In this article Diego Rivera (1886-1957) allows a glimpse of some of the chief ideological principles that defined his political activities and that were reflected in his art. It is supposed that the author chose to write about Felipe Carrillo Puerto (1872-1924) not only because of the events of the governor’s life, but also because of Rivera’s connections to him: a socialist affiliation; Masonic membership; the exaltation of la raza and the native cultures as sources of national identity; also the shared disdain both men had for anything they considered reactionary, criollo and European. Rivera likewise praised the virile attitude of the Yucatan governor (and by connection, that of the socialists), which he compared to reactionary elements and to “homosexuals.” Finally, the author suggests a parallel between the life of Jesus and that of the so-called “apostle of la raza” through the use of a rhetoric filled with biblical references.
It should be noted that by the time Rivera wrote this article, he had already painted Carrillo Puerto’s image on one of the panels that he created at the Secretaría de Educación Pública in 1924, entitled Rallies of the first of May. In it, one can observe the Yucatan hero at dawn characterized by a paternalistic attitude and pious posture. Four years later in the same building, Rivera painted a series of panels dedicated to the martyrs of the people and nation (Cuauhtémoc, Carrillo Puerto, Emiliano Zapata and Otilio Montaño), in which he creates an allegory of their resurrection. This background allows us to appreciate the connection between the visual and written discourse.
The Delahuertista movement (1920-24) was characterized by bitterness given that its leader, Adolfo de la Huerta, proved incapable of maintaining his interim government (1920) against the power of two future presidents, Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles, who were both also from the state of Sonora.