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Some Considerations on the Rurales of Porfirian Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John W. Kitchens
John W. Kitchens*
Affiliation:
Department of History, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee
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Extract

Las Fuerzas Rurales de la Federación, commonly called the rurales, were a prominent institution of Porfirian Mexico and a significant instrument of the dictator's power. Contemporary travelers, journalists, and political propagandists either praised or condemned them and compared them to the Texas Rangers, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Spanish Guardia Civil, Rosas’ Mazorca, and even to Ivan the Terrible's Oprichniki. Almost all histories of Porfirian Mexico mention the rurales and indicate their significance to Diaz’ prolonged absolute control of the country. Without specific study and serious scholarship, however, the origin, nature, and exploits of the rurales have acquired legendary characteristics. Because of their relative success in curbing brigandage on the one hand and their alleged brutality on the other, they became symbolic of both the order and the ruthlessness of Porfirian Mexico. The popular accounts of the rurales are easily divided into two categories—viz., those of Diaz’ apologists and those of his detractors. The following observation by Ethel Brilliana Tweedie is typical of the former.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , July 1967 , pp. 441 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1967

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References

1 Porfirio Diaz: Seven Times President of Mexico (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1906), p. 279. Other similar appraisals, though not always as naive and frivolous, have been made by José Francisco Godoy, William English Carson, Leandro J. Cañizares, Charles Macomb Flandrau, James Creelman, and many others.

2 Mexico: An Interpretation (New York: B. W. Huebsch, c.1923), p. 44, Other critics of the regime include political opponents of the dictator—Ricardo Flores Magón, Lázaro Gutiérrez de Lara, and Francisco Indalecio Madero; journalists and travelers— John Kenneth Turner, George Creel, and Emil Harry Blichfeldt; and prominent historians— Frank Tannenbaum, Ricardo García Granados, Hemy Bamford Parkes, and Ernest Henry Gruening.

3 Mexico, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria que presenta al congreso de la unión el General Manuel González Cosío, Secretario de Estado y del Despacho de Gobernación (México: Imprenta del gobierno federal, 1900), p. 34. The government publications of this series will hereinafter be referred to as “Memoria,” followed by the date of publication.

Except for insignificant variations the above account is also found in the pamphlet, Los cuerpos rurales y su fiesta del 3 de mayo (México: El Partido Liberal, 1889), pp. 7-15. This is a limited edition booklet published by the rural police organization to celebrate its 23rd anniversary. It seems to have become quite rare and I am indebted to Mrs. John Nicholas Brown of Providence, Rhode Island, for a copy.

4 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1877), document 46, pp. 99-106.

5 Ibid.

6 Adolfo Duelos Salinas, The Riches of Mexico and Its Institutions (St. Louis: Nixon Jones Printing Co., 1893), p. 497; Roland Bonaparte, et ah, Le Mexicue au debut du XXe siécle (Paris: Librairie Ch. Delagrave, n.d.), I, 182; II, 283.

7 J. Hefter, The Mexican Rurales, 1830-1930 (Mexico: Documentary Editions, c. 1960), pp. 1-2. This limited edition booklet is part of the author's military historical documents series and is especially useful for its illustrations of uniforms, arms, and caparisons and for its comments on Spanish colonial and early republican forerunners of the rurales.

8 Flandrau, Charles Macomb, Viva Mexico (New York & London: D. Appleton & Co., 1909), p. 270.Google Scholar

9 Hefter, The Mexican Rurales, p. 2.

10 Tannenbaum, Frank, Peace by Revolution: An Interpretation of Mexico (New York: Columbia University Press, 1933), p. 99.Google Scholar Although others do, Professor Tannenbaum does not seem to connect this to the Porfirian rurales.

11 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1877), document 46, pp. 96-106.

12 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1881), p. 72 and document 116, pp. 257-263.

13 Porfirio Díaz, “Informe que en el último día de su período constitucional (1877- 80) da a sus compatriotas el Presidents de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Porfirio Díaz, acerca de los actos de su administración”, Informes y manifiestos de los poderes ejecutivos y legislativos de 1821 a 1904; publicación hecha por J. A. Castillón de orden del Señor Ministro de Gobernación, Don Ramón Corral; tomo 111, Manifiestos, proclamas e informes, desde el 13 de octubre de 1821 hasta el 30 de noviembre de 1904 (México: Imprenta del gobierno federal, 1905), p. 488. This collection will hereinafter be referred to as Informes y manifiestos.

14 The decree of 1880, in which these regulations were promulgated, is in México, Secretaría de Gobernación Memoria (1881), document 115, pp. 208-217. The regulations are also reproduced in part by Hefter in The Mexican Rurales, pp. 4-7.

15 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1884), pp. 33-37 and pp. 1-8 of the section entitled “Cuerpos rurales de la federación: Documentos”.

16 Manuel González, “Manifiesto que en el último día de su período constitucional da a sus compatriotas el Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Manuel González, informando acerca de los actos de su arministración”, Informes y manifiestos, ni, 527-528.

17 Francisco Indalecio Madero, La sucesión presidencial en 1910 (San Pedro, Coahuila: privately printed, 1908), pp. 118-119.

18 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1887), “Seguridad pública: Documentos”, pp. 6-7.

19 México. Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1900), documents 3 and 4, pp. 16-22.

20 A History of Mexico (rev. and enl. ed.; Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., c. 1950), p. 294.

21 For example, Callcott, Wilfred Hardy, Liberalism in Mexico, 1857-1929 (Stanford University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1931), p. 123 Google Scholar; and Simpson, Lesley Byrd, Many Mexicos (rev. and enl. ed.; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, c. 1946), p. 258.Google Scholar

22 La sucesión presidencial, p. 137.

23 The New York Times, 25 May 1888, p. 1.

24 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1881), pp. 52-43.

25 Liberalism in Mexico, p. 123.

26 Creelman, James, Diaz: Master of Mexico (New York &London: D. Appleton & Co., 1911), pp. 347–349 Google Scholar; Carson, William English, Mexico: The Wonderland of the South (New York: Macmfllan Co., 1909), p. 213 Google Scholar; Duelos Salinas, The Riches of Mexico, p. 498.

27 See note 26; also Madero, La sucesión presidencial, p. 137; Calcott, Liberalism in Mexico, p. 123; Simpson, Many Mexicos, p. 258; México, Secretaría de Gobernación Memoria (1900), p. 33 and document 3, p. 16.

28 See for example, The New York Times, 24 Feb., 11 Aug., and 23 Aug., 1891, and 25 Jan. 1894. There appear to be few if any accounts of spectacular train robberies or any other kind of brigandage in these newspapers after 1894.

29 Lázaro Gutiérrez de Lara and Edgcumb Pinchón, The Mexican People: Their Struggle for Freedom (Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1914), p. 318.

30 Beals, Carleton, Porfirio Diaz: Dictator of Mexico (Philadelphia &London: J. B. Lippincott Co., c. 1932), p. 226 Google Scholar; Gruening, Ernest Henry, Mexico and Its Heritage (New York & London: Century Co., c. 1928), p. 129.Google Scholar

31 Mexico of the Twentieth Century (2 vols.; London: Edward Arnold; New York; Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1907), I 45-46.

32 Verdugos y víctimas (3d ed.; México: Grupo cultural “Ricardo Flores Magón”, 1924).

33 Smith, Joseph Russell, North America (New York: Harcourt, Brace, & Co., 1925), p. 667 Google ScholarPubMed; Beals, Porfirio Diaz. p. 226; Gruening, Mexico and Its Heritage, p. 65.

34 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1887), pp. 25-28.

35 Moisés González Navarro, El Porfiriato: La vida social (Mexico: Hermes, 1957), pp. 334-344.

36 These instructions are in the regulations of 1880. See note 14 above.

37 Ross, Stanley Robert, Francisco I. Madero: Apostle of Mexican Democracy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955), p. 96.Google Scholar

38 Historia de México desde la restauración de la república en 1867 hasta la caída de Huerta, 1st complete ed.; 2 vols.; Mexico: Editorial Jus., 1956), I, 313.

39 De la dictadura a la anarquía (2 vols.; El Paso: Imprenta de El Paso del Norte, 1914), I, 288.

40 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1881), document 116, p. 237.

41 Ross, Francisco I. Madero, p. 328; Prida, De la dictadura, II, 570-73.

42 José C. Valadés, El porfirismo: Historia de un régimen (2 vols, in 3; Mexico: Antigua Librería Robredo de José Porrúa e Hijos, 1941-48), I, 164.

43 González Navarro, El Porfiriato: La vida social, p. 230.

44 La sucesión presidencial, p. 140.

45 For contemporary descriptions of the army of Porfirian Mexico, see Janvier, Thomas Alibone, “The Mexican Army,” Harpers New Monthly Magazine, LXXIX (November 1889)Google Scholar; Hardie, F. H., “The Mexican Army,” Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States, XV (November 1894), 82.Google Scholar

46 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1877), document 46, pp. 99-100.

47 “Manifiesto que en el última día …”, Informes y Manifiestos, III, 527-528.

48 México, Secretariía de Gobernación, pp. 27-28.

49 “Informe que da a sus compatriotas el General Porfirio Díaz, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, acerca de los actos de su administración en el período constitucional de Io de diciembre de 1884 a 30 de noviembre de 1888”, Informes y manifiestos, III, 593.

50 U.S. House of Representatives, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States: Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1889 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1890), p. 553.

51 México, Secretaría de Gobernación, Memoria (1900), document 3, p. 8 and document 9, p. 347.

52 Travelers, statisticians, and historians, writing before the late 1880's did not apparently consider the rural police of Mexico worthy of mention. The earliest travel book in which I found a description of the rurales is Ober, Frederick Albion, Travels in Mexico and Life among the Mexicans (Boston: Estes & Lauriat, c. 1887).Google Scholar After this, arid especially during the last 15 years of the Diaz regime, few travel or descriptive books about Mexico failed to describe the rurales. Almost all the twentieth-century histories of the Porfirian era and political treatises concerning the Días regime mention the rurales.

53 El porfirismo, I, 164.

54 Cañizares, Leandro J., Don Porfirio, El gobernante de mente lúcido, corazón de patriota, y mano de hierro (Havana: Editorial Lex, 1946), p. 186.Google Scholar

55 Martin, Mexico of the Twentieth Century, I, 39; Janvier, “The Mexican Army,” p. 826. For photographs and illustrations, see J. Hefter, The Mexican Rurales.