Abstract

SANCHEZ RODRIGUEZ, Martín. Erased from the Map. Sovereignty and Jurisdiction of a Non-existent Municipality in Michoacán. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2021, vol.42, n.165, pp.104-126.  Epub Feb 03, 2022. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v42i165.835.

This article focuses attention on problems in the application of the Law of Territorial Division of the State of Michoacán (in force since 1909) by analyzing a specific situation it is currently facing; namely, the existence of a municipality created legally by the faculties of the state congressmen of the LXVIII Legislature in Michoacán. It seems that the inhabitants of the community of El Caracol in the municipality of Ciudad Hidalgo never found out that in 1941 Congress gave them municipal sovereignty and assigned them a territorial jurisdiction. More than seven decades have passed and the mistakes made at that time have probably not been corrected. For this reason, unlike what the state’s official cartography shows, Michoacán has 114 municipalities, not the 113 indicated there. The present study is based fundamentally on an analysis of the Laws of Territorial Division of Michoacán and the relation between jurisdiction and land ownership as key elements involved in the delimitation of municipalities in Mexico.

Keywords : Michoacán; sovereignty; jurisdiction; municipalities; municipal divisions.