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Mexico's Rurales: Reputation Versus Reality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Paul J. Vanderwood
Paul J. Vanderwood*
Affiliation:
San Diego State University, San Diego, California
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Extract

ON show throughout the world, Mexico's rural police force, the famous Rurales, nearly always got top billing and an enthusiastic press. For example, after reviewing a contingent of Rurales at the World Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo, New York, an American newspaper reporter wrote that the Rurales were “somewhat similar to the old Texas Rangers, but even tougher than the Rangers. Bred from infancy among the hills and valleys of old Mexico and accustomed not only to the saddle but the most meager rations, well does the robber know that with these troops in pursuit, his game is up. It's due to the Rurales that interior Mexico is so free of crime. Rurales are all over Mexico.”

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , July 1977 , pp. 102 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1977

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References

1 Illustrated Buffalo Express, June 2, 1901, p. 8.

2 Conclusion drawn from computerized study of 2,000 personnel folders of ex-Rurales situated at Mexico’s Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico City), Ramo de Gobernación. Hereinafter cited as AGNM. For examples of personnel folders see legajos: 668, 688, 690, 850, 1535 and 2191. In future citations Legajo is abbreviated “Leg.” and expediente, “Exp.”

3 AGNM, Leg. 582, Exp … Visitador …

4 Santana Rodríguez, best known to Mexicans as the bandit, Santanón, frequently challenged the Rurales to capture him. For information on the chase see: Valadés, José C., Historia general de la revolución mexicana, 1 (México: M. Quesada Brandi, 1963—), 193 Google Scholar; Casasola, Gustavo, Historia gráfica de la revolución mexicana, 1900–1960, 1 (México: Editorial F. Trillas, 1960), 215 Google Scholar; Archivo Histórico de la Defensa Nacional (Mexico City), XI/481.5/310, folletos 1-3. Hereinafter cited as AHDN, legajo number and folleto. El Tiempo, October 19, 1910, p. 1; November 1, 1910, p. 1; El Demócrata, July 24,1911, p. 1; El Imparcial, January 22, 1911, p. 1; El País, February 1,1911, p. 3. All newspapers mentioned in this work were published in Mexico City unless otherwise noted.

5 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria que el oficial major encargado de la Secretaría de Estado y del Despacho de Gobernación presenta al décimo congreso constitucional (México: Imprenta del Gobierno en palacio, 1877–1878), pp. 29–31; Document #23, pp. 107–110; Annex # 1 to Document #23, between pp. 111 and 115. Hereinafter cited as Memoria de Gobernación. The Memorias are divided into two sections, Minister’s report and supporting documents. In some Memorias each section has its own pagination. Memorias de Gobernación were published periodically, but not annually, during the Porfiriato. Each Memoria normally related the size of the rural police force at that specific time and give the locations of the various detachments. For strength of the force on the eve of the Revolution see: México, Congreso, Camara de Diputados, Diario de los debates de la Cámara de Diputados, Legislatura XXIV (April 22, 1910), IV. 46.

6 Mexican Herald, June 25, 1911, Sec. 2, pp. 1 and 8.

7 AGNM, Leg. 490, Exp. Novedades; Leg. 825, Exp. Circulares …; Leg. 908, Exp… . Juan J. Jiménez …; Leg. 2175, Exp. Fiadores; Memoria de Gobernación, 1879–1880, Document #114, p. 210; Memoria de Gobernación, 1886–1890, pp. 35–36; El Partido liberal, July 25, 1894, p. 2; El Monitor republicano, November 25, 1877, p. 3; February 2, 1878, p. 2; Mexican Herald, June 25, 1911, p. 1, Sec. II.

8 For descriptions of uniforms see: El Siglo XIX, September 17, 1877, p. 3; El Mundo, May 5, 1885, p. 7; El Tiempo, May 6, 1908, p. 2; Strode, Hudson, Timeless Mexico (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1944), p. 205 Google Scholar; Beals, Carlton, Porfiro Díaz, Dictator of Mexico (Philadelphia; J. B. Lippincott Company, 1932), pp. 225–226 Google Scholar; Brenner, Anita, The Wind that Swept Mexico (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1943), p. 8 Google Scholar; Valadés, José C., El Porfirismo: Historia de un régimen, el crecimento, 1, (México: Editorial Patria, 1948), 68.Google Scholar Best work in English on Mexican nationalism is: Turner, Frederick C., The Dynamic of Mexican Nationalism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968).Google Scholar

9 For descriptions of banquets see: El Siglo XIX, January 21, 1888, pp. 1–2; El Partido liberal, May 7, 1889, p. l; May7, 1890, p. 2; May 5, 1891, pp. 2 and 5; El Monitor republicano, May 6, 1890, p. 3; April 14, 1891, p. 3; May 5, 1891, p. 3; May 4, 1892, p. 3 and May 5, 1894, p. 3. For poem see: El Siglo XIX, May 7, 1888, p. 1. Translation by Vanderwood.

l0 For Rurales on parade see: El Siglo XIX, September 17,1877, p. 3; El Monitor republicano, September 3, 1877, p. 3; EI Mundo, May 5, 1895, p. 7; El diario del hogar, May 8, 1908, p. 1; El Tiempo, May 6, 1908, p. 2.

11 AGNM, Leg. 908, Exp…. Juan J. Jiménez… .

12 Archivo del Patronato de la Historia de Sonora (Mexico City), Leg. 22, Exp. 174–295; Leg. 23, Exps. 1–299; Leg. 24, Exp. passim.

13 El Tiempo, October 19, 1910, p. 1; November 1, 1910, p. 1; Casasola, Historia gráfica, I, 215; El Imparcial, January 22, 1911, p. 1; El País, January 22, 1911, p. 1; El Demócrata, July 24, 1911, p. 1; Valadés, , Revolución mexicana, 1, 193 Google Scholar; AHDN, XI/481.5/310, fs. 1–3.

14 Meyer, Michael C., Huerta, A Political Portrait (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1972), pp. 71–82.Google Scholar

15 Memoria de Gobernación, 1879–1880, Document #114, pp. 208–217; AGNM, Leg. 623, Exp. Reglamento …

16 Archivo del Patronato de la Historia de Sonora, Leg. 19, Exps. 187, 206–208, 245; Memoria de Gobernación, 1906–1908, pp. 9, 11, 82–83; Document #43, pp. 82–84.

17 Memoria de Gobernación. 1879–1880, Document #114, pp. 208–217; AGNM, Leg. 623, Exp. Reglamento …; Ei Siglo XIX, July 2, 1880, p. 1; La República, July 10, 1880, p. 1.

18 Memoria de Gobernación, 1880–1884, p. 34; AGNM, Leg. 888, Exp. Indicaciones para cambiar … El Tiempo, August 17, 1897, p. 3; May 12, 1901, p. 4; El Imparcial, September 22, 1897, p. 3.

19 For examples see: Janvier, Thomas A., “The Mexican Army,” Harpers New Monthly Magazine, 79 (November, 1889), 824–826,Google Scholar and Flandrau, Charles Macomb, Viva Mexico (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1951), pp. 202–203.Google Scholar

20 AGNM, Leg. 908, Exp … Jiménez, Juan J. …; Colección de decretos, reglamentos y circulares referentes a los cuerpos rurales de la federación desde su fundación hasta la fecha (México: Tipografía “El Lápiz de Aguila,” 1900),Google Scholar passim.

21 AGNM, Leg. 582, Exp … Xochimilco …; Exp. Disgusto …; Exp … Visitas …; Leg. 587, Exp … Talancingo …; Leg. 824, Exp … Gobierno de Distrito …; Exp. Comandante del 5° cuerpo; Exp … Destacamentos queden a disposición …; Leg. 852, Exp. Ayota …; Leg. 1338, Exp. #126; Leg. 1880, Exp … Jimulco; Leg. 2226, Exp. Moratillo … ; Leg. 2240, Exp. Gobernador de Tlaxcala… .

22 Conclusion drawn from computerized study of personnel files of 2,000 former Rurales. The best general history of the Porfiriato and its antecedents is the multi-volume work, Historia moderna de México, edited by Daniel Cosío Villegas. The final volume, which concerns the political aspects of Porfirismo, consists of two parts. The first treats Profirian politics to 1884 and Part II, from 1884 to 1910.

23 AGNM, Leg. 203, Exp. Servicio de guardas …; Exp. #2; Leg. 280, Exp. Movimiento de altas y bajas …; Leg. 305, Exp. 6° cuerpo …; Leg. 316, Exp. Ramírez Teodoro; Leg. 324, Exp. 6° cuerpo relación histórica …; Leg. 490, Exp. Novedades; Leg. 690, Exps. passim; Leg. 850, Exps. passim; Leg. 908, Exp … Juan J. Jiménez …; Leg. 922, Exps. passim; Leg. 1207, Exp. Informe …; Leg. 1777, Exp. Circulares (#63); Leg. 1985, Exp. Bajas y altas; Leg. 2079, Exp. 1º cuerpo, Ia compania …; Leg. 2191, Exp. passim; Decretos de Rurales pp. 89–90, 125, 142, 151–152; Memoria de Gobernación, 1879–1880, Document #114, p. 212; Memoria de Gobernación, 1900–1904, pp. 35–36; Memoria de Gobernación, 1906–1908, Document #26, p. 47.

24 Boletín de la policía rural, September 22, 1875, p. 1; El Partido liberal, July 25, 1894, p. 2; El Monitor republicano, November 25, 1877, p. 3; February 2, 1878, p. 2; Mexican Herald, June 25, 1911, p. 1 (Sec. II); AGNM, Leg. 275, Exp. Averignación instruida …; Leg. 1180, Exp. Jiménez, Vicente …; Leg. 1777, Exp. Circulares (#63) …; Decretos de Rurales, pp. 154–155, 191; Boletín de la policía rural, September 22, 1875, p. 1.

25 Hobsbawm, Eric J., Bandits (New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1969), p. 78.Google Scholar

26 AGNM, 554, Exp … Querétaro …; Exp. Destacamento de Otumba; Leg. 582, Exp. En Tancítaro …; El Heraldo (Pachuca), February 16, 1908, p. 1; Memoria de Gobernación, 1879–1880, Document #23, p. 106.

27 AGNM, Leg. 582, Exp. Fábrica de Hercules …; Exp. Disgusto …; Exp … Visitas …; Leg. 700, Exp … Fábricas de hilados …; Leg. 817, Exp. Huelga …; Leg. 824, Exp … Gobierno del Distrito …; Leg. 852, Exp. Las Dos Estrellas; Leg. 866, Exp … Circulares; Leg. 908, Exp… . Juan J. Jiménez …; Leg. 1880, Exp. Jimulco; Leg. 226, Exp. Moratillo …; El Paladín, August 12, 1906, p. 1; El Clarín, October 21, 1951, pp. 2–3; October 28, 1958, p. 2; El Hijo de trabajo, March 16, 1879, p. 3; El Tiempo, June 5, 1906, p. 2; June 6, 1906, p. 2; Memoria de Gobernación, 1904–1906, Document #18, pp. 44–49; Memoria de Gobernación, 1908–1911, Document #86, pp. 85–86; Santos, Daniel Gutiérrez, Historia militar de México (México: Ediciones Ateneo, 1955), pp. 39–40 Google Scholar; Ramírez, Manual González, Fuentes para la historia de la revolución mexicana, III La Huelga de Cananea (México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1956), pp. 21–25, 97–98.Google Scholar

28 El Tiempo, June 4, 1909, p. 2; June 5, 1909, p. 2; June 12, 1909, pp. 2–3; June 13, 1909, p. 2; Memoria de Gobernación, 1908–1911, p. 13; Documents #46–47, pp. 37–43; La Evolución (Durango City), May-October, 1909, passim.

29 Pollard, Hugh B.C., A Busy Time in Mexico: An Unconventional Record of Mexican Incident (New York: Duffield and Company, 1913), p. 195.Google Scholar

30 Reed, John, insurgent Mexico (New York: International Publishers, 1969), p. 194.Google Scholar

31 Ibid, pp. 195–196.

32 Mexican Herald, January 15, 1911, p. 5; La Libertad, March 3, 1880, p. 3.