In Photos: A different kind of torture, Stormtroopers and the next Mexican Revolution

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Coyoacan is a sleepy (at least for Mexico City), leafy and green middle-class suburb in the south of Distrito Federal, home to many of the capital’s intellectuals and politicians. It is also where the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM -- one of the largest and most important universities in Mexico -- has its principal campus.

Strolling along one of its main drags -- Avenida Mexico -- a passerby can find some of the city’s intriguing graffiti.

The above stencil says: ‘They torture you at home,’ and depicts a federal police officer holding his shield. The visual gag is a play on pizza and fast-food delivery services that offer home delivery and services: ‘Servicio a domicilio.’

Below, the image of a ‘Star Wars’ Stormtrooper is underlined by the initials of Mexico President Felipe Calderon’s party -- Partido de Accion Nacional.

My interpretation? That the PAN, to dissenters in Mexico, signifies the new empire.

Finally, the legendary revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, a leading figure in Mexico’s 1910 Revolution, is depicted in this wall-stencil below. Beneath him, it says: ‘We’ll see each other in 2010.’

The 1910 Revolution in Mexico overthrew then-president and dictator Porfirio Diaz. A hundred years earlier, the 1810 Revolution saw Mexico win independence from its conquistadors, the Spanish (that war is also known as the Mexican War of Independence).

It appears revolutions happen in Mexico every 100 years.

This image predicts the next one.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City