Before the demands of peasants and relatives of the leader, a symbol of masculinity and machismo, the story of a love affair of Zapata would have had resurfaced.
This Tuesday, peasants protested in Fine Arts for the exhibition where “The Revolution” is presented, a painting of a man, similar to Zapata, naked, with heels and in a feminine position. The protesters were flogged by the grandson of Emiliano Zapata, who said that it is an “aberration” to history but left aside that narrative that states that the leader was bisexual.
The alleged sexual fluidity of the general of the Mexican Revolution revolves around an iconic homosexual character from Mexico: Ignacio de la Torre y Mier, son-in-law of former president Porfirio Díaz. According to Pedro Luna Paiz, Master in History at the Universidad Iberoamericana, there are records that show an alleged affair between “Nachito” and the very masculine leader.
Ignacio was born in 1866 in the capital of the country. At age 22, he married Amada Díaz, daughter of the then-president. However, rumors of his homosexuality grew more and more. Even his wife would have found him in the act with other men, but they never divorced: it was more important to keep up appearances. They even claim that in the 1901 raid known as “The Dance of 41”, where 41 homosexuals were arrested at a clandestine party [some, according to drag ], Ignacio was number 42; but he was not imprisoned for being “son-in-law of his father-in-law”.
In the book, The album Amada Díaz, the writer Ricardo Orozco, revealed that in the diaries of Porfirio Díaz’s daughter she recorded the relationship between “Nachito” and Emiliano Zapata. Likewise, the novel Zapata, by Pedro Ángel Palou, also hints at homosexual relationships, based on the testimonies of Manuel Palafox, known as “The Black Bird”, Zapata’s personal secretary.
The love affair between Ignacio and the leader
According to historians and rumors, Ignacio de la Torre would have met Emiliano Zapata in 1906, in the hacienda of San Carlos Borromeo, in Cuernavaca. “Nachito” fell at the feet of the leader [perhaps literally] for his personality and manly appearance.
Later, it is said that Ignacio took Zapata to his house in the Plaza de la Reforma, where they lived together for six months. How did he do it? I would have convinced him on the pretext that he takes care of his horses.
Amada Díaz, who stayed home with Ignacio, lived far from her husband and was only seen with him in presidential and public events. Apparently, her diaries would reveal that she not only knew about her husband’s homosexual relationships: she also found him in the act of lovemaking with the leader in a stable.
Zapata and machismo
Whether or not rumors are true that Emiliano Zapata was bisexual, the truth is that he was and remains an icon of masculinity and machismo. Not for nothing his grandson, Jorge Zapata González, said that his grandfather was not a “pinch fag” and that Fabián Cháirez’s painting was “denigrating . “
More precisely the rumors of the fluid sexuality of the leader point out that his misogynist and macho attitude came from that bisexuality [or homosexuality] that he was forced to repress, at least in public. Not for nothing, the figure of Zapata has been resigned by Cháirez and in June, at the LGBT + Pride March, where the theme was “The Dance of 41” and on the poster, among other openly gay artists, there was a multi-colored Zapata.
“The revolution”
What the peasants who manifested for the representation of the leader do not know [or decided to ignore] is that the resignification of Cháirez does not seek to “denigrate” Zapata or his descendants.
In the description of the painting “The Revolution”, exhibited in the exhibition ” Emiliano. Zapata after Zapata ”, explain the context of oil:
“Fabián Cháirez resignifies an icon of Mexican machismo to make sexual diversity visible, particularly homosexual, brown, effeminate and popular class bodies that do not fit within the norm. [The picture] links the Zapatista legacy with the struggles of the LGBT + population. Claiming femininity as a revolutionary attitude in the midst of a homophobic and misogynistic society in the 21st century. ”
Source: vanguardia, homosensual, radioformula
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