Morelos, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, is a landlocked state located in south-central Mexico. It is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca.
Morelos is bordered by Mexico City to the north, and by the states of México to the northeast and northwest, Puebla to the east and Guerrero to the southwest.
Morelos is the second-smallest state in the nation, just after Tlaxcala. It was part of a very large province, the State of Mexico, until 1869 when President Benito Juárez decreed that its territory would be separated and named in honor of José María Morelos y Pavón, who defended the city of Cuautla from royalist forces during the Mexican War of Independence. Most of the state enjoys a warm climate year-round, which is good for the raising of sugar cane and other crops. Morelos has attracted visitors from the Valley of Mexico since Aztec times.
The state is also known for the Chinelos, a type of costumed dancer that appears at festivals, especially Carnival, which is celebrated in a number of communities in the state. It is also home to the Monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl, a designated World Heritage Site.
History
Pre-Hispanic period
left|thumb|300px|Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Xochicalco
Historian Ward Barrett considers that the "region now known as Morelos has a physical unity sufficient to define and set it in strong contrast to other regions of Mexico." Much of this definition comes from its geography, which is a basin into which abundant water flows. The arrival of the Spanish shifted agriculture from subsistence maize production and cotton cultivation to sugar cane and the refining of such into sugar in nearby mills. This system would remain more or less intact until the Mexican Revolution. Other early finds include clay jars and figures in the Gualupita neighborhood of Cuernavaca and three mounds in Santa María Ahuacatitlán, which are probably the remains of houses. He writes, "1st - That being in the region of Tamoanchan... they fixed the ritual calendar ... 2nd - That Tamoanchan was not very far from Teotihuacan; 3rd - That to go from Tamoanchan to Teotihuacan they passed through Xumiltepec; 4th - That Tepuztecal (sic) and his companions discovered pulque in the Tamoanchan region. But as all these facts happened in... the State of Morelos ... and accordingly that Tamoanchan is not a mythological and fantastic country... but true..."
The earliest identified culture is the Olmec, which was dominant from 200 B. C. to about A.D. 500. Evidence of this culture is found in reliefs such as those in the Cantera Mountain in Chalcatzingo and clay figures. A second wave of Toltecs established the city-state of Xochicalco (the City of Flowers). Their influence is evident in Teotihuacan at the temple of Quetzalcoatl, but there are also signs of Mayan, Mixtec and Zapotec influences. The Tlahuicas are believed to be an offshoot of the Toltec-Chichimec group of Nahuatl-speaking peoples who have occupied the area since the seventh century.
The Tlahuica eventually became the dominant ethnic group in Morelos. They were organized into about fifty small city-states, each with a hereditary ruler (tlatoani). Each Tlahuica city-state consisted of a central town, with its temple, plaza, palace, and the surrounding countryside and villages. The largest of these were Cuauhnáhuac and Huaxtepec (Oaxtepec). These people had advanced knowledge of astronomy and a highly developed agricultural system. They were especially known for growing cotton, which was planted wherever the land could be irrigated. Tlahuica women spun and wove cloth, which became an important item for exchange and for paying tribute. However, the Mexica later replaced the rulers of Cuauhnahuac, Xochitepec, Tepoztlan and Oaxtepec in 1487. The territory was divided into two tributary provinces, one centered on Cuauhnáhuac and the other centered on Huaxtepec.
Moctezuma Ilhuicamina succeeded Izcóatl, and tradition has it that he established a botanical garden in Huaxtepec (Oaxtepec). Moctezuma's favorite swimming area is thought to have been a pond called Poza Azul, now part of a resort run by Six Flags Hurricane Harbor.
The Mexica built a number of fortifications in the area, notably in the hills called El Sombrerito and Tlatoani near Tlayacapan. The pyramid of Tepozteco in Tepoztlán may have been designed as a fort and lookout post. During this time, the Tlauhuica built the double-pyramid known as Teopanzolco in Cuernavaca.
Conquest and colonial period
thumb|[[Capilla abierta of the current Cathedral of Cuernavaca]]
Population estimates for the beginning of the 16th century are: Cuauhnáhuac, 50,000; Huaxtepec, 50,000; Yautepec, 30,000; Tepoztlán, 20,000; Totolapan, 20,000; and 12,000 each for Tlayacapan, Tetela, Yecapixtla, and Ocuituco. Cortes returned to Cuernavaca after the fall of Tenochtitlan, and over the next 50 years 500 religious constructions were built in the state.
In 1529, Cortés was named the Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, which gave him control over of territory in Morelos with Cuernavaca as the seat of authority over about eighty communities, eight haciendas, and two sugar cane plantations. These lands stayed in the Cortés family until 1809 when the government confiscated all of the lands of the Marquis.
Independence to end of 19th century
thumb|150px|left|Monument to Morelos
The conditions on the sugar plantations of Morelos made Father Miguel Hidalgo's call to take up arms well received by the indigenous and mestizo populations of the state. The first rebellions broke out in 1811, with some early successes. An early insurgent leader in the state was Francisco Ayala. Insurgents from the state managed to push as far as Chalco in what is now Mexico State when royalist forces pushed them back in 1812.
After winning independence, what is now the state of Morelos was the district of Cuernavaca as part of the very large State of Mexico, created in 1824. The entity would change status between state and department depending on whether liberal or conservative factions were in charge. Under the Constitution of 1857, the State of Mexico and all other states would keep their federal status permanently.
The new constitution did not stop fighting among conservative and liberal factions in Mexico, which escalated again into the Reform War from 1858 to 1861. While Cuautla was a liberal bastion, Cuernavaca was a stronghold for the conservatives; roamed by bandits who burned and destroyed the haciendas of Pantitlán and Xochimancas, terrorizing villagers. Ignacio Manuel Altamirano wrote a novel, set in Yautepec, about the war and the bandits, called El Zarco: Episodios de la Vida Mexicana en 1861–63. The war ended on 11 January 1861, when Benito Juárez took control of Mexico City.
The division between the liberal and conservative parts of the state remained through the French Intervention in Mexico. and he built La Casa del Olindo in Acapantzingo, Cuernavaca supposedly for Margarita Leguizmo Sedano, his mistress known as "La India Bonita." The French emperor improved the roads from Mexico City to Cuernavaca; telegraph service between the two began in 1866.
After the French were expelled by forces under Benito Juárez, there were efforts to divide the State of Mexico. This resulted in the approval of the state of Morelos on 21 September 1868, by the federal Congress, followed by the official admittance of Morelos as the country's 27th state on 17 April 1869. The territory of the state was the Third Military District of the State of Mexico as defined by the Juárez government; the name "Morelos" and the capital "Cuernavaca" were selected by the state's first legislature. The first state constitution was finalized in 1870, and Francisco Leyva Arciniegas became the first Constitutional Governor of Morelos. There were boundary disputes between the new state with Mexico State and the Federal District, but these were resolved by the 1890s. Other infrastructure projects in the late 19th century included the Toluca-Cuernavaca highway, and a rail line between Mexico City and Cuautla. 200 people died when a train plunged into the San Antonio River at the Puente de Escontzin (Escontzin Bridge) near Cuautla in what became known as the Morelos railway accident on 23 June 1881. Rail lines would continue to be built into the 20th century, connecting the state further with Mexico City and the Pacific Ocean.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cuernavaca was established in 1894 with Fortino Hipólito Vera as the first bishop (1894–1898).
Revolution and 20th century
thumb|Emiliano Zapata
Díaz, Madero and Zapata
This situation made the state ripe for the Mexican Revolution and the base for one of the best-known revolutionaries from this period, Emiliano Zapata, who was born in Anenecuilco, Ciudad Ayala. Zapata's victory in the bloody Battle of Cuautla (11–19 May 1911) brought about Porfirio Diaz's abdication, but also led to the press labeling Zapata the Attila of the South. But then, Government forces led by Victoriano Huerta attacked towns and cities in the state, trying to take it back. Shortly afterwards, on 17 August, revolutionaries sacked Jojutla.
Zapata felt betrayed by Francisco Madero, and following Madero's election as president on 6 November 1911, Zapata and his followers called for agrarian reform in the Plan de Ayala. Contrary to popular belief, the state's motto, Tierra y Libertad (Land and Liberty) did not originate with Zapata or the Plan de Ayala; it was first used by Ricardo Flores Magón in the magazine Regeneración on 1 October 1910.
With the outbreak of Revolution, a new bishop, Manuel Fulcheri y Pietrasanta was chosen to head the Roman Catholic diocese (6 May 1912 – 21 April 1922) after which he marched on Milpa Alta (Mexico City).
Zapata and Carranza
Huerta was defeated, and 1915 was fairly peaceful in Morelos. However, by December 1915, Zapata was forced to fight a new enemy—Venustiano Carranza. Carranza embarked upon an offensive that retook significant parts of the state of Morelos. By the spring of 1916, Zapata was forced to abandon several of his strongholds. The biggest loss came on 2 May 1916, when Zapata lost Cuernavaca to enemy forces, which now numbered some 30,000 troops. As Zapata continued to lose ground, his forces were forced to return to the guerilla warfare that they had waged a few years earlier. They retook Cuernavaca in January, 1916, Then, on 17 April 1919, Zapata was betrayed and ambushed at Chinameca.
1920 to 1966
In 1926 President Plutarco Elias Calles ordered a number of restrictions on the Catholic Church, precipitating the so-called Cristero War. While the Catholic Church generally opposed the Mexican Revolution, many former Zapatistas joined the rebellion in Morelos. Groups led by Benjamin Mendoza in Coatlán del Río; Nicolas Zamora in Tetlama, Temixco; and Rafael Castañada in Alpuyeca, Xochitepec, joined the Cristeros. They were quickly put down by Governor Ambrosia Punte in 1927.
Since the Revolution, the state's history has centered on development and crime. There were several assaults along the Mexico City-Cuernavaca highway in 1928 and again in 1934. There was a train robbery in 1928, and several major train accidents in the 1930s. The statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe in El Calvario (Cuernavaca) was destroyed by vandals in 1934. Striking police went of a crime wave in 1937. Five thousand rioters protested when the Cuernavaca police killed Jorge Garrigós in 1957. The municipal president of Jiutepec was assassinated on 26 May 1958. In 1960, three government officials in Cuernavaca were fired because of embezzlement.
From 1943 to 1944, and again from 1953 to 1958, Rubén Jaramillo led peasant revolts against the government. Despite promises and a guarantee of his safety from presidents Manuel Ávila Camacho in 1944 and Adolfo López Mateos in 1958, Jaramillo was gunned down in Xochicalco by federal police on 23 May 1962. A cache of weapons was discovered in Colonia Rubén Jaramillo, Temixco, in September 1973. Mayekewa and Nissan were among the first companies to locate there.
A major water park with capacity for 20,000 visitors, was opened in Oaxtepec by IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institution) in 1966. When Mexico hosted the XIX 1968 Summer Olympics, the Junior Games were in Oaxtepec.
There were two major disasters in 1962: in March, a bus fell off a cliff near the Lagunas de Zempoala National Park in Huitzilac, killing 22 and injuring 36. An earthquake in Cuernavaca in May killed 22, injured dozens, and destroyed two buildings.
1967 to 2000
As it has been since Aztec times, the state, especially Cuernavaca, has been a favorite retreat for those in Mexico City due to its warm year-round climate. That, plus pollution and the 19 September, 1985 Mexico City earthquake, have spurred a major housing boom which continues to this day. Most of this boom is centered on the city of Cuernavaca but also Cuautla and other places.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the major crime problem was kidnapping for ransom. The kidnapping crime wave caused investment in the state to drop from a high of US$245 million in 1999 to $102 million in 2002, with the state lagging behind the country in job creation. The state broke the kidnapping rings in the early 2000s, mostly by arresting corrupt lawyers, police, and judges who were protecting kidnapping rings, includes one run by Daniel "Mocha Orejas" Arizmendi, who received his nickname by cutting off his victims' ears and sending them to family members. The busts brought the kidnapping rate to below national average. Governor Jorge Carrillo Olea (1994–1998) was forced to resign after being accused of covering for kidnappers.
Roman Catholic bishops during this era were Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo (28 December 1982 – 15 May 1987) and Luis Reynoso Cervantes (17 August 1987 – 20 December 2000). It has increased the number of gun battles and gangland-style executions. Anonymous email threats succeed in keeping people away from Cuernavaca at night, with bars and nightclubs closing when such communications threaten drug violence. In 2004, Governor Sergio Estrada ordered the mass firing of all of the state police officers after top police commanders were arrested on charges that they were working with drug traffickers. This caused a major political battle for the governor, who then himself was accused of cooperating with drug rings, with attempts to take him out of office. The area around Lagunas de Zempoala National Park, on Morelos's border with Mexico City, is one of Mexico's 16 most dangerous regions, in part due to the narcotics trade.
The state is considered to be one of the most dangerous, despite its small size and population. Most crime is centered in Cuernavaca. Its crime rate surpasses that of Mexico City in terms of crimes per 1,000 people. It is over 50% higher than the national average. Although Cuernavaca has only 21% of the population, it suffers 45% of the crime committed in the state. There are a number of possible causes. Some blame the judicial system for being inept and there are strong links to the drug trafficking trade, en route to Mexico City.
2010 to 2019
In the election of 1 July 2018, the coalition Juntos Haremos Historia won the governorship (Cuauhtémoc Blanco) and 16 of 33 municipalities, PRD-PSD won 4, PAN-MC won 3, PRI won 2, PVEM won 4, Nueva Alianca won 2, and Humanista won 1.
On 30 December 2018, the newly formed National Guard took over police functions in Cuernavaca, Jiutepec, and Yautepec.
Starting 1 January 2019, three new municipios were created in Morelos: Xoxocotla; Hueyapan; and Coatetelco. All three are Indigenous communities that will have increased autonomy.
The federal government held a referendum on 23 February−24, 2019, to decide whether to build a thermoelectric plant and a gas pipeline in Huexca, Yecapixtla. Voters in Morelos and parts of the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala were asked if they supported the completion of $22 billion peso (U.S.$1.6 billion) plant completed in September 2017 but not put into operation due to lack of connection to the Cuautla River. Two opponents of the plant, Ruben Fajardo and Samir Flores Soberanes were murdered and there were violent protests during the public consultation. 59.5% of the 55,715 citizens voted in favor of construction, and 40.1% voted against. A number of safety and environmental factors have not yet been resolved.
A 10:00 a.m. on 8 May, 2019 shooting in downtown Cuernavaca left two dead and two injured. The shooting occurred during a demonstration by merchants who do not have fixed addresses. Governor Cuauhtemoc Blanco has cited the need for support from the National Guard to combat violence in the state. This comes three months after a shooting in Bar Sofia, which left one dead and nine injured, and the police chief was replaced.
;Earthquakes of September, 2017
Morelos was hit by two strong earthquakes in September 2017. On 7 September, the 2017 Chiapas earthquake did some serious shaking in Morelos although no physical damage or injuries were reported in Morelos. The second, on 19 September, 2017 was disastrous in Morelos. The epicenter was 12 kilometers southeast of Axochiapan, at a depth of 57 kilometers. Seventy-five people died in Morelos, principally in Jojutla and in the eastern part of the state; 200 people were hospitalized, 5,000 homes, 10 hospitals, 186 schools, and 4 dams were damaged. The 11 municipalities most affected were Jojutla, Axochiapan, Cuernavaca, Miacatlán, Tlayacapan, Xochitepec, Yautepec, Jantetelco, Ocuituco, Yecapixtla, and Emiliano Zapata.
As the citizens of Mexico and of Morelos, as well as foreign governments, rushed to help those affected, Governor Graco Ramírez and his wife, Elena Cepeda de Leon, head of DIF Morelos (Department of Children and Families) were accused of deviating at least two large trucks of supplies for political purposes. The governor and his wife denied the allegations, explaining that they were simply organizing the delivery. However, they never explained why all the food and other supplies were labeled as if they had come from DIF Morelos rather than their true places of origin.
The ISSSTE hospital in Zapata was forced to work on the street for two months, and the Hospital Parres in Cuernavaca was unserviceable for a year after the earthquake. Over a year later, people in Jojutla were still homeless.
2020 to 2029
32 of the 36 mayors of municipalities in the state demonstrated in the Zócalo against Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco on 1 February 2020. They were demanding the restoration of MXN $1,000,000,000 (US $50 million) in federal funds to pay for police.
Roman Catholic bishops of the 21st century have been: Florencio Olvera Ochoa (22 February 2002 – 10 July 2009), Alfonso Cortés Contreras (10 July 2009 - 22 22 December 2012), and Ramón Castro Castro (15 May 2013 – present).
Morelos had its first case of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico in mid-March, about the same time that Mexico entered Phase 2 of the pandemic and schools were closed. Drugstores in Cuernavaca reported shortages of masks, antibacterial gel, and other items. The first death was on 28 March, a 37-year-old man who had traveled to Italy. President López Obrador and Governor Blanco dedicated the ISSSTE hospital "Carlos Calero" in Cuernavaca, set aside to care for patients with COVID-19. As of 17 May 2020, there were 153 deaths and 1,105 confirmed cases in the state. 158 health workers contracted the virus and two died. 46% of the cases were treated at hospitals run by Servicios de Salud de Morelos (SSM), 38% by the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), 13% by the Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE), and 1% by private hospitals. The federal government announced it would pay the families of health workers who died because of the virus MXN $50,000. Morelos passed 2,000 confirmed cases on 14 June and continued in ′′Semaforo Rojo′′ (Maximum Alert) until 21 June. The state health department reported that the first 9,759 doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the state for application in health workers on 12 January 2021. Four bottles containing twenty doses were stolen from "Carlos Calero Elorduy Hospital" run by SEDENA two days later. After an increase in 1,000 serious cases in three days in January 2021, G. Parres and Carlos Calero hospitals in Cuernavaca as well as the COVID-19 hospitals in Jojutla and Axochiapan reported they were full to 100% capacity. ISSSTE in Zapata reported 90% of its beds were occupied. Radamés Salazar Solorio, senator from MORENA, died of COVID-19 on 21 February. Temixco became the first municipality to vaccinate senior citizens (60+) with 15,170 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.
Twenty-one people died in May 2020 after drinking homemade alcohol in the eastern part of the state. A baby boy was registered using the surnames (Spanish: apellidos) of both his birth mother and her wife in May 2020, the first such case in Morelos. IMSS reported that 10,000 doses of flu vaccine were stolen from its hospital in eastern Morelos on 12 October 2020.
Nineteen political parties registered for the 2021 Mexican legislative election in Morelos. They are: PSD, MORENA, PT, PAN, MC, PRI, Panal, PRD, PES, PVEM, PH, Sumando Voluntades Podemos Construir, Más Más Apoyo Social, Morelos Progresa, Movimiento Alternativa Social, Bienestar Ciudadano, Renovación Política Morelense, Fuerza, Trabajo u Unidad por el Rescate Oportuno de Morelos, and Morelos Fuerza.
Geography
The state is located in the center of the country and has an area of , accounting for 0.25% of Mexico's total territory. It is the second smallest state after Tlaxcala. The state's capital is Cuernavaca. It was the largest city of the Tlahuicas and originally called Cuauhnahuac, but the Spanish changed it to the current name which means "Cow Horn" in Spanish. This city is only 90 km south of Mexico City and due to its gentle climate is referred to as "The City of the Eternal Spring." The majestic mountain peaks of the Sierra Ajusco in the north of the state divide Morelos from the neighboring Valley of Mexico.
Mexico is located near the North American, Pacific, Cocos, Rivera, and Caribbean Tectonic Plates, making the country highly susceptible to earthquakes. According to the Servicio Sismológico Nacional (SSN), there have been over 1,000 earthquakes near the borders of Morelos and Puebla State since 1900.