Torres, Luis Emeterio (1844–1935)

Luis Emeterio Torres (b. 1844; d. 1935), governor and military commander. A veteran of the war against the French intervention and postwar political revolts in Sinaloa, Torres used the ties he cultivated with the notables of Álamos (southern Sonora) and with Porfirio Díaz (while a federal deputy) to secure leadership of a political circle that rose to power in Sonora in the late 1870s and controlled the state until 1911. Though he was elected governor five times (uniquely retaining alternation during the Porfiriato), his principal associates—Ramón Corral and Rafael Izábal—were the administrative and legislative directors. Torres managed political relations within the state and with Mexico City; after 1887 he served as commander of Baja California and then of the entire Northwest military zone. Torres embodied the Porfirista ideal of promoting progress and order: Apache raids were terminated; Yaqui Indian autonomy ended (partly through the use of deportation); economic activity markedly expanded; all political opposition was suppressed.

See alsoCorral Verdugo, Ramón; Díaz, Porfirio.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stuart F. Voss, "Towns and Enterprise in Northwestern Mexico: A History of Urban Elites in Sonora and Sinaloa, 1830–1910" (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1972).

Francisco R. Almada, Diccionario de historia, geografía y biografía de sonorenses (1983).

Ramón Eduardo Ruiz, The People of Sonora and Yankee Capitalists (1988).

Additional Bibliography

Tinker Salas, Miguel. In the Shadow of the Eagles: Sonora and the Transformation of the Border during the Porfiriato. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997.

                                                 Stuart F. Voss