Mexican Civil War
 

I've combed the thread map here and the notoriously unwieldy Challenge Magazine index looking for information on the Mexican Civil War mentioned briefly in the v1.0 history but I can't find any details.

Challenge 27 mentions three major factions- Nationalists (ENM) , Constitutionalists (EMC), and Alliance (ANAMEL)- but makes no references to how/why they splintered, nor does it differentiate between any of the respective factions either politically or ideologically.

Does anyone out there know of any canonical references to said internecine conflict?

Thanks, in advance.

This may help.

From Red Star-Lone Star Page 11-12

Until just before the war, Mexico enjoyed a democratic government with a single political party in power—El Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). Other parties existed, but had no voice in the government. They included the opposition El Partido Accion Nacional (PAN), the Marxist Partido PopularSocialista (PPS), and the military-supported Partido Autentico de la Revolucion Mexicano (PARM). The government had enjoyed widespread popularity, providing a wide range of free services (free phone service, for example) and public subsidies (tortillas could be bought five for a penny). By the mid-90's, the government was bankrupt, and a rising swell of desperate poverty, falling oil prices, famine, and the break-down of foreign trade brought down the PRI and brought in the opposition PAN. The PARM, which enjoyed considerable support among military officers, challenged the legitimacy of the caretaker government, and civil war broke out. Matters stabilized somewhat with an unexpected union of the PRI with the Marxist PPS, and the disintegration of PAN in party squabbles and recriminations. The PRI-PPS alliance seized power in the summer of 1998...and promptly ordered the invasion of Texas to take the public's' mind off rationing and food riots at home. The excuse that Mexican refugees were being butchered had less to do with the orders to cross the Rio Grande than did the knowledge that only a full-scale mobilization at home would give the Mexican government muscle to dispel the mobs rioting in Mexico City.

However, wars are expensive things, and even with the help of the Soviet Division Cuba brought over from Mariel, overextended supply lines across hundreds of barren and desolate miles resulted in an almost total breakdown of communications with the front. The PRI/PPS alliance broke down with the assassination of PRI Presidente Juarez. A regiment ordered to fire into a crowd outside the presidential palace refused. In Texas, whole army brigades deserted, or declared for one or another of the rival political parties struggling for control of Mexico. A number of rival factions are battling for control of Texas at the time of this adventure. Some are contestants in the Mexican Civil War, others seek a free and independent Texas.

FEDERALES

The Ejercito Nacional Mexicano (Mexican National Army), sometimes referred to as the ENM, but more commonly called the Federales or the Federals, is the faction with perhaps the best claim to the legitimate government of Mexico. The Federales are supported by the PRI, which has declared the elections which brought the PAN to power invalid. They seek to obey the most recent orders from the PRI government, which were to hold fast and await further orders. No further orders have been forthcoming for several months, and discipline and order are crumbling daily. Some commanders have begun operations independent of orders from Mexico City in hopes of salvaging some remnant of their units.

CONSTITUCIONALES

The most powerful rebel group is the Ejercito Mexicano dela Constitucion (EMECO), supported by a new political party, the Partido Accion de la Constitucion (PAC, Constitutional Action Party). Called the Constitucionales (or Constitutionalists) their flag is the Mexican tricolor with the coat of arms replaced by the date 1917—the date of modern Mexico's constitution. The Constitucionales support the PAN claim that the elections which ousted the PRI were constitutional and valid, and that the PRI-PPS declaration was nothing less than a blatant renunciation of the Constitution. They have called for a return to the revolutionary ideals of the Constitution, an end to the war, and the annexation of Texas (which, in Mexican eyes, had been abandoned by the United States and was now in total anarchy).

FMRP/FDP

The Fuerzas Militares de la Revolucion Popular (FMRP) and the Fuerza Democratica Popular (FDP) are rival Marxist groups seeking the creation of a communist state in Mexico and the annexation of Texas. The FDP is connected with peasant and Indian radical movements, and has strong Maoist leanings. The FMRP is the stronger of the two, and has strong ties with the PARM political party. They live and fight as guerrillas, striking towns and supply depots but avoiding (where possible) larger armed groups. Most of the FMRP's leaders are former Mexican army officers with strong PARM connections. The leaders of the FDP have more diverse backgrounds.

NATIONALISTS

The Alianza Nacional del Mexico Libre (the National Alliance of Free Mexico, or the nationalists) is a far right-wing nationalist socialist group dedicated to the destruction of communists in Mexico, war against the Soviets, and the annexation of Texas.


Also in regards to Texas itself in T2K

LA FAMILIA

La Familia Huerra y Gonzales, or "La Familia ("the Family" began as a drug smuggling operation with connections between Mexico, Miami, Houston, and Chicago. With the breakdown in international communications, elements of the Family have been isolated.

JIM HOGG IRREGULARS

This organization, centered in the town of Hebbronville, began as a Grange organization, but has been diverted into a racist campaign against Hispanics, whom they see as the cause of all current Texan ills. The goal of the JHI is to create a free Texas republic—and to kill or drive all Hispanics out of it. Named after Jim Hogg County, the JHI are almost constantly in conflict with Mexican and Mexican-American groups.

TEXIAN LEGION

The Texian Legion is a right-wing, loose-knit organization which intends to establish an independent Texas. With origins as disunited bands of brigands, they are strong enough now to have dealt a serious defeat to elements of the U.S. Army sent to clear Texas of marauder forces. Many independent marauder bands claim to be Texian Legion, using the name to inspire fear or respect in their victims. Texian is an old name for Texan, out of use since the 19th century.

SOUTH TEXAS GRANGE

The South Texas Grange is a self-help, self-defense league of farmers and ranchers (mostly Anglos and Hispanic-Americans) who have re-established a viable economy in the Port Lavaca area of the Gulf Coast, and who enjoy considerable support throughout much of south and east Texas. Grangers seek to bring order to the anarchy which dominates Texas now, and eventually to establish the Lone Star Republic—a free and independent Texas. Many Grangers hope for an eventual reunification with the United States, once the Mexicans have been sent home.

TEXAS RANGERS

Once one of the best and most widely-known of all U.S. lawenforcement agencies, the Texas Rangers are now the only remnant of the pre-war state government still functioning in south Texas.

Thanks, RN7, that's very helpful. Any idea what the "Alliance (ANAMEL)" is all about?

The Alliance may be the Nationalist faction. I'm still looking through the various sourcebooks but nothing new is surfacing. The information about Mexican forces in California in the City of Angels SB is not as detailed or as good as that about Texas in the Red Star-Lone Star SB.

I'd agree the Alliance refers to this

Alianza NAcional del MExico Libre = ANAMEL

Is anyone else amused that the only thing the Mexican factions CAN agree on is that Texas should be annexed by Mexico?

I'd suppose one could use that as a reason that the Mexican Army is still in the field (instead of being withdrawn to fight it out the Civil War in Mexico).

Naw.


Uncle Ted

There's also some info in satellite down if I remember correctly. Don't know how useful though.

Yeah, that makes the most sense, but Challenge 27 has separate ORBATs for the "Nationalists (ENM)" on p. 4 and the "Alliance (ANAMEL)" on p. 5. It's also mentioned that a couple of these ANAMEL units were formerly part of the Nationalist Army. This seems to indicate quite strongly that the Nationalists and ANAMEL are two different, mutually exclusive, entities.

Thanks, Draq. I looked it up; there's a bit, but unfortunately it doesn't really clarify the distinction between the Nationalists/Federales and the Alliance (ANAMEL).

I don't have that article any more - does it have separate orbats for the Federales and the Nationalists? It sounds like they're using 'Nationalists (ENM)' as an alternative term for the Federales in this instance, either intentionally or as a result of a typo.

The Nationalists and Federales are indeed one-in-the-same. It's the Alliance (ANAMEL) that I'm trying to place.

There actually was a real Mexican cartel named La Familia - it was the Michoácan cartel that was based in the Mexican state of Michoacán. It was formed around 1980 so it could be used as the basis for the game La Familia cartel. If you read about it they would be a very interesting adversary in the Mexican Civil War as they actually were originally founded to help the poor - i.e. a Robin Hood for the modern times - but one that was incredibly violent.

Actually working on a module in CA and trying to actually resolve all the various discrepancies between Satellite Down, Challenge 27 and City of Angels

Definitely can see that the various authors weren't talking to each other to have a coherent story - i.e. similar to Gateway to the Spanish Main having the sub from the Last Submarine trilogy sinking a ship with a torpedo at the same time it was already in the possession of someone other than the USN

Can make new releases interesting to say the least