Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

young one whose job is to carry the old General around town. Every time the General
appears, the representation reinforces his advanced age. During the parade he moves in
a strange way, accompanied by two young soldiers. His strange walking is revealed
with a close-up of his feet, where we notice he is wearing roller-skates. The soldiers pull
him along the route of the march. Later, in the letter in which Calzonzin describes the
people of San Garabato, he explains that he wanted to throw peanuts at the old General
and his assistant, and while this is said in voice-over, both men turn into monkeys.
The incongruity and exaggeration are obvious. We understand the army as an
aged institution, where the leader can barely look after himself. Its personnel are stupid,
like monkeys, and steadfastly loyal to the government. We cannot deny the importance
of expressing such views of an institution that appears untouchable. Given its role
countering the student movement in 1968, and its abuses in rural communities
throughout the 1970s, such references will clearly touch a chord with the audience.
Gregorio is a man dressed in civilian clothes but who identifies himself as an army
Major in Mecánica Nacional. He is travelling with his so-called wife, we discover later
that she is a prostitute he hired for the weekend – to Acapulco when they get caught in
the traffic caused by the racing fans. Trying to see the cause of the tailback, he climbs
on top of his car and causes the men around, including Eufemio and his friends, to mock
him. Immediately he loses his temper and takes out his gun and threatens them:
231
Gregorio: ¿De qué se ríen imbéciles? Sepan que soy Mayor y no permito
que nadie…
Man: ¿Es, o nomás así le dicen, porque, dónde está el uniforme?
Man 2: Ahí está, ¿ve? Porque si trajera uniforme, puro respeto.
Little boy: ¡Un uniforme es la patria!
Man 2: Seguro m’ijo [sic], pero así de turista, ni quien te pele, güey. 207
207 Alcoriza, Mecánica Nacional, 1971.