Sneak peek into the combat world

WINDOW ON MEXICO. This is the journal of Julius Ocwinyo, the author of Fate of the Banished among other books and an Associate Editor at Fountain Publishers. He is currently a writer-in-residence in Mexico.

This year, Mexico is staging a military exhibition dubbed “Armed Forces, Passion to Serve”. The exhibition, held at the Zócalo – or Constitution Square – was opened on February 8 by the new Mexican president, 46-year-old Enrique Peña Nieto, who was only into the third month of his sexenio – or six-year-term. This is his first term, which will also be his last, since the Mexican constitution does not allow the president to stand for re-election or for any other public office after he has served out the one term.

Bringing the army and people closer
I’m told that the exhibition, which will run for one month, is a public relations exercise intended to bring the army and the people closer and to anchor trust in the state among the population. It was conceived partly in response to what happened in 1968 when the then government reacted to a student protest against corruption and authoritarianism within its ranks by massacring, according to unofficial sources, around 400 students. The incident has become a big part of the Mexican social memory and still rankles a lot of Mexicans. Though it was the police that committed the carnage, the military exhibition is one way in which the state is trying to make amends.

A curious display
Huge white tents that look like giant culverts have been put up along the four sides of the Zócalo. In the tents a number of activities take place. In one, ammunition – ranging from bullets to artillery ordnance – is on display, with officers at hand to provide technical information about it. In another is a big screen on which films relating to the military are shown.

In the large space between the tents are stationed an assortment of military hardware and facilities, including Humvees, APCs, tanks, a mobile bridge and water pump, a field clinic and kitchen, a sturdy-looking transport plane, a rescue helicopter, a helicopter gunship, an inflatable dinghy, a gun-mounted speedboat, among others, with each one constituting a point of interest. Every day long queues of people – both adults and children, local and foreign – crawl patiently towards the materiel and the facilities. Some people will simply peep inside the military vehicles to satisfy their curiosity, while others will climb inside to get a more intimate feel of the seats, the weaponry and the interior generally.

A military brass band plays martial music all the time, from dawn to dusk, to liven up the atmosphere. It is the children who seem to be having the time of their life at the exhibition. They do not only borrow the headgear and frequently, the guns and jackets of the soldiers but also have their photos taken with them.

A lot of the time they get on top of the tanks and APCs, even the very young ones – who have to be given a leg up – so their pictures can be taken there too. Furthermore, there is a tower that has been set up so children can climb atop it, aided by a soldier with a rope, and then rappel down another rope back to the ground. Then there is the obstacle course, another favourite with the children. Whether crawling under a barbed-wire net or running along a narrow plank of timber – and sometimes getting their garments snagged on the barbed wire or tumbling off the planks – they seem to take everything in squealing stride.

The interest in the exhibition is huge, as evinced by the throngs milling around the grounds on the occasions I have been there.
The location could not have been better chosen for it is very popular for strolling and sightseeing both with the locals and the visitors.

jocwinyo61@yahoo.co.uk