The City of Cárdenas, the Municipal Seat in Tabasco, Mexico

Cárdenas is the municipal seat and the largest city of the municipality of Cárdenas, in the state of Tabasco; it is the second most important municipality economically, academically, and politically and the second largest urban agglomeration in the state.

It is the tenth most populated municipality in Southeast Mexico. Today, Cardenas is a progressive city, a vital center for the oil, sugar, rice, and chocolate industries, as well as an important communications hub within and outside the state, as it is crossed by Federal Highway 180, which connects the southeastern region with the center of the country.

Historic Cárdenas

In its history, it bears the name of the illustrious doctor José Eduardo de Cárdenas y Romero, by whose initiative the town was founded on the land of his ranch "Los Naranjos" donated by him. The original name of the town was San Antonio de los Naranjos, but on January 2, 1851, the name was changed to San Antonio de Cárdenas. In 1868, the H. Congress of the State granted the town the title of "Heroic", due to the patriotic participation of the population during the French intervention in 1863, keeping its current name.

On June 18, 1863, Tabasco was invaded by the French, who occupied the state capital. Given this situation, on October 7, the illustrious Andrés Sánchez Magallanes, from Tabasco, took up arms in the town of Cárdenas, announcing the insurrection act calling to "disown the invading government and summoning all the towns and villages of the state to fight against the intervention", because it is "very necessary and very necessary to defend the national territory, freedom, and independence that the immortal Hidalgo and Morelos bequeathed us in the proclamation and protest they made in the year of 1810".

In the act, the interventionist chief and self-appointed governor of the state, Eduardo González Arévalo, and the other authorities emanating from him were disowned; the inhabitants of Cárdenas, as well as Huimanguillo and Otra Banda del Grijalva, were encouraged "to join us and help us to shake off the chains of the oppressors". Thus, at the cry of ¡¡Viva la República, die the reds!!!, Sánches Magallanes started the liberation struggle in Tabasco in the town of Cárdenas.

In 1868, the State Congress issued a decree granting the title of "Heroic" to the town of Cárdenas as a reward for its patriotic behavior in the defense of the state against the French invaders and declared "Benemérito del Estado" to the Colonel of the National Guard of Cárdenas, Andrés Sánchez Magallanes, for having been the first to raise the national banner against the usurper power.

At the end of 1890, the territorial division of the municipality was integrated by a village (H. Cárdenas), 2 towns (Barra de Santa Ana and San Felipe Río Nuevo) and 12 rural neighborhoods (Arroyo Hondo, Bajío, Camino Nacional, Calzada, Habanero, Hidalgo, Limón y Candelero, Naranjeño, Paso y Playa, Poza Redonda y Santuario, Río Seco 1.ª, Río Seco 2ª, Santana and Zapotal).

On September 16, 1910, by decree No. 21 of May 27, 1910, the XXIV State Legislature on the initiative of Congressman Salvador de la Rosa and being governor Abraham Bandala Patiño, the town of H. Cardenas was elevated to the category of city. On April 5, 1919, it was one of the 17 free municipalities into which the state was divided and on May 4, 1949, Cardenas was ratified as a municipality of the state of Tabasco.

Famous people born in Cárdenas

José Eduardo de Cárdenas y Romero

(1765-1821) Doctor in theology. Member of the Cortes de Cádiz. Leading a group of settlers from his native Cunduacán, he founded the present-day city of H. Cárdenas. In his honor, the municipality and the capital are named after him.

Andrés Sánchez Magallanes

(1810-1865) Andrés Sánchez Vidal. Republican colonel, hero, and defender of the Juarista Reform, he distinguished himself in the war against the French invaders. In recognition of his struggle, the municipal seat bears the title of "Heroic". The State Congress declared him " Meritorious of Tabasco".

Rafael Domínguez

(1888-) Lawyer, writer, and director of the Juárez Institute.

Carlos Greene Ramírez

(1879-1929) Brigadier General of the Constitutionalist Army. Chief of Military Operations in the State of Mexico. The first governor of Tabasco by the Constitution of 1919.

José del Carmen Sánchez Magallanes

Lawyer. Federal Deputy in the Constituent Congress of Querétaro 1917.

Pedro Casanova Casao

Politician. Acting Governor of Tabasco. In 1906 he was an anti-reelectionist. Deputy for the 4th District corresponding to his native Cárdenas, he signed the Constitution of April 5, 1919, but was disqualified when Tomás Garrido was governor. Settled in Veracruz he worked as a lawyer, notary public, and judge. He was a magistrate of the Superior Court of Justice of Veracruz. He committed suicide in that port on July 16, 1948, at the age of 85.

Aquiles Calderón Marchena

Pioneer of radio broadcasting in the State of Tabasco.

Rubén Darío Vidal Ramos

Politician. President of the Superior Court of Justice of the State, former municipal president of Cárdenas. During his administration, the modernization of the city began.

The importance of April for Cardenas

On April 5, 1913, the brothers Ramón and Aurelio Sosa Torres, among other revolutionaries, took up arms against Victoriano Huerta, who had usurped power, overthrowing and assassinating Francisco I. Madero and the Tabasco-born José María Pino Suárez. (SECOND HEROIC TIME).

On April 7, 1911, Gen. Ignacio Gutiérrez Gómez, leading his liberating column took the city of Cárdenas, where the political chief Manuel Carballo had to surrender.

On April 21, 1911, the revolutionary General Ignacio Gutiérrez Gómez died in combat. The place of the events was in Aldama, Comalcalco, in a bloody battle, where federal forces defeated him.

On April 22nd, 1797. This date officially became the day of the Foundation of Cárdenas, since on that day personnel arrived from the state capital to measure and demarcate the lands of the then San Antonio Río Seco.