Under Porfirio Díaz, the government’s way of keeping the peace became known as pan o palo, “bread or the stick.” According to Britannica, those who went along received a living and possibly wealth. Those who refused faced harassment, prison or death.
Britannica lists the phrase among Díaz’s political slogans. A history column in Zeta Tijuana writes that it was “el pueblo” (the people) who called his policy “pan y palo.”