Queer Places:
4a Calle de la Paz, Colonia Tabacalera, (now Ezequiel Montes 4a, Tabacalera, Cuauhtémoc, 06030 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico)
2a Calle de Nuevo México (now C. Artículo 123 2, Colonia Centro, Centro, Cuauhtémoc, 06050 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico)
Jesús M. Rábago González, widely known as Jesús "Chucho" Rábago (1860 - August 3, 1939), was a prominent Porfirian elite figure, lawyer, author, and combative conservative journalist whose life intertwined with some of the most turbulent and scandalous chapters of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Mexico.
Born in Zimapán, Hidalgo, in 1860, Rábago navigated the corridors of high society, intellectual circles, and high-stakes political intrigue during the regime of President Porfirio Díaz. His multifaceted career spanned elite social scandals, fierce anti-revolutionary journalism, and high-level government administration before his death in Mexico City on August 3, 1939, at the age of seventy-nine.
Rábago first entered the annals of social history as a central figure associated with the infamous Dance of the Forty-One, or El baile de los cuarenta y uno, which took place on November 17, 1901. This landmark event was a secret private party held at a home on Calle de la Paz in Mexico City's Colonia Tabacalera, attended exclusively by elite men, nearly half of whom were dressed in women's clothing. While the government attempted to suppress the details to protect the reputations of the high-society participants, the illegal police raid erupted into a massive public scandal. Alongside Ignacio de la Torre y Mier and Antonio Adalid, historical accounts and contemporary sources frequently identified Rábago as one of the key organizers and attendees of the gathering. The event became a watershed moment in Mexican cultural history, famously described by writer Carlos Monsiváis as the invention of public discourse around homosexuality in Mexico.
Beyond high-society scandals, Rábago carved out a formidable reputation as a staunch defender of the Porfirian Ancien Régime through his work as an author, chronicler, and journalist. In 1897, he published Historia del gran crimen, a significant historical text documenting political conspiracies and assassination attempts from the Porfiriato era. Following the downfall of the Díaz dictatorship and the rise of Francisco I. Madero, Rábago’s political alignment turned fiercely oppositional. In 1911, he founded the fiercely satirical newspaper El Mañana, which ran until 1913 and was specifically dedicated to attacking, mocking, and helping destabilize Madero's revolutionary presidency.
Rábago's opposition to the Madero administration culminated in the political shifts following Madero's overthrow and tragic assassination. Capitalizing on his conservative network and alignment with the new regime, Rábago entered formal government service under the military dictatorship of Victoriano Huerta. During this tumultuous period, he served prominently as the personal private secretary and Subsecretary of the Interior, known in Spanish as Gobernación. Although the Huerta dictatorship was short-lived, Rábago's tenure solidified his legacy as a die-hard partisan of the old guard. He spent the remainder of his decades out of the direct political limelight until his death in 1939, leaving behind a complex legacy as a witness, participant, and chronicler of Mexico's most dramatic political and social transformations.
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