CHETUMAL.- A vital piece of Quintana Roo’s history is being carefully brought back to life. Specialists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) are undertaking the delicate restoration of Admiral Tomás Othón Pompeyo Blanco Núñez de Cáceres’s military uniform, a tangible link to a pivotal figure in the region’s past.

Admiral Blanco (1866-1959) played a crucial role in securing Mexico's southern border during the Caste War (1847-1901), a conflict that deeply shaped the Yucatán Peninsula. Preserving his uniform is seen as essential to safeguarding his legacy and Quintana Roo’s cultural heritage.

The restoration project is led by Abril Rebeca Buendía Sánchez, INAH’s representative in the state, in collaboration with Rosa Lorena Román Torres, head restorer from the Textile Restoration Workshop Seminar (STRT) at the National School of Conservation, Restoration and Museography (ENCRyM), and her students. Their work was recently highlighted at a presentation titled “Textiles, Narrators of Stories and Characters. The Othón P. Blanco Case,” held at the INAH Quintana Roo Center’s library.

The uniform consists of three key pieces: a shirt, pants, and a jacket known as “La Guerrera” (The Warrior). The shirt and pants, which accompanied the Admiral in his tomb until his exhumation and cremation in 1998 (when his ashes were moved to a monument near Chetumal’s Government Palace), are currently undergoing treatment at ENCRyM. “La Guerrera” was previously restored by Professor Román Torres in 1999 and is currently on display at the Chetumal City Museum (MCC). The ultimate goal is to reunite all three garments for a special exhibition at the MCC, contributing to the preservation of the region’s cultural heritage.

The restoration process is complex and painstaking. The shirt and pants suffered significant damage from the region's harsh environment and their time buried: discoloration, stiff and brittle fibers, age-related stains, corrosion of metal insignia, fabric tears, and missing sections, particularly on the shirt’s collar and shoulders.

Restorers have carefully reintegrated missing fabric using dyed-to-match cotton gabardine grafts. The next step involves chromatic reintegration, a process of carefully blending colors to unify the repairs with the original fabric. Prior to this hands-on work, the INAH Quintana Roo Center’s Restoration and Conservation Area meticulously documented, diagnosed, and performed preventive conservation on the garments.

The project is a collaborative effort, with the federal government providing financial support and the MCC taking on the museographic design for the eventual exhibition.

Admiral Othón P. Blanco’s dedication to solidifying and demarcating Mexico’s southern border makes this uniform a particularly important artifact. As Buendía Sánchez explained, preserving it is crucial for future generations to understand their history. Quintana Roo, the last Mexican state to be founded in 1974, holds this uniform as a potent symbol of its unique history and a key element in fostering social cohesion.