Regulation, surveillance, and lack of control in the spaces for the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in Culiacan during the Mexican Revolution (1911–1915)

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the strategies implemented by the state in order to control the space operation for the sale of alcoholic beverages in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, during the Revolution, from 1911 to 1915. This work is based on a qualitative approach that allows examining the decrees, agreements issued during the council sessions, police factions, files of the criminal branch and relevant notes from the Sinaloa press. We argue that there was a significant lack of control and surveillance in the so-called ‘ethylic spaces’, which made it impossible to comply with the regulations, as well as the complicity of members of the local government so that the saloons operated illegally.