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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



As constituted, the municipio of Tzintzuntzan 

 consists of the village itself, as cabecera, or 

 head, where all governmental offices are located 

 in the presidencia which, depending on the trans- 

 lation given to municipio, may be considered 

 either as a courthouse or city hall. The remain- 

 ing settlements are classed either as tenencias 

 or ranchos depending primarily on size. Ihua- 

 tzio, Cucuchucho, and the island of La Pacanda 

 are tenencias, while the ranchos are Patambi- 

 cho, Puerto de Coenembo, Coenembo, Santa 

 Cruz, El Tigre, Las Pilas, La Granada, La Vi- 

 nata, Las Cuevas, Corrales, Pontezuelas, El Pi- 

 no, Verdolaga, Ojo de Agua, Ichupio, Tarerio, 

 and Ucasanastacua. Haciendas, which lack cor- 

 porate structure, are the Molino de San Rafael, 

 La Cutzanda, and El Tecolote. The 1940 Gov- 

 ernment census also lists the following hamlets, 

 at least some of which no longer exist: El Ala- 

 mo, Colonia Gral. Calles, Tziparamuco, Noria, 

 Santiago, and Sirangua. 



Official populations in that year are as fol- 

 lows: 



Tzintzuntzan 1,077 



Ihuatzio 1,206 



Cucuchucho 295 



La Pacanda 247 



Ichupio 1''2 



Tarerio 201 



Ucasanastacua 110 



Ojo de Agua 104 



Patambicho 281 



Puerto de Coenembo 74 



Coenembo 451 



Santa Cruz 178 



El Tigre 119 



Las Pilas 67 



La Granada 92 



La Vinata 71 



Las Cuevas 69 



Corrales 177 



Pontezuelas 18 



San Rafael 106 



Cutzanda 48 



El Pino 29 



El Tecolote 12 



Verdolaga 78 



El Alamo 17 



Colonia Gral. Calles 34 



Tziparamuco 46 



Noria 32 



Santiago 16 



Sirangua 13 



Total 5,430 



All three tenencias and the ranchos Ojo de 



Agua, Ichupio, Tarerio, La Vinata, La Granada, 

 and Ucasanastacua are entirely Tarascan. Their 

 combined population of 2,488, plus 156 Taras- 

 can speakers in Tzintzuntzan, represents 49 per- 

 cent of the total of the municipio. All Tarascans 

 live on the lake shore, and economically and so- 

 cially they have far more bonds with the other 

 lake villages of the same speech than with the 

 Mestizo towns with which they are united politi- 

 cally. Parenthetically, it may be added that the 

 other Mestizo settlements feel tliat they have very 

 little in common with Tzintzuntzan, and the citi- 

 zens of some are indignant that they were cut 

 from the larger cabeceras of Quiroga or Patz- 

 cuaro, as the case may have been, and placed 

 within a weaker and less effectual jurisdiction. 



Municipal government is instrumented by 

 means of the ayuntamiento municipal, or munic- 

 ipal council, composed of five regidores, or 

 councilmen, who are elected for 2 years. The 

 presidente municipal is named by the council- 

 men from among their own numbers for a period 

 of 1 year. 



The president, as the highest elected official, 

 represents the municipio in all dealings with the 

 State government, is charged with the civil mar- 

 riage act, names special commissions for 

 specific tasks, and makes an attempt to see that 

 all civic affairs function smoothly. He also ap- 

 points a number of other civic officials. 



A second councilman is named sindico, or 

 agente del ministerio publico. He in a sense is 

 the "executive vice president" charged with car- 

 rying out the orders of the president and survey- 

 ing the activities of all other municipal officials. 



The other three councilmen have no special 

 names. One is entrusted with obras materiales, 

 or public improvements and municipal property. 

 A second is in charge of road repairs and main- 

 tenance while the third theoretically maintains 

 supervision over the Comunidad Indigena. In 

 practice, these three men have very few duties or 

 obligations. They may advise the president, and 

 whenever an unpleasant task is called for they 

 accompany him to lend moral support. 



A secretary of the municipal council is named 

 by the president and, unlike other officials, may 

 serve for as long as he may be seappointed. 

 Ability to read and hunt and peck over the keys 

 of an aged Oliver typewriter are his job require- 

 ments. The function of the secretary is that of 

 a scribe who records births, deaths, marriages, 



