University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-2004 Revolutionary Tabasco in the time of Tomás Garrido Canabal, 1922-1935 : a Mexican house divided. Kristin A. Harper University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Harper, Kristin A., "Revolutionary Tabasco in the time of Tomás Garrido Canabal, 1922-1935 : a Mexican house divided." (2004). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1132. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1132 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REVOLUTIONARY TABASCO IN THE TIME OF TOMAS GARRIDO CANABAL 1922-1935: A MEXICAN HOUSE DIVIDED A Dissertation Presented by KRISTIN A. HARPER Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2004 Department of History © Copyright by Kristin A. Harper 2004 All Rights Reserved REVOLUTIONARY TABASCO IN THE TIME OF TOMAS GARRIDO CANABAL 1922-1935: A MEXICAN HOUSE DIVIDED A Dissertation Presented by KRISTIN A. HARPER Approved as to style and content by: Katherine Bliss, Chair Lowell Gudmundson, Member Luis Marentes, Member Department of History A( kn()wm:i>(;ivii:n is One of the rewards lor completing a tlissertalion is having the chance to remember and publicly thank all those who made it possible. First, I would like to thank my dissertation director, Kathenne Bliss, for her exceptional guidance of this project. I ler deep knowledge of Mexican history, rigorous .scholarly standards, and intellectual generosity, have all come to bear on this dissertation, improving it in innumerable ways. The other members of my dissertation committee offered crucial support, as well. Jane Kausch gave me ideas about how to think about caudiUisnio and oflered all forms of encouragement during the writing process. I deeply value the stimulating conversations wc have had about Latin American history. Luis Marcnies readily shared his enthusiasm lor my research topic, while his deep insight into Mexican history and culture forced me to hone my analysis. I also appreciate his help dissecting some of the ambiguously worded-documents I found in the Mexican archives. Finally, I am grateful to Lowell Ciudmundson for bringing the perspective of a Central Americanist to this di.ssertation. His generous and penetrating questions have encouraged me to widen my conceptual lens. \u addition to my committee, several other individuals have contributed to my passion for history and commitment to Latin America. Michael Koit, llowarti /inn, and Lois llappe, were my teachers and mentors at Boston University. In ways obvious and subtle, they taught me to u,se history to understand our world. At Northeastern I 'niversity, where I began my graduate studies, I had the fortune to work with Lynn Stephen and Felix Matos Kotln'gue/. i hey were superb teachers and generous scholars, and I thank them for their faith in me. I hanks, also, to William II. Beezley and Ward IV Albro for inviting me to participate in their Oaxaca Graduate Field School in Mexican History in the summer of 1998. This seminar for graduate students gave me a "cohort" of Mexicanists with whom to exchange ideas, and opened up many new scholarly opportunities. William H. Beezley, who has made a project of supporting Mcxicanists- in-the-making, has graciously encouraged my work. I also thank Carlos Martinez Assad and Carmen Ramos Escandon for kindly agreeing to comment on my research when it was still in its initial stages. The history department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has provided a wonderful environment in which to grow as a scholar, and 1 thank the faculty and graduate students for the sincere interest they have taken in my work. I also wish to acknowledge the department for helping to defray the expenses associated with conference travel, and for the grant money they gave me to conduct preliminary research in Mexico in 1998. Conducting research, especially in another country, is not an inexpensive undertaking, and I am grateful to the institutions that provided funding for this dissertation. I like would to recognize the Instituto Nacional de Estudios Historicos de la Revolucion Mexicana (INEHRM), and the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program for generously funding my research in Tabasco and Mexico City. The Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts gave me a University Fellowship, which facilitated the writing of this dissertation. In Mexico I had the privilege of working with knowledgeable and helpful archivists and administrators, whose contribution to this project cannot be overstated. Many thanks to Cesar Montoya Cervantes in "Gallery Seven" of the Archivo General de la Nacion ( AGN) in Mexico City, where the Tomas Garrido Canabal collection is located. I also wish to thank Juan Manuel Herrera Huerta, Director of the AGN's Archivo Historico Central, for giving me special permission to consult a documentary collection that was temporarily out of circulation. In Tabasco my debts are deep indeed. Thanks to the following individuals for their professionalism and efficiency: Samuel Rico Medina and the staff of the Casa de Cultura Jurfdica del Estado de Tabasco; Svetlana Yanguiova, Trinidad Torres Vera, and Victor Gorbarkov at the Archivo Historico y Fotografico de Tabasco; and Guadalupe Azuara Forcelledo and the staff at the Biblioteca Jose Marti. I also wish to recognize Juan Manuel de la Fuente Colorado, oficial mayor of the Tribunal Superior de Justicia del Estado de Tabasco, for giving me access to the archives there. In addition to archival holdings, this thesis is built on oral history material that was gathered in 200 -2002. I offer 1 my most profound thanks to the Tabascans who generously shared a bit of the past with me. Their knowledge has forever changed the way I think about Tabascan history. To those individuals who helped me arrange interviews, including Valdimar Alvarez Reyes, Marta and Jose Cruz, David Maron Hernandez, Marilu Garcia, Flora Salazar, Guadalupe Azuara Forcelledo, Cesar Garcia Cordoba, Luisa Camara Cabrales, Candelaria Velasquez Arevalo, and Carmita Gonzalez de Olive, my thanks are due. I also thank the staff at the Casa del Arbol for kindly facilitating my interviews there. Friends in Mexico kept me sane and gave me balance. Ramona Isabel Pe'rez Bci truy, a fellow traveler in the discipline of history, deserves special mention. "Monchi" not only housed me for several months, she provided great research tips and VI above all, friendship. Sara Silver and John Authers also provided treasured companionship (and housing) in Mexico City. Special thanks to Maribel, Paehe, Claudia, Lydia, Lety, Monica, Carlos, Pepe, Juanila, Dona Carmita, Magi, and Paulina for their friendship and support. Back in Amherst, friends and colleagues, many from the history department, provided continual support and a welcome distraction from writing. They include Christoph and Kristin Strobel, Julie Gallagher, Michael Simsik, Riek and Carla Goulet, Leo Maley, Heather Murray, Julia Saiidy-Bailey, Brian Bixby, Dinah Mayo, Babette Faehmel, Ann Jefferson, Germaine litienne and Riehard Gassan. Some of my firmest supporters are also my most beloved friends, and I extend my gratitude to Roger (Grande (a.k.a Chiel), Deb Kacanek, and Kay "Lob" Mann. All three of them regularly checked in to see how I was "holding up," and Deb and Roger, having themselves recently endured the presence of a "dissertation in tlie household," offered a special brand of sympathy. I have been blessed in this life with friends so dear, that 1 don't I know what would do--or who I would be--v\ilhoul them. I he same can be said about my family, for whom no words seem adequate to thank them. My parents, Patricia and Charles I iarper, and my sister. Tammy, are generous and loving in all they do, and have always been my most steadfast supporters. For their encouraging phone calls, uplifting visits, editorial suggestions, post-defense party, and, above all, their unflagging faith in me, I am humbled and grateful. My nephew Brendan, meanwhile, must be thanked for the welcome opportunity to play with castles, leiirn about sharks, snakes, and turtles, aiid yes, to watch Sponge Bob. vii No one has hccn closu lo tins ,),o,cU lh.,n I n.sa ( .nu.a ( ,l>,;,K-s. whose p.renis sl.uhe.l n, ( i.„ Klo-cra sehools. .nul whose g,;uuhno,her-u legendary l.gnre n, H,,hnu an. Tahasco-crcalively helped .esene Ihe lown's sanus dn.n,,, the si.nri.lisU, anliele.ieal can.|.ai^;ns. I n. I u.sa s hearllell nUeresi in n,y reseaivh. and so nuu h more. n,y (hanks \ III ABSTRACT REVOLUTIONARY TABASCO IN THE TIME OF TOMAS GARRIDO CANABAL 1922-1935: A MEXICAN HOUSE DIVIDED SEPTEMBER 2004 KRISTIN A. HARPER, B.A., BOSTON UNIVERISTY M.A., NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Katherine Bliss This dissertation is a regional study of Mexico during the reform phase of the Mexican Revolution. It analyzes the relationship between governing authorities and civil society in the southeastern state of Tabasco during the lengthy tenure of revolutionary strongman Tomas Garrido Canahal (1922-1935). Using a variety of previously untapped sources, this dissertation evaluates popular reactions to the governing mechanisms and cuHural radicalism of the f^arrUJi.stas. It assesses how revolutionary labor policies, educational initiatives, anticlerical campaigns, and other reform measures, were received by Tabasco's diverse population. Ultimately, it concludes that while the garhdistas were able to amass something of a popular following, the ideological intolerance and institutional rigidity of the Garrido State undermined the democratizing promise of its reformist agenda.