Breathe
By Sofía Guadarrama
Legend has it that during the flight of the Spaniards on the night of June 30, 1520, Pedro de Alvarado had been given the task of encouraging those who remained behind. The violence of the Mexica was such that Alvarado lost his horse and had to run along the road. When he reached the last cut in the road he found that the Mexica had removed the wooden bridge. Lopez de Gomara, Fernandez de Oviedo and Cervantes de Salazar, tell that Pedro de Alvarado ran, buried his spear in the bottom, as if it were a pole vault, propelled himself and jumped over the canal like an Olympic athlete. They say that the Mexica were astonished, "because it was very big, and others could not do it, although they tried it, and they drowned", declares López de Gómara. Since then, this avenue has been called Salto de Alvarado and Puente de Alvarado.
There are those who have argued that this could not have been possible. What difference does it make if it is a fable? It is a great contribution to the legends of our country.
On August 19, 2021, Puente de Alvarado Avenue changed its name to Calzada Mexico-Tenochtitlan, this to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan, which, in MORENA they called "500th anniversary of the indigenous resistance". Yes, the indigenous people that Sheinbaum uses to get them to give her staffs of command but that she ordered to evict when stalls were set up in front of the Antiguo Palacio del Ayuntamiento building in 2019 while she was head of government.
But the matter did not end with the change of name of Puente de Alvarado, the names of the Metrobus and Metro stations were also changed: the Metrobus Line 4 station Puente de Alvarado was changed to México Tenochtitlán; and the Metro Zócalo station to Zócalo Tenochtitlan.
And not content with that -on July 27, 2021- the head of government renamed the former "Plaza de La Noche Triste" as "Plaza de la Noche Victoriosa".
The flight of the Spaniards began around eleven o'clock at night and is believed to have ended shortly before dawn. That night around eight thousand Nahua (Mexica, Tlatelolcas, Cholultecas, Texcocanos, Tlaxcaltecas and others) and one thousand three hundred Spanish soldiers died.
It should be noted that not all of them were Spanish: there were Italians, Germans, among other nationalities. Cortés and about four hundred men fled to Tlacopan.
You have to have very poor reading comprehension not to understand that The Sad Night of June 30, 1520, commemorates the failure of the Spaniards, their defeat, their flight. The sad night of Hernán Cortés and his men. There was no need to change the name to La Noche De La Victoria.
In 2023, Lopez Obrador changed the name of the "Sea of Cortez" to "Gulf of California". "The Sea of Cortés", was designated in honor of the expeditions and discoveries made by Hernán Cortés along the coasts of what is now Baja California and Sonora during the 16th century. It is our history. The name "Gulf of California" erases its historical meaning.
"Calzada Mexico Tenochtitlan", "La Noche Victoriosa", "Golfo de California", are rancid products of demagogy, a manipulation of history, social indoctrination, toxic triumphalism.
If the objective is to return to the native peoples their historical memory, then they should change the name of the Basilica of Guadalupe to the Teocalli of Tonantzin. And change the image to the Cihuacóatl. But that would not buy votes, on the contrary, do not mess with Lupita.
Now Trump wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Trump and Sheinbaum-López are a match made in heaven.
"Populist is that person who preaches ideas he knows to be false among people he knows to be idiots", Henry Louis Mencken.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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