José Urrea: trayectoria política y bases de poder territorial en Durango y Sonora. 1821-1849

The political trajectory of Jose Urrea (1797-1849), a soldier from the presidios of Sonora, is analyzed. Since the 1810 insurgency outbreak, he went from combating the apaches in the frontier, to fighting against other Spaniards and Creoles in the central areas of New Spain. After the independence war, he fully joined the political life of the new country, as other royalist soldiers did. Since the first moments he was apparently linked to the moderate liberals, who were as much opponents to monarchism as to York rite radicalism. His ties with the northern territories led him to identify with federalism, in a period when the country had shifted towards centralism, first in a moderate line, and later on, as of the Arizpe “pronouncement” in 1837, towards radical federalism. He managed to establish a territorial support base in Durango, and he tried to do the same in Sonora, although with negative results due to the strong opposition he received from an elite sector. In spite of his defeats, his federalist “pronouncements” were instrumental to the reestablishment of the Constitution of 1824. Jose Urrea's political trajectory allows us to observe one of the pathways that led to the links of local elites with national politics.