THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 — KELLY AND PALERM 



43 



how the Totonac adapted to war — for example, of 

 their methods and organization, of their forms of 

 combat, of the appointment of leaders, and so on. 

 In fact, about all we know is that the Papantla 

 area appears to have suffered materially, to judge 

 from the account of a writer in that pueblo, in 

 1845. 78 



THE MARIANO OLARTE UPRISING 



The years following Independence were by no 

 means tranquil in Totonacapan. Bausa (p. 337) 

 reports repeated civil dissension in the Papantla 

 area, but, as far as we know, the Totonac as such 

 did not intervene. The only exception, and an 

 important one, was the revolution of Mariano 

 Olarte, in northern Totonacapan, with the Totonac 

 themselves as instigators. 



Mariano Olarte had served at the side of his 

 father, Serafin Olarte, in the War of Independ- 

 ence. With the rank of second lieutenant 

 (alferez), he had participated in the capture of 

 Boquilla de Piedra, and he had been commended 

 particularly by Victoria. Following his father's 

 death, he continued the struggle as leader of the 

 Totonac until 1820 (Flores, p. 12). After Inde- 

 pendence, Victoria appointed him lieutenant 

 colonel, a commission later confirmed by Vicente 

 Guerrero and Santa Anna. Olarte remained in 

 the Mexican army until 1836, when his participa- 

 tion in an unsuccessful conspiracy forced him to 

 seek refuge among his faithful Totonac. The 

 Olarte prestige had not disappeared, and that, in 

 combination with the discontent of the natives 

 of the Papantla area enabled him, at the head of a 

 large Totonac force, to demand the surrender of 

 the Papantla garrison, in November of 1836. 

 After a brief battle, the authorities withdrew from 

 the city, and Olarte entered triumphantly (Flores, 

 p. 27). 



The discontent behind the uprising is far from 

 clear. Certain published documents (Flores, pp. 



' 8 His statements are characterized by abundance of lamenta- 

 tion and paucity of concrete data : ". . . Papantla . . . fue" en 

 fines del pr6ximo pasado y principios del presente siglo, hasta el 

 afio de 1812 en toda la costa de Barlovento, el punto mayor de 

 atenci6n por su numeroso vecindario, por sus producciones agrf- 

 colas y por sus exportaciones comereiales . . . pero se atraves<5 

 la revoluci6n de 1810, que este pueblo abraz6 con entusiasmo . . . 

 y be aqul trabada una lucha ostinada y sangrienta por cerca de 

 diez afios, lucha que di6 por resultado desastroso la desolaci6n, el 

 horror y la muerte . . . Se entronizfi aquf el mas inaudlto des- 

 potismo real, y 61 acab6 de consumar la ruina de un pueblo 

 admirado poco antes por sus riquezas naturales" (Bausa, pp. 

 376-377). 



69-89) suggest it began with a church prohibition 

 against Holy Week processions. But other factors 

 such as inroads by estancia cattle on Totonac 

 plantings and boundary disputes also were in- 

 volved. In any case, when the Government de- 

 cided to send a force against Olarte, he had 

 assembled 5,000 natives, of whom 800 had fire- 

 arms. Government troops recaptured Papantla 

 the middle of December, of 1836, only to be trapped 

 within the city by Olarte forces (Flores, p. 47). 



The Government then decided to negotiate, 

 taking advantage of the prestige of Guadalupe 

 Victoria. But the discussions between the latter 

 and Olarte were not successful. The latter de- 

 manded satisfaction for the natives of Papantla, 

 and that he be allowed to live within the city, with 

 the title, "father of the Indians." He further 

 insisted on the adoption of a plan for a national 

 federal organization. By solving local disputes 

 to their satisfaction, Victoria managed to reach 

 an agreement with some of Olarte's lieutenants. 

 Abandoned by the majority of his men, Olarte 

 raised the siege of Papantla and retired to 

 Coatzintla, pursued by Government forces. With 

 only 200 men, he gave battle and was defeated. 



Once again, he withdrew to the hills and ob- 

 tained support in several quarters: Temapache, 

 Tihuatlan, Coatzintla, and El Estero (Flores, p. 

 58). Thereupon, Olarte launched a guerrilla war 

 which extended as far as Huauchinango, Tulan- 

 cingo, Chicontepec, Tuxpan, Jalacingo, Altotonga, 

 and Misantla. During all of 1837, Totonacapan 

 again burned in open rebellion. The following 

 year, Olarte died in an encounter with Government 

 forces, and as though he had been its only suste- 

 nance the revoluntary flame slowly died out. 



FROM THE OLARTE REVOLT TO THE REFORM 



The defeat of Olarte followed the pattern of a 

 typical native uprising and resulted in a sort of 

 general Totonac surrender. As before, this in- 

 volved retirement of population to spots where it 

 was easy to evade the control and the demands of 

 Mexican authorities. Bausa (p. 413) blames mili- 

 tary conscription and excessive taxation for the 

 flight of numerous Indians from the Papantla 

 vicinity, and an official report of the Governor of 

 Veracruz (Veracruz, 1845, pp. 38-40) gives the 

 same reasons, noting that the Indians fled "from 



