As long as Mexico has had elections it has had pistoleros ("gunmen"). These bravos are sometimes paid, and sometimes just appoint themselves, to "support" respective candidates for office. During political off-seasons they keep in training by provoking purely private, local brawls, but let a close election loom and they emerge in force to strut around bars, clank their spurs haughtily and utter elegant insults at other candidates' pistoleros. Some pistoleros have strong political ideals. A lot of them get their bravado from tequila.
During the regime of Plutarco Elias Calles (1924-28) the...