La Cucaracha

 
The things you learn in Area Studies...

Recognize him? It's General Victoriano Huerta, former dictator of Mexico. Killer of Francisco Madero, Mexico's first democratically elected president.  Betrayer of the Revolution. EVERYBODY in Mexico hated this guy.  He only lasted a couple of years, from 1913 to 1914.

He was the 'cockroach' which gave us the famous song. But I've often wondered why the lyrics go The cockroach, the cockroach / can't walk anymore/ because he lacks, he doesn't have / any marijuana to smoke. Doesn't marijuana make you more likely to lay around and eat Doritos than go on the march?

It's actually a classic case of mistaking cause for effect. Marijuana is noted for its calming affects and is sometimes prescribed for treating PTSD. As such, it was often smoked by soldiers to recover from battle. People who were unfamiliar with cannabis assumed that it was making the soldiers violent (which also gave us the movie Reefer Madness) and that they smoked it to rile themselves up.

EDIT: I have been informed that 'La Cucaracha' is a song of vague and uncertain origins and it probably had nothing to do with Huerta, though it later came to be identified with him, and the Mexican Revolution generally.