The caudillos had great influence in different Mexican regions: Morelos, Chiapas and Aguascalientes, among others. The concept of a free municipality, according to which each municipality is autonomous in its ability to elect the council that will provide public services to its population, is due to the Mexican Revolution.
After the independence struggles, different armed groups led by known or emerging leaders advanced towards the capital to seize power. Although there is no consensus on a definition of the word caudillo, it is accepted that he is a character with power, a power due largely to his charisma, and that he usually imposes his will on an important group of people.
Emiliano Zapata, second from the left, also known as «Caudillo del sur».
Among the most prominent Mexican caudillos we can mention Francisco Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Porfirio Díaz, Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles.
Caudillismo as a system normally has a militaristic component because traditionally the caudillo, at least in America, has ventured into military tasks, reaping victories that make him worthy of the admiration of many.
Another characteristic of this phenomenon is that its leader emerges in a province but aspires to take central power from the capital of the country in which it emerges.
Latin America has been the cradle of several of them at different times in its history and, although it was at its peak in the 19th century, its influence is still being felt. Mexico has not escaped this trend.
Mexican entities influenced by caudillismo
The following is a brief list of some of the dependencies that were influenced by the caudillos, although it is accepted that the influence of these caudillos reached the entire country in different ways.
Examples of this fact are: the ejidos, a legal figure of communal land ownership; the Confederación Regional Obrera Mexicana (CROM), predecessor of the trade union movement in Mexico; the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), which later became the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI); and the inspiration of social movements such as the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).
Morelos
It is a Mexican state located in the central southern region of the country. Its capital is the city of Cuernavaca.
It has an approximate extension of 4893 km², which makes it the second least extensive state. It is also the second Mexican state in terms of population density.
Its shield reads "The land will return to those who work it with their hands", which sums up the core of the caudillista flags.
It is the state whose lands came to contribute a third of national production thanks to a large investment by landowners in technology to work them more efficiently.
The greatest influence in these lands was had by the caudillo Emiliano Zapata, a pioneer in proposing the autonomy of Mexican municipalities and ejidos.
Chiapas
It is a state located in the southwest of Mexico and its capital is Tuxtla Gutiérrez.
It limits the south with the Pacific Ocean. It was founded in September 1786 and today it has more than 5 million inhabitants. It is an important producer of coffee, corn and mango.
Its territory was the bosom of several Mesoamerican cultures: Olmec, Mayan and Chiapas. It is one of the Mexican states that has the largest number of indigenous people in its territory.
The history of its rural and indigenous communities is a faithful example of the reasons that many caudillos raised to justify their struggle: abuses and disrespect for their rights.
In 1994, a conflict broke out that has not yet been resolved with the uprising in arms of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
However, it is the second state with the largest number of ejidos and ejidatarios in Mexico, according to the Observatory of the Social Sector of the Economy.
It was also one of the sites influenced by Zapata.
Aguascalientes
It is a northern state of Mexico, whose name refers to the hot springs that it has within its borders.
It has 5618 km² of extension in which more than million and a half people live.
Its recognition as a state and its political-administrative division had many setbacks given the affinity of its inhabitants with the revolutionaries who faced Antonio López de Santa Anna.
It is a state with intense industrial, livestock and commercial activity.
The construction sector is the strongest in the economy of this entity, which has subsidiaries of large national and foreign companies. Its good climate for business has been recognized by the World Bank.
It contributes 1.1% to the Mexican Gross Domestic Product.
Pablo González, a revolutionary military man identified as responsible for the death of Emiliano Zapata, left his mark in this territory.
Yucatan
State located in the Yucatan Peninsula to the southeast of Mexico is the Mexican cradle of the Mayan culture since several of its cities settled in its territory.
It has separated and reunited Mexico on several occasions, until it returned definitively in 1902, during the Porfiriato.
Its flag is not officially recognized and symbolizes the disagreement of its inhabitants with the centralization of power.
Being far from the capital, it belatedly suffered the rigors of armed struggles.
The enequenera industry, until a few years ago the axis of its economy, was transformed into ejidos during the government of Lázaro Cárdenas del Río. Here is an inheritance of caudillismo.
Durango
State located in the northeast of the country. Even though it is the fourth largest state (123 451 km²), it is also one of the least populated with just over one million seven hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants.
It is the second largest gold and silver producing entity in Mexico.
It is recognized for being the place of origin of the legendary revolutionary Pancho Villa, who left in Canutillo (a town in the Ocampo Municipality, Durango), an example of a model of personal security and economic organization.
Ultimately, each caudillo, in his style and in his time, left the inhabitants of the province the idea that the lands should be owned by the people and that power should not be centralized.
References
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