“The church, landlord and moneylender posses half of Mexico.
The other half belongs to a handful of gentlemen and Indians penned up in their communities. The proprietor of the presidency is General Lopez de Santa Anna who watches over public peace and the good health of his fighting cocks.
Santa Anna governs with a cock in his arms. Thus, he receives bishops and ambassadors, and to tend to a wounded cock he abandons cabinet meetings. He founds more cockfight arenas than hospitals and issues more cockfight rules than decrees on education. Cockfighting men form his personal court, along with cardsharps and widows of colonels who never were.
He is very fond of a piebald cock that pretends to be a female and flirts with the enemy, then after making a fool of him slashes him to death; but of them all he prefers the fierce Pedrito. He brought Pedrito from Veracruz with some soil too, so Pedrito could wallow in it without nostalgia.
Santa Anna personally fixes the blade on the spur. He exchanges bets with the muleteers and vagabonds, and chews feathers from the rival to give it bad luck. When he has no coins left, he throws medals into the cockpit. “I’ll give eight to five!” “Eight to four if you like!” A lightning flash pierces the whirl of feathers and Pedrito’s spur tears out the eyes or opens the throat of any champion. Santa Anna dances on one leg and the killer raises his crest, beats his wings and sings.”
-Eduardo Galeano, Uruguay.
