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Old November 23, 2020, 05:55 PM
AngelicaDeAlquezar's Avatar
AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mexico City
Posts: 9,038
Native Language: Mexican Spanish
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Adding to what Poli said:

Pancho Villa has his special place in American popular culture, since he was the only Mexican who "invaded" American territory. He became the most common portrait of "the Mexican". Speedy Gonzales and Panchito Pistoles (to name only the ones I remember since childhood) are stereotypes after Villa's persona. Also, for many foreigners, the most visible Mexican character in history is him, as the guy with a big moustache riding a horse, shooting his gun in the air and leading a noisy gang of guys ravaging the land they roamed.

Without any context, I assume the character in your book is simply doing the usual mockery of a Mexican accent (normally just characterized by stressing the "r" sound and probably a higher tone of voice) and he's mimicking a common gesture in many Mexican men with big moustaches that tend to continually touch and roll their facial hair.

Side note: The "Policía Rural" was originally a police force established to pacify the country, which had been quite unstable after the Independence war; it worked mostly along the roads communicating peasant communities and in their municipalities.
Porfirio Díaz used the police power to control uneasy communities and made it an instrument to extort rich businesspeople, to repress all kinds of movements questioning his power, and to murder anyone who would go against his will. Pancho Villa was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution, which toppled Díaz' government, with the ideal of establishing a new more democratic political regime in favor of the poor peasants and workers.

Here's a popular Mexican movie celebrating the man. Pedro Armendáriz is the actor playing Pancho Villa; it must be his most celebrated character during his career.

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