QUTROGA: a MEXICAN MtTNICIPIO — BRAND 



53 



quired from the Indians by a white merchant, 

 Mariano Lavarrieta, who gave these lands (vahied 

 at 245 pesos) in July of 1873 to the ayuntamienfo to 

 be used as the site for the proposed new municipal 

 buildings. The old buildings had been destroyed in 

 the lS60's and their site was converted into the 

 present market plaza across the street by the parish 

 church. Apparently Lavarrieta had acquired part 

 or all of La Guatapera lands by fraud, and a lawsuit 

 between the Indians of the barrios of San Bartolo 

 and San Francisco and the ayuntamiento lasted 

 until December of 1877. Ultimately the Indians 

 were given some satisfaction, and work on the 

 municipal building began in 1884. Gifts by indi- 

 viduals, the proceeds of fines and of bullfights, 

 work by prisoners, and several State subventions 

 slowly provided the means for erecting the building, 

 which was sufRciently completed by February of 

 1895 that the ayuntamiento could install its ofhces 

 and archives. For the previous thirty-odd years 

 the ayitntamiento had been forced to rent its 

 quarters. The building consisted of massive 2- 

 story adobe walls, tile roof, and some 20 rooms 

 facing in toward a completely inclosed central 

 patio or courtyard. Stone quarried on the slopes 

 of Tzirate was used in the construction of the 

 doorways and the interior stairs (which were com- 

 pleted in 1899), and iron bars and grills were placed 

 over the windows and in front on the balconies. 

 There is evidence that the building was never 

 completely finished, and at present some of the 

 rooms have been allowed to acquire a ruinous 

 state. The municipal building houses the presi- 

 dencia (office of the president and of the secretary) 

 and the jail and quarters of the police on the 

 ground floor; and on the upper floor are the Kegis- 

 tro Civil (together with the office of the State 

 telephone line), Tesoreria Municipal, and Juzgado 

 Menor. Also, at the back on the ground floor is a 

 corral and some rooms used as dwellings. 



The one municipal structure that has not been 

 described is the slaughterhouse or abasto municipal. 

 There have been at least four abastos in the history 

 of the town, the last of which was constructed in 

 1925 on the north side of the Calle Zaragoza in the 

 last block of town going west. It consists of a 1- 

 story adobe-walled and tile-roofed building in the 

 shape of an L, with the upper limb of the L being 

 a shed covering a cement floor. Two cement water 

 troughs, 10 large meat hooks, and an adjacent 

 corral complete the inventory of the abasto. The 



previous abasto (now known as the abasto viejo) 

 was located at the southeast corner of town, just 

 west of the AiToyo del Cerro Azul and the bridge 

 on the road to Zirandangacho. A flood August 14, 

 1900, washed this abasto away, but it was rebuilt 

 the foUowing year and continued in use until 1925. 

 At present it is a group of roofless adobe ruins 

 which have been partly washed away by the 

 arroyo. Although installed on the church of La 

 Concepci6n (which is Federal property), the clock 

 tower is municipal. The large four-faced clock 

 was installed June 29, 1895, on top of a tower 

 some 25 meters above the ground level, and at a 

 cost of 3,325 pesos (as compared with the 5,000 

 pesos total cost of the municipal building). 



THE INDIAN COMMUNITY 



The present Comunidad Indfgena de Quiroga is 

 a lineal descendant of the Republica de Indios de 

 Cocupao of colonial times. This community, as 

 was true of the other Indian towns in Mexico in 

 colonial times, comprised lauds owned by the com- 

 munity as a whole and private lands owned by in- 

 dividual Indians. Throughout the colonial period 

 the communities and the individual Indians were 

 allowed to seU their lands to other Indians, to 

 mestizos, and to whites, under certain conditions. 

 By the nineteenth century such sales had cost 

 Cocupao much of its lands. Communally owned 

 lands and individual contributions provided the 

 money that went into the Cajas de Comunidad 

 (strongboxes which served as the repository of 

 community monies and papers) which were present 

 in every Pueblo de Indios. Out of the monies 

 accumulated in the local caja (or area) came the 

 tribute to the crown and the expenses of the local 

 church and hospital. Toward the end of the 

 colonial period the bulk of the community funds 

 were absorbed by religious expenditures. The 

 administration of the cajas became so notoriously 

 bad that viceroy Revilla Gigedo in 1773 ordered a 

 general inspection. Although we have seen a 

 number of inspection informts for communities in 

 Michoacdn, unfortunately we were not able to 

 locate any for Cocupao nor were we able to locate 

 any of the titles and records that theoretically 

 once were in the local caja. Therefore we have no 

 record of the landholdlngs toward the end of the 

 colonial period and during the first decades of 

 independence. In 1810 the Indians ceased to pay 

 tribute to the crown, and in 1813 the viceregal 



