Globalizing Tequila: Mexican Television's Representations of the Neoliberal Reconversion of Land and Labor
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Globalizing Tequila: Mexican Television's Representations of
the Neoliberal Reconversion of Land and Labor
Daniel Chávez
Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, Volume 10, 2006, pp.
187-203 (Article)
Published by University of Arizona
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/hcs.2007.0012
For additional information about this article
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214554
[ Access provided at 4 May 2023 16:22 GMT with no institutional affiliation ]
Globalizing Tequila: Mexican
Television’s Representations
of the Neoliberal Reconversion
of Land and Labor
D
Daniel Chávez received his uring the twentieth century, Mexican identities were
Ph.D. from the University shaped in great part by the ebbs and flows of mass cul-
of Michigan and has taught ture. The specificity of gestures, the discourses about
at Vassar and Middlebury masculinity and femininity, the language and ideas proper to
Colleges. He was director
social interaction are generally traced back to the films of the
of Latin American Studies
at Washington University
Golden Age (1935-1955), the broadcasting of mariachi music,
in Saint Louis and is cu- boleros, and other musical productions as well as to televised
rrently Assistant Professor spectacles (Martín Barbero 166; Monsiváis, Aires 58-59 and
of Film and Visual Cul- Amor perdido 76-82; Murphy 251; Ramírez Berg 20-28). But
ture in the Department. the depiction of glamorous faces of film divas like María Félix
of Hispanic Studies at The and Dolores del Río, or the bravado of masculinity derived
University of Kentucky. His from the acting of Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete would have
areas of research include been less effective if a consumer culture did not accompany
Latina/o and Latin Ameri- these visual discourses (Joseph 10). Once Mexico entered in
can film and visual culture,
the ’50s to the category of what Debord calls the societies of
new media and Mexican
and Latin American cul-
spectacle, consuming clothes, soaps, drinks, and food were
tural studies. His articles akin to consume music and images.
on comics, photography, One of the most salient products from the time of the
telenovelas, and film have construction of this modern national identity is tequila. Even
appeared in journals in the if many of the values and nationalist symbols of Mexico’s
U.S., Spain and England. Golden Age of cinema were abandoned or displaced by others
at the end of the century, media portrayal of tequila as the
Mexican drink par excellence is still a current practice. How-
ever, what the stereotypical and modern marketing of tequila
as a fashionable drink almost always fails to communicate is
that this beverage is the product of a long colonial history.
On one hand, tequila emerges from the local knowledge
and agricultural practices of pre-Columbian times, directly
related to the production of pulque “nectar of the gods,”
Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies Volume 10, 2006
188 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies
and with the production of textile fibers Agave Cultivation: Salvation
widely used in ancient Mexico (Nabhan
or Reproletarization of Mexican
and Valenzuela 6, 15; Wisnieski 11).1 On
the other hand, tequila production was only campesinos?
made possible by the imposition of Euro-
pean distillation technology on indigenous The images of fields covered with agave
practices (Sánchez and Fentanes 27; Nabhan plants cannot be more dramatic. A plant with
and Valenzuela 9). In this sense, the hard a phylogenetic history of millions of years with
liquor embodies the “purification” process some rather harsh and primitive characteris-
related to the racial and economic practices tics, the agave is identified by its numerous,
of stratification associated with European elongated and thorned leaves (Garrido and
colonialism.2 Later on, during postcolonial Rodríguez 5). The high production of sug-
times, tequila came to symbolize the tri- ars—mostly in the form of fructose—in the
umph of mestizaje with all the implications core of this porcupine of a plant, is the most
for modernization and internal colonialism important element for the preparation of alco-
that this ideological concept brought about holic beverages. Its prolonged life cycle, lasting
in Mexican history (Nabhan and Valenzuela from seven to nine years, is the best indicator
14). As a result of this long association with of its rugged and strong condition (Sánchez
Mexican identity, tequila has been hailed as and Fentanes 14). In terms of labor, the most
the drink of the nation since the nineteenth intensive phases of its cultivation are the trans-
century (Muriá 48). planting of the buds or hijuelos and the cutting
With historical roots emerging from of its leaves, a process called jima that leads to
millennia of indigenous history, and then the final crop of the agave “heads”(Figs. 1 and
flourishing as a specific practice of colonial 2). In between, there are field chores involved,
production, tequila is now, in this new era mostly related to the cleaning of other compet-
of globalization (which began in 1492) be- ing species, which can be done through manual
coming one of the most prominent products labor or by using chemical herbicides. Another
of Mexican transnational trade.3 In a way, important but optional activity is the annual
tequila corporations are leading the process fertilization (Nabhan and Valenzuela 33-44).
of “globalization from within.” This is to say, Symbolically, in the cultivation of agave and
a process in which a local industry reaches in the production of tequila there is a mixture
the “free markets” of the world in similar or of traditional, non-mechanic labor (cultivation
better conditions to comparable industries and jima); tasks related to the most advanced
stemming from developed countries.4 In the agro-technology (usage of tractors, fertilizers
following pages I consider the implications and GPS mapping), and chemical processing
of this process of globalization from within, (the production and distillation of alcohols).
at two different levels. First, I discuss its While many other beverages and food prod-
impact on labor and the cultural practices ucts share some of these characteristics, it is
of the rural population of Southern Jalisco, only the marketers of tequila who insist upon
Mexico. Second, I will analyze the visual displaying this multiple temporality as a way
culture attached to the mythology of tequila of emphasizing the recently-acquired global
as the “national” drink and its symbolic status of their product without losing its ap-
reconversion by the television industry.5 peal to tradition.6Daniel Chávez 189
Despite the fact that agave looks as important for the rapid multiplication
like a plant related to cacti, the former is of land devoted to agaves if it were not for
genetically very different from the sahuaros the dramatic changes the Mexican economy
of the Sonora desert. Nonetheless, it does and the tequila industry faced during the
share some of the low requirements for an- late 1980s and early ’90s.
nual precipitation of the desert species. This
quality makes it suitable for lands without
irrigation or for those with low levels of
precipitation. The relatively few conditions
required for the production of agave makes
the cultivation of this crop an alternative
to the seasonal planting of corn, the most
important activity in many rural areas of
Southern Jalisco and the rest of Mexico. Of
course, where the soil is better and richer,
agaves thrive.
Fig. 2
With the Agrarian Law of 1992
the ejidatarios—communal land hold-
ers—could acquire the property rights to
their plots and associate with private capital
for the exploitation of land (Kurtz 176-78;
Klooster 111-12). This defacto “privatiza-
tion” of the agricultural system was the last
Fig. 1 effective political strike against the legacy of
the revolutionary era (1910-1940) (Krauze
More than other species, agaves can 422; Soederberg 176).7 The neoliberal poli-
grow on land with significant inclines; the cies of the eighties and nineties gave legal ex-
only limitation is the circulation of the trac- pression to the end of the “Mexican dream”
tors and trucks needed for the mechanized of the previous era of modernization: ten
methods of corporate agriculture. However, acres and a tractor with free education in a
all these favorable conditions would not be welfare state that never had the economic190 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies
means to be one. In the late ’90s, after the This process allows for American companies
doors opened for privatization, journalists to introduce grains and basic foodstuffs at
and economists feared the return of latifun- dumping prices without comparable com-
dia with its quasi-monopolistic accumula- pensations for Mexican producers.
tion of land in the hands of a few and the 4. Mexican governments, including
dispossession of thousands of campesinos. that of Vicente Fox, failed to promote the
These conditions were not unlike those that appropriate policies for the reconversion of
triggered the uprising of Zapata and Villa in agricultural production and were not able
the Mexico of the early twentieth century. to create new employment opportunities
But those fears proved to be unfounded. required for the absorption of the surplus in
More than ten years after the formal end manual labor that resulted from the radical
of ejido, things did not turn out that way. changes introduced by the North American
The privatization of communal lands have Free Trade Agreement. This situation further
been very slow but the consequences for the fueled the need to emigrate for large sectors
peasants were quite the same: rampant pov- of the rural and urban poor.
erty (Kurtz 182). Due to the loss of income 5. The economies of scale necessary
and lack of employment 400,000 Mexicans for the survival of the modern agribusiness
migrated each year between 2000 and 2004 require cultural and economic conditions
(SAGARPA 67). The majority of these mi- inaccessible to the vast majority of peasants
grants came from rural communities. and small producers (Chávez 87-92; Kurtz
The long-lasting crisis faced by 25% 162-203; Rozo 115-24).
of the Mexican population who make a
living from agricultural activities can be Given these conditions, for many campesinos
synthesized as follows: with small plots and no chances of obtaining
credit from the newly privatized banking
1. In the last twenty years, neoliberal system, the option of planting corn while
restructuring programs have accelerated the transnational giants systematically sur-
the historical transference of capital to the passed the market quotas with highly subsi-
financial institutions and to transnational dized transgenic grains was a choice between
corporations that control the production losing money while working for themselves,
of seeds, fertilizers, and chemicals. or leasing their land and selling their labor
2. As a consequence of the 1995 crash to others in order to earn a bare subsistence.
of the Mexican economy and of the gener- Faced with this choice, the chance to rent
alized default on private loans caused by the land to the highest bidder became a mat-
the re-privatization of the banks, financial ter of survival. Thus, conditions were ripe
institutions are deliberately slow—if not for the reconversion of peasant land from an
outright refusing—to extend credit to small agriculture of subsistence to the production
and medium agricultural entrepreneurs. of more marketable products.
3. The terms negotiated for the ag- The Mexican countryside has a com-
ricultural chapter of NAFTA allowed for plex structure. Along with the ejidos most of
extraordinary advantages for powerful cor- the agricultural production was traditionally
porations like ADM, Cargill, and others. In in the hands of small and middle agro-en-
that, they indirectly receive the benefits of trepreneurs. The latter groups were the first
large subsidies given by the U.S. government. to invest in the production of agaves in theDaniel Chávez 191
early 1980s. Due to the soaring prices of could bring a small family out of extreme
tequila, numerous independent producers poverty without compromising the labor
jumped at the opportunity to make a “sure” of the campesino. At first sight, the rural
profit on the production of agave heads. worker appears to have the opportunity
Unfortunately, by 1995 rising financial to receive a small amount of rent while
costs compounded with falling prices due to working for others, and also the freedom
overproduction resulted in the bankruptcy of to join the ranks of the under-employed by
many small and large independent farmers. going into the informal sector in the cities
Open conflict arose between the associations under a system that was liquidating his
of rural producers and the tequila manufac- way of life, and thus barely contributing
turers (Rivera; Nabhan and Valenzuela 60). to his own survival. In contrast, for the big
The days for adventurous farmers investing tequila houses, the newly gained hegemony
in “green gold” were numbered. of the cultivation of agave translated into
With the structural weaknesses in an uncontested ability to control prices
both the private and communal agricultural and levels of production while becoming a
sectors setting in by the mid ’90s, and as steering force in the determination of land
a result of the fluctuations in production renting prices. The globalizing ambitions
and pricing, the big tequila houses started of the tequila corporations were closer to
to look seriously at the possibility of taking crystallization than ever. Unfortunately for
over the agricultural side of the business, their poorer counterparts, these measures
an idea they had thus far avoided. The also resulted in the re-proletarization of the
Sauza, Cuervo and Herradura corporatio- rural worker.
ns—major players in the production of This volatility in the economy of agave
tequila—started to offer an annual rent of cultivation, however, presented another dra-
$60 US dollars—and in exceptional cases matic turn of events by the mid 1990s. Due
$120—per acre to ejidatarios and small to the rising demand for the product and
farmers. Aside from this, some campesinos the introduction of international regulatory
qualified for a yearly supplemental govern- measures in 1994 which effectively repo-
ment subsidy called “Procampo” of $32 per sitioned the Mexican industry as the sole
acre. Altogether these monies translated into authentic producer of the liquor, the sector
a steady flow of $92 per acre annually, for a was seeing an unusual period of prosperity
period of seven to eight years, which was the (Sánchez and Fentanes 24). Levels of tequila
standard for an agave production contract. production rose rapidly and the need for raw
In this way, numerous campesinos became matter to feed the agave furnaces grew faster
renters or even absentee owners of a small than anticipated. This time, it was the small
plot of land. Meanwhile, they were also free tequila producers’ turn for trouble. By the
to sell their labor force as seasonal workers end of the millennium a reduction in the
for the same tequila corporations, or for the supply of raw materials forced the closing
high-tech fruit and vegetable companies, or, of the small tequila factories that were not
as many chose, to emigrate to the U.S.8 able to invest in acquiring or renting large
Since many ejidatarios in the region tracts of land (Nabhan and Valenzuela 61).
had a plot of ten acres, their annual inco- This last change further skewed the market
me reached $920. In theory, this money in favor of the large players.192 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies
Giants of the industry such as Her- powers as the imperial and colonial ventures
radura and Cuervo corporations managed of the past were able to establish (Sassen 276).
individually up to a total of 45,000 acres It is very telling that after leading an effective
each in 2002. Some 70% of this land per- process of globalization as a business and after
tained to communal plots. Furthermore, detaching itself from the watchful eye of the
the mechanization process allowed them to State through liberalization, a company with
cut in half the number of manual laborers new-found powers readily acts on its desire
between 2001 and 2002.9 to carve out a national space of its own. After
These developments enabled “Casa several changes to their website, the Cuervo
Cuervo” to increase its profit margin in corporation now insists on the metaphor of
terms of both relative and absolute surplus the “business as a nation” by naming “em-
value. In 2002 alone, the annual revenues bassies,” identifying a Ministry of Defense
reached 300 million dollars. This successful (against boredom) and a Museum of Cuervo
reconversion of the business combined with in an aerial view of the island, and displaying
the boom in sales, allowed the owners to its own “declaration of independence” (see
buy out their Canadian partner, Seagrams, “Welcome to Cuervonation”).
Ltd. This last move helped Cuervo achieve As is frequently the case, to every
vertical integration by regaining control of process of globalization from the top cor-
all the aspects of the industry: land rent, responds an effort of globalization from
raw material production, industrialization, below.10 For all its negative economic effects
distribution, exports, and financing. In fact, in Mexico and in Latin America in general,
the globalizing ambitions of Cuervo were so neoliberalism has mobilized some sectors of
favorably impacted that they have symboli- the population (Portes and Hoffman 75).
cally achieved what many critics of global- On the opposite side of the spectrum from
ization have predicted: that the increasing the successful class of agro-exporters, an un-
power of international corporations and the expected effect of the economic disaster of
porosity of the weakened State institutions 1995 was the unprecedented independence
would result in the ceding of control from gained by the associations and NGOs in the
the nations to private interests. agricultural sector. The detachment of these
In 1996, Casa Cuervo acquired a small organizations from the corporate politics of
island in the Caribbean and founded the the PRI increased their force and enabled
“República de Cuervo,” a state with rights of them to present a multifaceted challenge
nationhood that sought representation in the to governmental institutions. Organiza-
United Nations after declaring its indepen- tions like the CAP (Permanent Agrarian
dence. Looking beyond the publicity stunt Congress), El Barzón, and the movement
that the creation of this new “nation” repre- eloquently called “El campo no aguanta
sents, the symbolic implications of the act are más” (The countryside can’t take it anymore)
striking (Fig 3). Transnational corporations effectively forced the government to sign
brought about by a process of “globalization into law a rural development plan and has
from within” of peripheral economies now constantly pushed for the re-negotiation of
have the same possibilities for erecting state NAFTA’s terms (Bartra).11Daniel Chávez 193
Fig. 3
The new relationship between the The reintroduction of land to market
campesinos and the local corporations are circulation and the transference of regulatory
effectively substituting the symbolic ties that measures for the agave cultivation to a “non-
the Mexican state had established with the profit” organism (the Consejo Regulador del
rural population in the previous round of Tequila [Council for Tequila Regulation]
modernization. Under the developmentalist or CRT), completed the imposition of the
model fostered from the 1950s to the early neoliberal credo of privatization, deregula-
1980s, the campesino was to expect the tion, and globalization to the sector.
financial and technical backing of the State The effective economic reconver-
in addition to basic services (Kurtz 172). sion of the tequila industry from a small
However, the intended model of a Welfare traditional enterprise into a global player
State was actually that of a “Remedial State,” in the production and commercialization
which would barely provide health services of alcoholic beverages had striking mate-
and elementary education in a selective and rial effects on all parties involved, but this
limited way. Furthermore, the last two PRI process also altered the symbolic contract
governments’ aggressive pursuit to imple- between rural society and the nation state.
ment neoliberal policies threatened to dis- Certainly, through this process the rural
mantle most of the assistance programs. population shed the paternalistic cloak of194 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies
the governmental presence but at the same repertoire of mariachi music. In the new
time lost the sheltering space provided by serials, just as it had been in classic movies,
the assistance of the State. Logically, such tequila was a symbol reinforcing national-
transformations had the potential to attract ism and masculinity, at least in the folkloric
conflict and protests, as they did. Clearly the and stereotypical form often exploited by
government had to display some economic visual melodramas (Sánchez and Fentanes
and political palliatives but more than ever, 91; Monsiváis, “Preface” 15; Nabhan and
required a media strategy to symbolically Valenzuela 18).
compensate the rural sector and avoid the What seemed unusual in the late nine-
looming conflicts. For the latter need, the ties was a certain change in the traditional
Salinas and Zedillo governments counted plot and what could also be regarded as a
with the faithful collaboration of the televi- reversal of some elements of the ideological
sion industry. codes accompanying the melodramatic base.
Despite the unconditional support In La mentira, produced by Televisa, the
Televisa had shown for the government, supremacy of urban culture over rural pov-
the prominence of the protests by some erty was problematized or destabilized to a
rural producers and other sectors made it certain degree. From their inception in 1952
necessary for the newscasts and telenovelas to telenovelas have repeated the same message:
approach the evolving changes in Mexican social advancement, material progress and
society (Murphy 254; Hughes and Lawson “civilization” are always associated with the
14). How, and to what effect were societal city. These ideas echoed the developmen-
and economic changes integrated into the talist and highly centralist orientation of
discourse of prime time melodramas? In Mexican politics under the PRI.
what way could fictional television genres It is important to note here that I am
approach and represent the unraveling of talking about a change and not a revolution
the old regime, while still acknowledging in the representation of social conditions in
the apparent empowerment of civil society? telenovelas. Azul tequila and La mentira were
These are the questions guiding the analysis still typical products of the Mexican media.
found in the following pages. However, as in other telenovelas of the last
ten years, the traditional three or four de-
Tequila, telenovelas, grees of separation between socio-political
reality and television narratives seemed to
and Neoliberal Nostalgia be reduced to one or two. 13 For instance,
for Land in the 1990s in contrast to the generalized occupational
categories of early telenovelas, husbands
In 1998, Mexican audiences had the and fathers tended to now have “concrete”
choice of watching two different telenovelas professions. The old industrialists and licen-
in which the main characters were involved ciados (lawyers) made rich from “business”
in the production of tequila: La mentira and in general or by inheritance, became owners
Azul tequila.12 This sudden “spectacular- of textile emporiums, executives of plastic
ity” accorded to tequila culture made echo production firms and fish packing factories
of visual discourses stemming from the or, in this case, hacendados cultivating agave
Golden Age of Mexican film and the lyric for tequila distillation. This turn towards theDaniel Chávez 195
“real” can be traced back to the 1980s when small tequila production business. Given
the filming of provincial and tourist destina- the stirring crises in both the tequila and
tions became a staple for the most successful the banking industries which were widely
telenovelas. The superficial association of covered by the media during the mid ’90s,
official nationalism with landscape was put we must ask: was there ever a more conve-
to work by Televisa, the tourism industry, nient marriage of economic and symbolic
and the State. Now the rich TV families not capital to portray on television? Supporting
only lived in Mexico City but also had con- a modernized image of women and beyond
nections or lived in Guadalajara, Monterrey, the convoluted story of desire, deception,
and Acapulco. and treason there was no marked unbalance
Suddenly (but not surprisingly) in the between the two characters in terms of eco-
’90s more and more “stellar casts” brought nomic power or better education. They sup-
to life narratives based in semi-rural or rural posedly met as equals in terms of class and
environments. Long sequences in haciendas, their family relations brought them back
in small town churches, in cañaverales, with and forth from shady hacienda corridors
women on horses, and with sexual encoun- to luxurious Mexico City mansions, and to
ters under clear skies in the middle of a corn lavish Guadalajara estates. With this itiner-
field were not unheard of in the new stories. ant usage of national space the old tenets
Characters had two parallel sides, they were of stereotypical representation—backward
depicted as having rural and urban perso- and sleepy province vs. fast and modern
nas. They had attachments to a provincial city—were collapsing.
city for commercial or financial purposes, At some point, each family’s sources of
but they also had incomes derived from income were seriously endangered. The cri-
some specific agricultural form of produc- ses in the telenovela ran parallel to the crises
tion such as cattle or horse-raising, or as in Mexican society, albeit with three years
traditional professionals in small provincial between them. For Verónica’s family, threats
towns. The combination of these non- came in the form of a national economic
urban subjects and their interconnection disaster and the scheming of some unscru-
with decidedly urban categories makes the pulous partners at the bank. For Demetrio,
analysis of these telenovelas more complex the budding tequila baron, the stock of
than ever. Furthermore, certain technical barrels, along with the infrastructure at the
innovations and a more cinema-like camera hacienda, were ravaged by a flash flood. Of
usage seemed to reveal the aspiration of course, these dramatic sequences allow the
producers to transform telenovelas into more characters to be portrayed as compassionate,
of a cross-class and transnational spectacle stoic, and simply put: magnificent “human
rather than crude cultural products for the beings” who stand up against adversity. In
“illiterate masses,” as the cultural critics of parallel editing, spectators first watched
the past sometimes called them. characters fighting the flood appropriately
Romanticizing tequila production as a dressed to face nature with boots, jeans, and
narrative construct is one of these complex hats. Then, for the urban financial crisis,
issues. In La Mentira the female protagonist, the honorable bankers suited up for the
Verónica (Kate del Castillo), was related killer press conference to announce that the
to a family of bankers. She fell in love bank would back up their clients down to
with Demetrio (Guy Eker) the owner of a the last cent.196 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies
Back in the streets, in the nontelevisu- Therefore, desire is directed towards land
al Mexico, the middle class, the campesinos, and woman as the most important of male
and the independent agave producers were possessions. Here, psychoanalytic reasoning
not that fortunate. Yes, both bankers and would leads us to think that infatuation
ranchers suffered the consequences of the with tequila and the revival of haciendas is
“Tequila effect” as the financial crash in merely a reference to phallic power. But this
Mexico, and its rippling effect in Latin line of thinking is just too simplistic; the
America was known in 1995 (Notimex socio-economic and cultural implications
“Efecto”; Rozo 118). However, while banks are far more complex.
received the benefits of a rescue program The representation of struggles for
(fobaproa), ranchers and small investors power and authority ran deep in this re-
were left to weather the storm on their own vamped foundational fiction (Estill 171-
(López Obrador 52). Ultimately, La mentira 72).15 In the nineties, the organic crisis in
functioned as a narrative of containment, Mexican politics unsettled the foundations
as an instrument to level the emotional of society and ultimately stirred the instru-
playing field and show the suffering of all ments of domination. Even the bourgeoisie
parties involved as being equal. Quite fitting and the hegemonic classes had to endure a
to the emotional teleology of melodramas, certain degree of anxiety and incertitude
the crises depicted in the telenovelas derived when speculation and the banking crisis
from human nature and from the unfath- exploded in 1995. Indeed, the social move-
omable effects of natural forces.14 What ments like Zapatismo and Barzonismo,
seems unbalanced is that while human vices together with the independence of large sec-
like greed, lust, and revenge were suitable tors of the labor movement, caused increased
for representation, governmental irrespon- tension in the relations of the industrial
sibility and corruption, or the dishonesty of and financial classes with the government
many of the banking firms, were not. (Chávez 87; Soederberg 177). The signing
In Azul tequila, the family saga takes of NAFTA, the restrictions imposed by the
an historical approach to the romanticiz- IMF, and the presence of the opposition in
ing of tequila as a multisemic symbol. The the Congress contributed to the reduction
story revolves around the patriarch of a well in the discretion with which governments
established house of tequila production. could manipulate the budget as leverage to
The scenarios are dated as taking place just deal with workers and campesinos (Kurtz
before the Revolution of 1910. The stakes in 181). Under these circumstances, the mo-
the struggle between brothers Arcadio and bilization of symbols for national unity and
Santiago include the affection of their father, for political legitimacy could not come from
the ownership of the hacienda, and the love the familiar image of the suit-wearing talk-
of a woman symbolically named “Azul.” The ing heads from newscasts, nor could it come
color blue plays an important role since the from the sunglass-wearing figurehead associ-
main characteristic of the tequila plant is ated with the traditional politician. It was
also inscribed in its scientific name “Azul Te- only in the residual images of the campesino
quilana.” Thus “azul” means woman, and it culture, in the hacienda-style houses, in the
means agave, and at the same time, it brings “banda” music, in the boots, and in the brass
us back to the idea of territorial property. buckles where any positive reaffirmation ofDaniel Chávez 197
nationalism could be placed.16 Tequila, of and romanticized physical labor appealing
course, was an essential element in this list to a pictorialism that echoed revolutionary
of legitimating artifacts. muralism, the Golden Age of film, and
In terms of the circulation of symbolic exploited visual discourses that went as far
power it is also relevant to mention the sud- back as the portraits of Saturnino Herrán
den craze for the restoration of old hacienda and José María Velazco in the nineteenth
buildings among the local bourgeoisie in century (Lucie-Smith 24-26). These ele-
Jalisco, Querétaro, Guanajuato, Puebla, Yu- ments displayed by Azul tequila provided
catán and other states. Catering to the taste a source of identification with the practices
of its wealthy clients and adducing a desire and tasks of the agricultural worker.17 The
to “rescue” the Mexican cultural patrimony, itinerant and dual persona of Demetrio
Banamex, one of the most important bank- and Verónica in La mentira reflected more
ing institutions (later acquired by Citicorp) of the mobility and the media awareness
released in 1996-97 a set of two coffee table present in the middle and lower classes in
books with 400 or more pages, each lavishly the central and western states of Mexico.
illustrated with epic and nostalgic portrayals These are the states that provide the majority
of the architecture of the old estate houses of of migrant labor to the United States. Very
the “patrones” (Fernández de Calderón and often, Mexicans from these areas share the
Sarmiento 13). Apparently, by 1997 banks experience of working the fields in Gua-
were ready to celebrate haciendas as a past to najuato or the fields of the San Fernando
resurrect, notwithstanding their continued Valley in California, while taking some time
reluctance to extend credit to anyone but to visit or live in Guadalajara, Tijuana, Los
the wealthiest of their patrons, those who Angeles or Chicago. They have been in the
seized the opportunities of NAFTA or who cosmopolitan city and they know how to
were rescued from the financial turmoil move around in the crop field. They prob-
by the neoliberal government of Zedillo ably drank tequila in Mexico and drank
(1994-2000). This nostalgia for land in a tequila in the U.S.
society that was less and less attached to For the middle and high classes Azul
its rural sector seemed to be a symbolic tequila, La mentira and the Banamex books
contradiction. However, it was precisely in on haciendas brought about reminiscences
this contradiction that the pleasure derived of a world where the land-owner, or the
from the televisual spectacle resided. In an capitalist had a say not only in the sphere of
era where the old stability promised by the production but also in the social, religious,
PRI was rapidly eroding, the economic capi- and family affairs of the workers. The pans
tal around the hacienda could be translated of long corridors and arches together with
into a symbolic investment certain to appear the colonial decorations and furniture, gave
as an immediate trait of distinction. a historical patina to the tearful and pas-
In its aim to support or substitute sionate narratives. Haciendas as architectural
the state as an ideological machine for and economic spaces were self-sufficient
the reproduction of nationalist symbols, and were sites for primary accumulation
televised spectacles promised and delivered before and after the independence. As such,
something for everyone (Murphy 251, they evoke times of stability and patriarchal
254). For the lower classes, the apparent domination that by 1998 seemed long gone
indigenista and paisajista sequences exalted and unattainable.198 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies
In an age termed by García Canclini as cognacs in the world (Notimex ,“El tequila
one of postnational and fragmented identities, compite”).19 This is an inspiration for inves-
the tequila industry inexplicably preserves an tors, and is certainly setting a precedent for
aura suffused with traditional symbols (cf. other family businesses dreaming of global-
García Canclini, Consumers 91). Based on izing their operations.20
the cultivation of a harsh and biologically From a media perspective, the tequila
primitive plant, most tequila brands carry melodramas could be viewed as self-promot-
family names and pretend to be family- ing narratives pointing back to the television
owned businesses with origins in a legendary companies as the bearers and champions of
and still-standing hacienda carefully (and the values and symbols they honed in their
sometimes very recently) restored. This own programs. Spectacles marrying the
“locus of tradition” and the new practices rural and urban worlds re-confirmed the
of commercialization became an investment self-promoting claim that they served the
in symbolic capital and functioned as a tool “large Mexican family” without distinctions
for legitimacy in the marketplace. of class. By romanticizing globalized fami-
The ideas and symbols presented ly businesses, Televisa was also advertising
in telenovelas appeal to conservative and its own history as a company formed and
nostalgic minds in all classes even though managed by two powerful clans.
most of their images corresponded to an Moreover, it is important to remember
idealistic conception of the rural economy that the television wars of 1993 took away
that was far from reality. However, in the some of the prestige of both companies. For
national market, tequila advertising func- Televisa, who had faced the prospect of real
tioned as a source of identification among competition for the first time and who had
the entrepreneurial and technocratic minds lost some rating points for a couple of months
of neoliberal times. Tequila companies were to the prime time programs of TV Azteca,
by then admired as high-tech corporations launching a trendy “realistic” melodrama
with local and global capital controlling all that purportedly followed political life, was
aspects of production and commercializa- clearly an effort to recapture their glory as
tion. Since 1974, tequila is a registered mark specialists in tying high emotional content to
and has strictly defined areas of production nationalistic images, the proven formula of
and industrial specifications (Sánchez and their success. This was no friendly sparring;
Fentanes 31, 34; Wisniewski 30).18 In 1997 after all, the main revenue of most Latin
the Regulatory Council of Tequila won sev- American television companies depends on
eral international law suits against European the high prices of the advertising slots of prime
and South African producers who allegedly time telenovelas (Mato 238). For TV Azteca,
sold bootlegged “tequila” (Wisniewski 33). who was emerging from a suspect process of
These small victories were read as reaffirm- privatization, the promotion of a history-based
ing stories demonstrating the possibility of melodrama such as Azul with high produc-
successful competition of Mexican entrepre- tion values was a way to show and confirm
neurs in the global market against commer- its ability to compete against the other half of
cial giants. Nowadays, in the most exclusive the duopoly, while cajoling the governmental
wine boutiques, a good bottle of tequila has elite and the public with the most traditional
reached the prices of the best whiskeys and traits of Mexican nationalism.Daniel Chávez 199
Finally, from the perspective of the of neoliberal economic policies and are
standard practice of cultural and media criti- anxiously searching for answers in the cities
cism, it is important to note that telenovelas as or beyond the national borders.
cross-class spectacles have become more com-
plex objects of analysis. They are clearly com-
Notes
mercially standardized products, but their 1
Pulque is one of the many indigenous
reception by dynamic and often fragmented
drinks derived from the more than one hundred
audiences resists theorization. To the dismay varieties of agave plants native to Mexico (cf.
of some traditional intellectuals, they are real Garrido and Rodríguez 7). Pulque is refered
sources for the construction of contemporary in Aztec mythology as a gift from Mayahuel,
structures of feelings, as literature and film the goddess at the center of legends related to
were before. As such, they can no longer be abundance, inebriation, and male and female
dismissed as flat and inconsequential; they sexual potency (Clendinen 245).
2
can no longer be accused of being only and The production of the “vino mezcal de
foremost demoralizing and de-nationalizing Tequila” was banned during early colonial
times because the product represented a direct
products. It is ironic, but in many cases they
competition against peninsular alcoholic bever-
are perhaps the only source of historically
ages. However, given the extreme popularity of
contextualized narratives that could preserve the spirit among the mestizo population, the
some sense of belonging to a history or to a vice-regal authorities had no other choice but
nation in which extreme poverty has made allow and then tax its consumption (Sánchez
a luxury out of books and formal education and Fentanes 27).
a fantasy of electoral rhetoric. 3
Literature on globalization differs as to
If the visual discourse of telenovelas what constitutes the first era of globalization.
saddles the commercial with the national World Systems historicism and especially Latin
imaginary, tequila production embodies the American cultural and historical criticism con-
siders the Encounter of Europe and the Americas
contradictions of a process of globalization
as the founding moment of modernity and
from within. On the surface, the successful
globalization (Dussel 9,13; Mignolo 21).
projection of a national product into the 4
I use the term “globalization from within”
global market is perceived as a paradigmatic to describe the process by which a traditional
narrative of success, and indirectly serves as product and its associated practices or industrial
a confirmation of the relevance of nation- know-how become the subject of global market-
alism in the postmodern social imaginary. ing, using the financial, and cultural resources
However, the flipside of the coin is much from its country or region of origin. This process
less idyllic. The process by which globaliza- is different to the standard form of globaliza-
tion is achieved bares the disquieting signs tion usually generated by the forces and with
resources stemming from the metropolis.
of the decomposition of the social compact 5
Reconversion is the term applied to
of a State that was already dysfunctional.
the economic and cultural transformation of
Under this confusing circumstances, the traditional activities that are rearticulated into
nostalgia for the national is much less a modern processes (García Canclini, “Cultural
problem of symbolic viability but rather a Reconversion” 31).
set of problems demanding a material solu- 6
The ability to inhabit multiple spaces while
tion for thousands of campesinos who have acting according to multiple temporalities is recog-
not yet found the way out of the labyrinth nized as one of the most important characteristics200 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies
of global actors and global forces. Obviously, a Congress approved and signed a new “Ley de
product embodying these qualities can be viewed desarrollo rural” (Rural Development Law) but
as the quintessential global commodity. In many Fox’s government dragged its feet and it was
ways tequila has these qualities. only partially implemented. It is interesting to
7
The Salinas office (1988-1994) was charac- consider that this course of action was taken by
terized by the obsessive display of “modernizing a president whose family business in his native
gestures.” The privatization and de facto cancel- state of Guanajuato remains the production of
lation of the agrarian system was accompanied fruits and vegetables for export. For the success-
by the expedient and poorly debated adhesion ful and politically influential agro-exporter the
to NAFTA, the resumption of direct diplomatic laws protecting the production of corn and beans
relations with the Vatican, the re-privatization are clearly not urgent or necessary.
12
of the banking system under poor regulatory There is nothing coincidental about this
conditions, the wholesale transference of the thematic concurrence. Since the inception of
official television system IMEVISION in a TV Azteca in 1993, the two main television
dubious deal to TV Azteca, the sale of Telmex companies embarked on what is now known as
(the national telephone company) to one group the “television wars.” Initially the new company
that immediately acquired the benefits of a captured only 10% of the audience and 10%
monopoly, and other “grand” designs inspired from the total advertising revenue (Fox 49;
by the Neoliberal credo strictly, albeit corruptly Hernández and McAnany 393). This was not
followed by the penultimate authoritarian PRI enough for the emerging group and so the direc-
government. tives launched an aggressive campaign to attract
8
The combined effects of privatization of stars, programs, and public. In the end, the war
land, the banking crisis, and the empowering amounted only to a dispute for ratings without
of the tequila corporations by the disturbances offering better options to Mexican audiences
in the economic cycle amounted to what David (Orozco 231).
13
Harvey has termed as “accumulation by dispos- This turn towards a closer representation
session” (Harvey 98). Thus, many campesinos of reality in telenovelas was in fact a continental
and rural producers have lost their ability to phenomenon in the late eighties and nineties.
participate in the agricultural sector. The effects Brazilian as well as Venezuelan serials started to
of this phase of global capitalism have pushed follow, mimic, and even mock the political and
ever larger sectors of the Mexican population economic events of their societies introducing a
to contemplate migration to the U.S. as their critical voice against the corrupt politicians of the
sole alternative. time (Valenti). Televisa’s programs, although im-
9
Data compiled during successive visits to mersed in this new mode of representation, were
Southern Jalisco from 2000 to 2003. The prices, more conventional. While they did make direct
rents and amounts of governmental incentives references to current events they carefully avoided
were current in the municipalities of Sayula, any direct association with political personalities.
Venustiano Carranza, Tonaya, and El Limón This is not surprising for a monopolistic com-
among others. pany that has always cultivated its close ties to
10
Arjun Appadurai recognizes the complex political power (Murphy 256).
14
action of emerging NGO’s as a form of grass- The Russian Formalist Balukhaty des-
roots globalization that may or may not support cribed melodrama as having an “emotional
the policies of the nation state but in any case teleology” whose main purpose was to provoke
represent a resistant force against the averse ef- the greatest possible intensity of feeling in the
fects of globalization (Appadurai 16-17). spectators by relating all narrative and dramatic
11
At the behest of the official and indepen- elements to the expression, reference or cultiva-
dent rural organizations the lower chamber of tion of emotions (Gerould 121).Daniel Chávez 201
15
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