínez, who is now short one kidney.
How far would you go for love? In a new trend on the video-sharing platform TikTok, some users have shared their most disastrous stories of love gone wrong.
And while tales of heartbreak abound, a Baja California man took the cake and went viral for his unmatched misfortune.
Teacher Uziel Martínez shared the news that he donated a kidney to his girlfriend’s mother. But within a month the woman left him and married someone else.
In follow-up videos, Martínez responded to comments on his viral post, providing more details of the incident.
“Don’t look so sad, she lost a great gentleman,” one viewer wrote. “Keep moving forward and find the perfect woman, [someone] who appreciates you.”
Martínez responded that in fact, he was doing well. He was healthy, despite only having one kidney, and did not hold a grudge against his ex.
“I don’t have anything against her … we’re not friends but we don’t hate each other. I only made [the video] for TikTok, I didn’t think it would get out of control,” he said, referring to the video’s wild popularity.
Another comment begged Martínez not to make the same mistake again, to which he patiently explained that such an error would be impossible: he only had one kidney left, and he planned to keep using it.
The traffic cops alleged to have attempted to shake down a motorist.
Transit police officers in the México state municipality of Coalcalco were caught on camera in what would appear to be an attempt to extort a motorist.
According to witnesses, officers stopped a car, presumably for having committed an infraction. After a routine inspection, the officers demanded 500 pesos (US $25) to let the driver go without a ticket, and even escorted the victim to a nearby ATM to withdraw the money.
The victim reported that the officers initially just asked to check her license. When they couldn’t find a legitimate reason to give a ticket, they made one up, saying that her window shades were illegal, she said.
But the attempted extortion was interrupted by good samaritans passing by. Outraged witnesses confronted the officers and began to record the incident on cell phones.
“You already brought her to the ATM, you thief … stop there, son!” exclaimed one driver, who got out of his car and tried to block the officers from fleeing. “Look at them, look at them! Damned thief,” he continued, adding a string of creative expletives.
An angry witness expresses his outrage against corrupt cops.
Facing an angry public, the officers gave up on their attempt to extract a bribe. One got out of the passenger seat and tried to direct traffic so the patrol car could leave the area. Another woman who saw what was happening stood in front of the car and tried to block it from leaving, but after various maneuvers the officers managed to drive away in the wrong direction, escaping into oncoming traffic.
Local authorities announced that an investigation has been opened into the incident.
“We’re following up with the facts, along with Mayor David Sánchez, to investigate and sanction whoever is responsible for this abuse of authority,” promised local councilor Benjamín Alfaro.
Travelers in one of the vans detained Tuesday evening filmed a bilingual video pleading for help from the government. Screenshot
Tourists traveling in at least four vans were detained by protesters in Chiapas for more than seven hours on Tuesday night.
Vans transporting foreign and national travelers to San Cristóbal de las Casas were stopped in the municipality of Oxchuc at approximately 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
According to media reports, those responsible for impeding the vehicles are supporters of Hugo Gómez Sántiz, a candidate in an election last month to elect a new mayor to head the Oxchuc municipal council.
Gómez claims he won, but the election was in fact suspended due to violence that left one person dead. One of his rivals was subsequently named mayor. Gómez’s supporters have been blocking an entrance to the municipal seat of Oxchuc in recent weeks to protest the appointment.
The occupants of one of the detained vans recorded a video to ask authorities for help. “We’re asking the government to intercede and reach an agreement with the people who have detained us here,” said one woman.
“We need help, we need to go to San Cristóbal,” one foreign tourist said in English. “Please can you send help for us so we can go to San Cristóbal,” said another foreign woman.
It was truck drivers rather than authorities who eventually came to the stranded tourists’ aid, the news website La Silla Rota reported. At approximately 4:00 a.m. Wednesday the tourists left the vans and were taken to accommodation in Oxchuc. They resumed their journey to San Cristóbal at midday Wednesday, according to local media.
The incident occurred a week after a Russian woman was attacked by protesters on the Ocosingo-San Cristóbal de las Casas highway in Oxchuc because she refused to pay them a toll. The Chiapas Attorney General’s Office is investigating the crime.
Patients and families with children wait outside Mexico City's La Raza public hospital, one of the facilities where all COVID beds are currently full.
The federal Health Ministry reported a new daily record of 44,187 confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday, while the number of estimated active cases hit an all-time high of 222,221.
Mexico’s accumulated case tally rose to 4.21 million, while an additional 190 COVID-19 fatalities lifted the official death toll to 300,764.
The number of estimated active cases increased 20% in the space of a single day as the highly contagious omicron variant continues to spread rapidly. The total has risen 412% this year after ending 2021 at 43,360.
Baja California Sur continues to lead the country for active cases on a per capita basis with over 900 per 100,000 people.
Mexico City ranks second with just under 600 cases per 100,000 people followed by San Luis Potosí, Quintana Roo and Zacatecas, each of which has more than 300.
Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients and deaths have not risen as quickly as case numbers since omicron’s arrival, but general care COVID wards are nevertheless full at 115 public hospitals, federal data shows.
Twenty-three of the hospitals with 100% capacity are in Mexico City. Among them are the Central Military Hospital, the Villa Coapa IMSS hospital, the La Raza IMSS hospital and the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Beds with ventilators are fully occupied at 17 hospitals across Mexico including the Tulancingo General Hospital in Hidalgo; the Regional General Hospital in Culiacán, Sinaloa; the ISSSTE Clinical Hospital in Mérida, Yucatán; and the Delicias Regional Hospital in Chihuahua.
There are just over 4,000 COVID patients in public hospitals. At the state level, Baja California Sur has the highest occupancy rate with 69% of general care COVID beds currently occupied. Four other states have rates above 50%: Chihuahua, 67%; Zacatecas, 65%; Aguascalientes, 55%; and Durango, 52%.
With case numbers surging – more than 234,000 or over 19,500 per day were reported in the first 12 days of January – more than half of Mexico’s 32 states have introduced or announced new measures aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, although none has directed citizens to stay at home.
• People wishing to enter establishments such as bars and nightclubs in Jalisco will have to present their vaccination certificate or a negative COVID-19 test result starting Friday.
Tightly packed crowds wait for appointments, paperwork, medical attention, and information about family outside the La Raza IMSS public hospital in Mexico City.
Jalisco authorities also postponed the return to in-person classes after the Christmas-New Year break. Primary and middle school students will return to school next Monday. High school students will return on January 31.
• Since the first week of January, residents of Tlaxcala have had to present proof of vaccination or a negative test result to enter establishments such as shopping centers, supermarkets, department stores, cafes, restaurants and hotels.
The state government ordered bars and nightclubs to close and reduced the maximum permitted capacity levels at a range of commercial establishments and public places.
• Authorities in Tamaulipas have placed a temporary suspension on large events such as weddings and 15th birthday parties. They also reduced capacity levels at establishments including gyms and hotels.
• Authorities in San Luis Potosí have ramped up COVID-19 testing in numerous municipalities. Among those where people can access free rapid testing are Matehuala, Villas de Pozos, Rioverde, Ciudad Valles and Tamazunchale.
• The Nuevo León government reduced the maximum permitted capacity in enclosed commercial establishments to 50%. In open air spaces capacity is capped at 70% of normal levels.
• The Baja California government made presenting a vaccination certificate a prerequisite to entering some commercial establishments but later relaxed the rule, saying that it was only a recommendation that businesses could choose to follow or not.
• In-person classes in Baja California Sur have been suspended and no resumption date has been set. Authorities have also reduced maximum permitted capacity levels at beaches and restaurants.
• Authorities in Aguascalientes reduced capacity levels to 50% in bars and restaurants and ordered them to close by 11:00 p.m.
• People in Ecatepec, México state, who are caught not wearing a face mask in a public place will have to undertake five hours of community service work or complete two to eight hours of jail time.
The municipal government announced the mandatory face mask rule on Wednesday. Mayor Fernando Vilchis Contreras said that the rule was designed to save lives and protect the economy.
• Other states where authorities have announced new measures aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus include Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Nayarit, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa and Zacatecas. Schools in several of those states, and some others, didn’t reopen on January 3, despite the federal Ministry of Public Education urging students and teachers across the country to return to the classroom.
• Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum earlier this month ruled out the possibility of ordering businesses and schools to close despite the increase in COVID cases.
“… The strategy can no longer be to shut down economic activities … or close schools,” she said January 4. “The strategy has to be to get vaccinated and help each other to look after ourselves.”
CNTE union members took control of vaccination site entrances and allowed their people through first.
Members of the dissident CNTE teachers union seized control of two COVID-19 vaccination centers in Oaxaca city on Wednesday and proceeded to pass their associates to the front of the line.
Union representatives were able to take control of the vaccination centers set up at the Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca and the Technical Institute of Oaxaca because they outnumbered federal employees known as servants of the nation, according to a report by the newspaper Reforma.
CNTE members stationed at the entrances ushered their associates into the vaccination centers ahead of members of the rival SNTE union. The SNTE members protested but were unable to put an end to the preferential treatment. Some had to wait more than four hours to get a jab.
According to local sources cited by Reforma, the CNTE union asked its members to arrive at the vaccination centers at specific times so that they could be escorted in as groups to receive their booster shots.
The federal campaign to administer booster shots to teachers, most of whom were inoculated with the single-shot CanSino last April and May, began Wednesday and will conclude Friday. Almost 2.7 million Moderna shots will be given to teachers and other school employees, Education Minister Delfina Gómez said.
Nineteen vaccination centers were slated to be set up in Oaxaca but only four offered shots to teachers on Wednesday, Reforma said. In addition to the two Oaxaca city centers, shots were administered at facilities in Tuxtepec, the state’s second largest city, and Juchitán, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec hub.
A campaign to administer booster shots to people aged 60 began in December but has not yet concluded. Mexico is currently facing a large omicron-fueled fourth wave of coronavirus infections, with more than 222,000 active cases across the country, according to the latest Health Ministry estimate.
Walker's flag. The two stars represented the Republics of Sonora and the Republic of Lower California.
This month marks the anniversary of William Walker’s ill-fated 19th-century attempt to establish his own country in the northwest of Mexico.
Walker, a United States physician, lawyer and journalist, was also what was then called a “filibuster” — someone looking to conquer lands in the Americas in the years between the Mexican-American War and the Civil War in the United States. At one point, he briefly controlled parts of Sonora and Baja California.
Since many of his ilk were from the U.S. south, it is common to attribute their motives to establishing new slave states. Far more important was the doctrine of Manifest Destiny.
By the time I went to school in the 1970s, this doctrine was explained as being about the United States’ destiny to extend its territory to the Pacific Ocean. But in the mid-19th century, that “destiny” included all of the Americas. There was also an economic incentive to the filibusters’ actions: latecomers to the California Gold Rush who found themselves broke were ripe for adventurism.
Mexico received warnings of filibuster activity from the U.S. government as early as 1851 since it was in violation of the U.S. Neutrality Act. Various filibusters made their way to Mexico, but William Walker was the most “successful.”
William Walker.
Highly intelligent, educated and internationally traveled, he made his way to San Francisco from New Orleans in his early 20s. With the Gold Rush over and dreaming of empire, Walker’s target was Sonora and its mineral deposits.
His first attempt to get a foothold in the area started with a trip to the Sonoran port of Guaymas in early 1852, asking the Mexican government to form a mining settlement. That request was denied.
Walker returned to San Francisco to start his quest in earnest, raising money by selling certificates that would later be redeemable for land in Sonora. He bought arms, other supplies and a ship called TheArrow. However, the U.S. army intervened and confiscated the ship and most of its supplies.
Unwilling to give up, he and 45 men booked passage on another ship, leaving San Francisco in October of 1853. They made it to Guaymas, but Mexican officials there became wary and turned them away.
When the ship stopped for supplies in La Paz, Baja California, Walker and his men decided to take over what was the capital of the peninsula. They caught the territory during a change of power and proclaimed the Republic of Lower California, with Walker as president.
Word of Walker’s takeover of Baja made it to the U.S., where it was very popular. It brought men, but precious little in the way of provisions. Communications with his base in San Francisco were spotty at best, and the organization there disintegrated.
A drawing illustrating Walker’s execution in Honduras in 1860.
But by January of 1854, Walker found himself with about 300 men and supplies taken from local ranches (with IOUs, of course).
He had never forgotten the original plan to invade Sonora, and Baja California had little to offer Walker. So on January 10, 1854, he declared that Baja California was part of the new Republic of Sonora.
He had not stepped foot on the mainland, but he decided to remedy that.
It is not known why Walker decided to march to Sonora instead of commandeering boats to cross the Gulf of California. But march they did, taking a ranch near Todos Santos and renaming it Fort McKibben.
Walker still hoped for shiploads of supplies, but they never came. The filibusters continued northward, sacking anything of value in that impoverished area, which further turned the local populace against them.
Authorities in Mazatlán and Mexico City were aware of the situation but were slow to respond. A contingent of 250 Mexican soldiers did not arrive in La Paz until December 12, 1853, sent by authorities in Sinaloa.
The poster for a film about Walker’s life made in 1987, with Ed Harris playing the notorious filibuster.
Walker made it to Ensenada, then turned east to Sonora. However, he was unable to cross the Colorado River delta. Meanwhile, Mexican soldiers were in pursuit.
Problems of hunger, thirst and battles prompted desertions until by early May of 1854, Walker had fewer than 35 men. He tried to retreat to San Vicente, but the Mexican garrison had captured it, so the ragtag bunch of adventurers had to hightail it to the border. It was far better to turn themselves over to U.S. military authorities than to surrender to the Mexican army.
On May 8, they finally crossed the border, where U.S. soldiers were waiting for them along with a bunch of curious onlookers.
Walker’s invasion and “republics” lasted only eight months, but they took a toll on Mexico-U.S. relations and the political and economic situation on the Baja borderlands. Although the United States government never sanctioned Walker’s activities and even warned Mexico about them, the incursions started when the U.S. was negotiating the Gadsden Purchase. The Mexican government was worried about the Americans’ intentions toward the Baja Peninsula in general.
The Baja California border area was sparsely populated to begin with, but over a third of that population left for safety reasons during and after the invasion. It forced the Mexican government to militarize the area.
After surrendering to the U.S. military, Walker was taken to San Francisco to stand trial for violating the Neutrality Act. However, because of the popularity of what he did, the jury acquitted him in just eight minutes.
A free man again, he would then try his luck in Nicaragua, becoming “president” of that country for 10 months before being kicked out. His last filibuster was in Honduras in 1860, but the British did not take kindly to such activity in their backyard and so captured him and turned him over to Honduran authorities. He was executed that year at the age of 36.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
