Word: aztec
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Whether such lavish ceremonies really took place is uncertain. But unlike most of the Aztec, Maya and Inca treasures, which the Spaniards melted down and shipped back home in the form of ingots, many of the ancient gold objects of the Colombian Indians have survived. Protected by rugged terrain, dispersed over a wider area in many different tribal groupings, the Colombians avoided some of the worst depredations of the European invaders. They also buried their treasures in hidden tombs that escaped detection until recent times...
Most scholars think Aztec cannibalism is firmly documented. Arens disagrees. He says the Spanish and the Aztecs accused one another of cannibalism -a common result of the collision of two cultures-but the Spanish got to write the history books. According to the author, the Spanish were stunned by the sophistication of Aztec culture and desperately needed justification for destroying it. After the Aztecs were destroyed and the slave trade dried up, both the cannibalism theme and the slave trade turned to Africa. "As one group of cannibals disappeared," Arens writes, "the European mind conveniently invented another...
Appearances deceive. "Don Pepe," says an admiring countryman, "is a real he-man." Far from being an otherworldly intellectual, Lopez Portillo is a tough-minded leader with an abrasive streak and a bent for professorial oratory: he often salts his speeches with fire-and-brimstone references to the Aztec past. During his state of the union address, for example, in speaking of the oil spill in the Bay of Campeche, he made references to an ancient god and the Aztec mistress of the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes. "In the depths of this flaming well," he intoned, "we Mexicans have seen...
...Hydra Head, Fuentes departs from his customary focus. He formerly wrote historical novels, such as Terra Nostra and Change of Skin, about the betrayal of the Mexican Revolution's ideals by its bourgeois leadership. He blended Aztec and Roman Catholic mythology, Marxism and experimental literary techniques in his criticism of Mexican society. In The Hydra Head, however, Fuentes concerns himself with Mexico's role in the international economic and political realm, rather than with its internal problems...
...visit to the nearby shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The next day he will proceed to Puebla, 65 miles to the southeast, for the opening of a conference of Latin American bishops. During his five-day stay the Pope may also offer a "People's Mass" at Aztec Stadium (capacity: 100,000) in Mexico City...