A detachment of Mexican Rurales in field uniform during the Diaz era

Rurales (Spanish for "Rurals") was the name commonly used to designate the Mexican Guardia Rural (Rural Guard), a force of mounted police or gendarmerie. There were two such formations with the second maintaining a tenuous link to the first. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback. ... A gendarmerie (pronounced ) is a military body charged with police duties among civilian populations. ...

Guardia Rural

Established as a federal constabulary by the Liberal regime of Benito Juárez in 1861 (in existence from 1861 to 1914). The Guardia Rural became well known during the long rule of President Porfirio Díaz (1876–1911). the Rurales were originally too weak in numbers and organisation to effectively control the widespread banditry in Mexico during the 1860s and 70s. The concept of an armed and mobile rural police, organised on military lines, was derived from the Spanish Civil Guard ("Guardia Civil"), which had been established in 1844 and quickly won a reputation as an effective but often oppressive force. Constabulary may have several definitions. ... The Partido Liberal Mexicano (or the Mexican Liberal Party) was an anarchist group founded by Ricardo Flores Magón in 1906, in opposition to the rule of Porfirio Díaz. ... Benito Pablo Juárez García () (March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872) was a Zapotec Amerindian who served five terms [1] (1858–1861), (1861–1865), (1865–1867), (1867–1871), and (1871–1872), as President of Mexico. ... The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state of Mexico. ... José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mory (15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), Mexican war volunteer and French intervention hero; later President. ... For other senses of this word, see outlaw (disambiguation). ... Patrol boat, Nervion river, Bilbao. ...

The existing Corps of Rurales was incorporated into the Republican Army and irregular forces during the French intervention of 1861-65. However the Imperial regime of Archduke Maximilain created a parallel force (at least on paper) indicating that the concept of a rural mounted police force was now well established. Following the Republican victory, Los Cuerpos Rurales was re-established.

President Porfirio Díaz had expanded the Rurales from a few hundred to nearly 2,000 by 1889 as part of his programme of modernisation and eventually repression. Initially some captured bandits were forcibly recruited into the Rurales, although the basis of enlistment later became more conventional. Officers were usually seconded from the Federal Army. The Rurales were heavily armed, carrying sabres, carbines and pistols. They were divided into ten corps, each comprising three companies of about 76 men. Mexicos armed forces number about 300,000. ... It has been suggested that War-sword be merged into this article or section. ...

The image of the Rurales as a ruthless and efficient organisation, which seldom took prisoners under the notorious ley fuga and inevitably got its man, was deliberately fostered under the Porfirian regime. However, research during the 1970s involving detailed examination of the records of the corps indicated that the Rurales were neither as effective nor as brutal as regime publicists had suggested. Never numbering more than about 4,000 men located in small detachments, the Rurales were too thinly spread to ever completely eliminate unrest in the Mexican countryside. They did however impose a superficial order, especially in the central regions around Mexico City, which encouraged the foreign investment sought by Díaz and his científico advisers . To a certain extent the regime saw the Rurales as a counterweight to the much larger Federal army and in the later years of the regime they were increasingly used to control industrial unrest, in addition to their traditional task of patrolling country areas. Nickname: Ciudad de los Palacios Location of Mexico City in central Mexico Coordinates: Country Mexico Federal entity Federal District Boroughs The 16 delegaciones Founded (as Tenochtitlan) c. ... The Científicos (Spanish: scientists or those scientifically oriented) were a circle of technocratic advisors to President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz. ...

The Rurales achieved a high profile internationally, rather like that of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the Texas Rangers, whose roles they paralleled. They wore a distinctive grey uniform braided in silver, which was modelled on the national charro dress and included a wide sombrero and red or black necktie. This dress, their frequent involvement in ceremonial parades and their general reputation invariably drew the attention of foreign visitors to Mexico during the Porfiriato. They were variously described as "the world's most picturesque policemen" and "mostly bandits". The former may have true but the latter was a distorted memory of the rough and ready early days of the corps. Some of the Mexican states maintained their own rural mounted police forces and there was an efficient city police in Mexico City, but none matched the Federal Rurales in notoriety or glamour. “Mountie” redirects here. ... Official crest of the Texas Ranger Division The Texas Ranger Division, commonly known as the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction based in Austin, the capital city of Texas, in the United States. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Atomic mass 107. ... For the entertainer whose full name is Maria Rosario Pilar Martinez Molina Baeza, see: Charo A Charro is a traditional cowboy of central and northern Mexico. ... Sombrero Sombrero means hat in spanish. ...

A graphical timeline is available here:

Timeline of the Mexican Revolution

After the overthrow of Díaz, the Rurales continued to exist under Presidents Francisco I. Madero and Victoriano Huerta. Madero's intention seems to have been that the force should remain essentially unchanged, though with the abuses of the Diaz years curbed. In practice the induction of large numbers of Maderista fighters on a temporary basis while awaiting discharge simply diluted such efficiency as the corps had retained. Huerta saw a more central role for the Rurales using a detachment to murder Madero after the "Ten Tragic Days" of 1913. He then proposed to expand the existing units into a field force of over ten thousand men serving alongside the regular Federal troops. Recruiting and desertion problems prevented this ever being a realistic project and the remains of the Guardia Rural, along with the old Federal army, were finally disbanded in July 1914 when Huerta fled into exile. Image File history File links Timeline_icon. ... A graphical timeline is available here: Timeline of the Mexican Revolution Francisco Ignacio Madero González (October 30, 1873 – February 22, 1913) was a politician, writer and revolutionary who served as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. ... A graphical timeline is available here: Timeline of the Mexican Revolution José Victoriano Huerta Márquez (December 23, 1850 – January 13, 1916) was a Mexican military officer and President of Mexico. ... A graphical timeline is available here: Timeline of the Mexican Revolution Citizens throng around The Citadel (La ciudadela) building during La decena tragica in 1913. ...

Cuerpo de Defensa Rural

Today's Rurales are a part-time militia (Cuerpo de Defensa Rural), originally formed as village self defence groups during the agrarian disturbances of the 1920s. They do not have any functions that parallel those of the paramilitary mounted police force of the 1861-1914 era. This corps was formally organized under army jurisdiction according to the Organic Law of 1926. Its origins, however, date back to the period when the revolutionary agrarian reform program was first implemented in 1915. In efforts to protect themselves against the private armies of recalcitrant large landowners, rural peasants organized themselves into small defense units and were provided weapons by the revolutionary government. Until 1955 enlistment in the Rural Defense Force was restricted to peasants working on collective farms or ejidos (see Glossary). After 1955 participation in the Rural Defense Force was expanded to include small farmers and laborers. All defense units, however, were attached to ejidos , possibly as a means to guarantee control. Collective farming is an organizational unit in agriculture in which peasants are not paid wages, but rather receive a share of the farms net output. ...

The Rural Defense Force numbered some 120,000 in 1970, but was being phased out in the 1990s. The IISS's The Military Balance listed the corps as having only 14,000 members in 1996. The volunteers, aged eighteen to fifty, enlist for a three-year period. Members do not wear uniforms or receive pay for their service but are eligible for limited benefits. They are armed with outmoded rifles, which may be the chief inducement to enlist. Rudimentary training is provided by troops assigned to military zone detachments. The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is a British research institute (or think tank) in the area of international affairs. ...

The basic unit is the platoon (pelotón ) of eleven members under immediate control of the ejido . Use of the unit outside the ejidos is by order of the military zone commander. One asset of the corps is the capacity of its members to gather intelligence about activities within the ejidos and in remote rural areas seldom patrolled by military zone detachments. Corps members also act as guides for military patrols, participate in civic-action projects, and assist in destroying marijuana crops and preventing the transport of narcotics through their areas. Platoon is a term from military science. ...

See also

• Mexican Revolution
• Federales

This article is about the Mexican Revolution of 1910. ... Federales is a slang term for the Federal Agency of Investigation formerly th Federal Judicial Police of Mexico. ...

External link

• Library of Congress Country Study on Mexico Rurales article