248 CHAPTER 11 THE TRIUMPH OF NEOCOLONIALISM AND THE LIBERAL STATE, 1870–1900
calledjefes políticos, petty tyrants appointed by the
governors with the approval of Díaz; below them
were municipal presidents who ran the local ad-
ministrative units. One feature of the Díaz era was
a mushrooming of the coercive apparatus; govern-
ment administrative costs during this period soared
by 900 percent.
The army naturally enjoyed special favor.
Higher offi cers were well paid and enjoyed many
opportunities for enrichment at the expense of the
regions in which they were quartered. But the Díaz
army was pathetically inadequate for purposes of
national defense. Generals and other high offi cers
were appointed not for their ability but for their loy-
alty to the dictator. Discipline, morale, and train-
ing were extremely poor. A considerable part of the
rank-and-fi le were recruited from the dregs of soci-
ety; the remainder were young native conscripts.
These soldiers, often used for brutal repression
of strikes and agrarian unrest, were themselves
harshly treated and miserably paid: the wage of
ranks below sergeant was fi fty cents a month.
The church became another pillar of the dic-
tatorship and agreed to support Díaz in return for
his disregard of anticlerical Reforma laws. Monas-
teries, nunneries, and church schools reappeared,
and wealth again accumulated in the hands of
the church. Faithful to its bargain, the church hi-
erarchy turned a deaf ear to the complaints of the
lower classes and taught complete submission to
authorities.
The Díaz policy of conciliation was directed at
prominent intellectuals as well as more wealthy
and powerful fi gures. A group of such intellectuals,Beginning in the 1920s, with considerable support from the state, there arose in Mex-
ico a school of socially conscious artists who sought to enlighten the masses about
their bitter past and the promise of the revolutionary present. One of the greatest of
these artists was David Alfaro Siqueiros, whose painting depicts with satire the former
President Porfi rio Díaz, who tramples on the constitution of 1857 as he diverts his
wealthy followers with dancing girls. [© 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SOMAAP,
Mexico City/Photo from Artes e Historia México]