Lozada, Manuel (1828–1873)

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Lozada, Manuel (1828–1873)

Manuel Lozada (b. 1828; d. 19 July 1873), Mexican cacique and rebel leader. Considered by some to be a precursor of later agrarian reformers, Lozada was a mestizo bandit whose extreme violence and invincibility earned him the attribute "El Tigre de Alica." Although still a controversial figure, he led one of the most serious uprisings of the nineteenth century.

Cacique of the Cora and Huichol Indians of western Jalisco, Lozada worked as a peon on the Hacienda de Mojarras. After a dispute with the administrator, he fled to the sierra. In his absence, the administrator was said to have maltreated Lozada's mother, misconduct for which Lozada returned to kill him. A self-designated general, he assumed leadership of the ongoing Indian resistance to European penetration of the Nayarit zone.

Armed conflict broke out in 1847 and reached a climax after the disamortization law of 1856. In his defense of community lands against privatization and hacienda penetration, he received the private support of the San Blas-based Barron and Forbes Company, which was heavily involved in contraband. His tacit support of the Conservative cause during La Reforma (the Civil War of the Reform, 1858–1861), together with his control of western Jalisco, threatened the Liberal position in Jalisco and Sinaloa. In March 1864, however, Lozada rallied to the empire, received a cash subsidy, and was decorated with the Legion of Honor. He abandoned the imperial cause in December 1866 and was thereafter virtually protected from his enemies by Juárez.

Lozada's circular of 12 April 1869 had a distinctly agrarian character and provided for direct action by villages for the recovery of land. His power was broken at Mojonera, near Guadalajara, by General Ramón Corona, after an ill-considered invasion of central Jalisco. Betrayed, he was executed on 19 July 1873.

See alsoCacique, Caciquismo; Hacienda.