Breathe
By Sofía Guadarrama Collado
On Friday, February 28, the people of Mexico City who had the opportunity to attend the Zócalo were able to witness a spectacle intended to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the execution of Cuauhtémoc, the last Mexica huei tlatoani, which was called "State Funerals: 500 Years of the Execution of Cuauhtémoc".
As expected, President Claudia Sheinbaum was in charge of leading this circus, in which she paid a guard of honor, and spoke of Cuauhtémoc's bravery and resistance to the Spanish invasion. She spoke of his legacy as a symbol of sovereignty and cultural resistance and mentioned that it was important to eradicate racism and vindicate the native peoples.
I am sorry if what I am about to write below makes any of our readers uncomfortable, but twenty-four years of study support what I am about to write: Cuauhtémoc was neither a hero nor much less deserving of a tribute five hundred years after his death.
But we live in Mexico - a country in which, according to INEGI data, only 6 out of 10 Mexicans over 18 read at least one book in 2024 - and in which history has been perversely manipulated to indoctrinate the population.
These days I have been looking for some columns or publications in social networks about the death of Cuauhtémoc and his supposed defense of the Mexican people. Not that I have never read it. I have written 15 books about the Mexica people. But this week I intended to find out the popular opinion and I discovered that even some columnists are aligned with the official story.
In Mexico, Nezahualcoyotl and Cuauhtémoc are undeservedly idolized. I will write about the former someday in this column. Today, I take the liberty of sharing with you an excerpt from my book Señores del Anáhuac.
Cuauhtémoc, "eagle that descends"[cuauhtli, "eagle", temohuia, "to descend", and -c, inflectional suffix indicating person or place] or "sun that descends", since the Nahua associated the eagle with the sun, especially nobility. Erroneously it has been translated as "eagle that falls", however, in Nahuatl "to fall" is actihuetzi.
He was born approximately in 1500. His birthplace remains unknown. Very little is known about Cuauhtémoc. What is certain is that he was unknown in the history of Mexico-Tenochtitlan until he was sworn in as tlatoani. Not even in the government of Cuitláhuac is he mentioned. Now, it is clear that he was not unknown to the Mexica, but neither was he an outstanding politician. If the chronicles do not mention him, it is because he was not an important character up to that time, which is absolutely understandable: we are talking about a young man of approximately twenty years of age.
When the battles between the Spanish and the Mexica began, Cuauhtémoc was inexperienced in arms. Therefore, it is deduced that his inexperience in warfare led him to make the wrong decisions. It is fair to ask ourselves, if he was an unknown, why was he chosen?
For two reasons: after the Matanza del Templo Mayor, the battle on the night of the flight of the Spaniards and the smallpox epidemic, the Mexica nobility had been reduced, we could almost assure that it was on the verge of extinction, since we must take into account that only in the first event around six hundred pipiltin, "nobles", were killed. Then the probabilities of Cuauhtémoc being elected grew in an unimaginable way, even for himself.
After the death of Cuitláhuac, who ruled between forty and eighty days, there were other candidates to the government with greater probabilities of being elected: Chimalpopoca, Axopacatzin, Axayaca and Xoxopeualloc, the four sons of Moctezuma. The first one died days after the flight of the Spaniards, apparently by a wound when. The second was killed by Cuauhtémoc. According to the oidor Zorita, Axopacatzin intended to meet Cortés in Tepeaca to reach a peace agreement. Of the last two, it is said that Cuauhtémoc also killed them because they were against his decisions as tlatoani.
When Cuauhtémoc was elected tlatoani, he stayed in Tenochtitlan, evidently because of his inexperience in the battlefield. It should not be forgotten that in the Nahua culture, the rulers went to war, but the tlatoani had another struggle: the internal one, that of the members of the nobility who were in favor of continuing fighting the enemy and that of those who advocated peace, which is truly sensible; the slaughter of the Templo Mayor, the battles before the flight of the Spaniards, smallpox, the combats when the island was besieged and hunger, more than enough reasons. To get rid of that burden, the young tlatoani ordered to kill all the detractors, including the cihuacóatl Tzoacpopocatzin, grandson of Tlacaélel.
Finally, Cuauhtémoc led the Mexica to a collective suicide.
Myths and legends have surpassed history and created a non-existent hero, an idealized figure. Starting with his supposed bravery in battle.
"No source speaks of Cuauhtémoc intervening in the fighting or taking charge of it, as if he were the remote emperor," Hugh Thomas.
Hernán Cortés had a dozen brigantines built. When the day came, he entered Tenochtitlan through the canals. To gain ground, Cortés decided to bombard the buildings in his path with his cannons. He himself mentions that it pained him to have to destroy such a beautiful city. The Mexica began to cover the canals at night so that the brigantines would run aground. Cortés then sent his Tlaxcalan and Texcocan allies to clean up in the pass.
Ixtlilxóchitl, the young tlatoani of Tetzcuco, offered loyalty to Cortés since his arrival, which makes him the true traitor. He dissolved the Triple Alliance.
Meanwhile Cuauhtémoc refused to accept the surrender. He did not care that his people were dying of hunger and thirst. Dead bodies were piled up everywhere. The people drank the unhealthy lake water. Many of the nobility begged him to stop the fighting, but he refused. Then he asked for help from the lords of Tlatelolco, who since the rule of Ahuízotl were an independent people. Tlatelololco accepted on one condition, that once the war was over, if they won, they would have absolute control of the excan tlatolóyan, "government among three" (the Triple Alliance). Cuauhtémoc accepted. In other words, he gave away his kingdom to save his life. The Mexica government moved to Tlatelololco.
Cortes advanced until he reached the center of Mexico Tenochtitlan. Although he knew that the city was his, he decided to wait. He constantly sent messengers to ask for Cuauhtémoc's surrender, but he refused, and whoever dared to contradict him, he had him killed.
On August 13, 1521, Cuauhtémoc boarded a canoe with his family and fled Tlatelolco, where he was sheltering while the Spaniards besieged the island. He abandoned his people when they needed him most.
When he found himself in front of Cortés, he asked him to kill him with his dagger.
Thomas Carlyle rightly wrote: "A hero may be either the one who triumphs or the one who succumbs, but never the one who gives up the fight".
Moctezuma Xocoyotzin and Cuitláhuac, never abandoned their people nor surrendered. Moctezuma Xocoyotzin fought, even as a prisoner, against the Spaniards, to the point of letting himself die.
Cuauhtémoc was presented to the Mexica people the day after his capture. Days later he was taken to Coyoacán, not for his safety or comfort, but because the city reeked of death. The atmosphere was unbearable, the scenes unheard of.
While the Tlaxcalans and other allies sacked the city, Cortés' men tortured Cuauhtémoc to get him to confess where Moctezuma's famous treasure was.
Cuauhtémoc had no idea what they were talking about. Then they poured a bucket of boiling oil on his feet. It is false that they had burned them with fire. Then they went against Tetlepanquetzaltzin, lord of Tlacopan who, in the midst of the torture, begged Cuauhtémoc to confess and Cuauhtémoc answered him:
"Am I in some delight or a temazcali?" Over the years people changed this phrase to "Am I in a bed of roses?" Here it is shown that the relationship between the two of them was not good. And it is obvious, they did not know each other.
It is said that Cuauhtémoc and Tetlepanquetzaltzin were crippled in their feet for the rest of their lives. It is completely unknown what happened in the following years. It is known that Cuauhtémoc agreed to rule the city, but from slavery. He could go out and talk to the people, but always followed by his jailers. During this period there was a massive emigration. Mexico Tenochtitlan was almost depopulated. Those who decided to stay gave themselves as slaves to the Spaniards. Women were forced to endure sexual abuse in addition to slavery.
In October 1524, three years after the fall of Tenochtitlan, Cortés decided to go to the Hibueras, today Honduras, in an expedition that covered more than half of the current Mexican territory. Cortes knew that he had very little left as governor of New Spain and that the Crown would spare him nothing.
