The story of the two Katrinas

Did you know a Katrina myth has been going around in Mexico for many

years? Although spelled with a C in Spanish, the similarities between

the American and Mexican Katrinas are striking.

Both are associated with poverty, destruction and death. Both

arose during a globalization process under a polarizing economic

doctrine.

We know the devastation of Hurricane Katrina will create economic

problems across the nation, possibly raising inflation rates because

of oil hikes. Let’s just hope that the problems won’t be as harsh as

what our grandfathers experienced decades ago.

To find out about the Mexican Catrina, I would suggest taking

Juani Funez-Gonzales’ Mexican history class at Orange Coast College

or grabbing a Mexican history book at Barnes & Noble. Then you’ll

find out that in Mexico almost everything begins with Porfirio Diaz,

a brutal dictator of the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was neither

an angel nor a devil. He was just a man, but a merciless one -- a

ruthless fiend with an overwhelming appetite for power.

Only the latest Mexican president, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, can

overshadow Diaz in his love for voodoo economics. Diaz established

laws benefiting an economic elite of landowners and international

investors from Europe, mainly from England. The British brought

Mexico and the rest of Latin America under an umbrella of economic

globalization in the late 1800s. Their entrepreneurship helped

modernize Mexican society, but it also undermined the foundations of

the Mexican economy by further increasing the animosities between the

rich and the poor. In many ways, Diaz paved the way for a violent

social uprising, a revolution that lasted more than 10 years and cost

many lives.

The polarized society stimulated Jose Guadalupe Posada’s artistic

skills. His drawings of whimsical skeletons ridiculed the economic

elite of the Diaz government. His art exposed these people’s

prejudices and their frivolous lives.

Most Mexicans during the Porfiriato couldn’t read or write, but as

the saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words. Posada was quite

successful in conveying through his drawings that Mexico was going

straight to hell if people continued to allow Diaz’s dictatorial

policies. Posada’s most famous work is undoubtedly the Catrina. It

shows an odd-looking skeletal woman dressed in satin garments and

wearing a charro sombrero. Her face is marked by an enigmatic yet

dreadful smile. It satirizes the upper-class women of the Diaz

period. Catrina is now deeply seeded in Mexican culture, as it has

become the most recognizable figure of the Day of the Dead, Nov. 2.

Today that symbol of the dead has been shifted to the Gulf Coast

of America. The images we’ve been receiving from the states of

Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are heartbreaking. Hurricane

Katrina reminds us how small we are compared to the colossal forces

of nature. New Orleans resembles a city in a horror story. The

streets have been turned into rivers, most houses are destroyed and

the people are desperately seeking help.

Like its Mexican counterpart, Hurricane Katrina arose during a

major globalization process. The latest pictures brought that to my

attention. Many Americans are living in desperate conditions despite

the enormous wealth created during the last two or three decades of

trickle-down economics. The distance between the rich and the poor

has never been so broad in the U.S., and that should worry all of us.

It was comforting to see the Red Cross and other nonprofit

institutions mobilizing to supply food and other resources to the

devastated areas. A big thumbs up to them, and to you for helping

out.

* HUMBERTO CASPA is a Costa Mesa resident and bilingual writer. He

can be reached by e-mail at hcletters@yahoo.com.