In Chicano Manifesto (1971), Armando Rendon made the radical claim that the United States and Mexico were technically still in a state of war (1846-1848) because the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was violated prior to even its signing, and that therefore, a state of war continues to this day.
Rendon’s claim was based on war having been waged against Mexico; half of its territories were illegally seized via war or threat of war during the 1830s through the 1850s; and several of the articles (Article VIII and IX) from the treaty were altered and one (Article X) was outright deleted. These articles had to do with land rights and the human rights of the peoples that remained in the former Mexican territories.
Here, I am not agreeing or disagreeing, but actually positing something even more radical: that people of Mexican descent (including Chicanos/as) that live in this country, live in a permanent state of dehumanization and thus also part of a permanent state of insurrection that has been ongoing since the days of Columbus, Cortez and Pizarro and other “conquistadors,” one that never ended, and technically, can never end. These (Indigenous) insurrections and rebellions went on long after the official wars of Independence ended in the 1800s that rejected the more than 300 years of colonialism.
Much of this has to do with the so-called “master narrative of history.” This narrative speaks of imperialism, but does not name it, instead referring to it as “The Conquest” as if it were a fait accompli. As part of this narrative, in regards to most of the Americas, peoples from Europe, namely Spain, came to this continent, fought against native peoples, defeated, conquered, subdued and pacified them, and as result, the land (and peoples’ souls) magically transferred over to European Christians. Actually in this narrative, all of this was God’s will via providence and then later, manifest destiny.
This is fiction; at best, a children’s bedtime story.
Remember that Spanish/European colonialism was not a one-time event; there were hundreds of wars and many hundreds of rebellions, just as there were many hundreds of peoples throughout the continent. It would have been impossible to have conquered all native peoples by the simple act of defeating one people or defeating a people in one or two cities (Tenochtitlan or Cuzco). The truth is that the ensuing rebellions continued. In fact, there are many examples of pan-indigenous and widespread revolts and resistance throughout the continent. Some included the great Mixton War in the mid 1500s by peoples in the northern provinces of what is today Mexico, led by the Caxcan Lord, Francisco Tenamaxtle. Similar revolts took place among the Chichimecas also in the same region in the latter half of the 1500s. Same with peoples from the Andes in the 1500s (led by Tupac Amaru) and 1700s, and among the Maya from the 1500s through the 1900s. The great pan-Indigenous Pueblo revolt in what is today the U.S. Southwest in 1680 drove Spaniards away from the region for 12 years.
To be sure, whenever one uprising was quelled, another one sprung up elsewhere. This has been true since 1492. This is why Latin America has always been considered “unstable.” Did not the Zapatistas rise up in Chiapas in 1994? And what is Standing Rock today?
