Under the Volcano

During the 1930s, Mexican politics saw a swing to the left, led by President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, whose policies play a part in the events of Under the Volcano. After being hit hard by the Great Depression, Mexico was bouncing back in the late 1930s and President Cárdenas sought to and improve the lives of the nation’s workers and protect them from predatory foreign companies. His most prominent policy achievement was the nationalization of oil. This decree led to the severing of diplomatic ties between Mexico and Great Britain, which is why the Consul resigns from his consular job in Under the Volcano. 

The sinarquistas were an opposing political faction in 1930s Mexico. Founded to oppose the policies established after the Revolution of 1911 in Mexico, the fascist group called for a return to Mexican traditions, and opposed “communism, liberalism, and the United States and supported the fascist dictators Francisco Franco, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler” (“Sinarquism: Mexican Fascist Movement.” Encyclopaedia Britannica). In Under the Volcano the vigilante police who interrogate and kill the Consul in the final scenes belong to a sinarquista group. Finding Hugh’s telegram about the spread of antisemitic propaganda in Mexico by a pro-German group in the Consul’s jacket pocket, they assume that the Consul is a spy and supporting anti-fascists in Europe and Mexico.