by the French Commanders Munier and Ceynet, fought fiercely against the guerrillas, who led by Rafael "El Chivo" Nuñez, Mauro Vázquez, Lucio Benavides, Félix Pérez, Francisco Cabrera, and other leaders, fought for liberty from the French rule; especially Colonel José Antonio Rojas, who at the head of his 1,000 "Rojeño" riders took in one month four important plazas (quite apart from each other): Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Ciudad Guzmán and Tepic 1883: On 20 September, decree no. 41 was published, whereby the "Villa" of Tepatitlán de Morelos was declared a city by the Governor of Jalisco 1927–1929: Tepatitlán was witness and actor in the battles between Cristeros and Federals during the Cristero War; within its urban perimeter, the bloodiest battle of the whole war was fought, and on that sole day, the federal army lost more than 3,000 troops. Climate and vegetation Tepatitlán has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cwa) that is close to a tropical savanna climate (Köppen: Aw) with dry, mild winters and warm, wet summers. Its lands are "skinny", as described by Agustín Yáñez, but have been transformed into productive due to the efforts of the citizens. The flora includes trees such as ash, which grows in profusion, maroon walnut, eucalyptus, licorice and some acacias. It is a paradise for citrus. The canyon of the Rio Verde, with its tropical climate at the bottom, about 500 m deep, contains deposits of hot springs. The fauna is somewhat reduced to common species such as rabbits, hares, snakes, bobcats, coyotes, and some pumas, which saw their lands being invaded, migrated to feed on the cattle There is a relatively small amount of oaks, remnants of what was once "great oak-land", which disappeared consumed by charcoal furnaces. It was announced in 2009, that the Federal Government will spend around 350 million pesos on the construction of the Centro Nacional de Recursos Genéticos which will be sort of a Noah's Ark. The center has space for up to three million species; it is expected that by the end of 2012, the center will house 136,850 species. Government The Government of the municipality of Tepatitlán de Morelos is organized into the H. Ayuntamiento (City Council), which is composed of 17 members from a number of agencies. These include the Presidential Coordination (C. María Elena de Anda), General Secretary, Higher Administrative Office and other departments. Municipal presidents Administrative divisions The municipality of Tepatitlán de Morelos