Mexico Revisited: Some Hidden Facts About Mexican History and Mexican Society--Part 1

In his 2010 book Mexico: Why A Few Are Rich and The People Poor, University of California-San Diego Professor Emeritus of History Ramon Eduardo Ruiz revealed the following hidden facts about mexican history and Mexican society:

1. "If truth be told, Mexico has been, and still is, a poverty-stricken, hungry nation..." (page xii)

2. "Of the more than 100 million Mexicans, why do over half live in poverty, some 20 million of them enduring daily hunger, barely able to keep body and soul together?..." (page xiii)

3.  "Mexico, according to one United Nations report, ranks near the top of the list of countries with the most glaring inequalities of wealth and income..." (page 2)

4.  "...Mexicans are poor, while Indians, constituting perhaps 12 percent of the Republic's inhabitants, are wretchedly poor..." (page 2)

5. "At the top of the list of the poorest regions stands Chiapas, where 76 percent of the inhabitants, largely Indian, are as poor as the proverbial church mouse..." (page 2)

6. "...78 percent of urban dwellers across the country [of Mexico] know poverty..." (page 3)

7. "One Mexican, Carlos Slim, the telephone magnate, is one of the richest men in the world, and a dozen or so Mexicans lag not far behind." (page 3)

8. "[Carlos] Slim's bankroll totals almost 7 percent of the country's output of goods and services, one out of every 14 dollars Mexicans earn. Every 24 hours of every month of every year, his income grows at the rate of $22 million dollars, yet 1 out of 5 Mexicans survives on just $2 dollars a day..." (page 3)

9. "The triumph of the creollos in 1821 hardly altered the life of most inhabitants [of Mexico], especially of Indians and campesinos..." (page 56)

10. "For all intents and purposes, independent Mexico was bankrupt...Until the 1850s, some 20 to 50 commercial establishments controlled the country's financial market, their chief client being the government..." (page 58)