This work is a welcome contribution to fill the void of well-researched and well-documented studies of the Mexican north in the mid-nineteenth century. Structured as a political biography of Ignacio Pesqueira, governor of Sonora for 20 years (1856-1876), and one of Mexico’s most successful caudillos, the study traces his “rise and decline” in a meticulous, chronological fashion. Acuña concentrates on how the Liberal caudillo personally confronted the challenges facing him and the north in general: neutralization of the Apaches, breakup of the traditional indigenous landholdings (Yaqui and Mayo), Anglo-American territorial expansion, foreign economic penetration, and Conservative challenges to the establishment of the new Liberal order.
Pesqueira’s Liberal regime was an important one because it directly preceded and set the stage for the Porfirian age of development. Acuña advances the thesis that Pesqueira was “catapulted” to office by a group of “middle-class merchants—nineteenth century Liberals” (p. ix) bent on destroying the power of the traditional “large ranchero class,” in order to promote its own class interests. Twenty years later, this same group contributed to his overthrow when the caudillo had not met its demands. Unfortunately we are given no clear analysis of the ranchero class, beyond a reference to “feudal farmers,” and whether, how and to what extent it was weakened during Pesqueira’s tenure. An even greater omission was the lack of a systematic discussion of the emergence, composition, and development of the apparently powerful “new entrepreneur class,” its limitations, strengths and specific interests and demands. Similarly Acuña’s understanding of the “masses”— another undefined social force—and their relationship with the caudillo is superficial. That Pesqueira was “never a champion of the masses” does not quite explain his life long struggle with the Yaqui and Mayo Indians for control of their land, and why they consistently allied with every anti-Liberal opposition to the caudillo.
Acuña does not have a methodological approach to social analysis. Hence he is unable to make the difficult transition from a narrow political biography to use of biography as a vehicle to explore and understand the times, and to plant the leader firmly in his relationship with the major social forces that gave his actions and policies significance. Consequently he had to fall on a weak and inadequate argument that Pesqueira’s downfall was brought about by a coalition of “family rivalries and regional grievances” because his policies benefitted an “oligarchy of friends” (p. 71). At the same time, as someone who has done research in the same state and same period, I fully recognize the difficulty of finding information to support a complete social analysis.
Finally, Acuña does not evaluate Pesqueira, described throughout as a staunch Liberal and loyal Juarista, in terms of the overall Liberal movement of mid-nineteenth century Mexico. His final assessment of Pesqueira suggests, however, that the Sonoran strongman was the prototypical caudillo—a despotic regional leader seeking “personal glory,” self-aggrandizement, and serving a “small clique”—rather than a dedicated and representative Liberal of his times.
Despite these weaknesses, this important work should stimulate more studies of other northern states and caudillos in the crucial pre-Díaz period.
