Magonista rebellion of 1911

Magonista Rebellion
Part of the Mexican Revolution

Magonista guerrillas with the banner,
"Tierra y Libertad" in Tijuana, 1911.
DateJanuary 1911 – June 1911
Location
northern Baja California, Mexico
Result Government victory, Federal forces recapture Tijuana, Initial victory for insurgents, Federal forces loyal to Madero eventually drove them out, failure of the Libertarian insurrection.
Belligerents

Partido Liberal Mexicano
Cocopah
Paipai
Kumeyaay

Kiliwa
Mexico Porfirio Díaz, Mexico
Mexico Francisco I. Madero, Mexico
Commanders and leaders
José María Leyva
Vasquez Salinas
John R. Mosby
William Stanley
Caryl ap Rhys Pryce
Francisco Quijada
Mexico Celso Vega
Mexico Guerrero
Strength
~220 militia 360 infantry
~200 militia
Casualties and losses
~20 killed
~10 wounded
12 killed
~10 wounded
1 captured

The Magonista rebellion of 1911 was an early uprising of the Mexican Revolution organized by the Liberal Party of Mexico (Spanish: Partido Liberal Mexicano, PLM), which was only successful in northern Baja California. It is named after Ricardo Flores Magón, one of the leaders of the PLM. The Magonistas controlled Tijuana and Mexicali for about six months, beginning with the liberation of Mexicali on January 29, 1911.[1][2] The rebellion was launched against the rule of Porfirio Díaz but was put down by forces loyal to Francisco I. Madero. Acting on a tip from Madero's agents, leaders of the Magonista movement were arrested in the United States.[3]

The rebellion was planned and coordinated by the Organizing Board of the Mexican Liberal Party from Los Angeles, California, to create a liberated and libertarian territory in Mexico, as the basis for extending a social revolution to the rest of the country. They implemented the 1906 Mexican Liberal Party Program in Baja California, and to a lesser extent, in other states such as Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Morelos and Durango. The control of the Baja peninsula was part of a contingency plan in case of suffering defeats in the northern states, so as to gain time for reorganizing the Liberal Army to later move towards the south of the peninsula and go to Sonora and Sinaloa.

In the uprising of November 20, 1910, Magonist and Maderist groups combined their forces to occupy important places in the northern states. However, the ideological differences between the two groups caused confrontations between them to arise soon after. The Magonistas were losing presence in Chihuahua; furthermore, some of their guerrilla leaders were arrested by Madero when they refused to recognize him as provisional president. When some liberals managed to regroup in Baja California, a new campaign began with the capture of Mexicali.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference auto1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Taylor, Lawrence D. (Winter 1999). "The Magonista Revolt in Baja California". The Journal of San Diego History. 45 (1).
  3. ^ Richard Griswold del Castillo (Fall 1980). "The Discredited Revolution: The Magonista Capture of Tijuana in 1911". The Journal of San Diego History. 26 (4).