Where does the rivalry between Mazatlán and Culiacán begin?

819

The enmity does not lie in the baseball teams or in the uses and customs of both cities.

MAZATLÁN.- The rivalry between Mazatlán and Culiacán does not originate in who prefers to eat the campechana cold or hot or if we call it ‘La Panama’ or ‘El Panama’, or even which baseball team is better if Los Venados or Los tomato trees; The enmity between Mazatlecos and Culichis was born almost two centuries ago, in the 1940s. 

In fact, it was Governor Francisco de la Vega who, at the beginning of the 1950s, decided to formalize said rivalry. Why? We all know that Culiacán was founded on September 29, 1531, by Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, the year in which he would also found Mazatlán, but beware, only as a port, not as a town, keep this in mind that it will be essential later. 

In 1576, a few kilometers south of the port, a town called Presidio de Mazatlán was founded, which from 1828 was renamed Villa de la Unión, better known as Villa Unión; then we can say that Mazatlán as such, began there and, little by little, it spread.

At that time, Mazatlan was made up of little more than a dozen small houses in the vicinity of Cerro del Vigía. While Culiacán was already forming little by little as a formal city. 

Business activity 

It was from 1830 when Mazatlán began its economic takeoff and in less than five years it became the main port of the Mexican Pacific. There were no roads, aviation did not yet exist; therefore, the means of transport was by sea. 

At that time, Culiacán was the capital of the state of Sinaloa and Rosario; the main population in the south of the entity was the head of the District of Allende, which included this entire region. 

Of course, the economic takeoff that Mazatlan had at that time was the product of the high number of imports and exports that took place in this port, which were carried out mainly by foreign merchants: English, German, French, Spanish, Filipino, American, and minority Mexicans and other nationalities.   

It was Governor Francisco de la Vega who, realizing the high number of commercial operations that were carried out in the port of Mazatlan, began to tax them and thus gave rise to the struggle between the inhabitants of the port and those of Culiacán. 

After a few years the growth of the port continued, but so did the taxes. The trade that took place was compared with cities like Bremen and Hamburg, Le Havre, San Francisco, Valparaíso, with Hong Kong; that is, with the main ports of the world. Meanwhile, Culiacán, even though it was the capital of the state of Sinaloa, continued to be a small town outside all commercial activity at the international level. 

The fight 

On July 12, 1852, Francisco de la Vega marched to the city limits at the command of 250 soldiers, with two cannons and other weapons, and prepared to take Mazatlán as if it were an enemy plaza. But it was so fed up that this governor had caused among the Mazatlecos that, despite having only 60 men, the citizens joined the battle that took place in the Plazuela Machado and its surroundings and defeated De la Vega.  

Mazatlan, capital of Sinaloa 

Culiacán still had political power, the state powers were based there; but Mazatlan had the economic power, the largest commercial activities in much of the north of the country were developed here. 

Captain Pedro Valdés took advantage of the conflicts with Governor Francisco de la Vega and in a struggle declared himself state leader of Sinaloa. It was then that Valdez determined that the economic power that Mazatlan held with the political power based in Culiacán had to be combined; And so it was that on November 24, 1852, Pedro Valdez issued a decree by which he declared Mazatlán as the capital of the state of Sinaloa.  

Obviously, this title would not doubt much, some time later Culiacán would recover the name of the Capital of Sinaloa. 

And so began the rivalry between Mazatlán and Culiacán.

The Mazatlan Post