“La inconsciencia moral del indígena,” by Mexican writer Martín Luis Guzmán, published in the periodical El Universal in 1921, is a response to a previous article by Francisco Bulnes, a Mexican intellectual and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs under President Porfirio Diaz. Guzmán claims that Bulnes lifted portions of his article, “Las razas indígenas Mexicanas ante el problema de la existencia de la Patria,” from Guzmán’s book, La querella de Mexico and, furthermore, misrepresented Guzmán’s views and opinions on the indigenous people of Mexico. Guzmán calls Bulnes a polemicist, rather than a researcher, and criticizes Bulnes for his belief in the inherent inferiority of indigenous peoples. To counter Bulnes, Guzmán argues that indigenous populations are not inherently inferior, but have been raised to accept superstition and servility. Guzmán argues that the glory and achievement of the indigenous people prior to the arrival of Hernán Cortés have been greatly overstated. In his opinion, despite the brutality of the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish, the Aztecs were already in decline before the arrival of the Conquistadors. Guzmán attributes this downfall to religious superstition and the lack of a moral code among the indigenous. According to Guzmán, rather than offering moral guidance, Spanish priests forced the indigenous to convert to Christianity and aided in their exploitation by colonial society. Guzmán claims that, as a result, the indigenous Mexicans are submissive and “morally unconscious.” Mexican independence and reform did little to advance the indigenous cause, according to Guzmán, as indigenous Mexicans remain ignorantly loyal to their oppressors, the criollos.