“To know our history is to know ourselves” said Luis H. Rosado Baeza during the presentation of his book “La Cruz y la Espada” (The Cross and the Sword), a historical novel about the life of General Francisco Cantón.
The book was presented on March 21 by Jorge Hidalgo Aguilar y Aguilar, president of the Association of Active Adults of Yucatan, and former state governor Dulce María Sauri Riancho.
Rosado Baeza indicated that many of the book’s characters are scattered in encyclopedias, but almost all the stories follow certain political plot, since the work is a “historic novel” that narrates how the conservatives fought to maintain control of the Yucatan.
The book also portraits of the way of life in the henequen haciendas, and uses General Francisco Cantón as the axis of the story. It addresses his birth, childhood, adolescence and military studies.
“The readers will be able to learn about Cantón’s experiences as a student, his military performance first on the side of the Republicans and later on the side of the Conservatives, who were in power when Maximilian of Augsburg came to Mexico as emperor”, the author added.
“Years later Maximilian was executed, but the struggle of the church and the state continued, until General Porfirio Díaz arrives with the plan of Tuxtepec and General Cantón adhered to the battle they won in Santa Ana. During the 34 years that Díaz spent as President of Mexico, General Cantón was Yucatán’s governor on several occasions,” the author continued.
The final chapters contemplate the arrival of General Salvador Alvarado to the Yucatan, who burned the cathedral of Mérida, and the 1917 constitution that no longer allowed Cantón to be governor of Yucatán and forced him to retire.
At some point, the novel also addresses the story of Felipe Carrillo Puerto with the Socialist Party of the Southeast, who governed Yucatán supported by General Alvarado, until the murder of Carrillo Puerto, orchestrated by General Huerta.
The book includes sections on the history of the origins of Yucatan since pre-Hispanic times.
Source: Diario de Yucatán
