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GUANAJUATO, Guanajuato — Civic vigilance reached a 160-year high in the historic capital of Guanajuato on Saturday evening after local residents, observing a group of French performers scaling public buildings and suspending high-tension ropes across historic plazas, mistakenly believed the French Republic had launched a third military intervention in Mexico.
Members of the Paris-based Chaillot National Theater, who arrived in the city to perform a collaborative aerial circus piece titled “Vértigo” for the 54th International Cervantino Festival, were met with suspicious glances and immediate defensive maneuvering from municipal historians, local shopkeepers, and neighborhood watch organizers who recalled that previous French arrivals had resulted in imposed monarchies and six-year occupations.
“We saw men in fitted performance gear deploying cables across Plaza Allende and securing anchor points near the Cervantes Theater,” said local historian and retired educator Don Héctor Morales, who admitted to briefly scouring his cellar for period-appropriate artillery. “Naturally, given the diplomatic history of 1838 and 1862, we assumed the French government was once again attempting to collect unpaid bakery debts or institute an unconstitutional monarchy. It turned out they were just balancing on a wire to live ambient jazz.”
The diplomatic confusion mounted when highliner Jean-Claude Moreau walked across a slackline suspended decades above the cobbled streets, an act interpreted by several onlookers as an attempt to establish aerial dominance over the state’s historic center. Public concern was only eased when municipal officers confirmed that France was merely participating as the festival’s invited guest nation to celebrate 200 years of mostly peaceful diplomatic relations.
The production, which combines contemporary dance, live music, and aerial arts, required local authorities to release a clarification confirming that highliners hanging mid-air were engaged in artistic expression rather than strategic reconnaissance. Organizers assured the public that despite the visible presence of French acrobats hovering near historic architecture, no foreign princes would be installed in Chapultepec Castle as a result of the performance.
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