Humor in Crisis: Guadalupe Loaeza's Caricature of the Mexican Bourgeoisie

Desde 1982 las satiras de Guadalupe Loaeza han servido como radiografia de la sociedad mexicana durante los anos de crisis economica de 1982-al presente. Mientras otras escritoras como Christina Pacheco y Elena Poniatowska se afanan por pintar la cruda realidad de las masas, Loaeza se concentra en los excesos de la burguesia-en su pretensibn, materialismo y corrupcion-omo materia prima para poner de relieve el gran abismo que existe entre las clases sociales en Mexico. Debido a la inmensa popularidad de sus articulos, Loaeza se ha convertido en cronista de la burguesia capitalina moderna, cuyo poder social y politico se ve cada vez mis amenazado por la crisis economica y la inestablilidad del gobierno. On September 1, 1982 a nation of apprehensive Mexicans sat glued to the television set watching the sixth and final State of the Union address of outgoing president, Jose Lopez Portillo. Traditionally these 5hour marathon speeches given every September 1 before the Congress and Cabinet members function as a gesture of accountability on the part of the ruling party to provide a yearly review of the government's accomplishments in improving the economic and social conditions of Mexico. Apprehension was running extremely high going into this yearly rendering of accounts in September of 1982. There had been previous signs that the economy was failing; in fact, just that February, when rumors circulated that a devaluation was forthcoming, Lopez Portillo publicly vowed to defend the peso "like a dog"-only to devalue it by 50% a week later. On this September 1, fully aware that outgoing presidents had been known to leave their mark on Mexican politics by effecting sweeping policy changes in their last final months in office, a nation of viewers waited with bated breath for any sign of a change in the President's lengthy speech. On this particular day about four hours into his address, L6pez Portillo had exhaustively listed the number of new schools built and the added kilometers to the nation's highways, together with slews of economic figures and forecasts. The audience was noticeably getting weary when suddenly the president's tone changed. Shifting from the drone of punctuated political propaganda, he began speaking of the recent flight of capital out of the country. With incredulity in his voice he asked how these particular Mexicans could be so unpatriotic as to threaten the stability of the peso by investing in bank accounts and real estate north of the border. In order to protect the peso, these "sacadolares" or dollar-removers were unethical turncoats that had to be stopped-no longer could these traitors be allowed to "saquear el pais" or ravage the country-extreme measures had to be taken. When these words were uttered, a veritable shudder went through the nation. "For the good of Mexico," continued the president wiping tears from his cheeks, "I am hereby nationalizing the banking system and devaluing the peso to stop these sacadolares from mining Mexico." The much feared characteristic sign-off of an outgoing president was now explicit. Undaunted by the fact that his decision was flagrantly unconstitutional, he simply mandated changes to the Constitution the following week to guarantee the legality of his decree. While the upper middle class (the sacadolares) did, in fact, have their dollars in foreign banks and real estate, the middle class to hedge against inflation had been buying dollars with each paycheck and depositing them in dollar savings accounts in Mexican banks which up to that time had been earning 20% interest a year. With the President's decree, these funds were instantly converted to pesos and devalued by half. Needless to say, many a family's life savings were ravaged by this capricious show of executive power in defense of Mexican nationalism, and the country feared great social unrest as a consequence. Three months later in the period of transition between presidencies when censureship was known to be at its weakest, the morning news reported that a check for 80 million dollars had been deposited in a New York bank to the account of Jose Lopez Portillo-making him one of Mexico's biggest sacadolares. …