SATURNINO CEDILLO: BIOGRAPHY, INFLUENCE AND POWER - ARTE - 2025

Saturnino Cedillo (1890-1939) was a Mexican politician who participated in the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero War. He was an agrarian caudillo known as "the strong man in San Luis Potosí", the Mexican state from which he was originally.

In the post-revolutionary period he was the organizer of the last rebellion against the government, as he opposed socialist education, the oil expropriation and the collective distribution of land.

The Villa General Saturnino Cedillo. Source: Museum of Photography

Cedillo was the creator of the National Peasant Confederation (CNC) together with Professor Graciano Sánchez Romo. It established one of the first airfields nationwide, with the opening of the Civil School of Aviation in San Luis Potosí. Every January 11, the death of this major general is commemorated, being remembered with great honor by the locals.

Biography

the beginning

In November 1890 Saturnino Cedillo was born in La Salitrera (today Ejido Palomas) in the vicinity of Valle del Maíz, municipality of the state of San Luis Potosí. He was the son of Amado Cedillo and Pantaleona Martínez, who formed a large family together with 6 other children: Homobono, Magdaleno, Cleofas, Higinia, Engracia and Elena.

The Cedillo family owned a rustic farm called Palomas, and used to have great conflicts with the landowners of the Cabeza de Toro, Angostura and Montebello estates. This was one of the compelling reasons for joining the Maderista ranks.

According to the accounts, the men of the family, along with other men from the locality, toured the neighboring ranches to add followers to the Maderism.

Destroying the accounting books of the haciendas to free the laborers from their debts and distribute food that they found in the granaries, were part of the actions of the Cedillos in favor of the peasantry and that made them soon gain popularity.

Ruptures and alliances

Working conditions had not changed rapidly and radically as expected by the Cedillos and their followers during the Francisco I. Madero government. For this reason, in 1912 the uprising of Saturnino and his brothers arose, who took the Las Tablas station and seized the Valle del Maíz, putting the federal government on alert.

Later they supported Pascual Orozco's movement against Madero, harassing the prefect Manuel Buentello in the municipal palace, who resisted until the building was set on fire.

In 1913, Cedillo traveled to San Antonio, Texas to buy weapons and meet with Pascual Orozco. He is arrested upon returning to Mexican territory and is imprisoned in the San Luis de Potosí penitentiary for rebellion. During this period in prison, his brother Magdaleno continues to lead the armed struggle.

Until mid-1914, the Cedillo brothers joined the agrarian forces of General Alberto Carrera Torres, who had proposed for the first time an agrarian legal order.

Later, due to their opposition to Victoriano Huerta, they ended up momentarily allying themselves with Venustiano Carranza and, together with his troops, took the capital of Potosí.

At the end of 1914 Saturnino, along with his brothers Magdaleno and Cleofas, joined the Villista faction during the Sovereign Convention of Aguascalientes.

His two brothers are killed in the combat of those years, but General Saturnino maintained the fight until 1920 when he joined the troops of the Agua Prieta Plan, in which Carranza was not recognized as president.

Influence and power

Insurrectionists with their women. Mexico. Source: The Library of Congress

With the seizure of power by Adolfo Huerta and the assassination of Venustiano Carranza, Cedillo established a peace agreement in exchange for the establishment of agricultural colonies for the rebels who had supported him in San Luis Potosí. With these military colonies, the Cedillo power was consolidated in the state.

Cedillo was then appointed chief of military operations in Ciudad del Maíz and received the rank of brigadier general. In addition, he became an important influence for the elections of the state governorship, which Aurelio Manrique ended up assuming from 1924 to 1926.

In these years, San Luis became the second state that granted the most lands to ejidatarios, about 300 thousand hectares in total.

An ejidatario is an agrarian subject, a member of the ejido or territorial unit established by Mexican law. This land, of at least ten hectares, has a collective character, undivided and without the possibility of being sold or inherited.

To be an ejido, Mexican citizens must be of legal age or have a dependent family and have a certificate of agrarian law from the competent authority.

Manrique's policy was radicalized and he also distributed crops, animals, agricultural implements and even the properties of the farms. This generated discontent in Cedillo, who supported agrarian policy in a more traditional way.

For this reason, in December 1925 he managed to impose his forces in San Luis, without any inconvenience thanks to the national recognition he enjoyed. The state becomes the center of operations for the presidential candidate, Plutarco Elías Calles and his followers, for the next six weeks.

Participation in the Cristiada

Convinced of giving his full support to the civil government, Cedillo participated in the fight against the cristerios. The Cristero or Cristiada War began when Calles established an anti-clerical policy, which sought to reduce the number of priests, restrict the performance of religious worship and reduce the freedoms of believers.

It is said that its main cause was the supposed support of the church to Porfirio Díaz, as well as the expropriation of property from the church.

Although the religious conflict worsened since 1927, Cedillo maintained control and power until he assumed the governorship of the state during the years 1927 to 1931. His regional power continued to consolidate and with a pacific strategy, he became a key piece of callismo to combat the Cristeros from Guanajuato, Jalisco and Sierra Gorda, but also for the path of reconciliation.

Among its main actions are the release of prisoners who promised to abandon the cause, the prohibition of looting and the suspension of executions.

Power loss

In September 1931 Saturnino assumed the Ministry of Agriculture and Development, in an attempt by the executive to calm him down and keep him under control in Mexico City. The relationship between Cedillo and the federal authorities was increasingly tense, as he insisted on being respected through his militias.

After 40 days in the Ministry of Agriculture and Development, Cedillo resigned and returned to Palomas. His political and economic influence began to plummet. Cedillo's enthusiasm for agrarian reform waned and, in parallel, there were coincidences with the ideological opponents of the government, known as "veterans."

This faction identified with the capitalist development of the countryside and considered the ejido as a temporary form of property.

Duality with Cárdenas

By 1933, Cedillo decided to support the presidential candidacy of the general and statesman, Lázaro Cárdenas del Río. It was a weak attempt not to lose ties with the federal power, since in reality he shared very little with Cárdenas' political methods and social objectives, a situation that was increasingly evident.

At the end of 1934 Cedillo was excluded from the cabinet and in the following months he sabotaged presidential policies in San Luis Potosí. Meanwhile he created municipal militias, strengthened his aviation and distributed more weapons. Rumors of a possible Cedillo rebellion were latent until the day of his death.

As Cedillo openly expressed his opposition to the left and publicly rejected the project of the first large collective ejido, Cárdenas in retaliation ordered the distribution of the lands of the Palomas ranch, while Saturnino was absent treated for health reasons.

Cedillo died during a confrontation on the Cerro de la Biznaga in San Luis Potosí, in January 1939. It is said that he was ill and was trying to enter the United States, where his family lived.

Another version tells that he was treacherously murdered by one of his men, while he was sleeping on the pilgrimage through the mountains. Saturnino Cedillo's military rebellion is the last of the post-revolutionary stage.

References

1. Martínez Assad, C. (2010). The path of the rebellion of General Saturnino Cedillo. Mexico: Editorial Océano.
2. Editorial Raíces (2019). Saturnino Cedillo: the last rebel of the post-revolutionary period. Recovered from relatosehistorias.mx
3. Dictionary of generals of the Revolution (2014). Mexico: National Institute for Historical Studies of the Revolutions of Mexico.. Recovered from inehrm.gob.mx
4. Encyclopedia Jurídica Online y López, J. (2014). Ejidatario. Recovered from mexico.leyderecho.org
5. Unknown Mexico and Cisneros, S. (sf.) Cristera War in Mexico; characters, causes and consequences. Recovered from mexicodesconocido.com.mx