Manuel Cuesta Gallardo (14 April 1873 – 2 December 1920) was a Mexican engineer and landowner, Constitutional Governor of Jalisco, during two brief periods in 1911, which totaled 80 days, in the final stretch of the dictatorial regime of

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...

Biography

He was born in Guadalajara, on 14 April 1873, into a wealthy Jalisco family of landowners. He was the first in a family of ten children, seven men and three women, heirs of the

Hacienda A ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards ...

of Atequiza, located in the town of the same name, in Jalisco. His maternal grandfather, Cástulo Gallardo y González de Hermosillo (married on 3 February 1841 to María Francisca Riesch Mallén), had purchased the Hacienda de Atequiza in 1839, north of the town of and south of

Río Grande de Santiago The Río Grande de Santiago, or Santiago River, is a river in western Mexico. It flows westwards from Lake Chapala via Ocotlán through the states of Jalisco and Nayarit to empty into the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the longest rivers in Mexic ...

, in Jalisco. In 1900 the Cuesta Gallardo estate had 31 743 acres (12 846 hectares); 19 768 acres (8000 hectares) were irrigated. There they planted beans, corn, wheat, barley, and sugar cane; they had cattle and horses, in addition to owning and operating a wheat mill equipped with state-of-the-art German technology. From 1870 to 1900, the Cuesta Gallardo family built a private theater, still standing in 2024, at 99 López Cotilla Street, currently the seat of the House of Culture of the Delegation of Atequiza; the La Florida estate, and the church bell tower, as well as making improvements to the main house. During the hacienda's heyday, from 1839 to 1903, the property was located in the municipality of

Poncitlán Poncitlán is a town and municipality, in Jalisco in central-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 672.31 km2. As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 43,817. Place Names Poncitlán means "place of cilacayotes", ...

. On 15 January 1938, the Atequiza commissaryship became part of the municipality of

Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos is a town and municipality in Jalisco in central-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 184.25 km². It is located north of the Chapala municipality. In 2005, the municipality had a total population ...

, segregated from the former, according to decree 4349. A stately estate in Guadalajara, known as the Casa de los Abanicos (House of Fans), located at 1823 Libertad Avenue on the corner of Moscú Street, Colonia Americana, was owned by the landowner and former governor Manuel Cuesta Gallardo, who acquired it in March 1907, by paying 30 000 pesos, when it was four years after being built. He commissioned the German engineer Ernesto Fuchs to make several improvements. Later it was the headquarters of the

ITESO ''ITESO, Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara'' — distinct from the University of Guadalajara — also known as ''Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, ITESO'' (Western Institute of Technology and Higher Education), is a ...

; thereafter, the University Club, and in 2024 it is an event venue. In 1911 the era of the

Porfiriato The Porfiriato or Porfirismo (, ), coined by Mexican historian Daniel Cosío Villegas, is a term given to the period when General Porfirio Díaz ruled Mexico under an Authoritarianism, authoritarian military dictatorship in the late 19th and e ...

came to an end. Manuel Cuesta Gallardo, the last Porfirist governor of Jalisco, resigned. He was succeeded by David Gutiérrez Allende on 25 May 1911. On 27 February 1915,

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa ( , , ; born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula; 5 June 1878 – 20 July 1923) was a Mexican revolutionary and prominent figure in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced ...

ordered the murder of former governor Manuel's brother, Joaquín Cuesta Gallardo (13 September 1874 – 27 February 1915), accused by the steward of the Hacienda Maltaraña, owned by Joaquín, of being the main and worst

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

(political boss) of La Barca, Jalisco. The Regional Museum of Guadalajara exhibits an oil easel painting, of the former governor of Jalisco Manuel Cuesta Gallardo.

Tribute

42nd Street in the Sector Libertad of Guadalajara bears the name «Manuel Cuesta Gallardo».

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuesta Gallardo, Manuel 1873 births 1920 deaths Politicians from Guadalajara, Jalisco Governors of Jalisco 20th-century Mexican politicians Mexican landowners