ARMANDO RAMÍREZ'S PU OR VIOLACIÓN

EN POLANCO: LOOKING AT RACE AND

REVENGE IN MODERN MEXICO
Caro) Clark D'Lugo
Clark University

Bajo el suelo de México verdean

espesamente pútridas las aguas
que lavaron la sangre conquistada;
nuestra contradicción: agua y aceite,
pennanece a la orilla dividiendo
como un segundo dios
todas las cosas:
lo que deseamos y lo que somos. (José Emilio Pachew. El reposo
de/fuego)

dispara, dispara para levantar estelas de polvo por donde se vean

nuestras casas en fonna de choza, de casa de canón, que se vea
nuestro polvo y nuestro lodo, nuestro miedo, y nuestro odio ... (Ar·
mando Ramírez, Y/o/ación en Po/aneo

Armando Ramírez's Pu ( 1911) or, as it was reissued in 1980, /lio/ación en Po/aneo marks
a stunning chapter in lhe development of Mexi can literature that considers the issuc of ra-
ciaVcultural identity of lndians. This had been a typc of presumably dated fiction considered
bordering on tbe obsolete in Mexican letters since the early 1960s. Diverging completely from
any of thc prcvious canonical iadianist or indigenous novels in Mexico's literary history, Pu
demands to be seen as an angry representation of the long-tenn suffering and the simmering
repressed batred of the descendents of Nezahualcóyotl, Motecuhzoma, and Cuauhtémoc against
the culture of their oppressors. Their enemy is a composite from the past (the invading Span-
iards), the immediate present (the upper classes t!iat prefer 10 not see the pitiful circumstances
of the indigenous poor), and the post-revolutionary institutioas (any of the successive Mcxican
govemments of the years leading up to the novers publication).
The work is gripping, graphic, and brutal in its depiction of threc Mexican men, sbown to
identify witb thcir indigenous background, wbo k.idnap, rape. beat, and finally murdcr an upper-
class white woman in a bloody joint sacrifice designed to avenge tbeir ancestors for tbe indigna-
tion and humiliation that the lndians have had to endure for centuries. Before her death, which
is inexorable from the beginning, she is forced 10 look at, 10 really see, the despicable living

53
54 Annando Ramírez's P11 or Violación en Po/aneo

coodiúons aod abject poverty of the under class in Mexico. While bringing his readers to lhis
rnoment of sacrifice, Ramirez npportíons time 10 take swipes at the instimtions that coostitutc
"civilized" Mexico, in panicular the church, the literary establishment. even language itself, all
in an angry campaign to creatc blatant violencc against thc ''systern."
Until thís novel, works about tbe poor generally had been recorded by an íntermediary from
the educated classes. a necessity born of the rampan! illiteracy among the under c lass. A clear
example from Mexico would be Elena Poniatowska 's Has1a no verre Jesris mío (1969). Ramirez's
earlier novels had already gained recognition as fictions about 1he lower classes written by
someone from the lower classes. a rarity among Latín-American writers. He rose from humble
beginnings in the impoverished TepilO districi in Mexico City to attain an education. Although
others in his position rnight have abandoned their origins, Rarnírez chose to give voice to tite
margiruliz.ed poor in such novcls as Chi,1 chin el tl!porocho (1971), Crónica de los chorroscie111os
md días del barrio de Tepi10 ( 1973), and Tcpi10 (19770. As summarized by Vicente Francisco
Torres. "por primera vez; en la literatura mexicana, los jodidos se expresaban como jodidos" (50).
Later on, in thc late 1980s and early l 990s. there would emerge a cluster of novels that retum
to indigenista ficiion but with innovations in style and a closer relarionship berween author and
subject, such as Jesús Morales Bennúdez's Memorial del riempo o vía de las conversaciones
( 1987) (Steele 249). In addi1ion, one notes 1he long hoped for literature written from within the
indigenous communíties. what Cynthia Steele calls "literatura indígena.'' in particular from
Chiapas, such as the theatrical pieces from Sna J1.z 'ibajom or "La Casa del Escritor" (249). These
works, howevcr. depict the indigenous in their cyclícal strife within their mountainous homeland
rather than as active agents in an urban setting. By having his characters, specifically labeled as
descendents of Aztec warriors and as inheritors of the li11eage of Nezahualcóyotl, carry ou1 tbeír
sacríñce in Mexico City, Ramlrez in a sense plays Violación c11 Pola11co :iS liñ impassioñcd
critique in fictional response against thc artis1ic establishment as represented by Carlos Fuentes.
In La región más transparente (1958), Fuentes mythologizes thc indigenous in the form of Ixc:i
Cienfuegos, a cítizeo ofMexico City with cosmic powers who carnes thc narrative witb god-like
capabilities. In a manner of slapping Mcxican rcadership into awareness, perhaps with particular
emphasis oo the literary clique, Rarnirez turns to a neo-naturalistic text carried in10 excess that
shouts about a different reality for the lndians and defies the reading public to attempt to ignore
its deliberately offensive content. These lndians will not go unseen.

Tu·o Classes, Two Skh1 Colors. Two Mexico Cili es, lwo Disco■ rses

At thc roots of thc novel is the notion of a fundamental inequality among "citizens." Ramírez
brings to the foreground the hypocrisy of the official rhetoric. which argues for the identification
of ali MexiC:IJls as sharing the same national imagínation. by presenting the Jndians in a double
fashion: not only as an ethnic mix. but also as a metaphor for lhe cntire undcrclass lhat barely
subsists and is treated as unseen. invisible citizens. He continually reminds readers of the vast
schism between tbe rich and lhe poor, the uppcr-class neighborhoods like Polanco and tl1e sbanty
slums, thc elitist south of the city and the lumpcn north. the wbite-skinncd bourgcois matron they
kidnap and thcir own brown skin: "la ciudad al nor1e se extiende en sus ocho millones de habitan-
tes, el norte es el oriente, es el zócalo para acá. al sur es la mierda entre árboles y jardines. agua.
casas grandes para todos: acá está el dolor, el viento y la resequedad" ( Violación 113). In an
interview wilh Torres, he confinns this 11icw and is cven more specific:
Carol Clark D' Lugo 55

[L]a ciudad de México se divide en dos panes: el sur y el norte. El sur es la parte
privilegiada de la ciudad de México, y va desde el Zócalo, Narvarte, la del Valle,
San Angel, etc. Allí están las galerías, los cine club. la Universidad, las librerías
donde puedes conversar sobre Godard, Proust o Célinc. Al norte están la Basílica
de Guadalupe, Tepito, Nezahualc:óyotl, el Púas Olivares; están también Alarma,
lágrimas, Risas y Amor, las tolvaneras, el polvo. la sequía, las vecindades, las
casas de adobe, los cines donde pasan las películas de la India María. Acá en el
norte tenemos otra cultura, es una parte de la ciudad de México que no exi ste en
las gulas turísticas. Torres 64-65 1
Analogously, in Pu he presents rwo discourses, largely in an alternating sequence, although
later in the novel they will unite with devastating consequences. Toe narratives, although separat-
ed by time and space, are on occasion linked, thus anticipating the final unity. This linkage is
mainly by means of the repetition of a namc, an object, or an action. At the same time, thcy are
extraordinaríly eomplex in structure and vocabulary, so mucb so that it is frequently difficult to
be sure of the content.
Toe initial segment introduces the sequence of fragments that take place in a movie house.
In a position ofprivilege, il also establishes immediately the in-your-(ace language anda portion
of the subject matter tbat will mark Ramírez' s writing throughout: "PUTAS, putos, grifos,
manfloras. cocos, transas, atracadores, todo eso y más formábamos el grupo diario que se reunia
ea el cine" ( Piolacíó11 15; lhe first word or phrase In upper case defines the beginning of a new
segment in tbe 1980 edition). The sensc of the group, moreover, introduces the cohesiveness of
these marginalized cinephi les who regularly engage in sexual activity in the darkncss of the
theatre, at times inspired by what is transpiring on sereen. There are continua! referenees both
to heterosexual and homosexual activity. oral sex:, full intercourse. prosiilution, and masturbalion.
From myriad characters emerges a group that will domínate the story: three young male
friends, Abigail (a.k.a. el Abigail), Genovevo (Geno), and the narrator, Rodolfo; la Chuy, a young
female prostitute of sorne nineteen years wbo is linked romantically with Abigai l but clearly has
the strong sexual attention and affcction of the other two; and an androgynous figure who goes
by the name of la Taylor (frorn Elizabeth Taylor), whom the narrator calls Lo, given the charac-
ter's androgynous sexual identity and who trails la Cbuy in total subservience. Readers receive
comments about the picrures they view, tbeir sexual adventures, and, critically, a plot thread
involving an older (fiftyish), rich politician type who sets up la Chuy as his mistress. Although
there is sorne disse.ntion arnong the friends, it is an avarieious Abigail who urges la Cbuy to
accept lhe offer, lhinking he will profit bandsomely from the dcal. Naturally, la Taylor goes
along.
Scgment two initiates tbe sequenees that take plaoe in a stolen bus, manned by tbe three
friends featured in the altemating narrative. They bcgin their journey wítb an emphasis on sight,
making observarions about the opulent homes in Polanco (in the late 1970s. Polanco had the

'Alarma and Lágrimas. Risas y Amor were comics dealing with frightening cases of real-life
crimes and Cinderella-like love stories, respectivcly. Toe lndia María films featured an indigenous
cbaracler of limited intelligeace but with a good hean wbo generally won out based on her
Jevelheadedness. People who read comics had to have liad sorne limited educ.ition. Similarly, if
these young mcn got into the movies, they are not from the truly lowcst classes. There are
lndians of much fewer means in the slums of Mex ico City who could well barbor evcn more
anger !han thls trio will express.
 56 Annando Ramírez's Pu or Jliolación en Po/aneo

reputation of a solidly uppcr-class neighborhood, home to many embassies. Subscquently, it has

grown to such an extent that it is c-onsidered a second ~downtown" or city cemer in the Federal
District). This segmem, too, begins wilh a connotation of unity, with its priviJeging of the ..we"
fonn in upper case at the beginning: "SALIMOS de Cumbres para entrar a Palmas" ( 17). In
Polanc-o, the men see many tempting women. b·ut they have targeted a specific bourgeois speci-
men, the wife of the politician referred ro in the movie-house segments: ''la de Polanco, la del
o tro lado de la ciudad, la del otro mundo. la del otro suer1o. la que no sabía de estas cosas" (49).
They kidnap her and thus initiate a nightmarish ride on a Delfin bus with the expressed purpose
of forcing her to look at the rniscry of the lower classes. During that ride, however, there is a
savagery in their actions thar combines the sexual and the violent, rhc motivation of which is
hinted at, but not revealed until tbc vcry cnd of the nO\'el when the altcmaling segments conflate.
Tbe explicit horror of the contcnt depicted in the bus sequcnces almos1precluded publication
of tbe novel. According to Ramírez, a representative from Editorial Novaro told him that a firm
tbat published Walt Oisney, with a clear target audience of children, could never publish this
material (Torres 68). lt was finally decided to add a measure of respectability in the fonn of a
prologue to Pu by Dr. Alfonso Quiroz Cuarón, a specialist in forensic medicine. in which crime,
hyper-sexuality, and violence are linked in part to cinema and in part to dreams, but, more to the
point, as a reftection of society; ".El delito es solamente un reflejo de la sociedad. e l delito es el
espejo en que ésta se refleja, agrádele o no" (7). The suggestion of a link to cinema can be traced
easily, but, perhaps, too superficially to the ample space devoted to dcscribing the filrns shown
at the theatre frequented by the group. ln this novel, life imitating visual media is c-onfined to the
movie-house seats where lhe sex is for pleasure or econonúc gain. 11 will be shown that what
transpires in the Delfm is not so much rooted in the inftucnce of the cinema. Ratber, it rcsponds
to a mueh decper emotion, more acutely felt: revenge rooted in centuries of batred.

T be Movies within tbe Text and T be lnflueoce of Cinema on the Text

Scattered among ali segmems, but with particular emphasis within the movie-house sequences,
are the names of Mexican and intemational films and actors. The films brought to the foreground
have to do with sex, violcnce, or a combinaiion of the two, most of thc time connected to class
disparity or retribution against the upper class. Common thcmatics include violence against
women, race, threatened machismo, and revengc. Dcath is a frequcnt c-ompanion. Witb sorne
frequcncy tbere is a clear parallel between the cinematic c-ontent and wha1is tranSpiring clsewhcre
in the novel. The first, Escupiré sobre sus wmbas, a marker of race that focuses on the relation·
ship between a black man and a white woman, appears within the first few lines of lhe text.
Among the identifiable titles are the following: Escupiré sobre s us rumbas (1959, Michel Gast;
French: J'írai crac/ter sur ,·os tombes [ak.a. / Spit 011 Your Grave]); Poim Blan/c (1967, John
Boonnan): Do:1 mujeres ( J 961 , Vinario De Sica; ltalian: Lo cioc1ara [Two Womcn)): El sirviente
( J 963, Joscph Losey; The Servant); Straw Dogs (1971, Sam Peckinpah); Dr. No ( 1962, Terrence
Young); Va/ley ofrl,c Do/Is (1967, Mark Robson); Bonnie and Clyde (1967, Arth11r Penn); The
last Tango in Paris ( 1972. Bernardo Bertolucci; ltalian: Ultimo tango a Parig,).
The multiple international actors named are frequently m.isspelled, occasionally providing
humor: Marlyn Monro (21 ): Candice Bergcr ( 107), and Warren Bcu1y (98). Thc majority are
either Europcan or products ofHollywood. ranging from Tuesday Wcld to Marccllo Mastroianni.
Other than Maria Félix and Canlinllas. the Mexican actors are largely unknown to audiences
Caro! Clark D'Lugo 57

outside 1he country. Thc lhrcc Mexican actresses who are presenled prominently are favorites
arnong the cinephiles because of 1heir voluptuous bodies: Libcnad Leblanc, Jsela 'vega, and Gina
Morett 2 Moren is thc actrcss dcscribed as the quintessential Mex.ican actress, tbe cmbodiment
of ali ú1at is Mexico ( Violación 33). In Rodolfo 's opinion, Gina is lo Me,cico what Irene Papas
is to Greece or Sophia Loren is to ltaly. Her serni-porn work prior to the publication of Pu would
place her on a par with the other two Mexican actresses mentioned: Lo hollipilonte bestia huma-
na (1968; a_k,a. Horror and Sex or Night o/ the Bloody Apes); and La montaña del diablo (1973;
The Devil's Mountain). Her function in thc tcxt, however, is lo embody Mex:icanness in a way
that leads 10 identifica1ion on the part of the dark-sk.inned lower classes: " sus ojos son como
nuestra raza, medio atristados. la mirada infinitamcnlc melancólica, con su piel morena" (32).
The cinematic influence in and on the novel is clear, and freely admitted by R.amírez, who
ciles in particular Los caifanes ( 1966) as a film he admires because il breaks with instiwtionalized
cinematic practice (Torres 63). h also suggeslS a source of lhe plot of Vzolación, albcil in a
mildcr version. Eveo more imponantly, il rcpresents one example of an iconoclastic work that
serves to "violentar lo cs1ablccido" (Torres 66), thnl more gcncralized need to shock the compla-
cen! that Ramírcz feels is essential to break wilh antiquated ways of th inking and of expressing
ideas.
Significantly, a number of Mexican films in the late l 960s and the 1970s reveal suggestive
parallels of an increase in violente or a 1uming of !he 1ables against oppressors.' In part, this can
be scen as a response to the increasing recogn.ition of !he inadequacy of the official govemmenl
line lo justify lbe disparity within Mexican ci1izenry. As argued by Jean Franco: "there was
plainly a growing gulf between the ideal image of Mexico and the reality of the people's every-
day life, culture, and prac1iccs" (129). Culminating in the student massacre at Tlatelolco in 1968,
that impaet would be felt in literary and cinematic treatments for years to come. In the sexenio
of Luis Echevcrrla ( 1970-76), who encouraged ncw directors and allowed more freedom in
thcmatics (Mora, "Alejandro" 111 ), there emerged both Jegislation to augmenl commitmenl 10
lndian affairs and an increase in the number of ñlms thal focused on lhe indigcnous ,vith concur-
ren! aliention to mexicanness and the nation (Berg 141, 154). This combination of politics and

2
Libenad Leblanc is an actress from !he 1960s whose film credils strongly suggest a sexual
component: Acosada ( 1963 a..k.a.. The Exp/oiters, The Pink Pussy, and Where Sin Lives); Lo flor
del irupe ( 1965; a.k.a. Love Hrmger); Psexoanáli,is (1967); and Lo pella ( 1967; The Bitch). Isela
'vega has an enonnous lisi of credits ranging from 1966 to the present. Her earlicst work from
!he 1960s reveals ilerations of death and sex: La señora muerte (1967; a.k.a. Mrs. Deoth); The
Feor Chamber (1968); Cuernos debajo de lo cama (1968; a.le.a. Cuckolded Under the Bed);
Basuras humanas (1972).
1
Vioi'ent Mexican films from the 1970s include El hombre desnudo (1973), La isla di! los
hombres solos (1973; from the José León Sánchez novel about despicable prison conditions in
Costa Rica), and El hombre (1975; a particularly cruel and bloody Western). Two other films
wonh mcntioning in this calegory are El apando (1975; Felipe Cazals), which shows the brulalily
oí prisoa life, and Canoa (1975, Felipe Cazals), in which villagers altack university employees,
thinking they are Communis1 agilators. As for a film depicting aggression 1oward the patriarchy,
Lo pa.sión seg,ín Berenice (1975; Jaime Humberto Hennosillo) has a woman not only retuming
the male gaxe. but also being the aggressor in the relationship, thus pitting herself against institu-
tionalized machismo (sce Berg 84-88). In Flores de papel ( 1977; Gabriel Reles), lower-class
people, displaced from lheir shanty buts, invade lhc home of an industrialist
58 Armando Ramírez 's Pu or Violación en Po/aneo

oational identiry brought a group of filmmakers to push for a Mexican cinema that would not
ottly eschew influencc from Hollywood, but also '"deal bonestly with Mexican reality- (Mora,
,Wexican Cinema 111). The most significan! factor in tbe increase of more socially aware films.
however, was likely Lhe policies of Rodolfo Ecbeverria, the president's brother, in his position
as head of the Banco Cinematogri1fico. As Deborah E. Mistron argucs, "fRodolfo] Echeverria's
po licies wcrc largely responsible for this new emphasis on films with social themes'' (219).
Mistron goes on to quote Rodolfo Echeverria's presentation to members of the ñlm industry in
which he im<ited social criticism: " l formally invite ali workers. now. to unite with the State, to
produce films on the great human themes of lhe Mexican Revolu1ion; to undertake social criti-
cism. to initiate self-criticism. Each of you must feel this with moral authority, aesthetic capabili-
ty and imaginative force. so lhat, together, ali ofuscan better Mexico" (2 19). We will examine
two importam works lhat are pertinent to the discussion of Violación en Po/aneo by showing a
similariry eilher in plot and aggressiveness (Los caifa11es) orina focus on racial tensions speciñc
to Mexico (E/ juicio de Maní11 Canés).
In Los ca/fanes ( 1966, Juan lbátiez), Paloma (Julissa) and her arcbitcc1 boyfriend, Jaime de
Landa (Enrique Alvarez Félix), leave an elegant party in one of tbe upper-class suburbs (Ayala
Blanco, L<1 avcnwra 387-94). Clearly at one w;th Ibis milieu, the pair fecl frisky soon aíler
leaving, and the more adventurous Paloma daringly suggests 1ha1 they make love right then and
there. A sudden downpour forces them to take refuge in a nearby car, where they commence thcir
playfulness. The car's owners. a group of four rough-looking Jower-class men, retum, surprising
the two and registering U1eir disgUS1. Hostility soon resolves into camaraderie, however, and the
unlikely mixture of social classes goes off into the mght for sorne fun.
The seuing for the escapades and a principal focus of tbe film is Mex.ico City: "ciudad donde
se mezclan estratos sóéiálts y ceonómieos a los que incluso el lenguaje sirve para diferenciar,
ciudad en que coexisten, ignorándose mutuamente casi por completo. diversos planos de evolu•
ción. ciudad monstruosa, inabarcable y odiada" (Ayala Blanco 389-90). Toe night is a kaleido-
scope oí activity and color that begins witb playing and dancing, but soon spills into physical
violence and a series of affronts 10 both people and propeny (in a camoc, appearance, Carlos
Monsiváis appears as a soused Sama Cla115 whose false beard is bumed). Ayala summarizes tbe
activity thus; "afrenta a la propiedad privada. al instrumento de trabajo ajeno, a la solemnidad
oficial, a la respetabilidad burguesa y ciudadana, al atávico culto de la muerte,. (391 ). In this
manner, Jbát'\ez establishes as targets of bis critique consumerism or capitalism, national institu•
tions. and specific aspeclS of nallonal culture.
The caifanes, or lower-class mcn, consist of el Capitán Gato (Sergio Jiménez); el Estilos
(Osear Chávez); el Azteca (Ernesto Gómez Cruz); and el Mazacote (The Boa; Eduardo López
Rojas). Despite the gang•member names, thcse four men are closer to urban picaresque characters
in their puerile pranks, like spilling &'Teasy hair gel onto the nightclub's dance floor to wreak
havoc among the participants. According to Ayal.a, they are not inherently evil. They do, howev-
er. demonstrate a sense of social marginaliza1ion and alienation bordering on debumanization
(393), which will be brought into full play by Ramirez.
Ticd to differences of class, racc is tacitly a factor o f confüct in the film. AJthough it is never
stated, tbe physical appearance of at least three of the lower-class meo makes clear that they are
of Jndian descent, and the society duo ha,·e a much ligbter complexion. Through a series of poinl•
of-view shots, with Paloma's body as 1he object ofthe men 's gaze. lbálie:t reveals the potential
for violencc amoog these lower-c lass mestizos. lt is importan! ro note, however, that despite
showing the men's lust for the wbite woman (whose name translntes into "dove") and their
Caro! Clark D'Lugo 59
resentmeot toward Jaime, the insensitive bourgeois type who breaks into English when he wants
to confer with Paloma in secret, lbánez depicts the mcn as being in control of their emotions. The
film 's emphasis would appcar to be more on promoting awareness of social class and on whether
or not there exists the possibility of achieving sorne kind of unily or sharing of values among
classes. The English-speaking engineer, clearly more influenced than bis companion by the
"northamcricanization" that would grow in intensity in the l 970s and beyood, despite enjoying
aspects of the cvening retums to an inhereoc disdain for the rowdy group. For him, they clearly
belong to a class he would prefer not to havc to see: .. los eaifanes representan la irrupción de un
submundo despreciable que preferirla nihilizar en su conciencia" (Ayala 393). Paloma, on the
other hand, responds more favorably to the lower-class men, enjoying a heightened sense of
liberation. She spends time in private with el Estilos, and there is a suggestion that they have
made love. Before parting, the caifanes drive !he couple through the depressed neighborhoods of
the lower classes, a gesture that could be seen as a son of 1amc prequel to Pu. Altbough shc does
not seem to truly communieate with the men, Paloma ex.hibits enough inner growth to make a
point of rejecting her up-tight companion at !he end of tbe evening (she gets into a cab and slams
tbe door before he can j oin her, leaving bim stranded in a distinctly foreign, lower-class milieu}.
Ayala concludes that the film is about "la incompatibilidad definitiva de dos mundos" (394),
separated by culture, custom, and language (with emphasis on !he albur of the lowcr class).
A later film in which the indigenous theme is played out more forcefully, El juicio de Martín
Ccrtés (''The Trial of Martín Cortes," 1973, written and directcd by Alejandro Galindo) focuses
on a play-within-the-film called "Martín Conés, the First Mexican;· tbat features two sons of
Hemán Conés. both named t,.,tanln (Berg 142-44). One brother, the offspring ofCortés and doifa
Marina, is the first mestizo, benee !he tille character of the play. The other Martín, whom Galindo
saw as the first Creole, is ihe legítimate son or Conés and bis second wife, dotia Juana (Mora
''Alejandro" 11 O}. In the play, there is immediate tension between the broú1ers when Cortés
brings the Mex..iean Martín to Madrid and arranges for him to be given honors suitable for a
Spanish noble. The Castillian brotber labels bis half brother a bastard and, in a tone of scom, the
product of !he union of a Spaniard and an Indian. After the death of their father, however, !he
two meo are involved politically, tlle mestizo supporting the otbcr brother's plot to establish
himself as a lcader in Mexieo. When their plot is exposed, tho Spanish brother tries to blame his
slepbrotber for the treason, even ifthe result could lead to his brother's beheading. Altbougb !he
Mexican escapes physical panishrnent thanks to the sacrifice of doña Juana, he loses his inheri-
tance and standing in a humiliating public display. The final blow comes wben bis Spanish
brother tries to have him deported from his adore<! Mexieo, which drives mestizo Manln to tum
violent against hís brother.
Wbat provokes the film' s politieal agenda and sequencing is the murder that takes place on
the very fust night of production. Tbe actor playing the part of the mestizo brother (Gonzalo
¼!ga playing the part of Osear Román, the actor in the play) becomes so steeped in bis role that
he ldUs the actor playing the olTending Spaniard. The audience evidently approvcs of the camage
and gives loud vocal support. In search ofjustice. a police investigator is called (David Reynoso),
a mestizo himself, but also the mouthpiece of the govemrnent. Thus, when confronted by the
defcnse argument that the actor playing tbe mestizo was overcomc by centuries of repressed
animosity that had been jolted into the present tense by thc play, he ealls it nonsense. Choosing
to feature the official line that would supprcss ali recognition of class struggle cum racial dispari-
ty, Galindo has tbe detective, a self-described pan Indian, say: "There is no racial prejudice in
Mexico" (142).
60 Annando Ramírez's Pu or Violación e11 Po/aneo

ln order to finalize the case, key scenes are played out for lhe investigator. Al the same
climactic poinl that had produccd spontaneous violence from 1be play's opcning night, the invcsti-
gator jumps to rus feet and screams "Kili llim!" (143). Carl Mora reasons lhat the inspector is
shalcen by this undeniable evidencc of bis own racial batred ("Alejandro" 110). The man lhen
recuses himself from the case on the basis of being mestizo and, in explicating his sympalhy for
the defendant, gives voice to the underlying emotions common to the indigenous in Mcxico:
"Four centuries of history, four hundred years of hatreds and humiliations neither resolved nor
overcome. In one momen1 it ali exploded'' (Berg 144). As oflhe mid 1980s, Mora constdered the
film "one of the very few Mexican motion pictures to confront tbe senstlive issue of unspoken
racial tcnsions between mestizos and crcoles (whites) in a middle-dass ambience" ( !07), conclud-
ing that it is "possibly the only Mexican film thal has auempled 10 explore the complex emotions
underlying Mexico's racial composition" ( l 10).

A Discourse to Articulate Released Repressio•o

Violación probes more deeply into the lower classes !han the films described above, and
conditions are that much more grievous. Refererices to homes made of cardboard in Tepito w1d
a starving child described as "panzón y Haco" (68) are contrasted wi1h "la gran Tcnochtidán" (23,
67) establishing a mental link betwecn 1he hopeless presem and the glorious past T he references
pepper the text. Mexico is a "Monstruópolis (128, 129. 139), a "mierda de ciudad" ( 132). Within
"estas callecitas de dios, de hambre, de polvo, de lodo" (52), "citizens" conclude tbat life is a
cons1ant struggle: ''Pinche ciudad, cada dia es una mierda vivir" (25). Given these circumstances,
one might well ex¡;~t ll heightened nature of me potential explosion suggestcd in El juicio de
MOJ'tín Cortés. [ndeed, this novel suggests thc textua.l equivalen! of a primal scream in the
releasing of centu.rics of pent up emotions.
Ramirez cbooses a discursive mixture appropriate 10 his graphic con1ent of sex and violence.
He cmphasizes anaphora combined with crescendo with an analogous accelerated pacing of both
the bus and the narrative. The 1977 version, enlitled Pu, places the thematics ofreleased to:nsions
on the cover. The word is evident ly a slang neologism or idiotism for "making love•· or, more
to the point, producing semen al the moment of cümax, the releasing of body fluid in lhe momeot
of orgasm (some two thirds into the novel, lhere ,s depicted an ex1ended masturbation fantasy in
which the word ºpu" cascades down the pages [ 108-1 O)).
The prose in Violación is largely deüvered in long paragraphs with run-on sentences that
build in intensity a:nd pacing until tbe final segmenl. the lengthiest in the book, lhat combines lhe
s1ory elcments from lhe movic house and lhe bus. At tbe same time, readers are told periodically
that the Delfín bus is going faster and faster: "la velocidad se va aument.ando, hay que llegar"
(136) . Thcre is an analogous crescendo of inev11ability in 1he building of tension within the bus
and in the intensity of thc violence. Ramirez. skillfully work.s these various aspects of the texl
1oward an inevitable literary orgasmic explosion.
Linguistically, lhe crescendo is grouped with anaphora, or lhc repetition of initial words in
phrases. Abigail implores tbe woman to stop crying: '"No llores. ¿qué no ves que me pones
mal.. .?" L,a señora sigue llorando Abigail le repite: 'No llores, ¿qué no \'es que siento mal. ..?'
La seilora sigue llorando; abigail [sic] le repite 'no llores por el amor de Dios ... · la señora sigue
llorando. el abigail [sic] le repile: 'No llores, por vida tuya"' (62). The cresccndo ends with "No
llores, hija de la chingada, ¡¡¡qué no ves que te voy a poner en la madre!!!'" This hcightened
Caro! Clark D' Lugo 61

intensity pairs also with a change in verb choice toward a preference for the imperative, as noted
by Valentina Pabello de Mickey, specifically with reference to Violación en Po/a11co: "el impera-
tivo sirve como vehiculo expresivo para descargar la ira, es un elemento que expresa violencia,
que se pronuncia a gritos, sirve de exhonación a la violencia" (124).
Finally, readers reach the clímax of the novel, the conflation of the two "stories" into one
closing scction of nominal phrascs, incohcrcnce, and cbaos. Dcspitc its complcxity, this last
segment reveals the moment of murder and of sacrifice, and it also suggests, in the ultirnate
example of c.reSccndo, the ''why" of choosing this particular woman and tbe "how" of la Cbuy's
death, which is evidently what pushed the men into the expression of their rage. Al first, it would
appear that the politiciao 's career sutTered a blow because he was photographed in the nude along
with la Cbuy and la Taylor: "ya te miraste en el periódico, en esa foto: La Taylor, tú, y la Chuy,
los tres desnudos" ( 140). Tbcn, the sccnario is irevised to announcc their dealhs: ''viejo cobarde
mata y se suicida" ( 142) . Toe tbird in the cresccndo makes it a mutual suicide, but hints at a
manipulation of the newspapers' readers: "quieren hacemos creer que se suicid.aron los tres"
(143). The fmal rcvelation, albcit less !han clearly stated, points to a fourtb party, the politician 's
wife, the target of the kidnapping: "por qué los mató, por qué no se mataron los tres de propia
voluntad" ( 145).

Forced Sigbt before tbe Inexorable Sacriflcc

Thus therc is a personal motivation Cor thcsc individuals ' having kidnapped and raped the
politician's wife. Tbe ultimatc source Cor what happcns on the Delfin. however, reacbes far
beyond Polanco and this "señora" witb her whifc skin and perfect teelh. Thc rape, beating, and
murder by disembowclmcnt are a communal retribution for years of deccit. humiliation, debasing
poverty, and invisible citizenship suffered by the indigenous in Mex.ico.' lo itsclf, thc rape
symbolically invens for thc lndian population the violation of Mcxico by the Spaniards. Signifi-
cantly, the rape-murder represents the ultimate revcnge against the Spaniards' women, in partial
retribution for the many indigenous women gi'ven over to the conquerors, for the woman is
disemboweled through the vagina. Such a replication of patriarchal sexual violence against
womeo should be seen as leamed behavior, not so much from media sources as from the coloniz-
ers lhemselves. As Jean Paul Sartre explains in bis preface to Frantz Fanon's 77,e Wre1ched o/
the Earth, when the opprcssed narivcs finally rise up against their colonizers, lhey do so employ-
ing their masters' techniqucs: ''Can (thc colonizer] nor recognize bis own cruelty tumed against
himself? In the savagery of these oppressed peasants. does he not find hi s own settler's savagery,
wbich tbey have absorbed through every pore and for whicb therc is no cure?" ( 16).
Tbe trip by bus is used in part m force the politician •s wife to look at the poorest barrios
of Mcxico City, to see what the upper classes would choose to avoid. locked away as they are
in their fancy homes in Lomas, Pedregal, and Polanco, with one hundred a.nd eighty degrees of

'There is sorne disagreement as to the manner in which the woman dies. M. lsela Chiu-Oli-
vares argues that she is immolated ( 120). 1 concur with Torres that they inscrt a varilla, a metal
bar. through her vagina and disernbowel her (55). Although used by !he Aztecs. irnmolation
would be le¡¡s consisten! with regard to thcir mythology and ¡>rdXis. As argued by J. M. G . Le
Cltzio, "For the lndians, blood and suffering sealc:d the common destiny o ( men, their total
submission to the gods" (64).
62 Armando Ramírez·s Pu or Violación en Po/aneo

separaLion. Ramirez cmphasizes this forced sight lhroughout the text, at moments of violence, of
sexual conques!. even in dealh . /\s tbey drive lhrougb the dirty, muddy stree1s, the narration is
explicit w ith names ofbarrios and speciñc roads; they pass through Peralvillo, la Nueva Atzacoal-
co, San Juan de Aragón, El Cerro del Peñón, lztacalco, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, la Aurora,
Lztapalapa, El Moral . Ignacio Zaragoza. San Lázaro, and Lecumberri (Torres 55). The narrator
insists that the womim look al him, his weapons, his body, and bis batred, the latler two ex-
pressed in ü1e plural to include 001 only his two companions, bul ali of thc indigenous: ·•pinche
vieja, sigue viéndome, mira la varilla y la pistoJa, y los miembros, y nuesLros ojos, y nuestros
odios" ( 128). They know she must die, but shc must also be kept alive until the final destina1ion,
!he ··canal del desagüe'· lhe last canal rcmnant from Tenochtitlán: " nosoLros la queríamos conser-
var has,a llegar al canal del desagüe, a que viera las aguas negras, cómo corre la suciedad, cómo
la agua (sic] cristalina se vuelve agua negra y grasienta·· ( 121; emphasis added). In death, her
sight wíll be fixed on the cosmos: ·para que este cuerpo de mujer ve.i el firmamento, y mire la
lwia, y mire las estrenas·· {151) afier their mutual sacrilicial death. Ali of the bus's inhabitants
plunge in to the canal, nol jusi 1hc choscn victim, but also 1he symbolic represen1a1ives of lndian
heritage.
This is an lndian sacrifice, the sun will retum . and thc spilled blood of the ancestral warriors
is, at least in par1, avenged. For jusi as 1here is .a syncretic joining of 1he s1ory elemenls in the
final segment, so too there is lhe symbolic macro-joining of ali Mexican India.ns, past and pres-
enl, in 1he person of lhese threc men, a compression of 1ime thal helps effect 1he avenging of a
people: ..nuesLros poros son los á1omos de los otros. nuestras lenguas son sus lenguas" (1 42). At
one crucial momen1, Genovevo is likened 10 a tlatoani ( 105), an Aztec ruler on a par with Mote-
cuhzoma. The destinalion of thc old canal from thc center of Tcoochtitlán retums them 10 the site
of sacrifice (128), here a destination and a destiny llrat must be reached, hence the numerous
references to ·•to que ha de suceder"' (51: foUowed by a citing of Aztec sacnfice) and the aotici-
pated "hora de la verdad, 1antos años estaban concenLrados en es1e momento"') ( 117-18).
n,eunil)' among índiaos and Lhe inexorabilit y of death are presented from the beginning. In
a prcface 10 the text, lhere is a declaration of identity, signed "El autor" (7-9), 1hat begins with
a marker of unison; ··somos producto de la revolución" (7). which anticipates with uncanny
equivalcnce by sorne four1een years 1be s1a1ement tha1 marked the revolt of lhe Ejército Zapatis1a
de Liberación Nacional [El..LN 33; "Somos produc10 de 500 años de luchas"). Tbe first-person
plural thal dominatcs tbcse pages refers 10 the lowest of 1be low, tbe macehuales, described as
descendents ofNezahualcóyo1I. "co.ncomitantes y conLaminantes" (7). Nezal1ualcóyotl. bolh a poel
and a warrior, was known to havc suffcred 3 humiliating defent during the Aztcc lerritorial Md
poli1ical expansion, when. baviag agreed to a sham banle in wh.ich he wou ld feign ceding to bis
cncmy, he found thal his troops were in fact con-quered (Kandcll 4l -43). In a brief three pages.
the lndians are shown to have been used and abu:sed repea1edly in Mexican hiS1ory, ali the while
being told that tl1ey were, in fact, thc victors: "Fuimos dominados y disfrutaron por nosotros lar-
gos aftos- los que después nos dijeron que habfamos vencido" ( Piolació11 8). The declnration
cnds in uoity, bu1 also ominously. in an early example of anaphora and crescendo:
Ahora avanzamos a través de las faldas de los cerros, como una mancha nos
extendemos, hemos sobrepasado e I campo santo, hemos levantado nuestras cons-
trucciones, hemos levantado nuestTos mitos , hemos levan1ado nuestras fam ilias,
hemos levantado nuestras fomias de vida, hemos comenzado a cantar a fuerza de
pennanecer en la oscuridad, a fuena de vivir entre los topos, o como la lava en
Caro! Clark D'Lugo 63
los volcanes. El canto se eleva lucia el cielo irrumpiendo de entre las sombras.
Somos una Cultura que habita el recimo que pretende ocupar otra cultura. (9)
These lndians are united, and lhey perceive themsclves as fore.ign 10 lhe invader culture. They
speak in masse and they act in massc, giving onc thc impression of an army, perhaps of small
individual units, but with a potential for strength specifically through lheir cohesive spirit and
unanimity of thought and action. Ramírez pick.:s up on this notion within the teX1 through the
metaphor of ants ( 111, 112) and their misery, "oEiendo su angustia" ( 111 ), but also their tendency
to work togethcr ( 133). Ants. moreover, are known as savage, ruthless, and courageous. They are
among the very few species other than man to make war, and they can dwarf man with their
savagery.
Speaking for the under classes, Ranúrez clearly indicates that inside what might be perceived
from without as a placid ex1erior, a bowed head, a slow shufíle. ora submissive look there could
well breathc a simmering hatred of thosc wbo would not sce thcm, evcn, perhaps, of those wbo
purpon to be aware of the indigenous and 10 be willing to work. on tbeir behalf (thc politician
is shown on TV remarking specifically on his concem for the poor [ Violación 130]). Couching
bis material in an exaggeratedly brutal ta le, Ramirez suggests 1hat the indigcnous in Mexico are
potentially violent, whether as indhiduals oras a unitcd force. As descendents ofNezahualcóyotl,
they are capable of making bo1h beauti fut verses and savage warfare. 11 is 001 clear what might
spark their fiare of emotion. Sorne míght prefer t o see the bus sequences as a drearn, a nightmar-
ish fantasy brought on by cxposure to movíes, but, if not, Dr. Quíroz's final remark.s in bis
íntroduction to Pu pose a chilling conclusion: ''las sociedades tienen los crírninales que merecen"
(14).

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