¿Un distrito militar norteño? La federalización de Sierra Mojada y el primer porfiriato, 1879-1880

Abstract

This article examines the declaration of Sierra Mojada, Coahuila, as military district and under federal control, a measure that lasted from October of 1879 to March of 1880. The decree that converted this district in a federal zone emerged out of the enormous speculation that was provoked by the discovery of silver in its midst. The declaration of Sierra Mojada as a military district set off a series of grievances by Coahuilan authorities and local public opinion. These grievances achieved their objectives, since a few months after the Díaz administration approved the decree, the federal government returned the administration of this mineral district to state authorities. The article argues that the ephemeral existence of the so-called territory of Sierra Mojada was part of the political, social, economic and geographic space of northern Mexico at the end of the 1870s. In this sense, the article exhibits the consolidation of the Porfirio Díaz regime as product of the exchange and negotiations between his administration and multiple state and municipal authorities and even local strongmen.