The Star for Military Merit was a medal issued during the twentieth century for the suppression of revolts and for general military service as the Mexican army put down rebellions by Mayan Indians.
In Spanish colonial times, the Yucatán (like most of New Spain) population operated under a legal caste system: peninsulares (officials born in Spain) were at the top, the criollos of Spanish descent in the next level, followed by the mestizo population (of mixed European-Amerindian descent), then descendants of the natives who had collaborated with the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, and at the bottom were the other native indios.
The Caste War of Yucatán (1847–1901) began with the revolt of native Maya people of Yucatán, Mexico against the European-descended population, called Yucatecos. The latter had long held political and economic control of the region. A lengthy war ensued between the Yucateco forces in the north-west of the Yucatán and the independent Maya in the south-east.
The war officially ended in 1901 when the Mexican army occupied the Maya capital of Chan Santa Cruz and subdued neighboring areas. Another formal end was made in 1915, when a Mexican general was sent to subdue the territory. However, skirmishes with small settlements that refused to acknowledge Mexican control continued until 1933.
